In the time Malone had been working the mare, Tucker had moved to stand beside Avery, then Leanne and finally Carlee. They watched together as Malone walked the mare to cool her out.
“From that expression, I’d say Jaz may just have found her ‘forever’ home.” Leanne sounded delighted.
“Well, at least she’ll be off the feed and vet bill.” Carlee commented.
“She’s earned her keep in the time she’s been here,” Leanne returned quickly.
Though aware of the exchange, Avery didn’t comment on it. Leanne’s tone had been a little defensive, perhaps, though Carlee hadn’t been caustic in the least. It had been a simple statement of fact. Carlee was the most practical of them and Avery knew someone had to be. She and Leanne were less so but they were still cautious not to overextend the ranch. It was the livelihood, after all, for all of them. It allowed them the opportunity to do what they loved and make a better-than-average living doing it while helping both the humans and the horses that crossed their path. It was a hurtful fact that they couldn’t save everyone and everything. It just wasn’t possible.
Malone was still smiling as she led the mare toward them. She nodded when Avery asked if she remembered her team. “I do and it’s good to see you all again. What a handle this gal has! Who gets the glory for that?”
Leanne, who’d ridden her most, stepped forward. “She came to us that way. All we had to do was put some weight back on her and rebuild her muscle.”
“Well, I’m completely won over. How long has she been here?”
“A little over six months,” Carlee chimed.
Malone stared straight at Avery. “I want her, no doubt. I know you don’t sell your horses. I remember that from my first trip here and my first rescue, who has won me a ton of money by the way. Still and all, I’d like to reimburse you for what you have in her.”
The figure she named had Avery shaking her head. “That’s way more than what we put into her and we’ve enjoyed her while she was here.”
“Then you tell me.”
Avery cut the amount by more than half, adding. “Truly, though, we don’t need anything back. I called you because I thought she’d be a better fit for your world than ours. She’s yours for the taking.”
“It’s more than fair to me. If she doesn’t take to barrels, I’ll have no problem getting that back for her as a rope prospect. Her build is pure athlete and her mind seems sound. Eager but not agitated. I won’t lose a penny but I’m betting my heart she’ll love running drums.”
“She doesn’t have registration papers,” Carlee cautioned, “at least not that came with her. All we have is a piece of paper giving ownership to us with her name and description. I suspect she has good bloodline. We just couldn’t find any way of tracing them back to her. We don’t try with the geldings but we do with the mares in case we want to breed them. It helps to know what genetics to avoid and what to blend together.”
“I understand that, there are some lines out there I don’t want anywhere in my string, but, really, I don’t need papers. I make my living competing, for myself and for others, not buying and selling. A simple bill of sale is all I need.”
“I’ll get that ready while you unsaddle,” Carlee offered.
Avery gave Carlee a smile of thanks, more for not commenting on the unexpected offer of money than the preparation of the necessary paperwork. Leanne probably wouldn’t take kindly to a witty zing about recouping expenses for a rescue horse that hadn’t been as useful to their program as the others. Avery hadn’t a doubt that all of her team were close and definitely had each other’s back but they weren’t above sniping at each other over differences of opinion.
Avery’s gaze tracked Carlee as she walked away. The girl had covered her bruises with makeup which she rarely wore and Avery suspected that was more to keep concern and comments at bay than from vanity. Otherwise, Avery could see no sign of the soreness she knew the girl had to be feeling in her back and shoulders and neck. The doctor had warned that the third day would actually be the worst so Avery would be particularly watchful in the morning. For now, though, Carlee seemed truly fine and Avery let go of a little more of her anxiety.
Avery was on the point of turning back to Malone when she saw Carlee change her angle to intercept Dirks who was walking their way. The sight of him made her heart leap a bit. She’d done her best to put the memory of that kiss from her mind but it had crept in at odd moments and came flooding back now. I’ll work just as hard to prove you innocent as guilty, he’d said. But would he? Could she trust him? Trust these feelings she didn’t want to have for him? Craig had been a bitter, bitter lesson but Dirks was a different kind of man. One that appealed to her on every level, she had to admit.
When Dirks shifted his gaze to hers, she realized she was staring at him. She realized something else as well, Carlee was still facing him and there was something in the line of her body, in the way she leaned slightly forward, and in the tilt of her chin that shot a line of discomfort straight through her as if she’d been caught eavesdropping on a personal moment. She shifted her attention quickly away, not returning the quick smile Dirks had sent her.
When she glanced back a moment later, Dirks was staring after Carlee and she wondered what would be revealed if she could see his eyes. One thing was sure, she would never be in competition with any woman for a man’s attention, particularly not with the young woman she considered as much her daughter as any person could ever be.
* * *
Dirks watched Carlee walk away, still unsure what that exchange with her had been about. She’d commented only that she’d met his security team, Rick and Jeremiah, but her tone had conveyed that she was unimpressed by their quiet, polite manners. She’d been civil when she asked Dirks if he considered them a match for the trouble hounding the ranch but her expression said clearly that she, personally, did not. Dirks had assured her they were professionals and known only for success not failure. He had no intention of telling her they were retired Special Forces. He didn’t believe anything he said would sway Carlee’s opinion, anyway.
