Cowboy For Keeps. Brenda Mott

I can walk.”

      “Suit yourself.” Austin rode after Reno, and Cade plodded after them, feeling both irritated and foolish. He’d thought about hauling Jet up here, since his trailer was a two-horse, trickier to back up than a longer trailer, but requiring less space to maneuver. But he’d decided it would be easier to examine the tracks and other possible clues left behind by the poachers if he were on foot, even if it did take a little longer to cover ground. Leave it to Austin to one-up him.

      Cade peeled off his jacket and continued his mission. From the looks of things, there had to indeed have been three or four poachers, if the telltale ATV tracks were any indication. By the time he reached the upper road, Cade had no doubt the poachers had used this escape route. He hadn’t noticed their tracks as he and his dad drove in, because the poachers had taken the left-hand fork, not toward town, but away. They’d followed back roads out of the area, and would’ve taken the horses who knew where if he and Reno hadn’t stopped them.

      Pausing to catch his breath, Cade noted that only one set of shod hoofprints led in that direction now. The other went right toward where he’d left his truck parked. Frowning, he took the right fork, as well, and within a couple of minutes came in sight of it, along with Reno and her horse. She’d dismounted, and was chatting with Matt through the open window of the Chevy.

      Pritchard must’ve continued tracking the poachers. Let him waste his time. He’d end up riding into the next county if he planned to follow those tire tracks.

      As Cade drew closer to the truck, the sound of Reno’s soft laughter filled the air. Ignoring a stirring of old feelings, he tossed his jacket inside the cab, then leaned over the pickup bed and opened a small cooler he’d placed there. “Want a bottle of water?” he asked Reno. “Dad?”

      “No, thanks,” Reno said.

      “I’m good,” Matthew answered. Cade noticed some color in his dad’s cheeks. The outing had been good for him. He was obviously enjoying Reno’s company.

      Cade walked around to the passenger side, admiring the blue roan and wondering if he was a mustang. He studied the gelding’s legs and his large, black hooves. Black hooves generally chipped less easily than the light ones on horses with white stockings. The gelding shifted, and Cade frowned, eyeing the rear hoof on the off side.

      “Your horse threw a shoe,” he said, handing his water to Reno.

      “What?” She turned to look for herself. “Crap, I just had those shoes put on a week ago.”

      “It happens,” Matthew said.

      “You can’t ride him that way,” Cade pointed out. A horse could wear two shoes, as long as they were both on the front or on the rear. One odd shoe would put the animal off balance, at risk of going lame.

      “I know that,” Reno said, not hiding her irritation.

      “I’d pull the other hind shoe for you,” he offered, “but my farrier tools are in my trailer.”

      Reno swore under her breath, just as Austin rode up on his sorrel. “Morning, Matt,” he called. “You doing all right?”

      “I’d be better if I was sitting in the saddle instead of in this fancy truck,” Matthew said.

      “What’s up?” Austin asked Reno.

      “Plenty Coups threw a shoe.”

      The sheriff chewed his bottom lip. “Not good. You want to swing up behind me? We can pony him back to the ranch.”

      “I’ll drive her home,” Cade said. “It’ll be easier for you to pony the gelding without riding double.”

      One time, at the fairgrounds when Reno was seventeen, he’d given her a ride on a frisky buckskin mare he’d recently bought. Reno had snugged up behind him on the back of his saddle, her arms tight around his waist. It was the first time he’d begun to think of her as anything other than the little sister she wanted him to see her as. He’d made the mare prance, so Reno would hang on tighter.

      No way did he want Pritchard taking her home.

      “DO YOU MIND?” Reno asked Austin, holding Plenty Coups’s reins out to the sheriff.

      She didn’t miss the dark look he gave Cade before Austin smiled at her. “Not at all.” He took hold of the split reins. “Guess I’ll meet y’all back at the ranch. Good seeing you, Matt.”

      “Same here.” The old rancher nodded, then slid over to the middle of the Chevy’s fold-down bench seat to make room.

      She climbed in, saddened by the sight of his oxygen tank.

      “Hope that blasted thing’s not in your way,” Matt apologized. “Just scoot it over.”

      “It’s fine,” Reno said, arranging her long legs around the tank.

      “So, what’d you two find?” Matt asked as Cade started the engine and drove farther down the road, looking for a spot wide enough to turn around.

      Cade told him about the trailer tracks. “Also, I heard around town that an older-model, black-and-silver truck was seen in the area recently, hauling a six-horse trailer. Someone saw it near De Beque, too.”

      “We’ve got to stop these guys,” Reno declared, her anger rising. “I don’t understand how people can stoop so low.”

      “Makes two of us,” Cade said.

      “Lots of bad folks out there.” Matt shook his head. “I hate to see this happening to the mustangs.”

      “Nothing’s going to happen to them if I can help it,” Reno stated.

      Back at the ranch house, Reno got out of the truck, then hesitated, leaning on the open door. “You sure you don’t want something cold to drink, Matt?” He looked so pitiful, with the oxygen tubes, his worn-out body. But his eyes were sparkling, and Reno had a feeling he hadn’t been anywhere in a while. She knew she hadn’t seen him in town in ages. “I’ve got sun tea. Better than bottled water any day.” She grinned.

      “You’ve got that right. What fool ever started paying for something you can get right out of your faucet?” He glared at Cade as though the bottled water movement were his fault. “My daddy’s probably up there having a laugh at that one.” He lifted his chin to nod the brim of his dark brown Stetson skyward.

      “I’m sure he is.” Reno had heard tales of the tough rancher who’d raised Matt to be a top-rate hand. “So, what do you say, cowboy? We can sit on the porch and enjoy the morning before it gets any hotter.”

      “We really ought to get back, Dad,” Cade said. “Mom will worry.”

      But Matt was already halfway out of the truck. “Let her.”

      “Here, I’ll help you with that.” Reno reached for the oxygen tank.

      “I’ve got it.” Matt waved her away. He wheezed as he stepped down from the Chevy, setting the wheel-mounted tank on the ground and walking with Reno toward the house.

      She avoided Cade’s eyes, leading the way up the steps, knowing Matthew would take offense if she stood back to let him go first. “Make yourselves at home,” she said, indicating the rocker and two ladder-back chairs, one on either side of the front door. “I’ll be right with you.”

      Inside the kitchen, Reno lifted the jar of tea from the refrigerator and poured some into three plastic tumblers she filled with ice. She cut lemon slices and stuck one on the edge of each glass, wondering if Matt took sugar. She didn’t, and she remembered that Cade didn’t, either. Just in case, she scooped up Wynonna’s sugar bowl and set it on a tray.

      Balancing her load, Reno went out to the porch. As she nudged the screen door open with one shoulder, Cade caught it and held it for her. Suddenly she felt shaky. What was with her? He was the same Cade she’d always known.

      “Here