by Cora Seton
Sean walked over. “You guys obviously don’t have enough fires to go to. It looks like you spend your shifts working out on the equipment at the station.”
He shrugged. “Hey, it was donated to us. The least we can do is use it between calls.”
“I may just start coming by once a week.” He patted his lean stomach. “Detective work isn’t helping my beer belly.”
Cole raised one eyebrow. “Yeah, right.”
Billy drove the golf cart to where they stood. “Ready?”
They both resumed their seats and Billy headed up to the burn site. When they arrived, they climbed out.
Sean immediately switched into detective mode. “Billy, thank you. We will find you when we need a ride back.”
“Okay.” The old man smiled then headed the golf cart toward the barn.
Cole tamped down his interest in the barn and focused on the wet debris spread over thirty yards. What was the building going to be? The layout gave no clue.
“Explain to me where the fire was when you arrived.” Sean took out a pad of paper and a pen. “Then walk me through your strategy for knocking it down.”
Cole filled Sean in on the entire night from driving up to the blaze, the explosions, the old barn wood, the precautionary measures and the decision to let it go. The man took copious notes on his pad.
“And you say the woman you knew from another fire was here?”
“Yes. She brought out churros and iced tea for the men.”
Sean raised his brows. “Really? I like this place already.”
He kept his thoughts to himself. He’d been pissed when he’d seen her walking up with food, but he and his men had devoured it shortly after, as well as the sandwiches Kendra brought them later in the night when it was only himself and Mason.
“So tell me about the other fire this woman was accused of starting.”
Cole’s gut tightened. He didn’t want this fire to be laid at Lacey’s door, but he had to tell Sean what he knew. “Lacey Winters is her name. Eight years ago she used to hang out in an old carriage house on her parents’ property. It was her space to gather with friends of which I was one. One night a friend called me to tell me the carriage house was on fire. I rushed over and Lacey had soot on her clothes.” He didn’t need to tell Sean it was Lacey who called him. The less the detective knew about their past relationship, the better.
He never forgot how her hair smelled like smoke as he held her in his arms while they watched the building burn to the ground. The firefighters had focused on protecting the barn and the house, very much like he’d done last night.
“How did the arson charge come about?”
He shrugged. “I’m not sure. I wasn’t privy to the investigation. I was just a senior in high school at the time, but rumors were rampant. The next thing we all hear, she’s been charged with arson and then later the charges were dropped. I do know there was gasoline involved as there were two explosions at that fire.”
“What was the carriage house used for?”
“Mostly storage.” He envisioned the place as it was when he hung out there with Lacey. They enjoyed not only the old couch, but the old bean bag chair, the saw horses, the antique rocker and the gilt-framed mirror. “There were antiques in there as well as old junk, like family portraits, clothes, and old toys.”
Sean scribbled on his pad. “So no reason for gasoline to be in there?”
“Actually, there were also old farm tools, a weed whacker, lawn mower and stuff. It kind of doubled as a garage, I guess.”
More scribbling. “Okay, got it. Now I need to get to work on this one. I’ll let you know when I’m ready to leave.”
Cole took the hint. “Good luck.”
Sean shook his head. “I don’t need luck. I just need to read the story written in this debris.”
He nodded. His own goal was to make captain so he could go to arson investigation training. The extra cash couldn’t hurt. He didn’t want his grandparents to have to help support his horse project forever.
With that project in mind, he strode toward the state-of-the-art barn in hopes of catching Wade inside. He’d learned last night that the stable manager was on vacation for two weeks, so Wade was the person he needed to convince. Billy’s golf cart was gone. He must have returned to the garage to wait for other visitors.
As Cole stepped into the relatively cool shade of the red structure, he noticed two horses had recently been brought in for a good combing. That meant whoever was planning to do the work should be back shortly.
He took the opportunity to walk by the stalls. Including the two horses in the grooming area, there were four others, but another ten stalls remained empty. The first six had name placards for each horse. His heart beat harder at the potential. If the resort did a good business, they would need more horses…maybe his horses. Opening the barn doors at the back, he found a large empty corral. The place could be the perfect home for his rescues, if they were treated well.
“Can I help you?” He recognized the male voice before he turned around.
“Yes, Wade. You may just be able to.” He strode forward then tipped his hat toward Kendra. “Ma’am.”
She looked at him quizzically before recognition dawned. “Oh, it’s Cole.” Her eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here?”
He forcibly kept himself from shuffling his feet beneath her hard stare. “I’m not here on official business. Just wanted to talk horses with Wade here, if that’s okay, unless of course I should be talking to you.”
Her demeanor changed from affronted to uninterested in seconds. She waved her hand. “If it’s horse talk, you can chat with him. I have to get back to my office.” She put her hand on Wade’s. “Thanks for the ride.”
Wade smirked and wiggled his brows. “Anytime.”
The two had obviously gone for a ride, and from the looks of it, had sex out in the desert. Talk about uncomfortable.
Kendra winked and sauntered out the open barn doors. Cole opened his mouth to ask about the trails, when Kendra came back in. “Who moved the wagon?” She didn’t sound happy.
