“Holland, calm down. We need you. The horses need you. And your students need you. You’re an awesome equestrian instructor.”
“What students?” She threw her hands up into the air. “Neither of my clients showed up today. That’s two days in a row without any students, I have no fucking clue what’s going on.”
“Did you call them?” Braden sat up finally getting invested in our conversation.
“Yes, but I haven’t heard back yet.” Holland marched to pick up her boots and then headed off to her room.
“Does she always have such problems with your neighbor?”
“Welcome to my life, yes, it is part of an everyday occurrence.” I blew my hair out of my face and gave him a tired smile.
“Do you want me to go talk to Reid? Maybe it will help since I’m kind of a neutral party.”
“I’m going with you.” Holland must have been listening because she came running back down the hall.
“Holland, that defeats the idea of him being a neutral party. Let Braden go alone. You’re likely to start a fight with your temper. What you really need to do is call your students and figure out what the hell is going on.”
“Fine.” She acquiesced but with a ton of reluctance.
I smiled at him. God, it was nice to have him around.
“Promise not to let him get to you?” I asked, already knowing that almost nothing got under Braden’s skin, so I didn’t need to worry about my uppity neighbor.
“I promise. I’ll be back in a bit.” He dropped a quick kiss to my lips and then headed out.
When I snapped out of my lusty thoughts about how great his ass looked in jeans, Paris was grinning at me like a fool. “You like him a lot, don’t you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe if I had a moment to breathe without something happening, I might actually get to analyze my feelings.”
“London Kelly, I think that you are blind.” Paris whistled as she went back to the work.
I heaved myself up and joined her in the kitchen and grabbed a dishtowel, drying the dishes as she handed them to me. “Yeah, I like him, but he scares me.”
“Why in the world does that man scare you? If anything, he should be making you feel secure.” Paris continued washing the plates and wasn’t paying any attention to me. I was thankful as it gave me time to try and figure out what the hell was going on. But that didn’t work out well because the harder I tried to think about it the more my head started pounding, along with my heart. It was like I had just drunk a giant coffee chased by a Monster Energy drink.
“Sure he’d protect me as in not letting anyone or anything harm me physically, but I’m not so sure about emotionally.”
“You’re worried about your heart?” Paris turned off the faucet and faced me.
“Yeah, I think—” But I didn’t get to finish my statement because Braden swung open our front door, and he was followed by one very gorgeous, very pissed off man I had never met before.
Holland came down the hall, and all it took was a single glance at the anger riding her features for me to know exactly who the man was. “You! How dare you bring this...this...asshole into our home.” Holland pointed at the man.
“Holland, that’s enough.” Braden held up both hands. “Why don’t you three take a seat? I think you are going to be very interested in what Mr. Brooks has to say.”
Paris and I sat without any issue, but Holland looked as if she was trying to decide if throwing something at the man would be a better use of her time. After a second, I grabbed her elbow and tugged her down onto the couch next to me.
To his credit, Reid didn’t look all that put out by the scene, and gave each of us a warm smile.
“Hi, I’m sorry that I haven’t come over and introduced myself yet, but”—he glanced over at Holland—“someone has done a very thorough job of letting me know that I wasn’t invited.”
“Humph.” Holland crossed her arms and turned her head to look away from him.
“Anyway, Braden told me about what happened to the horses, and I’m sorry. I wish I would have known so I could have helped. My stables aren’t full yet and your horses would have been more than welcome to stay there.”
“Yeah, for how much?” Holland asked snidely.
“Will you stop acting like some spoiled rotten...I’ve about had enough from you.”
Holland jumped to her feet. “You’ve had enough from me? You’ve had enough?”
“Will you let me speak? First, I wouldn’t charge anything, which is why I came over. I offered to let your cattle use my property for free as well, all I asked was that you help with the labor since I hadn’t hired anyone yet.”
“Wait.” I stopped Holland before she jumped in. “You offered to let our cattle roam on your land for free? Then where did the eighteen dollars an acre come from?”
“I have no clue, but I never said any such thing. Look, you three have a nice ranch and beautiful stables for Western riding, but that isn’t my forte. I’m a breeder and trainer; I deal strictly with thoroughbreds. During the winter months, I house a lot of horses for clients, but during race season, my stables are bare except for my own stock or if I’m training or rehabilitating. I have no problems helping a neighbor out. Despite what some”—he turned his focus on Holland—“think of me, I’m not a bad person. I love animals, and I want to get along with my neighbors.”
“I don’t get this...why would Ryan lie about this? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Think about it. Another strain on the checkbook is just another way to hurt the ranch.” Braden flexed his fingers and then moved his hands to rest on his hips.
“But we didn’t take him up on it, we’ve just been working around it instead.”
“And now other things are happening to ruin the ranch,” Braden offered.
“Mr. Brooks—”
“Call me Reid.”
“Reid, I’m not trying to start any problems, and you don’t have to answer me if you don’t want, but did you offer Ryan a job while he was with you?”
“No, ma’am. Poaching other people’s employees isn’t really something I care to do.”
