Here for you, p.10
Here For You, page 10
“Wow,” the younger boy said.
“Can we pet your horse, miss?” one of the twin girls, about six years old, asked.
“My name is Lacey, and my horse is called Denver.” She smiled at them. “She loves to be petted.”
“I’m Samantha, but everybody calls me Sam. That’s Travis,” she said, pointing to the older boy. “That’s Bodie, and the twins are April and Mae.” She pointed to each child as she named them.
“It’s nice to meet you guys.” Lacey held up a large red apple. “I was about to give her this treat. Do you want to feed her?”
The three youngest children jumped up and down, clapping their hands. “Yes! Yes!”
Lacey sliced the apple into six pieces with her pocketknife, feeding one slice to Denver to demonstrate how they should place their apple slice on their palm, fingers held straight so the horse wouldn’t mistake them for part of the apple.
The twins stepped up first and giggled when the mare’s lips brushed their hands.
“His lips tickle,” one twin said.
“Denver is a she, and all horses—boys and girls—have whiskers.”
“My dad has whiskers, but he shaves them off every day,” Bodie said.
“Well, I trim Denver’s whiskers, too, but not every day. They tickle because it’s time to give her another trim.”
The kids spent another twenty minutes petting Denver, until Lacey told them it was time for Denver’s nap.
“Could we come back tomorrow?” Sam asked.
“I’ll be here until Saturday morning, and I’m sure Denver would love for you to visit.” She held up a finger in warning. “But only if I’m here and Sam or an adult comes with you.” She considered setting visiting hours so the kids wouldn’t end up hanging around all day, then decided to hold off in case it wasn’t necessary. They would probably be spending most of their time at the pool.
They smiled and nodded. “We promise,” the twins chorused.
Lacey waved to send them on their way. “See you tomorrow, then.”
She sighed as she watched them run away. Her childhood had been such crap, she loved to see happy, inquisitive children, still unscarred by life. She opened the door to the camper portion of the trailer. “Nap time, Denver.”
* * *
Flash danced through the barrel pattern once again, constantly mouthing his bit to get it into his teeth so he could take off running as though he was back on the racetrack. Wil wheeled him in a tight circle, trying to distract him from his compulsion to grab the bit and sprint to the other end of the large oval ring.
Ray watched from the sideline, his foot propped on the second rung of the metal bars fencing the practice ring. “Did you lunge that horse before you got on him?”
Wil brought Flash to a standstill and glared at her father. “Have I ever trained a horse without lunging him first?”
Ray shrugged off the question and moved the toothpick he was chewing to the other side of his mouth. “I think you should give up and cut your losses on that one. Those racehorses only retrain if you get them when they weed out the two-year-olds before they get a good taste of the track. That boy raced for three years. His legs are likely used up because they start them too young, and his brain is too firmly wired to all-out run.”
“His legs are fine, and his bloodline has produced some outstanding barrel horses. He’s learning. It’s just taking a bit longer.” Wil took him past the electronic timer, wheeled him around, and headed for the first barrel. His turn was wide because he didn’t slow when Wil sat back in saddle, but he did whip around the barrel and sprinted toward the second. He took the second barrel wide again, but at a pace so fast that he nearly unseated Wil. Then he sprinted right past the third barrel, even though Wil pulled his head around so far, his nose was nearly touching his shoulder. Only the fence at the other end of the ring slowed him enough for Wil to regain control and trot him back to the barrels.
Ray took the toothpick from his mouth and put it in his pocket. A toothpick stuck in the soft frog of a hoof could lame a horse. “Like I said. You need to sell that horse and invest in a better prospect.”
Wil, grumpy from too little sleep after driving most of the night, didn’t reply as she turned him toward the barn.
* * *
Lacey stared into her campfire, but she wasn’t seeing flames. Her mind conjured Wil smiling up at her after Lacey’s fantastic thirteen-point-nine-five run, Wil’s great ass as she walked away, and Wil leaning toward her as sunset turned the sky into hues of pink and orange. She closed her eyes and could almost feel Wil’s breath on her face and the soft brush of her lips. The thoughts made her vibrate with pleasure. Wait. She really was vibrating. Lacey pulled her phone from her back pocket and smiled at the caller ID as she accepted the call. “Hey, you.”
