Redemption Ranch

by Leann Harris

  Tyler kept careful watch on Beth and saw her slip out of the house and head toward the barn. He tried to talk himself out of it, but followed her, anyway. To do what, he didn’t know, but he trusted his instincts. They’d served him well in Iraq.

  When he walked into the stables a few minutes ago the shock of what he saw knocked him breathless. Of all the things he expected to see, maybe Beth crying or sitting in a corner having a pity party, her petting Dogger wasn’t on his list.

  He glanced down at his dog.

  “So what’s happening, old friend? How come you’ve decided to become a pal to the folks around here?” For the first time since they’d arrived back from Iraq, Dogger had offered his friendship to a new person. “Not only did you sidle up to Beth, but Charming, too? What’s going on?”

  Dogger raised his head off his front paws and cocked his head.

  It was hard to get used to the idea of Dogger making friends. He felt a slight shift in his feelings about being at the ranch. A little less of an outsider in this family-run business.

  After his last tour ended, Tyler didn’t re-up, but went home to Oklahoma. It’d been a hard transition, and Dogger had become his lifeline. Tyler didn’t have to explain to his dog how he felt, why his moods were all over the map or give details of what happened while he was in theater.

  His foster parents wanted to understand, but he felt as if there was a deep chasm between them. And his ex-fiancée didn’t want to know anything about his Army days and thought he should shake it off.

  Shake it off.

  That’s why she was his ex-fiancée.

  Of course, there was his embarrassing reaction at the Fourth of July picnic where some of the youth at the church pulled the prank of setting off cherry bomb firecrackers under the picnic tables where they were seated. He freaked out in front of all the church members, the town council and mayor of their little town. The noise was so similar to the bomb that killed his friend, his instant reaction was to duck. Afterward, when he spotted the boys laughing at everyone, he’d let go with a dressing down that brought the picnic to a halt and tears to the youthful offenders. The gathered witnesses understood Tyler’s reaction. No one scolded him, but his fiancée gave him such a look of disgust that Tyler knew the engagement was over, much to his relief.

  The next morning Tyler had hugged his foster parents and told them he’d be in contact. His fiancée was nowhere to be seen after the picnic, but she’d left her engagement ring with his foster sister. In the ten months since he’d been gone, he’d called home once, but it didn’t go well.

  He and Dogger roamed the country until he’d run into Zach McClure in that restaurant in Albuquerque over a month ago. The more he thought about it, the more he knew that “chance” meeting wasn’t just chance.

  Since being here, something inside him had eased. Of course, that also could be credited to being in the same city as his best buddy’s family. He’d finally worked up the nerve to call Paul’s mom. She welcomed him with open arms, making him feel even guiltier for not saving Paul’s life. Tyler immediately saw the pain in Paul’s younger brother eyes and knew this was where he was supposed to be. Somehow, someway, he would try to make up Paul’s death to Riley.

  Dogger’s move today surprised and unsettled Tyler, and yet, oddly enough, he trusted the dog’s instincts. Dogger seemed to be able to actually discern a person’s heart. Dogger didn’t like his ex-fiancée and had growled at her the first time they met. Things had not improved between them. Dogger had pegged her.

  “I’m going to need your help with the kid tomorrow. He needs a friend.” Tyler squatted by the dog’s side and ran his hand over his head. “You’ll like him. You liked Paul, and I know you’ll like his kid brother.”

  At least he prayed he would. Tyler would need all the help he could get to win over the reluctant boy.

  * * *

  Tyler sat on the edge of the bed and ran his fingers through his hair. The dream—no nightmare—had seized him again, but before it could end, Dogger woke him.

  The dog jumped down from the bed and sat beside Tyler.

  “Thanks, boy.”

  Dogger cocked his head.

  Why’d he have that dream tonight? He hadn’t had the nightmare since he’d started working at Second Chance.

  He knew he couldn’t go back to sleep, so he slipped on his jeans, grabbed a can of soda from the refrigerator and walked out onto the porch. He parked himself on the top step. At one time, he would’ve grabbed a beer, but after a bender in Denver that landed him in the hospital, he knew he couldn’t drown his problems anymore.

  Dogger settled by his side.

  “Thanks, bud, for the heads-up.” Tyler stroked the dog’s head.

  The dog had started alerting Tyler when he’d detected the dream and would wake Tyler. The first time Dogger did that they’d just returned stateside, and he was at home with his foster parents. Tyler had started dreaming about Paul’s death, but before the dream ramped up, Dogger had jumped on the bed and started licking his face. Tyler woke up with a jerk, coming face-to-face with the dog. It took a moment for his brain to clear and understand what the dog had done. Dogger lay down on the bed and looked at him. His foster parents had run into his room, panicked, and looked helpless. He explained it was just a bad dream. They reluctantly left.

  From that time on, Dogger started to sleep beside Tyler. Dogger had been his guard against the nightmare. It also spared him from having his foster parents run into his room and witness him in the throes of the dream.

  It had been months since he’d had the dream, so why now?

  Popping up the can tab, he took a swallow and thought about what happened this afternoon with Beth. Was that it?

