The Damaged Heroes Collection [Box Set #1: The Damaged Heroes Collection] (BookStrand Publishing Mainstream)

by James, Sandy

  Katie’s going to get hurt. No way around it. Chris decided the time had arrived for a fact-finding mission.

  As he sipped his mocha latte, Chris rifled through the images and stories concerning Seth. He sure didn’t like what he discovered. It was hard to reconcile the caring and concerned groom Chris had come to know with the selfish, superficial playboy depicted by several different sources.

  When a website for the news show The Tattler popped up, Chris saw Seth’s image looking back from a rendition of an old-fashioned reward poster. The producers were offering ten-thousand dollars to anyone who could disclose the true whereabouts of the missing heir to the Remington fortune.

  Seth would never make it through the season. Someone would want that bounty. Although he looked different with his short hair and deep tan, he couldn’t hide forever.

  “Whatcha looking at?” a familiar voice asked over Chris’s shoulder. He immediately clicked the mouse to close the browser.

  “Nothing. Just checking out races for this week,” Chris replied as he turned around to face Rachel Schaeffer. “I’m heading back to the Mitchell farm. You need a ride?”

  “Nah. My suspension is over, so I’m going back to the track tonight. Gonna see if I can pick up a paddock to scare up some pocket money.”

  “I forgot. So do you wanna paddock the tenth for me? I was gonna do it myself, but I’ve got three in, and I could use the help.” Chris picked up his cup and stood up.

  “Yeah. The tenth is fine. I’ll see you tonight.”

  Rachel watched as he threw away his paper cup and walked out the front door before she sat down at the computer Chris had vacated.

  Rachel pulled up the Internet browser and located the history of website visits the computer had made. She brought back the page Chris had closed in such an awful hurry.

  “Well, well. What have we here?” She smiled at her lucrative discovery.

  Rachel’s first instinct was to whip out her cell phone, call the toll-free number, and claim her reward. But as she thought it through, she decided to try for the big brass ring. Compared to the Remington fortune, The Tattler bounty was pocket change.

  First, she’d find a way to get Seth Remington for her own. Rachel was positive she could wrap him around her finger if she put her mind and body to the task.

  And if for some reason that plan failed, then she would gladly negotiate with The Tattler.

  * * * *

  “I’m sorry, Katie,” Mark Masters said as he jumped off his race bike and began to release it from the harness. “He got rough gaited, and I was afraid he’d run if I pushed him too hard.”

  Katie nodded. She’d watched Gold’s race, and she knew Mark had done an admirable job keeping the colt from breaking gait. Even after giving the horse a good stretch drive, the best he’d managed was fourth place. “You did fine with him. Thanks, Mark.”

  Seth led the chestnut back to his paddock stall, and Katie followed closely behind, lost deep in her thoughts. It was becoming all too obvious the only person who could seem to manage the stubborn horse was Seth, but the thought of him racing terrified her. “I know you want to drive, but what if Gold falls again? What if there’s another accident?” she asked as she hooked the cross-ties.

  “I know him best, Boss,” Seth replied as he removed the colt’s equipment. “He behaves for me. And it’s the sires stakes. That’s what you got him for, remember?”

  She still couldn’t believe the judges had actually granted him a P license. There would be no living with his ego now. “I remember.” Katie helped strip the horse’s knee boots. If Gold could make it to the final leg of the stakes, the purse was fifty-thousand dollars. If he won, she could support her stable for months. Maybe she could even put a nice down payment on some acres she’d seen for sale near the Mitchell farm.

  Despite the temptation of the money, Katie still wanted to dissuade him. “You don’t even have colors, and it’s too late to get them now.” She would be sure to give Brian a piece of her irritated mind the next time she saw him. If he hadn’t made that call to the judges...

  “That’s what you think,” he replied with one of his enormous, smug smiles.

  Katie looked over at him and frowned. “When did you get colors?”

  Seth continued to grin. “I’ve been planning to drive all along. I’ve had them for a while, actually.”

  She didn’t believe him. “Can I see them?”