Cole suddenly felt as if he’d done something wrong. “I did, ma’am. We needed to get the golf cart by so the investigator could reach the burn site.”
The woman stared at him as if he’d turned into a jackrabbit. Then she raised her brows at Wade.
The man shook his head, his smirk firmly in place. “That’s one heavy wagon to be moving without draft horses.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.” Cole rolled his shoulders.
Kendra turned back to him. “When you’re done talking horses, maybe you could help Wade hook up the team and move the wagon back to the barn.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Wade opened his mouth, but Kendra spoke. “Don’t call me ‘ma’am’. Kendra will do.”
He nodded, keeping his mouth shut. It was too much a habit to risk saying it again, so he kept quiet. Luckily, she didn’t wait for a reply and left.
“What can I help you with?” Wade strolled over to the two horses waiting to be attended to.
Cole followed him, noticing the Arabians were particularly fine horses. He had an Arabian on the ranch. Elsa was well built, but scars marred her neck, making it look like the hair of her mane was falling out. “These are good-looking horses.”
Wade began to rub one of them down. “This is Ace and that one is Sundancer. I got them from the same ranch.”
“Do you always buy your horses in pairs?”
Wade stopped and looked at him. “So far, but not for any particular reason. Why?”
Cole had pitched his horses many times and been shot down more times than he could count. He steeled himself for rejection again. “I have a number of horses for sale, but none are matching pairs.”
Wade resumed rubbing down Ace. “I’m always on the lookout for new horses, but they need to be dead broke because these riders are completely inexperienced.”
“That makes sense. I have a number t
hat would fit that category.” Mainly because they were almost dead when he’d obtained them. Others, though, were far too afraid of humans. Those he would never be able to sell.
“Do you have a website?” Wade didn’t pause in his chore. “I usually research online before taking a drive to who knows where. I got these two from a little town near Payson.”
Cole hesitated. His horses didn’t show well, which is why he never put full body shots on his site and the few photos up there were to add to the general write up about Last Chance Ranch. “I have a site, but my horses aren’t up there. I’m just outside Wickenburg on the west side if you’d like to come by.”
Wade dropped the curry comb on a nearby table and looked over the two horses to stare him in the eye. “Why wouldn’t you have photos of your horses on your site?”
No more beating around the bush. “Because they don’t look as pretty as what you have here. My horses are rescues. When horses have been abused, starved, abandoned or have an injury an owner can’t afford to fix and is going to put them down, I take them. Once I have nursed them back to health, I sell them to resorts who are willing to have less than perfect horses for their guests to ride.”
Wade stared at him for a couple moments, then laughed.
Chapter Three
‡
Cole fisted his hands. He’d had people shake their heads, but never had someone laugh at him. What he did was not a laughing matter. Some of the horses he saved had turned his stomach when he’d first seen them.
“I’m sorry.” Wade smiled and stepped around the Arabians. “I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing at Kendra and her unique ability to attract those who need a second chance. I only thought she attracted people, but it sounds like she attracts animals too now.”
He had no idea what the man was talking about, but he relaxed his stance. “So you might be interested?”
Wade clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m not just interested. I think once Kendra finds out, she won’t let me order a horse from anywhere else.”
Cole breathed deeply. To have this new resort buying his horses could be the boost they needed. “Like I said, they’re not perfect.”
Wade grinned. “That’s even better.”
“I don’t understand.”
Wade slipped his hand into the curry comb and moved around Ace to start on the horse’s other side. “Kendra doesn’t hire anyone who doesn’t need a second chance. You met Billy.” Cole nodded. “He was a homeless drunk when Kendra hired him.”
Cole hadn’t smelled any alcohol on the man, but then again it looked like he’d just come from a shower.
“And you tasted Selma’s cooking last night, right?”
“Yes. The churros were excellent and the sandwich had a great mix of flavors. Why?” Hopefully, the cook hadn’t been up on murder charges…for poisoning.
“She’d just closed her brothel when Kendra hired her.”
Cole started to get the picture. So why would Kendra hire Lacey? She was perfect, even more so now. He looked at Wade and found the man staring at him.
“Lacey was hired because of her broken heart.”
Cole swallowed hard as his own heart constricted. He’d done the right thing back in high school, but it still hurt. He had always felt something for her. Hell, he’d felt a lot for her. Every girlfriend he’d had since had been compared to Lacey.
“That and the arson charge.” Wade returned to his chore.
Cole started. “The arson charge was dropped.” He’d still been in Orson when the county sheriff had ruled the fire accidental. But by then, Lacey had gone off to college.
Wade shrugged. “The fact she’d been accused and run out of town was enough for Kendra.”
“She wasn’t run out of town.”
Wade raised one eyebrow. “Maybe not literally, but by her account, she’d become a pariah.” The man’s face turned stern. “But she’s family here and we stick by our family.”
Cole got the message loud and clear. He was the outsider on Poker Flat so he better not cause any trouble. He didn’t plan on it. He did his duty by telling Sean about Lacey’s past and he hoped to sell a couple horses. “And why did Kendra hire you?”
