“Sorry.” He took his hat off, then reset it on his head. How was he to have known who she was? “But racing your horse like that is dangerous. You don’t know this terrain, which puts you both at risk. I’ve seen what happens when a horse is out of control—you can’t blame me for worrying you were in trouble.” He tugged his hat lower.
“I’ve already ridden the valley twice. We’re fine. Go on about yer business.” She gathered up the reins. “Go ruin someone else’s day.”
“Fine. Later.” This time he did gallop off, but he glanced back to see her watching him. Stubborn, ornery female. So not his type of woman. He really hoped he wouldn’t run into her too often. He’d be sure to stay away from her in the future. He didn’t date a lot, but he liked feminine flowers, not tumbleweed tomboys.
He wheeled his horse around and saw Luke and Wyatt watching him, laughing their stupid heads off. “Dammit.” Hunter winced. Might as well get it over with.
“Did you rescue the fair maiden, bro?” Luke smirked.
“Shaddup.” He knew his ears had to be red. “You were thinking the same thing. I was just faster at being the hero. Gotta get back.”
He split off from them to return to the lodge and start the day. On the way to the barn, he saw the movie crew working around their set. Carley Williams sat in a director’s chair with her name on it, reading a thick stack of paper. Her long red hair hung loose, but it didn’t shine as much as he’d thought it had the other day.
Carley looked up and saw him. She waved, and he noticed her thin red gloves. They looked more like a fashion accessory than something that would keep her hands warm in the cold snap.
He dismounted and tied the reins to a fence post, then walked over to her. Small heaters were spaced around her chair, going full blast. Taking his hat off, he grinned at her. “Mornin’.”
“Hi, Hunter. I was just thinking about you.” She smiled up at him, all Scarlett O’Hara–like. It still knocked him back that a big-time celebrity had started flirting with him when she’d arrived at the ranch.
“Are you filming today?”
“I am.” She held up a script. “I’m going over lines one more time.”
The director, Tom something or other, joined them. “Hunter, right?”
“Yep.”
“Great ranch you have here. Although you’d do well to have better cell reception. Had a helluva time getting through to the producer last night.”
“Sorry, sir. That’s what we get for living out here. Away from crowds, cars and congestion.” Hunter watched the man’s eyes constantly moving over the ranch, the set, his team, and doubted any of the sarcasm had gotten through to him.
Hoofbeats echoed across the way, and he saw the stuntwoman back from her ride. She dismounted and started to walk her horse into the barn, her long brown coat flapping around her legs.
“Mackenzie! Come on over here,” the director shouted to her.
She glanced toward them, then handed the reins to someone, patted her horse’s neck and started walking their way. Hunter could have sworn her steps faltered when she saw him standing with Carley and Tom.
“Yes?”
“How’d it go? Did you get the runaway horse scene blocked out?”
“Aye. There was one bloody idiotic problem, but I took care of it.” She glanced again at Hunter, her eyes speaking volumes—probably curse words.
“Good, good. Hunter, have you met Mackenzie yet? She’s Carley’s stunt double. Mackenzie Campbell, meet Hunter Sullivan.”
Hunter shook her hand, not too surprised by her firm grip. “Nice to meet you, ma’am.” He tipped his hat at her.
Her eyebrows crinkled just a bit, then smoothed out. “I need to take care of Rory, if you’ll excuse me.”
“Mackenzie, check in with the stunt coordinator. Hunter, you’re welcome to stay and watch, as long as you’re out of the way.” The director walked off toward a tent.
“Oh, stay, honey. You can see me in action.” Carley ran her hand down his arm.
He glanced up to see Mackenzie roll her eyes and turn away, taking off her coat as she walked and shaking it out.
“Honestly, that girl is always a mess. She’s such a tomboy.” Carley flipped her long curls over her shoulder and batted her eyes at him.
He backed up a step. “I should let you get to work. Got things to do at the barn.”
“I finish early. Maybe we can get together.” She ran a fingernail down the buttons on his jacket.
Carley was beautiful and flirtatious. The perfect woman for him to spend time with—so why did her flirting leave him cold now?
She leaned up and kissed his cheek, then turned away and walked toward the director.
He went back to Becket and led him the rest of the way to the barn. As they entered, he heard a soft voice speaking a language he’d never heard. Mackenzie stood at the other end of the barn, brushing her horse down.
She glanced up at him just as he slowed his steps. Her lips compressed into a flat line, and he could almost see her fighting to keep words from escaping.
