Amazed by You (Riding Tall Book 11)

by Cheyenne McCray

  He tapped his finger on the piano by the photo. “There’s nothing like the roar of a crowd right before the quiet as the chute opens and the eight second ride begins.”

  Lightning flashed outside the windows, followed by an immediate crack of thunder.

  “That strike was a close one,” she said as she stared out the living room window. She’d been so into their conversation that she hadn’t noticed that it had grown darker outside with a growing storm.

  Rain drummed on the roof in a furious beat. More lightning flashed and more thunder boomed.

  “I sure wish we would have known about this being your monsoon season.” She shook her head. “We wouldn’t be anywhere close right now.”

  The moment she said the words, she wasn’t sure they were true. If it wasn’t for the season, she wouldn’t be with this man, having poured out her heart and realizing just how vulnerable she was—something she would never have believed just a day ago. Was that a good thing?

  “And that Mercedes of yours wouldn’t be at the bottom of an arroyo,” he said. “Rented or not.”

  Celine shook her head. “It was rented. Regardless, it’s just a thing, a possession. I’m happy to be alive.”

  “That makes two of us, honey,” he said. “I was so damned worried for you. I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

  “I am.” She smiled. “Thanks to you.”

  “I’ve got to check on my pregnant mare,” he said. “Would you like to go with me?”

  She hesitated before nodding. “Yes.” She grasped the neckline of her robe. “I seem to have ruined Bailey’s clothes that you loaned me, not to mention mine are in a suitcase now under water. Do you have anything else I can borrow?”

  “Yep.” He nodded. “Come on into my bedroom. I’m bound to have something you can wear.”

  “Thanks.” She kept her hands on the robe, holding it tightly so she didn’t inadvertently flash him. She wasn’t sure he would mind, but nevertheless, she preferred not to.

  Although it might be fun under different circumstances.

  When they reached his room, he dug through his drawers and found a pair of gray sweats and a T-shirt that would be baggy on her.

  At first they were at a loss for shoes. Bailey’s feet were smaller than Celine’s, so her athletic shoes and western boots were too small. Jayson’s feet were considerably larger.

  “I can go barefoot,” she said.

  He frowned. “If you’re going to be around horses, you need something on your feet.”

  She wanted to tell him she didn’t need to be with the horses, but he didn’t seem inclined to agree with her.

  “I know what might work.” He went to the guest room and returned with a pair of rubber boots. “Bailey uses these to muck out the stalls, and they just might fit.” He handed them to her. “I can’t let you in with the horses if you don’t have decent shoes.”

  I have no problem with that, she thought. No problem at all.

  Celine followed him through the house. Lightning illuminated the sky outside the windows, thunder only a couple of seconds behind.

  “On second thought, stay in the house,” he said as they entered the kitchen. “The storm is too close now.”

  “No. I want to go with you,” she said. Maybe she should accept it as a blessing since she hadn’t wanted to be around the horses, but she felt she needed to be with him. And the storm sort of scared the crap out of her. No, it definitely scared the crap out of her.

  They were halfway across the kitchen when a tremendous bolt of lightning lit up the dark rain-filled morning. Thunder crashed at the same time, so loud it hurt her ears.

  An explosion followed, the sound ripping through her like nothing she’d ever felt before.

  She screamed threw herself in Jayson’s arms, terror ripping through her. The storm. The flood. The lightning. The thunder. She heard it all, felt it all, in that instance.

  The lights went out. The refrigerator stopped humming. Silence, save for the storm outside.

  Thirty seconds later the appliances and lights came back on.

  “What was that explosion?” She couldn’t stop the catch in her voice as Jayson held her.

  “It’s okay, honey.” Jayson hugged her. “I think the lightning got the transformer. The generator kicked on a few seconds after the power went out. We’ll be fine with the generator for a while if necessary.”

  He added, “We’ll have to pray that the explosion doesn’t start a fire. The land is dry as hell right now.”

  He went to the window. It was still early in the day, but the storm made it appear as if it was already close to the night.

  Lightning turned the dark sky into day. Thunder followed, but not as closely, and definitely not as loud.

  Yet another flash of lightning, but farther away this time. Celine counted the seconds in her head before thunder boomed. “Five seconds. That lightning strike was a mile away.”

  He nodded. “I’ll hold off going outside a little longer, until the storm is farther out.”

  When the thunder was a good ten seconds away, a distant rumble across the valley, Jayson looked out the window again.

  “I’m going out to check on my mare.” He pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket and went to an app that immediately showed views from multiple cameras. He selected one and an image of a horse lying down in a stall filled the screen. “It looks like Shiloh is foaling.” He closed the app and tucked the phone back into his pocket.

  He grabbed a heavy-duty flashlight from a shelf near the back door. “It’ll be dark on the way to the barn.”

  She moved closer to him. “What if the power doesn’t come on for a while?”

  “The backup generators will last a while. I have one in the barn as well as the house, so we’ll be fine for a few days. I have to keep them around thanks to storms like this one, and we can get isolated if the road is out.”

  “Good to know we’re covered.” She shivered from a chill that rolled over her body. Something about being isolated set her on edge. “Do you have another flashlight?” she asked.

