Chapter Three
Naomi was ready to get back to Clifton, but the ride was pure torture. She could smell his aftershave, and it smelled great. They’d been back on the road an hour and a half when Ethan slowed and put his signal on.
“Is everything alright?” Naomi asked.
“Just want to check on the horse.” He pulled into the rest area and cut the engine.
She watched him step out, close the door, and walk around to the back. She heard the trailer latch, then his footsteps inside. She sat there for a second, then opened her door and jumped down.
“Is she okay?” she called, coming around the back.
“Seems to be.” His voice came from inside. “Might not hurt for you to talk to her a minute though. Just to settle her.”
“Sure.”
She stepped up into the trailer and stopped. The space was tight with Ethan already in there, the two of them crowded in the empty stall. He caught her eye and stepped back, turning sideways to let her pass, and for just a moment there was barely a foot between them.
She kept her eyes on Jewel and moved to where he’d been standing. She ran her hand along Jewel’s neck and leaned in close, letting the mare catch her scent.
“Hey, sweet girl.” She kept her voice low and even. “You’re alright. We’re almost home.”
Jewel shifted her weight and blew out a breath, her ears relaxing forward. Naomi stroked her nose and stayed with her for a few minutes, talking quietly, until the mare settled completely.
“She’s good,” Naomi said.
“She trusts you.” There was something in Ethan’s voice she couldn’t quite read. “That says a lot about a horse.”
Naomi gave Jewel one last pat and turned to step out of the trailer. Ethan was already on the ground, reaching up without thinking and offered his hand to help her down. She took it.
It was three seconds at most. His hand was warm and rough, and he let go the moment her boots hit the ground, stepping back, then reaching past her to latch the trailer door.
“Ready?” he said, not looking at her.
“Yes.” She fell into step beside him and they walked back to the truck without speaking.
She climbed in, stared straight ahead, and told herself it was nothing.
Just a hand down from a trailer. Any person would have done the same.
Ethan pulled into the ranch as the afternoon light was starting to soften. Serena’s SUV was parked by the barn and Johnny’s truck sat beside it.
Ethan backed the trailer up to the barn entrance and cut the engine. They both climbed out without a word and met at the back.
Naomi unlatched the doors and stepped inside while Ethan held them open. Jewel backed out slowly, hooves finding the ground, head coming up as she took in the new surroundings. Her ears swiveled in every direction.
“Easy.” Naomi kept a firm hand on the lead and gave her time to look.
Ethan said nothing. He just watched the mare settle, arms crossed, giving them space.
Once Jewel had satisfied herself that the world wasn’t ending, Naomi walked her into the barn and found the stall Ethan had prepared, fresh bedding laid down, water bucket full, hay in the rack.
She glanced back at him. “When did you do this?”
“This morning before we left.”
She looked at the stall for a moment, then at him. “Thank you, Ethan.”
He nodded and looked away. “Get her settled. I’ll unhitch the trailer.”
He was gone before she could say anything else.
She turned back to Jewel and smiled to herself.
****
Ethan pulled the truck through the barn, out the back, parked, and unhitched the trailer. He climbed back in, drove around to the rear of the house, and cut the engine.
He sat there for a second before he got out.
He looked toward the barn. He didn’t particularly want to go back in there, but it felt wrong to just disappear without a word. She was new here and it was her first day with her horse on the property. The least he could do was let her know where he was.
He told himself that’s all it was.
He found her in Jewel’s stall, the mare’s head resting heavy on her shoulder while she ran a brush along her flank in long, easy strokes. She didn’t hear him.
He stood at the stall door for a moment longer.
“Hey.” He kept his voice even.
She looked up. “Hey.”
“The trailer’s unhooked. I’m heading inside.” He rested his hand on the stall door. “You’re good out here?”
“More than good.” She smiled and turned back to the mare. “I might be out here all night.”
“Don’t stay too long. You’ve got an early start Monday.”
She glanced back at him over her shoulder. “Yes, boss.”
The corner of his mouth lifted before he could stop it. He straightened and looked away.
“Goodnight, Naomi.”
“Goodnight, Ethan.”
He walked back through the barn, out into the evening air and didn’t look back. He made it all the way to the back door before he realized he was still smiling and shook his head as he entered the house.
He hung his hat on the peg in the kitchen, then headed for the fridge. He wasn’t hungry but he needed something to do, so he pulled out a pan and started a burger anyway.
He’d just put the heat on when his phone buzzed on the counter. He glanced at it.
Cole.
He picked up. “Yeah.”
“How’d it go?”
Ethan moved the pan off the burner. “How’d what go?”