She made no secret of the fact that she was suspicious of Dirks, his motives, his reasons for being there, and – most pointedly – his interest in Avery. She was protective, fiercely protective of Avery. Dirks didn’t find that unusual from all he knew about the relationship between them, but he did find the vehemence of it a little off-putting. He had a sense that there was more than concern in Carlee’s attitude toward Avery, perhaps a hint of jealousy and a determination to keep Avery’s affection to herself. He would expect that in a child or even a teen, all things considered, but he didn’t expect it in what appeared to be a strong and self-sufficient young woman. But he knew as well as anyone that there was a reason for the old adage that appearances could be deceiving.
Putting thoughts of Carlee aside, Dirks walked toward Avery, keeping his stride quiet and easy though his thoughts were anything but. He wanted her. He wasn’t supposed to and wasn’t sure what to do about it but it was there. He supposed the first necessity – beyond keeping her and everything she loved safe – was proving her innocence in whatever financial shenanigans her ex had had going on for the past year. The second necessity, and it was a necessity to him at least, was to convince her that he was someone she could trust, someone she could count on. That, he suspected, was going to be a hard sell when her last example had been the likes of Craig Danson.
He found no lingering remembrance of their kiss in the cool glance she turned his way as he reached the paddock. In fact, she seemed even more remote now than before that moment of undeniable heat in his truck.
Dirks smiled, nodded, shook hands through the introduction with Malone Summers. Then he hung back, quiet and patient, watching as a pretty mare was loaded onto a long, aluminum trailer. Papers were exchanged as Carlee rejoined the group.
A short while later, Malone Summers pulled out of the drive. Carlee shot Dirks a look over Avery’s shoulder. It wasn’t hostile but i
t wasn’t friendly either. For a moment, he wondered if she would deliberately pull Avery away on some pretext but, after a moment’s hesitation, she turned and walked away with Tucker and Leanne.
Dirks’ patience was rewarded when Avery turned, saw him still standing there, and walked his way.
She stopped in front of him and just said, “Hi.”
To Dirks’ amusement she seemed as if she didn’t quite know what to say now that she had given into the impulse to seek his company, and he was pretty sure it had been impulse. The sunlight caught in her hair, pulling hints of bronze from the coffee-colored curls. He fought the urge to touch an errant tendril.
“Good morning,” he said in turn. “I’m headed into town shortly. Need anything?”
“Not that I can think of.”
“Mind if I pick up some steaks for that big-ass grill you never use? I’d like to pull my team together with yours for shift turnover every evening until we get things sorted out. Might as well get everyone fed while we’re at it.”
This time the hint of a smile on her lips reached her eyes, not big and bright like he hoped one day to see but at least it was there. “Sure. I have a few clients until early afternoon but there are peas in the freezer I can put on slow simmer.”
“Sounds good to me.” And because he couldn’t help himself, he reached out to touch her face, just once, very lightly.
* * *
Dirks used the drive into town to sort through his thoughts. What he suspected, what he thought he knew, what he knew for sure, as well as some facts and figures from files he’d studied and then restudied.
Someone had signed Avery’s name to government issued payments for veterans. Craig was the most likely culprit because he damned sure didn’t believe Avery had done that. And it was Craig who’d siphoned money on a regular basis through an ATM card, Craig who was in financial straits. Avery, along with the ranch, was solvent but she’d, no doubt, been unable to grow her business as quickly as she likely would have.
He knew Carlee had money from her mother’s insurance as well as from her share of the ranch proceeds. Her car payment and cell phone were automatically deducted from her checking account. Occasionally, she bought clothes, mostly jeans and shirts and boots, but not often and not extravagantly. She was as solvent as Avery and wanted Avery to remove her from her will.
Tucker made a better than average living at the ranch and, like Carlee, he saved most of his earnings and lived well within his means. Leanne and her husband were renting a small ranch house while saving money for a home of their own. Still young and childless, they indulged once a week or so in dinner with drinks, beer for him, a glass of wine for her. Their vehicles were well-used and equally well-maintained. No large debt, no large luxuries.
Craig was the financial gap. He gambled wildly and, while he didn’t lose big, he lost regularly. Interspersed with the frequent losses were the occasional large wins, probably just often enough to keep him coming back for one more try.
In addition to siphoning money from the ranch until Avery caught him at it, Craig had cheated the owner of a lumber store and taken money for a horse he didn’t own. Both actions made him a prime candidate for prosecution. With no reliable means of income, he’d be getting desperate now.
Carlee may not have positively identified her father as the driver who’d run her off the road but her suspicion was more than clear. She believed him at least capable of killing Avery to get his hands on the ranch, the horses, and the money through her. So far neither the sheriff nor his deputies had been able to find Craig for questioning. Was Carlee beginning to wonder if her own life would be in danger if her father became desperate enough and she withheld money from him?