  He’d noticed her the first day he’d been here at the ranch. Well, what man with breath wouldn’t notice her? With reddish-brown curls that touched her shoulders, intense green eyes and a joyous smile, she attracted people to her like a magnet. She did everything with an enthusiasm that was contagious. He’d seen her talk a grumpy child out of his pout and enjoy the riding lesson.

  Her laughter made his heart ache, wanting things that he knew were beyond him now. But as he witnessed Zach’s and Sophie’s secret smiles and constant touches, it made him yearn for things that could never be. It also made him realize how far off that dream was for him.

  Scratching the dog’s head, he said, “So you like her, huh? You think the lady needs to be your friend?”

  Dogger sat up and cocked his head.

  “So what do you see in her that deserves your trust?”

  The dog ignored him and settled his head on his paws, leaving Tyler no closer to an answer than he was before.

  When he dragged himself to bed an hour later, it was the question he fell asleep thinking about.

  Chapter Two

  Beth pulled her truck into one of the empty parking spaces behind the stables and grabbed the tote containing her ranch clothes, boots and cowboy hat. She’d been volunteering at the ranch long before Zach started attending therapy sessions for his war injuries. Eventually he fell in love and married the woman running the place, Sophie Powell. Once they bought New Hope Ranch, they renamed it Second Chance Ranch in honor of Zach.

  Slipping the tote over her shoulder, she started toward the ranch office needing to change her clothes. She couldn’t work with the horses and kids in heels and a straight black skirt. Her quick trip to New York to review the department store’s purchases had only taken a few days, and she was glad to make it back for her favorite little girl, Chelsea, who came weekly for rehabilitation of her legs after the car accident she’d been in.

  As Beth walked into the business office, she saw a young kid sitting on a bench by the stable doors. His thin arms were wrapped around his chest and his mouth was compressed into a
stubborn line, daring anyone to mess with him.

  “Hey, Sophie, how are you feeling today?”

  Sophie looked up from her computer screen and took another bite of her banana covered in peanut butter. “Hungry. And the cravings are—let’s just say your brother can only shake his head in awe. He tried making a comment when I dipped a sweet pickle into some apricot jam. The fact that I burst out crying made him quickly apologize. Since then, he doesn’t comment. Kinda walks quietly around me.”

  Beth laughed. “It serves him right.” She hurried into the bathroom and changed her clothes. Stuffing her heels and skirt into her bag, she walked outside the bathroom, holding her boots and socks. She sat down by Sophie and started to pull on her socks.

  “Who’s the kid sitting outside the stable door with the don’t-talk-to-me look on his face?”

  “He’s the new kid Tyler wanted to bring to hang around for a while. He’s the brother of one of the guys in his unit in Iraq.”

  “And?”

  Sophie shrugged. “Tyler said the kid needs to focus on something else besides his computer games.”

  “That’s it? He didn’t offer any other explanation?”

  Sophie put down her jar of peanut butter and gave Beth a look. “Tyler has that look on his face that Zach had when he first came here, which told me any other questions I had would be met with a grunt.” She shrugged and dipped her finger into the peanut butter. “So I decided not to push it.”

  Pursuing her lips, Beth shifted them from side to side as she considered the situation. “His reasoning was the kid needs to do more than play computer games? Half the kids in this country fall into that category.”

  “I know.” Sophie licked the peanut butter off her fingers. “There’s more to the story, but who was I going to ask? The grumpy kid or the tight-lipped adult?”

  A laugh burst out of Beth’s mouth. Sophie grinned.

  “So that’s the lay of the land?”

  “Yup, so be careful.”

  “You make it sound like I’m going to war.”

  “That’s a good way to look at it.”

  “Thanks, friend. I’ll be sure not to take the rejection personally.” Beth stepped outside, paused and leaned back through the doorway into the office. “When’s Captain Kaye scheduled to start?”

  “Tomorrow afternoon. Zach’s going to work with her.”

  “I’ll try to be here, too.” As Beth strode toward the open stable doors, she noticed the kid hadn’t moved, but Dogger had settled at the boy’s feet.

  Putting on her straw hat, she walked to the stable entrance. The boy tried not to look, but she noticed him peeking at her under his lashes. She stopped by his side and the kid tensed. She didn’t have two older brothers and not know how to approach a prickly male.

  Beth knelt and held out her hand, and Dogger raised his head and welcomed the touch.

  “How you doing?” she asked the dog.

  The boy’s head came up, surprised that she wasn’t talking to him.

  “Dogger, I’m jealous,” she whispered, leaning toward the dog. “It took you close to a month to offer me your friendship and here you are hanging out with a new person immediately.” She sighed. “What am I to think? That you like him more than me?” Continuing to stroke the dog’s head, she looked up. “He plays hard to get most of the time.”

  The boy’s eyes widened.

  Beth decided not to push her luck, patted Dogger’s head, stood and walked into the stables. She turned around to watch the boy’s reaction. He looked over his shoulder, a frown furrowing his brows.

  She chuckled and turned around and ran smack-dab into a wide chest. She bounced off it, knocking her hat off. Instantly, the man’s hands shot out to steady her. She looked up into Tyler Lynch’s deep brown eyes.

