A Cowboy to Keep

by Karen Rock

  “Off of Coyote Trail. Was up there to clear out the rocks from the avalanche.” The tip of his nose grew red and he jutted his chin. “Is this some kind of interrogation?”

  Dani blinked at him for a moment, the surprise clear on her face. “No. I, uh, didn’t mean to pry.”

  “Keep that in mind next time.” And without another word, Sam turned on his heel and strode away.

  “That’s strange,” she muttered to herself.

  “Is he always that friendly?”

  A short laugh escaped her. “No. Tanya can’t stand him. What Smiley sees in him, I’ll never guess. Those two are thick as thieves...” She trailed off and stared after the man.

  “That’s interesting,” he said slowly, considering.

  “Not as interesting as the fact that I never let groundskeeping know about the avalanche.”

  He turned her by the shoulders slowly. Lowered his voice. “Did anyone else know?”

  “Diane and Larry. I told them after they got in and they promised to get it taken care of. When did you say you ran into Sam?”

  “Before we went to Tanya’s. The second time.”

  “So Sam wouldn’t have known unless...” Her voice dipped and her eyes widened.

  “Unless he’d been there when the avalanche happened...”

  “Do you think he caused it?”

  “Looks suspicious. Tell me what you know about him.”

  “Like I said, he’s a friend of Smiley’s. Worked here before I came on. Pretty much keeps to himself. I think he’s from Oklahoma.”

  “Thanks. I’ll see if I can catch him.” He tipped his hat and headed in the direction Sam had taken, the sight of Dani staying with him as he hustled away.

  She was girl-next-door pretty without even trying. Her prickly personality kept a man on his toes. Interested. But even more important, he liked how she’d been helping him and letting him take the lead, following him into that closet, giving him inside information about Sam and Smiley.

  He wished he could stay with her longer, but the groundskeeper needed sorting. The man was connected to Smiley. He felt sure of it in his gut. But were they his brother’s killers? The same pair that’d gunned down the Denver couple, too?

  He wove through the crowd, looking for his target, but the man seemed to have vanished. Circling the area twice, he came up empty-handed and returned to his spot beneath the barn’s eaves.

  The glint of a holstered gun caught Jack’s eye. Sam Perkins stood off just a bit to his right, leaning against a tractor, tipping back a flask as his eyes scanned the crowd. The move revealed a 9mm, otherwise concealed under his jacket, holstered on his hip.

  Same weapon that’d been used in the Phillips’ homicide. Same caliber that’d killed Jesse.

  He and Sam were about to get real friendly, real fast, he thought grimly. The moment he stepped out of the shadows, though, Sam spied him and disappeared around the corner of the barn.

  His breath harsh in his throat, Jack hustled after him, then pulled up short, peering into the dark where Sam had vanished into an empty field. His blood fired. The guy had run from him. No doubt about it. Why?

  Jack headed into the night to track down his new quarry. Sam’s suspicious actions raised a big red flag. It was clear he was hiding something and Jack wouldn’t rest till he got to the bottom of it, wouldn’t stop until Sam led him right to Smiley.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “HEY, DANI!” ONE of her youngest wranglers leaned against her office doorway. He was treetop tall, with an endless length of denim-clad legs and an animated face.

  “Morning, Blake.” She swallowed a yawn and tapped her fingers on the warm side of her coffee mug. “Did you just get in? I didn’t see you at the staff meeting or the square dance yesterday.”

  He ducked his head of loose, brown curls, resembling a surfer more than a cowboy. “Sorry about that.” He adjusted his puka necklace, its shell pendant settling at the base of his throat. “Some last minute stuff I, uh, couldn’t get out of. But I’m glad to be here now.” His face burst into a wide smile she immediately returned.

  “How was Oklahoma State?” She blew at the steaming surface of her coffee and took a cautious sip. The roasted brew killed off a few thousand taste buds, but at least it woke her up. She’d tossed and turned last night, thoughts of Jack chasing away sleep.