I turned my attention to Holland, and her cheeks were red. Good, maybe she was feeling embarrassed for the way she’d been treating our neighbor.
“I’m getting a drink, anyone want anything? Mr. Brooks?” I fought back my laugh as Holland asked this between gritted teeth. She’d been fine with hating the guy, and she almost looked disappointed that he wasn’t the villain she wanted him to be.
Reid, who had been watching her as well, cleared his throat. “I would love to, but I do have to get back. I want you all to know that I meant what I said. You are welcome to use my land, and if you need anything, just holler. I gave my number to your boyfriend here.” He nodded to Braden.
I wasn’t sure if I liked having Braden referred to as my boyfriend, but I didn’t hate it either, so I didn’t correct him.
Once Reid left, I knew we had a bigger problem to face—Ryan. He’d lied to us and tried to extort money from us. “Do you think he was planning to take the money and keep it?” I turned to Paris, waiting for her answer.
“I don’t know, but I do know that I don’t trust him anymore, and I don’t want people I don’t trust working for us. We should find out if Wally was in on this.”
“No. There’s no way.” I’d never believe that of Wally. He and his wife Ann had been like a second set of parents to us growing up.
“But you said that Wally went with him.” Paris was the one being tough, which was a shock since she was the motherly sort.
“Paris, no. We’ve known Wally our whole lives. He was Dad’s best friend.”
“Don’t care. You need to find out.” Paris turned to Braden. “Can you give Ryan one of those no-trespass tickets or whatever?”
He nodded. “Yeah, once London is done, I can issue him a no trespass and enter it into the system just in case he shows back up. You’ll need to mail him his final check too.”
>
“That’s fine by me.”
Holland finally rejoined just as she was hanging up her phone. When she looked toward us, tears were in her eyes.
“That was Ben.”
“The fire inspector?” Braden asked.
“Yeah. His daughter missed her riding lesson. Well, he was finally getting back to me, and it seems someone called him and left a message saying that we were suspending lessons indefinitely. He said that he just registered Abbie for another stable and paid the tuition in full, but if anything happens he’ll let us know.”
“That doesn’t make sense, no one called him,” I said, completely and utterly confused as to what exactly was going on.
“I know,” Holland snapped. “He said it was a man’s voice.”
“What the fuck?”
“Ryan,” Paris chimed in. “What else is that jerk going to try to mess up?”
“Nothing if I can help it.” Because the next time I saw Ryan, I was going to have him escorted off the property by Braden. “Holland, call the rest of the parents and check in with them to see if they got the same call. Let them know that it was made in error and lessons haven’t been suspended. There is a folder in the top drawer of my desk that has all the students who have inquired about lessons. You can start calling them if there are any openings.”
“I’m on it.” Holland headed back toward my office.
I bit my bottom lip with a heavy sigh. “This was unbelievable.”
Braden pulled out his phone, put it on speaker, and dialed. After a few rings, someone answered.
“This is Ben.”
“Hey, it’s Braden, I have a strange question for you. By any chance do you still have that voice mail you received from Iron Horse Stables?”
“I think so. If not, it is in my deleted messages and I have thirty days to restore it. Why?”
“Can you do whatever you need to do to retrieve it and then forward it to me? No one from the ranch called you, so we want to add this to the file of weird events that have been occurring.”
“You got it. I’m on it now.”
Braden and Ben disconnected, and we sat in silence, which was stupid because this could take ten minutes or ten hours.
Thankfully, it took less, because almost as soon as I had the thought, Braden’s phone pinged. He hit a few buttons and, once again, put his phone on speaker and set it on the table.
“Hello, Mr. Stinson, I’m calling you from Iron Horse Stables...”
My gut wrenched, and I shoved the edge of my fist into my mouth to hold back any noises.
“I’m sorry to leave this on your voicemail, but we are unable to keep the stables operating at this time. We are hoping that in the near future there will be some changes to the management and that the stables and ranch will return to the smooth operation you once knew. We hope that you are able to find a new training facility for Abbie, and we will notify you if anything changes.”
When the message ended, I locked eyes with Braden. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to, there was no tiptoeing around this. We’d all recognized Ryan’s voice. We knew that he was the one who left that voicemail.
I jumped and turned at a knock on the front door and then groaned, “What now?”
Braden beat me to the door and opened it to a cocky looking Ryan facing us. I had to fight back my temper, I wanted to lunge forward and wipe that smirk off his face.
“Afternoon, ladies.” Ryan smiled at Braden, probably thinking his comment was a barb.
“Ryan, stay there.” I walked to him, refusing to allow him into my home. I felt Braden move to stand at my back. “We spoke with Reid Brooks today, we know about the money and that he wasn’t going to charge us to use his fields.”
“Bullshit. He said fourteen dollars.”
“Interesting, a month ago it was eighteen. Can’t you keep your story straight?” I was pissed that he’d tried to take advantage of us after everything my dad had done for him not to mention all the chances we’d given him.
“I don’t know, can’t remember,” Ryan snapped.
