Theirs To Protect: a Reverse Harem Romance

by Stasia Black

  “Once upon a time, aka, about fifteen years ago, this place was a resort,” Mel said. “Sort of a dude ranch where tourist could come stay and pretend to be cowboys. Good for us because it means every room is already set up.” She opened the door and gestured for Isobel to go first.

  She immediately saw what Mel meant. It was like a hotel room, complete with its own attached bathroom. Though at the moment it looked more like a storage space.

  “I’ll have one of the guys get this stuff cleared out and sheets on the bed before tonight.” Mel gestured toward the cardboard boxes stacked up along one wall and the bare mattress.

  “Oh, don’t go to any trouble,” Isobel said. “I’m happy to do it. Just leave the sheets on the bed and I can—”

  “Don’t be silly,” Mel waved her away. “I’ll let you get changed.”

  Mel closed the door behind her as she left. Isobel only took one more moment to look around the little room. Hardwood floors. Wooden paneling that went up half the wall, painted a soft eggshell that matched the rest of the wall. Otherwise, the walls were bare.

  She glanced at the mountain of boxes. She hated to inconvenience them, but she was too happy to have a place to stay to balk too much.

  Speaking of—her having a place to stay depended on her working for Hunter, so she better get her butt in gear. She hurried over to the restroom and set her bag of toiletries down on the counter. She brushed her teeth and changed clothes in record time and then jogged back downstairs.

  In her rush, she almost collided with Mel at the bottom of the stairs.

  “Oh,” Isobel exclaimed, stopping just short of plowing into her. “Sorry!”

  “Common hazard of living here with so many people coming and going. Come on,” Mel waved Isobel to follow her. “It’s easiest to get to the stables from the back door.”

  She led Isobel through a big common area that had a couple of long tables, a few leather couches, a fireplace, and a huge flatscreen TV. The lodge was all wood and decorated very simply with a few large oil paintings of landscapes and a huge antler chandelier overhead.

  At the end of the room were double pocket doors that led into a restaurant-style kitchen. A couple of men sat at a table set up in a small dining area off to the side beside a large bay window.

  “Nicholas. Mack,” Melanie said. “I’m glad we caught you. This is Isobel, she’s going to be staying here while she’s Hunter’s intern for the summer.”

  One of the men stood up when Mel and Isobel entered. He was a huge guy with a barrel chest and shoulders so large he looked like he could bench press an ox. “Nice to meet you, ma’am.” He had kind eyes and light brown skin. “I’m Nicholas.”

  “They raise them right in Alabama,” Melanie said, grinning at him. He looked embarrassed at her praise and sat down, even as Mel’s eyes narrowed at the other man. “You hear that, Mack? It’s called manners.”

  Mack was wearing a Black Sabbath T-Shirt and had tattoos covering his arms, all the way down to his hands and fingers. He was muscular too but in a smaller, more compact way. Then again, anyone would look small next to Nicholas. Though if the way Mack was scarfing down his sandwich was any indication, the man was starved.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Mack mumbled with his mouth full of sandwich, not even looking their direction.

  Mel scoffed. “Are you even going to say hi to our newest arrival?”

  After shoving the last bit of sandwich in his mouth, Mack grabbed a full glass of orange juice and started chugging it. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. And swallowed. And swallowed some more. He finished the whole glass before wiping his mouth with his forearm and standing up.

  He finally looked at Mel and his eyes briefly flicked in Isobel’s direction. They paused and he looked her up and down, not even trying to hide the fact that he was checking her out. “Hey.” The single word came out in a low, grumbling bass.

  Damn. This one had bad boy written all over him.

  If Isobel hadn’t met Hunter last night, she might have been tempted to try rebounding with this guy instead.

  As it was, she just said, “Hey,” back and fought a shy smile even as Mel shook her head.

  “He’s hopeless.”

  Mack didn’t respond. He’d already moved on from the conversation anyway. He was out the door, grabbing a baseball cap from a hanging rack right before slamming it behind him.

  Isobel jumped from the loud noise.

  Mel breathed out in a huff. “Well someone’s in a mood today.”

