As he pulled the truck back out onto the road, the jay called out behind him. Jake smiled and headed toward Lane’s End Ranch, the Canaday place.
*
Carrie Keeler pulled into Lane’s End with her latest problem child at nine a.m. The red and grey horse trailer, emblazoned with the rescue logo on the side, was becoming a familiar sight here since Olivia had started her fledgling business of teaching dressage to area kids.
What she did for Carrie wasn’t for pay, because the rescue organization spent all their donation dollars on pulling horses from terrible situations.
Was it crazy she had no fear of horses on the ground and yet she couldn’t bring herself to ride again? Yes. Yes, it was. But it was her crazy and she’d learned to live with it.
Olivia generally reserved Sundays for this sort of work, since, as the official black sheep of the family, she didn’t attend church with everyone else and, for that same reason, Sunday mornings were typically clear.
This horse, Zabar, Carrie had warned her, would be a challenge. Even as her friend pulled the truck into the yard, the sides of the six-horse trailer shook with its single passenger’s wrath. He was kicking the living daylights out of the transport from the inside, which was never good and could easily lead to a fall.
Zabar’s survival and future would depend on what Olivia could accomplish with him, today, as Carrie had been completely unable to connect with him in the drive from Wyoming. A horse who’d been abused and neglected, and who couldn’t bond with a human, would never be adopted. And putting him down, the only other alternative at this point, was something none of them wanted.
But she felt sure she could help him. At least, she hoped she could.
Carrie backed the trailer into position near the round pen, parked the truck and came around to unlatch the gate.
Jake’s truck pulled in as she and Ken, her father’s long time stableman and a real part of the Canaday family, were attempting to unload the horse from trailer.
A rush of pleasure skidded through her, as Jake got out of his truck. The memory of the kiss they’d shared in the water made her heart race. Idiotically, she wanted him to kiss her again. Right now. But a little warning bell dinged in her head, urging caution. But for better or worse, Jake was back in her life. The question was, how exactly did he fit in?
Monday jumped out of the truck with Jake, who looked every inch the cowboy in his worn, low-slung denims, boots and rolled up shirtsleeves. As teens, while Olivia had entered equestrian competitions locally and around the state, he’d worked two jobs—a waiter at his parents’ diner and at Carrigan’s cattle ranch as a horse wrangler. Just one more intersection in their lives back then—a love of horses.
Her invitation today had not been made lightly. He needed some horse time. It would be good for him. He just didn’t know it yet.
Monday bounded up to the trailer, stopped at the ramp and stared, awestruck, at the horse.
Zabar eyeballed the dog and instantly forgot to object to being backed down the ramp.
“Watch him,” Carrie warned Jake. “I don’t know how he is around dogs.”
But Monday had no problem finding out. She trotted boldly up to the horse, who lowered his head for a sniff, once he was down the ramp.
“Will you look at that?” Carrie said, astonished.
Monday gave Zabar’s muzzle a tongue swipe.
Jake said, “This dog’s never known a stranger.”
“And maybe that’s just what this horse needs,” Carrie agreed, taking a second, more appreciative look at Jake.
“Hi,” Olivia said, feeling suddenly shy with all the people around.
He leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek and once he put his hands on her arms, she forgot to breathe for a moment. He stepped back and nodded to the others. Olivia introduced them.
Ken, who at sixty-something, sported a mustache and salt and pepper hair, wiped a bandana over the back of his neck, reached for Jake’s hand and exchanged handshakes with him. “You grew some since last I saw you, Jake,” he said approvingly. “Good to have you back home.”
“Thanks, Ken. Good to be back.”
It was good to have him back. Jake moved up beside them and patted the horse’s neck. Zabar’s flesh quivered and his eyes showed white as he glanced around at Jake. The animal was still covered in mud and manure from the pull, and way too thin for Olivia’s liking.
“What happened to him?” Jake asked.