  He grabbed a smaller LED flashlight and handed it to her. “I need you to stay close.”

  She took it. Not a problem.

  He plucked a beat-up western hat from off the hat tree. He selected a smaller one and put it on her head. It must have been Bailey’s, because it fit her.

  Thor joined them as they headed outside.

  Chapter 7

  Rain continued to fall, but the storm itself was gone. Even though she wore rubber boots, Celine did her best to stay out of mud puddles. The one she’d found herself in was experience enough.

  Celine’s heart twisted when they reached the barn. It had been so long, and she’d managed quite well to avoid barns and horses altogether.

  Now here she was, the last place she wanted to be.

  Thor stood back as Jayson swung open the door and she followed his flashlight’s beam with her own. Smells, familiar smells, brought back waves of memories. Alfalfa and sweet oats, alongside the smells of manure and horses.

  The bittersweet memories were overshadowed by one so powerful it made her stomach churn. She nearly doubled over from the pain.

  Jayson went to a stall and peered above the gate. He glanced over his shoulder at Celine, his face in shadows. “Shiloh seems to be doing well.”

  Despite the twisting in her gut every time she was close to a horse, she approached the stall.

  “I’m going to stay in the barn,” he said, “and watch her on the camera to make sure there are no issues. The vet won’t be able to get here if we need her.”

  Celine peeked over the stall door, and saw a beautiful brindle mare who was on her side, her side rising and falling in a rapid movement, and her breathing coming faster than it should.

  “She’s distressed,” Celine said.

  “Probably the storm.” Jayson said. “One of the reasons why I don’t want to be too far from her.

  “I’ll stay with you,” Celi
ne said.

  He took off his western hat, water still dripping from it. He made sure the mare’s stall was dimmer than the rest of the barn. He told her horses preferred the dark or dim lighting when they were foaling.

  Other horses whickered softly and shifted in their stalls. All seemed calm.

  He sat on an alfalfa hay bale at the bottom of a huge stack of bales, and gestured for her to join him. She did, and Thor made himself comfortable on the ground at Celine’s feet.

  Jayson held up his phone with his gaze on the horse as she breathed in and out, her sides like bellows.

  Celine watched until Jayson closed out the app. She leaned her head back against the side of the mountain of hay bales. She closed her eyes and let the smells, sounds, and the presence of horses wash over her.

  The pain of loss and guilt weighed so heavy on her that she thought she might sink through the barn floor. If it wasn’t for her, the beautiful and proud Arabian she had loved so much would have lived a long and pleasant life.

  Celine swallowed past the giant lump lodged in her throat and opened her eyes.

  Jayson watched her, his face partially shadowed in the glow of the lights he’d set up in the stall.

  “What’s on your mind?” Jayson’s question shouldn’t have startled her, but it still caught her off guard.

  “Just memories.” She shook her head. “Old memories.”

  He put his forearms on his knees, and he said what she hadn’t had the courage to. “Hard memories.”

  She wrapped her arms around her bent knees. “Yeah, you could say that.”

  “You used to be around horses and you were close to them.” His assessment caused her to widen her eyes. Was she that transparent?

  She looked away from him. “Yes.”

  “Celine, what happened?” He spoke in that gentle soothing voice that unraveled her.

  She closed her eyes and pictured the golden Arabian.

  “She was so beautiful.” Celine felt tears prick at the backs of her eyes, but she refused to cry. She didn’t deserve to feel one bit sorry for herself.

  She opened her eyes and met Jayson’s gaze. “Her name was Golden Knight Sky.”

  “What did you call her?” Jayson asked.

  “Sky.” Celine smiled. “I was fifteen when my parents bought her for me. She was a palomino Arabian, but some thought she was an Akhal-Teke because her mane and tail were like liquid gold, and her coat rippled in the sunshine in a slightly deeper shade.”

  Celine leaned her head back on the stall door. “I loved her for her personality. She was proud and carried herself as if she knew she was beautiful. I think she did know that.” Celine smiled at the memory of Sky prancing around an arena. “Her personality sparkled like her coat, and she was sweet and loving. As you know, I had no human friends. But I had Sky and she was everything to me.”

  “You showed her?” Jayson asked.

  “More than that.” Celine pressed her shoulders back. “We competed in dressage, show jumping, and other events. We were unstoppable.”

  Jayson never took his eyes off her. “What happened to Sky?”

  Celine had known the question was coming, but it still jarred her.

  She looked away, unable to meet Jayson’s eyes. “My parents allowed me to attend a private school for what you would consider my high school years.” Celine clenched her fists on her thighs. “I made friends. Sort of. But it was a different feeling for me. A sense of belonging with other people when I’d never belonged.”

  Celine shook her head. “Or so I thought I belonged.” She brushed that comment away with a wave of her hand. “I’d always been so good at taking care of Sky. I loved her.” Celine managed to keep back the tears. “But I started to get lazy. Every now and then I would get invited to a girls’ party, and if I was running late, I would leave Sky for Ralph, our stable boy, to put up and feed.”

  Celine clenched her fists tighter, digging her fingernails into her palms. The pain was nothing compared to what churned inside.

