Breaking Rein (Horse Play Series Book 3)

by A. D. Ryan

  Suddenly, the doorknob began to rattle as though someone was trying to open it, and I froze, taking in a sharp breath when rapid-fire knocking followed the rattling. I wanted to scream, but couldn’t find my voice. I wanted to run, but my feet were frozen in place. I wanted Jensen, but he was …

  “Madison, honey, it’s me, open the door,” Jensen urged softly, causing my body to relax as I found my feet and stepped forward.

  Quickly, I opened the door, throwing myself into Jensen’s arms before he got a chance to set down the shotgun.

  Wait … what?

  I pulled free of Jensen’s embrace and looked down at the gun leaning against the wall before I met his eyes. “What the hell is that, and where did it come from?” I already knew the answers to both, of course.

  Jensen turned, re-locked the door, and set the alarm before picking up the gun and putting it in a long, skinny gun locker I hadn’t noticed due to its hiding place in the bottom of the coat closet. “Your dad suggested it.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, but then stopped myself, suddenly wondering why I was against it. If it meant my family’s safety, wasn’t that all that mattered? Shaking my head, I smiled up at him. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I think I’m just a little freaked about what the hell is going on … Did you find anything?”

  Frustrated, Jensen ran his fingers through his hair. “Nothing. I thought I heard rustling in the bushes just outside the yard, but it was just a dog from one of the neighboring farms, I think. It took off upon seeing me.”

  “A dog?” I laughed, feeling somewhat relieved. “Bones was just being territorial.”

  Pulling me into his side, Jensen led me down the hall. “I’d say that’s a likely possibility. Come on, let’s try to get back to sleep so we’re well rested for our weekend in the city.”

  As we entered the bedroom, Bones looked up at us from where he lay on his dog bed, seeming almost annoyed that we had woken him. Apparently even dogs were capable of holding double standards.

  Jensen and I crawled back into bed, and I snuggled up next to him as he wrapped his arms around me. Knowing that it was another dog outside settled me a little, but not quite as much as I’d have liked.

  “Madi?” Jensen called down the hall from the kitchen.

  I was in our room, packing a few last minute things for our trip before we headed over to meet Lilah and Kyle. I was sure I wouldn’t need half of this stuff, but when it came to Willow and Memphis, there was no way of knowing what all she might have planned. She was a last minute planner, that one.

  “Yeah?” I replied, tossing my third bathing suit into the suitcase because I couldn’t decide on the one piece, the little white bikini that I was sure would be see-through no matter how convincing Willow was that it wouldn’t be, or the now-infamous suit I wore the night of my birthday. I loved that suit, but I knew by wearing it, it would only spur Kyle’s teasing on—and I’d hate to have to kick his ass … or try, anyway.

  It didn’t take much longer to grab the rest of my things, and Jensen came to the bedroom to take our bags to the car. After making sure the alarm was set, I locked the front door and turned to see Jensen loading the bags into the truck as Dad approached from the barn with Bones by his side.

  “You kids drive safe,” Dad said, stopping by the truck as I stepped off the cement walk.

  “We always do, Dad,” I assured him. “Thanks for watching Bones again.” Kneeling down, I pulled my dog into my arms and nuzzled him. “You be a good boy, and no barking in the middle of the night.”

  As if on cue, Bones woofed and took off down the driveway. “It’s nice to see you listen,” I muttered after him sarcastically, at first mistaking his actions for enthusiasm. It wasn’t until after I heard a vicious snarl from him and another from a brown and white pitbull I’d never seen before, that I took off after him.

  “Madison! Stop!” Jensen called after me, and I could hear his heavy footfalls behind me as I reached Bones at the same moment that the bigger, slightly older dog lunged. There was a yelp from Bones as the strange dog pinned him, and in a move that was so unlike me as an animal lover, I used my foot to remove the attacker who was snapping its jaws at Bones’ exposed jugular.

