Kentucky Heat

by Fern Michaels

  Nealy dried her hands and stood at the counter watching the fresh coffee dripping into the glass pot. Clem might want a cup. She grinned. Clementine Fox, according to Metaxas, was the best damn lawyer in the country. A real kick-ass attorney who didn’t think twice about taking on the big boys and coming out a winner.

  Clem liked bourbon straight up the same way Smitty did. Nealy opened the cabinet and brought down a bottle of hundred-proof bourbon and a squat glass with a turkey on the front. It belonged to a set of bourbon glasses Danny Clay, her father-in-law, had given her one year. There were six, and so far none had broken. She closed her eyes and conjured up a mental picture of Danny. She should call and tell him about Nick on the off chance her son hadn’t gotten around to calling his grandfather. She was about to reach for the phone when the back door opened and Clementine Fox blew into the kitchen with a strong gust of rainy wind.

  Nealy blinked. How could anyone look so ravishing, so elegant, so professional in a rainstorm? She eyed the shimmery pink raincoat in awe. Even the attorney’s umbrella was of the same shimmery pink material. The briefcase in her hand was a Gucci. It looked new and crisp, just the way the raincoat and umbrella looked.

  “I’m dripping all over your floor, Nealy,” Clem apologized, her voice calm as usual. “If that’s coffee I smell, I’d like a cup.”

  “No bourbon?” Nealy asked in surprise.

  “Not tonight, honey. It’s bad out there, and I don’t need liquor running in my veins if I’m driving. Just coffee, no cream or sugar. Where is everyone?” she asked hanging her raincoat and hat on the rack by the door. She walked over to the sink and plopped the pink umbrella against the side.

  “Smitty said she was going to the movies with Dover. Ruby and Metaxas are down at the barn. Nick and Emmie have moved out to experience life on their own. End of subject, okay?”

  Clem’s expression remained passive. “Okay with me, Nealy. I’ll just leave the papers that concern Emmie, and you can forward them to her. It seems a set was sent to her, but she hasn’t responded. It really doesn’t have anything to do with you, but Emmie is going to have to get off the stick and make a decision here.”

  “What papers? What are you talking about?” Nealy asked, setting a cup of coffee down in front of the attorney.

  “The papers regarding your . . . ah . . . father . . . Josh Coleman’s farm that Emmie signed off on for your brothers. The papers were never filed in a timely manner. The attorney, according to his son, suffers from Alzheimer’s and simply forgot. The papers have to be redone. Emmie has to sign again. If she doesn’t, the farm is up for grabs. It is very complicated, Nealy. If it isn’t done properly, I don’t think I have to tell you the Colemans will be right there, pen in hand. Right now your brothers are considered squatters by the Colemans, and they want that farm. We go to court in two weeks.”

  Nealy blinked and shook her head to ward off a wave of dizziness. She slumped into a straight-backed chair across from Clem and gulped at the hot coffee, sorry she hadn’t put a jolt of Jess’s favorite bourbon in it. There wouldn’t be a problem if she could call Emmie and tell her to hop in the car and come right over, but Emmie was gone. “I thought you said their lawyer wanted to sit down and work something out. Are you saying that offer is off the table?”

  “It was never on the table, Nealy. It was just something Valentine Mitchell said in passing. Let me remind you, Valentine Mitchell is the legendary Valentine Mitchell. The one who used to make the headlines once a month. The Colemans of Texas were her biggest clients, and she let the world know it. They dragged her out of retirement to handle all of this. The Colemans never okayed the deal. They want SunStar Farms, and they want those horses. It’s the only thing that can save them if you prevail and take Sunbridge. We need to get our ducks in a row here, Nealy.”

  Nealy leaned forward, eyeing the lawyer narrowly. “What horses are you talking about, Clem?”

  Clem stared at Nealy over the rim of her coffe cup, then slowly lowered it to its saucer. Her facial expression was that of someone no longer sure of her position. “For starters,” she said, keeping her eyes on Nealy, “the horse you rode to victory in the Belmont. I can’t remember its name. And all the other horses at SunStar.”

