Night Hawk

by Lindsay McKenna

  “I’ve been missing a lot,” Kai muttered, looking out of the barn fondly, wishing she could go saddle up Mariah, slap on a pair of chaps, leather gloves and ride fence.

  “I know you have,” Gil said. He cleared his throat. “Would you… Saturday? We could go riding down to those areas and I could show them to you?”

  She saw the nervousness in his eyes, which was completely unlike Gil. A part of her did want to go with him. “Oh,” she murmured. “I can’t. I have something going on Saturday.” Kai didn’t want to tell him that it was going on a trail ride with Harper. He’d hit the proverbial ceiling and get angry. Not to mention overprotective.

  “Oh…you do?” Gil searched her face. “Ranch business?”

  “No, personal.” That’s all she was going to say, but judging by the look on Gil’s face, he wanted to know a whole lot more.

  “I see.”

  Shrugging, she said, “Maybe Sunday I’ll saddle Mariah and take a trot down to the area. I’ll just have to see what all is going on.” She grabbed the greasy rag. “I’ve got to get back to work.”

  “Right. Okay, let us know when the stock trailer is ready to go.”

  Kai saw concern in Gil’s face. She saw him wrestling with her answer. He was surprised. Curious. And maybe a tad jealous? The emotions in his expression were many and she didn’t try to sort them out. Above all, Kai felt concern on his part. Why the hell did she feel so guilty about not telling him the truth? There was nothing between her and Harper. All she wanted was to go out and have some fun, maybe laugh a little and break the tension of being at the ranch all the time. Her heart twisted in her chest. As much as Kai tried to tell herself that Harper would lift her spirits, she knew that wasn’t true. Gil did, though. If they could just get off this tightrope together.

  *

  KAI MET CHUCK HARPER right on time Saturday morning. He was standing by a big Dodge Ram truck that had a double horse trailer behind it. This time, he was dressed in Levi’s, a black Stetson and a dark red cowboy shirt, sleeves rolled up. There was a pair of thin deerskin gloves tucked in his belt. Today, he truly looked like a cowboy. She noticed he wore snakeskin boots, which were very expensive. She smiled as she came up to the rear of the white horse trailer.

  “Beautiful day for a ride, isn’t it?” she said.

  “Very,” Chuck agreed. He smiled and placed his hand on the rump of a black stallion. “This is my Arabian stallion. Used to belong to Curt Downing before he was killed. He’s an endurance champion and I’ll be riding him today.” He walked over to the other horse, a buckskin with a gold coat, black legs, mane and tail. “This is Dusty. He’s a fine trail gelding and is well trained. Did you bring your own saddle?”

  “I did,” she said, pointing toward her truck.

  “Let me get it for you,” he said.

  Kai opened her mouth to protest, but he was already striding in that direction. The code of the Old West was at work. Her mind automatically slid to Gil. He would have done the same thing. She couldn’t explain why she was thinking of Gil right now. At the breakfast table, he was quiet as usual. Cass was the chatterbox, always inviting Sandy, Cat, her or Talon into an interesting conversation and enlightening topic. He was an extrovert, no question.

  Kai had pretended not to see the worry, the question, in Gil’s gaze when she’d excused herself from the table and gone to her room to pick up her red down vest and her saddlebags, which contained water and protein bars. She always rode with water and food. Plus, she’d tucked her cell phone into her front pocket. Saying goodbye to everyone, she’d told Cat she’d be back by five o’clock that afternoon.

  Chuck placed her saddle carefully into the front area of the horse trailer. “Okay, ready for an adventure?” he asked, walking her to the passenger side of the truck.

  “I am.” She climbed in and he shut the door.

  On the way through Jackson Hole, Chuck asked her a lot about where she was born, her family, and how she became a mechanic. Kai didn’t mind giving him some information but certainly not in-depth. She barely knew him and was careful with strangers.

  In no time, they were out of the town and climbing the long hill that would take them ten miles farther to the entrance to Grand Teton National Park.

  Kai relaxed in the cab, feeling the warmth of the morning sun through the windshield. She had laid her head against the seat, her eyes partly closed. Maybe she’d dozed because when she heard the truck hit gravel, she sat up. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around.

  “Where are we?”