  He’d opened up more about his old life, yet it’d only increased her curiosity, an interest she couldn’t afford to indulge. This was her first season as a stable manager, and a successful season meant she’d turned the corner on her past for good.

  Only Jack’s investigation, and her budding feelings for him, challenged her ambitions and her assumptions. This peaceful spot no longer felt like her safe haven with him around. The sooner Jack caught up with Smiley and straightened things out the better.

  Blake blinked, his long lashes seeming to bat right at her. “Oh, I decided to drop out of college.”

  “You did?”

  “Yeah. Just wasn’t for me.” His smile faded. She wondered if he’d actually flunked out, given how disappointed he seemed.

  Which was none of her business, she reminded herself firmly, downing more of her coffee. Blake had had a great first year with them last season and she’d been glad when he’d let her know he was coming back. End of story.

  “I messaged you with today’s assignment and posted a print copy outside on the bulletin board.”

  He tipped his head back against the wall. “I didn’t get Mr. Clark, did I?” he groaned.

  “No. I’m taking him,” she said heavily, her fingers tightening on her mug handle. Reginald Clark had been coming to the dude ranch’s opening week for years and was always their most demanding guest. He’d used all caps on his preference sheet when he’d written: NO ORIENTATION TRAIL and SMILEY FOR FLY-FISHING. And what the Denver high roller wanted, he usually got...but not Smiley this year.

  The groundskeeper doubled as a fishing guide, but with him gone, someone else would have to step in. Someone with a thick skin...maybe body armor. She wouldn’t have some junior wrangler reduced to a stuttering, crying heap on her watch.

  Nope. She’d just have to take charge of his party herself and bring Jack along to teach him the ropes. Better she bear the brunt of Mr. Clark’s wrath than risk one of her staff members quitting before the season really started. As for Jack, he didn’t scare easily. Or at all. Since they’d start on a more advanced trail, it’d also give him a chance to see more of the property.

  “I gave you a party of five. Two best friends from their sorority days plus their kids. They used to come with spouses, but I think they’re both divorced now.”

  Impossible as it seemed, Blake’s smile only widened. No. He twinkled.

  “Don’t get any ideas,” Dani insisted, immediately wondering if it’d been a good idea to put her resident Romeo with two newly single women.

  Oh, well.

  She’d keep an eye on it.

  “Who’s got ideas?” His innocent shrug was anything but, and it made her laugh.

  “Behave.”

  “Who’s behaving? That doesn’t sound like fun,” piped up a voice behind Blake, and a slim girl in cowboy boots and a Stetson bigger than her cat-shaped face ducked under his arm. She’d dyed her blond hair to a shade so black it looked blue and had braided it into thin, swinging braids.

  “Morning, Jori Lynn. We’re all following the rules this season, right?”

  Dani shot her legendary troublemakers a warning look. There was always a group of college-age kids working here every season and they got up to minor mischief, like she had at their age. But she knew all too well how slippery that slope could be.

  Jori Lynn elbowed Blake, who returned the favor and she gave an exaggerated “Ouch” before asking, “Wanna see my new tatt
oo?”

  “No!”

  “Yes!”

  She and Blake spoke at once, and in an instant, Jori Lynn whirled, raised her shirt hem and revealed a cowboy-hat-wearing fairy atop a rearing white stallion. Fairy dust trailed from her raised wand and spelled out BELIEVE in scrolled letters across Jori Lynn’s lower back.

  Dani bit back a smile.

  “Sweet.” Blake reached out to touch it but yanked his hand away at Dani’s cleared throat.

  “I like it, but you’re going to have to keep that covered up,” Dani warned as she stood. “And, I’m sorry, but the necklace has to go, too, Blake. You know how Larry and Diane feel about dress code.”

  “But my tattoo’s pretty and I brought crop tops,” Jori Lynn wheedled, then launched herself at Dani, hugging her like a bear even though she was built like a bird. “I missed you so much. Didn’t get to catch up with you at the square dance and at the meeting, I was...”

  “Busy flirting?” Dani finished for her, recalling her giggling with Max, another wrangler.

