by Talty, Jen
“I get the feeling that Stormy knows you.” She took JD’s hand and placed a couple apple slices in his palm. She’d deal with her thoughts on Ron after she figured out what the heck was going on with Stormy and Coco. “Does he look at all familiar to you?”
“He looks like every other black mustang I’ve seen, which is in the hundreds.”
“How often have wild mustangs been mixed with trained ones?” she asked, lifting his arm and holding it out toward the horse she’d named Stormy. She made a clicking noise.
“Never. At least not on my watch,” he said, shifting his gaze. “You’ve got some slices for Coco?”
“Yup,” Annette said as she filled her palm. She made a clicking noise. “Easy boy.”
“Come on.” JD made eye contact with Stormy.
The mustang continued to inch closer.
“Nose,” JD said softly.
Stormy tapped his snout to the underside of JD’s hand before gently taking one of the slices.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” JD said, staring into the dark gaze of a horse that wasn’t wild at all.
“Don’t be too damned, Coco isn’t responding so sweetly.” Annette pressed her back against JD’s. “Easy fella,” she said.
Coco’s eyes widened before narrowing while his nostrils pushed out a puff of air. The horse shook his head, making a painful noise.
Out of the corner of Annette’s eye, she saw Stormy do something similar. “I think it’s time for the go-to-shit plan,” she said as calmly as she could, trying not to make any sudden movements.
“Agreed,” JD said. “On three.”
Stormy raised up on his hind legs, and Coco scraped at the ground before charging in their direction.
“Three!” She leaped for the fence, flinging herself over the top and landing face-first in the mud next to JD.
He reached out and took a large piece of wet dirt from her hair. “If you wanted to mud wrestle, all you had to do was ask.” He ran a thumb across her cheek. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know what has the bigger bruise. My left butt cheek or my ego.”
“I’ll take a look at your ass and let you know which one is worse.” He helped her to a sitting position, brushing the mud and dirt across her clothes, making it worse.
She batted his hands away.
He leaned closer but immediately jerked back when Ron’s voice screeched through the air.
“I don’t like saying I told you so.” Ron stood at her feet with his hands on his hips. He shook his head as if he were a disappointed teacher or something.
“Then don’t say it.” She jumped to her feet, doing her best to put her mud-covered self together. She turned her attention to JD. “I want in that pen with those two horses, without Ron or Larry around.”
“Why on earth would you want to do that?” Ron asked.
She kept her focus on JD, who narrowed his stare as he glanced past her at the horses, who seemed to have calmed down some and were eating the apple slices off the ground.
“JD. I need a word with you, alone,” Ron said.
“Not right now,” JD said with a stern tone. “You and Larry can go home. I’ll make sure these two get back to the big pasture.”
“No. No. No.” Ron waved his hand in the air. “This is my department. I’ll take care of it. Besides, she’s caused enough problems for one day. She nearly got both of you killed.”
“I did no such thing.” She let out a long breath. “I just want some time in that pen without anyone around, except maybe you, because I’m not totally stupid or crazy.”
“I’ll make it happen,” JD said.
3
“I don’t know what the fuck you think you’re doing.”
JD wasn’t so sure either. “Ron. I’m just getting a feel for a new employee.”
“That’s bullshit.” Ron tossed his bag into the back of his pickup. “It makes no sense to put her in the pen without me there.”
“I might be a numbers guy, but I’m perfectly capable, if you haven’t forgotten.”
“That’s not the point,” Ron said, yanking open the driver’s side door. “You’ve humiliated me in front of someone who will be under my charge. Now she’s never going to respect me as her superior.”
“Honestly, Ron, you’re acting like a toddler, and if she doesn’t respect you, it will be because of that, not because I let her play with a couple of wild mustangs.”
“This isn’t the way we do things on this ranch,” Ron continued. “Chuck demanded that everyone follow the chain of command and respect the rank. You totally disrespected me. Even your parents would be disappointed.”
