Almost Home

by India Masters

  “Well, happy birthday, ma’am.” Haley stuck out her hand. “I’ve been a barrel racer since I was a sprout like you.”

  The father smiled and shook her hand next. “Kyle Henderson. Pleased to meet you, Haley. Lead the way.”

  The trio wandered around the grounds until they came to a holding pen containing just the type of horses Haley was looking for. “Now, I know these horses ain’t bright and shiny like that little gelding but you ain’t ready for a green broke horse yet.” She whistled through her teeth, and three horses looked up, as did the wrangler. “Hey, you mind if I get in the pen?”

  The man hawked a wad of tobacco on the ground. “Go on ahead. These are like to go for dog food if they don’t sell.”

  A small group of parents with children wandered over as the three horses made their way to Haley, ears perked forward. “Come on, Sara, the best way to learn how to pick a good horse is hands on.” One of the animals snuffled Sara’s hair. “That’s good. See the way they perked up? I think that one there likes you. Thing is, they’re paying attention to what’s going on and they’re interested, not afraid.”

  She quickly raised her arms and none of the three shied away. She gave each a cursory exam, checking their teeth first. “Okay, Sara, see the pointy areas of this one’s teeth? Horse’s teeth need to be filed down so they’re even, else the sharp spots are gonna scrape their tongues and make it painful for them to eat. This one here needs a little dental work.”

  Next, she showed Sara how to run her hands over each one’s body, testing musculature. “Okay, these horses are nicely balanced. You wanna make sure the horse ain’t carryin’ most of its weight on the front legs because it’s the back legs that deliver the power for forward motion. If a horse ain’t been conditioned right and counts on his front legs for movement, it can make him unsound. It’s kind of like lifting heavy boxes without bending your legs. Keep doing it and eventually you’re back’s gonna break down. It’s the same with a horse that’s heavy in the forehand.”

  Lastly, they moved on to feet. “And don’t forget the feet. If they’re touchy, if the hooves are cracked and dry, or kind of shaped like a dish, walk away. Could be you’re looking at a horse that’s foundered or maybe has some kind of hoof disease. That‘ll cost ya a fortune and no guarantee the animal won’t go lame. Watch how it moves—y’all know how you feel when your feet hurt. Is the underside mushy?” She had Sara lift each foot, examining them with her. “Neither of these guys has any problems.”

  After giving each gelding a good ear scratch, she climbed out of the pen. “Good job, Sara. So which do you like?”

  “The red one with the blond mane and tail.”

  “Ah, the sorrel. I got two at my ranch that look like him.”

  “Well, Mr. Henderson, looks like you’ve found your horse. Happy bidding.” She leaned toward him, whispered a price in his ear. “Don’t let him get away from you.”

  “Haley… Uh— Ms. Kilpatrick, do you have a business card?” he asked. “Some way we can contact you?”

  “Sure.” She reached into her bag and pulled out an old business card and jotted down her home phone.

  Kyle Henderson smiled. “Could I call you sometime? Maybe take you to dinner?”

  Haley looked at his hand. No ring on his finger. “Probably not a good idea, Mr. Henderson. I’m real busy getting a business up and running. You understand.” She chucked Sarah under the chin. “You be good to that gelding, you hear?”

  “Yes, ma’am, I sure will.”

  Haley continued her leisurely stroll through the grounds, finding several prospects for brood mares.

  “That was a nice thing you did back there.” She startled at the sound of Ben Bell’s voice. “Helping that dad and his kid. You attracted quite a crowd.”

  “Woo! You gave me a start.” She slapped her hand over her heart, then smiled. “Well, I do hate to see a perfectly good horse end up at the dog food factory. Besides, the kid had her heart set on a fiery little gelding that’s only half trained. Either she would have ruined him or he would have hurt her.” She smiled up at him, gave him a shoulder bump. “Plus, I just got myself a future customer. When she’s ready to move up to something a little flashier, who do you think they’ll come to?”

  The vet chuckled. “You?”

  “Give the man a cigar.”

  “You bidding on anything or did you just come to look around?”

  “Found a couple brood mares I might bid on. You?”

  “Came to inspect some cattle for one of the local ranchers. You got a number?”

