Ain't No Angel

by Henderson, Peggy L

  “Well, Miz Monroe, I’ll leave you to tend to this colt.”

  “Could you tell Eddie I won’t need that hot water after all, and that I’ll be done here in a few minutes? If he has time, have him bring me a piece of beef to the house so I can start fixing supper,” Laney called after Gabe when he turned to leave the barn. “Oh, and leave one of the barn doors open to let in some fresh air.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he called without stopping.

  Laney opened the stall door, glad to finally be rid of Gabe. She approached the gray colt, and patted his neck. Yes, he definitely looked better already. Satisfaction swept over her. At least she had accomplished something.

  Gabe’s strange conversation with her played over in her mind. He couldn’t really have meant that Tyler was in love with her. He might have decided to take an interest in her as his wife, and move past what he considered a courtship, but he couldn’t possibly feel anything more than perhaps a fondness like two casual friends might share.

  Tomorrow you’re going home. She repeated those words over and over in her mind.

  Laney reached for a stiff brush from the groom box that sat on the ground outside the stall, and stroked the colt’s dark coat with long sweeps of her arm. She needed to get back to the house and make another attempt at cooking a meal, not that it mattered. For her own satisfaction, however, she wanted to remember that she’d successfully cooked on an old-fashioned stove.

  Grooming a horse always had a calming effect on her, and Laney didn’t know how long she’d stood, brushing the colt’s sleek coat until it shone even in the dim light of the barn. A loud bang followed by the sound of glass shattering startled her out of her hypnotic state. The colt spooked and jumped to the side. His head raised in alert, and his ears pricked forward. He whinnied, but only produced a hoarse sound followed by a cough.

  The light in the barn dimmed almost instantly. The large barn door had slammed shut, probably from a gust of wind. Laney picked up the brush she dropped.

  “It’s all right, big guy,” she murmured, trying to calm the frightened animal. He raised his head higher, and snorted through his nostrils. One of the other horses whinnied. The gray’s eyes widened in panic. Laney glanced over her shoulder, then wheeled around in shock.

  “Oh my god,” she called. Bright orange flames flickered into the air by the door. Several bales of hay that were stacked along the wall ignited at that moment. The dim barn brightened instantly, eerie shadows dancing on the wooden walls. The impact of the barn door must have knocked the lantern from the wall. The pail that had held the turpentine was right there!

  Laney darted from the stall, her head turning one way and then the other. The fire already engulfed the wide wooden barn door, the flames climbing higher into the rafters. She grabbed for a water bucket and dipped it into the colt’s water barrel, then charged toward the flames. The small amount of water made no difference to the fire, which had plenty of fuel from the straw and hay bales. Within seconds, the entire front of the barn was consumed in flames.

  Thick smoke filled the air, the acrid fumes burning Laney’s lungs. This was far worse than the smell of charred meat. She coughed, and held her hand over her nose, struggling to take in a full breath of air. How was she going to get the horses out of here? She called for help, screaming at the top of her lungs, but the loud crackling of the fire surely drowned out anything she yelled. How soon before one of the wranglers noticed that the barn was on fire? She and the three horses were effectively trapped. The thought that she’d pass out before she’d burn to death gave her little comfort.

  There had to be a way out of this barn. Laney pulled open the stall door to one of the colts to try and calm the panicked horse. She grabbed for a halter and flung it around the two-year-old’s neck. The scared animal tossed his head, and Laney lost her grip on the halter. He charged past her through the stall, knocking her in the shoulder. The impact sent her to the ground. Another hard hoof connected with her head, and darkness enveloped her.

  Chapter 18

  “How does your wife know all this? Where did she learn so much about horses?” Ian scoffed in his usual gruff manner. Gone was the friendly neighbor from the day before, the one who had given Tyler so much to think about regarding Laney.

  Tyler had left his ranch first thing in the morning after checking on the colts in the barn. Pleased to see that they had not only survived the night, but seemed to be on the mend, he’d saddled Charlie and headed out to Ian’s place. He and Laney had remained with the sick horses late into the night, and he was sure that she would have stayed in the barn longer had he not insisted she go up to the house to get some sleep.