  “More like every day,” Nicholas said, gathering both his and Mack’s plates. He carried them to the sink.

  Mel’s eyes softened as she watched Nicholas. “Don’t worry about the dishes. I’ll get those later.”

  “It’s no trouble, ma’am,” he said, rinsing the plates and grabbing the sponge.

  Mel watched on like a proud mama. She leaned in to Isobel and whispered. “The woman who gets that man will be a lucky lady.”

  Then she linked her arm in Isobel’s. “Now let’s get you to your first day on the job.” Her smile was infectious.

  Isobel wondered what kind of man was lucky enough to win her heart because she seemed like a pretty awesome chick.

  They exited out the same door Mack had slammed earlier and passed by a fenced in area with a chicken coop and several chickens walking around.

  Mel saw Isobel looking at it. “I like fresh eggs. It used to be a dog kennel but it’s hard to keep dogs around the place because of the horses, so we repurposed it.” She ran her hand along the chain link fence and smiled like she was laughing about some inside joke.

  Beyond the chicken coop were big fenced off pastures with a few horses in them. It wasn’t until they rounded the side of the house that Isobel’s breath caught, though.

  It was a real horse ranch.

  There were two big stables and beyond them, fenced off horse paddocks as far as the eye could see. They were mostly empty at the moment, except for one in the near distance where a man was standing in the center, running a horse in a circle with a lunge line. Even from this distance, Isobel could tell the man was huge—similar in size to Nicholas.

  A boy stood outside the paddock, leaning with his arms on the fence. Mel’s other son?

  Isobel looked back to the man guiding the horse. “Wow, is there something in the water here that makes the men come in extra large?”

  Mel laughed at that. “But Nicholas is from Bama, remember? That’s my husband, Xavier. The little one is our son, Dean.” She pointed at the boy on the fence. “And I thought shopping for groceries was bad when it was just me, Xavier, and the boys. Ever since we expanded the rescue and brought in the guys last year, I have to buy everything in bulk and I still go shopping once a week!”

  Isobel laughed. “I can imagine.”

  “Come on, the rest of the horses are stabled in preparation for getting vaccinated.” She gestured toward the closest stable.

  Isobel was immediately hit by the familiar smells of hay and horses as they entered through the wide double doors. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say the summer she’d spent with Rick and his family working at Northingham stables had saved her life. Seeing a functional family, feeling accepted for who she was—whatever her shape or size—and working every day with the animals had given her stability and sanity at a time when she was barely hanging on by a thread.

  She hadn’t been in a proper stable in almost a year and the scent memories were so strong, it was like she was that sixteen-year-old girl again. The sense of at homeness that washed over her was almost dizzying after being so desperate for a lifeline. For a ridiculous moment, she had to swallow against tears.

  “Isobel?” Mel questioned when she saw Isobel had stopped.

  Isobel blinked and hurried to join Mel’s side.

  Hunter was set up in the center of the stable with Reece, who held the reins of a brown mare. Reece rubbed down the horse’s nose, murmuring to her while Hunter leaned over and opened up a tool box. Instead o
f tools, though, there were medical supplies inside.

  Isobel’s eyes were stuck on Reece, though. In the short time since she’d last seen him, he’d changed clothes. He’d exchanged his linen hippie duds for jeans, a sleeveless shirt, and cowboy boots. And wait—his hair. She did a double take. Hadn’t he had dread locks? Now his blond hair was cropped close to his head.

  “Who’s this?” Reece asked Mel as she and Isobel arrived at the men’s side.

  “Um,” Isobel laughed a little, confused. “It’s me, Isobel. You met me up at the house just a little bit ago?”

  Mack walked by carrying a water bucket. “Didn’t your last girlfriend have trouble telling you two apart, too?”

  Oh. Duh, now it made sense. “Twins.”

  “Reece will tell you he’s the better half, but it’s all lies. I’m Jeremiah.” He dipped his head in a nod. He couldn’t exactly shake her hand since he was holding the horse’s reins.

  “If you’re done with pleasantries, I’ve got a job to do,” Hunter interrupted.

