“What about you? What have you been doing since you left the world of race horses?”
He had been a sixteen-year-old kid when he had made the decision to become a Navy SEAL. Uncle Jon had been one, and sacrificed his life in the line of duty. Phantom had looked up to Uncle Jon for guidance and direction in his younger years as his father had been so consumed by the day-to-day operations of their multi-million-dollar race horse facility.
It would have been easy for Phantom to sit back and enjoy the money his parents had set aside for him, slide into the job waiting for him and continue the family traditions. He didn’t want to live the life his parents designed for him. When Uncle Jon passed serving his country, he immediately knew what he wanted to do with his life.
“I suppose you could say I work as a consultant. Some people say I have a knack for strategy and placement. Until now. Returning to a life working with horses is as close to a dream as I could ask for.” As a tactical member of the SEALs, strategy was his specialty. He had to remember his cover, though, and emphasize his new role.
Elena glanced over at him, a slightly shocked look on her face. “You gave up working with race horses to become a consultant?”
“Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing more exhilarating than the feel of a powerful steed racing around the tracks, carrying you at a speed you can only begin to imagine. It just wasn’t the life for me back then.”
“I can see you as a consultant. You’re so calm and level-headed.”
“Are you saying I’m boring?”
Elena sputtered for several moments. She swallowed hard and looked over at him and he couldn’t contain his teasing smile any longer. She laughed, the beautiful laugh he had started to crave. “Well, if the shoe fits…”
His smile broadened. “For that I won’t be getting you any tasty tacos anytime soon.”
They carried on an easy conversation about his life working with race horses and her life growing up showing quarter horses, and it surprised him how much they had in common. He discovered they had experienced many of the same challenges and thrills training the incredible animals, and the heartbreak of losing one to old age or disease. Soon they were pulling up to the arena in Edinburg, and the sound of horses calling to each other from different stalls and horse trailers filled the air.
Phantom helped Elena unload the horse she had brought and they tied it up to the trailer with a net of coastal hay for it to feed on while it got used to the new noises and smells. “That’s a nice-looking horse,” Phantom said, glancing back as they walked towards the front offices of the arena to begin registration.
“He belongs to Jonas Franklin. He has a ranch about forty-five minutes outside of Hebbronville. I’ve been training his horses almost as long as I’ve trained yours. He would have joined us today if business hadn’t kept him occupied.”
Phantom silently thanked the rancher’s business for that. He didn’t want to share Elena with anyone else today.
Chapter 4
“Elena!” A woman standing near the registration office called and hurried over. Phantom realized with a jolt as they drew closer to the offices that his time alone with Elena was about to come to an abrupt end.
The woman embraced Elena in a swift hug. “I had hoped I would see you here today.” The older woman’s gaze turned toward Phantom and she looked at him with speculation.
“Dolores, this is Phantom. He’s one of the new owners out at the Bent Horseshoe Ranch.”
The older woman raised her eyebrows. “How exciting! And such an interesting name, too.”
Elena turned to him, her eyes dancing. “I’ll leave you to get acquainted. I’ve got to get registered.”
Phantom nearly groaned out loud. Dolores reminded him of the gossip-mongers he had to deal with when he had worked with the race horses many years ago. He smiled instead. He had to get out and network—it was all part of the role he had accepted when he agreed to the assignment in Hebbronville.
He briefly turned his attention on Dolores. “It’s a nickname. I earned it in high school.” The name had come in high school, but only really took hold when he had become a SEAL.
“Sounds like a fascinating story. Care to share?”
“I’ll have to some other time, Dolores. I’m here to learn as much from Elena as possible.”
“You couldn’t be in better hands. She’s one of the best in the industry. She’s got real talent and can take your horses all the way to Nationals if you give her a chance.”
Phantom appraised Dolores with new appreciation. She obviously had Elena’s best interests at heart. “That’s what we’re hoping for. Maybe I’ll see you at the next horse show?”
“Absolutely. My David and I travel to these all year long. We bring several horses with us. We have the large hauler parked at the end of the lot—you’ll recognize us every time.”
His first attempt at networking had proved successful. He nodded to her and excused himself and headed for the offices. Laughter and chatter greeted his ears, though it all fell silent when he stepped into the room. Elena had been the center of attention as she had been filling out the registration forms, a mixed crowd standing around her. Upon his entrance, all attention focused on him.
Elena glanced up from her paperwork and smiled at him and his stomach did a flip-flop. Exquisite. He latched onto the word that accurately described her. How had he missed so much about her when he first met her? Because your mind had been wrapped up in the mission. You were focused on what needed to be done. He had been just days away from leaving on a mission to take down a Mexican drug cartel when he had found her with the horses in the barn. In hindsight, he could have handled their first meeting far better.
“My friends, this is one of the new owners of the Bent Horseshoe Ranch in Hebbronville. He likes to go by the nickname Phantom, and I’m sure he’d get a thrill out of telling you why he has such a moniker.”
