Cherish and Protect

by Lori Ryan

  “Both,” Hunt said and James shot him a look. He didn’t know about the TBI, but he supposed he should have realized it was a possibility with what James had told him. “He’s having a lot of anger issues.”

  Cade looked grim but led them into the barn. “You’re going to need to get him some help while I work on the dog. If his anger issues are severe, we have to think of the safety and well-being of the dog when we pair them. I can train the dog to handle yelling and even some throwing things and stuff, but I need to know the dog is safe from harm. Can you convince your friend to see someone if he knows there’s a dog coming to him down the road?”

  “I can try,” was all Hunt could offer.

  “I’ll call around to some of the trainers in the area and see if anyone has a lead on a good candidate. Sometimes, they’ll be training a dog for one thing like search and rescue or detection work, and the dog washes out but would be a good candidate for another type of work. Other times, they might know of a dog someone needs to re-home who might work. I can also touch base with the rescues and shelters I work with and see if they have any dogs I can test. I got Lulu from a friend who planned to use her for search and rescue work, but she wasn’t taking to it as much as he’d have liked. He let me repurpose her for James.”

  He looked to Hunt. “I can train the dog up as fast as possible, but you’re still looking at months of wait time. And I’ll need him to come here to work with me and the dog for a bit when the dog is ready. Can he do that?”

  Hunt didn’t hesitate. “I’ll get him here. Hopefully, just knowing there’s help coming might be enough to get him through until you can get a dog ready for him. But listen, I don’t know how much money we can scrape together for this. I know this has probably got to cost you—”

  Cade didn’t let him finish. He waved off the words. “I don’t need any payment.” He turned to James. “But I do need something from you. You can consider it payment for the dog.”

  The muscles in James’s stomach clenched. He had a feeling Cade was going to ask him to spend more time with Laura. How could he tell him he couldn’t look at his sister without feeling the guilt of knowing he’d left her in the hands of a monster for years?

  They stopped in front of Tess’s stall and the mare poked her head out looking to see who her visitors were, probably wondering if they had anything to offer her. Cade slipped a peppermint from his pocket, unwrapped it and offered it to the horse.

  Hunt laughed. “Mints? Is that normal?”

  Cade grinned. “Yeah. My wife tries to get me to feed them carrots, but they still like mints now and again.” He turned to James. “I need you to ride Tess for me while Presley’s out with her sprained ankle. You don’t need to jump her or anything, but if you can hop on her for a little while three or four days a week, I can jump her once a week.”

  James looked to the mare. He hadn’t thought about getting back on a horse. It had been years since he’d worked at a riding stable and it wasn’t something he gave much thought to anymore. Now that Cade had stuck the idea in his head, though, he had to say it wasn’t a bad one.

  “Presley doesn’t mind if I ride her?” He had seen firsthand that Presley Royale loved the horse. He had no doubts about his ability to handle the mare, but he would have thought he’d need to prove that to her before she’d let him near Tess.

  “I ran it by her and she’s okay with it as long as I watch you the first couple of times.”

  James looked to the horse, then to Cade, then back to the horse.

  It would mean venturing out of the barn each day, and that wasn’t something he was looking forward to. It wasn’t like he would run into a lot of people on the ranch, but he’d certainly see more of his sister and Cade, and probably even May and Josh. Then again, being out this morning hadn’t been so horrible.

  He looked down to where Lulu stood by his side. The truth was, Lars needed that dog. James also owed Cade. A lot. No way in hell he’d say no to anything Cade asked of him.

  6

  Presley stayed away for three days, long enough for Cade to text and let her know James had been up on Tess twice and was handling her beautifully. Of course, it hadn't been hard to stay away during that time since she'd been busy on the circuit.

  Despite being hurt, she was expected to attend any local shows with Grand Prix level classes. It had been a rule her father had established early on. You spent your time recuperating with the physical therapist and studying your competition.

  She'd been glad for the rule this time. Of course, she often spent time at competitions watching the other competitors from the sidelines, but it was different when you didn't have to keep track of when you needed to warm up and what was happening with your mount, or any other concerns while you watched.

  Now, though, she had four days of down time and she planned to spend some of that at the barn with Tess, even though she wouldn't be the one riding her.

  She spotted James and Tess in the outdoor ring immediately. Of course, he was every bit as strong of a rider as Cade had said he'd be. Tess tried the little playful dance she sometimes did when she was first warming up, but Presley watched as steady hands drew the mare back under the bit.

  Presley moved to a large log and sat watching from a distance. She didn't want to distract horse or rider. Of course, Tess would notice her pretty soon, but until then, she would watch.

  Watching wasn't a hardship where James Lawless was involved. She knew she shouldn't think those things, but hey, as long as she only thought them and never acted on them, there wasn't really any harm.

  Maybe.

  She cringed. She sounded awful in her own head, but really, she couldn't help but notice the man's long lean muscles or the way his body flexed with power as he rode.

  She didn't know quite where the thoughts had come from. She'd watched many men in the ring and, of course, over the years she'd had a crush here and there. There was something different, though, about watching someone decked out in the stiff coat and britches of the show arena.

