Chase: (Contemporary Western Romance) (New Horizon Ranch Mule Hollow Book 3)

by Debra Clopton

  She laughed at the cute expression on his rugged face. “I think.” She didn’t tell him that she didn’t want him to be nice. She wanted him to be hard to get along with so that her attraction to him could simply be short lived attraction to his looks only. That there would be nothing about his personality to back up the attraction she felt toward him and therefor she would be able to easily walk away from him.

  But no. Darn it.

  He was a really good guy it seemed and that meant trouble for her.

  Chapter Fourteen

  She’d apologized to him.

  Chase mulled that over as he drove toward the women’s shelter not long after Brady had left the ranch. Amber had wanted to go and so here they were pulling up at No Place Like Home.

  “It’s huge,” Amber said staring at the rambling two story ranch house with steep roof lines and many windows.

  “Yeah, it is. Brady’s parents built it in the hopes of having a large family and filling it with children but could only have Brady. He later built his own, more reasonably sized home, married Dottie and together they turned this into the women’s shelter.”

  She smiled. “And finally filled it with children.”

  “Exactly. Mule Hollow residents embraced it whole heartedly and with the vision Dottie has for it and the way she teaches the women to be self-sufficient it’s been a real winner all around.”

  “Most important it sounds like it gives them the confidence and skills to make it without the jerks they’ve thought they needed to get by,” she said.

  He liked her grit. “You’re a dynamo aren’t you?”

  She shot him a bright-eyed glare. “I can’t stand bullies. In any form.”

  “I’m starting to get that. Come on, let’s go in.” He led the way, but in no way was this conversation ended. Was this personal? Had someone hurt Amber? The idea did not set well with him.

  They were walking up the steps when the front door slammed open and a young boy came barreling outside. He slammed into Amber, knocking her backwards into Chase’s arms. He caught her as she caught the kid.

  “Whoa there, kiddo,” Chase cautioned. “You okay, Amber?” he asked, the soft scent of her hair tickling his nose.

  “I’m fine.” She bent down holding the boy’s shoulders. “Are you okay?”

  The boy looked to be about eight or so. He nodded. “I didn’t mean to run into you, lady.”

  “Oh, I’m sure you didn’t but you might look before blasting out of that door next time. You’re quite strong you know.”

  He studied her. “I ain’t strong. I’m puny.”

  “And who tells you that? You’re young but you don’t look puny to me.”

  He stared at the ground then up to Chase. The kid looked angry and Chase felt for him.

  “I weren’t no help to my mom when her boyfriend knocked her on the floor. He socked me across the room like I was a pup.”

  Chase bit back a few choice words noticing the pale yellow bruise now that was fading from the kids jaw.

  Amber’s expression was full of compassion. “Well I’m glad you’re here now. You and your mother are safe. I’m Amber, what’s your name?”

  “I ain’t ‘sposed to tell strangers my name.”

  Smart kid. Chase grinned as Amber smiled at the boy.

  “You’re right. So, maybe after you get to know me you’ll tell me your name. Right now I’m going to go inside.” Amber stood up. “Be careful next time, okay.”

  The boy nodded then headed down the steps. He paused on the sidewalk and turned back to face them. “It’s Tobb,” he blurted out then raced toward the barn.

  Amber chuckled. “He’s going to be a firecracker.”

  “Going to be?” Chase grunted. “I have a feeling he’s on his way now. His mother did good getting him here.”

  “Yes, she did. Getting him here before it’s too late. Did you see that fading bruise on his jaw?” Her voice grated and her own jaw was rigid.

  “I saw it.” He could feel the tension radiating from her even though there was a foot between them. No kid should have to go through what Tobb had obviously been through but looking at Amber it almost seemed personal to her. What had happened to her? He was almost certain there was something in her past that pushed her. Had she been abused? Or had someone dear to her gone through this? Chase planned to find out.

