by Erica Penrod
Strategic maneuvering was something she learned early as child. Living with Eli McIntyre meant knowing when to keep her mouth shut, when to stand her ground, and, if she was willing to fight, be willing to live with his consequences, because the victory was always tainted by his disapproval; he made sure she paid for the win in one way or another.
“We need to talk,” her father said. “Let’s sit out here. Enjoy the weather before it gets too hot.” He walked down the steps and pulled up a lawn chair. She followed him and got her own seat.
Still in her pajamas, she wished she had the chance to get dressed and put on her boots before she faced him. She was better in boots. She knew where she stood and where to go and how to get there if she needed to.
“Look.” He leaned back in the chair and pushed his hat back from his forehead. He wore an unfamiliar shirt, and his boots weren’t covered in dirt and manure. “I know Amanda and me must’ve been quite a shock for you. But she’s my wife now and that’s how it is.”
Viv smiled. This was his explanation. Of course it was. His because I said so was supposed to be enough for her. Maybe if Amanda were here, he might offer a few more words, but staring at the man she’d never understand, she wished again for boots and spurs. She’d kick herself for thinking he’d ever change.
“So you marry an almost stranger, or at the very least, she was an acquaintance, and that’s all I get?” Viv said between her teeth. Her blood chasing the composure from her body made the temperature around her rise. “That might have been enough when I was a child, but not now. I’m an adult and I deserve more than that.”
His eyes narrowed and his overgrown eyebrows met in the middle. His brown eyes turned black, and she saw the muscle in his cheek tense. “You’re not much more than a child,” he said with an ominous chuckle. “And I don’t need to give you a reason for anything I do.”
Viv sat back in her chair and folded her arms, praying her fury would keep the tears from filling her eyes. Crying would only make her appear weak in his eyes.
She took a couple breaths, letting her voice settle. “You’re right,” she said, and leaned forward. “Because any father would offer his only daughter some decency, feel some shred of obligation, but not you.”
“Remember who you’re speaking to, young lady.”
Shaking her head, she laughed as a tear fell down her cheek. “That’s just it. I remember exactly who I’m speaking to.” She quickly wiped it away before the evidence could be used against her. “Someone who should love me more than he does, someone who would care enough to tell his child about her stepmother—”
“Watch your tone,” her father said. “I’ve put a roof over your head and kept your belly full. You’d do well to remember that.”
Viv stood up. “I do.” She walked behind the chair, put her hands on the top of the seat, and braced herself. “And I appreciate that. I don’t remember ever being hungry, at least not in the physical sense. But there’s good news, Dad. You won’t have to worry about that anymore. I’ve got an offer to train professionally, and I’ll be leaving as quick as I can pack my things.”
That caught his attention. He looked at her, and this time, she felt as if he saw her.
“What do you mean, you’ve got a job?” He rose from his chair and looked in her eyes. This strange feeling of being heard was strange and exhilarating. Whenever she spoke to her father, he never listened, not really. Mostly she settled for a nod or the wave of a hand.
“Lucas Royal hired me to train a new gelding he bought in Texas. He said he’s got a great bloodline and plenty of athletic ability.”
“Oh,” her father said, scratching his chin. He settled back into his chair. “Lucas is trying to get back at his mother for marrying me.”
Biting the inside of her lip, she nodded her head. “Of course.” She tucked a rebellious hair behind her ear. “Because no one would ever hire me for my ability.”
“I didn’t say that,” he said. “But what does Lucas know about cutting horses? From what I understand, he never wanted anything to do with cutting when his father was alive.”
A thread of fury quickly sewed up the hole in her heart. “Well, he knows enough to hire me!” Her voice shook, but she held on until the words were out.
Her father put his hands on his knees. Viv braced herself for his retaliation, but he only stared at the ground. Moments later, he glanced up at her. An unreadable look covered his face and was gone before she could identify what it meant.
