“Pop said we had twenty-five mares in this pasture, twenty-one with foals by their sides. Four mares and foals have been rounded up on the Neely property. Let’s go by the run-in shed and take a count,” Jake suggested. “We may have to go out on horseback and locate the rest.”
“Okay, let’s go.” Mel threw the truck into gear, glad for the action.
The run-in shed was a quarter mile away. Through the rain and the haze, it was hard to see, so they climbed out of the Jeep to count the horses. Only nine mares and six foals had sought shelter in the three-sided building. Frustrated by the low count, Mel climbed into the truck. Jake joined her, and she drove back to the farm.
As they entered the tack room, they caught the end of a heated discussion.
“It’s them bums at Neely Hills!” Pop hollered, arms gesturing.
“Now, hold on, Pop,” Vanessa cautioned. “Jim Neely has his men out now searching his property.” Cory stood behind her big sister, eyes wide with the fright and excitement of the moment.
“How many did you find?” Dave asked looking glumly up at Jake.
“Nine mares and six foals.” Jake went over to Cory and tousled her hair.
“Cut it out! You’re wet!”
“You would be too, kiddo, if you’d been outside in the rain like me,” he told Cory.
Mel’s heart turned over at their easy banter.
“Fourteen damn horses, countin’ the dead un, and ten foals,” Pop ticked off the number.
“This is too much like the fire,” Vanessa murmured, her eyes dark and troubled.
Mel felt it too, that same sense of déjà vu. She’d been powerless during the barn fire, and felt powerless now. It was like her marriage to Lenny. She had been totally out of control at times, and she loathed that feeling. Sucking in a deep breath, she straightened her shoulders. Not again. Not if she could do something about it.
“I imagine the rest of the horses escaped from the break in the fence. We’d better get out there and look for the rest,” she said to the assembled group.
“We need to find those horses before something else happens to them,” Jake agreed.
If they are off our property, we can’t round them up with the Jeep. We need to be on horseback. I’ll saddle that old gelding in the near paddock.” Mel grabbed a lead line, knowing she couldn’t take a chance on riding a valuable show horse.
While Dave helped Mel bring in and saddle the old gelding, Jake saddled one of Cory’s lesson horses.
“Take this cell phone with you.” Dave thrust it into Mel’s hands. “You might need it.”
Mel tucked the small, flip phone into the pocket of her t-shirt and tugged down the poncho. Dave held the horse steady as she mounted. Jake was already on the back of Cory’s horse. He glanced at Mel and smiled grimly.
She didn’t smile back. “After you,” she said with a nod.
“No, ladies first.” He tipped his head toward the open barn door.
Mel looked away, and laying a leg into the side of the horse, rode out into the steady downpour.
Chapter Ten
Lightning seared the late afternoon sky. Alarmed at its nearness, Mel trembled, involuntarily, pressing her legs against the sides of the old gelding. The horse snorted and lunged forward as a thunderclap shook the earth beneath his hooves. She steadied the animal while the hammering rain continued to soak her to the skin. Ineffectual as her poncho was, it did provide some protection from the pounding wind that seemed to force them backward with each step they took.
Yet the poncho didn’t provide any protection from the fear that rumbled through Mel’s heart. Fear of the unknown. Fear of the past, of how it might be encroaching on her present.
Sucking up her anxiety the best she could, Mel led the way along the gravel road and turned onto a little used, country back-road. It bisected the Noble property with that of the Neely’s. About a mile away, she halted in front of a gate, leaned down, and pulled it open.
“This pasture is parallel to ours,” she called over her shoulder.
“I remember,” Jake shouted back. “Go ahead. I’ll get the gate.”
Mel saw the determined look on his face. It was wet, just as hers, and his jaw was set in its familiar manner. His hands barely protruded from the folds of the poncho. For a moment, Mel glanced at his fingers, remembering the affect they had on her as they had stroked her breast. In her mind, she felt again his hot arousal. She recalled her own awakening, deep within her being.
To subdue it, she rubbed herself against the saddle. Slow. Like the movement of love. But it only made her burn harder. Even in the midst of the thunderstorm, there was a need inside of her that had not been quenched in years. A need that was so primal and immense it threatened to consume her.
