The Dark Prince's Prize

Chapter 9-2

It was mid-afternoon when Samara steered the UTV along the road that led to the western section of the ranch. She wanted to check in with Bear, the foreman who oversaw the cattle. It was beginning to snow again, just like the forecaster predicted.

She wished the only things on her mind were the weather and the missing horses, but she was still thinking of Adalard. The scene in the truck and their brief kiss played like a broken record in her thoughts. She muttered a curse when she hit a pothole, and the UTV roughly bounced.

“It wasn’t really a kiss. It was more of a peck,” she defended, gripping the steering wheel tighter.

She sighed with relief when she saw the bunkhouse, barn, and stables. Bear was talking to one of the cowpokes when she pulled up in front of the barn. She saw a saddled horse out front that she recognized.

Bear grinned and raised a hand in greeting. She responded in kind before grabbing her hat and opening the door of the UTV. Bear murmured something to the man standing beside him and then walked over to her.

“Hey, Samara, what brings you to this side of the ranch?” Bear asked.

Samara nodded toward the mare. “I was missing some horses. I figured this would be a good place to start my search,” she responded.

“Damn, I was hoping you’d finally decided to go out with me. I thought Mason would have told you I needed to borrow a few when I didn’t see you this morning, but I guess he didn’t. He hired some temporary help to look for strays, and I was down a few,” Bear said.

“That’s okay. I came in a bit late and brought a new guy for the survival training. He probably just forgot with everything going on,” she replied.

“A new guy? This should be fun,” Bear chuckled.

Samara grinned and nodded. “Yeah. The guy doesn’t look military. He’s more of a rich European-type, if you ask me. Anyway, Mason will give Adalard his money’s worth. How long are you going to need the horses?” she asked.

“I’ll need them for a few weeks at least. The recent storms have scattered the herd over half the ranch,” he replied with a disgruntled scowl.

“If you need help, I could ask Mason for more hours. I’ve got a meeting with him later this afternoon,” she suggested.

Bear’s eyes lit up. “That would be great. Listen, about what I said earlier, I was wondering if you would like to grab a beer and a meal?” he asked.

Almost immediately Adalard’s violet eyes flashed through her mind when he suggested a kiss in payment. Panic hit her hard when her body reacted with a strange tingling sensation. She forcibly pushed it down and found herself nodding in agreement. Hell, it wouldn’t hurt to go out for a meal. Besides, she justified, she needed to eat, and she liked Bear.

“Sure,” she replied before she could change her mind. “When?”

“How about tomorrow night? I can pick you up at your place,” he said with a huge grin.

“That sounds great. Well, I guess I’d better go. I still have work,” she replied.

She silently groaned as she hurried back to the UTV. She was already regretting her impulsive—or more like defiant—response. She should have told Bear no. He had been hinting around for the past six months about going out with her, but she always brushed him off. This was the first time he had actually come right out and asked.

“One date won’t hurt anything,” she mumbled as she climbed into the UTV.

She smiled and waved at Bear before backing up and turning around. Her smile faded the moment he couldn’t see her face any longer. A rueful chuckle slipped from her.

“Well, if nothing else, I have to admit that today has been an eventful one so far. Hopefully, nothing else will happen—like an alien invasion. At the rate things are going, I wouldn’t be surprised,” she said with a snort, remembering Adalard’s alien shtick. Just one of him was quite enough.

At the moment she didn’t have time to worry about aliens and dating. She needed to focus on finishing her work and hoping that Mason would let her rent the apartment in the barn. After today’s fiasco with her brothers, Wilson was in her thoughts—his decision to escape their family and not look back in particular. If she was to preserve her own peace of mind and future, she needed to get the hell away from them as well.