“I don’t think he likes water,” she said, struggling to get to her feet. Leaning on Devlin, she took a few tentative steps, trying to inventory any other contusions. Luckily, it seemed like only her arm was hurt. When she felt a bit more steady, she shrugged Devlin away and walked on her own over to Sabbath. Chester had managed to catch him. The stallion’s eyes were wide with fear, his body twitching in spasms.
“He lame?” she asked tightly.
Chester shook his head. “Ya seem to be carryin’ that load.”
“Give me a leg up.”
Behind her, Devlin felt nauseated.
“I think we should break for now,” he said, trying to remain calm.
He didn’t like the wild panic in the horse or the pain carved in his woman’s face.
In fact, there were so many things he didn’t like about what had just happened, it was hard to pick the worst of it all. The moment he’d seen A.J. was going to take a fall, his life had come to a halt as he confronted losing her. In the eternal second it’d taken for her to become airborne and then hit the ground, his heart had stopped beating and cracked in half with terror.
And now she wanted to get back on the godforsaken horse.
He watched as she took the reins from Chester.
“A.J., don’t be ridiculous,” Devlin said sharply. “That stallion is a live wire and you may have a broken arm.”
“Get me up on this damned animal,” she bit out at Chester, lifting her left leg impatiently.
For a man who thought he knew all about suffering, Devlin found a new kind of hell as she settled into the saddle.
“You can’t be serious!” His voice was surging with emotion.
When A.J. headed back out to the jumps, he felt Chester’s hand on his shoulder.
“Ya fall off, ya get back on. Ya know the way.”
Devlin had done it countless times himself. Except that last time.
“Well, it’s a damned stupid idea! What the hell is she thinking?”
“You’d have done the right same.”
“And look where the hell I ended up,” he said, limping over to the rail. He wanted to leave the ring but couldn’t.
Up on Sabbath’s back, A.J. was blinded by pain. The stallion was skipping under her but it wasn’t playfully. The horse was nervous and that made him more unpredictable than usual. The fact that she had the use of only one arm made the situation especially dangerous.
Every time a hoof hit the ground, she felt a white-hot sensation shoot from her elbow to her shoulder. Worse, she lacked the strength to hold her arm tightly against her body and the injured extremity was flopping around, making the pain unbearable. With resolve, she tucked her hand into the waistband of her pants to reduce the jarring and noticed in the process that her fingers were becoming numb. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could go without passing out, but she was determined that they go over one jump.
As she struggled with her agony, A.J. told herself she wasn’t going to die from the pain. All she had to do was get over a jump and then she could baby herself. It wasn’t going to take long.
The pep talk didn’t really help so she gritted her teeth, pulled Sabbath together as best she could and took him over two uprights, avoiding the water hazard altogether. By the time she was finished, the horse had calmed down but she’d broken out in a sweat from the suffering.
She steered the stallion over to the two men and fell to the ground as she dismounted.
Devlin helped her to her feet, his face a tight mask.
“I’ll take care of the spook,” Chester said to no one in particular and left with the horse.
“We need to take you to the doctor.” Devlin’s voice was flat.
“I’m going to take a bath.”
“Get in the truck.”
A.J. ignored him, preoccupied with her aching arm as she left the ring. She’d carefully taken the hand out of her waistband and was trying to keep the arm from being jostled. Her stomach felt queasy and she was light-headed but she felt better than she had in the saddle. Her one goal was to get into some hot water and the idea of not moving was really attractive.
Devlin followed close behind. “You need an X-ray.”
As she walked by the truck without stopping, he swore a blue streak.
“A.J.!” he barked, and, reluctantly, she turned around.
She was shocked. He was shaking with rage.
“It’s not broken,” she told him.
“How the hell would you know?”
Struggling not to have a meltdown, she said quietly, “If you’d just relax and let me get to the house, I’d really appreciate it.”
“Did hitting the ground knock the sense out of you? Be reasonable for once in your life and get in that damned truck.”
“No.”
“You need a doctor! You look like you’re ready to fall over.”
“And this argument is really helping me.”
“Then grow up and stop behaving like a child.”
The words ricocheted around in her head, piercing the fog of pain. Blue eyes clashed with hazel.
She said, “In case you don’t remember, I just fell off a horse in that ring. I need a break. What I don’t need is you playing mightier-than-thou with the orders, okay? And I’m not being childish.”
“When you’re hurt, you go to the doctor. It’s really that simple for most people.”
As the sounds of the argument drifted through the air, Chester came out of the stable. One look at A.J.’s pale green face and he grew alarmed. “Go easy on her, McCloud. She’s in shock.”
“Stay out of this,” came the thorny reply.
“McCloud!” Chester’s voice cracked like a whip. “Back off before ya say anything else you’ll regret.”
Devlin wheeled on the man, full of fury. “What the hell’s your problem?”
“Stand down!” Chester ordered, meeting him square in the eye. “Y’re just takin’ your worry out on her hide.”
“I don’t need your half-baked psychology,” he growled.
“An’ she doesn’t need this kind of air show.”
“Then to hell with you both.”
Stalking over to the truck, Devlin wrenched open the door, gunned the engine and peeled down the driveway, out of sight.
A.J. felt her knees buckle and Chester was the only thing that kept her standing. Unnoticed, tears began streaming down her cheeks and she started to shake all over.
“He didn’t mean any a’ that,” Chester said. “It’s just the fear talkin’.”