“You don’t really want to know,” Carrie said. “Suffice it to say, the people in Wyoming who owned, abused, and abandoned him are gone. I brought him here for Olivia to work her magic on him.”
“Magic?”
Jake infused the word with another meaning altogether and she blushed. She smoothed a hand down the nervous horse’s flank.
“Not magic at all. I’m just gonna try to give Zabar here a little something to hang onto.”
Zabar stamped a hind foot in reply and reached around to nip at her hand. Olivia quickly dodged his teeth.
“Teach him a little about not biting the hand that’s about to feed him. And trust. Jake, this will just take a little while. Feel like helping?”
“Can’t think of anything I’d rather do.”
As she led the horse to the circular paddock, she asked Carrie to watch Monday and brought Jake in to work beside her.
*
It had been years since he’d worked with horses, Jake thought, moving beside her. He’d seen broncs broken many times, and been around rodeos and events for much of his youth. Growing up in Marietta, it was part of life. But as she began working with this gelding, he realized what she was doing wasn’t breaking, it was inviting.
Working with a lightweight line, she let the horse run and explore the confines of the circular pen without a lead, allowing him to move freely away from her as much as he wanted. She changed directions on him and kept flicking the line near his legs.
Several times he kicked behind him and she made sure she and Jake were well away from its hooves.
After he’d been running for twenty minutes she said, “See? He’s scared. Lonely. A little desperate. He doesn’t want to be alone.”
Jake’s gaze flicked to her. He wondered if she was talking about herself or the horse. She was as focused as he’d ever seen her. Olivia and the horse, not opposing each other but both trying to bridge the chasm between them.
“If they have the choice, horses will run with the herd every time. But he’s been through a lot. He doesn’t trust people now.” She flicked the line again to keep him moving. “But here he is. It’s just us and him. We are the only herd he’s got right now. But he can’t quite see how to make it work. That’s what we’re doing. Giving him a way in.”
Zabar changed directions, his ears back, his coat slick with sweat. “It’ll take him a while to really consider us potential friends.” She turned to him and offered him the line. “Wanna try?”
It took Jake a few attempts to spin the line out just right, but it was a bit like fly fishing and he got the hang of it. There was something almost hypnotic about it. Settling, even. And it reminded him how much he’d loved working with horses as a kid.
Another lifetime ago, he’d spent a summer on the Carrigan’s cattle ranch as utility horse wrangler. Mostly he’d saddled and groomed the horses the cowboys used. But he’d done his share of riding and had come to fully appreciate them for the amazing creatures they were. Even Zabar, damaged and scared as he was, knew strength came in joining up, not being separate, a concept Jake knew only too well from his years at war.
He glanced at Livy. She was in her element here. Exactly who she was meant to be. Whatever that bastard of a husband had done to her to wreck her confidence and kill her dreams couldn’t beat down the Olivia he knew. He loved her. He’d always loved her since the day they’d first met, when she’d sat down at a window booth at the Main Street Diner and he’d made her laugh. Last night had proved to him whatever had been between them once was sti
ll there, despite the convoluted journey their paths had taken. He’d just need to find his own way ‘in’ with her.
She caught him watching her and blushed, glancing at the others watching from the corral fence.
“Eyes on Zabar, Lassen,” she said, for his ears only.
He grinned and complied. “I was just thinking about you, half-naked in the moonlight, Canaday.”
Her color deepened and she followed the horse’s movements around the ring. “Maybe we should forget last night happened.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t.”
“Jake…”
“Scared it might be good?”
She turned her face away from him, watching the horse.
“You liked it. Don’t deny it,” he whispered back and the memory of it sent a flash of heat through him.
Those eyes of hers flared back to him. “See that? The old Jake, the one I knew, would just let it go. He’d take my word for it and know I had my reasons and just let it go.”
She was right, but that Jake was long gone.
He tipped his head closer. “As I recall, that strategy backfired last time.”
“Strategy? You had a strategy?”