  Jeremiah’s eyebrows went up as he looked Hunter’s way, but he didn’t say anything else.

  “I’ll be upstairs in the office if you need anything.” Mel squeezed Isobel’s hand. “I’ll probably see you later but in case I don’t, I’ll leave a set of keys and the wifi password by your bedside.”

  “Thanks so much. For everything.” Isobel flashed her a warm smile that she returned before turning to go.

  Leaving Isobel with the surly vet. At least Jeremiah was still here. He seemed as nice as his brother.

  “How can I help?” Isobel asked.

  Hunter didn’t look her way, he just opened a sealed syringe packet. “You’re familiar with giving equine vaccinations?”

  His brusque manner was such a one-eighty from the man she’d met in the bar she would have thought this was the man with a twin, but nope. Apparently this was all him.

  “Yes. I’ve done it before.” Once. She’d done it once before, at least on a horse, when she was at Rick’s stables. Her only other experience was the semester she’d volunteered at a veterinary clinic near Cornell, but it had been a strictly small animal operation. She’d given tons of vaccinations to dogs, cats, and several guinea pigs. Since she’d been in her first year, the doctor hadn’t let her get much more hands on than that.

  She’d been more of a glorified animal wrangler, holding disgruntled cats and dogs down while the vet looked them over. But she’d die before admitting that to Hunter, especially after his intimidation tactics earlier when he’d been trying to talk her out of taking the position.

  He seemed to sense her hesitation anyway. “You’ll humor me if I want to keep up on my teaching skills?”

  He didn’t sound like he was being an ass about it. Isobel got the feeling that apart from whatever feelings he might have about her, when it came to his work, his first priority was for the animals in his care.

  “The best place to give a horse an injection is this triangular area on the neck.” He indicated the upper area of the horse’s neck and explained how there were bones above and major vessels below the area he indicated. She nodded along. It was nothing she hadn’t learned, but she appreciated the refresher.

  “Then before you inject, you pinch the horse’s skin, like this,” he pinched a small flap of the horse’s skin, “so they know you’re coming and aren’t startled.”

  He went on to demonstrate giving the injection safely, making sure to hit muscle and not a blood vessel.

  “Is there a place I can wash up?” Isobel looked around and saw a deep sink at the back of the stable right as Jeremiah pointed it out. She went and scrubbed her hands with soap, trying not to let her nerves get the better of her at the thought of Hunter watching her. Was he looking at her right now?

  Just think about the horses.

  They could sense unease and it was important to be as calm as possible when dealing with the intuitive animals. She took a deep breath in and then let it out again—trying not to think about how Hunter had instructed her to do the very same thing last night while he was buried deep inside—

  She twirled on her heel and walked back to where Jeremiah was leading another horse out of its stall. In the distance, she saw Mack leading the gelding who had just gotten his shot out of the stables. She knew it was important to let a horse move and exercise lightly after getting their shots to ease any achiness in the muscles.

  Jeremiah brought a dark brown mare toward them. The horse’s mane was glossy but she walked hesitantly. A clear indicator that she was in pain. Isobel’s brows furrowed as Jeremiah brought the mare to a halt.

  This place was a rescue. When Rick had first mentioned it, he told her some of the horses’ stories. How they were abandoned racehorses that were considered useless after they were no longer in their prime. Or how other horses came here after it was discovered they were mistreated by their owners. If Isobel thought about it too much she’d want to break something. Not exactly the attitude she needed to have when dealing with this big, beautiful creature.

  “Good morning, gorgeous.” Isobel held out her hand to the horse’s nose. Then, with her other hand she began to gently stroke along her wither, the equivalent of a horse’s shoulder.

  The mare turned her head toward Isobel, blowing out a puff of air through her nose, investigating her.

  “What’s her name?” Isobel asked, smiling and continuing to pat the horse.

  “This is Bright Beauty,” Jeremiah said.

  “Bright Beauty. You are a beautiful girl, aren’t you?” She leaned a little closer and blew lightly into the mare’s nose to let her start getting acquainted with her scent. It was how horses in the wild introduced themselves to one another. Made offers of friendship, as it were.