  Haley fished her bidding paddle out of her bag, waved it at him.

  “Well, let’s go find you a seat where the auctioneer won’t miss you. As if that’s possible. How many are you looking at buying?”

  “Saw four that looked good but I only got a two horse trailer.” Haley climbed to the top of the bleachers. “So I figure I’ll run up the price on the two best and let the others go.”

  Ben shook his head. “I’ve got my trailer with me. If you want all four, bid on them and I’ll help you get them home. I can check on your pregnant mare while I’m there.”

  “That’ll work. Much obliged.”

  * * * * *

  When Haley and Ben pulled up with the trailers, Dooley came out of the barn to investigate, smiling and shaking his head. “Lucky for you I ain’t a slacker. Got four fresh stalls ready. What we got here?”

  “Four quarter horse mares, two of them yearlings.” She opened the back of her trailer and lowered the ramp while Ben did the same with his. “Ben was nice enough to help me transport them and he’s gonna take a gander at Molly while he’s here.”

  “Good enough,” Dooly said, and opened the tack compartment to grab a couple of leads. He and Haley unloaded the two yearling fillies and turned them out in one of the paddocks, then Dooly helped Ben with the two mature mares, each man leading an animal into the barn. “Yes, sir,” Dooly crooned to the little bay mare. “You’re a pretty girl. Geronimo’s gonna like you just fine.”

  Ben did much the same, leading his mare past Geronimo’s stall. The stallion immediately thrust his nose in the air and neighed loudly. “Looks like this little chestnut’s fixing to come into heat. She’s certainly gotten your stud’s attention.”

  Haley laughed. “How soon?”

  Ben lifted the mare’s tail. “Give her a couple of days and you can turn them out together. I’ll come back and check her.” He unhooked the mare’s lead and closed the stall door. “And speaking of checking, where’s your Molly?”

  Haley led him to Molly’s stall and talked softly to the mare while Ben checked her.

  “Looks like she’s progressing fine,” he said. “Won’t be long now. I’d say probably next month.” Haley nodded and followed him out, securing the door. He paused and turned, giving her a speculative look. “So, this thing with Wyatt Brody. Serious?”

  Haley’s jaw dropped. “What thing? There is no,” she waved her hand in the air, “thing.”

  Ben shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “He took you home the other night. People noticed.”

  She pulled her chin up a notch and folded her arms across her chest. “People can notice all they want. Don’t mean anything happened. He took me home because I had too much to drink and Tracie was otherwise occupied.” She narrowed her eyes at the vet. “With you, to hear it.”

  Ben held his hands up. “Now hold on there, she was not occupied with me. I just made sure she got home safe.”

  “Imagine that. Do you think folks noticed she left with you?”

  Ben sighed. “All right, I take your point, but Tracie and I are just friends.”

  “And me and Wyatt are just friends.”

  Ben smiled and pushed off the wall. “So, does that mean it’s okay for me to ask you to dinner? Lum’s has the best smoked brisket around.”

  Haley considered the handsome vet’s invitation. She wasn’t interested in getting involved with anyone but having supper with
Ben Bell might be the best way to prove to Wyatt she wasn’t the woman for him. She shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

  * * * * *

  How did she manage to get herself into these situations? She didn’t date, never had. Between her pa and Conner watching her every move, there had never been an opportunity. Not to mention the fact that most of the men she’d known since she’d been old enough to pay attention were rodeo cowboys, notoriously free with their affections, like sailors with women in every port. Seemed all they really cared about was the next ride, be that in the form a pretty buckle bunny or a feisty bull. Haley figured there had to be more to life than traveling the circuit and engaging in meaningless one-night stands. So she avoided dating and now, here she was, sitting across a table from Ben Bell, trying to think of something to say that wouldn’t make her sound like the silly little virgin she was.

  “Relax,” Ben said, leaning forward so he could speak softly. “I don’t bite.”

  Haley offered up her sweetest closed-lip smile. “Maybe you do and maybe you don’t. Being as I’m new in town, I don’t know what you might do. But from the way folks are looking at us, I expect I’ll find out all there is to know about you soon enough, whether I want to or not.” She picked up the almost quart-sized glass of sweet tea and sipped, then set it back on the table. “So what will folks say about you, Ben Bell?”