“Hey, yourself.” Wil’s sonorous voice warmed Lacey’s heart and other parts. “Everything go well with your drive?”
“No problems. Well, if I don’t count nearly oversleeping because somebody wore me out.”
“Same here. I could barely keep my eyes open while Dad napped for a few hours.”
“Tell me he didn’t realize why you were still so sleepy.”
Wil laughed. “Of course he did. He knows I’m a grown woman. But he didn’t razz me too bad about it.”
Lacey covered her face even though no one was there to see it heat with embarrassment. “I’m never going to be able to face him again.”
“He’ll forget all about it before you ever see him…unless you switch from barrel racing to cutting and start entering those futurities. He’s got several cutting horses ready for sale and wants to show them off at a few competitions.” Wil was quiet for a few long seconds.
“Hey, is everything okay?”
Wil’s sigh was heavy over the phone. “Yeah. It’s just…his memory isn’t all that good since he was sick.”
“Oh, no. Was it bad?”
“Yeah. He refused at first when they wanted to put him on a ventilator, but he finally got so bad I had to make the decision. I was sure I was going to lose him. I don’t know what I’d have done if I had.”
“God. I’m so sorry.” Lacey thought about the jovial, handsome man she’d met at last weekend’s rodeo. “He seems fine now.”
“He is…mostly. He gets that brain fog they talk about that lingers, and he tires easily.”
“He seemed strong and healthy at the rodeo, but I understand you still worrying about him.” Lacey wished she could reach out and wrap her arms around Wil. She was beginning to realize that inside the competent, confident woman most people saw, Wil was still a motherless girl who’d had to grow up fast.
“Is he going by himself?”
“No. I’m sending our foreman, Jimmy, with him. It’ll mean more work for me here at the ranch, but I’ll feel better with Jimmy watching over him.”
“Good. That’s good.”
“How was your day?” Wil asked. “Do you like the campground there?”
Lacey decided to go along with the change in subject and talked happily about the campground’s facilities, then recounted the visit from the children. “I’d be surprised if they don’t show up tomorrow with a handful of carrots.”
Wil chuckled. “They sound cute. Have you ever thought about having offspring of your own?”
“I can barely support myself and Denver, and children need to have a home, especially when they reach school age. In case you didn’t notice, I live the nomad life of a rodeo vagabond.”
“What if things were different? I mean, if you were settled in one place, would you want some?”
Lacey thought about the ones she’d met earlier. “I like them, but I didn’t exactly have a good role model. I’d probably be a terrible mom.”
“You’re a good horse mom.”
Lacey snorted. “Kids aren’t horses, Wil. You can’t put them in the corral or close them in a stall when you’ve got something else you want to do.”
“I know that.”
“Do you want some? Did you ask that because your biological clock is ticking?” She wasn’t accusing, just curious.
“I like them, and Dad would love a couple of grandkids. But I can’t picture myself pregnant and giving birth. Nuh-uh. Not going there.”
“You could adopt,” Lacey said. “A ranch is a great place for a kid to grow up.”
“You could cut down on the small rodeos and settle down somewhere. You’re winning enough now at the big rodeos to do that.”
Lacey had considered that possibility. She had even dreamed about buying a small place—twenty acres or so—and giving riding lessons, training horses, or figuring out some other way to make extra money. “My nest egg would have to be a lot bigger than it is now,” she said.
“Yeah. Mine, too,” Wil said. After a long pause while they both seemed to be thinking over their feelings on the matter, she spoke again. “What were you doing when I called?”
Ah. Lacey smiled as she formed her answer. “I was mostly staring into the flames of my campfire after reading the same two lines in my book over and over.”
“Really? What do you see in those flames?” Wil’s voice was low and sexy.