  There was nothing stiff about James. He wore a pair of jeans that looked like they'd been cut to his fit with just the right amount of stretch in all the right places. And his t-shirt stretched over back muscles that weren't like any she'd noticed through a hunt coat.

  His arms were muscular, but not tan, she noticed. And it made sense. She hadn't seen him outside much. She wondered if Cade's plan would help him. Surely getting outside and interacting with Tess each day would help. She'd always thought horses were soothing to the soul.

  Tess threw up her head and turned to cut across the ring toward Presley, and she knew she'd been spotted. She rose, coming forward through the short grass, moving slowly on the air cast that still encased her ankle.

  James gave up trying to turn Tess back as soon as he saw Presley.

  She was surprised to see a smile cross his face and wondered for a brief second if he knew he'd even made the gesture.

  "You look great up there," Presley said, then flushed as she heard her own words. "I mean, she looks like she's going well for you."

  Wow, she sounded like an ass.

  If he noticed, he didn't say. He leaned over and patted Tess's neck as Tess came to the rail to greet Presley.

  "Thanks," he said. "She's a great ride."

  Oh Lord. Presley shut out the thoughts that ran through her head at that one. The horse, he was talking about the horse.

  His grin told her he knew what her mind had done with his words.

  The moment could have turned tense, but a man with a heavy limp joined them. Tall and lanky with the kind of short hair that said he had been in the military at one time or maybe still was. Either that, or he admired the haircuts given in the army.

  “My day is looking up,” the man said as he dropped a duffel bag by his feet and offered a hand to Presley. “I woke up with this guy, so you’re a sight for sore eyes. I’m Jeff Hunt.”

  “Presley Royale,” she said as she took his hand.

 
He winked at her, holding her hand a little longer than what was really considered polite, but there was almost a playfulness to his gesture. If she wasn’t mistaken, the playfulness was directed as much at James as it was at her.

  James didn’t seem to get the joke. He dropped down off Tess, holding onto her reins, but moving closer to Presley, even though they stood on opposite sides of the fence.

  “Don’t you need to be getting on the road, Hunt?”

  Hunt only laughed, making Presley smile. She couldn’t help it. The joking felt good. And the fact that James seemed to care if his friend flirted with her felt better.

  The smile Hunt turned on her was pure sin. It was probably one that should have done something to her, but it didn’t. Still, Presley had to admit, she liked the attention. She didn’t get that much in her life.

  She hadn’t gone to school. She’d been taught by tutors. On the circuit, she was always Lawrence Royale’s daughter. Always was and always would be. The boys who had hit on her as a teen and the men who hit on her now had other reasons for wanting her. It wasn’t ever about her. It was about what her family, her father, could do for them.

  There had been a boy she thought was interested in her when she was seventeen. Not her dad, not her mom, not the family name or the family stables.

  She’d had two weeks of feeling butterflies in her stomach whenever he came around, whenever he turned his smile her way. When he grabbed her hand while they cooled down their horses.

  Two weeks. Her dad had chased him off. Actually, he’d done more than just chase the kid off. Joseph Andrighetti’s parents had been told they would either get their son under control or they were going to find their son and his horse weren’t welcome on any trainer’s roster or in any stable in the area.

  Presley wasn’t really sure her dad had the power to do that. But it didn’t matter. Joseph’s parents must have believed it. What really hurt was how easily Joseph had been chased away. Presley had been so sure he wouldn’t be swayed by anything her father said. She was so sure he would laugh and tell her no one could change the way he felt about her.

  Seventeen-year-olds were stupid that way. At least, she’d been stupid that way at seventeen.

  Then again, it had happened with Chris Anderly when she was twenty-seven, so maybe she was still as foolish as a seventeen-year-old.

  Well, the Chris thing hadn't been exactly like the Joseph thing. With Chris, she'd believed he was interested in her, believed he couldn't possibly want anything from her dad or her family name because he'd been so high up in the ranks of competitors, had a trainer he liked, and had money of his own.

  She shook her head, not wanting to relive the moment she'd found out one of those things wasn't true. Hearing him on the phone with another woman had been a shock. Finding out he'd lost all of his money to a scam investment and needed her if he was going to keep living his life the way he wanted to had been devastating.

  Presley tuned back in to find James and Hunt saying their goodbyes.

  Hunt rested one fist on James's shoulder. "I'll call when I get in."

  James looked almost apologetic. "Listen, maybe I can go with you," he started, but Hunt was shaking his head.

  "No way, brother, you got shit you need to do here. You just take care of you for now, you hear me?"

  There was a thick tension in the air and Presley felt almost like an intruder. In a move that went against everything she typically did, she found herself trying to break the tension instead of surreptitiously move away from the private conversation.

  "Wow, I think you guys just reenacted a scene from Pretty Woman."

  Hunt and James looked at her for a minute before Hunt winked and sauntered closer. "I can reenact all the Pretty Woman you want."

  He didn't get closer. James reached over the fence, grabbed him by the back of his shirt and tugged, hard, bringing an unrepentant grin to Hunt's face.

  "You're done, Romeo. Call me when you get in." With that, James shoved Hunt toward his waiting truck and moved back to Presley's side.

