Chapter Seven
D ale gripped the steering wheel as he navigated the country road toward the ranch, the sun blazing across the familiar landscape. Next to him, Sadie sat with her usual upbeat energy, tapping her fingers lightly on her thigh, no doubt to some tune playing in her head. He admired her for it—her unrelenting positivity—and was grateful for it today, to help counteract his growing frustration.
“You didn’t have to come with me,” she said, glancing over at him with a soft smile. “I can handle the horses. I’ve helped your dad before and have been taking care of them myself for two days now.”
“I know,” he replied, doing his best to keep his tone even. “But after what happened there yesterday, I’m not letting you go out there alone.”
The beauty sent him a sidelong look, clearly not buying his calm demeanor. “I already did this morning. Besides, I’ve been thinking about that. Maybe I just didn’t latch the stalls correctly like I thought.”
“Doubtful,” he muttered, not wanting to get into a debate. “No way was I allowing you to come out here yourself. You’re stuck with an escort. Better safe than sorry.”
Thankfully, she just sighed and didn’t argue further. Sadie Quinn always had this way of digging her heels in when she felt strongly about something, and while he admired her stubbornness, he didn’t want to waste time convincing her that this was for her own safety.
The truth was, Dale wasn’t sure how he felt about having Sadie along. Part of him was relieved to have someone who knew the ranch as well as he did, if not better, after spending so much time helping his dad. But another part of him was on edge, the same part that had kept him alive through years of combat and dangerous missions. He didn’t like the idea of putting her in harm’s way, even if she was more than capable of handling herself.
“Besides,” Sadie continued, breaking into his thoughts, “I promised your dad I’d take care of Orion and Triton. I’ve never broken a promise before and I’m not about to break one now.”
Surprised by the conviction in her voice, he glanced at her and was surprised further when a shaft of warmth spread through his chest at the sincerity he found in her eyes. “I understand, Sadie. But it’s my job to protect people, or at least it was when I was active duty. Still, I don’t like putting you at risk.”
Her expression softened, and she reached over, giving his arm a light squeeze before releasing him. “I appreciate your concern, but I can hold my own. And I’m actually quite miffed that someone might’ve been responsible for your dad’s accident and is endangering his horses.”
Dale nodded. “You and me both.”
They fell into silence for a few more minutes until they reached the turnoff for the ranch and drove down the long drive. As he neared the house, Dale’s heart dropped to his stomach. Orion and Triton were there, standing in the middle of the driveway, their ears flicking nervously while their eyes were wide with fear. Clearly agitated, the horses were shifting restlessly and tossing their heads.
“Stay in the truck,” he ordered as he threw the vehicle into park, cut the engine, then grabbed his gun from the glove compartment.
But Sadie being Sadie, was already unbuckling her seatbelt. “Not on your life. What in the world is going on? Why are they out here? Dale, I swear I put them in the barn this morning and latched the doors tightly. I know I did this time. I even tugged on their doors to be extra sure.”
“Exactly why I wanted you to stay put,” he muttered, stepping out of the truck and moving slowly toward the horses, his eyes scanning the area for any sign of danger. “Something’s not right.”
She inhaled and nodded. “You can say that again. They’re wearing their halters. The halters I took off them this morning before returning them to their stalls.”
Shit.
The horses whinnied low at his approach, their agitation growing as they backed away from him. Dale’s mind raced. These animals didn’t spook easily, and they certainly didn’t get out of the barn on their own. Someone had let them out.
He hoped to God the cameras had captured it.
“Easy, easy,” Sadie murmured softly, moving toward Triton, who was snorting and pawing at the ground. “It’s okay, big guy. It’s just us.”
Dale’s pulse pounded hard as he watched Sadie approach Triton, her soothing voice calming the big horse enough to take hold of his halter. Dale did the same with Orion, though the horse was more skittish than usual, tossing his head and sidestepping nervously.
“Let’s get them back to the barn,” he said, keeping his tone low and even. His eyes never stopped scanning the perimeter, his senses on high alert.
The ranch, usually a place of peace and solitude, felt like a ticking time bomb.
As they carefully led the horses back toward the barn, the wind rustled through the trees, and Dale couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched. His instincts screamed at him to stay vigilant, to expect trouble, but all he could do for now was keep Sadie close and get the horses secured.
She glanced at him, her expression a mix of confusion and concern. “This isn’t normal. They never behave like this.”
“I know,” he replied, leading Orion inside the wide-open barn doors.
The interior was dim and quiet, the familiar smells of hay and leather doing little to ease his unease, although the air inside was absent of the tension he felt crackling outside…coming from the direction of those damn woods.
He guided Orion into his stall and removed his halter while Sadie took care of Triton in his stall.
