Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
A week later, Lyris watched the black storm clouds forming in the south. The weather forecast on the local news channel warned of tornados today. Being on the eastern plains of Colorado, they were where the destructive storms hit most. Colorado natives called it tornado alley, though it was outside the boundaries of the area national forecasters had named tornado alley.
Time to take the horses back into the barn from the corral. Ray liked to let the new mares and their foals run in the corral before transferring them to pasture.
He’d moved Junebug over here so they could monitor the twins. So far, they were growing well. Junebug proved to be a fantastic mother. She was attentive and made sure the babies weren’t lazy by making them run around the corral as often as she could. Luckily, she didn’t have to do much. The little colts loved chasing each other.
Lyris grabbed Junebug’s rope and led her inside.
The babies followed their mother. At only a week old, they were still being careful to keep Junebug between them and Lyris.
She didn’t mind. They would eventually get used to her. For now, she was happy they got close enough to sniff her hand. Soon they would let her pet them and give them their vaccinations.
She’d just moved the mare and her colts into the stall when lightning hit the ground outside the corral. The thunder boomed only a second after the strike made Junebug, Majesty and Stormchaser all whinny.
Stormchaser started kicking the gate across his stall.
Lyris ran toward him.
He kicked it again and again until finally it burst open.
The gate hit her with such force she was thrown against the barn wall, hitting her head.
The stallion ran toward the open barn door that led out into the corral. Then he jumped the fence like it was two feet high instead of five.
“Oh, my God.” Lyris ran to the open barn door. “Oh, my God.” She pulled her phone from her rear jeans pocket and punched in Ray’s number.
He answered on the second ring.
“What’s up?”
“Stormchaser got out. He jumped the corral fence and is loose.”
“I’ll be right there. Don’t go anywhere.”
“I’ll stay here. I need to calm Majesty and Junebug.”
“Do that.”
She disconnected the call and went to Junebug’s stall. “Easy, girl, easy.” Lyris talked in her calmest voice. “That’s right. Easy, girl, easy.”
The mare came over to the gate.
Lyris petted her and cooed until she stopped shaking. “That’s a good girl. You’re fine.” She left Junebug and walked to Majesty’s stall next door. “Are you okay, girl? Come here. Come on, Majesty. Come here.”
The horse looked over, fear filling her eyes.
“It’s okay. You’re okay and so is Snow.” Lyris gazed over at the three-week old filly. Her coat was fluffy and stood out as if full of electricity. The effect wasn’t the result of the current storm, but of the wind that whipped up and down the prairie when she was out in the small pasture with her mother.
The horses weren’t left out there overnight because it was too dangerous. Any one of several predators could take down a foal and harm the mother, too.
Snow was used to Lyris and came over to her when she called. “How’s my sweet baby? Are you a little nervous because your mama is nervous? That’s okay. You’re allowed.”
The filly nudged Lyris’s hand, begging for a scratch around her ears.
Lyris was more than happy to oblige. Spending time with Snow showed Majesty that nothing was wrong.
If only that was the truth.
Ray arrived in his truck about ten minutes after Lyris called.
“What do you have for me?”
Lyris shrugged. “I don’t know anything more. No one has called to say they found him.”
He pointed at the truck. “Okay, get in. We’ll head out to the western pasture. He’s most familiar with it and he might head for the familiar.”
She nodded and flipped up the collar of her jean jacket and grabbed her new Stetson. “Let’s go. I won’t feel right until he’s back in his stall…safe.”
Once they were both belted into their seats, Ray took off back out to the main highway and then headed west.
“The gate for the western pasture is down the road a bit.”
Lyris nodded. “I figured.” She turned to Ray. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea he could break out of the stall. It was locked, I swear it.”
Ray reached over and squeezed her knee. “I don’t blame you. I’ve always known he was high strung. He’s tried this before during a storm…he just didn’t make an escape then. I’ve told Ted more than once to reinforce his gate. I don’t guess he’s done it. If he had, Stormchaser wouldn’t have kicked it open.”