“Was that before or after he offered you a job?” I really just wanted to tell him to get the hell off my property, but I knew everyone else needed answers.
“It was before.”
“Mmm, crazy thing is that he claims that he never offered you a job.”
“Obviously, he’s lying. He doesn’t want you to realize that he tried to steal me away.”
“By the way, Ryan, you wouldn’t know anything about phone calls being made to Holland’s students, would you?” I didn’t pay attention to Ryan because I was busy watching Braden.
“Nope, don’t know anything about that. What’s all this about anyway? You just trying to pin shit on me? Just like a bunch of girls, things start falling apart, and you have to blame someone, that it?”
Braden, to his credit, hadn’t decked Ryan yet. No, he was far too smart for that. He just picked his phone up and hit play, smirking as Ryan’s voice filled the dead silence swelling around us.
When the message clicked off, I glared at the man my father had trusted for seventeen years.
“Ben sent that a few minutes ago. You know Ben, right? He’s the fire inspector who was called out the night the east pasture burned. His daughter was one of Holland’s students. Anyway the message was left on his voice mail so he forwarded it to me. Kind of handy since now I can submit it into evidence. Yep, the case just keeps getting stronger. I’ll have a voice analyzer on this immediately.”
“It isn’t against the law to lie.” Ryan’s smug reply made me want to scratch his eyeballs out.
“No, you’re right, but it is against the law to do that stuff over phone lines. You see...that makes it federal jurisdiction. Surprise, you amped up your own charges, and I’ll be handing all of this over to State Attorney Conte’s office.”
“Fuck you.” Ryan took a step to leave.
“Stop right there, we aren’t done yet. Did you know that trying to get London to pay money that Mr. Brooks didn’t ask for is called extortion? That is a felony, and I’ve added it to the list of things for the state attorney to look into.”
I stepped forward, feeling safe with Braden next to me. “Needless to say, you’re fired. I’ll mail you your final check by certified mail.”
“No you won’t. I’ll come get it.” Ryan balled his fists as his face turned a shade of dark red.
Braden stepped around me. “Ryan Cardenas, you are no longer allowed on the Kelly Ranch or Iron Horse Stables. This includes any part of the outlying property, no matter the reason. If anyone should see you here, they’ve been instructed to call 9-1-1, at which time, you will be arrested for trespassing. Do you understand this?”
Braden waited for Ryan to answer, but my former employee just glared.
“I said, do you understand this? I’m not playing around. This is an official notice and will be entered into the system. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Now, you need to leave the property. I’ll follow you out.” Braden turned to me and whispered, “Stay in here.”
13
London
When Braden came back in, he brought Marcus with him, and they looked as if they were so deep in conversation that they wouldn’t notice if the world exploded.
“What’s going on?” I leaned forward, trying to put my face in front of Braden’s to get his attention.
“We’re just worried about Ryan coming back and causing more problems. Marcus can be around during the day when I have to work, and Asher in the evenings, but it’s during the night I worry about.”
“Why don’t you stay here?” When he didn’t immediately reply, I knew that I’d asked too much. “Well, I’m mean, you are welcome to...any of you are welcome to actually. We have plenty of room.”
“That’s a good idea, I’ll stay.” Braden nodded slowly. “I’m not going to leave you three alone,. Between me, Asher, and Marcus one of us will be here for the next few days whil
e the smoke settles around here. I just want to make sure that Ryan gets the hint you three are not to be fucked with.”
I looked at my sisters, who both seemed to be in agreement.
“Is that all you two were talking about. You seemed awfully deep in conversation.”
“Marcus was telling me about something that happened at the bar. He had an ex employee who had access to his books, and he was wondering how much access Ryan had?”
“None. No one does but me. Not even my sisters, but they know where I keep everything.”
“Can we talk in your office?”
“Sure.” I felt the unease rising up like acid burning up my throat but I led the way.
“Marcus, you coming?” Braden asked.
“Um, I’m good. I’ll let the two of you talk this one out.” Marcus gave Braden two thumbs-up.
He followed me back to my office, and I took a seat behind my desk, watching as Braden moved to the safe. He spun the lock a few times, and I heard the telltale sound of the click.
“Hey, wait a minute. How did you know that combination?” I had never opened the safe in front of him, and I knew damn well that I had never told him the combination either.
“London, your safe’s combination is the numerical equivalent of your initials—twelve, sixteen, and eight—which isn’t very original.”
“This is impossible. It could have been anything.”
“But it wasn’t, which is part of my point.” Braden smirked challengingly. “Let’s try this.” Braden moved the mouse on my computer and then typed something into the password field. I smirked when it told him he’d entered the wrong password. He tried again, and again the little box shook alerting him that he’d entered the wrong passcode. He tried a third time, and this time, my home screen came up. “Really, London, your passcode is Grimhilde? Wasn’t that your first horse?”
“Not everyone knows that.” I defended.
“Everyone around here does.”
Braden then opened the ranch files that held the payroll and profit and loss records. I smiled because I didn’t think he knew my email address, and he’d have to enter it as a login and a password.
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