Chapter Eighteen
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Quickly putting away the rest of her clothes, Portia hurried from the house and into the barn. As she entered the feed room she found Devlin standing in front of the row of containers scooping out the contents and dropping them into a bucket.
“Do you have to do this every day?”
“Jimmy and Pete do, but I do it on Mondays. It’s their day off.”
“I thought it was yours too.”
“It is, but I have to help Sammy. He’s got his hands full workin’ alone. Stand beside me and familiarize yourself with the labels. You’ll soon learn the order they’re in. As I told you before, not every horse gets the same supplements. You have to pay attention.”
“I love the smell in here,” she remarked as she watched him.
“Yeah, me too, but pay attention. When I’ve finished with each bucket, take it to the shelf with the horse’s name shown’ in the front.”
Standing quietly as he filled each of the buckets, she studied the names of the products, then the chart which he constantly checked. When they’d finished and were about to leave, he suddenly hugged her.
“What’s this for?” she asked as his arms tightened around her. “Not that I’m complaining.”
“Just cos,” he muttered. “Come on, let’s go out and visit with Marge and Belle.”
As they walked through the barn she noticed Sammy cleaning out a stall. He was shoveling out the soiled shavings and dropping them into a wheelbarrow, then he’d pile in clean shavings from a second wheelbarrow.
“That looks like hard work,” she remarked. “How many horses do you have here?”
“It is, and currently I have eight clients and twelve horses. There’s plenty of room for more, but the reason they’re all doin’ so well is because I can give both the horses and riders so much of my time. Here comes one of them now,” he added, glancing down the driveway.
Following his gaze she saw a white Subaru SUV come to a stop in the parking area.
“That’s Jennifer. She’s a barrel racer. She has a great horse and she’s a really talented rider. She’s on track to be State Champion this year.”
Watching the shapely redhead climb from the Subaru and wave, Portia felt a twinge of jealousy.
“Hi, Devlin, what happened to your truck?” the girl called, staring at the dented front fender as she jogged up to meet them. “Are Marge and Belle okay?”
“They’re fine. I have to arrange to get it fixed, but it’s still drivable.”
“Hi, I’m Penny,” Portia said quickly before Devlin could introduce them.
“Hi, nice to meet you,” Jennifer replied. “Are you bringing a horse in?”
“Uh, no, I’m just visiting.”
“She’ll be stayin’ with me for a while,” Devlin interjected.
“Oh, I see. Have we met before? You look vaguely familiar.”
“People say that to me all the time. I must have one of those faces.”
As she’d spoken a horse in a nearby paddock let out a loud whinny.
“That’s Joey, my boy,” Jennifer declared looking across at him. “I’d better get over there with his treat before he gets mad. Nice to meet you, Penny.”
“You too.”
“Penny?” Devlin murmured quietly as Jennifer hurried off to the paddock.
“I had to come up with something. I told you, if word gets out I’m here the paparazzi will be all over this place. They’ll be up Smoky Hill climbing the trees and trying to sneak onto the property. If that doesn’t work they’ll try bribing your neighbors.”
“You’re not serious.”
“I’m totally serious.”
“Okay, Penny it is,” he said, taking her hand and heading towards Marge and Belle’s paddock.
“Devlin, I’ve been wondering about something.”
“What’s that?”
“When you saw William put that stuff in my coffee mug why didn’t you call the sheriff then? He could have arrived and caught him red-handed--literally.”
“Believe me, I thought about it, but I didn’t know anything about William. If he could be violent, or if he had a weapon and what he might do if he was cornered.”
“Ohhh, I see what you mean.”
“Then I realized I could warn you about the coffee, and I’d have a good chance of gettin’ you outta there safely.”
“Honestly, Devlin, calling me like that was brilliant, and you did it just in time.”
“Thank the Lord,” he murmured as they reached the paddock.
“Do you think we should tell Sheriff Cooper about it now?” she asked. “Though I suppose, with William gone…”
“Let’s ask Marge and Belle what they think,” he replied with a grin. “They have horse sense.”
As they entered the paddock the mares ambled over to them,
“They’re so lovely,” Portia murmured, stroking Marge’s neck. “Can you really ride them naked?”
“Sure, though horses should have a quality bareback pad to protect their spine. But I can show you for a few minutes.“
Portia watched, amazed, as he took hold of Belle’s mane and swung himself onto her back. The next minute he was walking her in a large circle, then he broke into a trot, and moments later, began to canter.
“That’s incredible,” she exclaimed as he stopped beside her and climbed off. “But everything is. The horses, the ranch, everything, but especially the horses.”
“Oh, dear,” he said, sliding off Belle’s back. “You’ve been bitten by the bug. There’s no hope for you.”
“Bug? What bug? Where?” she asked frantically, wiping her arms and shaking her hands.
“No, no, relax, not that kind of bug.” he said with a chuckle. “The horse bug. It’s something you’re born with. Like Annie Baker loves to sing. You can have a love of horses but not realize just how much until you’re actually around them. That’s happenin’ to you.”
“You’re right. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to move to the country, so I could be near them. It just never occurred to me that I could actually ride or own one.”
“Well, darlin’, now you can do both.”