He led Becket to his stall opposite her horse and went about the unsaddling process, then grabbed a currycomb. The last thing he needed to do was have an argument with her, so he decided to play nice. “Where are you from? Ireland?”
“Och, don’t be daft. The Highlands of Scotland.”
“You’re a long way from home. What brought you to America?”
She shrugged but didn’t pause the brushstrokes. “I followed the work.”
“Where’d you learn to ride like that?”
“You mean like I’m falling off?” She continued brushing her horse, not looking up.
“Yeah.”
“Horses on the farm, and brothers who one-upped each other with dares and insults.”
“How many brothers?”
“Four.” She walked around to the other side of Rory, and continued brushing.
“I’ve got four older brothers, so I guess we have something in common.”
She finally looked up at him, irritation oozing from her expression. “Tom said your last name is Sullivan. As in the name on the sign over the main entrance?”
“Yeah. I’m a co-owner.”
“I don’t think we have much in common after all.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jeez, prickly much?
“You grew up on a luxury ranch, with ranch hands, servants...”
“Hey, this is also a working cattle ranch. I’ve busted my butt plenty over the years.”
This time she looked up at him, pausing the brush. “Touchy, aren’t you?”
He reined in his impatience, vowed to ignore her and not get into a sniping match. For some reason he didn’t want to give Miss Scotland the satisfaction. He glanced at his watch, realized he had to hurry up and finish.
Try to be friendly to someone and they bite your head off. He’d have to be careful around the crabby stuntwoman. Plenty of people thought he and his brothers had it easy living on the guest ranch. That chapped his backside. They all worked hard to keep the place afloat. Every one of them still mucked out stalls, trained horses, rode herd on the cattle and did daily chores. Sure he had an office job now, but he helped his brothers out whenever, wherever they needed him.
Nash, his oldest brother, took care of everything horse-related. Plus he and his wife, Kelsey, had started an equine therapy program for wounded veterans, like himself.
Kade was the architect of the family. Hunter had helped out building new cabins on the property plenty of times, including the recent expansion of his own home. Nothing like pounding nails to get the frustrations out.
Wyatt had returned to the ranch after being gone for ten years, and settled into the foreman position. He had a new wife and cute stepson, so Hunter had taken on some additional chores to give him time with his
family.
Luke was the veterinarian, not just for their ranch, but several surrounding ranches, so he always needed extra help. Hunter had helped birth cows, horses, sheep and goats, as well as cats and dogs.
The fact that this stuntwoman thought he was rich and lazy really pissed him off. He brushed Becket’s coat till it gleamed under the lights of the barn, mucked out the stall, then got the horse settled with a bucket of feed. Hunter walked toward the door to leave.
“You mentioned a runaway horse earlier. It wasna’ yours, was it?”
His hand stilled on the door. He’d tried for years to stuff the memories into a lockbox in his head. But every so often, he’d see something—even a little something—and the terror on the ranch hand’s face would claw its way out of that lockbox and into his mind.
Hunter had only been a kid that horrible day. He knew he couldn’t have helped Jed, but his heart still hurt for the guy. A mountain lion had spooked Jed’s horse, slashed at its hindquarters and it had taken off, racing across the valley. Jed tried to hold on, but he kept slipping, slipping, slipping, until he’d fallen off the horse. Now he got around in a wheelchair instead of on a stallion.
“No, it wasn’t me. But I saw it.”
He glanced up, watched her brushing Rory, her hand moving methodically, up and down, up and down.
“I’m sorry I scared you today.” Her head turned sideways, but she didn’t meet his eyes, then she gave Rory her attention again.
He concentrated on stuffing the visions away again, swallowed against his tight throat.
The barn door creaked as he left the building and walked into the cold wind. It cooled his cheeks, settled him once again. He brushed straw off his jeans and caught a whiff of himself. Definitely needed a shower before heading to the office. He turned back once, and a flash of red caught his attention. Mackenzie stood in the open doorway, her eyes on him.
She touched the tip of her finger to her hat in acknowledgment, then walked up the path to the lodge.
She was fractious as a wild mustang, and she’d be harder to handle than a riled-up porcupine, but damned if he didn’t have the urge to follow her up the trail.
Copyright © 2019 by Allison B. Collins
ISBN-13: 9781488086021
Home on the Ranch: Texas Wedding
Copyright © 2019 by Sasha Best
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