  “One night I couldn’t wait to go to a sleepover. I wanted to go and giggle with the girls about boys and whatever, even though I had no experience. I just laughed and pretended I did.

  “That night, one of father’s disgruntled former employees, poisoned the feed in the barn I’d left her in for Ralph to put away.” Celine clenched her jaws so tightly together pain shot through her head. “Sky was given the poisoned feed. She died that night.”

  The pain, the horror, the guilt—all of it nearly sent Celine into a tailspin.

  I don’t deserve to feel anything but guilt.

  “It was my fault she died.” She couldn’t look at Jayson at all and she stared instead at the brindle mare. “If I had put her back where she belonged…”

  She shook her head, unable to continue.

  Jayson settled his arm over her shoulders. She hadn’t even noticed he had moved close to her. She remained stiff in his half-embrace

  “Relax,” he said.

  “I don’t deserve to feel comforted.” The words were almost too thick to get out.

  “Shhh.” Jayson pulled her closer. “You’ve carried this guilt far too long. It wasn’t your fault. The ex-employee could have targeted the other barn. You could have done everything perfectly and she still could have died.”

  “No.” Celine shook her head. “She would have lived.”

  Jayson said nothing, just held her to him.

  She tried to remain frozen in his arms, but the fight for her own life in the arroyo had taken its toll.

  How can I seek comfort after nearly dying, when Sky did die?

  But her body wouldn’t listen. She was too exhausted to do anything. She sank against Jayson and rested her head on his shoulder.

  “Good girl,” he said.

  “I’m not one of your horses,” she said. “I’m not an innocent. I might as well have killed Sky myself.”

  “Shhh.” Was he rocking her now?

  It was a gentle motion that lulled her into sinking into him.

  “We all have regrets, Celine,” he said softly. “Some bigger than others. We would go back and change those things if we could. But that can’t happen. At least not with loss of life. But we can do other things.”

  He continued to rock her lightly, and she continued to listen, even though she didn’t think anything he said would make a difference.

  “Horses are healing, Celine. You know that. Let them heal you.

  Celine considered his words. “Maybe.” She blew out her breath. “I don’t know if I can heal, but you’re right. They have a magic, a power inside that can take someone broken and make them whole again.”

  “Yes.” Jayson touched her chin with his fingertip. “And you can start with you.”

  They spent the rest of the evening in the barn, sometimes talking, sometimes silent. Celine didn’t mind the silence, it allowed her to turn things over in her mind.

  Was Jayson right? Was it time she let go and allow herself to heal?

  “World meet baby. Baby meet world.” Jayson showed her the barn camera app and she grinned. He exited the app and stuffed his phone in his pocket. “You can watch over the stall door if you’d like.”

  “I definitely would like to.” Celine got up with him from their seat on the hay.

  Jayson grabbed a couple of things he’d gathered ahead of time and took them into the stall with him before closing the door. Celine put her forearms on the top rail and watched.

  “You did yourself proud, Shiloh,” Jayson said as he crouched beside the baby and her mama. “She’s a beauty.”

  Shiloh snuffled her agreement.

  Jayson checked the baby over, dipped the umbilical cord in iodine, and made sure the foal stood and ate as soon as it was ready.

  He glanced over his shoulder and smiled at Celine.

  She stared at the baby with wonder. “She has such tiny, perfect hooves and her fuzzy little body is so adorable.” Celine couldn’t help but smile as she watched the baby
feed from her mother. “The love and dedication of the mother horse is precious and wonderful, and so powerful.”

  “What would be a good name for her?” Jayson asked Celine.

  The sweet baby was gorgeous. “Sierra.”

  “Sierra.” Jayson looked thoughtful then nodded. “That’s a good name for this little girl.”

  When mother and baby were settled for the night, Jayson and Celine walked back to the house. He would check in on the pair with the camera app every now and then, but for now all looked good.

  “That was amazing.” She smiled at Jayson. “Thank you for including me.” She felt a little shy as she added, “And thank you for our talk tonight.”

  “Anytime.” He draped his arm around Celine’s shoulders and they walked together to the ranch house. “And I mean that.”

  She smiled up at him. She barely knew him, but the way he kept her close felt right and comfortable.

  The power came on just after they got back to the house. Celine was drained from the long day. Her body had been through so much and she hadn’t had a chance to fully heal.

  “I’m exhausted.” She gave him a tired smile. “We can swap rooms and I can give you back yours.”

  “Stay in my room. I’m fine in the guest room.” Jayson hugged her as if they’d known each other forever. Wonderful heat filled her body from the way his big, powerful arms made her feel. “Sweet dreams, Celine,” he said as he released her.

  Wow. Just Wow. All she could do was nod and say, “Good night,” before she turned and walked down the hallway.

  If her dreams included anything that made her feel the way he’d just made her body sing, she would have very sweet dreams indeed.

  The next day, Celine began to feel like herself again. She was still incredibly sore, but she wasn’t as tired and she had more energy.

  She reached the kitchen and Thor greeted her. “You’re such a good boy,” she said. She crouched to scratch him behind his ears.