  Jori Lynn shot her a you-got-me look so comical Dani chuckled.

  “I heard every word except the name of that hot new wrangler. He looks dangerous. Wonder where he got that scar.” Jori Lynn gave a delighted little shiver.

  Dani wagged a finger at her. “No, Jori Lynn. Off-limits. He’s older, one, so I know your mama wouldn’t approve. And, two, I don’t think he’s the kind for casual flirting.”

  Jori Lynn clucked her tongue and a gold piercing appeared in the middle of it. “Didn’t look that way to me last night. I saw you two dancing. The way you were staring at each other could have burned down the barn. Go on, now. What’s the real reason he’s off-limits?”

  Heat crept into Dani’s cheeks. “That wasn’t anything.”

  Yes, it was, came the traitorous thought, along with the remembered feel of his lean, hard body so close to hers. The easy way he’d laughed and teased. Jori Lynn had it right. Despite the scar—or maybe because of it—he was gorgeous.

  Dani raised her mug.

  “So, where’d he sleep last night?” Jori Lynn lifted pencil-thin eyebrows.

  “You didn’t see him in the men’s section when you came in this morning, Blake?” Dani nearly spilled her coffee on the guest preference sheets stacked on her desk.

  “Um. No,” Blake said, without looking up from his phone. Mechanical chirping erupted as his fingers flew.

  “Huh...” Dani finished off the rest of her drink, thinking fast. He’d said he wouldn’t bunk down with the employees and hopefully that was all it was. She tried to curb her rising concern that he might have found trouble pursuing Sam Perkins. What Jackson Cade got up to wasn’t her business.

  Still, the need to see him seized her. He hadn’t picked up his assignment sheet for today, so she had that excuse to look for him as she headed over to Tanya’s house. Not that she needed an excuse. She was his boss, sort of, which legitimized all their communications.

  She almost groaned out loud. Who was she kidding?

  “Did you get your assignment, Jori Lynn?”

  The young woman held up a sheet and peered at it, frowning. “Why do I have smelly Franklin?”

  Dani held in a smile, picturing the large, placid chestnut with gas issues. “We don’t have a lot of female wranglers and you know how he is with men.”

  “Okay, but someone else is taking him next week.” Jori Lynn practically breathed fire.

  “I’m making a note.” Dani scribbled the reminder on a sticky note and placed it beside the twenty others that surrounded her monitor.

  “Are you coming to breakfast?”

  “In a minute. I’m going to stop by Tanya’s first and see if she’s on break. Go on ahead.”

  “I’ve been dreaming of her corn bread!” The two stomped outside and were nearly out of the barn when a thought occurred to Dani. She turned off the screen, grabbed her hat and hurried after them.

  “Don’t forget to take out that tongue ring, Jori Lynn.”

  The girl stuck it out, pink and curling. “Shoot. Didn’t think you’d notice.”

  “It’s the Mays you don’t want noticing, okay?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Jori Lynn gave her a half salute, then said, “Save me a seat, Blake,” before she dashed down the path, back to the staff quarters.

  “Catch you later,” Blake called as Dani veered away up the road to Tanya’s cabin.

  “If I don’t see you, have a great day and let me know if you have any problems.” She patted her walkie-talkie.

  She wondered if Jack had remembered to pick up a radio, which then made her think, where was he?

  It was a beautiful day, the air so clear she could see each jagged mountaintop against the pristine sky, and pick out every needle on the pines that lined the pasture’s wind breaks. The air felt freshly scrubbed in the early morning light, and pollen drifted on soft air currents, the atmosphere unfiltered and promising.

  Her heart beat a little faster when she spotted Jack and Milly in the round pen, a separate, fenced area connected directly to one of their pastures. He looked impossibly handsome, with his broad shoulders filling out a light denim shirt, slim jeans over brown cowboy boots and a matching hat that emphasized his jaw.

  He tapped Milly lightly with a training stick and walked left in a circle, holding her lead. “Come now,” he coaxed, his muscular body moving effortlessly.

