Free Beauty and the Bull Rider by Victoria Vane Page A

intend to stay there.”
    â€œYou really mean that?”
    â€œI say what I mean.”
    â€œI appreciate that, Zac,” she said softly.
    â€œCall you again when I get back?” he asked.
    â€œSure,” she replied. “I’ll be around.”

    Delaney hung up with mixed feelings. Maybe she’d been too hard on him, but it had only been a few days since all this started, certainly not long enough to prove anything. Part of her had wanted to accept Zac’s invitation, but what she really needed right now was some distance and objectivity. Every time he even looked at her, she felt herself weakening just a little bit more. He’d made it clear he was determined to wear down her resistance. Laredo was over eight hours away. How much resistance would she have left after spending the better part of two days and one night with him?
    Pocketing her phone with a sigh, she turned back to the job at hand. She hated pulling wire, but with Zac planning to buy bulls, it was time to reinforce the woven wire fence with a strand of barbed wire. The last thing she needed was for one of his bulls to come through it into her herd.
    After rolling out the spool and pulling the wire, she was fighting with the ratchet when her hand slipped. Almost instantly, the metal barbs pierced her worn leather glove and penetrated into her thumb. She dropped both the tool and the strand of wire with a curse. The wound stung like a bitch, and blood had begun saturating the leather. Ripping off the torn glove, she examined the wound and then rifled through her utility cart for the first aid kit she always carried on the ATV.
    Damn it all! She knew it was her own fault. It would have made perfect sense to ask Zac to help her with the fence, but stubborn pride hadn’t allowed it. Now that same pride would require her to make a trip to the Frederick Urgent Care Center for a tetanus shot as soon as she finished.
    Two of her young bulls, Romeo and Caesar, approached, watching intently as she bandaged her thumb. Figuring they were just curious, she paid little attention, until Romeo turned broadside and lowered his head with a snort. Young bulls often challenged one another, but they were too close to her and to the roll of barbed wire. She recognized the danger of the situation when Caesar replied in kind.
    Leaping over the ATV, Delaney watched from the relative safety of the other side. Although she’d bottle-fed them both as babies, these weren’t babies anymore. They were easily eight hundred pounds, and with only a few yards separating them, any further move on her part could easily divert their aggression to herself.
    Her heart raced in panic when Romeo dropped his head and hooked the loose wire with his horns. He charged Caesar, popping several yards of wire from the staples that had anchored it to the posts. Torn loose, the new section of wire snapped back into a tight coil, catching the bull around the legs. Icy-cold fear clogged her throat.
    Shit! Shit! Shit! This was far beyond anything she could handle alone. If there’s anything you can’t or don’t want to handle, Delaney, I want you to call me. Zac. She needed Zac.
    Sliding her phone out of her pocket, she hit her call history and dialed.
    Â 
    Zac had just pulled out of his drive headed for Delaney’s place when his phone rang. Although she’d refused his help, there was no way his conscience would allow him to go all the way to Laredo without checking on her first. He plucked the phone from his pocket and stared at the number. It was Delaney. Was something wrong? They’d spoken less than an hour ago.
    â€œZac here,” he answered tersely.
    â€œZac? Thank God I got you!”
    The urgency in her voice hit him straight in the gut.
    â€œWhat’s happened? Are you okay?”
    â€œI’ve got a bad situation,” she said. “One of my bulls is tangled up in barbed wire. I need some help. Are you still around or can