Lacey spoke slowly as she laid out the scene in her mind’s eye. “You naked, under me. Your hair is like black silk fanned across the pillow, and your head is thrown back, mouth open as you orgasm.”
Wil’s groan was loud over the phone. “Are you trying to kill me, woman? I’m on the porch and need to go to my bedroom if we’re going to have phone sex.”
Lacey wished they were on a video call so she could see her face. Even better, she wished Wil was in her bed rather than in her thoughts. “Sorry. No phone sex. I’m sitting outdoors where anyone could walk up, and I’d have to make sure the fire was out good before I could go inside. I’m afraid the mood would be lost.”
“Dream about me when you do go to bed?” Wil nearly purred the words. “I know I’m going to dream about you.”
“I don’t think I can avoid it,” Lacey said, smiling. Damn. She’d been smiling way too much lately. Her cheeks were going to be sore because her face wasn’t used to it. She sucked in a deep breath and exhaled to calm her raging hormones. “It’s late, and while I might be able to sleep in tomorrow, I know life on a ranch starts early.”
“Yeah. The farrier will be here at seven in the morning, and I have to feed and get the horses lined up before he arrives.”
“Wil?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m glad you called.”
“Me, too. I wasn’t sure…I was afraid I might be bothering you,” Wil said. “I’ve been grouchy all day. I thought it was because of getting very little sleep, but now I think it was because I’d rather be hanging out with you.”
“I like hanging out with you, too.” Geez. They sounded like a couple of teenagers who didn’t want to be the first to hang up. “Hey, maybe we can video-call next time.” Damn it. Could she sound more infatuated? “I’d like, you know, to hear about the horses you’re training.”
“Okay.” Another pause. “Uh, is tomorrow night too soon? Because, you know, I like hearing about your day.”
“Really? I don’t do much that’s interesting. I read a lot when I’m between rodeos.”
“We can talk about what you’re reading. I read a lot, too. Honestly, I’m the only woman on the ranch, and while Dad and the guys are great, sometimes I feel kind of isolated.”
Lacey knew that kind of loneliness—feeling alone even when you’re in a crowd of people. She wished she could teleport herself to the ranch and give Wil a tight hug. She softened her voice. “Then tomorrow night will be perfect.”
Chapter Twelve
Wil sat back in the saddle and concentrated on anticipating the quick moves of her dad’s best cutter, Lena Smarty Pants, as the horse denied the black calf’s attempts to rejoin the small herd of other calves at the opposite end of the ring. This mare was so talented, all she had to do was stay centered in the saddle as Ray and Mac Abbott watched from outside the ring.
“She definitely got a good piece of her Lena bloodlines,” Ray said to Mac. “I don’t think I’ve ever trained a horse with so much instinct. See how she latches on, staring that calf down? She’s moving to cut him off even before his legs get the which-way-to-turn message from his brain.”
Mac nodded, stepped back from the fence, and waved Wil over. Mac had business in the area so hadn’t waited until the weekend to check out Ray’s cutters. They’d already watched Blue Cat work a couple of calves, but he seemed satisfied after watching Smarty work just one. Wil disengaged and let the calf slip past them before riding over to the two men. Mac ducked between the bars of the metal fencing and walked around them when Wil brought the mare to a stop. He eyed Smarty’s relaxed demeanor and her body structure.
“How much you asking?”
“This is definitely my high-dollar horse. She’s the best I’ve ever trained. I’m looking to get $500,000.”
Mac whistled and shook his head. “That’s pretty steep, Ray. I’d have to spend the money I set aside for when Brittney gets married. I know she and her mother are going to want to put on a big extravaganza.” Mac made a show of shifting the wad of tobacco in his right cheek to the other side of his mouth, then spitting. “I’ll give you $400,000.”
Ray shook his head. “She’ll earn that much during her career, then give you foals that can sell for just as much as her price because of the strength of the Lena bloodline.”
