Jackie didn’t waste any time. She threw off her clothes, scrubbed the make-up off her face, quickly swallowed her medication and dove into bed wearing plaid pajamas. Then her eyes slid to the phone on her nightstand. She picked it up, dialed then left a brief message on Izzy’s machine. “I slept with him. Yell at me in the morning.” Jackie hung up the phone then pressed her face into her soft, welcoming pillow.
Then let out a startled ‘oomph’ when Macbeth jumped on her bed and collapsed on her body. “This is one of those bonding nights, isn’t it?” she mumbled. “I guess I could use a little of that.” She adjusted her position until the heavy weight on her back was comforting. As fatigue gradually set into her bones and dragged her into sleep, Jackie went through the negatives of the day in her head. Head injury, uncomfortable clothes, being lied to and pressured into accepting a job were all bad things. Champagne, strawberries and sex… Well, they were pretty good. She just wished it hadn’t been under false pretenses - and that she’d enjoyed it less.
Macbeth continued to stare alertly into the darkness while his human slept. She hadn’t smelled right when she’d come home. Something dead and unnatural had touched her. He bared his teeth at the shadows, at whatever had marred her scent. It wouldn’t touch her again.
Chapter Six
JACKIE FUCKING HATED MORNINGS. She hated her stupid, fucking alarm clock that insisted on pulling her out of blissful unconsciousness. What she wanted to do was cling to her pillow and stay very still until sleep claimed her again. Unfortunately, there was a very long list of things to do that day like there was everyday. So she did the responsible thing. She turned off her stupid, fucking alarm clock, crawled out of bed and forced herself awake with a shower. Macbeth got in her way when she tried to dry her hair and brush her teeth. He was sticking to her like superglue although she had no idea why. It wasn’t as if she was in any danger with the exception of accidentally poisoning herself with toothpaste.
The scent of freshly brewed coffee wafted through the house and Jackie sighed appreciatively. She loved the smell of coffee. It was really too bad she hated the taste. With Macbeth annoyingly close on her heels, Jackie walked down the hall and into the kitchen. Sofie was up early as always, scrambling eggs and tapping her bare feet to whatever tune was playing in her head. Shylock and Caliban were vacuuming in their breakfast. Everything was surprisingly normal except for three little details. Macbeth was refusing to leave her side so he could eat, there was a bite mark on her neck and Izzy was sitting at the oak breakfast table.
“What are you doing here?” Jackie asked, blinking a few times to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. Isabelle Watts up before eight in the morning? Braving LA rush hour for a visit? Was the sky falling? Izzy’s naturally wavy hair was pulled back in a cute ponytail and her make-up was very neutral. She was wearing Lucky jeans and a simple blue shirt. Oh, and cowboy boots. Jackie blinked again. “Nice boots, honey.”
“They’re still cute,” Izzy mumbled, only slightly abashed. Five years ago Izzy had been dating a very handsome and - as it turned out - very married man with a passion for horses. To show an interest in his hobby, Izzy had decided to take a riding lesson. Jackie could still remember the glamorous, ill-equipped woman turning up for a quick ride around the arena in ridiculous boots which had chafed her legs to kingdom come. She’d nearly cracked a rib laughing and somehow between exchanging insults they’d started laughing together. It was a strange way to start a friendship but then, Jackie’s finding of Sofie hadn’t been any less odd.
“Yeah, cute. You’d better not be planning on riding this morning. O’Connor might not be pleased with me if I return you with legs more red and irritated than boiled lobsters,” Jackie said.
Sofie glanced over her shoulder. “Does that mean you’re going to talk about what happened last night?”
“Of course she’s going to talk about it!” Izzy cried as she regained some of the excitement from her wild trip up to the ranch. “How could you sleep with him? You never sleep with people!”
“You slept with him?” Sofie exclaimed, eyes wide with shock.
Jackie glared at the two of them. “I have been known to sleep with people on occasion,” she bit out before tugging open the refrigerator and getting out three pieces of bread to toast, using more violence than was probably necessary.
