by Sharon Dunn
To calm her nerves, she walked outside past several corrals containing different breeds of horses from quarter horses to miniatures and ponies. She crossed her arms over her chest and kept up a brisk pace until peace overtook the rising panic.
It’s not like beige was a unique color. Plenty of people probably wore that kind of hat. Still, the memory of the man’s sinister eyes narrowing as he looked at her made her keep walking. She stopped at a corral filled with Clydesdales. She watched owners and trainers bridle horses and lead them around the corral.
The day had warmed and the sun soothed her nerves. She closed her eyes. She had to let go of the notion that someone could come after her. The marshals knew what they were doing. Her fears about the prowlers had proved to be unfounded. Still, the memory of Josef’s words to her echoed in her brain: I will find you and kill you.
She opened her eyes and watched the horses awhile longer. A cluster of people slowly dispersed, leaving only a few stragglers. The man in the cap stood across the corral. Her breath caught even as her heart rate soared. He’d pulled his cap down so all she saw of his face was shadow and chin.
The man stepped in her direction.
She turned to run, smashing against hard muscle.
Alex gazed down at her. “What’s going on?”
“I...um...ah...” When she glanced across the corral, the man in the hat had vanished.
“You’re shaking.” He gripped her hands, his voice filled with concern.
Morgan struggled to pull it together, to at least manage the veneer of calm. What explanation could she possibly offer? “I thought somebody was following me, but I was wrong.”
He squeezed her hands a little tighter. “When I saw you turn the other way, I thought maybe you’d gone to check out the horses.”
She looked into his warm gentle eyes. She couldn’t lie to this man again, so she said nothing.
His voice held only compassion. “I can see that this has you upset. Why don’t we find a place to get a cup of coffee, and then we’ll go have a look at those horses?”
He demanded no answers or explanation from her for why she was so afraid. “I’m all right. Let’s go see the horses.” Being around the horses would help her regroup faster than a cup of coffee.
“Okay, we can do that.” He let go of her hands and scanned the corrals. “I think the lot that we want to look at is right over there.”
They walked through the labyrinth of corrals and spectators until they arrived at a fenced-in area containing six horses. “These horses are older quarter horses,” Alex explained. “Not showy, but good temperament.”
“You want a horse that doesn’t spook easily and is responsive to an inexperienced rider.” Morgan gripped the top railing of the fence as she studied the horses. “You can’t really tell much about them by standing here. Can I go in the corral?”
Alex shrugged. “I have no idea what the rules are about that. I guess you can do it at your own peril.”
As soon as she stepped into the corral, a sense of peace returned. She wandered among the horses, gauging their response to her, looking into their eyes, stroking their necks and backs, watching their reaction when she stepped into their peripheral vision. Horses tended to get jumpy when they thought something was coming at them from the side.
She patted the neck and mane of a chestnut gelding. “This one, I think.”
Alex flipped through his catalog. “That guy’s name is Chipper’s Boy.”
She stroked Chipper’s nose as he leaned into her touch. She looked into his dark eyes. “You’d love those kids, wouldn’t you?”
“Let’s go get settled so we can bid on him.” Alex’s voice fell softly on her ears. She glanced over at him and saw admiration in his eyes.
For the rest of the sale, Morgan kept looking over her shoulder trying to hide her anxiety from Alex. Why couldn’t she let go of her suspicions?
Three hours later, they were headed home with Chipper’s Boy loaded in the trailer.
Morgan settled into the passenger seat of the truck. She studied the curve of Alex’s ear, the laugh lines around his mouth and eyes. The way his cowboy hat angled slightly to the left. Alex focused on the road ahead.
She appreciated that he hadn’t pressed her for answers she couldn’t give. He had a gentle unassuming quality that made him easy to be around.
“I had a good day,” said Morgan.
“Me, too,” he said. “The horses are my favorite part of the job.”
“But you don’t get to spend as much time with the horses as you’d like?”
“Take the good with the bad. It beats sitting in an office with no windows ten hours a day.”
“Is that what you used to do?”
“I worked for a financial firm. I like an office without walls or windows.”
She laughed. “I like wide-open spaces best, too. I feel like I can get a deep breath.” Something they had in common. “What was the reason for the job change?”
His jaw tightened. “That was a lifetime ago.”
She detected a twinge of pain in his words. Even he had things he didn’t want to talk about. So they both had secrets.
Alex checked his side and rearview mirrors. Morgan craned her neck.
“That car’s been behind us for a while.” She purged her voice of the fear that settled in her stomach.
Alex nodded. “Seems like it, doesn’t it? Probably just a man headed in the same direction as us.”
And maybe she had just imagined that the man in the baseball hat was following her. Her heightened awareness made her assume things, which only fueled her fears. She had to let go, had to learn to relax.
You’re safe now, Morgan. You’re safe.
She wanted to believe that.
FOUR
Alex’s hand curled into a fist and tension knotted up his back as he stared across the corral. He didn’t have to hear the conversation between Morgan and Craig to know that Craig was giving her trouble. The teen’s body language and snarling expression revealed the tone of the exchange.