  The dog looked startled at first as it picked itself up off the ground, looking at me as I stood above my dog protectively, daring it to try again. As I stared down the dog, showing no fear (even though my heart was mimicking a jackhammer against my ribs), I took in his haggard appearance. He couldn’t have been more than three or four judging by how he carried himself, but it was his eyes that made him look aged—that and the dull condition of his naturally short coat as well as the many, many scars that marred his body and face. This wasn’t the first altercation this dog had been in.

  “There a problem here?” a strange voice called out before I saw an unfamiliar face appear, and it was only then that I saw the dog drop its guard and retreat, running toward the man who had just made his presence known. I deduced the man to be the dog’s owner, wholly convinced when the dog looked up to him for approval with his big brown eyes and seeking out some kind of affection.

  This man’s mere presence caused the hairs on the back of my neck to prickle, and I took an automatic step back—right into Jensen, whose hand fell to the small of my back. Knowing he was there next to me comforted me, but I was still leery of this new face. His dark, almost-black eyes burned into me, forcing an automatic reaction to tuck into Jensen’s side.

  “I’ll say. Your dog came onto my land and attacked ours—unprovoked, I might add,” Jensen informed him firmly, and I could tell from the tone of his voice that he was not impressed.

  When the man turned his head to look at the dog, his shoulder length, dirty-looking brown hair swayed slightly. In an instant, the dog dropped its eyes from him and collapsed to the ground, obeying his owner’s silent command and laying his head on his front paws while he exhaled a heavy breath that stirred up the dirt. While I still harbored contempt toward the animal for attacking, I knew that something wasn’t right. I felt it in my gut.

  “My apologies,” the man said, his voice warming slightly. His features seeming softer as he smiled, stretching his arm out toward us, but I still failed to find comfort behind his snake-like grin. “I’m Charles Dalton. I just moved in down the road, so I guess that makes us neighbors.”

  “You bought the old Jameson farm?” I questioned, my eyebrows pulling together. “Why?”

  He laughed, the sound making him seem kinder than I had initially thought upon seeing him. I suddenly felt bad, thinking that maybe I was just standoffish to all strange men who came onto my ranch. It was probably something I’d have to work on.

  His laughter died down, and he looked at me again. “I suppose that’s a fair question. True, the house and the barn are in pretty bad shape, but I enjoy a challenge every once in a while.”

  Dad, who was apparently standing behind Jensen and me the entire time since Charles’ arrival, was the first to shake his hand, introducing himself as well before Jensen and I followed suit. As the stress of the dogfight finally evaporated, I found that Charles didn’t seem quite as terrifying as I initially thought. While I still didn’t know much about him, I was going to try to give him the benefit of the doubt.

  See, I could grow.

  With a shrill whistle from Charles, his pitbull, Vlad, hopped to his feet and followed him across the road as they trekked back to their new home. We watched for a minute as they retreated before I knelt to Bones and snuggled him.

  “Who’s a good boy, protecting the ranch?” I cooed, placing my nose on his cold, wet one. Of course, I should have expected him to lick my face, but didn’t until I’d been slimed. In light of him being jumped by a dog twice his size, though, I didn’t let it bother me, picking him up and carrying him back toward the car so we could continue packing it up.

  “You’ll be sure to keep an extra-vigilant eye on him?” I asked my dad, suddenly scared for my puppy’s well-being. “The pitbull looks m
ighty territorial—even though this wasn’t his land to claim.”

  Nodding as I continued to kiss the top of Bones’ soft head, Dad responded. “Of course, Madi. You two go on and have fun. I’ll call if there are any problems, but I don’t suspect there will be.”

  After kissing him once more, I put Bones down and hugged my father, kissing his cheek before stepping back toward the car. “Thanks. We’ll see you Sunday.”

  My dad’s head bobbed once more before he looked at Jensen. “Remember, drive carefully—it’s not just my daughter’s life in that car.”

  When Jensen smirked, I knew he was about to make some smart-ass comment. “Aw, shucks, Wayne. I didn’t know you cared.”

  “Funny guy,” he muttered to himself, shaking his head as he turned back for the barn.