JD wiggled his fingers. His pulse raced out of control. There were a lot of people on this ranch that had known his parents. Some of them might have even known them better than JD.
But he didn’t need to be constantly reminded of that.
Especially by Ron.
“If you want to play who outranks who here, let’s not forget who owns the ranch.” A sour taste filled his gut. If his parents were going to be disappointed by anything, it would be his lack of humility right now.
“You’re doing this all because of one mistake, aren’t you?” Ron folded his arms. “That happened months ago, and it wasn’t all my fault.”
Oh. Yes, it was, and it cost the ranch a good chunk of change. “That’s not why I’m doing this. Come on, you have to admit, those two mustangs were behaving oddly.”
“Because they are wild animals.”
“You saw that Stormy—”
“Stormy?” Ron asked with a puzzled expression.
“Just an on-the-spot name. Anyway, Stormy knew to lower his nose when I asked him to.”
“You had an apple in your hand. He took it, and then he charged.”
That wasn’t exactly how it happened, but from the other side of the pen, JD supposed that’s how it could’ve been seen. “We can stand here and argue, but I’m not changing my mind. She’s getting her time in the pen.”
“Have it your way. But if she gets hurt, or worse, gets herself killed, this is on you. Not me.”
JD held up his hands. “I take total responsibility.”
Ron climbed behind the steering wheel and turned the key. Damn old thing backfired before it made a loud revving noise indicating it needed a new muffler.
JD stood there for a good five minutes, watching the trail of dust kick up behind the tires. He rubbed his temples for a good thirty seconds before turning on his heels and heading back toward the small pen.
“All right, he’s gone. Now mind telling me what the hell is going on here?” JD leaned against the fence and stared up at Annette. He had to admit he’d been more than intrigued by her desire to be alone with the animals. But he didn’t like getting a tongue-lashing from someone he once admired and looked up to.
She sat on the top railing, slicing an apple. She’d pulled her mud-filled hair into a ponytail at the nape of her neck, and her once-white shirt would probably never be any other color but brown. “You do agree that Coco and Stormy were behaving off, right?”
“I do. But I don’t understand why I had to send my manager away.”
“Because I think he’s the problem.”
JD ran a hand across his face. He dug into all his pockets, searching for a toothpick, but he had none. “How could he be the reason Coco and Stormy charged at us?”
“They aren’t wild. Well, at least I think they were trained and then re-released only to be captured again. That’s why the other horses treated them badly.”
JD held his hand up. “That makes sense to me, but I still don’t get how Ron could have anything to do with their odd behavior while we were in the pen with them.”
“Mark, my husband, he did a lot of crazy things, including tightening the bucking strap or using one that would cause pain on my competitors’ horses the few times I did do rodeos when I first moved to Florida. I suspected for a long time, but I couldn’t prove it, even after I caught him,
which is another reason I gave it up.”
“That’s a shitty thing to do.” JD climbed up on the fence, sitting so close that his skin pressed against hers, soaking up all the heat. He grappled with the idea that he sent Ron away simply because she asked him to, and he would do just about anything she wanted.
That thought scared him, not just because he could absolutely envision having her wake up in his arms, but she had a kid.
He didn’t do kids.
“Mark was a shitty guy,” she said. “I noticed a lot of things going on inside the rodeo circuit that I didn’t like, but because of Mark’s gambling issues, I could never do the right thing.” She turned her head. Her long thick lashes blinked wildly over her baby blues. “That’s been the story of my life ever since I was a little girl. First with my father and what he was doing and then with Mark.”
A single tear rolled down her dirt-streaked face.
He reached out and wiped it away. “You were a child. You didn’t have any power when it came to what your father did, and don’t beat yourself up over Mark. Kitty’s first husband wasn’t any better. We’ve all made mistakes, and people like Mark are really good at exploring others’ weaknesses. You were a victim in both cases.”