  The vet squirmed uncomfortably. “Who knows? But I’m counting on the fact that you’re smart enough not to believe everything you hear.”

  She gave up a shout of laughter. “That bad, huh?”

  “No.” He tried to look offended but Haley wasn’t buying it. “Well, you’ll probably hear I’ve dated some.”

  “Imagine that. Now in girl speak, I reckon that’s code for you got a few notches on your bedpost.” His mouth opened, then snapped shut again. Haley figured there wasn’t much he could say without putting his foot in his mouth. Luckily, the food arrived and neither one of them had to speak for a while.

  “I’m sorry,” Haley said when they’d finished eating. “Sometimes my mouth gets to running before my brain has the good sense to put on the brakes. Who you date and what you do ain’t none of my business. And I was mostly teasing.”

  “Not a problem. I like a woman who has the courage to speak her mind. It’s been my experience that most women will say what they think a man wants to hear. Until she’s caught him, and then all bets are off.” He tossed a few bills on the table. “Shall we?”

  Haley slid out of the booth. The palm of his hand rested warm on her lower back as he guided her to the exit and opened the door. As Wyatt had done when he took her to pick up her stock, Ben opened her door and helped her into the passenger seat of his truck.

  “You know that all bets are off thing you said back at Lum’s?” Haley said, as they pulled out of the parking lot. “It’s been my experience that road runs both ways. I don’t reckon a fellow’s gonna show his bad side to a woman until he’s caught her. Like, if a man’s the kind to backhand a woman, he’s gonna make sure she believes she’s special before he raises his hand the first time.” Ben cut her a look she took to be speculative. “No, I’ve never been in a relationship with a man who hit me but my pa’s a man who wins an argument with his fists. And he’s done the same with his women over the years.”

  He raised an eyebrow as if he doubted her words. “And you, too, I expect. I’m sorry, Haley.” He turned on his blinker and took a right turn onto the long lane leading to her home. “I’m no saint but I promise you I’ve never raised my hand to a woman, nor will I.”

  She smiled. “Never occurred to me you did. I’m just saying, honesty’s like a two-lane highway, everybody’s got a side and the truth tends to run right down the middle.”

  “Is that your way of telling me you give people the benefit of the doubt until they prove different?”

  “Pretty much. But you ought to know, I don’t trust easy. Never had a reason to.”

  Ben slowed to a stop in front of her house. “Duly noted.” He shut down the engine, hopped out, and opened her door. “I’ll walk you to your door and we’ll call it a night.”

  She’d read about this. The awkward walk to the door. Would he want to kiss her good night? Did she want him to? She’d heard girls talk about this moment but had never experienced it before. And the talk was right. It was uncomfortable. Did she want Ben to kiss her? Wyatt had kissed her and she’d liked that, though she really had nothing with which to compare. Her pa had made sure of that, running off any boy that came to call, any cowboy who showed an interest. He didn’t want to lose his meal ticket to some randy young stud, so he’d made sure Haley was never alone.

  Oh lordy. They were up the stairs and across the porch. Ben smiled down at her, her hand in his.

  “I’d like to see you again, Haley.”

  His gaze captured hers and wouldn’t let go. He had beautiful eyes. Like the color of spring grass. She wanted to look away but it was as if he had her in some hypnotic spell. He laced his fingers with hers, stroked her cheek with the other, then slid it behind her neck to draw her closer. She watched in fascination as he lowered his head to press his mouth against hers with a touch so gentle she thought she might have imagined it. Until his fingers burrowed into her hair, tugged a bit, and his tongue stroked tentatively against her lips. Almost instinctively, she opened her mouth, inviting him in with a soft gasp.

  He didn’t press, instead keeping their fingers entwined, arms loosely at their sides. His kiss was gentle, almost sweet, but for the tongue stroking hers. But the kiss remained non-threatening, tender, a tentative testing of the waters. When it was over, he smiled and stepped back. “Good night, Haley.”

  She smiled back. “Good night. Thanks for dinner. It was…nice.”

  “Yeah, it was. I’ll call you.”