Turning quickly, Mel rode on, forcing the skittish gelding into a slow jog. She had something more worrisome to think about than her reaction to Jake Hendricks. He couldn’t get to her. She wouldn’t let him.
Skirting the fence, with Jake close behind, Mel urged the gelding forward. She was glad Jake was with her. Whoever had damaged the fence could be lurking in the rain and the haze. He could be out there somewhere, ready to strike again. Mel didn’t want to dwell on it, just as she didn’t want to dwell on her hunger for Jake. She didn’t want to reflect too deeply on who could be responsible for the vandalism at Royalty Farm. If it was Lenny, as she suspected, Mel didn’t want to believe her ex-husband may have some perverse reason to hurt the farm and people she loved.
Soon they came to a crest of a hill. Pausing, Mel let the horse’s head drop while she waited for Jake to catch up.
“Damn! This storm is nasty!” he said when he rode up beside her. He was so near that his knee brushed against hers. “Thanks for coming along, Mel. I’m glad for your help.”
She thought he was going to reach out and touch her hand as he had done in the Jeep. Taking a long, shuddering breath of control, Mel lifted her chin and stared boldly back into his eyes.
“Just doing my job,” she said.
“I think it’s more than that,” he replied, “but I’m not going to argue with you now. We’ve got to find those horses.”
They started again, heading for a clump of trees on the horizon. The whistling wind whipped the poncho taut against Mel’s body. The wet reins slipped through her palms, and she gripped the leather tighter, her fingers aching from the effort. Her heart ached too, with an overwhelming sense of dread. Maybe after things settled down, after the World’s Grand Championship, she and Jake could concentrate on their relationship. Maybe they could sort out the muddle they’d made of what they once had together.
As suddenly as lightning lit the sky, the wide-eyed face of Cory flashed through Mel’s mind. Her mood darkened like the brooding sky. Try as she would, she knew she couldn’t avoid the facts any longer. If she and Jake were to ever have a relationship based on truth and trust, she had to tell him about Cory. She squeezed her eyes together and bit her lip in resignation. Just as she knew the rain had soaked her to the bone, Mel knew what she had to do to make it right between her and Jake.
And she was even more afraid.
Jake ducked his head in a futile attempt to shield his eyes from the rain. He admired Mel. No other woman he knew would ride out into a storm. They took a chance of being struck by lightning, he knew, but there was no choice. They had to gather up those horses. Royalty Farm couldn’t absorb much more hard luck. He’d seen Vanessa’s books. Jake locked his jaws even tighter as lightning shattered the sky.
“Jake!” Mel shouted. She stood in her stirrups and pointed over her horse’s head.
Sheltered under the knot of trees were five mares and five foals. A hurrah emerged from Mel as she spurred the gelding forward. Jake laid his calves into the side of his horse and galloped after her.
Pulling back to a halt several yards from the trees, Mel waited for him. “I don’t want to spook them,” she said. “How should we go about this?”
Jake considered for a momen
t. “They’re ours, I assume.”
“Yeah, Pop said the Neelys didn’t have horses in this field,” Mel answered, looking away.
Jake observed the line of her jaw, the slope of her nose and the lay of her lashes. Although wet from the torrent of rain, she presented a perfect profile. Jake longed to touch her cheek, to wipe the water from her lashes. He longed to shield her from the rain—to wrap her up into his arms and protect her—to love her and never let her be hurt again.
“Call Dave, and tell him we’ve found more horses.”
Mel nodded and fumbled for the cell phone beneath her poncho. She pulled it out, opened it and punched the number. Jake couldn’t hear the conversation above the noise of the rain, so urged his mount closer.
“Got Sam, his assistant,” she told him as she flipped the phone shut. “He said Dave and Pop have gone down the highway where the folks at Carter’s farm found five more on their property.”
“That leaves one more mare and foal,” Jake said after doing the calculations. “Damn it! Where can they be?”
Mel looked back at him, her eyes wide and serious. She reminded him of little Cory when she looked at him that way. Jake smiled inwardly at the thought, and turned to consider the group of mares.
