Shay Shame (Broken Wheel Ranch #15)

Chapter 1

Shay Hall slowed his truck down as he pulled into the parking spot on Main Street in Fool’s Gold, Colorado.

Since he didn’t have a time line as to when he was supposed to arrive at New Double, and he was starving, he pulled over to get a bite to eat.

Spotting the diner, he grinned as he exited, then swore when the bitter winter wind blew down off the mountains as well as down his collar.

With a shiver, he hurried his steps to the diner and went inside.

As his eyes adjusted to the light, he scanned the area and nodded at the area. He liked what he saw.

“How many in your party?” a woman asked as she hurried up to the stand.

“One.”

“This way.”

Shay followed her and saw a table with at least six men sitting there, and he thought he recognized one of them, but he didn’t attempt to go over and talk to them.

He didn’t want to make a fool of himself if he was wrong.

As he settled at the table, he ordered coffee, then asked the waitress who the gentleman was that he thought he knew.

“Oh, that’s Jake.”

“I thought so,” he said with a nod.

“You know him?”

“Not really, but I met him briefly a couple of months ago.” When he had been in Seattle for a case for his friend Tony’s girlfriend, he had met Jake.

That had been nine weeks ago. Since then, he had returned to Pennsylvania, worked out his remaining six weeks with the military, retired a happy camper, then cleaned up his life there.

He had to go through his house to see what he wanted to bring, sell, donate, or leave.

Since he had been talking with Erin Riceman and Cole Mercury, he knew what he would need to bring with him.

It was mostly clothes and personal items. As he looked at the menu, he looked up when someone approached his table.

“Excuse me, do I know you?” the man asked and Shay grinned.

“Yes,” he laughed at the other man’s expression as he held out his hand. “Shay Hall.”

“Commander, Seattle, Jacobs and Hardt.”

“Correct.”

“Are you done now?”

“I am. Fully retired, finished up my life out in Pennsylvania, now I’m here.”

“Well, if it doesn’t work out with Erin, come see me.

” He leaned in and whispered. “Though I have a feeling it will work out, it seems like whenever anyone comes to work for her, they stay.” He shrugged.

“No hard feelings, just stating facts. I’ll leave you to your meal, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to reach out.

” They shook hands and he went back to join the people at his table, and Shay ordered his meal.

As he ate, he looked around and felt his entire body start to relax.

As it did, he realized it was the first time in years that he felt like this.

He wondered if this was what he needed in his life, something different from the military, and though he knew working with the horses would be rough, he didn’t think it would be as tense as facing situations where guns, missiles, bombs, and angry people aiming them at him would be involved, let alone the military personnel that tried his patience damn near every day.

An hour later, he stopped at the gas station on the outside of town to top off, then settled in for the long drive out to Erin’s Way.

He took in the surrounding area as he drove, but couldn’t see much beneath the snow.

He had been there nine weeks ago, and it looked like winter had set in.

As he drove, he wondered how his friend, Tony, was doing.

It seemed like it only took a few minutes, but the clock said it took a little over an hour, before he pulled beneath the sign for Erin’s Way.

He parked where he had seen others park when he had been there before.

He braced himself for the cold as he climbed out of his truck, and sucked in his breath as another wind blew down the collar of his jacket. He looked up when he saw movement at the entrance to a barn, so he hurried over when the man standing in the doorway waved him over.

“Help you?”

“I’m Shay Hall.”

“Ah, the new guy,” the man said with a grin, and held out his hand.

“I didn’t meet you the last time you were here.

I’m Clark Riceman, Erin’s brother. Erin’s not here right now, she’ll be back soon.

Come on in.” He stepped aside and grinned wider when Shay’s eyes almost burst out of his head at the sight before him.

“What the hell am I seeing?” He blinked several times, and had to reach up and rub his eyes to make sure he was seeing things correctly.

Clark clapped him on the back with a laugh.

“This is what Erin dubbed the sex barn. We have horse people all over the world that want to breed with our stallions, however, sometimes it’s not feasible for the horses to meet in person.