Morgan had asked Alex not to interfere. She wanted to win Craig over on her terms. He wanted to respect her wishes, but it took every ounce of restraint he had not to jump in. Twin twelve-year-old girls waited for their first riding lesson. Morgan had saddled the first horse and pointed toward Craig to get the second saddle off the fence. The boy rested his arm on the fence and lifted his chin in defiance of her request.
That was it. He didn’t like seeing Morgan treated this way. This kid was out of line. Alex jumped over the post fence and stalked toward the saddle. He lifted it with a sideways glance toward Craig. “There’s a stall gate latch that needs to be repaired. Why don’t you go take care of that?”
“Sure, Mr. Reardon. I can do that for you.” After a disdainful glance toward Morgan, Craig meandered through the corral toward the gate.
Alex flung the saddle over the second horse while the two girls, Debbie and Doris, waited off to one side.
“Thanks, Alex,” said Morgan. The exasperation was evident in her voice as she looked over at Craig entering the stable. She turned her attention back toward her students. “Since you watched me do the first saddle, why don’t both of you come over and do the second one?”
The girls grimaced at each other, shrugged their shoulders and trudged toward the horse.
“Don’t be afraid,” Alex encouraged.
Both of the girls had ginger hair and an abundance of freckles. They stepped toward the horse, consulting each other in whispered tones. Doris had been the more talkative of the twins when their mother had dropped them off. Now both of them had fallen silent as they glanced nervously at Morgan.
“Doris, grab the front strap from underneath the horse and cinch it up,” Alex said.
His
prompting seemed to trigger their memory for what they were supposed to do.
Morgan stood beside Alex but spoke to the twins. “Go ahead and run through the steps. I’ll stop you if I see anything incorrect.” Morgan crossed her arms and continued to watch the girls while she leaned in to talk to Alex. “Craig would have gotten the saddle for me eventually. He’s just testing his boundaries.”
“I couldn’t stand to watch it. And I don’t like the way he’s treating you.”
Morgan raised her voice. “Debbie, remember you don’t want any of that strap hanging loose. Hook the stirrup to the saddle horn if that makes it easier to see.” She watched for a moment. “There you go.”
Debbie turned toward Morgan and grinned at her mistake, jerking her shoulders up to her ears while her cheeks turned red.
Alex continued to speak in a hushed tone while he kept his eyes on the twins. “I could find a dozen other kids in town who want this job and wouldn’t be this kind of trouble.”
“You said yourself you want to help him. His conflict is with me.” Morgan grabbed Alex’s wrist. “Please, don’t fire him. I think the money from this job is the only income he and his father have right now. Craig mentioned something this morning about his father losing his janitorial job.”
Alex felt a pang of guilt. He wanted the kid to have a shot at something better than what he had, but Morgan didn’t deserve to be disrespected. “I’m not going to stand by and watch him mess with you like that. He needs to know that’s not right.”
Doris raised her hands in triumph. “We got it.” She turned to her sister for a high five.
“Give him some time,” Morgan said in a low voice before walking over to the girls. “Let’s check the tightness on the front and back strap.” Morgan placed her fingers between the saddle strap and the horse. “Good job—tight enough so it’s not going to fall off, but loose enough so it won’t dig into the horse’s side.”
“I can’t wait to race,” said Debbie.
Morgan laughed. “I appreciate the enthusiasm, but you gotta walk before you run, honey. Alex and I will lead you ladies around the arena and then you can ride on your own in there. Maybe for your second lesson, we’ll hit the trails.” Morgan glanced over at Alex. “Does that work for you?”
Morgan’s dark eyes danced with delight. She had a natural teaching ability. He had a pile of paperwork to deal with, but he would much rather be out here in the warm sun helping someone discover how wonderful riding could be. Being out here with Morgan made it doubly nice. Whatever task was at hand, they worked well together. “Morgan is right. We don’t want to rush anything.”
“Good then,” said Morgan. “Doris, go stand by your horse and Alex will show you how to get on.”
While they led the twins around the outdoor arena, Craig came out of the stable and then disappeared around the side. He returned a few minutes later holding a gas can.
Wonder what he’s up to.
He needed to let go of his suspicions. If Morgan was willing to be patient with the boy, he could be, too.
Morgan’s laughter pulled him from his thoughts. She handed the reins up to Debbie. “I think you’re ready for a little solo. Remember not to hold the reins too tight.”
Alex saw fear flash across Doris’s face. “Just a gentle walk around the arena. We’ll be right here watching,” he reassured.
“Remember what I said. The horses are very sensitive to your signals.” Morgan stepped backward without turning away from the twins.
Doris nodded and pressed her heels into the horse’s belly. Debbie took off a moment later. They bounced in the saddle, not matching their movements to the rhythm of the horse.
Morgan leaned back against the fence close to where Alex stood. Her proximity reminded him of that initial flush of attraction he’d felt at the horse sale.
“We should be seeing it any minute,” Alex said as he watched the girls circle the arena.
“See what?” She leaned even closer to him.