  Worn out, the last thing Tyler wanted to do this morning was argue with his neighbor. How long would it take to convince Ian to implement the same safety precautions and treatments that Laney had outlined the night before?

  “Seems highly unlikely that a woman would be so knowledgeable about this sort of thing.” Ian shot him a skeptical look.

  “She’s told me a couple of times that she’s lived on a horse farm. I’m sure those eastern breeders know a lot more than we do,” Tyler suggested calmly.

  By the look on his face, Ian remained skeptical. He led Tyler to several horses that showed the same symptoms as his gray colt, mumbling under his breath that it wasn’t a woman’s place to meddle in men’s business.

  Tyler smiled inwardly. Laney certainly wasn’t a conventional woman. She seemed to be more comfortable in a barn or on horseback than taking care of the house. If he mentioned to Ian that he allowed Laney to wear britches, he might as well ride home right now. The rancher surely wouldn’t listen to another word that came out of Tyler’s mouth.

  “All I can say, Ian, is that Laney’s treatment – getting as much water into the sick ones as possible, and keeping them separated from the healthy ones – has already helped my stock.”

  Tyler understood his neighbor’s reluctance. It wasn’t easy to go against everything a man had ever known, things that were familiar, and try something new and different. Hell, he was proof of that himself. He’d fought his attraction to Laney with tooth and nail, reluctant to go against everything he’d believed for all these years. He was glad now that he hadn’t allowed stubbornness to win out. His horses were on the mend, he’d taken precautions to keep the outbreak from spreading, and his heart hadn’t felt this light in years. And it was all due to the mysterious, spirited, and irresistible woman he had married. He fully admitted that he was falling in love with his wife. All he had to do now was convince her of his feelings, and hope she could learn to love him back.

  “All right, Tyler,” Ian finally replied, after a lengthy pause. “If you’re saying you’ve got sick horses, too, I’ll try the things you’re doing. I’ll have my boys go through my herd.”

  Tyler shook Ian’s hand. “I’ll see you Saturday at Widow Hansen’s birthday party.”

  “Can’t wait to see you with your pretty wife.” Ian nodded, and even smiled. “I hope you thought about what I told you the other day.”

  Tyler mounted his horse. “I did,” he answered, touched his hat in farewell, and pointed Charlie’s head toward home.

  Keeping Charlie at an easy lope, Tyler guided his horse up the last rise before meeting up with the wagon road that led to his ranch. He’d left Ian’s ranch a little under an hour ago, and he was eager to get home. His lips twitched. Perhaps he could take Laney out for an afternoon ride. She was no doubt still angry with him for ordering her to not ride alone.

  Tall conifers had obscured his view, but now that he was at the top of the hill, he could see far into the distance. Dark smoke rose about a mile ahead over one of the hills, and Tyler reined his mount to a halt. A jolt of adrenaline rushed through him. The smoke came from the direction of his ranch! What the hell? Without a second thought, he nudged Charlie into a gallop, and raced down the hill, skirting the wagon trail and cutting through the forest.

  For only a moment he entertained the ridicul
ous idea that Laney had managed to burn the house down in her attempt to cook a meal, but then quickly brushed it off. Surely it wasn’t his house that was on fire. His heart pounded in tune with the beats of his horse’s hooves, and he leaned far over Charlie’s neck, urging his trusted mount to greater speed.

  The smell of burned wood assaulted him when he reached the top of the last rise leading to the valley below. Thick black smoke rose in the air, and Tyler caught a glimpse of his new barn going up in flames. His horse charged down the hill, and came to a skidding stop among his crew of frantic wranglers who tossed bucket after bucket of water onto the inferno. Bobby and Sammy used blankets to pound at the flames against the wall.

  “What the hell happened?” Tyler leapt from his horse and ran toward his men. Charlie trotted off in the opposite direction.

  “We don’t know how it happened, Ty,” Beau shouted. The wrangler grabbed for the bucket of water Eddie flung at him, and tossed the contents against the barn wall. “Sammy came out of the bunk house a few minutes ago, and saw the smoke.”

