by Sonja Gunter
A bit at the disadvantage, being in unknown territory, she swallowed hard.
“Allan, are you positive you want me? Because there aren’t any mulligans in marriage where I’m concerned. If we stay married, it’s forever,” she murmured and stared at him, afraid he’d disappear.
“Yes, I’m sure. Till death do us part. Through the gray hairs, wrinkles, face-lifts, and liposuction.”
His sexy charisma brought a smile to her face.
He truly loved her. She did have a family.
“Oh Allan,” she moaned.
Their lips became one. She moved to the middle of the bed and he joined her. She’d found a partner. Someone who loved her.
The house wasn’t quiet any longer. Rosalind’s laughter and Allan’s promises filled the air.
Chapter 33
A loud pounding woke Rosalind from her sleep. Through the drowsy fog, she realized the sound came from downstairs.
“Coming!”
It didn’t work. The pounding continued. She smothered a groan, unwrapped Allan’s arms, and sat up.
“Don’t leave,” he murmured and reached out to her.
“Someone’s at the door.” Rosalind shouted louder this time. “I’m coming!”
Allan’s eyes flew open instantly. “No, you stay here. I’ll go.”
“We’ll both go.”
Even in the darkened room she sensed his displeasure by his silence. Together they dressed quickly and headed downstairs. She reached for the doorknob, but Allan was quicker and got to it first.
Max stood on the step, his lips and jaw tight in the early morning chill.
“Oh, you’re back. Good, we can use an extra hand. We have another problem, Rosalind.”
“Max, what is it?” Rosalind waved for him to come in and Allan moved aside. “Another?”
“Yes, when I went to check on the trucks and trailers for our early departure tomorrow, I found most of the tires slashed.”
“Shit. Oh my God, that’s fifteen tires!” Rosalind led the men to the kitchen and got busy making coffee.
“Someone tell me what’s going on,” Allan demanded.
Max took a seat at the table while Allan stood in the doorway with his hands on his hips. She looked at Max and nodded.
“A water line broke the night you left. We found evidence it wasn’t an accident,” Max recounted. “The sheriff’s ordered a probe and an investigation.”
Allan swore under his breath. “I caught sight of a police car at the entrance when I drove in. Why didn’t anyone tell me? Or call me.”
Rosalind shook her head and exchanged glances with Max. “Allan, I couldn’t get hold of you. Feds and jail. All your calls went to voicemail.”
“Damn, sorry.” Allan wandered aimlessly around the kitchen and appeared deep in thought, while Max sat quietly. Rosalind let them contemplate what to do.
Allan broke the silence first. “I’m here now, so fill me in.” He joined Max at the table.
The coffee came to a boil and Rosalind set the pot down along with three cups.
“There’s nothing more to tell. The deputies have no suspicious activity to report. All the ranch hands are on alert,” she stressed. Not wanting to let them see her concern, she took a sip of coffee and leaned against the counter.
Max poured himself a cup, adding some sugar. “We have four spare tires on hand. I’ve already put calls into the Randall and Brainerd tire companies for replacements. I should get them in time for us to leave. Worst case scenario, we’ll have to take tires from the unused trailers.”
“Okay.” Allan nodded. “Let me—us know of your progress.”
“I will. Rosalind, no practicing today. Allan, good to know you’re back.”
Max took one last gulp of coffee and left.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you,” Allan sighed. “Any thoughts as to who it might be?”
Rosalind took Max’s place at the table. She folded her hands in front of her. “Max and Joe suspect Tom Clark.”
“Who is he?”
The words didn’t want to come. They hadn’t discussed past relationships before. “He is . . . an old boyfriend.”
She held her breath against an onset of questions, but they didn’t come.
“They’re always a pain in the butt. Does he live around here?”
His response surprised her, yet in a comforting way. The thought that he really did care for her sent a calming surge through her. “No, he has a place in Tomah, Wisconsin. He’s a bull rider and not well-liked on the circuit. He was after my money. He found out I’d get disbursements if I married him, and he tried to pressure me for a wedding date. When I told him no, he—he got rough.”
She caught how Allan’s eyes widened and his jaw tightened, before she lowered her eyes.
“Did he physically harm you?”
“No, no, he didn’t . . . well, he slapped me. Sam and the others were there right away. I’ve put the incident behind me.”
“Son of a bitch.” Allan pounded his fist on the table, rattling the coffee cups.
“Let’s talk about something else, okay?”
“I’m not happy about this, Rosalind. The man hurt you.”
“It’s in the past,” she assured and poured more coffee into her cup. Her calmness disappeared. She hated to talk about Tom.
“Putting it in your past doesn’t mean he’s done the same. What makes you think it could’ve been Tom?”
He reached across the table and took her hand. Rosalind looked at him and saw no judgement in his eyes.
A spark of a memory came to her. “He has a bad temper. I witnessed firsthand his treatment of animals and it wasn’t very nice. Joe says most everyone has blackballed him.”