Dirks parked at the edge of town and walked through it as he had only a couple of days earlier but this time with a different end in mind. Before, he’d been hunting for clues to a way to clear Avery’s name with the government and ensure she was safe from her ex-husband’s enemies before heading back to D.C.
This time, he was contemplating the town through an altered viewpoint, wondering if this was a place he could live with a woman who had built a life and a business here, a business that enabled her to live well and help others – both equine and human. He’d never ask her to leave. He wasn’t ready to talk marriage and she wasn’t ready to hear it, but if he didn’t think this was a place he could make his home, it was a conversation that would never happen. He wouldn’t do that to himself or to her.
It was a peaceful place, a pretty place, with parks and restaurants and theaters, with businesses and shops and boutiques, not too far from larger towns with brighter nightlife but not too close to them either. So where, exactly, did that realization leave him?
He’d never been tempted to marry and he wasn’t sure why that was. Over the years, he’d had a series of love interests, some more serious than others, but he’d let each slip away and hadn’t looked back with more than a twinge of regret. That twinge was not because he’d wanted forever after with any of them but because he’d truly cared about each one - just not enough to propose they tie their lives together forever. And eventually, each one of them had accepted that - some with tears and melodrama, some with a hug and a smile of regret - and moved on to a man more inclined to think in terms of forever.
It was true there were times he wondered what his life would have been like with a son to play ball with, a daughter to take to some father-daughter middle school dance. In the thick of action, though, as he held men dying with whispered regrets and sorrow over a family left to grieve, he knew he’d made the right decision for him. But that was then.
Now? Now was different. Now there was Avery.
He passed the sheriff’s office but didn’t drop in. He and the sheriff had already talked by phone about the biker, the tag number on his Goldwing, and his odd tattoo. If Ben Farley had learned anything new, he’d know it. He had that much faith in the lawman and suspected the lawman now had that much faith in him. They were on the same side in this quest to return Avery to a place without turmoil and without dread that something or someone she loved would be hurt or taken.
Just as he’d decided to return his truck and head to the local meat market, a young woman stepped out of the feed and tack store, clearly intent on locking up. Dirks was surprised when she called out to him. “Aren’t you the guy out at Summer Valley Ranch? The government guy looking at the place for some kind of veterans program?”
“I am.” He introduced himself and shook the hand she offered so casually.
“I’m Kelly. Are you headed back to the ranch now?”
“Yeah, I am, after another stop.”
“Great. I have some calendars I’d love for you to take to Avery if you don’t mind. She doesn’t come into town that often - none of them do - and I’m dying for her to see what the photographer did. They’re right on the counter. It won’t take me a minute to step back in to get them.”
She was already unlocking the door and Dirks doubted she even realized she hadn’t given him a chance to agree or refuse.
When she stepped back out, she was beaming. She handed him the top one on the stack. “Isn’t that place gorgeous?”
He supposed it was, but all he saw was the woman astride a magnificent horse he recognized as Jack, and he knew he’d found his answer. She was half turned from the camera so that the photographer had caught little more than the lift of her chin and curve of her cheek with that tumble of hair to her shoulders. Her back was slim, straight and he could see the strength in her as much as the beauty. Yeah, for her, he’d live here in this pleasant little town - or anywhere else she chose to be.
Chapter Sixteen
True to her word, Avery had tender peas simmering in vegetable stock. It had been a busy afternoon. She’d worked with three clients, pulled salad greens and vegetables from her garden, showered, dithered over make-up, no make-up, and back again. She suspected the kitchen smelled more like the bacon she’d fried to season the peas than the
light fragrance of her soap.
When Dirks opened the back door without knocking, it felt right and she tried not to let that bother her. Just go with it, she told herself as she glanced over her shoulder at him from her place by the stove.
He placed the steaks on the granite counter, followed by a bag of what most assuredly was hand-selected baking potatoes. Her eyes widened at the amount of both. “How many armies are you feeding?”
“Just one small one,” he answered with a grin. He stepped closer to peer into the cast iron roaster she was stirring. “Oh, man, I don’t know when I last had fresh corn creamed by hand rather than dumped out of a can. I almost swung by the open air market for salad things, but it looks like we don’t need them.”
She liked his grin, realized she liked it too much so turned her attention back to the roaster of corn. “Need or not, we’ll have those salad things, fresh from my back yard, washed, and in the ‘fridge. There’s beer in there, too, if you’re interested.”
“I am.” He pulled one out, saw the Chardonnay chilling, and asked, “Wine?”
She hesitated ... not a date, not a date, not a date ... then said, “Sure.”
Beer and wine and steaks wouldn’t make it a date. It was a military strategy session, nothing more. Even so, she sensed the change in him. She just wasn’t sure what that change was, what it portended, if anything. They’d shared meals early on – before she realized she was in his line of fire for assigning guilt – but that was then and this was now and now felt very different.
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