Phantom hated being the center of attention. That was one of the reasons he preferred to stay in the shadows, stay hidden. He didn’t exist to the world, and that was how he liked it. Now, however, several pairs of eyes were watching him with interest.
He watched Elena as he waded his way through polite introductions. When she had finished the paperwork, he made a generic excuse and left the office with her. “Thanks for throwing me to the wolves,” he said, looking down at her as they walked towards the arena.
She looked up at him, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “I thought a man who goes by ‘Phantom’ must enjoy a lot of attention.”
“Anyone ever warned you that you’re too smart for your own good?”
She tilted her head to the side as if she had to think about it. “No, I think that’s a first. I’ve been told I’m obnoxious, stubborn, difficult…smart isn’t anything I’ve been accused of before.”
A chuckle rumbled in his chest. He had never imagined his time with her could be so enjoyable and entertaining. He wanted to put his arm around her, but at the last minute he remembered the flinch. He crammed his hands down into his pockets as they walked along the side of the arena.
They came upon the stalls and he stopped walking, staring down the aisle where a handful of exhibitors were preparing their horses for the showmanship class. “What are they doing?” he asked, staring at a couple of women as they wiped baby oil over the horses’ noses and into their ears. Another woman towards the end of the aisle was carefully applying black polish to her bay mare’s hooves.
Elena looked up at him with one eyebrow cocked. “You mean you didn’t do this with your race horses?”
“I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. Seriously, what are they doing?”
Elena placed a hand at his elbow and turned him towards the aisle. He took the touch as a promising sign and wondered if her reaction the other night had been from surprise. In his mind’s eye he recalled the flash of fear acr
oss her face and knew it had been more than just surprise.
They headed down between the stalls as she began to talk. “A few days before you go to show, you want to prep the horse by shaving the hair from its ears, muzzle, eyebrows, and fetlock. You want to present as polished an appearance as possible. I’ve done some of the prep work on Jonas’s horse already, but you’ll get to see the final touches right before our competition.”
“We shaved our horses, though not quite to this extent,” he said as he looked at the horse being groomed meticulously.
“Prior to going into the show ring, you’ll want to highlight their features with a light coating of baby oil. If any of your horses have white markings on their feet, which two of yours do, you’ll usually trim the hair down on those areas, then touch them up with baby powder on the day of the show. Hoof polish is one of the final touches you’ll give to the horse before entering the show ring.”
“I think that halter has more silver on it than all of my watches combined…and that’s saying something.”
Elena chewed on her lower lip and he could tell she was trying not to laugh. “You have been in the tack room, haven’t you? Did you see the halters and saddles?”
“I didn’t do a thorough inspection. I’ve just been using the general work saddles for daily exercise.”
“Hmm.” She didn’t seem that impressed with his answer. Hell, he wasn’t impressed. If he had really wanted to show her that he wanted to take on the quarter horse industry, he had done a piss-poor job of it so far. Then again, he had been busy taking down a cartel and rescuing Anya from their blood-thirsty leader. He had good excuses. He just couldn’t tell her any of them.
“Why don’t we go to the stands? I’d like to see how this showmanship class works.”
Elena gave him another one of her stunning smiles and nodded. She didn’t seem afraid of him today. Maybe the public setting eased any anxiety she had. Or maybe she had never really been afraid and had been comfortable with him already. He wanted to believe the latter, but felt certain something had frightened her the other night, and wanted to know what he had done to trigger her reaction.
Sitting in the first row of the stands, Phantom watched the showmanship class with wonder. The exhibitors went through several different stages, from walking towards the judge, jogging past, backing the horse up, and setting it up to stand with its feet aligned. The horses’ coats shone. Their manes were all trimmed short and sectioned into thin strips held by tiny rubber bands. Their tails were combed to look as smooth and soft as Elena’s hair, though straight as a pin and draping to within a few inches off the ground. Their hooves were polished, their features shining under the smooth wiping of baby oil. He had never expected it to be so incredible—nor so complicated.
The entire time he had tons of questions, and Elena answered every one with enthusiasm. Frequently, her smile distracted him from the arena and he had to remind himself to focus on the activities of the show. Ultimately, he had an objective to connect and network, and the first step in the process involved getting Elena back as his trainer. He had to show to her he could be counted on as a consistent client.
“And you do all of this?” He pulled his eyes off the competition and looked at Elena with admiration.
She gave him a half-smile. “I used to.”
“What do you mean…?” Phantom schooled his features as he always did, expressing nothing, though inside he felt his frustration mount. “You mean that you only competed in this class with my horses?”
“Yours were the only ones talented enough. And they are incredibly good, Phantom. If you could only see them—”
Phantom raised his hand and she stopped talking, her gaze fixed on his face. “I believe you.”
They were silent the remainder of the class, and he watched in rapt attention the subtle difference in movement that he knew would be enough to separate a winner from a loser. He had already picked out who the winner should be and wasn’t surprised when the exhibitor walked out of the arena with the blue ribbon.