She looked at his hand on her knee and then covered it with her own. “I know it’s not my place, but?—”
He chuckled. “But you’re going to say something anyway.”
“Yes. I don’t like Ted. He’s always watching me like he’s trying to catch me doing something wrong. I’ve dealt with his ilk before. I’m afraid for the animals. The doping that happened to Stormchaser would have killed him if Ted had his way. That I saw the horse when I did was a fluke. The antidote might not have saved him if I hadn’t got to him when I did.”
Ray narrowed his gaze. “Do you think Ted is the one who doped the horse?”
She took a deep breath. “I do. I don’t see how it could have been anyone else, given the protocols you have in place at the racetrack. Either you, Ted, or Johnny Cantoni, is always with the horse until the animal is led out to start the race. I can’t see Johnny taking the risk of sabotaging the race. He’s been with you too long.”
He pursed his lips but kept his gaze on scanning the fields while still watching the road. “He had been riding for us going on seven years now. I pay him well and he gets part of the purse.” He shook his head. “You’re right. I can’t see him giving that up unless the amount of money was enough to retire on. The only person who could be behind it is Marissa or Geoffrey Chandler. I trust you, Lyris. We both need to keep an eye on Ted.”
“I agree. My first and only concern is the welfare of your animals. I’ll never let one get hurt, if I can prevent it.”
He squeezed her leg again and then pulled his hand back. “Now, if I could just get you to give us a chance.”
She gazed at her lap before turning toward him. “I can’t Ray. I can’t risk it. You say you want to have a relationship, but what happens when your friends won’t accept me? And they won’t. I’m not rich or powerful. I’m just a vet who loves animals.”
He clenched his jaw, and his grip on the steering wheel tightened so much his knuckles were white. The rain made the road muddy and slick. The truck slid into the pasture more than once. “I know you don’t know my history, but I didn’t always have money. I come from a ranching family. We all worked to make it run. My parents couldn’t afford more than a few ranch hands, so my brothers and sister took up the slack.”
Lyris widened her gaze. “But you’re a billionaire. How can that be?”
“Didn’t you read up on me before you came here?”
A frisson of guilt traveled her spine as she realized she should have been more interested in his background. “Only about your racing stables. They’re one of the best in the country. That’s why I wanted to work here.”
Ray chuckled again. “You should make it a point to do more research. My family is gifted when it comes to designing computer games. Our company, Kincaid Holdings, runs the computer company and acquires other companies. It’s a multi-billion-dollar company and has made my siblings and myself all billionaires. Francie and I didn’t start the racing and stud services, this ranch, until about fourteen-years ago, after my first one-hundred-million from the game apps we design. Maddy was just about a year old.”
“What kind of games do you design?”
“Everything from games like Halo and Fortnight to Dungeon and Dragon type games. They are all warriors of one kind or another. That seems to be what teenage boys like, and they’re the ones who buy most of the games.”
“But how can you make billions of dollars off of games?”
He shrugged. “We have a lot of different video games and game apps, and we sell a lot and I mean a lot of them…worldwide.”
Lyris kept scanning the landscape for signs of Stormchaser. “Go right. I see him.” She slapped her left hand to Ray’s right shoulder and kept it there.
Ray turned the truck and drove across the pasture toward the horse. The terrain was flat, but still slick from the torrential rain. His tires slid sideways before they gripped the dirt again.
Stormchaser wasn’t moving, but he was whinnying and throwing his head around. He looked like he was caught in something.
Stopping far enough away that he didn’t scare the horse, Ray hopped out of the vehicle and grabbed a halter from the back seat.
Lyris followed, not caring about the rain. Her hat kept it from her eyes, and that was all she cared about.
When she got to the horse, she easily saw why he stopped. His right front hoof was caught in a bear trap.
“What in the—” Ray frowned and cussed a blue-streak.
Lyris’s heart hurt at the thought that Stormchaser might be severely injured. She headed his direction. “Somebody is trying to hurt your horses. How many of these are there over all the pasture? There could be hundreds. It’s a lot of land to cover.”