  Nealy felt her body grow still. “My brothers don’t own any horses. The day I left for New York to ride in the Belmont, my brothers sold off all the horses. Every single one. They’re just being boarded at SunStar Farms. Guess no one told you that, huh?”

  “No, I guess no one did,” Clem snapped, pulling a legal pad and pen out of her briefcase. “Do you want to tell me how that happened? If it’s true, it’s a good thing for you, but it is something I should have known about. I think you just won this case.”

  Nealy smiled.

  “I need the particulars,” Clem said, pen poised to write.

  “That’s easy enough. Metaxas bought the horses. My brothers filed the papers the day after the Belmont, before there was any lawsuit. It was all legal. I didn’t know anything about it till after the race. I think he paid a whopping five bucks for each horse, so there is no money in the coffers for the Colemans to take. And, Clem, read my lips, they aren’t taking my brothers’ house, either. It will be over my dead body. You need to call your opposing counsel and tell them that. I suggest you do it now, so I know what’s going on. We don’t have a lot of time if we’re going to court.”

  Clem scribbled on the legal pad and then threw her pen down on the table. “If you have any more little surprises you haven’t shared with me, now is the time, Nealy. You’re taking this all very well, so that tells me there are other surprises.” Her face was stony cold, her eyes narrowed slits.

  Nealy fiddled with her spoon. “I have one more,” she said quietly. Clem crossed one shapely leg over the other and sat back. “Not to change the subject, but what does a pair of shoes like that cost?”

  “Five hundred and sixty dollars,” Clem replied without blinking an eye. “What’s the other surprise, Nealy?”

  “I bought up all of Riley Coleman’s loans. I paid two points above what the bank was charging. They couldn’t wait to take my money. I did it over the phone, wired the money to cover all the loans, and got the papers the next day by overnight mail. It didn’t even take twenty-four hours. I can boot Riley Coleman’s ass out of Sunbridge in minutes. I know how the game works. I might look stupid, Clem, but I’m not. I take care of my own.”

  “And you would do that?” Clem asked tightly. “Boot him out?”

  “In a heartbeat. Now, where do we stand?”

  Clem picked up Nealy’s pencil, which had rolled across the table, and snapped it in two. “I don’t know. I really don’t know. It’s raining in Texas. Actually, it’s been raining for ten straight days. Their drought is over. The Japanese stock market is healthy again or appears to be healthy. Throw those two ditties into your equation before you make any rash moves.”

  “You’re copping an attitiude with me, Clem. Why is that?”

  “It’s the nature of the beast. When I came into this, I admired you. Right now I don’t much like you. Don’t worry, that won’t color my defense. I guess I was hoping it wouldn’t get down and dirty. That’s always wishful thinking on my part when I get involved in a case.” She stood up and smoothed down the tight-fitting cranberry suit over her hips. “There’s no guarantee Val will be home to take my call.”

  “Try,” Nealy said, the single word edged with steel.

  Clem reached into the side pocket of her Chanel handbag to withdraw a small black Palm Pilot and her cell phone. She punched in the numbers and waited. “It’s her answering machine,” she said, covering the phone with her hand. “Do you want me to leave a message?” Nealy nodded. “Val, it’s Clem Fox. I need to talk with you. Give me a call,” she said, rattling off the hotel number as well as her room number. “I should be there in, say, an hour. We’re having some real bad weather. Kind of like what you are getting there in Texas. I’ll wait for your call.”

  �
��Do you want me to fix you a thermos with coffee, Clem? It really is bad out there.” Nealy stood up and tugged at her jeans, smoothing them down over her hips. For the first time she realized she and Clem were about the same height and weight. But that was where the resemblance ended. For one crazy moment, she tried to imagine what she would look like wearing Clem’s cranberry-silk suit and lizardskin shoes. The first word that came to her mind was ridiculous. But not as ridiculous, she thought, as what Clem would look like wearing her jeans and boots.

  Clem walked over to the coatrack. “No thanks. I don’t have that far to drive to my hotel.”