  James watched as Hunt turned his truck in a tight K turn before heading down the drive with one arm waving out the window.

  He still felt like he should be going with him, like he owed it to Lars to help him, but the truth was, he hadn't left the ranch since he'd come to it. He wasn't sure he wouldn't just slow Hunt down. If he started having panic attacks on the road...

  Having Lulu with him helped a hell of a lot, but still, it was one thing riding a horse on the ranch. It was quite another going out and dealing with the real world.

  "You okay?" Presley asked quietly beside him.

  He turned to look her way, seeing deep blue eyes staring back at him. He expected to feel like a bug being examined under a microscope. Or that he'd see pity there. He didn't. All he saw was concern and he realized that was a different thing than pity.

  He nodded and took the reins from her. "I'll cool her down," he said.

  As he said it, he realized he hoped she would hang around afterward while he brushed Tess in the barn. Presley had made him laugh and smile more in one day than he had in a long time. That meant something. In fact, he thought, as she watched him walk Tess, that meant a whole hell of a lot.

  7

  "You probably can't wait to get back on her, huh? You're missing a month of shows, right?" James asked as he ran the curry comb in circles over Tess's back.

  "Yes and no," she said.

  James looked at her, waiting for her to say more.

  She did. "I can't wait to get back up on Tess, but I'm okay with missing the shows."

  "Really?” He hadn't expected that. He would have thought she'd be upset to be missing so many shows. From the little he knew of Presley, show jumping was her life. As he looked at her now, he saw she looked a little surprised by her own admission.

  She was slow to answer. "I guess I've just been a little ready to slow down."

  "I didn't know there was such a thing in show jumping. At least not at your level." The barn he'd worked at when he was in high school had been on the east coast and it had definitely had its share of competitive riders in jumpers, hunters, and equitation. There had even been a couple of big dressage riders. From what he remembered, it was intense.

  She had her lips pressed tightly together as she stared at a spot on the wall, as though she was trying to work something through in her own mind before answering.

  "I guess I just don't love it as much as I used to. The riding—that part, I love. I still love that feeling that you're flying when you go over a jump and the feeling of partnering with a good horse. But I just," she fluttered her hands in the air like she was looking for words to bring her thoughts to fruition, "I don't know. I guess my heart isn't into the competition any more."

  "Was it ever?” He asked, switching the circular strokes of the curry comb for the short brisk strokes of the hard brush that would take off the dirt the curry had loosened.

  Now she looked at him with surprise and he liked that she appeared to be thinking before answering him. It meant she was probably telling him the truth instead of giving him an off-the-cuff answer that would satisfy his questions without really telling him anything.

  "My career has always been tightly tied to my relationship with my parents," she said slowly, then seemed to rush to correct a perceived slight. "Don't get me wrong, I love my parents. And I've loved the life they've given me even if it was unconventional. I just think I've loved the feeling of competing and winning because when I'm competing and winning, my parents are happy."

  "And is that enough anymore?” He sounded like a therapist, but whatever. He didn't care. He genuinely wanted to hear the answer. He'd wondered why she kept her retired horse at Cade's instead of on her parents’ land. Surely, they had room for one retired horse there.

  She quirked her head at him. "I think so." Now a frown. "Maybe."

  The words “maybe not” slid through his mind, but he clamped down on them before they could come out of his
mouth. It wasn't his place to tell her what to do. Instead, he settled for, "If you weren't riding, what would you be doing?"

  Her mouth opened quickly, but he could see her deliberately slow her response. "I've thought of opening a florist shop."

  "Really?" That wasn't at all what he would have guessed.

  She laughed at his surprise. "Yeah, it's a little silly, really. I asked myself what I would do if I wasn't riding a couple of years ago, and I realized I would enjoy owning a business. A lot of people think I would train other riders or maybe breed and train horses or something, but I guess I realized I don't really want to do that. I started looking at what I might do."

  "And?” He asked, moving on to the soft brush that would finish off the coat.

  "And, I researched options."

  That made him laugh. Leave it to Presley to research things instead of going with her gut interests.

  She seemed to like his laughter, answering with a cheeky grin. "I like research, so I looked up businesses that can thrive in a small town—"

  "Because you want to stay in Evers?"

  She glanced up at that and nodded. "Yeah, I do."

  He didn't know much about Evers. He had yet to step foot into the town. Although, if he thought about it, he did know something about the town. As soon as the people of this town found out he was coming, they'd come out to the ranch to help Cade and his brother, Shane, turn the loft into an apartment for him. That said a hell of a lot for the people of the town.

  And even though he had to guess plenty of people were talking about him in town, speculating about the man who had been captured by the enemy and held captive for five years, none of them had shown up on the ranch trying to snoop into his business.

  That said even more about the people in the town.

  "So you researched small town businesses. What else?” He asked. He rubbed his hand over the spot between Tess's eyes that always made her lean into him and then unhooked the cross-ties so he could lead her into her stall. She knew he'd filled a bucket with grain and had it waiting in her stall. She turned immediately to the open door and hurried to the bucket, not caring in the least that he followed behind her to close and latch the door.