  “When you let me drive Gold next week.”

  Before Katie could respond, her cell phone rang. After a short conversation, she flipped it shut and smiled at Seth. “How would you like to get Monterey Jack back?”

  His face lit up with a hundred-watt smile. “James still wants him?”

  “Yep. O’Riley hasn’t won squat with him, so he finally put Jack back in at eight-thousand, and James said to get him back.”

  Leading Gold out of the stall, Seth walked past Katie. “You’ll let me drive next week?”

  She frowned again, feeling like she rode some ironic emotional roller coaster. Up, down. Happy, sad. Passion, pain. God, the ridiculous ride was draining.

  There just wasn’t another good driver for the colt. She would have to let Seth have his shot. “Yeah,” she said with a resigned sigh. “I’ll let you drive. I’m going to get a claim form for Jack. Can you get Gold washed and cooled down?”

  “Absolutely. That’s why you pay me the big bucks, isn’t it?” Seth teased as he moved the colt down the bark-lined hallway toward the bath stalls.

  * * * *

  Once he had the colt secured in the bath stall, Seth picked up the hose and sprayed Gold with warm water. He filled the wash bucket with soap and water before dropping the hose and grabbing the sponge. As he stooped to work the soapy sponge over the colt’s front legs, he heard someone step up behind him before she placed a hand on his shoulder. “Hello, Handsome.”

  “Hello, Rachel,” Seth replied without looking up. He shrugged his shoulder to brush her hand away. “Your suspension finally over?”

  “Yeah. I really missed you, Crash,” Rachel purred.

  “Sure you did,” he said as he stood up and threw the sponge into the big bucket.

  “Do you wanna go out after races? I know a place where we can have lots of privacy.”

  “No, thanks. I’ve got to get my colt back.” Seth grabbed the hose and rinsed his horse. Gold flapped his lips, so Seth let the water spray into the colt’s mouth. He chuckled as his pet played with the stream of water.

  Rachel reached down and grabbed the wooden scraper and ran it over Gold’s body. The horse kicked the back wall.

  “He doesn’t like strangers, Rachel. Let him be.” Seth consoled Gold with soothing words as he rubbed a towel over the horse’s face and neck.

  She threw the scraper in the bucket. “You sure you don’t wanna go out? We can go anytime, doesn’t have to be tonight.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Seth lied. He gathered his supplies and led Spun Gold back to his stall.

  Rachel watched him as he walked away. “You better think about it,” she whispered. “Or else.”

  Chapter 24

  “God, it’s hot,” Seth said as he mounted a box fan on the bars of Monterey Jack’s stall. He stopped to run his hand over his forehead and then shake the dripping sweat off his fingers. “How can you stand it all the time?”

  Katie shrugged. “I just do. Chris calls days like this ‘mugly.’ It’s so damn hot and humid, it’s worse than muggy.”

  The first leg of the sires stakes arrived on a typical July day, and she helped Seth finish installing fans for all of the horses. The machines whirled in a noisy chorus as the couple completed their morning chores.

  Seth’s mind seemed entirely preoccupied with the upcoming race, and his work that morning was atypically haphazard and sloppy. Katie gathered his nerves were getting the better of him, so she corrected any mistake and moved on without scolding him.

  She understood his anxiety. It was one of the reasons
she’d never opted to try and drive competitively. She couldn’t possibly handle that kind of pressure. Split-second decisions at that speed would be impossible for most people, and her driving abilities simply weren’t special enough. She admired Seth for at least having the guts to try.

  “Do you want me to drive you back?” Katie asked once the work was finished. “You could probably use a nap. You’ll want your mind sharp.”

  “Yeah, but I’ll never get a nap in this weather. The dorm will be hotter than a damn oven,” Seth complained.

  “I know, but...”

  “It’s all right, Boss. I’ll go back.”

  “No. You can stay here Seth. At least I’ve got the window unit. It’s better than nothing.”

  “What about you? You could use some rest too.”

