Chapter 5
“Ididn’t ask for a horse.” Corbin stared at the horse Jesse had just backed out of the trailer. The beast was huge, solid black, and scary looking as hell.
Jesse grinned from ear to ear. “If you’re going to be a rancher, Whitty, you’re going to need to learn how to ride. In order to ride, you need to have a horse.” He stroked the horse’s forehead and the animal jerked his head away. “This here is Damian.”
“As in the satanic kid in that horror movie?”
Jesse’s brow knitted. “Hmm? I don’t believe I saw that one. But if you don’t like his name you can change it. How about Homer?”
“That horse looks like a Homer as much as Satan looks like an angel.”
“I believe Satan was an angel,” Sunny piped up. “Just a fallen one.” She stood with the horse Jesse had brought her, stroking its shiny brown coat and looking like she was about to bust from happiness. Corbin should have bought her a horse—one much smaller than the one she was fawning over—and he was a little miffed that he hadn’t thought of it. “How about Oreo?” she said.
“I’m not riding a horse named Oreo.”
“Then Homer it is.” Jesse grinned brightly. “Now let’s get him saddled up so we can start your first lesson, Whitty.”
Corbin stared at the horse that was snorting and pulling at the reins Jesse held. “Today?”
“Don’t tell me you have other plans. Mimi told Liberty when she called this morning that you were cussing up a storm because you can’t get anyone out to fix the Wi-Fi. Without Wi-Fi, you can’t get much work done.”
“I have plenty of work that doesn’t need Wi-Fi. And I was not cussing up a storm.” He’d only gotten out a few choice words before Mimi had scolded him for using bad language. She’d also scolded him for not pulling out Sunny’s chair at breakfast and for carrying Tay around too much and not giving her enough space to be a cat.
Which was why Tay wasn’t in his arms where she belonged. He wasn’t happy about it. Not happy at all. If Mimi wasn’t bossing him around, Hank was trying to teach him how to fix a chicken coop or replace shingles on the roof or muck out a stall. He hadn’t realized how many jobs there were to do on a ranch that had nothing to do with being a cool cowboy.
Clint Eastwood wouldn’t be caught dead shoveling horse poop.
“Come on, Whitty,” Jesse said. “Riding isn’t that bad. As an ex-rodeo roper, I know my way around horses. I promise I won’t let you get hurt . . . too much. Falling off is just part of riding.”
The memory of Belle flying off the back of the horse had Corbin’s stomach knotting. But he couldn’t back down. Not when owning a ranch had been all his idea.
It had been a bad one.
He figured that out after he settled into Homer’s saddle and realized how far it was from the ground.
“Now see. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Jesse stood in front of the horse, holding the reins. “We’re going to start out with a nice easy walk around the paddock.”
Start out? As far as Corbin was concerned, a nice easy walk around the paddock was all he planned to do today. Sunny had other plans. While he was getting the hang of walking the horse around the paddock—with Jesse right beside him on the big bay horse that had been in the barn—Sunny was practicing riding her horse in the field behind the barn.
It looked like she didn’t need practice. She had gotten much more accomplished since the horseback riding excursion she and Corbin had gone on when she was in college. Watching her gallop across a field that was no doubt filled with potholes and gopher holes, at a neck-breaking pace, scared the hell out of him.
“Go stop her, Jesse,” he said. “Now.”
“She’s fine, Whitty. It looks like she got the family knack with horses.” Jesse lifted an eyebrow. “Some of the family.”
Corbin glared at him. “Very funny.”
Jesse laughed. “Lighten up. I’m teasing. You’re doing great and ready to brave the wilds.” He opened the gate.
Corbin shook his head. “I’m not ready.”
“Of course you are. Just loosen your grip on the reins a little and quit sitting in the saddle like a stiff poker. If you can stare down a hard-ass business mogul and get his money to invest, you can handle riding a horse.”
“I’d rather stare down a hard-ass mogul,” he said as the horse walked out of the paddock.
Jesse followed and moved up next to him. “Then why are you here? Why aren’t you back in your office in Houston?”
“I told you. This is all for Sunny.”
Jesse studied him for a long moment. Corbin knew Jesse was torn between wanting Liberty’s family to keep their ranch and wanting his new sister to be happy. While Corbin and Jesse had met almost three years ago, Jesse and Sunny had just met a month ago. Still, it was easy to see the bond between them. They looked like their daddy while Corbin looked more like his and Sunny’s mother.