“Don’t take the job. You don’t need to leave,” he said. His voice was calm, causing Viv’s head to spin in confusion. “I’ll be staying at Amanda’s until we get a place of our own.”
“You’re leaving the ranch?” she asked.
“Just long enough to build another house.”
“What?”
“We’re going to put one just on the north side of the property. You can stay in the old house as long as you want.”
Viv stumbled and caught herself. Like thoroughbreds at the Kentucky Derby, thoughts raced through her head, but she couldn’t slow them down, couldn’t tame them into words. “So, are you ever going to tell me why you married Amanda?”
He pushed his hat down and grinned from beneath the brim. “Because I love her.”
“You don’t even know her,” Viv said, wondering what had happened to her father.
“There’s a lot about me you don’t know.”
“Because you never told me!”
Again, the mysterious emotion emerged upon his face. An alien warmth in his otherwise cold dark eyes. “Everything I’ve ever done, said, or not said, was to protect you.”
Viv stood there shaking her head. “I don’t understand.” She wrapped her arms around her middle.
“Let it go, Viv.”
“Dad.”
“You have to trust me,” he said, and walked towards his truck.
The sun had a hold on the day and turned up the heat, but the moisture that fell down her face had nothing to do with the temperature.
“You’ve never given me a reason to,” she whispered to herself as she watched her father drive away.
Chapter 6
Behind the closed door, Vivien cried to the one person she could count on—herself—and she was sick of hearing the sob story. This was it. There wouldn’t be any more tears after this. A minute later she wiped her nose on her sleeve and headed to the shower. After she was dressed, she towel-dried her hair, added some mascara, and went outside.
Lifting her face to the sun, she soaked in the energy. The decision she was about to make had to be about her and not her father. When Lucas told her about the guest house at the Royals’ ranch, her first instinct was to turn him down. Her father still needed her to get the chores done, but now that wasn’t a problem. Part of her wanted to put this place behind her, just to prove something to him, and that’s where she stood now. Either way, she was making this about her father. What did she want?
“What are you thinking so hard about?” a voice called to her.
Viv turned to see Boone walking her way. She reached up, touched her wet hair, and tried to smooth the runaway curls.
“Oh, not much,” she said as she came down the steps. She stopped in front of him, and her heart thumped like she was into older, attractive, egotistical cutting horse trainers. Which she wasn’t, she reminded herself. “Just trying to solve the world’s problems, making life-changing decisions, that sort of thing.”
Boone laughed, and Viv liked the little lines at the corners of his eyes when he smiled, like good-time impressions. She grinned at him and felt the tightness leave her chest. “And it’s not even noon.”
Viv remembered Boone had done the chores that morning. “Hey, thanks for feeding and watering the horses for me.”
“That’s what I’m here for.”
She tucked a piece of her sun-dried hair behind her ear. Little wild pieces appeared in her peripheral vision. She pulled an elastic from her pocket, grabbed her hai
r, and pulled the fuzzy tresses into a ponytail.
When she looked up, she noticed Boone watching her. She felt her cheeks flush by the attention.
“I realize, after these past two days, I don’t know much about my father, but I know he didn’t hire you to do the chores,” she said, changing the subject.
“Horses,” Boone said, as he lifted his hat and scratched at his forehead, “need to eat.”
He pushed the hat back down on his head. Damp curls, trapped beneath brim and his forehead, caught her attention. She fisted her hands to squash the desire to touch them. Dang, he brought out her inner teenager.
“So, how’s Ace going, anyway?” Viv asked. “What do you think about him?”
Her father’s three-year-old gelding, Ace’s Missed Chance, was sired by one of the most prestigious cutting horses in Texas. Genetics were in his favor, but sometimes that wasn’t enough. Athletic ability was important, but the horse needed to read the cows. Face to face, the horse needed to anticipate which way the cow would move.
“Good. He’s got some talent.”
