by A. J. Pine
Forget air-conditioning. After helping his new guest earn her keep, Sam Callahan was going to need one heck of a cold shower.
Chapter Four
So much for washing herself clean from the stable. Delaney was spending the rest of the afternoon on the back of a horse. In the heat. With Sam Callahan likely making her hop off her saddle to clean up after their trusty steeds along the way.
Luckily, Ivy had also sent over a pair of jeans in her generous donation, so Delaney didn’t have to put her dirty ones back on. Delaney wasn’t sure what Sam had told her, but they fit better than the ones she owned. There was a plain white ribbed tank and a gray hooded sweatshirt in with the lot of clothes, so she changed out of her nice top and into the tank, tying the hoodie around her waist. It was almost as if Sam had given Ivy a list of what they’d be doing today, and she had pulled the perfect clothes to match. Why was he being so considerate?
Delaney wrinkled her nose. Why did she even care? He was a high-strung, selfish jerk who cared only about getting her out of his hair as quickly as possible. He fed her only because it would have been overly cruel not to. And he clothed her only because he probably couldn’t stand to be near her in her stable clothes. And he was giving her a free place to stay because…
She groaned and dropped onto the foot of the queen-sized bed.
She couldn’t make Sam Callahan out to be the bad guy no matter how hard she tried, even after he made her muck out the filthy stable. She’d challenged him to put her to work, and he’d simply complied. Maybe he wasn’t the worst guy after all.
Who was she kidding? She’d married the worst guy. Sam Callahan was just protecting what was his. She couldn’t fault him for that. Not until the courthouse opened, anyway. Maybe they could call a truce until then. Otherwise it was going to be one hell of a long weekend.
She dumped her bag out onto the bed. She didn’t want to carry anything she wouldn’t need on the trail. Her wallet weighed a ton, thanks to her never getting rid of loose change. She wouldn’t need that on the ride. Her hairbrush and the stack of folded mortgage documents she hoped would prove she still owned the property when Wade sold it.
She was about to set her phone aside when it rang with an unfamiliar number. She stared at the screen, waiting to see if the call went to voicemail so she could listen to which telemarketer was scamming her today and then block yet another number.
The ringing stopped, and she waited several seconds for the voicemail notification. But it didn’t come—not until at least thirty seconds more had passed, and she’d set the phone on the don’t-need-it-on-the-trail pile.
She picked it back up and pressed Play.
“Hey there, sunshine.”
She gasped at the sound of Wade’s voice.
“Imagine my surprise when I saw that you called and didn’t leave a message. That hurts, darlin’. Thought maybe you’d finally come to your senses and wanted to give it another go. Even popped into your parents’ place to let you know how much I’d like that to happen, what do you know? They said you’d skipped town. Where’d you go, sunshine? I may be real good at not being found, but I can always find my way back to you, can’t I? This is my new number. How about we catch up soon?”
Delaney’s hand shook as she stared at the screen.
She hadn’t given herself time enough to think or wonder if Wade would be here when she got to town. She hadn’t even considered there’d be a consequence to calling him. All she’d cared about was her land and doing what she had to do to get it back. She had figured she would deal with Wade when she got here, and she was relieved to find he was long gone. Except now he wasn’t.
She closed out of the call carefully, as if holding the phone the wrong way or pressing the wrong button would summon her ex-husband to her door, and scrolled through her contacts until she found her sister, then tapped the name.
Beth picked up after the first ring.
“Delaney? Oh my God. You’ll never guess who was at the front desk looking for you.”
Delaney cleared her throat. “Wade,” she said flatly. “He just called. No one told him I’m back in Meadow Valley, did they?”
She wasn’t afraid of Wade on his own. But she’d learned in the end that he was a package deal with the kind of trouble she wanted no part of, and she certainly didn’t want to bring that trouble back to Meadow Valley.
“Mom said you went away for the weekend. Dad threatened to call the police on him if he didn’t get the hell out, and I gave him the best stink-eye I could.”
Delaney let out a breath. “Okay. Good. Look, I’m gonna be gone awhile straightening things out here. The whole town is shut down for this fall festival, and Millie broke down. But if all goes according to plan—”
“You’re moving back to Small Town, USA, for good?”
She could hear the thinly masked disappointment in her sister’s voice. Beth was two years younger than Delaney, and while they were close, they were miles apart as far as what they wanted out of life. Beth loved the glitz and glamour of the Vegas nightlife. A born performer, she worked days at the motel check-in desk and nights as a dancer in everything from magicians’ acts to themed nightclubs. The only way she was leaving Sin City was if she landed a dancing gig on Broadway or as a backup performer for a recording artist. As much as Delaney urged her to at least get an associate’s degree, to have something to fall back on if dancing didn’t work out, Beth wouldn’t hear it. She was the type of dreamer who shot for the stars.