Years ago, Erin and our vet, Tom, were able to come up with this set up.

It’s totally legal and doesn’t harm the stallion. ”

“But what is it?”

“We’re gathering the stallion’s sperm, which will be tested, then frozen to be mailed out when ordered.”

“Holy shit, like a sperm bank for horses?”

“Yes, the website is Riceman Stallions. Erin set it up years ago after getting out of the hospital from losing her hand. She experienced horses rejecting her, so instead of fighting them, she worked with Tom to extract their sperm, then kept the sperm, and sold the horse. We have exclusive rights to the samples that were collected.”

“Damn,” Shay shook his head and watched for a good hour and realized that Clark was right and that the horse was not harmed in any way. He could only shake his head when he looked up and Erin stood there with a grin on her face. He walked over to her, and held out his hand to her.

“Reporting for duty, Ma’am.”

Erin laughed as she shook his hand. “First, call me Erin. Welcome, I was just over at New Double to check on them. Not that they need to be micromanaged, but I wanted to talk to Cole about something.” She sighed as she watched the people working with the horses remove one, clean and sanitize the area, then bring in the next stallion.

They were in the small observation room and out of the way from the workers and horses. She turned to Shay with a nod.

“As you know from being here weeks ago, you’ll be working over at New Double. They are racehorses.”

“Correct, I remember that. After Tony came here last fall, I worked with a local family that had horses, and though they were nothing like these, or the ones at New Double, I learned a lot.”

“Good for you, but you’ll learn different things with the racehorses.

Oh, mucking out the stables, and feeding them aren’t any different, but how they are trained is.

I was just over there talking with Cole about getting some jockeys in when it’s time to train them.

He’s going to talk with Naomi about it.”

“Who is that?”

“That’s a confusing situation.” She shook her head as she launched into the situation of how she became the owner of the land, how Ducky still lived there, and how New Double came about. When she finished, Shay stared at her in shock.

“Holy shit. I knew some of it when I was here before, but never thought it was that intense.” He nodded to her.

“Clark told me about the stallions here on Erin’s Way, and I’ve spent the last hour watching what they do for Riceman Stallions.

” He shook his head in wonder. “You, Ms. Riceman, are one hell of a businesswoman.”

“Thank you,” she laughed. “I’m not done yet, but it’s worked out so far, and I know you don’t need to know this, but I’m going to tell you anyway. I only charge enough rent from New Double to cover the annual taxes.”

“That’s smart,” Shay nodded. “I know this isn’t any of my business, but will the jockeys be doing what you hired me to do?”

“No, they will be hired exclusively to train the horses on the track we had put in. Naomi owns all the horses, and Cole and Clem work with them. There are several that are up for sale, however, the potential buyers won’t purchase them without knowing how they’re going to run.

” She shook her head when it looked like he was going to speak.

“I know nothing about the racehorse business. That’s why Cole and Clem came with everything from Wyoming.

I do know that in a couple of weeks, Clem’s heading out to the rodeos. ”

“Why, what does the rodeo have to do with racehorses?” Shay asked in confusion, and nodded when Erin laughed.

“Absolutely nothing. Clem is going to see and talk to people about the next ranch I’m building.”

“What?” Shay asked in shock. “Another one?”

“I was able to purchase the property across the road from us. At the time it was complicated.” She looked at him and decided to tell him what had happened.

“The previous owner inherited it from her grandfather. I knew the man, so did Clark, but he was an absolute bastard. That’s the nicest way to describe him.

Everyone in the county had a beef with him about something.

He was the local farrier, the person who works on the horses’ hooves.

When he died, his will stated that his three grandchildren were to live on the land for two years and carry on his business before they could sell.

If they didn’t, then after the two years were up, the entire property, we’re talking five thousand acres, would go to a housing development. ”

“Holy shit, that would be bad for you, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, well, the granddaughter is my age. As soon as the will was read, she immediately came to me and asked me if I would like to purchase the property in two years.”

“What about her siblings or cousins? Didn’t they have a say in the matter?”