  “Tobb.” The screen door opened again and Dottie came onto the porch. Tall, dark headed and elegant she stopped short when she saw them. “Oh hello. I didn’t know we had company. Sorry but did a cute little guy about so high run past you?” She held her hand hip high.

  “Tobb went toward the barn,” Chase said.

  “Oh then he’s fine. He’s crazy for the new foal we have out there. I’ll go get him in a minute. It’s good to see you again. Hi, Chase,” she held out her hand to Amber and shook momentarily. “And I’m Amber Rivers, Sadie’s friend. I saw you at the wedding but it was a little crazy and I didn’t get to meet you.”

  Dottie chuckled. “There were a lot of people there. I’m so happy for them. But, Brady told me about you and your job with the help lines.”

  Chase watched the two get to know each other as Amber told Dottie what she did. When Dottie invited them to come in he glanced toward the barn.

  “You know what, y’all don’t need me in there. I just came to show Amber where the ranch was so I think I’ll go check on Tobb. Would that be a help to you, Dottie?”

  “That would be great. The truth is right now there are no other boys here and the little girls are all playing dolls in the playroom and he’s bored. A cowboy to talk to might be exactly what he needs.”

  “Then no hurry y’all have a good visit and I’ll see if I can teach Tobb how to brush a horse down or something.”

  Relief lit Dottie’s expression and Amber smiled at him and he felt it all the way through him like a light beam slicing through darkness… Turning away he headed toward the barn and could only wonder why that smile of hers affected him so strongly.

  Amber followed Dottie into the shelter and after showing her the house with its large open rooms and introducing her to a few of the ladies who were living there. Esther Mae was sitting in a rocking chair in the nursery rocking a baby. When she saw Amber she beamed a brilliant smile at her.

  “So glad you made it, Amber,” she said in a hushed voice.

  “I’m glad I came. You look like you have a great job this morning.”

  “Oh, I do,” Esther Mae cooed then winked at Amber and Dottie. “It does my heart good to hold a baby.”

  Amber was touched by Esther Mae’s giving spirit. These families had been through a lot and love was what they need.

  After a moment they moved on and went back to the kitchen, grabbed glasses of tea and Dottie led her to her office. It was a large room that she explained had been Brady’s daddy’s office. It was now a female domain with soft blue walls above the dark wood wainscoting on the lower half of the walls. It had red chairs and gray rugs. Accents drew all the colors together and made it a happy, yet, elegant room.

  Amber sat down in one of the chairs and Dottie did too choosing not to sit behind the desk. Since this was not a business meeting that made sense to Amber—though she suddenly realized that she was interested in knowing what kind of position Dottie was filling for the shelter.

  That was unexpected too. Why would she even be considering such an idea?

  “So how did you get involved with having a shelter,” she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

  “It’s a long story but I lived in Florida and my home collapsed on top of me during a hurricane. I was badly injured, nearly died actually and after the months and months of rehab I knew I wanted to do something worthwhile with my life. I had changed during that time. I was a candy maker and my brother was involved in a women’s shelter in California. So that’s where the idea came from. I was crossing the country heading that way and I got stranded here in Mule Hollow. It was…the most wonderful exper
ience of my life. And God’s perfect plan. Needless to say some other things transpired and I ended up with Brady—which was the blessing of my life—and the shelter ended up here. It’s wonderful and exciting. And fulfilling in so many ways.” She looked thoughtful. “I thought I had my life all mapped out and figured out and when I look back at what transpired to get me here it was so very clear that I wasn’t in control after all. That a plan was already in place that put me exactly where I was supposed to be.”

  “That is so cool. I may want the full details one day though.”

  Dottie chuckled. “Oh, it’s quiet a story but I don’t want to just talk about me right now. I’d like to know about your work.”