He lifted one eyebrow in reply.
“You and I were”—she lowered her voice again—“…babies. We don’t even know each other anymore.”
“Fixable.”
“I am not discussing this.”
“Okay,” he said, watching Zabar as he trotted anxiously, looking for a door. “But don’t blame me later when you decide that discussion should’ve happened now.”
“Eye contact, Lassen. With the horse.”
“Yes, ma’am. What am I looking for?” Jake asked.
“That,” she said, as the horse cocked his ears toward them and dipped his head. “When he starts licking and chewing, you’ll know he wants to come over. Be friends.”
At least somebody does.
“Good,” she said a minute later. “Stop looking at him, keep tossing the rope for another minute or two.”
When the horse started nodding, dipping its head down as if he wanted to graze, she said, “Now turn away from him and see what happens. Just walk away.”
Almost instantly, Zabar stopped running and stood, indecisively at the outside edge of the ring. Then he followed them, moving closer and closer until he could reach out to sniff Jake’s sleeve and hers. And in the next minute, he was pressing his muzzle there, like a dog leaning in for a pet.
Liv turned and patted the horse’s neck. “Good boy. There you go. We’re friends now.”
Zabar blew out a breath and dropped his head down. Jake could almost feel the animal’s relief at not having to run anymore. He patted along his hot, front flank and cupped a hand under his jaw. “Okay now.” The gelding leaned into his touch like a cat.
He met Olivia’s eyes over the top of the horse’s head. “That really was magic.”
Her heart tripped a little at his words. “It’s just the beginning. The first step. He has a long road ahead, but I think he’ll be fine. Maybe tomorrow, Carrie, you can start working with a saddle blanket and a little weight.”
“Maybe Magic should be his new name,” Jake suggested. “Zabar sounds like some kind of demon sword.”
“You know, you’re right,” Carrie said, ducking under the rail with Monday. The gelding dropped his nose to sniff the dog. “I like it. ‘Magic’ it is.”
Jaycee appeared down at the corrals as they were walking Magic toward the bathing stall.
“Hi, Jake,” she said, and hugged him briefly. “It’s been a long, long time.”
“Yes, ma’am, it has.”
“I came down to invite you to Reed and Olivia’s birthday dinner on Tuesday night at Beck’s Place. We’d love to have you if you’re still in town.”
“Reed officially turns into an old man at sixty on Tuesday,” Olivia said.
“I-uh… should be.” Jake glanced at Olivia, then off into the distance at a speck approaching in the sky from the north. “Thank you. I’d love to, if that’s okay with Olivia.”
She started to answer, but the thwap-thwap-thwap of a helicopter approaching drew her gaze to the west pasture. Olivia took hold of Magic’s halter as the horse backed away, white-eyed from the sound.
“Have you done something to incur the wrath of the DEA, the ATF? The Marietta PD?” Carrie asked, as the chopper swooped down into the empty east pasture and landed like some kind of huge, misplaced bird.
Olivia gaped at Jake, who was half-smiling. “Not that I know of.”
“Wanna go for a ride?” Jake asked her.
From the cockpit, the pilot gave them a thumbs up.
“You said you’d go up to Deke’s with me. This’ll save us a long drive. He’ll come back and get us tonight. It’s only for the day, Liv.”
She snapped her mouth shut. “Bold move, Lassen.”
“I take ‘em where I can get ‘em, Canaday.”
“Oh, go on,” Jaycee said. “You two have fun.”
Olivia protested. “But Magic needs—”
“I’ve got it covered,” Carrie said.
“—and, Carolyn’s coming this afternoon for the equine therapy session with Lizzy and Jacob. And Lucy’s coming to practice her dressage drills later today—”
Jaycee said, “Carolyn does just fine with the class by herself. I can help if need be. And Lord knows, Lucy is as ready as she can be for the fair demonstration on Friday.”