“Don’t touch the hardware,” he ordered when they exited the stalls. Dale grabbed a screwdriver off a nearby bench to carefully maneuver the latch into place while safeguarding any possible fingerprints. “I suspect these are wiped clean, but it doesn’t hurt to play it safe.”
Sadie peered over his shoulder as he secured both stalls. “Correct, but if they aren’t, my fingerprints will be all over them.”
True.
“I’m going to call Gabe. I’m sure one of his deputies will take your prints to rule them out,” he told her, fishing his phone from his pocket. As he did this, his gaze snagged on the charred remnants of firecrackers scattered in shadows beneath a bench. “Damn.” He moved closer to get a better look.
Of course, Sadie followed, her indrawn breath loud near his ear. “Oh, wow. No wonder the horses were spooked. Poor babies. Who in the world keeps doing this?”
Exactly what he’d like to know. This was getting out of hand. He dialed the sheriff, who picked up on the first ring.
“What’s wrong?”
The guy always did have a keen sense for trouble.
“We’ve got a situation at the ranch again,” he replied. “The horses were out in the driveway, spooked. No signs of forced entry, but we found spent firecrackers near their stalls. Can you swing by?”
“I’m at an accident scene. I’ll be there as soon as I finish,” Gabe replied in a resolute tone Dale recognized from their SEAL days. It worked well for a sheriff too. “Sit tight and keep an eye out.”
After hanging up, he immediately called Carter, grateful he’d had the foresight to exchange numbers with all the guys yesterday.
“Yo, what’s up, Delta?”
“Check the security feeds at my dad’s place,” he replied, then explained how the horses were let out of their stall stalls twice since noon yesterday, and about the spent firecrackers.
“On it.” Carter’s voice was all business now. “I’m pulling them up as we speak. I’ll see what I can find. Stay put, and I’ll call you back as soon as I have something.”
“Roger that.” Dale slipped his phone back into his pocket, frustration tightening his jaw. “All right, we’ve got back-up on the way, and Carter is checking the feed right now.”
Sadie stopped stroking Orion’s nose and turned to face him. “What do we do now?”
Everything in him shouted to go check the grounds, but he wasn’t about to leave her unguarded, and he sure as hell didn’t want her tagging along.
“We wait for Gabe to get here,” he said instead, turning his attention to the stall latches.
Both were solid with no sign of tampering. But that didn’t explain how the horses had gotten out in the first place. There was also no marking to suggest they were locked in when the firecrackers went off.
Aggravated and unable to sit still and do nothing while waiting for the sheriff, Dale met Sadie’s gaze. “Stay here while I search the rest of the barn.”
“Okay.” She nodded, brushing a strand of hair hanging loose from her messy bun off her face. “Don’t need me trampling over possible evidence. Got it.”
Pleased that she understood and wasn’t going to fight him on it, Dale nodded back, then spent the next several minutes searching the barn, his gaze scanning every inch of the place for signs of disturbance.
He checked every stall, the tack room, and feed room, even the hay loft, looking for any clues that might explain what had happened. But there was nothing—no broken locks, no signs of forced entry. Just an unsettling emptiness that gnawed at his gut. Dale even checked the barn doors from the outside and no longer felt the threat of danger lingering in the air.
Relieved and disappointed at the same time, he returned to where he’d left Sadie by the horses’ stalls. “Nothing else looks wrong. Does anything appear to be missing or moved to you?”
“No,” she replied without scanning the area. He was about to ask how she could be sure without looking, when she added, “I glanced around while you searched.”
The woman was nothing if not efficient. Apparently, she didn’t like to sit idle either.
For the first time since their drive over, he smiled. “Of course you did.”
A smile tugged at her lips. “Unproductive is not a Quinn family trait.”
“I’m beginning to see that,” he said before returning his attention back to their predicament. “Someone had to have opened the stalls and doors before lighting the firecrackers. But who? And why?”
Sadie frowned, her eyes scanning the barn as if the walls themselves might hold answers. “I don’t know. To my knowledge, everyone loves your dad. Especially the single women in my neighborhood.”
He grunted. “I gathered as much from the floral shop continuing to grow in his room. Soon there’ll be no room for him.”
She chuckled, the light, sweet sound echoing around them, warming some of the chill that had settled in his bones. “Just wait until he’s home. You’re going to need to run blocker for him, because I can guarantee there’s going to be an abundance of casseroles and stews headed his way, all with the hope that the cooks can share it with him.”
Muttering a curse, Dale leaned his back against an empty stall. The last thing he needed was a bunch of strangers wanting access to the house. Didn’t matter whether they were culprit or innocent bystanders, either way it was dangerous.
“That’s not good,” he finally said.
She moved to stand next to him. “It’s not all bad.”
Intrigued, he turned to face. “What do you mean?”
“There is one woman your dad fancies and will want you to let in the house.”
