by Kim Redford
She laughed, pointing at him. “Don’t you have anything better to think about?”
“Not with you around.”
She laughed harder, giving him a once-over, too. “Are you trying to fuel my cowboy fantasies?”
“Is it working?”
“Overtime.”
“Want to try the hot tub again?”
“After our ride?”
“That’d suit me fine.”
She looked him over again as her gaze turned dark with intent. “Maybe we won’t need our suits this time.”
“Now you’re starring in my cowgirl fantasy.”
She grinned, mischief twinkling in her blue eyes. “Think you can wait for the real thing?”
“Much more of this and I’ll be heading back to the barn with you in tow.”
She smiled as she rubbed the palm of one hand suggestively up and down her thigh as she watched him watch her.
He was having serious doubts about the importance of observing cattle with their heads stuck in stock tanks when he saw Ken racing back toward them as fast as the ATV pulling the drinking trailer could safely go.
“Hold up!” Shane called to the group. “Something’s going on with Ken.”
“Is he hurt?” Morning Glory asked in alarm.
“Don’t know.” Shane turned toward Ken. “Y’all wait here. Let me find out what’s happening with him.”
He loped across the prairie, cutting the distance in half so he could reach Ken as quickly as possible.
Ken came to a stop beside him, then stood up on the ATV, pointing back toward the horse pasture. “Gone!”
“What do you mean?” Shane felt his heart speed up as he tried to see what had alarmed the youngster.
“Horses aren’t where they’re supposed to be.”
“What?”
Shane glanced all around, taking in as much as he could in a split second. The three women were bunched together. The rigs were near the cattle troughs. Ken and the ATV were with him. All was as it should be except for news about the horses. It didn’t make sense. His string was worth plenty, but nobody worried too much about thieves anymore. It wouldn’t be easy to get on his ranch with a big trailer, load up the horses, and get out, much less do it all without being seen by cowboys. He discounted theft, so next up would be downed fence, but he knew good and well that his fences were in order.
And then he was struck by a new thought, remembering the open door, the gray sedan, the sense of unease. Was somebody playing games on the ranch to cause worry and trouble? If so, a single person on foot could easily enough get in and out at night or another time if he watched the ranch pattern of activity. On the other hand, he could be imagining trouble where there was none. It could be as simple as fence slats kicked down and horses changing pastures. He wasn’t keen on his horses getting anywhere near the cattle, but it was understandable if they were after water or sport. He had a particularly rambunctious stallion that could be after greener pastures.
“Shane?” Ken asked, looking anxiously around the area, too. “Am I missing something?”
Shane made a quick decision. “I’ll check on the horses.” He wanted everyone safe till he could figure out what was going on. He didn’t want to interrupt the cowboys or firefighters because they had to get water to the herds. He’d handle this on his lonesome. If necessary, he’d contact the sheriff.
“I can unhook the trailer and go with you,” Ken said.
“Thanks.” Shane looked straight at Ken. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t like it.”
“Me either.”
“I’d like you to tell the cowgirls that I’ve called off the ride while I go locate horses that have strayed out of their pasture.”
“Won’t they want to help?”
“Most likely.” Shane didn’t like to fool anybody, unless they were teasing and having fun, but he didn’t want anybody else drawn into danger, even if it was only a possibility. “I hate to ask it, but would you pretend a stomachache or something so Morning Glory will have to take you and Hedy, since she rode with MG, back home? If possible, get Eden to help Jack in the Den.”
“It’s not just a downed fence, is it?” Ken suddenly looked much older than his years.
“I don’t know, but I’m not taking any chances.”
Ken sat down in the ATV, squared his shoulders, and gave a crisp nod. “You can count on me.”
Shane watched as Ken took off toward the other riders, then he turned his attention to the missing horses. He started forward, taking his time, watching the ground for sign that’d reveal unusual tracks, watching the sky for buzzards that’d announce dead animals, watching in between for any type of movement.
After he’d gone a distance, he heard the thundering of hooves behind him. He looked back. Eden had her chestnut running full out. He should’ve known she wouldn’t be put off for any reason. He stopped, waiting.
“What’s really going on?” she asked, pulling up beside him. “And don’t give me any malarkey.”
“Did Ken get the others gone?”
“They’re heading out.”
“Good.” He reached over and squeezed her hand on the saddle horn. “I wish you’d gone back to the Den with Jack.”
“You’re spooking me.”
“I don’t mean to be. Truth is I just want to check the fence line. Maybe some slats are down, so the horses got out.”
“We could’ve all done it together.”
“Yeah.” He cocked his head to one side, considering. She was strong. She’d had to be to make it. He needed to see her that way. Neither one of them was a kid anymore. They were grown-up, with grown-up problems.
“Shane?”
“Come on. Let’s see what we can see.”