“Blackballed?”
“It’s when a rider is banned from competitions for being a troublemaker.” She gestured wearily. “As far as I know he doesn’t have any friends. He usually arrives by himself. Once he showed me pictures on his phone of bull riders getting hurt. Afterward he laughed and found their injuries humorous.”
“This is beginning to make sense.” Allan tapped his fingers on the table. “Is there anything else you remember about him?”
Rosalind thought for a minute. She’d been through this with Max, too. “How could the culprit be him? We haven’t spoken in two years.”
“People can be devious, even cynical to the point of blackmail when they can’t have what they want. Tell me anything, everything, no matter how unimportant.”
“I don’t want to think about him. It was a bad time,” she murmured. “Let’s have breakfast first. I’m hungry, aren’t you?”
Allan slid his chair next to hers and turned her to face him. He enfolded her hands within his. Their warmth touched the sadness that threatened to quench her happiness. She stared into his eyes.
“I’m always hungry for you, but if you mean food, sure. Do you want me to help?”
“No, unless you learned to cook in the last couple of days.”
He stood and playfully pointed his finger. “Oh, I know when I’m not wanted. I need to check in with Paul and Tiffany.”
Rosalind crossed to the stove. “An omelet or fried eggs?”
“A cheese omelet with ham sounds great,” Allan said.
“Easy enough. Give me about twenty minutes.”
“Sounds good. We’ll continue our discussion.”
He kissed her cheek before leaving the kitchen.
“Paul, I might have found the mole.”
“Do you have a name?”
“Tom Clark. Lives in Tomah, Wisconsin. He’s a bull rider,” Allan added.
“He’s not on our list. I’m not sure . . .”
“I don’t care if he’s not
on our list. Do what you can to procure information on him,” he ordered. “Rosalind ran into some unexpected and suspicious mishaps after I left for New York.”
“I’ll get on it right away. The Feds found two employees responsible for the leak. The company lawyers said John won’t be prosecuted since he only made one minor trade and used a different brokerage firm. The ruling held that John’s trade was simply a lucky investment. However, our two employees deliberately gave their clients insider information. Those trades and clients are under investigation.”
“Do what you need to do. I leave tomorrow for Rosalind’s competition in Oklahoma,” Allan reminded him. “Call me with any information on Tom Clark.”
“Will do, talk to you later.”
Allan ended the call. A delicious aroma filled the air. On his way to the kitchen he paused at the dining room table and glanced at the project. For the first time in his life he could actually say he was about to make a positive difference.
“Mm-mmm, smells wonderful,” he praised, when he entered and sat at the kitchen table.
“It’s just the omelet you requested.”
“I know, and I love the cook.” He reached out and caressed her butt.
“Oh, I see how it is.” She leaned into him. “You want someone to be your maid with benefits.”
“Rosalind, caring about someone besides myself is new to me. You are the first woman to change me from an uncaring, callous man to one who truly cares. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you. When you said Tom hit you, all I wanted to do was pull you into my arms. I wanted to hunt down that motherfucker and kick the living shit out of him.”
“Really?”
He nodded, noticing the catch in her voice.
“Okay. I knew there was something dark about Tom and I wanted to be a rebel. I dated him to infuriate my grandfather. It backfired.”
“You can tell me anything,” Allan coaxed. “Let’s call this our courting stage.”
“Aren’t we doing this backward?”
Her smirk made him laugh and she joined in. It eased the tension as they finished breakfast. He had her take a shower first, and it was late morning when they entered the barn.
He witnessed firsthand all the water damage. “Where are the horses?”
“We moved them to the second barn, but it’s not designed to house that many horses.”
Allan eyed the stall where they’d first made love and frowned. The wood frame was covered in ice. The floor had at least two inches of ice on top of thick frozen mud.
“This is horrific. When can we get a crew to fix all this?”
“Max says Wednesday. We have to bring in heaters to melt the ice and blowers to dry everything out.”
He followed Rosalind into the other barn. She went directly to Dawn’s stall, and he searched for Joe. He found him unstacking hay bales.
“Hi, Joe. Do you have a minute?”
“Sure do.”
The old man tugged off his gloves and stuffed them in his coat pocket.
“Max and Rosalind say you suspect Tom Clark for the trouble.”
“I do. I spotted him in Brainerd.”
“How far do you think he will go?” Allan asked.
“Don’t know. Never liked him,” Joe grumbled. “Too cocky. Always ready to fight like a strutting banty rooster.”
Joe slipped on his gloves. Allan did the same and they moved a hay bale, and cut the wire holding it in place. Together they pitched the hay into a stall.
“Have you talked to the sheriff?”
“Yes, but we have no evidence. Tom is a snake,” Joe blurted out in a hard tone.
Allan heard the disgust and wondered how Rosalind had ever gotten involved with someone everyone seemed to dislike.
“Do we have the tires yet?”