“I thought so too,” she said, then gave herself a mental kick in the hind end. Why would Boone Jameson care what she thought?
He nodded his head. “I better get back to it. I’ve got a few more horses to ride.”
“Okay,” she said, resisting the urge to tell him about her new job.
“Do you have a couple water bottles I could steal?” Boone asked. “I haven’t made it to town yet.”
“Sure,” Viv said. “Is everything okay with your trailer?”
Boone’s four-horse trailer was equipped with a live-in quarter on the front end. Viv hadn’t seen the inside, but judging from the outside of the trailer, she imagined the inside was much nicer than her father’s house.
“It’s fine. The water and a/c are up and running.”
“If you need anything …” she said, sidetracked by the color of his eyes. She searched for the right descriptive adjective. She struggled for completed words. “J … J … just let me know.”
He gave her an amused look.
She forced a mechanical smile, wanting to find a haystack and hide under it.
He stood there.
She stood there.
He didn’t move.
She didn’t move.
What did he want?
“Can I get some water?” he asked.
“Oh … yeah,” she said, and stumbled backwards. Catching herself, she paused. “I’ve got some in the fridge. Just a sec,” she said before she turned around and walked into the house.
She closed the door, grateful for the solid mass between her and Boone Jameson. All she ever wanted was to be taken seriously as a trainer. She’d spent years trying to prove her ability to her father, but now, with Boone here, she couldn’t deny she wanted his acceptance, too, to be considered a colleague.
Which would be a heck of a lot easier to get if I didn’t act like a stuttering sixteen-year-old around him.
Opening the fridge, she grabbed the water. The cool air felt good on her clammy skin. After a few seconds, she pulled her head out of the fridge and took a deep breath. She’d get this under control. Boone was attractive, but so what? So was her ninth-grade math teacher, and she still managed to pull an A.
Armed with two bottles of water and a gallon of self-reprimand, she stepped outside, ready to face Boone as a competent woman. But as she opened the door and saw him standing there, her heart knocked in her chest, and her competence spilled to the ground, along with a bottle of water. So much for maturity.
* * *
The Royals’ mansion sat on the hillside like a Lewiston landmark. Like every other middle-class citizen of this little town, Viv had driven by and wondered what life must be like for the rich and famous on the inside of those walls. A smug smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she thought, Even if Lucas was only famous in his own mind. But this was the first time she paused at the mammoth iron gates and punched in the access code. Her smile melted into a nervous twitch.
The doors swung open, and she pushed the gas pedal softly, afraid her old truck might contaminate something just by rolling on the asphalt. Lucas gave her instructions to the stable, where he would meet her and give her a tour.
As she crept up the drive, the Royal mansion stood to her right. The brown tones, made of river rock and brick, gave the massive structure a more down-to-earth feel, even though she still felt like an alien from another planet. Large landscaped boulders were placed in beds surrounded by colorful annual and perennial plants.
The truck rolled to a stop at the front entrance. There was a winding walkway made from large pieces of flagstone, and off to the left, beneath a large picture window, water cascaded down layered rocks and flowed into a little stream that passed underneath the walkway and pooled into a small pond. Heavy, tobacco-stained beams stood on either side of the covered porch, bound together by a decorative arch in the middle. Giant wire baskets sat on each side of the wooden front door. Heaps of wild grasses sprung from the middle, while wispy flowers cascaded over the edges.
Viv didn’t intend to get caught up in the landscape, but curiosity got the best of her as she rolled down the window. After her lifetime in Lewiston, this was one of the places she’d never seen up close. The Royal mansion was beautiful from behind the fence, but now she was up close and personal.
The engine idled while Viv drifted away for a moment, letting the splendor carry her until she saw movement from the front door. Before she could put her foot to the gas pedal, a man in a cowboy hat and worn boots stepped out followed by Amanda. Viv’s head dropped. Crap.