Ray’s hands were clenched into fists.
She was sure that if the perpetrator was around, Ray would kill them.
“Can you calm him while I get him out of the trap?”
Lyris hurried over to the horse and laid her hands on his neck. “Yes. Let me have that halter.”
Stormchaser let her put on the halter.
“You’ll be okay, boy. Just hang on a bit.” She petted his neck and scratched around his ears.
Ray stood on the release to open the trap. The jaws were much too strong to do it by hand.
Once it was open, Lyris helped the horse pull his leg from the contraption.
Ray stepped off the release, and the jaws snapped shut with a clang of metal on metal.
Stormchaser startled, but Lyris kept hold of the halter and spoke softly. “You’re okay. You’re free now, and I’m going to take care of you.” She bent, pulled up Stormchaser’s leg and examined it. The injury was severe, but it could have been much worse. The teeth could have buried themselves all the way to the bone but, luckily, hadn’t. “He won’t be walking far on this. You need to get a trailer out here. Do you have any first aid supplies in your truck?”
He nodded. “I always carry a first aid kit. One made for horses. I’ll get it.” Ray returned in a few minutes with a black suitcase. He zipped it open.
Inside were packets of antiseptic wipes to clean wounds, gauze, tape, antibiotic gel, even two syringes of Ketamine to ease the pain.
“This is quite the set up. I’m very glad you have it. The sooner we can take care of this wound the better the chance for him to heal completely.” She looked up at Ray. She softened her voice. “He’ll be out for the rest of the racing season. I’m sorry but the wound is severe, and he’ll need a lot of time to heal.”
He waved away her concern. “I don’t care about that. I just want him to recover. If I need to, I’ll put him out to stud sooner than I anticipated.”
“Okay. Hold him still while I clean and dress the injury.”
Ray grabbed the lead rope at the bottom of the halter close to Stormchaser’s head. “You be a good boy. I’ve got some cookies and an apple if you hold still for Lyris.” He gave the animal a horse cookie from his jacket pocket. Then he turned toward her. “I’ll make the call for the trailer to get out here.”
She nodded and then cleaned the wound as much as possible with antiseptic wipes, applied the antibiotic gel, and wrapped it well with gauze and plenty of tape to stabilize his leg. She wanted him to move the injury as little as possible. Lyris knew she’d have to take it all off back at the ranch, but Stormchaser’s comfort was paramount for now.
“What’s the wound look like?”
“It’s deep into the muscle where the teeth of the trap were. He didn’t help the situation when he tried to escape. They dug in, but at least they didn’t break the bone, though it might be cracked. Even so, he should make a complete recovery.”
Ray petted the animal’s head. “He didn’t know he would hurt himself more, did you, boy? He just wanted to be free.”
“I know. I’d have done the same thing.” She ran her hand down the horse’s right front leg, stopping before she reached the wound. “He seems to be okay otherwise, thank God.”
“How long before it’s healed?” Ray looked down at the bandage.
“I’ll know more when we get him back to the ranch. I’ll need to deep clean the injury before I can say for certain. If you’re asking if he’ll race anytime soon, the answer is probably no.”
Ray sighed. “I was afraid of that. I’ll have the men come out and look for other traps. I can’t believe this is the only one out here.”
She shook her head. “It can’t be. The odds are too great that he found the only trap in this large pasture.”
“This is the smallest of my pastures. It’s only about seventy-five acres. The others are two-hundred acres or more.”
“Well, they should probably take ATVs; otherwise, their horses could become victims of a missed trap.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “I realized that. You don’t need to tell me how to run my ranch. I don’t want any more of my horses hurt. Either way, it is going to take days to cover this entire pasture.”
“What about your other fields?” She wiped her hands on her jeans and stood.
“I raise a few cattle and use those pastures for grazing them. I doubt whoever set this trap is looking at hobbling a cow. We would just slaughter it.” He pursed his lips before moving to rub his hand over Stormchaser’s back. “They want to injure my racing stock. That is what I use this pasture for.”