  “In the park.” Chuck pointed to a turn up ahead. “We go to the left. That will take us to a big parking lot where we’ll unload the horses. It’s called Lupine Trail. Did you have a good nap?”

  A little embarrassed, Kai said, “Yes, I did.”

  “They must be working you too hard at the Triple H, huh?”

  Kai rubbed her eyes and appreciated the beauty of the meadow on their left and the evergreen-clothed slopes of the Tetons. Up above at ten thousand feet, the blue granite flanks were covered with snow. “We all work from dawn to dusk. I just haven’t been getting good sleep at night, is all.” She didn’t say why. Gil’s words kept rolling around in her head, coming up for view. He wanted to make her happy. Why? Out of guilt? Payment for their prior fling at Bagram? She wished he wasn’t so obtuse sometimes and would simply tell her the truth.

  “Well, today’s trail ride ought to fill you with energy,” he promised, parking the truck. “Let’s go have some fun.”

  *

  GIL WAS DAMNED moody when he saw Kai walk into the living room at four-thirty that afternoon. All day, he’d worried about her. She came in, smiling and telling everyone hello.

  Cass was getting ready to put food on the trestle table and nearly everyone was gathered in the living room, chatting. It was Gil’s turn to set the table tonight. Kai’s hair was mussed and her eyes were sparkling. What had she been doing? Where had she gone? Gil wanted to ask but knew where that would lead. Besides, it was none of his business.

  As Cass called everyone in, Gil spotted Kai hurrying from the bathroom, rubbing her hands dry on her Levi’s. Just the sweet sway of her hips in the loose-fitting jeans made his lower body tighten. She had unbraided her hair and pulled it back into a ponytail, making her look like the casually elegant young woman that she was. Everyone took their allotted places, with Gil at one end and Sandy at the other. Cass had made a crowd favorite, macaroni and cheese. There was a huge salad and toasted French bread slathered with butter and garlic.

  Sandy beamed. “Guess what I did today, Kai.”

  Kai lifted her head in her direction while she spooned the macaroni and cheese onto her plate. “What?”

  Sandy smiled broadly at Cass. “I took my first horseback ride today! Cass saddled the horses and off we went.”

  Grinning, Kai felt joy thrum through her. Sandy looked so alive, so happy. “That’s wonderful! Where did you two go?”

  “Oh,” Cass deadpanned, “that’s top secret.” He gave Sandy a burning look that no one could misinterpret.

  Chuckling, Kai said, “The fact you rode a horse is a huge achievement, Sandy. Congratulations. How are your legs feeling?”

  “Oh, pretty rubbery and pretty darned sore. You know it takes about three days of riding to get your legs in condition.”

  Kai nodded. “I know what you mean.” She had ridden for three hours with Chuck and the insides of her thighs were feeling tight, too. She saw the pleased look on Cass’s face as he put the food on Sandy’s plate. If Sandy were allowed to serve herself, she’d place one third that amount on it. Cass had figured that out real quick and he placed healthy dollops of everything on her plate, instead. Everyone knew she was expected to eat all of it. And, really, in the three weeks that Kai had been at the ranch, Sandy had probably gained another five pounds. Her face was starting to fill out so she didn’t look so gaunt. Her eyes were sparkling with such happiness that Kai felt it burst through her chest.

  “Hey,�
�� Cat piped up, pouring the vinaigrette on her salad, “guess who’s coming to dinner again on Sunday? Miss Gus, Val, Griff and their baby girl, Sophia.”

  “Good,” Gil said, giving Cass a dark look. “Maybe we’ll get something like roast turkey or a big pot roast?”

  Cass smiled. “Now, now, Gil, I know you prefer meat and potatoes, but I make well-rounded, healthy meals for everyone here.”

  “Yeah,” Talon said, giving a sly grin to Gil. “You’d eat those two food sources every day if given the choice.”

  “I’d live off them just fine,” Gil growled. “What’s for dinner tomorrow night, Cass?”

  “Actually, Miss Gus sent Griff over late morning with half a lamb. So, we’ll have lamb, couscous, curry salad made of apples, raisins and cranberries.”

  “Thank God,” Gil groused, “real meat.”

  Everyone chortled.

  “You’re such a growing boy,” Cat taunted Gil.