It hadn’t been a surprise that Daddy had fooled around with another woman and gotten her pregnant. Or that the woman had turned out to be a child abuser and the state had taken Jesse away from her. Daddy had never gone for motherly women. What had been surprising was that Jesse had been adopted by one of the wealthiest families in Texas and had still come looking for his half brother and sister. And not just looking for them, but wanting a relationship with them.
Corbin had tried blowing him off. He hadn’t wanted anything to do with his brother by another mother. But Jesse had refused to give up. No matter how many times Corbin ignored his calls and texts, Jesse kept right on calling and texting. He’d shown up at Corbin’s work and offered advice. He followed him to bars and bought him drinks. When Corbin had told him about his dream to start his own investment company, Jesse had offered to stake him. Still, thanks to his parents’ desertion, it had taken Corbin a long time before he completely trusted Jesse.
He trusted him now.
Jesse trusted him too.
He smiled his big dopey smile. “Well, if this ranch is what Sunny wants, then this ranch is what Sunny will get.” He glanced over to where their sister was riding in circles. “Hey, Sunny! I’m heading over to Rome’s to help with branding, you want to come?”
Before Corbin could get after Jesse for making the offer, Sunny yelled back. “Hell yeah, I do! I’ll race you to the Remingtons’.” With a loud “Yeehaw!” she took off across the pasture.
Jesse laughed. “I better go after her so she doesn’t get lost.” He took off and called over his shoulder. “Just take Homer back into the barn and I’ll unsaddle him later.”
Unfortunately, Homer had other ideas . . . like joining the fun and chasing after Jesse’s and Sunny’s horses. Corbin had to hang on for dear life or end up in the dirt. It took him a good while to get the horse to slow down. When Homer finally came to a stop, Corbin realized two things. Sunny and Jesse were nowhere in sight and he didn’t have a clue where he was.
Cussing out his siblings, he took out his phone and tried pulling up GPS. For some reason, it wasn’t working. Probably the same reason he couldn’t get Wi-Fi at the house. He was living in a dead zone.
And a hot zone.
The temperature had to be in the high nineties already and it wasn’t even noon yet. If Homer didn’t decide to toss him off and break his neck, he was going to die of thirst and heat exposure. Not that Homer looked like he was about to buck him off. In fact, he seemed as drained by the heat as Corbin and was plodding along as if the next step would be his last.
Did horses drop dead from heat?
Corbin had a lot of pride. If it had just been him wandering around in the heat, he would have kept going—even if they found his skeleton remains years later. But he wasn’t about to let his pride kill a horse. He guided Homer over to the shade of a mesquite tree, dismounted, and called Sunny.
She answered right away. “Geez, Cory, I’m fine. So stop worrying about me. I’m not going to get a big Y branded over my heart. I’m just standing on the fence watching. You should see how efficient this is. Rome, Casey, and their crew have already inoculated, tagged, and branded like fifty cows. It’s unbelievable . . . and sexy as hell. I might just have to marry me a cowboy. I’m thinking Casey Remington might do.”
“You’re not getting married until you’re older. And while you’ve been gawking at Casey, Homer and I have been wandering around lost.”
There was a long pause. “Wait a second. You followed us? Jesse and I thought you stayed back at the ranch.”
“I wanted to, but Homer had other ideas.”
A burst of laughter came through the receiver before Sunny yelled. “Hey, Jesse, you’re not going to believe this, but Corbin followed us and is now lost.” More laughter before Jesse came on.
“Hey, Whitty! So you’re lost, huh?” The smirk in his voice was extremely annoying.
“I’m sure you two are real amused. But you won’t be if this horse drops dead of thirst and heat.” Jesse snorted with laughter and Corbin scowled. “It’s not funny, Jess. Get me some water and a trailer for this horse and get it now!”
“Don’t freak out, Whitty. Where are you?”
“If I knew that, I wouldn’t be lost, now would I?”
“Look around. Are there any distinguishing landmarks?”
Corbin glanced around. “A bunch of rocks and mesquite trees, a dead gnarled oak tree that looks like it’s flipping me off—shit, is that a horse skull?”
“I’m sure it’s a mule deer skull.”