  Laughing, we climbed into the car and backed out of our spot, heading for the road. “Keep that up and he’s not ever going give you permission to marry me,” I teased, suddenly regretting bringing up the topic, because I really didn’t want Jensen to dwell on it for the entire weekend. Sometimes my brain wasn’t connected to my mouth; it was an annoying glitch, to say the least.

  Thankfully, he chuckled, turning onto the highway. “I don’t need his permission to elope with you.”

  “Oh, really,” I stated, crossing my arms across my chest and smiling wide. “And when he finds out that you took me to some courthouse or to Vegas while he was kept in the dark, what exactly do you foresee happening then?”

  Seeming to be deep in thought, Jensen pondered how his future would turn out. “Well, I suppose we’d just have to keep it a secret. We haven’t done the secret thing in quite some time.”

  Some weird combination of a giggle and a snort—a “giggle-snort,” if you will—escaped me, garnering a strange look and laugh from Jensen before I spoke. “Babe, I don’t think a few weeks really constitutes as “a while.” And just keep in mind, he was fully aware the entire time. So, technically, we never really did the secret thing to begin with…”

  “Shit, you’re right.” He shrugged. “Well, first time for everything, I guess,” he joked, flashing me his sexy smirk—wink and all.

  Playfully, I reached out and shoved him lightly so as not to cause an accident. “And you don’t think that by taking away his only opportunity to walk me down the aisle, he wouldn’t want to kick your ass? Remember that arsenal of weapons he has at his constant disposal?”

  Nodding, he shrugged again; he was entirely too confident about this hypothetical situation. “I do, but he wouldn’t. Besides, I’m not seriously considering running away to marry you.”

  I was momentarily stunned by this statement; had he changed his mind? Was his proposal a one-time thing and I messed it up? Or was he just trying to brush it all off as though it never happened?

  It was possible I was over-thinking all of it and needed to calm the hell down.

  Just as I was about to question him, he turned to me, smiling cockily. “I would never rob you of being the center of attention on our wedding day.”

  Aw, shit… There was always that…

  “Hmm, maybe eloping isn’t such a bad idea,” I conceded, wondering which Vegas chapel might be the nicest—eloping didn’t mean I had to be tacky…

  “Not gonna happen,” Jensen assured me, reaching over the console to squeeze my thigh. “It wouldn’t be just your father who’d be upset. Imagine how mine would feel? My mother?”

  Aw, shit… And there was also that…

  “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.” It was then that I realized we were talking about a wedding that may or may not happen for months, or even years. By the time we were ready to take that step, our ideas on what the perfect wedding was might change, rendering this entire conversation moot. But the big thing I took from it was that we were talking about something important, not just letting it fester until it became bigger than both of us could handle.

  Turned out, we were both growing.

  Chapter 6. Suspicious Newcomer

  We’d only been driving a few minutes when we passed the driveway to the old Jameson land, I turned to Jensen. “Hey, what did you think of Charles?”

  Jensen shrugged. “I don’t know. He seemed all right, I guess. I wasn’t too impressed that his dog attacked Bones, though.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed, cringing as I remembered the sound of Vlad’s jaws snapping as he tried to bury his teeth in Bones’ neck. “I saw a truck with a trailer attached heading down the Jameson driveway a couple weeks ago.” Jensen looked at me with genuine surprise. “I meant to bring it up, but I got distracted. That was the day your mom found out about the baby.” He nodded, understanding how I might have been a little scatter-brained that day, so I continued. “His horse is either wild or doesn’t like to travel, because I swear the entire unit was about to topple. I was scared.”

  Passing the driveway, Jensen’s eyes fell to the pasture on Charles’ land. “Huh. Looks like he’s got quite the team.”

  My gaze followed Jensen’s, and I was stunned to see close to twenty horses scattered in the field. As I watched the mannerisms of a few of them, I realized Jensen was mistaken. There was one horse that stood out from all the rest: a muscular, white and black leopard Appaloosa stallion who carried himself confidently. The way the other horses submitted to his presence told me that he was their leader. Their Alpha.