Wil listened but didn’t speak. She loved watching her dad work through this ritual. They both knew Mac’s oil wells were pumping out that much profit every week. And Mac was aware they knew this, but the men loved the ritual of posturing and dickering over price.
“If she got injured the first time she competes, I’d be out a half million dollars. Her foals wouldn’t bring in near her price if she can’t compete to show off her worth. How much for Blue Cat?”
“Smarty’s health and legs are solid. I have a recent vet statement confirming that fact, but you’re welcome to pay for your own vet to check her out. I’m looking to get $250,000 for Blue Cat. He can also compete as a reining horse, but he’s gelded. He won’t make you any money after you retire him. That’s why his price is so much lower.”
Mac spit again, then kicked some dirt over it before bending to run his hands up and down Smarty’s legs. He sighed when he straightened and looked at Ray. “I reckon Brittney’s gonna have to elope. I’ll send my foreman over with a certified check for the mare as soon as you shoot me a copy of her X-rays and health report for my vet to approve.” He held out his hand, and Ray shook to seal the deal.
“I’ll call my vet today,” Ray said.
Yes! Wil wanted to jump up and down. Mac’s check would put the ranch back in the black, but Ray also would want to invest some of it in new stock. They had five or six promising yearlings, but their bones needed several more years to fully develop before those young horses could begin serious training. They needed some horses old enough now to turn around in a year to sell, and Ray was good at finding ones that weren’t reaching their potential at the cutting futurities and fine-tuning them so they began to place in the money. She also suspected her father had his eye on buying an older mare from the Lena bloodline for breeding. To keep their stock current and rehire Don to help Ray train, they’d need to find buyers for the other horses.
Wil waved over their grizzled foreman, who’d been propped against the fencing on the other side of the ring. “I’ll get Jimmy to make sure she gets an extra rubdown tonight.” She led Smarty to the middle of the ring and handed the mare off to him. “I don’t care if you have to sleep with her. Treat this mare like she’s the love of your life until Mac Abbott’s foreman comes to get her in a few days. Dad just sold Smarty for a crap-load of money.”
Jimmy’s shaggy, handlebar mustache twitched with what she suspected was a grin if she could see his mouth. “Hot damn. You going to get Don back? Ray’s not up to snuff yet, and I worry he’s pushing himself too hard.”
Wil saw the concern in the old man’s faded brown eyes. Jimmy had been a fixture on the ranch most of her life after he broke his back bull riding and Ray gave him a job and a bunkhouse to live in. “If his wife is well enough, I’ll have Don back here before the week’s gone.”
Jimmy nodded but shifted his gaze to over Wil’s shoulder. “Well now, here comes trouble.”
Wil turned to see Brittney park her BMW next to the ring and get out to saunter over to Ray and Mac. She shook her head. “She’s pushing her dad to buy her another barrel horse because Lacey Bishop and I beat her pretty good last weekend.”
“Didn’t you sell Dash to her a few years ago? She can’t do much better than him.”
“Yeah, and there’s nothing wrong with her horse. She’s not riding him right, but you can’t tell her that. I better get over there.”
“I’ll tag along in case she tries to jump you.”
Jimmy was aware of the brief fling between Brittney and Wil, and he reveled in teasing her about it.
Brittney gave Wil a sultry smile when they approached. “Wil, tell Daddy how much you want for the horse you beat Dash with last weekend.”
Mac was shaking his head. “If you want another barrel horse, you need to quit toying with those penniless cowboys and marry Bart Roberts. Then you can spend his money instead of mine.”
She laughed and playfully slapped her father’s arm. “Oh, Daddy. I know you don’t mean that, but Ray and Wil are going to think you’re serious.” She slipped her arm around Wil’s waist and raised up on her toes to plant a kiss on Wil’s cheek. “Maybe I’ll marry Wil.” She gave her father a challenging stare. “It’s legal now, you know.”
Wil laughed nervously and edged back from Brittney. She had to tread a thin line between insulting and encouraging her in front of Mac. “No money here. All the sales we make go right back into keeping the ranch solvent and taxes paid.”