  Kai smiled, loving the teasing around the table. She felt so happy here, a part of a big, extended family of sorts. There was no fighting. No sniping. No one being a drama king or queen. Just hardworking, good, solid people. Her kind of people. She slipped Gil a look. His brows were down and he was giving the casserole a deadly look, as if it weren’t enough to make him feel full no matter how much of it he ate.

  “Hey,” she said to him, “can I take you up on that ride down to the area where you guys have been working?”

  “Sure,” he said. “You can see our new bull.”

  Cass grunted. “Mean son of a—” He grimaced, watching his language because Sandy didn’t like it used at the table. “Well, he’s a mean mother.” Cass threw a thumb toward Gil. “When we were offloading him from the stock trailer, he tried to hook a horn into Hanford there. Lucky for him, he moved faster than the bull did.”

  Kai sucked in a breath, fear stabbing through her. She stared at Gil. “Are you all right?” Even her heart was beating harder in her chest. She saw him nod.

  “I’m fine. Cass blows stuff out of proportion,” he grumbled, embarrassed by everyone looking worried. “It’s a bull. That’s what they do.”

  Kai reached out and touched his lower arm. Instantly, the muscles beneath his skin grew rigid. His head snapped up in her direction. She met his blue gaze. “You be careful. You take too many risks.”

  Cat said, “I second it.” She looked around the table. “All we have at this table are operators. All they know how to do is take risks.”

  Sandy said, “I’m in total agreement.” She shook her finger toward Gil. “And we aren’t making too much of this. Slade warned you ahead of time that he was a mean bull. And Slade ought to know. He got gored by the bull’s father a couple of years ago. Jordana, his wife, saved his hide.”

  Gil groaned. “Ladies,” he pleaded, “we’re all okay.”

  “Well,” Sandy grumped at him, “Slade told you to watch him the first couple of days. He’s a fence charger.”

  “I think he’ll leave the fences alone,” Cass said smugly. “We’ve got one-thousand-volt electric wire five feet away from the fence line.”

  Kai grimaced. “My dad had a Hereford bull we called Boulder. He went through electric and barbed wire fences without blinking an eye. No matter how high the voltage.”

  Sandy sighed. “I just think you boys should be keeping a close eye on him for a while. And be on your toes.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Gil said, smiling a little but being respectful.

  “How close did you come to getting gored?” Kai asked him.

  “I don’t know,” he said, shrugging it off.

  “It tore his Levi’s,” Cass told her.

  Gasping, Kai gave Gil a shocked look. “Seriously? He did?”

  Gil gave Cass a deadly look. And then he turned his attention to Kai. “It’s just a pair of Levi’s.”

  “Are you bruised? Did his horn tear open your skin?”

  “I’m fine,” Gil grumbled, paying attention to his food.

  Talon chuckled. “You can always tell an operator. So long as he can crawl, he’s fine. Never mind he’s had two legs shot out from under him. He’ll tell you he’s okay or fine.”

  That got a big laugh out of Cass and a grudging grin tugging at Gil’s mouth.

  Sandy said, “When Gil came in, Cass patched him up. I didn’t get to look at it because they went into the bathroom.”

  Kai gave Cass a one-eyebrow-raised look. “Tell all, Cass. I’m all ears. Maybe I can squeeze the truth out of you because Hanford, here, is buttoned up.”

  Talon snickered and kept his head down, eating.

  “Just one big bruise on the outside of Gil’s thigh. About four inches long. No broken skin. Just a topical rash from the fabric is all.”

  “There,” Gil said archly to her. “Do you feel better now? I told you I was fine.”

  Kai shook her head. “Men…”

  Cat finished off her salad. “Yeah, operators. There’s never been a more closemouthed bunch than them.” She gave Talon a narrowed look, including him in her statement.

  “I’m eating,” Talon said.

  “You need to keep an eye on that bull,” Sandy warned all of them, her voice firm.

  Kai agreed wholly with her. It blew her away that Gil, Talon and Cass just shrugged it off. She knew it wasn’t dinner-table talk, but one of her father’s wranglers had been working with a vet to vaccinate the bulls on their ranch when a bull hooked him through the chute with his horn and gutted him. She had only been ten years old when it happened. Her brother, Steve, had been there with her. She’d promptly thrown up in reaction to seeing it. Luckily, the vet was there and was trained as any medical physician and he’d saved the wrangler’s life.