Shock rippled through Dale fast and fierce. “No way.”
Since his mother’s desertion, he’d never even seen his dad look twice at a woman, and like now, there had been plenty who’d tried to capture his attention.
“Yes way.” Sadie laughed. “Her name is Collette Clark, but everyone calls her CeCe. She has auburn hair, gorgeous blue eyes, and she’s very nice.”
He stiffened. People thought his mother was nice, too. His dad didn’t need to go down that dirt road again.
“Ah, I can see you’re skeptical. Don’t be. CeCe is in her mid-fifties but doesn’t look a day over forty. I’m going to have to find out what her secret is,” Sadie mumbled to herself. “And don’t go thinking she’s after his money because she’s not. She’s a widow of a techie who moved here from Seattle last year.”
Dale blew out a breath, secretly happy to hear that piece of news. “He’s a grown man.” He shrugged. “It’s not my concern.”
He truly had no desire to stick his nose in his father’s business, and absolutely wanted him to be happy. He just hoped to hell the guy knew what he was doing.
Compassion filled Sadie’s gaze, and she lifted a hand to touch his arm. “But you are concerned, and you should be. He’s your father. It’s okay to worry about him.”
As they stood together in the quiet barn, the only sounds were the soft rustling of hay and the occasional snort from Orion and Triton, now safely back in their stalls. The pair had calmed down considerably, and Dale wondered if they too had sensed the threat was gone.
Golden sunlight filtered through the wooden slats, casting a warm, honeyed glow over everything.
Dale took in the sight of Sadie standing there, her face framed by loose tendrils of hair that had escaped her messy bun. The warmth from her soft gaze removed his negative thoughts and upped his pulse.
“Thanks,” he began, his voice low and sincere, “I’ve had to bury emotions and thoughts of family for so long now it’s like navigating a tornado filled with debris. But I’m not going to lie, it is kind of freeing to know I don’t have to suppress them anymore. Of course, it’s going to take a while to remember that.”
She continued to hold his gaze, her eyes bright and filled with that unshakable kindness he was quickly becoming addicted to. “You don’t have to thank me, Dale. It’s…it’s just what you do for the people you care about.”
More warmth spread through his chest, along with an unfamiliar tenderness. “You saying you care about me, Sadie?”
A blush colored her beautiful face, deepening the twinkle in her eyes. “Pretty sure the heat in my cheeks gives that away, just like when we were back in high school. But in case you need to hear words of confirmation, then, yes, Dale, I do care about you.”
Despite knowing now was the worst time to let his guard down, he reached out, gently brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear, unable to stop his fingers from lingering a moment longer than necessary. “Well, just so you know, I care about you too, Sadie. More than I probably should.”
Her breath caught and her gaze searched his as if trying to read the depth of his words. The world outside seemed to fade away, leaving just the two of them in the soft light of the barn, their connection palpable and strong.
It was crazy and incredible and dangerous.
Before he could second-guess himself, Dale leaned in, pausing just inches from her lips, giving her the chance to pull away. But instead, her eyes fluttered shut, and she tilted her head slightly.
With her silent invitation clear, he closed the gap, his lips meeting hers. An unexpected, current of heat passed between them, and the unhurried kiss he’d intended quickly jumped from gentle to hungry. The warmth of her response sent a rush of need through him. He deepened the kiss, his hand slipping to the back of her neck, holding her close as he tasted and explored with an uncontrollable fervor.
Sadie’s hands found their way to his chest, clutching the fabric of his shirt as she kissed him back, her warmth and softness grounding him in a way nothing else could. The world outside the barn ceased to exist, leaving only the two of them and their out-of-control need.
The only reason he drew back was so they could suck air into their starved lungs. Admiration joined the desire and need already rushing through Dale. During BUD/s training, he’d held top honors for holding his breath the longest, and she’d just stayed with him for the entirety of their incredible kiss.
There was a lot more to Sadie Quinn than he’d ever realized.
Still sucking in air, he set his forehead against hers, a smile spreading across his lips. “I’ve been wanting to do that for a while,” he admitted.
Her beautiful brown eyes sparkled as she looked up at him with a matching smile. “Been fourteen years for me.”
“Did I disappoint?” he couldn’t help but ask.
Her smile widened as she patted his chest. “Not sure how to answer. I’m thinking I should say yes, so that you’ll try again.”
A wave of desire pulsed through him at her clever attempt for more.
He cupped her face. “Oh, either way, I’m definitely kissing you again.”
“Then let’s see what you’ve got, SEAL boy,” she murmured, gripping his shirt again.
Dale grunted and was about to crush her close when he heard several footsteps rushing toward the barn.
Alarm tore through him, replacing desire with a massive surge of dread.
Shit!
In one quick move, he had Sadie behind him and his gun aimed at the barn doors.