  Bright Beauty knickered in response and nudged Isobel’s face, blowing back. Friendship accepted.

  Isobel laughed and leaned her forehead against the horse. “I’m going to take real good care of you, Beauty. We’ve got to give you some medicine. It might sting for a second, but it will keep you healthy.” Isobel patted down her neck, stroking along the grain of her coat.

  “How’s the rehab with her going?” Hunter asked Jeremiah, running his hand along Beauty’s flank and down to her back leg.

  Isobel stepped back to watch. The horse shifted and her head dropped. More indicators that she was in pain.

  Isobel winced, her heart squeezing at the thought of the beautiful mare hurting. “What’s wrong with her?”

  “She was a show horse. Barrel jumping,” Jeremiah said. “She got hurt and her owner didn’t give her enough time to heal before jumping her again and reinjuring her even worse.”

  “Tore her suspensory ligaments in her hind legs,” Hunter said, feeling along the horse’s leg. “It takes between eight to twelve months for an injury like that to fully heal.”

  Jeremiah nodded. “The owners were real bastards. They were just going to put her down, but a friend of Mr. Kent’s let him and Mel know about it. Mr. Kent drove two days straight to pick her up and bring her home.”

  “How long has she been here?”

  “Just a little over a month.”

  A show horse. Isobel shook her head at the thought of her owners pushing her to the limit for their own selfish desires, even at the risk of her health.

  Do you want to be pretty or do you want to be a fat hog everybody makes fun of? Your appearance reflects on your father. Who’s going to trust a man with their business when his own daughter can’t show any self-control? Do you know how embarrassing it would be for your father if I have to take you to the plus size section to shop for you? Everyone would laugh at him. And to think, the name Isobel means beautiful.

  Isobel swallowed hard. God, would she ever be free of that woman’s voice in her head?

  Hunter finished his inspection of Beauty’s hind legs and stood back up. “The swelling has gone down some. Keep her on stall rest. Just ten minutes of walking a day to work out any soreness.”

 
; “Will do,” Jeremiah said.

  “What a beautiful, brave horse you are,” Isobel murmured, stroking down her mane. Then she turned sharply to Jeremiah. “She won’t go back to those people, will she? Even if she gets better?”

  It was Hunter who shook his head. “Once you meet Xavier, you’ll understand. He’s not a man who puts up with cruelty to horses.”

  “From what I hear, it was a good thing Mel was with him,” Jeremiah said. “Xavier was ready to pound that guy into the ground.”

  The more I heard about him, the more I liked Mel’s husband.

  “All right, everything looks good.”

  Hunter pulled open the package of another syringe. “Do you want to jump right in or would you like another demonstration?”

  For a second, her gaze connected with Hunter’s light blue eyes and she felt a flash of the…whatever it was that was so strong and overpowering last night. She didn’t even have words to describe it.

  He looked away almost instantly, though, and she swallowed against the disappointment.

  Not what you need right now.

  There. Those were some words to describe it.

  She squared her shoulders. “I’m ready.”

  Hunter nodded and held out the syringe.

  “Here we go, girl,” Isobel said, pinching the skin below her withers. Isobel administered the shot without a hitch. “There we go. That wasn’t so bad.”

  Hunter pointed to a small plastic sharps bucket he’d also brought and she deposited the used syringe.

  “Beauty’s ready for you, Mack,” Jeremiah called.

  Mack came over and, without a word to any of them, took Beauty’s reins.

  “Remember no more than ten minutes letting her walk around,” Hunter said. “Then she’s back on stall rest.”

  Mack nodded, his face never changing expression. At least until he took ahold of Beauty’s reins. Isobel saw him sneak her a sugar cube and whisper something in the mare’s ear right before they left the barn.

  They continued vaccinating the horses in assembly line fashion, Jeremiah bringing the horses out, her preparing the syringe, Hunter looking over the general health of the horse, then Mack taking them out to pasture after the shot was administered. After another few horses, Nicholas joined them in the stable and started the arduous task of mucking out stalls of the horses who had already had their turn.