  The horror of that moment had never left Kai. She’d run from the corral into the house to her room and cried wildly. Her father never came to see if she was all right. But Steve had. He was as shaken by the accident as she was.

  “We’ll be watchful when we go check on the bull tomorrow,” he promised her.

  Kai saw the concern in Gil’s eyes and knew he was worried for her. It should have been the other way around. He’d already gotten a taste of the bull’s lethal personality. “Okay,” she murmured. “What time do you want to go?”

  “After breakfast?”

  “Sure,” she murmured, “that sounds good.”

  “I want to ride tomorrow,” Sandy told Cass.

  “Okay,” he said. “After I put the leg of lamb in the oven, we’ll take a short jaunt as far away from that bull as we can get. Fair enough?”

  Sandy rolled her eyes. “Oh, I don’t want to be near that beast! They’re a ton of meat with horns. I’ve seen them do so much damage in the past.”

  Talon nodded. “My Dad, Gardner, got a horn in his butt. The bull lifted him off the ground with one head toss. When my dad landed, the bull gored him.”

  “Good place to get gored,” Gil said, seriously.

  “Guys,” Sandy pleaded, “can we change the conversation?”

  Both men winced, got guilty looks on their faces and an apologetic nod in her direction.

  “Well, let’s talk about Miss Gus coming over again,” Cat said, excited. “She said she had some good news for us. The last time she said that, she’d bought the Triple H back and put it in Sandy and Talon’s names.”

  “I wouldn’t get my hopes that high,” Talon intoned drily.

  “Gus is like Christmas every day of the year,” Sandy said softly, smiling. “She’s a Mrs. Santa Claus. And she doesn’t have to bring anything except herself to our home. She’s a gift to all of us with her wisdom and experience. Last time she was here with Val’s family, she brought us a huge five-pound box of chocolates. And you know how long that lasted, huh, guys?”

  The men shot guilty looks toward Cat because they’d eaten the lion’s share of the chocolates, leaving a lot less for the women of the ranch. Cat had chewed them out royally for that one. It was Talon who’d come the next day with a one-pound box of cho
colates for Sandy, his wife and Kai, to make up for their greedy chocolate heist. All was forgiven, but Cat wasn’t going to let them forget about it, either.

  “Yes,” Talon said, “well, we did give you ladies a box of chocolates to make up for us taking more than we should have from that five pounds Miss Gus had brought for all of us.”

  Cat eyed him, stared challengingly at Gil and then over at Cass. They all gave her weak smiles, chastened.

  Talon tried to change the course of conversation, saying, “Miss Gus is eighty-five years old. I hope I’m as spry as she is when I hit that age.”

  Cat grinned. “I can just picture you at that age, Talon. You’ll still be riding your horse.”

  “Well,” Talon said, “Miss Gus was riding a horse until she broke her leg a few years ago, and she was past eighty. She’s one tough ol’ bird, and we all love her.”

  That brought an instant nod of agreement from everyone. Kai had met Gus when she and her family visited a couple of weeks earlier. Everyone always spoke highly of her.

  “I just find it incredible,” Kai told Sandy, “that she bought the Triple H back and gave it to you and Talon. I mean, that’s a lot of money.”

  “She has a lot of money,” Talon said. “But that doesn’t define Gus. She’s got a heart as big as Wyoming and she likes doing good deeds for others who deserve it. Plus—” he looked fondly down the table at his mother, who was cleaning up her plate “—she and my mom go back decades because their two ranches butt up against each other. She’s a good neighbor,” he said solemnly.

  “I can hardly wait to see her again,” Kai said, feeling exhilarated. She loved to be around people of action, and Miss Gus sounded like she’d invented the word.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  KAI WATCHED GIL rise from the table. Although he tried to hide it, he was stiff and his right leg was sore where the bull almost gored him. She sat there thinking about the possibilities if he had been gored. Unable to wipe out her childhood memory of her father’s wrangler being gutted by an angry bull, she watched as he moved with a slight limp out into the hall. She heard the screen door open and close. Worried, she excused herself and left the table.