  He was right, but she just didn’t trust herself to lie side by side with Seth in the same bed. Nothing had happened between them since the night Chris discovered them, but the only reason they’d been able to maintain their distance was out of sheer determination on both their parts. And more than a few cold showers. She had taken so many, she’d stopped worrying about her pathetic water heater. Their mutual desire remained palpable each time they were together.

  “I promise to keep my mitts to myself. Can’t we just take a quick nap together?” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Or will you have a problem keeping your hands off of me that long?”

  Katie rolled her eyes, even though his words held an embarrassing ring of truth. “I’ll just have to control myself.” She strode across the barn to her room and Seth followed.

  Sitting on the bed, she took off her boots and socks. She desperately wanted to shed her jeans, but she didn’t trust either of them to keep to any boundaries if she wore nothing except panties. She did pull her t-shirt over her head to strip to her tank top. She was too hot to care if he saw a bit of shoulder.

  She watched Seth as he sat at the desk and removed his boots, socks, and jeans in short order. Then he jerked his shirt over his head and dropped it in the heap of clothes sitting by the chair.

  “You promised,” Katie cautioned as she stretched out on the bed.

  “I know, but I can’t help it if you think boxer shorts are sexy.” Seth lay down next to her. “Can I at least put my arm around you? If we don’t roll on our sides and spoon, I’m going to fall out of the bed. I didn’t know anyone actually made a mattress this small.” He chuckled for a moment. “Or this lumpy.”

  “Fine.” Katie turned to face the wall. Seth molded his legs to the back of hers and draped his arm across her waist. She jumped when he let his hand drift up to give her breast a stroke. She slapped at his arm. “Stop that.”

  “Oops. Sorry. Won’t happen again, Boss,” Seth teased before he wiggled his pelvis against her bottom. Evidence of his desire pressed against her.

  “For the love of—”

  “All right, all right. I’ll be good.”

  “Just go to sleep, Seth.”

  Despite the temptation of being so close, after only a few minutes Katie could feel Seth’s breaths caress her neck in a slow, steady rhythm. She closed her eyes and listened to the air conditioner drone a humming lullaby.

  Katie’s eyes bolted open. She tried to roll over to see if she really heard the door open, but Seth’s heavy arm and the leg he had draped over hers held her firmly in place. In her sleepy haze, she listened for any sound that would tell her if someone was in the barn, but she heard nothing but the normal noises. With a yawn, she closed her eyes again and drifted back to sleep.

  * * * *

  As soon as Katie woke up, an overpowering wave of nausea roiled through her. She struggled to get Seth to move enough so that she could jump off of the bed and sprint to the bathroom. She barely made it in time.

  Seth stood in the doorway rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “You all right, Boss?”

  Katie turned her head and shot him an exasperated glare. “Do I look all right?” She brushed her hair back and threw up again.

  He grabbed a washcloth off the towel rack. He ran water over it, wrung the cloth out, and stooped down to wipe her sweaty face. “Déjà vu.”

  “Thanks,” Katie said, flushing the toilet. “I’m better now. Must be nerves.”

  “Or those two candy bars you ate for lunch. You know, you eat some strange stuff.”

  “Can we not talk about food?” Katie groaned. She walked to the sink and splashed cold water on her face as her stomach seemed reluctant to settle down. If I brush my teeth, will the mint make me sick again?

  Seth went back to the office. When she finally trudged out of the bathroom, he was getting dressed. “Feeling better?” he asked as he finished buttoning his jeans.

  “Yeah. Like I said, just nerves.” She grabbed a green polo from the drawer and pulled it over her head. “Are you ready to make your debut?”

  “Absolutely.”

  * * * *

  Seth jogged toward the dorms as soon as Katie parked the truck and trailer. Gold was in a cooperative mood and gave her little trouble as she unloaded him from the trailer and deposited him in the paddock.

  Busying herself with lugging the colt’s harness bag, Katie barely caught a glimpse of Seth slipping into the driver lounge, toting a garment bag and a helmet box. There was too much to do paddocking her horse to pay much attention to any of the usual swirl of racing activity surrounding her, but she was dying to see what his new colors would look like. She hung the canvas bag on the hook, went into the stall, and stooped down to unwrap the shipping bandages from Gold’s front legs.