Chapter 19
Eden rode beside Shane, noticing the way he scanned the ground and the sky as he looked for anything that moved or appeared out of place. She couldn’t help him because she didn’t know the land well enough anymore. There’d been a time when she had known where to locate the best blackberry bushes, where to sit on her favorite rock outcroppings, where to find a few Comanche arrowheads. She might still be able to locate some of her favorite things, but many would’ve been eroded or camouflaged or swept away by wind and rain, cattle and horses, rabbits and birds. Time definitely marched onward.
And yet, here she was beside Shane on the Rocky T again, as if no time had passed at all. And for them, maybe it hadn’t. Maybe they were meant to be together. Maybe time had finally changed its beat to one totally in sync with the beat of their hearts. She smiled at the idea.
“Nothing looks out of place yet,” Shane said, breaking their silence.
“Maybe not, but you’re concerned about something. What’s up?”
“I don’t want to worry you.”
“I’ve been worried since you sent Ken back.”
“Okay. I’ve got an uneasy feeling.”
“About what?”
“My fences are solid. Those horses shouldn’t have gotten out.”
“Slats can be kicked loose or knocked down or—”
“I know. And that’s probably what happened.” He hesitated, glancing at her. “Still, there’s that open door at your place. And a gray sedan keeps turning up parked on the shoulder of Wildcat Road in front of the ranch. The driver can see up to the station and your home from there.”
Eden felt a chill run up her spine, freezing her in the saddle, tightening her throat. “A gray car? Driver wearing a hoodie?”
Shane stopped and turned toward her. “Yeah, a hoodie. You’ve seen that car, too?”
“When I was in Old Town, I noticed a vehicle like that stopped on Main Street near where I stood on the boardwalk. Still, that doesn’t mean anything. It’s not an unusual car.”
“It is around here.”
“Might mean something.”
She stroked her throat, trying to ease her tension. “Did you get a license plate number?”
“No. Too far away. Did you?”
“It didn’t enter my mind. Not then.”
“Might be a good idea to alert Sheriff Calhoun,” he said.
She clenched the reins in her fist. “Why would anybody be watching me?”
“We can’t factor out my new less-than-neighborly neighbors. Lander cut off my water supply lickety-split. He started a brush fire that almost took out a pasture. I still have to wonder if he’s trying to cripple the Rocky T so the Tarleton family can buy it cheap.”
“That’s a bad thought.”
“I never heard they were underhanded, but I never had them next door before, either.”
“They’re located nearby, so why would they need to be so obvious as to watch you from the road?”
“Good question.”
“Graham took everything I had, so he has no reason to come after me for more. Tarleton cowboys can look over the fence at the Rocky T anytime they want.” She felt a little more empowered getting their thoughts out in the open, but the situation still didn’t make sense.
“I’d like nothing better than an easy answer, but we have to play it smart, too.” He clicked to his mount and started forward. “Let’s see what we find up ahead, then get the horses back in their pasture. After that, we’ll know whether to call the sheriff or not.”
“Okay. I’m in no rush to escalate a few observations into full-fledged drama. I’ve had more than my share of that nonsense.”
He reached over and squeezed her hand. “My goal is to keep us safe no matter what happens.”
“Thanks.” She leaned toward him and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “Now let’s find those horses.”
She matched his pace as she had so many times before in their lives, and it felt absolutely right. For now, she could keep moving forward and get as many answers as possible.
“There they are.” He pointed to a far corner, where about a dozen horses were nipping at new growth beginning to sprout in the pasture.
“That’s a relief.” She followed his line of sight, trying to notice anything that appeared amiss. “They look okay to me. No cattle?”
He pushed back his hat as he glanced around, then set it back in place. “None here. It’s a perfect pasture for the horses. I was going to relocate them over there today anyway. It’s a fairly small area with a pond well suited to them.”
“But how did they get into that pasture?”
“It’s got to be the fence. Let’s check.” He cantered over to the three-slat white fence. “If you’ll go that direction, I’ll take this one. It’ll cut our time in half.”
“Okay.” She turned her mount and started along the fence line, sighting down the long row as she looked for any sign of trouble. All the posts looked straight and sturdy with the slats in place. No way had the horses come through this section.
“Hey, Eden, over here!” Shane called in an excited voice.
“I’m coming.” She turned toward him and followed the fence line. She hoped his discovery would solve their mystery and put everything in its proper place, so she could relax again.
When she arrived at his side, he was already off his horse and kneeling on the ground beside the fence. She didn’t have to look far to see that three slats between two posts were not only on the ground but shoved to one side to make an easy exit for horses.
“Wait! Don’t get down yet.” He glanced up at her as he pointed to the ground. “Shoe prints here. They’re intermingled with hoofprints but still partially visible.” He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, took several shots of the prints before stepping back and taking more photographs of the downed slats and surrounding fence.
“I’d like a closer look.”
“Come on now. I want your opinion about what happened here.”