While Jackie attacked the bread, Izzy did another quick study of her friend. She was wearing socks since Sofie and Jackie had a policy about tramping dust and muck from the stables into the house. Her dark olive riding britches clung to her skin. Riding pants could either make someone look very good or very bad, depending on their shape. Needless to say, Jackie looked good. She was also wearing a brown shirt with a cartoon horse and rider. The horse was sitting on the rider, whose eyes were filled with obvious pain. The shirt read: Unconditional love. She was Jackie. Fun, quirky, modestly pretty but still Jackie. It wasn’t kind but Izzy couldn’t help wondering why Liam had slept with her. She wasn’t really his type and she’d never thought Liam would be Jackie’s type, either. He was so polished and she was so… uh, not.
“You haven’t been known to sleep with anyone for three years,” Sofie pointed out.
Izzy thought that she would have understood it if Liam had slept with Sofie. She was gorgeous and practically runway-ready. Aside from her riding clothes, she looked exactly like the type of woman who’d be a natural fit at Liam’s parties.
“I’m picky,” Jackie muttered. She leaned against the white, spotless kitchen counter and looked at Izzy. “So I’ve been bitten by a vampire. Are there any side effects I should know about?”
“This is so crazy,” Sofie commented, turning off the oven and serving up the eggs. All the while she had a grin on her face. She tended to read supernatural fiction and when Jackie had disclosed to her Izzy’s big, dark secret Sofie had been overjoyed. Vampires were her favorite monsters.
“I’d agree with you except I know you mean crazy in a good way,” Jackie said, dividing up the toast and pouring coffee for Sofie and their unexpected guest.
“Decaf, right?” Izzy checked as she accepted the mug and a plate of eggs and toast.
“Of course,” Jackie confirmed, getting a glass down from the cupboard and pouring herself a glass of milk. “Sofie’s high on life, not caffeine.” On that note, the three settled down to eat, continuing their conversation. Macbeth, more or less sure that his human was safe while surrounded by friends, hurried to consume his own breakfast.
“I don’t have to tell you to eat well so you can maintain your strength since you already do that,” Izzy began to say in between bites of egg. “It’s all the supernatural stuff you’re going to have issues with.”
Jackie held up her fork. “Supernatural stuff? You mentioned no supernatural stuff when you encouraged me to take this little side job.”
Izzy smiled guiltily. She hadn’t wanted to discourage Jackie and it seemed fairly unlikely that she’d get the job anyway. However, she wasn’t going to mention her doubts. “I might have left out a detail or two. Did you have any weird dreams last night?”
“No. I didn’t dream at all, actually. Well, nothing I can remember,” Jackie amended.
Izzy frowned. “Really? I usually have some pretty weird dreams after I feed Liam. The other girls said they had, too.”
Jackie shrugged. She wasn’t opposed to being the exception to the rule.
Sofie glanced over at Macbeth thoughtfully before voicing her opinion. “Are animals repelled by vampires like they are in novels sometimes?”
“Yeah,” Izzy told her, confused about the change of topic. “I had to get rid of my cat because he kept freaking out about how I smelled. If I didn’t shower straight away it drove him nuts.”
“My dogs haven’t acted like that,” Jackie told her.
“That doesn’t mean they haven’t noticed a change,” Sofie pointed out. “Last night Shylock didn’t even move to touch you. I know that isn’t out of the ord
inary but he’s fonder of you than most people. And I love Caliban but he’s stupid enough to jump on a grizzly bear if he thinks it’ll pet him.”
“Macbeth wasn’t repelled. He slept right on top of me,” Jackie countered. The idea that she might be alienating her dogs by taking a job with a vampire didn’t soothe her at all.
“Oh, I think I understand now,” Izzy said, apparently enlightened. “Macbeth has always been protective of Jackie so he was protecting her from the vampire he smelled, physically and mentally. Maybe animals are aware of vampires on an entirely different level than humans are and can fight their influence.”