“We have two ropes. The best thing is for you to lead two mares. The rest should follow. I’ll continue looking for the other horses.” Jake rode slowly toward the herd, assessing them with a practiced eye.
He selected the one he thought to be the dominant mare and grabbed its halter with his hand, leaning sideways and letting his own reins drop. Expertly, he threaded the lead line over the horse’s nose, through the loops of the halter, and buckled it. Grabbing his reins, he angled his horse, and gave the rope to Mel. Cutting out another mare, he buckled on the last lead line and led the horse over to Mel.
“I’ll follow you a ways to get them going,” he offered.
“Will you be okay?” She was reluctant to leave him.
It pleased him that she was concerned. “Sure.”
“Maybe you ought to take the phone.”
“No, I’ll be all right. Go on. Get out of here.”
Mel grasped the two leads in one hand and gripped her reins in her right one. Without comment, she rode away. Jake followed up the crest of the hill, herding the horses and making sure the mares and foals were going along with her.
“I’ll take them to the paddock by our barn,” she shouted, “and come back for you.”
“No, don’t. I’ll be along shortly. One mare can’t be hard to find.”
Jake watched them go until the haze and the lengthening twilight surrounded them up.
* * * *
Stupid, stubborn man! Jake hadn’t returned and it was almost nine o’clock. He should have taken the cell phone.
She sat on the top of the battered desk in the old barn’s office and kicked her boots against the metal. The noise made an irritating clank in the too quiet room. Pop sat on a shabby sofa, silently drubbing his fingers on the arm. Dave had left, saying he couldn’t sit still, and had gone out to join Sam to smoke.
Dave came back in. “Rain’s stopped.”
Pop looked up. “Something’s wrong.”
Brilliant. Mel had assumed that two hours ago. She hated this inactivity.
She jumped up and fumbled for her keys. “Well, let’s go find him.”
“Not so fast, darlin’,” Pop came back. “I don’t want you goin’ alone.”
“I’m taking the Jeep this time. Dave can take the farm truck and cover our side of the north field,” she reasoned.
“Still don’t want you goin’ alone. Take Sam.”
When Pop was in that mood, Mel knew an elephant couldn’t move him. “Okay,” she said, even though she considered the assistant groom shiftless.
But taking Sam satisfied Pop.
Soon Mel and the groom were bouncing toward the Neely property, the headlights of the four wheel drive cutting bright swatches through the drenched pasture.
“Keep your eyes open, and let me know if you see anything,” Mel ordered.
She concentrated on the left side of the Jeep, scanning the white fence line that looked like a translucent ribbon against the dark, rolling field. Ahead lay the same clump of trees where she and Jake had found the mares and foals. Seeing it deserted sharpened Mel’s fear. She clenched the steering wheel tighter, until her nails bit into the palms of her hands, and she wrestled with an overpowering sense of urgency.
Ahead the fence ended abruptly, turning in a perpendicular line to the east. Mel pressed the brakes, and the Jeep lurched to a halt. Staring at the edge of the Neely property, worry tightened her stomach. Somehow they had missed Jake. Damn!
“What do we do now?” Sam asked, hunching low in his seat. His voice was thick and surly.
Mel allowed his question to meet a long silence. Turning the Jeep and heading back the way they’d come, she finally blurted, “We keep on looking.”
Several minutes later, driving up a slope, Mel spotted Jake’s horse standing rider-less near several trees. Her heart spiraled.
“Look, Sam!” Mel gunned the Jeep. “How did you miss that horse?”
He shrugged indifferently. “Easy in the dark.”
She was furious at Sam’s nonchalant attitude, the passive, dumb look on his face, and at the impotent fear that clogged her throat.
As the Jeep jerked to a halt, the horse bolted a few yards away. Fighting a rush of panic, Mel threw the vehicle into park, opened the door, slid out, and followed the gelding.
“It’s okay. Easy, boy. Easy.” Expertly, she lifted her arms, spread eagle, urging the animal to trust her. “I can use your help,” Mel screamed at Sam.