“The smile.” He tilted his head toward Debbie. “Wait for it.” Debbie’s features compressed into a look of extreme concentration. She circled the arena several more times. With each round, her stiff posture relaxed as did the tightness of her expression. By her third time around the arena, a smile formed on her face. He’d seen it a thousand times.
“Favorite part of my job,” he said.
“You have a teacher’s heart.” Morgan pressed her back against the fence and propped a leg up on a lower rung.
The look of contentment he saw on her face made him smile. He wanted to know her better. “Did you have any brothers and sisters when you were growing up in Wyoming?”
She pushed herself off the fence, the delight melting from her countenance. “Alex, you have to stop. I’m happy to answer any question that relates to this job, but don’t pry into my personal life.”
Her voice was like the cold edge of a knife slicing through him. The question had risen from natural curiosity. That’s how friendships grew, by getting to know more about a person. “I didn’t mean to step out of bounds.”
Her words were softer than before. “Maybe we should just focus on the work that we have to do here.” Her eyes held a pleading quality, as though she wanted to say more.
A dozen theories floated through his head about why she was such a fortress. He could entertain all sorts of speculations about who Morgan Smith was. None of it helped him to get to know her better. She wasn’t interested in sharing about herself. The bottom line was she didn’t want anything but a professional relationship with him. “I wasn’t intending to be nosy.” He held out his hand to her. “Truce.”
She shook his hand. Her fingers feathered lightly over his calloused palm. “Truce.”
Heat rose up his neck in response to her touch. “Back to work for both of us.”
She pulled free of his grip. “I need to get these girls off the horses in time for their mom’s return. I’ve got four horses yet that need to be exercised.”
“Four?” Exercising four horses would be a full day for one person. Craig’s duties didn’t extend to riding the horses.
“Yes, Bluebell hasn’t been ridden for a couple of days. I’ve taken her out as often as I can. I have yet to meet Bluebell’s owner. Does he or she ever come out to ride that beautiful animal?”
“Bluebell belongs to a woman named Stephanie. She’s boarded the horse for six months. I think I’ve seen her half a dozen times.” He turned back toward the guesthouse.
“She’s not a bad horse, just high-strung. She needs someone to work with her.” Morgan sounded indignant. “That really is the owner’s responsibility.”
He agreed that Stephanie wasn’t a very responsible owner, but he had to keep his opinions about his clients to himself. Today was Friday. The guests would be showing up soon, and the weekend would be nonstop interaction and work with lots of people wanting to ride. Morgan was already shouldering a lot of the work duties. “Tell you what. I’ll go inside and get a few things done. By the time you’ve gotten the twins’ horses settled and finished the lesson, I can come back out and we’ll take the horses out together.”
“Having company always makes the time go faster.” A faint smile graced her full mouth. “I’ll have the horses saddled up and ready.” He watched her walk back toward the twins, her long dark hair waving in the wind.
Was he a glutton for punishment or what? She’d just made it abundantly clear that she didn’t want him butting into her life, yet he’d looked for an excuse to spend time with her.
He shook his head and strode back toward the guesthouse.
* * *
After helping the twins unsaddle, rub down their horses and clamber into the car with their mother, Morgan returned to the stable. She hadn’t seen Craig since he’d left the lesson and stomped off to the stable. Despi
te his attitude, the boy did have a strong work ethic. He was probably in one of the other buildings doing whatever repairs needed to be done. Morgan picked up two bridles off the hay bale where she had instructed the twins to leave them.
Most of the tack was stored in narrow locked cabinets on the opposite wall from the horse stalls. Morgan retrieved a key and opened the door to the cabinet. A scraping sound caused her to take a step back. A spur that had been hooked to the cupboard door fell into the hay by her feet.
She picked up the spur and fingered the star-shaped rowel, which was designed to dig into a horse to make him go faster. Use of spurs was not a method she favored. If she hadn’t moved in time, the metal could have cut her or damaged an eye. No one would accidently put a spur up there.
Would Craig be so malicious as to do something like that, knowing that she was the only one who had a key to the tack cupboard? She debated whether to tell Alex or not. He was already on the verge of firing the kid. And what if she was wrong? What if a careless client had placed the spur up there? She would have no chance of winning Craig over. As resentful as the boy was, she just couldn’t picture him doing anything that would harm her physically. His defiance was much more up front.
Maybe it would be best not to tell Alex. She shook her head when she thought about him.
A spark of attraction had passed between them when he’d held her hand to call a truce. The fluttering of her heart at his touch caught her by surprise. The last thing she needed to do was fall for the boss. She touched her hand to her heart as the familiar sadness returned. If she couldn’t talk about who she used to be, how could she get close to anyone? Connection happened when two people fully knew each other. That wasn’t going to happen...not until all of this was over and the people behind the baby-smuggling ring were caught.
At least Alex seemed to finally understand that she didn’t want to talk about the past. The marshals had suggested that she create a new background in addition to having a new name. She couldn’t bring herself to live with that much falsehood. When she had first moved to Des Moines, she thought the best strategy would be to keep her distance from everyone. But then an intense loneliness had set in.