For the remainder of the day, Elena served as his personal guide, explaining the intricacies of each class to him and making introductions to people she had worked with for years. With every passing moment he wanted more time with her, though without as many people around.
The day passed quickly, and she had to get ready for her first competition. He helped her saddle her client’s horse and noticed that the saddle she used was just as ornate as the ones used by the other competitors. The horse had also been groomed to perfection. The biggest difference was that the mane wasn’t trimmed. Instead it was long and flowing.
She guided him with helping her apply the final touches to the horse before she vanished into the women’s room to change into her show attire. He swallowed hard when she walked out. Her dark brown slacks clung to her figure. With them, she wore a navy blue jacket decorated with sequins, the color making her eyes pop even more than ever before. Her long, curly black hair had been pulled back into a low bun at the nape of her neck, and her dark brown cowboy hat set low on her forehead. She looked absolutely stunning, but to top it off, she smiled at him, and his heart skipped a beat.
He couldn’t fight the temptation and leaned down to her when she reached for the reins that he held. His lips brushed across her ear, his cheek lightly touching hers. “Good luck out there,” he whispered.
An audible gasp escaped her lips, and she slowly pulled back. Awareness of his body so close to hers and pleasure flashed in her eyes, and he got the sense she wanted to feel more of his touch. Quickly, though, confusion and a touch of apprehension crept into her eyes. The horse began to prance nervously, picking up on her emotions.
“Elena…” he began hesitantly, unsure exactly what he wanted to say to her. She had liked the feel of his skin against hers—it had been obvious. What had happened in her past to make her nervous with him?
“Thank you,” she said, nodding to him curtly. She mounted the horse, not looking his way.
He watched her ride into the arena, then took his seat in the stands. He observed, enthralled, as she carried out an intricate pattern that had her taking the horse through figure eights where it would switch its lead leg in mid-lope. Referred to as a flying lead change took a lot of training and skill to execute, but he could hardly even notice the transition.
When she raced her horse down the length of the arena, and set back in the saddle, the horse slid nearly twenty feet, leaving him breathless with awe. She took it into a spin, where he finally understood the need for the long mane. It fanned out, creating an image he knew he would never forget.
It didn’t surprise him when she came in first, though he stayed in the stands, waiting for her to go back in and compete in the cutting competition. She clearly had the advantage over her competitors—they worked to make their motions seem effortless, but hers were smooth as she guided her horse and selected a calf to cut from the herd. Again, she won first.
He carried the tack out to the trailer as Elena changed out of her show attire. He noticed the large trailer Dolores had mentioned to him and smiled. It had been a day full of experiences, and all had been good.
“You’d be surprised at the money. Easiest cash I’ve ever earned.”
Phantom hesitated as the stranger’s voice drifted to him from the front of the sizable rig. He shook his head at himself. It had to be the driver of the trailer bragging to another driver about his job.
“Aren’t you worried about the law?”
Phantom froze and stood behind the rig, listening intently. The other driver’s response set off massive warning bells. He edged toward the corner of the trailer, attempting to see around it and catch a good glimpse of the two men talking.
“They’ve got it all worked out. The system is fool-proof. The last batch I took all the way to Austin without a single hiccup,” the first driver spoke again.
“You don’t feel a little—I don’t know the right words—crappy, maybe, for taking them?”
“Shit, man, someone’s going to, one way or another. I might as well be the one cashing in from it.” The first driver paused and lowered his voice and Phantom strained to hear what he said next. “There’s plenty of work to go around, I’ll tell you that. They take several trailer-loads at a time. I can put in a word for you if you’re interested.”
“I don’t know if I can stomach getting involved in hauling humans for sale.”
Phantom nearly dropped the saddle. What the hell?
“Get over yourself,” the first driver said. “So what if they’re for sale? Most of the time it’s because no one else wants them. More than likely they’d be dead in a ditch if it wasn’t for the buyers. If you ask me, we’re helping them out.”
“I never thought of it that way,” the second driver said. “Keep me in mind the next time an opportunity comes up.”
Phantom began to whistle softly as if he came from a distance and gradually increased the volume as he walked past the large rig. He looked to the side, but the men had disappeared. He walked quickly to Elena’s trailer and fished out his cell phone.
“Stryker, we’ve got an issue.” He spoke softly, watching everything happening around him as he loaded the saddle into the tack compartment.
“Things not going well at the show?” Stryker asked.
“We need to set up a call with Haslett tonight.”
“Can you share anything more than that?” Stryker asked, his voice intense.
“Not here, not now.”
“Got it. I’ll make the arrangements and text you the time. Are you and Elena safe?”
“Yes. I’ll fill you in when I get back to the ranch tonight.”
They signed off their call as Elena came walking out, leading the horse alongside. He pocketed the cell phone and watched her, forcing a smile to his face. His mind whirled with the conversation he had just overheard. He needed to force it from his mind for a little while and concentrate on convincing Elena he wanted to be her client again and they would work well together.
A SEAL Never Quits Page 31