  Ross began to talk to her over the stall’s door, and Katie jumped in surprise. “Ross, you scared me to death!” She placed her hand over her heart.

  “Sorry.”

  “How have you been?” she asked looking up at him. “I haven’t seen you in so long.”

  “I know. I’m sorry about that. Things are crazy at the office. I appreciate how much you’ve been doing with Mascot. He’s sure racing well, and we’re both making good money.” He leaned on the metal gate and fell silent.

  Katie watched as his face grew serious. “What’s up?”

  “We need to talk.”

  She paused the unwrapping for a moment. Something was definitely wrong; she could see it in his eyes. “Those four words never start a good conversation. What do you have to tell me?”

  Ross shook his head. “Not now, Katie. We’ll talk later.”

  She didn’t like the stern “lawyer” tone in his voice. “What is it?”

  “I need a little more of your attention, and I know you’re too busy right now. It can wait.”

  “How about after the race?” she suggested as she stood to retrieve the harness from the bag.

  “Yeah. That’d be fine. Good luck with the colt. I’ll be back later.” He started to leave, and then turned back with a skeptical frown on his face. “Is Seth really driving tonight?”

  Katie laughed and nodded. “Yeah. Surprised me, too. Who would have thought?”

  “Not me, that’s for sure. He’s really not the same guy we met in Chicago, is he?”

  She shook her head. “No, Ross, he’s not. Not at all.”

  Ross’s features grew pensive for a moment, and several emotions clearly displayed in his eyes. “Katie, has Seth been...? Has he tried...?”

  She could hear the concern in his voice but was confused as to what exactly caused him so much worry. “What? Has Seth tried what?”

  He shook his head. “Never mind. I’ll see you later.”

  “See ya, Ross.”

  Once she was sure Gold’s equipment was in place, Katie paced nervously as she waited for Seth to bring the jog cart. She fretted and fussed as it drew closer and closer to the colt’s warm-up time and was just about to go search for her wayward rookie driver when she saw him. Seth strode confidently up the aisle, pulling her jog cart behind him. He was so handsome that she almost forgot to breathe.

  My colors! Seth’s jumpsuit was a duplicate of Katie’s gree
n and white design, right down to the white shamrock and green stripe. The only alteration was the letter on each of Seth’s sleeves as her “M” had been replaced with his “R.” His pristine helmet held a compilation of green and white striped designs and shamrocks.

  Katie’s heart swelled near to bursting with love. She wanted to shout her joy, to declare to the world how proud she was, how deep her adoration flowed. My colors! He’s wearing my colors!

  When he finally reached the stall, she threw herself into his arms and hugged him. He dropped the jog cart, wrapped his arms around her, and lifted her off her feet. He was kissing her an instant later.

  She didn’t care that they might be making a spectacle of themselves for the entire paddock to see. Ignoring the gossip she knew swirled around them like wafts of smoke, all Katie cared about was that the man she loved had chosen to wear her colors. Her colors! The gesture meant more to her than anyone could possibly understand.

  Seth pulled his lips away and put Katie back on her feet. She couldn’t trust herself to talk without breaking into joyful tears, so she mechanically went about the tasks required to hook the jog cart up to Gold’s harness, letting the normalcy of the actions slowly guide her back to Earth. She led the colt to the entrance chute as Seth took the reins in hand. “Thank you,” Katie finally said in a voice so clogged with emotion she barely recognized it as her own.

  Seth simply nodded, but she caught him taking a couple of hard swallows, and she wondered if he was as choked up as she seemed to be. He finally slipped on his protective yellow glasses and drove the chestnut out onto the track for his warm-up laps.

  Katie stood at the fence, feeling such enormous pleasure that it enveloped her like a comforting cocoon. She watched Seth on the track in his beautiful colors, driving her stakes horse. She felt as if she could take on the world single-handedly. She would slay every dragon, exorcise every demon, and fight every damned reporter. And she would win.