  “I’m sorry if I disappointed you. I can’t be anything but what I am. I wish I could be more refined, more feminine, more like you, but that’s not who I am. I feel, I hurt, and I bleed. My family is all I have. They belong to me. I appointed myself my brothers’ protector, and I’ll use any means available to me to see to it that no one takes away what belongs to them. They started this. For God’s sake, I didn’t even know we had a family until all those Colemans and Thorntons showed up at SunStar Farms.” She let her breath out in a swoosh. “If I could have just one wish, it would be that none of this had ever happened. But it did happen, and I have to deal with it.” She looked Clem straight in the eye. “If you want out, I’ll pay you off, and you’ll never hear from me again. It’s your call.” She inched her way around the attorney to reach for her yellow slicker on the coatrack. “It’s pretty nasty out there. You might want to consider spending the night. You can take the room at the top of the stairs on the right. Think about it before you head out into that mess. I’ll say good night. I want to go down to the barn.”

  “Nealy . . .”

  Nealy shrugged into her slicker as she stared down at the attorney’s pricey shoes. “Yes?”

  “A few minutes ago when I said I didn’t like you, what I meant was I don’t like what you’re doing. When this first started you said it wasn’t right for family to sue family. I felt the same way. I never had a family, Nealy. I grew up in one foster home after another. All those people wanted was the money the state paid them for my keep. I was lucky if I had enough to eat most times. I was married for a short while to a real louse. He believed I should work and he should gamble. That ended real quick, so I never got to have a family of my own.” She set her cup down on the counter. “I try, with my clients, to make things come out right for their families. I can’t stand to see a family torn apart. What I’m trying to say here is sometimes life isn’t fair. Look, you have money to burn. Literally. And yes, you busted your ass to get here just the way I busted my ass to buy these shoes on my feet. I didn’t step on anyone, though. All I did was work my ass off. You don’t need that Texas spread. In your heart you don’t want it either. I understand you going to the wall and fighting with your last breath for your brothers, but you don’t have to destroy the Colemans in the process. That isn’t who you are, Nealy. At least I don’t think it is. You don’t have to be like your father. What he did was unconscionable. Don’t compound it.”

  Nealy snapped up the front of her slicker. “Thanks for your vote of confidence. To me, there’s nothing more important than family. I’ve made mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. It’s what you learn from those mistakes that counts. Not having a family of your own should make you understand where I’m coming from. One more time, I did not start this. You can’t blame me for a drought in Texas or the Japanese stock market sliding downward. When things like that happen you don’t pull the plug and go after someone else’s home and threaten to take away their livelihood so your good life can continue. I would never do something like that, and I won’t tolerate someone else doing it to my family. Like I said, I take care of my own. I don’t expect anyone else to do it for me. I really have to get down to the barn. See you, Clem. I really like those shoes and that rain gear. You look good.”

  “Okay, Nealy. I’ll call you if Val calls me.”

  Pulling the hood of the slicker over her head, Nealy ran out into the black, rainy night.

  As soon as she entered the barn’s breezeway, Flyby started pawing at the floor of his stall. Nealy walked over and gave him a mint. “Good boy,” she said, patting his muzzle. The next stall down was Misty Blue’s. She nickered softly. Ruby and Metaxas were still where she had left them hours ago. “Your eyes are going to pop out of your heads,” she chided gently. “You really don’t have to stand guard. Misty Blue knows what to do with her baby.”

  “Oh, yes, we do, Nealy. I’ve been staring at this baby ever since I got here. He is beyond gorgeous. I don’t know what to say, Nealy. No one has ever given me a gift like this. Don’t misunderstand. People give me gifts all the time. And I appreciate all of them because they’re given from their hearts. This . . . this little guy is different. He walks and he breathes. He’s alive. I feel like I should do something. You know, something memorable to . . . to preserve this moment.”

