Ashes of the Past (Hicks Creek #5)

Prologue

Brynn

“Don’t go down there, sweetheart,” a deep, gravelly voice says to me.

“I have to,” I hiss back over my shoulder.

I don’t recognize the voice. I don’t need to.

I’m ankle-deep in mud, sweat trickling down my spine, and ready to throttle someone—anyone.

The sun blazes overhead, baking the earth and everything on it, including me.

My favorite boots are caked in filth, my white tank top is clinging in all the wrong places, and my hair is a frizzy mess of Auburn rebellion.

This is not how I imagined spending my summer.

“Are you going to stand there all day, or are you going to help?” I snap, glaring at the tall, broad-shouldered man leaning casually against the fence post. His hat is tilted low, shading his eyes, but I can feel the smirk radiating off him like heat waves.

He doesn’t move. Instead, he crosses his arms over his chest, the muscles in his forearms flexing just enough to make me grit my teeth.

“I’m supervising,” he drawls, his voice a slow, deep rumble that’s equal parts infuriating and… something else I don’t want to think about.

“Supervising?” I echo, incredulous. “I’m certain my father sent you out here with a job. You’re supposed to be fixing the damn fence, not… whatever this is.”

The man finally lifts his head, and when his eyes meet mine, I swear the temperature spikes another ten degrees. They’re the color of whiskey, warm and dangerous, and they’re locked on me like he’s ready to devour me.

“I’ll get to it,” he says, his tone maddeningly calm. “Once you’re done throwing your little tantrum.”

I let out a frustrated noise that’s somewhere between a growl and a scream. “This isn’t a tantrum! This is me trying to save the cattle from wandering off because someone—” I jab a finger in his direction. “—didn’t come out when he was hired originally to do the work.”

He pushes off the fence, his movements slow and deliberate, like he has all the time in the world. He’s wearing a worn gray T-shirt that clings to his chest and shoulders in a way that’s probably illegal, and his jeans are just tight enough to make my mouth go dry.

“You’ve got quite the attitude, don’t you?” he says, stopping a few feet away.

“And you’ve got quite the nerve,” I shoot back, refusing to back down even though he’s close enough now that I can see the faint scruff along his jaw and the way his lips quirk up at the corners.

“The cattle ain’t going nowhere with these floodwaters. You’re awfully brave or…” He looks me up and down slowly. “Stupid to get out here like this.”

My mouth drops open, and I fight the urge to hiss at him or slap him.

“I know what I’m doing.”

He reaches up and puts his hand under my chin, closing my mouth as he does. The gentle touch sends a shock right through me. I inhale sharply, but he does, too.

“That’s what they all say,” he says with a low drawl.

“Are you going to fix this, or are you just some creeper who thought he’d follow me out here?”

“Your dad hired me to fix the fence and tame a few wild mares while I’m in town.”

His eyes move slowly over me, like a soft caress that causes heat to pool in my core.

I’m pretty certain he just called me a mare.

I blink, caught off guard. I stare at him, trying to reconcile the cocky, too-handsome-for-his-own-good man in front of me with the experienced horse whisperer my dad described. This can’t be happening.

“Great,” I mutter, more to myself than to him. “Just what I needed.”

“Don’t worry, darlin’,” he says, his grin widening. “I’ll make sure to keep you in line.”

That does it. I take a step forward, jabbing my finger into his chest. It’s solid, of course, because the universe clearly hates me.

“Listen here, cowboy,” I snap. “I don’t need you to keep me in line. I’ve been just fine without you or anyone else trying to tame me. My boyfriend loves me feisty.”

Okay, so Clay has never said that before, but it doesn’t matter. It sounds good.

Jack’s smile doesn’t falter. If anything, it grows. “Sure, you have. That’s why the fence is falling apart, and the cattle are halfway to the ocean.”

My face flushes hot with anger and… something else I refuse to name. “You’ve been here for five minutes, and you think you know everything?”

“Not everything,” he says, leaning in just enough to make my pulse jump. “But I know you’ve got a temper, and I know you’re stubborn as hell.”

“And you’re an arrogant, insufferable—”

His laugh cuts me off, low and rich and infuriatingly attractive. “You’re cute when you’re mad, you know that?”

Before I can respond, he turns and walks away, leaving me standing there, fuming and… okay, maybe a little flustered.

This is going to be a long day if I have to deal with him.

By the time I make it back to the house, I’m still seething. The man’s smug grin is burned into my brain, and I’m half tempted to march back out there and… what? Scream at him some more? Throw a bucket of water on him?