“Don’t do that. Seth told me you drove to Kalispell today to pick up your new trainer’s horse.”
“It was a long drive. Horse is here. Everything’s fine.”
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
Ethan leaned against the counter. “Then say what you’re asking.”
“Seth says she’s pretty.”
“Seth hasn’t met her.”
“Johnny has and he told Seth. Seth told me.”
Ethan said nothing.
Cole laughed. “That’s what I thought.”
“She works for me, Cole.”
“I know she does.”
“So, drop it.”
“Dropped.” Ethan could hear the smile in his voice. “For now.”
“Goodnight, Cole. Tell your wife to keep you off the phone.”
He hung up before his brother could say anything else and stood there in the quiet kitchen staring at the wall.
He put the pan back on the burner. Both his brothers were pains in the ass and being the youngest he’d never once been allowed to forget it. Forty years old and they still looked for every opportunity to give him a hard time.
Once his burger was done he put it on a bun, added mustard, and carried it to the living room. He dropped into the recliner, turned on the TV, and ate.
He didn’t taste a single bite of it.
****
Naomi was up at five, too restless to sleep. She made coffee, checked on Jewel, then came back up to shower and get ready. She was at the barn by five-thirty, a full half hour before she needed to be.
She didn’t care. She was ready.
The barn was already busy when she walked in. Johnny was at the far end, filling water buckets, and he looked up and nodded.
“Morning. You must be Naomi.”
“I am.” She walked toward him and extended her hand. “And you’re Johnny.”
He shook it, grinning. He was younger than she’d expected, mid-thirties maybe, with an easy smile and kind eyes. “Word travels fast on a small ranch. Welcome aboard.”
“Thank you. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Serena told me you two hit it off.” He set down the bucket. “She doesn’t warm up to people that fast usually.”
“I feel the same way about her.” Naomi looked down the row of stalls. “Has Ethan been in yet?”
Johnny’s grin edged wider. “He’s always in first. Been here since five, I’d guess.” He nodded toward the far end of the barn. “He’s in the corral.”
Naomi headed that way, smoothing her shirt as she walked, then stopped herself.
She was here to work. That was all.
As she walked along the aisle she smiled when she saw Serena coming toward her, leading a beautiful buckskin mare. The horse pranced alongside her, full of herself, like she was already looking forward to working.
“Good morning,” Serena greeted her with a smile.
“Good morning. How was your weekend?”
“Nice and quiet. I saw your mare this morning when I came in.” Serena glanced back at the buckskin as she sidestepped. “She’s beautiful.”
“Thank you. I missed her so much. I’m just glad Ethan was willing to make that drive.”
“That’s Ethan.” Serena gave the mare a look. “Hey, I’ll catch you later. This one’s ready to go whether I am or not.”
Naomi laughed. “Have fun.”
She continued down the aisle and out to the outdoor corral where Ethan stood at the rail, arms folded on top of it, watching a dapple-gray gelding tear around the pen. The horse tossed its head, stopped, pawed at the sawdust, then took off again like he’d forgotten what he was annoyed about.
“Pretty dapple,” Naomi said, stepping up to the rail beside him.
“Pretty stubborn is what he is.”
“Is he going to be a racer?”
Ethan glanced at her and she caught her breath, then he looked back to the horse. “No, this one’s mine. Bought him two weeks ago but the seller couldn’t get him here until yesterday. He needs breaking.”
“Do you do that yourself?”
“Not anymore.” The corner of his mouth lifted. “I don’t particularly want to get bucked off at my age, so I have two men who do it.”
Naomi laughed. “You’re not that old.”
“Forty and some days I feel a lot older.”
“I’m thirty-five, so you’re not that far ahead of me.”
He looked at her. “I thought you were younger.”
“I’m not sure how to take that. Is that a good or bad thing?”
Ethan chuckled. “Good. You look younger. I should have led with that.”
The dapple chose that moment to stop in the middle of the pen and stare at them both, ears forward, like he was trying to figure out what was so funny.
“He’s got personality,” Naomi said.
“Too much of it.” But there was no edge in his voice. He watched the gelding for a moment. “You ever break horses?”
“When I was younger, on a dare and didn’t know any better.” She smiled. “I understand your reasoning.”
He glanced at her sideways. “Were you any good at it?”
“I didn’t die, so I’d say yes.”
He laughed at that, and it caught her off guard. She hadn’t heard him laugh like that before. It did something to her she wasn’t prepared for.
She looked back at the gelding.
“What’s his name?” she asked, mostly to give herself something to say.
“Doesn’t have one yet. I haven’t figured him out well enough.”
“You name them based on their personality?”