Wade grinned. “She wouldn’t have if she’d had a choice, but she’d been desperate for a stable manager. She said I was too ‘perfect’. Luckily for me, she proved what an ass I could be, but gave me a second chance anyway.”
There was obviously a lot more to that story, but he wasn’t there to get involved in the past escapades of the Poker Flat staff. He was there to sell horses. “It sounds like my horses would fit in here. Do the guests really ride naked?”
Wade finished with Ace and moved to Sundancer. “Yeah, they do. We keep the horses at a walk and use special covers over the saddles. Even so, they always bring their own towels to sit on. The guests really enjoy it.” He paused. “There’s nothing like seeing the joy in a person’s eyes the first time they ride a horse. You know what I mean?”
“Yes, I do.” He’d never forget the day he’d first convinced Lacey to get up on a horse. Her parents owned a cattle ranch and despite the cowboys riding horses, no one had ever asked her if she’d like to ride. She’d actually been afraid of them.
He’d had to bribe her to just sit on his horse, Thunder. When he finally handed her up there, she looked petrified. He walked the horse around the corral and she slowly relaxed until she was absolutely beaming, her bright smile making her shine. When she’d finally come down and into his arms, she told him she loved him for the first time.
“Hey, cowboy, you still with me?” Wade’s voice snapped him from his memory.
“Sure.”
“I said, do you want to help me get Sage and Daisy hooked up to the wagon?”
He smiled. “I better. I promised Kendra I would and I have a feeling she’d be none too pleased if I reneged.”
Wade walked Ace out back and let him loose in the corral. “You’ve got that right.” Wade pointed to the last stall with a name placard. “That’s Daisy. You can bring her and I’ll get Sage as soon as I move Sundancer.”
Cole walked up to the stall and Daisy stepped up to meet him. She was a beautiful Belgian with good bone structure. As the horse pushed her head against his shoulder, he grinned. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small bag of jelly beans, poured a few into his hand and gave them to her. He’d forgotten to take them out of his jeans after giving Elsa her favorite treat this morning. “You have a good nose, sweetie.”
Wade walked by with Sundancer in tow. “Watch her. She does like t-shirts.”
“Thanks for the warning.” He ducked to the side as Daisy pulled back her lips to grasp his shirt in her teeth. “I don’t think so, girl. Come on.”
He walked her slowly toward the wagon, his eyes scanning the other half of the resort. Was Lacey still at the front desk? Is that what she did here? She’d always been good with numbers, even tutoring him in math.
He looked back to see Wade leading Sage. He’d try to nail the man down as far as a date to come out to the ranch. He hadn’t sold a horse in over four months and while his firefighter salary and small investments could keep the ranch going if he only had ten horses, he currently had thirteen and there were a couple pretty big vet bills coming in.
Movement in his peripheral vision had him turning his head. Sean was completely engrossed in his work, walking through the debris, taking pictures and scribbling notes. It might be a while before Cole could leave. He returned his gaze to the other half of the resort. It had to be lunchtime by now. He wouldn’t mind another one of Poker Flat’s sandwiches…or a chance to see Lacey again.
*
“You’re all set, Mrs. Landry. I have you down for two for the sunset trail ride. Be sure to be at the barn by five.”
Lacey closed the trail ride reservation screen as the day guest smiled happily up at her husband before the two walked hand in hand toward the lobby doors. Before they reached them, a man with clothes entered. That c
aught her attention as only staff wore clothes, unless it was a newbie nudist. Most nudists shucked their clothes the minute they parked their car in the garage on the other side of the ravine.
The man smiled warmly at her and it took her a moment to recognize him. “John?”
“You bet.” He leaned his elbow on the front counter, which showed his bulging forearm and biceps. He was dressed in a sleeveless t-shirt that read “Sturgis 2014” and a pair of black jeans and biker boots.
As a woman, she definitely appreciated the view of his arms. “What are you doing here?”
He shrugged. “Well, the boss didn’t need me at the other site, so I have the day off and I thought it might be a great opportunity to have lunch with you. You do get to take a lunch, don’t you?”
Though she usually ate at the front counter, the concern he revealed that he might be wrong had her changing her plans. “Of course I do. Just let me get someone to cover for me. I’ll be right back.”
She hurried through the back hallway, touched that John had come all the way back to Poker Flat to have lunch with her. He seemed like a nice man and this was the perfect opportunity to learn more about him. At least he already knew she worked at a nudist resort. She’d only been on two dates since the resort opened. One man had been appalled she worked at Poker Flat, while the other practically salivated in his attempt to obtain a free day pass.
She poked her head into her boss’s office. “Kendra?”
Kendra didn’t look up from her paperwork. “Hmmm?”
“Could you cover the front desk so I can eat lunch in the dining room?”
“Why?” Kendra glanced up. She didn’t show her curiosity, but it was very much in her tone.
“John Lockhart came back to ask me to lunch.”
“Really?” A slow smirk grew on Kendra’s face. She was still getting used to showing her emotions and the knowing smile was a new one. “I’d be happy to. I can read this insurance policy anywhere. Go ahead, I’ll handle the front.”