“I refuse to be a victim. I don’t want my son to see me that way. I want him to know I did everything I could to ensure he had a better start than me, even if that means making an enemy out of Ron.” She pointed at Stormy. “The old me would have maybe taken you aside and maybe in a timid voice might have said something about what I was thinking. And even though I’ve been shaking like an earthquake on the inside, terrified I’ve just lost my job, I can’t be complacent in my own life anymore.”
“Okay. So, how do you want to handle this?” Wow. Talk about being impressed.
“I’m totally sold on the idea that Stormy knows you. So, I want you to lure him closer. I’ll keep an eye on Coco. He seems to be a little more unsettled.”
“Let’s get this show on the road.” JD took the apple slices from her hand and slowly slipped from the fence into the pen. He took five strides toward the center with his arm outstretched. Ever since he’d been a little boy, he’d loved two things.
Horses and money.
And not always in that order.
Numbers did lie, and while horses were unpredictable, once you got to know them, their loyalty was about as unbreakable as a dog’s.
Stormy lifted his head and scuffed his hoof against the ground.
JD sucked in a deep breath and continued to close the gap.
“Don’t go too deep,” Annette said. “I don’t trust Coco.”
The closer JD got to Stormy, the more he felt a familiar bond. He’d trained hundreds of horses in his career, most of which he’d forgotten about quickly. Those that he became attached to, he kept on the ranch or pulled into his personal stable.
That said, there were a few he enjoyed training but had to let go for various reasons. He got a sinking feeling that Stormy was actually Patch, a horse he’d trained about two years ago and sold to, of all people, Bella Brothers. Would that family ever get their claws out of the Whiskey family?
“Hey there, Patch,” JD whispered. “Is that you, old man?”
Patch kept his gaze locked with JD as he inched closer.
JD didn’t move, leaving his palm flat while Patch took the pieces of apple from his hand.
Meanwhile, Coco nervously paced at the backside of the fence, stopping every once in a while to kick his hind legs against the fence.
“You were right; I know this horse.” Without making sudden movements, JD lifted his other hand and gently scratched Patch’s nose. “What’s going on with you?”
“JD?” Annette’s sweet voice cut through the thick air. “We’ve got company.”
“What do you mean?” JD didn’t want to tear his gaze from Patch in fear of losing his trust.
“Five o’clock. There is someone behind the—”
Suddenly, Coco lowered his head all the way to the ground before raising his front legs high in the air. Patch did a quick three-sixty before taking off in a full gallop toward Coco.
“Jump the fence,” JD said as calmly as he could while he raced toward Annette.
Patch got between Annette and Coco, but Annette still took a good swift kick in the side before crawling under the fence.
JD flipped himself over the top railing, landed on his feet, and helped her to a standing position. “Are you okay?”
“This time I’d say my body is more bruised than my ego.”
A noise behind the barn caught his attention. “You stay put. Got it?”
“Sure thing,” she mumbled.
He took off jogging around the east side of the pen, that way he could come around the top side of the barn. If someone had been back there, and someone managed to spook the horses, JD would be able to see them even if they tried to run in any direction.
Slowing his pace, he creeped around the corner, and his blood boiled.
Ron.
Only question is how did he spook the horses?
Or better yet, why does he have two tamed mustangs in a lot of wild ones?
JD leaned against the barn and watched Ron slink between bushes and trees, letting him get away, though not without snapping a few images on his phone first. He waited until he watched Ron slip into his pickup about a mile away before turning and heading back to the pen where panic gripped his heart.
Annette stood inside the pen, only two feet from Patch.
Quickly, he scanned the immediate area and let out a sigh of relief when he saw Coco locked in the holding stall. With a calmer heartbeat, JD continued down the path until he came to the holding stall. Coco glanced up at him with pain in his big brown eyes.
JD snagged some apple slices and stretched out his arm. Reluctantly, Coco took them from his hands. “You poor thing,” he whispered.