Carrie gave Olivia an unsubtle nudge in Jake’s direction. “What are you waiting for? It’s a helicopter. Go!”
Two minutes later, she, Jake, and Monday were strapped in, pulling into the sky with Jake at the helm.
Chapter Four
Despite her protests, the ride was spectacular. Though her fists were coiled for most of the trip, she stared out the window in awe. She’d never flown over this part of the country before and never in a helicopter. Torn between watching the landscape and watching Jake fly the thing, she settled back in her seat and simply enjoyed both.
His command of the cockpit was impressive, and Sammy, the copilot, relaxed beside him. Jake knew flying like she knew horses. The helicopter was an extension of him like riding horses used to be for her. She decided he would never let anything happen to her. Monday sat beside her and she sank her fingers into the animal’s fur, more to calm herself than the dog. Monday looked like she’d been flying forever.
Then she found herself becoming distracted by Jake’s muscular forearms as he flipped switches and steered the helicopter, not with a steering wheel, but with the stick between his knees. Her mouth went dry and she shifted her gaze out the window.
You liked it, he’d said. Don’t deny it.
How could she? Worse than that, every time she was near him she was thinking about… sex. Her breasts tingled just imagining it now.
Oh, for heaven’s sake, she hadn’t even thought about sex for a year. Longer, if she counted thinking about it as a pleasant thing, because long before the ink was dry on her divorce, sex with Kyle had become something to endure, not enjoy.
Sex with Jake, on the other hand—
Stop the crazy talk! There would be no sex with Jake Lassen, steamy hotness or not.
Through the headset, Jake said, “Ever flown in one of these before?”
“Never,” she replied, enjoying the fact he couldn’t see her… enjoying the view. “It’s amazing! Tell Sammy thanks for the ride!”
She saw Jake and Sammy exchange looks and Sammy gave her a thumbs up. “He’s based in Livingston. He’s gonna drop us off and come back later for us. Wanna try your hand up here on the way home?”
“What? Me fly? No!”
He laughed. “Look down. See that river down there?”
Below, the Yellowstone River seamed the scrub-covered valley, stark and clear against the sun-dried August grass. Here, the water lacked the power it possessed in Yellowstone Park, further east, and instead it ran glassy and shallow enough that even from high ab
ove, she could see the mossy boulders under the water’s surface.
“We’re gonna catch some dinner there this afternoon.”
Fishing? What other surprises did he have in mind? “I’m a catch and release kind of girl,” she answered over the sound of the rotors.
He chuckled again. “Personally, I’m just looking forward to seeing you in waders.”
She shook her head, imagining it, and then pictured jerry-rigging a pan over a campfire to cook said fish. She had no idea what to expect. She’d never met Deke and what she knew about him would fit in her pocket. Jake had told her once his uncle was his father’s brother and… different. He liked his privacy up on the mountain away from people, which, in a place like Montana, was about as alone as one could get.
She knew he’d come from San Francisco and had been a silent partner in the Main Street Diner with Jake’s parents and had even offered to help Jake with college, though he’d turned that down. So he was an eccentric with a little money. She’d never seen his home and she wondered exactly what the home of a mountain-dwelling hermit would look like. And if he was old and not too steady on his feet, maybe Jake needed her help convincing him to move to somewhere less… remote, more civilized.
She wasn’t sure how she felt about getting involved in Deke’s decision-making.
Olivia stared out the window. In any direction one chose to look, the scenery was breathtaking. Copper Mountain and the quaint Western town of Marietta faded behind them as they crossed the valley and approached the Absarokas that wound north, their jagged spires jutting eleven-thousand feet into the cerulean blue sky.
Even in August, snow still lingered in the shady dips of peaks here and there. The green beauty of the Absaroka-Beartooth wilderness reminded her how long she’d been away from this amazing place. She used to love riding up here. That was something she and Jake did in their last year together.
She blinked. Don’t think about it. Think about something else.
A Fair to Remember Page 5