  “The horses?” Tyler yelled. He grabbed for a burlap sack on the ground and lunged at the flames. His colt and the two others were surely still in the barn. The doors were closed, engulfed by the blaze. Sweat beaded his forehead from the heat.

  “They’re still in there,” Eddie shouted from somewhere behind him. “Gabe’s trying to find another way in. Looks like the fire started right here at the doors.”

  At that moment, Gabe came running around from the other side of the barn, a shovel and a pick ax in his hands.

  “Ty,” he roared. Without breaking stride, he tossed the ax at Tyler. “We have to get this door open.” He swung the shovel against the smoldering boards that comprised one side of the door.

  “I know. We have to get those colts out of there,” Tyler shouted back, already swinging the ax.

  “Tyler.” Gabe stopped swinging, and placed a heavy hand on his arm. His soot-streaked face hardened, and for once he wasn’t grinning. “Laney is in there.”

  Their eyes met and held. All sound ceased around Tyler. His ears rang, while his mind spiraled out of control.

  “Your wife is in there with the horses, Ty. We thought she was up at the house, but Eddie said she wasn’t there. I saw her in the barn earlier. I think she’s still in there,” Gabe shouted in his ear.

  Cold fear swept through Tyler, despite the intense heat behind him. He spun toward the barn. He swung the ax repeatedly, his blows splintering the charred wood. Laney was in there. He focused on those four words. His wife. The woman he had come to love, and she didn’t even know it.

  “I need a blanket, doused in water,” Tyler shouted. With the ax, he yanked the first loose boards free. A burst of flames escaped through the newly created opening, and Tyler stepped back, shielding his face from the heat with his arm. A second later, he lunged forward and repeated his attack on the wood, until enough boards had come away that he could squeeze through the opening. Heat assaulted him.

  “That blanket. I need it now,” he roared.

  Someone threw a dripping wet blanket over him, and Tyler rushed through the narrow space.

  “Break the rest of these doors down and get the horses out,” he shouted over his shoulder.

  Smoke engulfed him, and he ducked low, holding his hand over his nose.

  “Laney,” he called.

  Tyler’s eyes stung, and tears streamed down his face. He blinked, and squinted through the thick cloud. The shadowy outlines of a horse standing toward the back of the barn became visible through the haze.

  “Laney,” he called again, his heart hammering in his chest. He reached the stall at the far end of the barn that housed the gray colt. The other horse snorted and backed away. Tyler peered quickly into the stall. Laney wasn’t there. His body whipped around.

  “Dammit, where are you?” he choked out. Perhaps Gabe had been mistaken and Laney wasn’t in the barn after all. The open gate to one of the other stalls caught his attention, and he glanced at the loose colt again. A halter hung from its neck.

  Tyler rushed toward the stall. Laney had tried to get the horse out, he was sure of it, and the frightened animal must have spooked. His eyes dropped to the ground. Just inside the stall, a body lay on the ground.

  “Laney,” he choked, and dropped to his knees in the straw. Sweat ran down his face. The heat inside the barn was almost unbearable. He coughed when his lungs filled with more smoke.

  Tyler inched his arms under her, and turned Laney’s limp body onto her back.

  “Laney,” he rasped, brushing the hair out of her face with a shaky hand. His fingers fumbled to feel her neck for a pulse. She moaned.

  “The horses.” He barely heard her croaky words.

  “The horses can wait.” Relief flooded him like the waters of a spring creek. He quickly gathered her up in his arms and adjusted the blanket to cover her. He rushed from the stall, dodging burning embers that fell from the rafters. He glanced over his shoulder toward the colts. Tyler gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to lose his animals, but the woman in his arms was far more important.

  A loud crash and splintering noise originated from the direction of the barn doors, and Tyler glanced up just as Gabe and Beau broke through the barrier that led to safety. They charged toward him.

  “Get the horses out.” Tyler waved Gabe off with a jut of his chin toward the back of the barn, and raced from the burning building. He gulped a lungful of cool air and dropped to his knees a dozen yards from the fire.

  “Laney,” he rasped, coughing to rid his lungs of smoke.