“No, because they were her brothers, and they were in the military. They died while serving their country, so that left just her.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah, I listened to her, she gave me a copy of the will, and I contacted my lawyer. I didn’t agree until a survey was done.

See, I thought it was only where the main house was, just a small plot, maybe an acre at most. I didn’t realize the land was so big.

Long story short, three days after the conditions of the will were met, we signed on the dotted line, and cut her a check.

She was told she could stay there as long as she wanted, but she didn’t want to be there any longer than she had to.

She left within the next thirty days. Because it had three houses on it, I didn’t want it to go bad, so shortly after I purchased it, I hired a new farrier, and she came with her mother and grandmother.

” Erin looked at him with a grin. “Lorissa is the farrier, she’s dating Tom.

” She pointed to the two people wearing blue gloves, and a white coverup.

“Lorissa’s mother is Laurie, she’s engaged to Duane, our security guy, and Laurie makes sure that all the new builds are stocked with furniture and stuff.

It’s not an official position, but she’s basically the person I rely on to make sure everyone has what they need.

She also helps her mother, who is Lois, and she’s dating Cole, who is going to be your boss.

When the snow melts, Lois and Laurie will be working on getting a garden planted to supply enough food for everyone on the ranch.

Everyone will help, and if you have some downtime once the garden is in, I ask that you help with the weeding, watering, or harvesting.

The biggest thing is that I currently order one hundred pounds of carrots and apples once a month from the local grocery store.

That’s the treats we give our horses.” She paused and looked at him sternly.

“Nothing else, no sugar cubes, just those, but Lorissa and Lois are coming up with biscuits that can be made from scratch and are vet approved. Those will be loaded with vitamins and minerals.” She reached into her pocket and pulled one out with a grin.

“They will look like this. Lois and Ducky are currently over at New Double making them in the summer kitchen.”

“Damn.” Shay shook his head. “Is there anything else you don’t have your fingers in?”

“Did you learn about Broken Two?”

“What’s that?”

“Doctor’s offices. Staci Hardt works there to make her prosthetics.”

“Tony’s girl?”

“Yes, she lives with Tony now over at New Double, but works at Broken Two. I think I mentioned this, but you’re welcome to any cabin or room in a bunktel.”

“I think I’d like a cabin for myself.” He shrugged. “For the last twenty years, I lived in an apartment. I know it’s not big, but I like the idea of living in the cabin. I saw them when I was here earlier in the year, and enjoyed being in them.”

“It’s up to you. Just stop by and see Cole before you claim one, he’ll direct you, and you will be reporting to him for work.

Take the rest of today and tomorrow to settle in, then report to Cole for work.

Oh, and get him to tell you about the community pantry.

Did you happen to stop for any groceries? ”

“I did actually, Tony warned me that the store was an hour away. I stopped in town, went to the local diner, met Jake from Brotherhood, picked up a few things to hold me over, filled up my gas tank, then headed here. When I arrived, I met Clark, and he brought me in here to watch what they were doing.” He shook his head, then looked at her with a smirk.

“What?”

He waited until several men joined them, and asked, “Do you have military training, because from what you just described, you run a tight ship.”

The men laughed, and Clark joked, “I’m the one with military experience, I was the Lieutenant of SEAL team Delta, with most of the guys over on Broken Wheel, but what we did preparing and executing a mission is child’s play to how tight of a ship Erin runs.

” He gave her a side hug, and kissed the side of her head. “Mom and Dad would be proud of you.”

“Thank you,” she said, then waited five seconds before she looked at everyone. “Back to work. Shay, head on over to New Double, check in with Cole, and take it from there.”

“See, tight ship,” Clark laughed, but there was no malice behind it.

Shay left the barn and had to pause when the cold biting wind took his breath away.

Once he could breathe without feeling like his lungs had frozen, he went to his truck and in minutes he was leaving Erin’s Way to head over to New Double, and his new life.

He looked up into the sky, and smiled when he saw a rainbow off in the distance.

“My life is going to be great,” he said into the empty truck, and settled in for the twenty-minute drive.