  Amber took a sip of her tea, trying to settle the unease that had suddenly filled her thinking about the problems surrounding her back home. “I answer the phone at the hotline. I’m the first contact for a woman reaching out for help. It’s a stressful job sometimes because I take it entirely too seriously. There have been times when I can’t get the woman to trust me…she hangs up before any connection to her is made and I never hear from her again. That kills me—I, I wonder often what becomes of those women. But I focus on the ones who I can get to take the next step in the process. The ones I can help pull from the waves.” She often felt like a lifeguard. And she didn’t like losing a victim.

  “I’m sure that has to be hard when someone doesn’t carry through with the call for help.”

  “The stress of that, of when I lose one often threatens to pull me beneath the waves…if I don’t pull back and focus on cases I’ve won I’d be torn up all the time. The lives they saved through the program are what keep me going.”

  And it was true.

  Dottie was studying her. “Have you ever thought about coming on this end of the rescue process? Working with the ones who’ve made the choice…it’s just as challenging but in a different way. We actually have a really good success rate, our women don’t go back…we lose a few but we have more who learn skills in the workplace that enable them to provide for themselves and their kids. Many have even fallen for local cowboys and stayed here. Lynn for instance, I don’t know if you met her but she’s married to Chance, the pastor who married Sadie and Rafe.”

  “Oh, I did meet her briefly. She was busy with their twins and the younger little girl so we didn’t get to do much more than be introduced.”

  “They keep her busy. But there are several who live here and thrive and several who come yearly to our reunion. We’re holding one this weekend at the Wells’place. You should come.”

  “Oh we are coming to that.” Amber liked the idea of a reunion. After that she listened with great interest to what Dottie had to say and asked a few questions but she knew she couldn’t do this. Knew that she wasn’t made for small town life and that if she chose something like this she would feel like she was abandoning the frontline. And it was just something she didn’t think she could ever do.

  Could she?

  “Hey there, Tobb,” Chase said as he entered the barn. The kid was sitting on a hay bale watching the colt inside the stall. It was a beautiful colt a deep chestnut with long legs and a nice head on it. The colt nickered when he entered. Tobb watched Chase with wary eyes but didn’t say anything. Chase leaned against the stall gate and held his hand out to the colt. It moved toward him and he scratched the colt between the eyes. “You can pet him.”

  Tobb shook his head.

  “He’s tame. Come on.”

  The boy eased off the hay bale and walked to the wooden gate. He slipped his hand in and touched the colt without hesitation. Chase thought it was more of an action the kid was making to prove to him that he wasn’t afraid rather than to enjoy it.

  “See not so bad is it?” he asked.

  The kid shrugged but he kept his hand on the colt and gently ran his hand from the colt's forehead to his nose and then again.

  Chase didn’t press, he just let the kid get to know the colt. He knew that Brady kept gentle colts here just for this purpose. Kids were infatuated with the beautiful animals. And many times the women who came here, whether they had children or not loved to come and watch or pet the horses that were kept in the pastures around the home. There was something to be said about quiet contemplation and beauty mixed together. And then again watching a cute colt or a beautiful horse was just a pleasurable thing no matter who you were.

  After a minute the kid looked up at him. “He likes me,” he said, and there was a smile on his face that got Chase right in the gut.

  “Yeah, he does. Did you know a horse is a good judge of character? They know when a person has good intentions. Now of course if they aren’t broke yet it's not always easy to get close to them because their natural instinct is to run, running is a horse's God given defense mechanism. It’s all they have in way of staying safe from predators. So until they’re gentled you can’t hold wariness against them.” Chase couldn’t help thinking that statement could apply to a kid who had been through what this kid had probably been through. The wariness in his body language reminded Chase of a colt learning to trust rather than run. Tobb pulled his hand back and stared at the colt as it nickered wanting to be petted again.

  “That’s all it can do is run?”

  “It can kick and buck but its first instinct is to get away from danger. Even for kids and adults sometimes running away is the best thing. You need to get out of the danger zone.”

  The kid nodded. “Yeah, sometimes being a kid stinks. My mom’s boyfriend hit her…a lot and she just always told me to run.”