The rain tapered off, but the wind didn’t.
Lyris was wet clear through and started to shiver. “I hope your people get here with that trailer soon or we’ll both be in bed for a week.”
Ray cocked an eyebrow and grinned. “I can handle being in bed with you for a week.”
Her eyebrows shot up and her eyes widened. “Ray! That was totally inappropriate.”
He didn’t look very contrite. “You’re right but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be fun.”
She shook her head. She’d received similar offers that hadn’t been nearly as nice from other men over the years. Yet with Ray, she wasn’t really upset. In fact, she was a little intrigued. Finally, she laughed. “You’re a bad man, Ray Kincaid.”
He chortled. “I’m glad I could take your mind off the chills. What do you say we tie Stormchaser to the truck and climb inside to get warm? Then we don’t have to spend the next week in our separate beds?”
“I think that’s a good idea. He can weather the storm without us making ourselves sick.”
Lyris got into the truck and tossed her hat into the backseat so it wouldn’t drip on her.
Ray tied Stormchaser to the front bumper and then climbed behind the wheel and started the engine. He waited a few minutes for the engine to warm up before turning on the heat.
With the fan going full blast, it didn’t take long for the cab to get warm.
“Your jacket is soaked through. You should take it off. You’ll warm up faster,” said Ray.
“The same ca..can be sa…said of you.” Her teeth were chattering so much she was surprised she got the words out at all.
“And I’m taking mine off.” He worked his way out of his jacket and threw it in the backseat. Then he tossed his hat in the back, too.
Lyris’s coat had taken the brunt of the rain. She tossed it into the back along with Ray’s.
Ray turned the heat to come out of the dash vents.
“Oh, that feels so good. It won’t take my shirt long to dry.” She was wearing a long-sleeved flannel shirt over her t-shirt, which she was grateful for. She removed the flannel and tossed it on the console, leaving her in a t-shirt that was still damp enough to stick to her skin.
She rubbed her arms, which were covered with goosebumps. Slowly, she was starting to warm. Her jeans were still damp from working on Stormchaser, but that couldn’t be helped. The cowboy boots she wore, with heavy cotton socks, kept her feet warm.
Ray angled his body so he was facing Lyris. “I’d like to take you to dinner as a thank you for saving my horse. Ted would have shot him.”
Her mouth dropped open. “What? That’s ridiculous. Yes, it’s a bad wound but nowhere near severe enough for him to be put down. Why do you put up with that man? He’s a menace where animals are concerned…probably people, too. I don’t trust anyone who can mistreat an animal.”
He let out a sigh. “I need to let him go. I have a feeling in my gut that he knows who is responsible for the traps in the field. I’ll talk to him when we get back, but I doubt he will admit anything. Talking to him won’t stop the churning in my stomach.”
Lyris stared out the windshield at the mountains. The air was so clear they looked purple with beautiful white snowcaps. She loved the Rockies. They were magnificent, not as steep and craggy as the Tetons, but inviting. The feeling was almost like they called . Come and explore me . She turned back toward Ray. “What will you do?”
Ray took a deep breath. “I don’t know. I can’t accuse him of setting the traps even though I’m fairly sure he did or had someone do it under his orders.”
“So, what can you do? He’s a danger to animals. If I hadn’t been there to see Stormchaser when he was doped, the horse would be dead. You know that as well as I do.”
“I do. But I can’t prove he did it, just that he was stupid enough not to realize what was happening.”
Lyris whooshed out a breath. “I’d suggest you give him enough rope to hang himself, but he’d take one or more animals with him.”
“I know and I can’t risk the horses. I have to be smart about this. You need to help me by protecting them and keeping an eye on him when you can. I’ll be watching him, too, and I’ll be changing the work assignments. He’s not going to like my solution to the problem.”
“What will you do?”
“Let’s wait and see, shall we?”
She smiled. “I can’t wait.”