  “No,” I said quietly. “That’s not a team, Jensen. It’s a herd.”

  “A herd?” Jensen said, questioning me.

  “Did you not see them?” He nodded, arching an eyebrow. “No, I mean really see them. The way their manes were overgrown, their lean muscles … They’re not domesticated,” I informed him. When he didn’t react, I continued. “It’s illegal.”

  “I know, but do you really think the government keeps count of the mustang population? The BLM considers them a pest. I’m sure they wouldn’t even bat an eye—”

  Stunned, I stared at him with wide, unblinking eyes. “It’s not even a question of whether or not the BLM will take action, Jensen. He’s got upward of twenty wild mustangs in his possession—that’s dangerous.”

  “They’re penned …” I had to keep reminding myself that Jensen, while an experienced rider and passionate about the ranch, hadn’t lived this life as I had. I’d lived in Savannah my entire life; I knew I wasn’t wrong.

  “I’m not saying you’re wrong, baby,” he continued, almost as if reading my thoughts.

  “Penned or not—what do you think he has planned?” I inquired, suddenly wondering if my first impression of Charles Dalton wasn’t exactly right.

  “I don’t know. Maybe he’s relocating them. I mean, that’s not unheard of, is it?” He turned to me briefly, and my head bobbed from side to side. “You said yourself they’re dangerous, so maybe he catches them and relocates them away from private land before more aggressive ranchers shoot them for wandering onto their property.”

  The more I thought about it—rationally, like Jensen—I realized Charles could very well be relocating them. I wanted to believe people were smarter than capturing a wild horse with the intent to train or sell it as tame or even for meat. They were called “wild” for a reason, after all. Without the proper knowledge and skills, a person could get him or herself killed in the pen with a mustang.

  I dwelled on what Charles might be up to the entire drive, so I was shocked to see it was nearly six when we pulled into Lilah and Kyle’s driveway in Savannah. Thankfully, they were already packed and their bags were loaded into the Jeep, so we left within a few minutes—right after I used their bathroom to empty my bladder. I wasn’t aware that particular pregnancy symptom happened quite so soon, but it did.

  We rolled to a stop outside Willow and Brandon’s apartment building just before eight-thirty, which was fortunate, because I had to pee—again. While Jensen and Kyle grabbed the overnight bags, Lilah and I rushed to the elevator. The guys had joined us just as the elevator doors opened, and I rushed inside, whispering to the elevator gods
to speed the blasted machine up.

  “You know, I think Gene Roddenberry was onto something with the transporter. Why is it they don’t exist again?” I asked Jensen, hoping that a slight change in topic would keep my mind occupied.

  “An excellent question,” Jensen said, looking as though he was seriously considering my question. It only further reminded me exactly why I loved him; he was my match in every single way. Lilah and Kyle looked at us like we were both insane, however.

  When the doors finally opened, I bolted down the hall to Willow and Brandon’s unit and threw the door open, completely bypassing them both in my haste. After washing my hands, I emerged to find Willow and Lilah talking while Brandon explained the sleeping arrangements. Suddenly, the excitement I’d had earlier about finally telling Willow and Brandon came back ten-fold, and I rushed toward them all, my smile ridiculously huge.

  “Madi,” Willow said, turning to me and pulling me into her tight embrace. “I missed you so much.”

  “I missed you, too,” I told her, feeling more damn tears prickling my eyes.

  Willow released me, beaming at me brightly. “I’ve been so excited for this weekend. How is everything?”

  “Actually,” I said, taking her hand in mine. “Jensen and I have some news.” I didn’t pause for long because I didn’t want her and Brandon to jump to the same conclusion that my dad had. “We’re pregnant.” I sucked in a breath and awaited the squeal of excitement … or the shriek of rage. I still wasn’t sure which.

  When nothing happened, I exhaled, feeling a little disappointed. I looked at Jensen and whispered, “Did I say that out loud?” He nodded, so I turned back to Willow, who was now looking at Brandon with a wide, knowing smile. “Guys?”