  “I need to put a bell on you, you know that?” The words popped out of her mouth before she thought.

  Tyler’s eyes widened, then a deep-throated chuckle rumbled through his chest. The sound filled the dim interior of the stables.

  Feeling the electricity to her toes, she smiled back. “I do seem to be in the wrong spot for you, don’t I?”

  “I’d say so.”

  He continued to hold her arms, and she wondered if he realized what he was doing. Sadly, his hands fell away and he stepped back.

  “Sophie said you brought the young man who is sitting outside. What’s his name?”

  The humor drained out of his face to be replaced with pain and sadness. “Riley Carter.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “His brother was in my unit in Iraq. He was killed disarming a bomb.” The words sucked the lightness from the air.

  No wonder the kid had an attitude. “I’m so sorry, Tyler.”

  “Riley took his brother’s death real hard. His mother is worried about him and troubled by the chip on his shoulder. Paul told me he was real close to Riley after their father’s death. I thought this place might help. I know I’ve seen some pretty amazing things over the weeks I’ve been here.” He shrugged. “It’s worth a shot.”

  Admiration welled in Beth’s heart. His concern for his friend’s younger brother spoke well of Tyler. “I think you’ve got a bit of work ahead of you from the looks of things.”

  Tyler looked out the open door, again, his expression turning grim. “Yeah, I know.”

  “Take heart. This ranch is a miraculous place. If it could reach my brother with as bad an attitude as he had when I brought him here, it can work with anyone—” she looked over her shoulder out the open doors “—that young man included.”

  “You brought Zach here?” Surprise rang in his voice.

  Her brows wiggled. “I did. And a pricklier male you’ve never seen, but he promised me he would try once. I knew Sophie from college and knew she was helping to establish a program for veterans, and I kind of volunteered Zach.”

  Tyler’s brow arched. “How’d he feel about that?”

  Beth grinned. “Annoyed. But once he stepped through the breezeway and saw horses, he was hooked. And he got a wife in the bargain.”

  “I hope it’s that easy with Riley—with the exception of the wife thing.”

  “Ah, there were a few bumps. You might not realize it, but Riley’s bad attitude is encouraging. I think he’s fighting a battle within himself. He’s curious, but that male pride thingie is standing in his way. We’ve got to figure out a way he can save face and start exploring things here.”

  “What do you mean, that ‘male pride thingie’?”

  Beth laughed at his indignant tone and reached down, picking up her hat. “I rest my case.” With those words, she put on her hat and walked to the tack room to get Charming’s bridle. She’d let Mr. Macho wrestle with the ideas she just floated. Riley wasn’t the only prickly male around the stables.

  * * *

  Beth finished with her last rider of the day, Chelsea. The little girl had the heart of a lion, enduring surgery after surgery to correct the damage done in the car accident. Her legs, broken in multiple places, had healed, but her gait was still awkward. Since she’d started riding, her attitude had changed and her coordination had improved.

  Beth helped Chelsea off the horse. The eight-year-old grinned from ear to ear.

  “I love Brownie.” She patted the horse’s side.

  “Why don’t you go get a carrot for her?” Beth asked.

  The little girl hurried to the carrot barrel and grabbed a short one. She fed it to Brownie. Chelsea’s mother smiled at her daughter.

  “It’s a miracle,” she said to Beth, her eyes glistening with emotion. “She can run, even if it is slowly.”

  Beth knew the feeling. “It is.” She tied Brownie to the iron ring in the wall by the mounting stairs and walked out with mom and daughter.
Turning, she expected to see a pouty Riley, but the bench stood empty. She’d tried several times this afternoon to involve Riley in some small way with the horses and riders. She suggested giving a carrot to one of the horses or getting bridles from the tack room, but the kid steadfastly refused to be interested in anything. She’d gotten only grunts and one-word answers.

  Looking around the ring, Beth tried to spot Riley, thinking he might have broken down and gotten interested in something. He’d been a fixture on the bend for the past three hours, glaring at all the people who came close to him. She fought down the panic and rushed down the breezeway on the far side of the office that led to the parking lot. Scanning the cars, she saw no sign of the boy. Turning back to the yard, she realized she didn’t see Dogger, either.

  Running back to the office, she opened the door. “Sophie, have you seen the kid that Tyler brought?”

  Sophie stood and glanced out the office window. “No. Why?”

  “Because he’s not over there, and I can’t find him anywhere.”

  Sophie hurried out from behind the desk. “Okay, I’ll get Ollie and Zach and see if we can find him.”

  “Great, I’ll check with Tyler. Maybe he took the kid home.”

  The women headed in different directions. Sophie walked out into the ring where Zach worked with a rider, while Beth headed back into the stables. She found Tyler behind the stables moving sacks of feed into the storage room.

  “I can’t find Riley. Is he with you?”

  He stopped. “No.”

  “He’s not sitting on the bench, and I’ve looked around and can’t find him. Dogger’s also missing.”

  Tyler took off his leather gloves. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. I tried to get Riley to help this afternoon with some of the clients, but he refused. He was there when I started working with my last rider.”