Reluctantly, she thought, the groom left the vehicle and circled to the right. After a few minutes of working together, they had surrounded the horse, cutting him off, Mel easily catching his reins.
“We got another problem, miss,” Sam said in his monotone.
Mel struggled to see him in the darkness. Now what? The groom was pointing toward the side of the hill. “Damn! I thought I put it in park!”
Tossing the reins to Sam, she stumbled over the rugged terrain to reach her Jeep. To her horror, it had sunk up to its fenders in mud.
“How could this happen?”
Her throat aching with unshed tears of frustration, Mel stared blankly at the vehicle. It was as if some invisible hand toyed with her, wrecking havoc on everything she’d tried to do tonight. First, there was the accident at the railroad crossing killing the expensive mare, then the thunderstorm, and perilous search for the horses. Now Jake was missing and she was no closer to finding him now than she’d been an hour ago when she set out on this wild goose chase.
And that sorry excuse for a groom was no help at all.
Jerking open the door, Mel grasped the powerful Halogen flashlight from the floorboard. After she pushed it on, she flicked off the ignition and pocketed the keys. By the beam of the flashlight, she confirmed that the gear shift was in neutral. She could have sworn she’d set the shift in park.
Okay. All is not lost. She still had the cell phone. Taking a deep breath to stifle her last misgivings, Mel flipped it up and tried to dial. No dial tone. It was the last straw. Tears of helpless rage slipped down her cheeks. Backhanding them, Mel stomped up the hill to where Sam held the horse.
“This phone won’t work.” She held it up as if he could see it in the black night around them.
“You got it wet today,” he offered. “Maybe it shorted out.”
That sounded too logical, something a mechanical thing would do, and Mel didn’t know much about mechanical things. Fighting the punch drunk fear and anger in her stomach, she considered what to do. Sam wasn’t much help. He seemed, in fact, to be throwing up barriers. Maybe not in reality, but his very passivity bothered her.
“You ride back to the farm,” she said in a choking whisper. “Have Dave call the sheriff. Tell Dave to come back here with the truck. I’ll keep
looking for Jake. “
“Don’t know about that,” Sam answered. “Pop wouldn’t like you being out here alone.”
“Pop’s not here,” she shouted. “I’m in charge. You do what I say!”
“Right.” He tossed her a look of hostility, mounted the horse, and loped away.
Motionless, she let anger and fear wash over her. Features taut, breath coming in shallow gasps, she sorted out the two emotions, pushing the fear aside and hanging on to the sharper anger. For with the anger, she knew how to cope. She could use it to navigate this darkness surrounding her. Like the fury that had been her skipper during the long months of her divorce, Mel knew how to manipulate it, and how to turn it into a constructive force.
The sound of the horse had long ago died away. Mel walked toward the shadowy trees that stood like watchmen in the distance. Other night sounds masked the absolute silence of the night—the ratchet of crickets, and the low-pitched rumble of bull frogs. Slowly, the after-rain mugginess that rose in a mist from the pasture seeped into her awareness.
She was hot. Sweat tickled her breast. She touched her tongue to the saltiness that also laced her lip. Balling her left hand into a fist, she swiped off the wetness from her lip. With her other hand raised, she shot the beam from the flashlight into the gloom like a guileless child would throw a ball.
Where could he be? Where in this deserted pasture could Jake be? Throwing light around the field, Mel paused a moment. Shifting in her stance, she shut her eyes. Now she focused on her raspy breathing, the motion of her chest rising and falling. And then she heard it. In the distance, Mel picked up a subtle cadence of a creek.
Opening her eyes, Mel began to walk and then trot toward the cluster of trees. She knew instinctively Jake was in there. Like a mare knows her own foal, Mel perceived his nearness, his danger.
“Jake!” She stopped, wishing her breath didn’t echo in her ears.
Tangled in the brush somewhere had to be an opening, a trail of some kind. Her heart pushed up in her throat, and her blood galloped like an out-of-control colt. As the lengths of flashlight stabbed the snarled undergrowth, panic slammed through her. She’d crept only a few steps when the light revealed a path plunging into the darkness. Without hesitation, she followed it into the blackness below.
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