All Delaney had ever wanted was her own piece of land, to be able to build and run an animal shelter, and a little bit of quiet away from city lights and oxygen-infused casinos. When she had found Meadow Valley, she was sure it was the place. But when leaving town was the only real way to leave her husband, it also meant putting her dream on hold until she had the finances to get it off the ground again. It had made sense not to sell when she’d left. They’d have made nothing back, possibly would have lost money on the sale. At least if they were splitting the profit, it would have been negligible. But Wade selling it on his own? Looked like he'd done all right while she’d bided her time the past couple of years, working whatever motel shifts her parents couldn’t fill, which often meant overnight. It meant living at home, socking away every penny, and waiting for the day when she could claim that dream again.
She didn’t have the funds yet. Heck, she wasn’t sure what she would do once the land was rightfully hers. All she knew was she was done sitting on the sidelines, waiting for life to do right by her.
“I don’t know what I’m gonna do,” she finally said. “But as long as Wade isn’t here, I have a little bit of time to figure things out.”
She heard her sister sigh. “Just be careful, okay, Lanes? I know you know Wade is bad news when you get your distance, but that man is a charmer. I don’t want to see him charming his way back into your good graces just to screw you over again.”
Delaney’s jaw tightened. Maybe she’d been young and naive when she let him sweep her off her feet. But she was on solid ground now. Had been for the better part of the past couple of years. There was no way he was weaseling his way back into her life again.
“Thanks for your faith in me, sis,” she said coolly. “But I came here to get back what he took from me and nothing more.”
“Lanes,” Beth said, and she could hear the regret in her sister’s tone. “You know I think you’re the strongest woman I know, but…”
But.
But she also couldn’t blame Beth for the lack of trust. She had been strong. A straight-A student in high school, she’d won enough grants to put herself through her vet tech program for almost nothing. Wade asked her to pick any place on the map, not knowing she’d already researched and found the land for the shelter. It was big enough that they could rescue animals small and large. She’d envisioned dogs and cats as much as goats and sheep. She’d even found a local vet to donate his time. She and Wade contributed equally to the down payment, had bought the place tog
ether, and were supposed to build a happy life. That was the only reason she’d put up with his business ventures and lack of money management for as long as she did. She spent most of her life building up a dream in her head only to lose it as quickly as blinking.
“I know,” she finally said, then swallowed the knot in her throat. “I gotta go. Call you in a few days, okay?”
She wasn’t leaving Meadow Valley with her tail between her legs again.
“Love ya, Lanes,” her sister said.
“Love ya, Beth.”
She ended the call, deleted Wade’s voicemail, and then hurriedly threw the few items she thought she’d need on the trail back into her bag. The faster she got out of this room, the better.
Sam was leaning against the stable door, arms crossed and hat tilted over his eyes so that all she could see was his stubbled jaw peeking out from the shadows. She knew cowboys were a real thing but never thought she’d run into one in Meadow Valley, let alone be just about ready to hop on the back of a horse and ride off into the sunset with him. Not that their sunset ride was going to be like some sort of Hollywood movie ending. It would be work. Another item added to the list of ways she’d earn her keep.
What about him cooking for her, though? He could have handed her a loaf of bread and some peanut butter and jelly and called it a day. But he’d cooked for her, had shown concern for her when she’d nearly knocked his block off. And the clothes from Ivy? Sam Callahan was more than a rancher in a cowboy hat. He was a gentleman, chivalrous as a medieval knight in more ways than one—and completely at odds with her plan to take her land back. Still, she did enjoy the few seconds of fantasizing that he was some sort of romance hero.
Had she really thought she could turn Wade Harper into someone like that? Or had she simply been too young and naive and blinded by what could have been rather than what was? Either way, she had no one to blame but herself for her questionable judge of character and even more questionable willingness to put her trust in a man who was only ever going to break her heart.
“You ready?” he asked.
“As I’ll ever be.”
Sam shook his head.
She set her hands on her hips. “What now? Did I not clean the stalls to your liking? Got another task for me to complete before his highness steps onto his horse?”
She was well aware that he didn’t deserve her outburst, but someone had to bear the brunt of her anger, fear, frustration—whatever it was—and it might as well be Sam Callahan. Wasn’t as though she could stand in front of a mirror and yell at herself. Well, she could, but people might worry about her if she did.
He strode toward the bench and picked up a straw cowboy hat she hadn’t noticed a few seconds ago. Then he approached her slowly, pausing when he was only inches from her.
“May I?” he asked, and something in that simple gesture—asking for her permission—made her stomach flip.
She tucked her hair behind her ears and nodded.
He set the hat on top of her head. “By the way,” he said, his deep voice sending tingles from head to toe, “I only shook my head at you because I can’t figure you out. I’d have crashed face-first on my pillow about ten times already if I were you, but your battery doesn’t seem to quit.”
“Vegas is the real city that never sleeps,” she said with a nervous laugh. “Guess I brought a little bit of home here with me. Also thanks for the hat,” she added, realizing she’d left her sunglasses in her car.
Her car!
“Hey,” she said, less venom in her tone. “You haven’t forgotten about my car, have you?”
He grinned. “You mean ol’ Millie? Already talked my buddy Colt into towing her for you. Turns out he has some spare time before dinner and offered to help.”
She smiled warily. “And he knows what he’s doing with your truck and the towing hitch and everything?”