The thought is satisfying, but I push it aside. I’ve got bigger things to worry about, like convincing my dad that hiring him was a mistake. I head back to college in the morning, and I know my feelings have more to do with that rather than this man’s actual capabilities.

Cowboys like him are a dime a dozen around Hicks Creek.

It’s a ranching community, and just about everyone is walking around in muddy boots and cowboy hats.

Ranching is in our blood. He’ll blow through town and break some hearts while he tames the wild horses dad bought at auction, and then we’ll never see him again.

Steer clear of that nonsense.

Unfortunately, my brain goes spastic when it sees a man in boots and those tight Wrangler jeans.

“Brynn?” My mom’s voice carries from the kitchen as I kick off my muddy boots and step inside.

“Yeah, it’s me, Mama,” I call back, heading toward the sound.

Mom’s at the stove cooking dinner, her apron tied around her waist like always.

Dad’s sitting at the table, a cup of coffee in one hand and the newspaper in the other.

He looks up when I enter, his face lighting up with a smile that makes me pause.

I walk over and hug Mom before standing in front of Dad.

“How’s it going out there?” he asks.

“Fine,” I say, forcing a smile. “The guy you hired to fix the fence is…worthless.”

My dad chuckles. “He’s a good man. Give him a chance, Brynn. He’s got a lot of experience, and I think he’ll be a big help around here.”

I bite back the retort on the tip of my tongue and nod. “Sure.”

But as I head upstairs to shower off the day’s grime, I shake my irritation away. He’s hot, but he’s not my problem after today.

The next morning, I walk down to find a note on the kitchen table.

Something came up. Can’t stay. Good luck. JR

“What’s this?” I ask Mom as she’s making breakfast.

“The horse tamer your dad hired bailed,” she sighs. “Your father is devastated. He paid a lot of money to get him here.”

“He stole—”

Mom puts her hand up and smiles back at me. “We’ll figure this out.”

I let out a long, dramatic sigh and plop down in a chair as my mother works her magic on breakfast. I love watching her work; it’s almost as if she’s floating as she dances around and sings.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it, baby. It’ll work out. It always does,” she coos as she kisses the top of my head. “Your dad is out with the horses now. You have school to worry about.”

“Now you’re shorthanded. If I wasn’t away at school, I could have tamed the horses for you. I wish Dad would have let me try.”

“You’re the first in our family to go to college, and you’re going to graduate. Your father isn’t going to risk that not happening.”

“I can—”

She holds up a hand again to stop me. “No, go get your car loaded up to go. Make sure you say your goodbye to Clay without your daddy seeing; he still doesn’t know you two are a couple.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I say with a smile as I give her a quick squeeze.

Clay is a fairly new ranch hand to us, only a year older than me, but we hit it off immediately. It was quite the summer fling to have before leaving for college, and I’m sad that I’m having to leave him behind.

I look out the window and see that my best friend, Rachel, is being dropped off. They’re loading her things into my car, and I rush out to hug her.

“I’m almost ready,” I say, hugging her mom and dad, too.

“Oh, you girls,” her mom, Lora, says with a sigh. “I’m so proud of you both, but this is torture.”

“You still have two more kids at home,” her dad, Jarold, says with a laugh.

“It’s not forever,” Rachel says over her shoulder. Her eyes flit to mine, and she lowers her voice. “How did your last night with Clay go?”

“It was amazing. He is so romantic,” I sigh.

“Too cute.”

We go back to loading up my car. An hour later, we’re saying our goodbyes and making our way back to the University of Alabama.

A month later, Clay and I are on the phone late one night.

“Things are bad,” he says into the phone. “That horse guy really left your dad in a lurch. He had to resell those horses at auction and lost money on them.”

“What?” I gasp. “Mama didn’t say anything.”

“I heard your dad and Bill talking about it. I guess he screwed a few people in town out of some money before he took off suddenly.”

“If I ever lay eyes on that jerk again,” I hiss into the phone.

“There’s no way he’ll show his face around here, so chill out there,” he teases. “Bill warned your dad, saying he was a flaky guy and known for doing stuff like this.”

“What happens now?”

“I don’t know; I’ll keep you posted. I’m glad he left. I didn’t like the way he looked at you. We’ll make the money back, but I know your dad was really looking forward to breeding some of those mustangs.”

It’s so cute that he gets possessive of me.

“I know he was. He was hoping to get into racing.”

Clay and I talk a bit longer before hanging up. I lay down in my bed for the night, staring up at the ceiling and thinking of all the ways that I will strangle that horse whisperer if I ever see him again.

My dad never gambles like that, and I can’t imagine why he took such a chance on this guy.