“I’m going to step out of the Twilight Zone now,” Jackie said, taking her empty plate to the sink and quickly rinsing it off. “Sofie, did you stock up on sauerkraut?”
“Five jars, all in the pantry,” she told her.
Izzy looked between them. “Sauerkraut? For what?”
“Francis has scratches,” Jackie responded automatically. Her mind was already with the horses, thinking of the million little things she had to check up on. She carried two jars out the door where she paused briefly to slip on her muckers. Then she was striding across the yard to the paddock where she kept the horses that needed close attention.
Izzy turned back to Sofie, obviously still confused. “Scratches?”
“It’s a type of fungus. Lorraine’s niece didn’t bother to wait until he was dry to put him back in his stall after she hosed him down. Francis is a magnet for illness. The woman should have known better,” Sofie muttered. “Jackie put Francis back in the priority pen which is probably going to piss off the niece. She’s the one that got him moved out of there in the first place because it was too expensive.”
“Christ, no wonder Jackie’s been so wound up. It’s not just the debt; it’s the jerks she works with. No offense,” she added.
Sofie just smiled at her. “I know what you mean. Jackie probably would have snapped by now if it weren’t for Sarah.”
Francis was huge, standing a full eighteen hands high and weighted down with a very heavy body. Not as heavy as it should have been, though. Jackie could still remember the emaciated gelding that had come off Lorraine Williams’ horse trailer. Lorraine had been away on business too long and had trusted the wrong people to look after her boy. They’d fed him cheap alfalfa cubes. Jackie liked using alfalfa cubes because they didn’t cause a horse to colic but she knew not all horses could eat them. She also never bought cheap, especially after hearing about people who’d found ground up mice in the cubes. Francis had been over a hundred pounds underweight. Jackie had been able to count his ribs. The former champion Hanoverian had been a shadow of his former self.
Now he was studying Jackie with gentle brown eyes as she packed his legs with sauerkraut. She hoped it would kill the fungus before it got worse. Francis was twenty years old and, as was typical of old, big horses, had arthritis. Jackie wanted what was left of his life to be comfortable, not plagued by illness. He whickered at her softly and she patted his glossy bay coat.
“We’re almost done, Francis. I’ll get you back to your breakfast in no time.”
“Sometimes it worries me,” Izzy said as she approached the wash rack where Jackie was tending her patient. “You get so attached to these horses. And horses as old and frail as Francis are dangerous to get close to.”
“Oh, Izzy, you act as if I can be involved with horses and never be hurt,” Jackie said, finishing with Francis’s leg and standing up. “It’s not possible. Given enough time, a horse will break your heart.” She heard the keen sadness in her voice that spoke of another, deeper loss.
“Or a baby,” Izzy said, her voice barely a whisper. Her friend’s entire body jerked and she immediately turned away. “That’s what you’ve been thinking about. What with the financial problems and Francis and the thoughtless owners and Sarah, I know you’ve been thinking about it.”
“You make it sound as if I ever stop thinking about it.” Jackie hooked the lead rope back on Francis’s halter, freeing him from the wash rack and leading him back to the paddock.
“Did sleeping with Liam help you forget it?”
Jackie halted Francis and turned to face Izzy. “Are you jealous?” she snapped. “Is this what this morning visit was really all about? Did you want to remind me of all the things that are wrong with my life then point out how absurd it would be for O’Connor to take an interest? If so, you should have saved yourself the gas. A one-night stand does not a passionate romance make.”
“I share Liam with a dozen other girls. Why would I care about sharing him with you?” Izzy demanded, unnerved by the way Jackie had seen through her.
“Because he shouldn’t want me,” she replied and her eyes never left her friend’s. “You understand the other girls but me? That doesn’t make sense. I think it’s dinged your pride that someone as old and abrasive as me could ever be in competition for a man with someone like you.”