  Dani reached the fence and leaned on it, watching, holding her breath so as not to distract either party. Milly was showing incredible trust right now, but that could change to fear and aggression in a flash. If Jack wasn’t vigilant, he could wind up hurt or worse. How had he gotten Milly to let him this close?

  A horse whisperer, indeed.

  It touched her that he’d followed through on his vow to work with Milly, even though they still hadn’t heard if Mr. Graham would take her. Clearly Jack was a man of his word and he didn’t back down easily.

  Milly lifted her regal head and her nostrils flared. Her eyes rolled then settled on the intent man beside her. When she shook her head, her white mane swung. A blowing snort sounded and Jack repeated his request, not pushing.

  Milly continued to brace.

  Jack tapped her again, this time moving her sideways and, to Dani’s shock, Milly shuffled a few steps before turning to look at the tall man, giving him her eyes instead of her hooves.

  Progress.

  “Good,” Jack said in a deep voice that sounded commanding, yet warm and reassuring. It loosened her joints and she marveled at the tender and patient side of this formidable man.

  He applied more pressure by walking closer, edging Milly sideways again, laterally softening her, flexing her, making her supple and calm so she was bending through the middle and getting her hindquarters underneath her, using them as dirt clouds rose around her shifting hooves. Dani recognized the strategy: trigger the horse’s thought process; get her to think before reacting.

  And it was working. To Dani’s surprise and joy, Milly stopped bracing and Jack lessened the pressure, putting distance between them. He rubbed the stick’s soft leather tip along her back. “Good girl.

  “Left, now,” he ordered, moving slowly in that direction as he brushed the training rod along her hindquarters. Milly jerked at her lead, then settled once Jack stopped. They eyed each other.

  “Come on, girl. Left, now.” The low lull of his voice was soothing.

  Milly’s tail slashed the air, but she looked more uncertain than frightened...a positive sign. If Jack could make progress with her, could she return to being ridden? Roping?

  Lord, Dani hoped so, but it seemed such a distant wish, one she’d already made so many times, she was afraid to dare hope. She’d tried working with Milly since the thunderstorm incident, but hadn’t gotten anywhere. Many nig
hts she’d gone to bed exhausted, fighting back tears for not being able to rehabilitate the horse with such a big heart. It brought back memories of Dolly and the crushing blame she felt when she thought of the jumping accident.

  It was amazing that Jack, with his stern face and terrifying scar, was the first person Milly had responded to in a long time.

  “Come, now,” Jack urged again, moving close and leading her left. Milly followed, her head up now, looking jumpy but slightly calmer.

  “That a girl,” Jack said when she completed the circle, the approval in his voice raw and pure. It brightened the sun.

  He continued applying small amounts of pressure when she hesitated, taking it away when she complied. The white horse gradually moved a bit faster, smoother, following his directions, her ears flicking but not flat.

  At last he stopped, removed the lead and held out an apple. “Good girl,” he crooned, the rich timbre of his voice reassuring.

  After a moment’s hesitation, Milly extended her neck as far as she could without stepping a hair closer, nipped the fruit from his hand and scooted away, trotting to the opposite side of the pen, where she stared at Jack steadily as she chomped her treat.

  “Nice work!” Dani called and Jack glanced up. The effect of his deep brown eyes snatched the air from her lungs and she felt light-headed at the steady power of his gaze.

  “Didn’t expect you here.” He ambled over and leaned his wrists on the top of the fence, his strong, broad hands dangling close to her. For a moment she remembered how it’d felt to hold his hand, the pressure of his fingers against her back. Her pulse raced when he swept off his hat and smiled. It made his eyes squint like the sun was in his face.

  “I wanted to give you this.” She handed over his assignment sheet. “We’re going to team up this week. The horses that need to be saddled are listed in their riding order. Have them in the corral at eleven.”

  He studied the paper and spoke without looking up. “Do stable managers lead tour groups?”

  “They will to teach a new wrangler. Plus, uh, this guest can be a little difficult.”

  His lips twisted, his expression wry. “So you thought of me?”