Annette had Patch in a nose hug, which made JD nervous. But it also sent his mind down a dangerous path. “We did have company, and it was Ron.”
“I know he’s been here forever, and I’m a nobody on this ranch, but I don’t trust him.”
“As of this moment, I don’t either, and I’m going to need to have a chat with Georgia Moon and JB tonight. For now, we don’t say anything to anyone else until we know more.”
“I agree.” She continued to rub and scratch Patch as if they were old friends.
“He’s still unpredictable,” JD said.
“I know. But he saved me from getting trampled over by that one. I think he’s reacting to something.”
JD nodded. “Yeah. Fear.”
“Fear wouldn’t necessarily make them act as if they were in pain, and that is exactly how they are behaving.” She slipped from the pen and leaned against the fence, resting her hand on his thigh and staring up at him with pleading blue eyes. “I want to have them examined from head to toe, and I want to be there when the vet does it. Or at the very least, I don’t want Ron to be anywhere near them.”
“I’ll make that happen.” He pulled his cell phone from his back pocket. “I’ll have the horses taken over to my personal barn, and you and I will deal with this in the morning.”
“Thank you.”
He jumped from the fence. “For what?”
“For trusting and believing in me.”
He tilted her chin. The setting sun shined over her light-brown hair, casting a fiery glow in the evening sky. He lifted his Stetson and leaned in, gently pressing his lips over her tender ones while his mind screamed at him to stop. Kissing her would be a big mistake. She wasn’t the kind of woman he’d easily be able to walk away from.
But he’d have to.
She had a kid.
He didn’t do kids.
That thought snapped him back to reality. “We better get a move on if we’re going to get these two back to my barn before dark.”
* * *
“I’m going to have Heather and the doctor meet me at my barn first thing
in the morning.” JD twisted a toothpick around in his mouth as he rocked back and forth on the front porch of the old manager’s quarters, which now housed Annette and her son Tony.
He glanced over his shoulder, but Annette must have gone upstairs to give Tony a bath and put him down for the night. All through dinner, there had been an awkward tension between him and Annette, but he wasn’t sure if it was because of the kiss earlier.
Or because he acted like a moron around her son.
“Heather can’t stand Ron,” JB said. “I emailed you all her list of grievances with him, and one of them was how he brought in this last grouping of mustangs.”
“I wasn’t thrilled when I read that.” Georgia Moon sat on the steps, leaning against the side with her legs stretched out. “Especially since JD has told him more than once he wants to tag the horses the second they land in the corral, not a day or two later.”
“His excuse the first time was lame, but this last time we have to give it to him,” JD said. “His mother really was sick, and he left that day pretty quickly.”
“I know this isn’t my place or even my part of this business, but you invited me into the conversation.” Luke sat across from Georgia Moon, two steps lower, facing her with his hat tipped low over his eyes as if he were napping. “But tagging shouldn’t be something anyone has to tell Ron, especially since he’s the one who reamed JD’s ass out back in the day when JD was just a ranch hand.”
JD laughed. “I’d forgotten about that, but Luke’s right. I’d knocked off work early after bringing in a group of wild horses, and I didn’t tag them or have anyone observe them with me. He lectured me for weeks about protocol and why we have it. That’s not the kind of mistake or procedure he’s going to ignore unless he’s got a reason, and I can’t think of any valid one.”
“We’ve become complacent when it comes to Ron,” Georgia Moon said. “He helped train each one of us, so we feel like we owe him something. But he’s screwing up left and right, and we’ve been enabling him.”
“What concerns me more is the possible connection to Robert and Bella Brothers,” JD said. Just because Robert was behind bars, that didn’t mean he couldn’t reach out from prison and do some damage, especially when his daughter still had an ax to grind when it came to the Whiskey family. “Ron has recommended two ranch hand hires from the Brothers’ ranch. I rejected both.”