  She nodded. Maybe he would and maybe he wouldn’t but she didn’t think there would be another date. The kiss had pretty much sealed that. There was no fire. Not even a spark. Not like there was when Wyatt kissed her. She turned and went inside, relieved that she’d only have to fight an attraction to one man.

  * * * * *

  Wyatt tapped his fingers on the leather-clad steering wheel as he waited to turn off the main road and onto Haley’s long driveway. It hadn’t taken long for the gossip machine to fire up. His phone hadn’t stopped ringing last night to fill him in on the latest news. Haley had been seen at Lum’s on a date with Ben Bell. The news hit him like a mule kick. He hadn’t expected it and he didn’t like it, not one bit. Not that he was bothered that she’d gone out with someone. It was the idea that someone happened to be Ben Bell, who had a well-deserved reputation as a lady’s man.

  Wyatt told himself he was just being protective of his new and decidedly unsophisticated neighbor. “Yeah, right,” he muttered. “You just keep telling yourself that, dumbass.”

  When he pulled into the ranch proper, the sight that greeted him nearly stopped his heart. There was Haley, barefoot, clad in a pair of low-slung cutoffs and a baggy old tee knotted above her waist to show off a flat, tight belly as she washed her truck. She looked up and waved as he braked to a stop next to the barn. Her sun-kissed locks were pulled up and clipped to the back of her head. Bits of it had come loose to frame her face in damp waves. She smiled, the soggy shirt clinging to her body, then went back to her work. He climbed out of his truck, ordering his unruly body to behave itself as he approached. “Thought I’d stop by and see if you wanted to head to Kerrville in the morning. Washing your truck?”

  She rolled her eyes at him. “Well ain’t you got a gift for the obvious?” She gave him an impish smile. “Dang thing wouldn’t fit in the dishwasher.”

  Wyatt chuckled and picked up the hose. “Pure sass,” he said, returning her grin a second before his finger pulled the trigger and nailed her with a blast of water. She rewarded him with an outraged screech, then narrowed her eyes, clearly bent on retaliation.

  “Dog food, Brody. That’s what you are.” Quick as a hi
ccup, she dipped into the bucket and slung a sponge at him, catching him in the center of his chest. Soapy water spattered his shirt and dripped down to soak his jeans.

  “Oh, it’s on now, sweet pea,” he declared, and turned the hose on her full blast.

  “Nooo…” she screamed and ducked around the other side of the truck.

  Wyatt chased her, dragging the hose behind him, but she was a clever minx and scrambled up behind him, hurling the contents of the bucket at him, drenching him from his shoulders down. He turned, laughing as she backpedaled, and spun to get away from him. He snagged her around the waist and hauled her back, lifting her off her feet. She wriggled and squirmed, laughing uncontrollably. Wyatt’s booted feet slipped in the wet grass and they both went down, rolling around in the muddy water.

  “I think you need to wash your hair, darlin’,” he crowed, clamping the sponge over the top of her head with a hard squeeze.

  “Ack,” she sputtered, wrestling him for the hose. She got it away from him and let him have a full blast. “You could use a good washing, maybe I ought to toss you in the dishwasher, Brody.” She gave him another blast, then screeched again when he grabbed her ankle and hauled her to him.

  “Maybe I’ll throw you in instead,” he threatened, giving her a good yank until she straddled him.

  “Wait, wait, wait!”

  He paused, thinking maybe he’d been too rough, but she uttered an evil cackle and gave him a short blast to the middle of his forehead.

  “Sucker.”

  Wyatt threw back his head and laughed, then fell backward with a muddy splash, taking her with him. “Sassy little thing,” he said. There was something about way she looked at him, her face alight with the sheer joy of playing. Her bra showed clearly through the white clingy t-shirt, her nipples stiff from the cold water. He’d never wanted anyone the way he wanted Haley at that moment. He took her face in his hands. “Ah god, woman, you take my breath away.”

  On the drive over, he’d told himself to take it slow, not to do anything to scare her. She’d been treated rough by the men in her life and he wanted her to know that not all men were like that, that he wasn’t like that. Now here she was, stretched out over him, his unruly body hard and aching against hers, and all he wanted to do was strip her out of those wet, dirty clothes and have his way with her in the damn front yard. He couldn’t help himself. He kissed her.