  “How is she?” Eddie’s anxious voice reached him from behind. The wrangler pulled the blanket away from Tyler’s shoulders.

  “I don’t know,” Tyler panted. He held Laney’s limp body in his arms, his hands trembling when he brushed more hair from her face. An angry red gash slashed along her temple, dried blood streaking down her face. A hoof had grazed her.

  “Sammy,” Tyler roared and looked up, his eyes frantically darting around the yard. “Ride for Doc Brooks. Now!”

  “Yes, boss,” Sammy called. He dropped the bucket of water in his hand, and dashed toward one of the pens that held the saddle horses.

  “Best to get the missus up to the house, Ty,” Eddie suggested, his voice unusually somber.

  Tyler nodded, his eyes fixed on the woman he held to his chest. She hadn’t moved. Her body hung limp and lifeless in his arms. He swore under his breath. He wasn’t going to lose her, dammit. The only indication that she was alive was the slow movement of her chest as it rose and fell with each faint breath she took.

  “Laney,” he whispered softly, holding her close as he stood. “I love you, Laney. Stay with me.” He bent his head close to her ear.

  A soft moan escaped her lips. Her mouth moved, and he heard the faint word “horses.” She was barely conscious, yet the horses were foremost on her mind. His chest swelled with love for her. The horses were the furthest things from his mind at the moment.

  Behind him, Gabe and Beau’s loud shouts mixed with the pounding of hooves. Eddie darted away from him and waved his hands in the air, yelling “whoa, whoa.” He caught the first horse by the rope around its’ neck. Bobby raced to head off the gray colt. Not a second later, Beau and Gabe charged from the barn. A loud splintering sound and groan followed, and the barn roof collapsed with a loud boom.

  “That was close,” Gabe panted next to Tyler. “Obviously, the barn’s a complete loss.”

  Tyler gathered Laney against his chest, and glanced toward the house.

  “A barn can be rebuilt,” he said absently. Cold fear raced down his spine. There would always be more barns, more horses. He’d almost lost something far more valuable.

  ****

  Laney groaned and forced her eyes open. Anticipating breathing in more of the choking smoke, she inhaled a slow breath. Her lids fluttered fully open when her lungs filled with clean air. Nevertheless, her throat burned painfully when she tried to
swallow. Slowly, she rolled to her side when a fit of coughing overtook her. Her head pounded, and blackness threatened to engulf her again.

  “Laney,” a voice echoed in her mind. Tyler’s voice.

  Gulping in air while trying to suppress her fit of coughing, Laney glanced to where his voice came from. A split second later, the world tilted, just as a warm hand enveloped hers.

  “Laney,” Tyler said again, his voice filled with concern.

  “Tyler?” she rasped, and she forced her eyes to remain open. His blurry image materialized inches from her. He leaned closer, and the mattress underneath her groaned. Laney blinked, and tears filled her dry and burning eyes.

  Her hand moved to her temple. She moaned. Her head was about to split in two. Her fingers made contact with a soft cotton material.

  “You took quite a hit to the head.” Warm fingers grazed against her cheek, and Laney focused her eyes on Tyler’s features. Those brown eyes of his roamed over her, concern etched into every inch of his face.

  Memories came flooding back like a dam that had burst. The fire in the barn. She’d been knocked down by the colt she was trying to save and taken a hoof to the head.

  “The horses,” she croaked, and struggled to push herself to a sitting position with shaky arms. What had happened to the horses? Dread filled her. Dark swirls and bright spots danced before her eyes, and for a moment she thought she would be sick. She coughed again. Her throat burned from her effort to speak.

  “It’s all right, Laney. The colts are fine,” Tyler’s reassuring voice close to her ear calmed her fears like the soothing sounds of the creek that meandered behind the house. “Lie back. The doc says you need to rest.”

  “I need water,” she rasped, and tried to swallow. Pain seared down her throat, momentarily overshadowing the pounding in her head. Seconds later, Tyler held a glass to her lips, while a strong arm supported her back. Laney gulped the soothing liquid, then allowed Tyler to ease her back against her pillow.