  “Go into the stall, Metaxas. I want to show you something. Just walk slowly and talk softly. I’ll come with you. Misty won’t hurt you.” Once they were in the stall, Nealy said, “Now I want you to rub your hands over the foal’s body, just like you were giving him a massage. That’s right. Do his head and ears. Good. Now, stick your fingers into his mouth and rub his gums. What you’re doing is called imprinting. It’s sort of like bonding. If you do this and the other things I’m going to show you every day, he’ll be as imprinted to you as he is to his mother and me. It’ll make him easier to work with as he grows older.” Nealy demonstrated how to pick up the colt’s legs. “A racehorse’s feet and legs are his most important assets. It’s important not only for you to be well acquainted with how they should look and feel but for the horse to be relaxed when the farrier, vet, and other people examine them.” One by one she had Metaxas pick up his legs, massage them, then lightly tap each tiny hoof. “You have to do this every day without fail, Metaxas.”

  “Not a problem, Nealy. I’ll do everything you say. He feels wonderful. He’s mine. This little guy is really mine.”

  “You sound like you won’t be here to oversee things,” Ruby said, a note of anxiousness in her voice. “Are you going somewhere?”

  With an effort to keep her voice steady, Nealy said, “Clementine was just here as you know. We go to court soon. She told me she didn’t much like me. That’s okay. She doesn’t approve of a few things she called surprises. Like for instance, Metaxas telling my brothers to sell the horses to him for five bucks each. And she didn’t approve of me buying up the Coleman bank loans. The way I look at it is this. They started it. They didn’t care about my brothers. Their plan was to snatch that farm right out from under them. And the horses. They didn’t count on me, though. I have to do what I have to do. If I’m wrong, I’ll be held accountable, and I’ll deal with it. I won’t beg or whine or cry.”

  Ruby drew Nealy to her and cradled her head on her shoulder. “Honey, do what your heart tells you to do, and if you can live with what you’re doing, it’s okay. You gotta do what you gotta do. Just be sure to think things through and don’t go off like Metaxas says, half-cocked. Pick your battles and map out your strategy. I think that’s the same advice Metaxas would give you.”

  “Am I wrong, Ruby? Tell me the truth.”

  “You know me and my feelings about family. I know that I would kill for mine. I know that sounds terrible, and if it ever came to that, I’d try to find another way. But know this—I am capable of killing to protect my own. Us women have this . . . this fierce protective thing in us when it comes to family. The Thorntons, my family, have it. It doesn’t matter that I was born on the wrong side of the blanket. I’m one of them, and it is to that family that I pledge my loyalties. Why else would I have taken over the business of running Thornton Chickens? Fanny Thornton is not only the matriarch of the family, she’s one of my dearest friends. I’m not sure about the Colemans. They’re an aloof bunch to my way of thinking. I’ve never taken the time to get to know them because they aren’t of my blood. So,
where are you going and what are you going to do?”

  Nealy shrugged. “I won’t be doing anything till after the court case. If it all gets settled, I’m going to search out my mother’s people. And I’m going to look into finding Sallie Thornton’s sisters. I need to do all this. I’ve put it off too long. Maybe I won’t think and hurt so much if I keep busy. Not to worry, I’ll be here when it’s time to start training Shufly.”

  “What about Kendrick Bell?”

  “He’s not the one, Ruby. I guess what I’m trying to say is he didn’t measure up in my eyes. I would go out of my mind sitting around like he does. I’m not ready for a sedentary life. He isn’t going to change. He’s too frightened. Like you said, Ruby, you gotta do what you gotta do. What does Metaxas say?”

  Ruby laughed. “You don’t want to know.”

  “You’re an incredible woman, Ruby. The best thing that ever happened to me was you coming into my life.”

  Ruby blushed.

  “I’m going to check the stallion barn and call it a night. You two don’t have to sleep here in the barn, you know.”

  “I know. We want to. Besides, I don’t think you could pry Metaxas away from here. He is in seventh heaven. I’ve never seen the man so happy. To my dying day, Nealy, I will be grateful to you for this.”

  “I’ll say good night then,” Nealy said, hugging her.

  “Night, Metaxas.”

  Ruby rolled her eyes when her husband muttered something that sounded like good night. “Go!”

  “I’m gone. See you in the morning.”

  “Yeah, in the morning.”