He and Joe turned. Rosalind had come up without them knowing. Allan slipped his arm around her.
“Yup.” Joe nodded. “Max went into town for them. We won’t have to take any from the other trailers. Like I told the sheriff, I found tracks leading away from the trailers, to the gate, and all the way to the road.”
“Interesting,” Rosalind mused. “So the gate lock hadn’t been damaged. Any signs of it being tampered with?”
“I checked it myself, it was clean,” Joe stated. “No footprints, nothing else.”
“Okay. Ask Max to come see us when he returns, and keep my girl warm.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Joe nodded and hauled a hay bale into the next stall. Rosalind moved away from him. Allan had to wonder why she was working so hard to ride in a rodeo. “You never told me what’s so important about this competition.”
“It’s only the most coveted title for a barrel rider. If I win, I’ll be part of the first mother and daughter to win the same title.”
“Your mother won?”
“Yes, the year before she died.” Rosalind returned to stand next to him. “Plus it has a huge purse.”
“Wow, incredible. At least you have those memories. I don’t have any happy thoughts about my parents. I remember moving around a lot,” Allan mused. “My mom and dad worked so much they usually left me home alone.”
“That’s so sad. We’ll make life lasting happy memories.”
“I’d like that,” he said with a half-smile.
“Let’s head to the house. The guys have everything under control.”
She hugged his arm as they walked to the barn doors. A blast of frigid air hit them. He withdrew his arm and wrapped it around her.
“So tell me why the purse part of this competition is important. You have money.”
She paused in midstride and faced him.
“Yes, I have money, but taking care of horses and running a ranch takes a lot. If I stop competing, my income is gone,” she explained. “I’ve been trying to build up my cash reserves and this competition will give me a modest cushion.”
“If you need money, I can help . . .”
“No, I’m sure you can, but I want to do this on my own. People and animals will be counting on me for a long time. Did you know a horse can live to be twenty-five to thirty years old?”
“Thirty years. Wow,” Allan said in wonder. “I would never have guessed.”
“You’re such a city boy.”
They pivoted around in unison at the sound of a car coming down the driveway.
“It’s Helen,” Rosalind exclaimed with excitement.
They waited for her to park. When Helen got out of the car, she went straight to Allan and hugged him.
“I knew they were wrong about you,” Helen blubbered. “Glad you’ve returned.”
Allan kissed her cheek. “And I’m so pleased you’re here. Now I don’t have to eat Rosalind’s so-so cooking. Last night she tried to starve me till we found your frozen home cooked dinners.”
“If I were younger, I’d steal you away from Rosalind.”
Laughing, Allan helped Helen carry in groceries.
Chapter 34
“Breakfast!”
Rosalind and Allan grinned at each other. Having been up since the crack of dawn, they were starved. They raced from the bedroom and down the stairs. She beat him by a split-second even with his interference.
“No need to rush, there’s plenty.” Helen placed a platter of French toast on the table.
“Holy moly, it looks like you’re feeding an army,” Rosalind blurted out. She rubbed her hands together with anticipation.
Allan took his usual spot and she hers while Helen sat in Sam’s. They heaped their plates with scrambled eggs, sausages, and thick slices of French toast.
When their plates were cleaned Helen asked, “Allan, is there anything else I can get for you? I can’t let the two of you go h
ungry on your long drive.”
He nodded to Helen. “No, this is perfect. Way too much for me.”
Rosalind’s eyebrows rose. Helen was so sweet on him. She found it funny, but couldn’t resist giving him grief. Allan avoided her penetrating gaze. So she kicked him. His eyes flicked toward the ceiling in mock innocence.
“You let me know if you think of anything. I’m gonna have sandwiches, coffee, and fresh cinnamon rolls ready to take with you.”
Again, Rosalind glanced at Allan and then to Helen. The whole mother hen scene made her smile.
My husband sure has a way with women.
She pushed away from the table. “We better move our asses. Time is ticking away. Max texted me. The trailer is almost ready.”
“Okay boss,” he said.
“Remember to come back for your goodies,” Helen reminded him.
“Like you could keep me away,” Allan replied.
Helen’s cheeks pinkened nicely, before she turned toward the refrigerator.
“Oh boy, now I’ve seen it all,” Rosalind muttered under her breath as she strolled into the hallway.
“What?”
“As if you don’t know,” she jested.
“Do I detect a little bit of jealousy?”
She zipped her coat and opened the door, wishing she was still in the comfort of Allan’s arms and their warm bed.
“If we had more time, I’d hog-tie you and show you how upset I am.”
Outside in the frigid morning air, the clarity of the whole situation didn’t make sense. During the last twenty-four hours, so much had changed that it was hard to take in. Allan’s surprise return had given her hope for a happy ending.
“Hey wait,” Allan shouted. “Hog-tie me? I haven’t tried making love that way before. Sounds interesting.”
“Come on City Boy, we have work to do.” She gave him a slight shove, wishing they did have time for a lesson.