  Chase tensed and tried not to show the anger flaring inside of him. “Did you? At your age that’s all you could do.”

  Tobb nodded and his lip trembled. “But if I’d been bigger I’d have kicked and bucked and I’d have made him pay for hurting my mom.”

  Chase laid a hand on Tobb’s shoulder. “You did what you had to do and your mom has come here for help. It’s a good thing. A man shouldn’t ever raise a hand to a woman or a kid and when possible he needs to find a better way of dealing with conflict with a way that doesn’t involve fighting.” Chase was sure not to say always because the truth was sometimes a man just had to fight. Running wasn’t always an option.

  Tobb didn’t look convinced but he nodded. “My mom said he wasn’t a man and she didn’t want him ever hurting me so she knew she had to get us away.”

  “She was right.”

  “Do you think I could learn to ride a horse?”

  The change of subject threw Chase but then, maybe a kid processed things that way. He really didn’t know much about kids other than he had been one once but that seemed like a long time ago to Chase. “Yeah, sure you could. You can talk to Mr. and Mrs. Cannon and find out if they will teach you how to ride here, if not you can come to my ranch and we’ll teach you.”

  “Really…awesome.” Tobb grinned and actually jumped with excitement.

  Chase hadn’t ever thought about it before but suddenly the idea of helping a kid or some kids learn to ride sounded like a good plan. He knew that Lilly and Cort Wells had some kind of program at their horse ranch that might accommodate this but this appealed to him and he wanted to do it.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “That was sweet of you to spend time with Tobb,” Amber said a few seconds after they’d started back down the drive from the shelter. She’d been impressed when Chase and Tobb had walked back up to the house from the barn and Tobb had informed Dottie that Chase was going to teach him to ride. Chase had quickly added that it would be only after Tobb’s mother and Dottie had decided it was okay.

  “I didn’t offer to be sweet. The boy was hurting and he asked about riding. I’ve never thought about it before so it feels like I’m actually running behind the curve on this. I should have thought about offering some lessons to the kids here before.”

  Amber studied him. “I think you’re being a little hard on yourself. It’s not something that just jumps out at you as a needed service.” She was reali
zing that Chase took responsibility to a higher level. She was drawn to that. Since her dad had taken no responsibility she found Chase’s character and drive to be a major...attraction. She’d leave it at that.

  “Now I know about it and I can do something about it,” he was saying as she pulled her attention back to the discussion...and not thinking about Chase and how much she was beginning to respect him.

  She smiled at him, liking so much the way he thought. Her phone rang and she reached for it—this time she glanced at the ID. When she saw Jill, her co-worker’s name a sense of dread filled her.

  “I’m sorry I think I need to take this.” She hit the answer button and placed it to her ear.

  Chase’s brows knit as he watched her and she wondered if he was reading the tension in her expression that she was fairly certain was showing.

  “Hey, Jill.”

  “Amber! I’m so glad you answered. I can’t believe it—”

  She was rattled, terribly rattled and Amber instantly froze. “What happened?”

  “That crazy man broke in here and destroyed your desk area. He ripped things apart and went through everything. And…” she paused and Amber’s heart dropped to her stomach.

  “What else,” she asked. “Did he hurt you?”

  “No. I wasn’t here. But, your desk calendar, where you’d scribbled Sadie’s wedding date down and the ranch’s address...it’s gone. He took it. The whole thing.”

  A chill settled on Amber like she’d been doused with ice water.

  He was coming to Mule Hollow.

  “What’s wrong?” Chase asked.

  Amber gripped the phone and forced herself to calm down. “Is that everything?”

  Her friend’s voice trembled as she said that was everything. “The police are looking for him. But Amber he’s crazy. They know who he is and he keeps doing this. It’s like he’s so mad at you that he no longer cares. I think he wants to harm you and doesn’t care about what happens to him afterward.”