“Hi, Vivien,” Amanda called as she waved. Then she turned to the dark-haired cowboy. “Bye, Ty. I’ll see you at next month’s fundraiser.”
Viv lifted her head and forced her lips to part into a smile as the man climbed into a new truck with the sticker still in the window.
She tried not to roll her eyes when she noticed her new stepmom step towards her truck. Dressed in casual denim capris and a short-sleeved white button-down shirt, she looked perfectly dressed up to be perfectly dressed down. A silver chain hung from her neck that ended with a turquoise sundial. Her hair was pulled back, revealing a matching pair of earrings.
“I didn’t know you were coming by today,” Amanda said as she stood next to the truck and gripped the door. A gold band wrapped around her left finger, plain and out of place compared to their luscious surroundings, but it fit her perfectly.
Viv clenched her teeth and closed her eyes when she thought about Amanda’s white shirt that was about to mud wrestle with her filthy truck. She opened them to see Amanda’s dazzling smile. “Your dad didn’t mention anything.”
Get used to it.
“I’m … I’m … I mean, my dad doesn’t know.” She shifted the truck into park. “I’m actually here to see Lucas.”
Amanda’s blue eyes brightened. “Oh.” There was genuine surprise in her eyes.
Viv’s dad didn’t say anything to his new wife about her new job. Even though her new employment wasn’t a possibility, but a done deal, her father wouldn’t see things that way. He told her not to accept, and in his mind, that was that. But she couldn’t blame that entirely on him; she’d spent her life doing exactly what he said whether she agreed or not.
“I’m supposed to meet him at the stables,” Viv said, looking ahead. Initially, she wanted to train at her place, where she felt most comfortable, but Lucas insisted she look at their facility before she made her decision. He said he trusted her judgment.
“Okay,” Amanda said, and stood back. She was probably too polite to push for more details. “I can show you where that is, if you’d like.”
Viv couldn’t imagine Amanda hopping into her old pickup truck. She’d fit in like a pearl in a pigsty. “Um … I guess, but I’m sure I could find him. I’m sure you’re busy, and I don’t want to bother you.”
Amanda grinned, the wine-colored gloss framing her white te
eth. She pulled on the door handle, which didn’t budge. A determined look crossed over her face. She yanked harder and laughed as the door squeaked in protest.
“This reminds me of an old truck I used to have,” Amanda said, as she pushed a pair of chaps to the center and hopped in.
Viv shook her head. “You drove a truck like this?”
“Oh yeah,” she said, and wiggled into her seat. “I loved that old thing. I’ve a lot of great memories of cruising around with my friends.” She pointed ahead of them. “Follow the drive and take a right.”
“Okay,” Viv answered. She couldn’t picture Amanda Royal in a rusted old truck. That was just hard to believe, looking at the woman wearing jeans that cost more than one of Viv’s paychecks from the diner. Maybe now that she and Amanda were alone, she wondered if she could finally get some answers to the questions her father refused to answer.
Questions piled higher than a haystack, but as Viv turned, she forgot about everything except what was in front of her. A massive gate like the one out front stopped her, but this one was a work of art with the outline of a cutting horse and cow designed into the iron.
Amanda gave Viv the code and once the numbers were punched in, the gate swung open to reveal her version of paradise. A large brick barn, covered by a massive roof that hung over the edge like a wraparound porch, greeted her. Terracotta pots filled with gorgeous flowers were placed by the barn’s entrance, while other floral baskets hung from the beams. Miles of stalls ran parallel on the opposite side, while corralled green pastures were on the outskirts with mares and foals grazing. In the distance, she saw other buildings, all fenced in with a beautiful dark wood. A teenage boy Viv recognized from the diner smiled and waved as he walked by leading a young palomino while another couple of guys passed by with halters in their hands.
There was a parking area just south of the stalls. She pulled up next to a new Chevy, an old Dodge, and some sort of side-by-side ATV. Viv stopped herself from opening the door and running through the grounds like a kid in a toy store.