Izzy blushed and looked away. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m sorry.”
Francis nosed Jackie’s shoulder and she sighed. “It’s all right. There’s no point in letting a man cause trouble between us.” She meant that, too. Izzy was just… young. Jackie was not. She was a good ten years older and wiser for it. Of course, she understood the psychology behind having friends so much younger than she was. It was her way of trying to mother someone. She was just as flawed as Izzy, no matter the age difference. Those same flaws had them parting on bad terms despite Izzy’s apology. There was an awkwardness between them that put a bad taste in Jackie’s mouth for the rest of the day.
At exactly 3:30 Jackie was latching a stall door and waiting. Sampson danced in his stall, hopping back and forth. He knew what time it was just as well as she did. A car pulled up and the sound of a door opening made Sampson even more excited. He whinnied loudly.
“I’m coming, Sampson!” cried a child’s voice, followed by the sound of small feet hurtling over stone. Finally, the only child who took riding lessons at Jackie’s barn came down the aisle separating the stalls from each other. Sarah Baldwin was a gawky eight-year-old with red-rimmed glasses and a mop of auburn curls sprouting from her head. She had a heart-shaped face, light brown eyes and a scar through her eyebrow. It was the only visible mark left from the car accident that had killed her father seven months ago. Sarah’s mother had remarried two months ago. Obviously her mom’s grief had been overwhelming.
“Hey there, firecracker,” Jackie said, tipping her cliché but comfortable brown felt cowboy hat to the little lady. Sarah grinned.
“Hi, Jackie. Can I give Sampson a treat?”
“Of course,” Jackie said. “You’d disappoint the poor boy if you didn’t.” Sarah took off her backpack and unzipped one of the pockets.
“I saved the carrot sticks from lunch,” she told Sampson. “I know they’re your favorite.”
“You should eat those. Good for your eyesight and all that,” Jackie reminded her. Sarah rolled her eyes.
“My vision needs a lot more than carrots.”
Jackie observed the girl in her uniform blue plaid skirt and neatly buttoned white shirt. It was frightening how much Sarah reminded her of a younger version of herself. Since Jackie drove her home more often than not, she knew how lifeless and hollow the kid looked when she was about to walk into her house. The horses made her happy and that was it.
That had been Jackie not so very long ago. In fact, that was still Jackie.
“We’re going to work on your seat some more today,” Jackie said. Sarah visibly winced and she couldn’t blame her. They were going to the round pen where Jackie would keep Sampson controlled with the lunge line while Sarah practiced her balance without reins or stirrups. It wasn’t her favorite thing in the world.
“Can I at least have my stirrups back?” Sarah pleaded.
“Oh, come on, Sarah. Torturing you is the highlight of my day. Don’t take that away from me,” Jackie teased before strol
ling into her office to find the lunge whip that would keep Sampson from simply standing in the middle of the ring and staring at the plant life.
Jacquelyn. She jumped then hooked her fingers on the chair before she could make herself trip and fall. Her heart started pumping faster. Jackie covered the band-Aid on her neck that disguised something much more significant. That voice in her head hadn’t really been there. It had been a feeling. That feeling of being watched or like just for a moment someone had been thinking of her. The phone rang and she knew who it was before she picked it up. “Free Spirit Ranch, how may I help you?”
“Well, last I checked I needed someone to open a vein for me on a regular basis. Does that sound like something you can do?” Jackie rolled her eyes heavenward. Oh, goody, she’d been right.
“O’Connor.”
Chapter Seven
“MOST WOMEN CALL ME Liam after they’ve seen me naked.” Jackie rolled her eyes. Honestly, she’d rather have a root canal than call him by his first name. She was determined to withhold every intimacy possible. Already she’d managed to muck up her relationship with Izzy because she’d had a weak moment. Donating blood didn’t have to be intimate if she didn’t want it to be. She doubted anyone ever had an orgasm at the Red Cross. And if they had, she hoped it wasn’t blood related.
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