She quickly leaped down, ground-tied her mount, and joined him. She was careful not to step on prints, but she inspected the brackets with screw holes that held the slats in place. Next, she looked at the screws in the slats that matched the holes in the fence. She shook her head, feeling a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
“Yeah,” he said without her saying a word. “I’ll never get those slats to stay in place if there’s any pressure on them at all, because those holes are stripped, so they won’t hold a screw.”
“Took some force to knock those slats out.” She knelt down, looked at the shoe prints, easily visible in the dry dirt, and studied the downed slats. “You’d better get closer photographs of these slats. Maybe I’m wrong, but it looks to me like the same shoe transferred dirt from the ground to the slats.”
“Kicked, you mean?”
“What do you think?”
“That’s exactly what I think.” He knelt beside her and shot several more photographs.
“I wish we weren’t seeing what we’re seeing.” She gestured around the fence line before she looked down its length in both directions. “Sheriff Calhoun?”
He nodded as he checked the images on his phone. “Not officially, but I’ll let him know. This is small potatoes and an official report won’t get him or us anywhere right now.”
“Guess we have to be on alert now.” She said those words with a heavy heart as she stroked her throat to help relieve her building tension. “It feels like all that anguish Graham put me through is starting up again.”
“But it doesn’t make sense.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“It must make sense to somebody.”
“I guess, but—” She felt her words freeze in her throat as she looked at the footprints on the ground, then to the smudges on the fence, then back again. “That’s not tread made by a cowboy boot or roper or even an athletic shoe.”
He leaned forward as he got a closer look. “No. That looks like—”
“A man’s expensive dress shoe. Probably Italian.”
“In Wildcat Bluff?”
“How about originally in LA?”
He grasped her shoulders and turned her to face him. “Now you’ve got me worried. What are you saying?”
“Graham likes a particular type of shoe.”
Shane stroked her shoulders as if to comfort her. “And you can tell by the sole?”
She clasped his hands with her own, needing his strength as well as his comfort. “Not for certain, but…”
“Let’s get the hell out of here. I want you safe.”
“Not till we put those slats back in place. They’ll hold till you get cowboys out here to do a better job with nuts and bolts.”
He stood up, lifting her with him. “Your ex could be anywhere. If he thinks he didn’t cut a big enough swath out of your back and he’s come for more, then he could be sighting down a rifle on us right now.”
“I don’t think he’s handy with a gun.”
“You don’t need to be too handy to pull a trigger.”
She shivered and wrapped her arms around Shane’s waist, hugging him hard.
“But that’s the worst-case scenario. I sincerely doubt he’s got us in his sights because my ranch hands are on the lookout for trouble.”
“Good.”
“Still, let’s play it cautious and get out of here.”
“Fence first.” She wasn’t going to let Graham intimidate or scare her. He’d already run her out of LA. She’d never let him run her out of Wildcat Bluff. She pushed back from Shane, taking deep breaths to slow her pounding heart. “If Graham’s watching, I don’t want him to think he’s spooked us or even that we’re onto him.”
&nb
sp; Shane gently kissed her forehead, smiling down at her. “You’ve got guts. You always did. Let’s get those slats back in place real quick.”
She lifted the end of one solid wood slat while he picked up the other. They fitted one end into a post, and then the other end, until the slat was solidly in place. By the time they’d completed installing all three slats, the fence looked almost as good as new.
“I really regret bringing trouble to the Rocky T.” Eden picked up her reins. “You know it’s the last thing I’d want for either of us.”
“Don’t apologize. We don’t know anything for sure. Till we see the whites of Graham Tanner’s eyes, we won’t know it’s him.”
“That’s true.” She clasped the reins in both hands, wanting connection to the calm assurance of the chestnut watching her with big brown eyes.
“For now, let’s get back to the barn. The firefighters ought to be done and gone. I’ll check in with the cowboys and alert them to look out more than usual for trouble.”
“What about fence repair? I ought to pay you for the trouble.”
“Don’t go there. Like I said, we don’t know what we’re dealing with right now. Anyway, it’s the cost of doing business.”
“I can at least cook you dinner or something.”
He grinned, reaching up and cupping her chin with long fingers. “There’s plenty you can do for me, but let’s do it up at the ranch house.”
“Oh, Shane.” She pressed a soft kiss against his calloused palm. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“By the time I’m done, you won’t be able to do without me.”
“If it involves a hot tub, you may very well be right.”
“I’m absolutely sure I’m right.” He kissed her, nibbling across her plump lower lip, before he stepped back. “Come on. You whet my appetite for much more.”
Chapter 20
After all was said and done, Eden hadn’t returned to the ranch house and Shane until evening. She’d given Jack a break at the Den, recorded several advertisements, and written promo pieces for the May Day Rodeo to run by Hedy and Morning Glory. She wanted to get the station’s finances updated to a computer, but that’d have to wait for later. While she’d taken care of her business, Shane had brought the ranch hands up-to-date, seen to their horses, and stowed Ken’s ATV with its trailer in the barn.