Sam laughed. “He’s the one who installed the hitch on the truck in the first place. Only thing the guy knows better than horses is cars.” She opened her mouth to respond, but he cut her off. “And before you ask why I don’t just have him fix your car, it’s because any work Colt does on my truck or anyone else’s vehicle, he does outta Meadow Valley Motors, which is—”
“Closed,” she said, finishing his sentence. “I get it. Whole town’s asleep until…” Something clicked together in her head, and she narrowed her eyes at him.
“What did I do now?” he asked, backing away from her glare.
“If the whole town is shut down for over a week, how’d you get Ivy to send over all these clothes?”
He shrugged. “I called in a favor.”
“And you couldn’t call in a favor to get my car fixed?”
He tilted the brim of his hat up so she could see his brown eyes darken and his jaw tighten. “Are you leaving town before the courthouse opens and you file a claim to get your land back?”
He had her there. “Well…no.”
“Then I guess I’m about all out of favors. Let’s go.”
He turned on his heel and stalked back toward the stable door, disappearing inside.
Shoot. She’d actually hoped this afternoon might be a little fun. She hadn’t been on the back of a horse in a while, but she loved riding. She’d done some volunteer hours with an equine veterinarian and had earned herself some free riding lessons from the owner of one of their patients.
But she and Sam were at odds again, and she knew she was the one who got them off on the wrong foot. Maybe this ridiculous attraction that so wasn’t part of her plan wasn’t one-sided. Maybe he was waging the same internal battle, which seemed to result in friction, keeping either one from being truly civil toward the other. She wondered if they could go more than a few minutes without running hot and cold on each other. Looked like they had a whole afternoon to find out.
She followed him inside a few moments later but found the stable as empty as it had been when she was cleaning it. Then she noticed a door on the opposite end was open to the fenced-in arena, so she headed back out into the sun to find Sam patting the flank of a gorgeous black-and-white-spotted horse. Tied to the fence next to them was a second horse, chocolate brown from head to toe, the color of Sam’s eyes. The animal paced back and forth, seemingly impatient to get on the trail.
“Hey, girl,” she said, approaching the brown mare and stroking a palm from her eyes to her nose.
The horse stopped moving and gave an approving whinny.
“How did you know it was a girl?” Sam asked.
She shrugged. “I’m a registered veterinary technician. Did one of my clinicals with horses. I can sense these things.”
His brows raised. “Really?”
Delaney laughed. “Nah. Her tail went up when she was dancing back and forth. Saw all I needed to see.”
Sam smiled and shook his head. “So what’s a Vegas vet tech want in Meadow Valley—other than your land, of course?”
“Open my own animal rescue,” she said. “That’s what the land was for. “Had a vet lined up and everything. Before we left Las Vegas, Wade and I ran a crowdfunding campaign for initial donations to get the whole operation up and running. I was surprised at how successful it was, but I guess a lot of people have a soft spot for an animal in need of a home.”
Sam went to work securing a couple of travel packs to the male horse.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Wade used the money for one of his no-fail business deals—that failed miserably. It was the last straw. I’d forgiven him for so much along the way. But he took my dream. So I finally left, used every penny I could scrape up to divorce him. So now you know why it’s taking me some time to get back on my feet financially.”
Sam came back around the horse to face her. He lifted his hat, swiping the beads of sweat that dotted his forehead.
“I’m sorry, Delaney.” His words were suffused with a sincerity she wasn’t anticipating.
“Thank you,” she said. “I appreciate that.” She looked
at her bag slung across her torso and suddenly felt underprepared. “Should I have brought more than this?”
Sam laughed and shook his head. “We should only be gone a few hours. But a good trail leader always plans for the unexpected. Not that I’m expecting anything—unexpected.”
He suddenly sounded flustered.
Her brows drew together. “That’s why it’s called unexpected. You don’t expect it. Should I be worried about whether or not you know what you’re doing, Sam Callahan?”
He patted the brown horse’s nose. “Only thing you need to worry about is whether you and Barbara Ann can keep up with me and Ace. Do you ride as well as you identify a horse’s gender?”
Delaney untied Barbara Ann’s reins, hooked her boot in the stirrup, and hoisted herself into the saddle.
He raised his brows.
“Impressed?” she asked.
He nodded. “Every time I learn something new about you.”
Heat crept up her neck. They needed to get moving before she started getting ideas about riding cowboys instead of horses.
“Lead the way, Callahan.”
Sam walked Ace across the grass expanse of the arena to where the fence opened in the direction of the woods, and Delaney followed on Barbara Ann’s back. The mare moved with an easy grace, and Delaney breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn’t spooked the animal by climbing into the saddle without warning. Once outside the gate, Sam made sure it was closed securely, then climbed into Ace’s saddle like it was as easy as breathing.
God he looked good up there, so sure of himself, so in control. Even when she pushed his buttons—and she’d been pushing them—he had this steadiness that did anything but steady her. Instead she felt off-kilter and out of sorts.
“You ready?” he asked, breaking into an ear-to-ear grin.
Her head swam, and her pulse quickened. No. That was the honest answer now. But it was too late to turn back. Plus, she was still earning her keep, wasn’t she?