“And that’s better?”
Jesse laughed, but quickly sobered. “Okay. You have to be somewhere from here to the Holiday Ranch. I don’t know the area very well, but I’m sure I can find someone who does and can tell me where the fuck-you tree is. Although most of those folks are pretty busy right now—wait, there’s Belle and Cloe.”
“Don’t—” Before Corbin could finish, Jesse hung up.
“Dammit!” he yelled up at the clear blue sky. The last person he wanted to know he was lost was Belle Holiday. And he didn’t know why. What difference did it make if she knew he was inept at finding his way from one ranch to another? He didn’t care what she thought.
But a good twenty minutes later, he couldn’t stop the rush of embarrassment that flooded his body when he realized who was driving the pickup truck headed toward him.
The Remington Ranch truck stopped only feet away and Belle hopped out. She was dressed like she had been yesterday when she was tossed off the horse. A T-shirt, jeans, and roper boots. But this time, her T-shirt wasn’t white, soaking wet, and see through. It was pink and no doubt matched the blush on his cheeks. Which made him snappish.
“What are you doing here? Jesse was supposed to come.”
If his rudeness bothered her, she didn’t let on. “He and Sunny wanted to finish watching the branding. And since I knew exactly where you were, I volunteered.” She moved to the back of the truck and pulled down the tailgate. When he saw her struggling with a large white container of water, he hurried over to help. Their hands brushed as he took it from her and heat speared through him at the mere touch of her cool skin.
Maybe he had heatstroke. It seemed like the only logical explanation.
He quickly took it from her and then almost dropped it when he turned and saw Homer standing right behind him. Belle didn’t comment on his fear of the horse, but there was a slight smile on her lips.
Lips that had completely screwed with his mind the night before.
Of course, it hadn’t been her lips as much as Mimi’s strong elderberry wine that had him seconds from kissing Belle.
At least, that’s what he kept telling himself.
“Pour some water in here,” Belle said as she snapped open what looked like a round canvas tote. Corbin unscrewed the cap from the container and tipped water into the tote. He expected Homer to dive in and start drinking. Instead, the horse just stood there.
“Drink up, Homer,” he said.
“Homer?” Belle reached out and stroked the horse’s neck. “You don’t look like a Homer. And it doesn’t look like you’re thirsty either.” She glanced at Corbin. “Horses can go a long time without water.”
“How exactly was I supposed to know that? He was plodding along like he was on his last leg.”
“Horses are extremely intuitive. He was probably taking his cues from you and knew you didn’t like going fast.”
“I wish he had figured that out before he took off after Jesse and Sunny and almost dumped me on my head.”
A smile tickled the corners of her mouth again. A mouth he had trouble keeping his gaze from. “I would have liked to see that.”
He scowled. “I’m sure you would have.”
“You shouldn’t let it hurt your pride. I’ve been on runaway horses numerous times.” She reached into the cooler in the bed of the truck and pulled out a bottle of water. He gratefully accepted it. Homer might not be thirsty, but he certainly was.
“Thanks.” He unscrewed the lid and guzzled most of it before he lowered the bottle to find Belle watching him with the same look she had given him last night when his finger was pressed against her lip. Last night, he had blamed it on the wine. Today, he didn’t know what to blame it on. Belle wasn’t sexually interested in him.
Was she?
He mentally shook the thought from his head and returned to their conversation. “And not being able to control a runaway horse didn’t hurt your pride?”
“Control and pride aren’t really my flaws. They’re Liberty’s.”
“And what are yours?”
She hesitated for a moment before she spoke. “Bad decisions.”
“I’m not sure I understand. What kind of bad decisions are we talking about?”
“All the decisions I make without help are usually bad. Grocery store lines, clothing, hairstyles, ice cream flavors.”
He stared at her. “How can you make a bad decision about ice cream? I don’t think I’ve ever met an ice cream I didn’t like.”
“Have you ever tasted licorice ice cream?”
He squinted. “You actually ordered licorice ice cream?”
“I love licorice so I thought I’d like it in ice cream. It turns out some flavors are just not meant to be mixed with cream.”
“True, but you never know until you try. And that wasn’t a bad decision. It was just a test. It might have turned out to be your favorite ice cream of all time.”
She scrunched up her face. “Licorice?”
He didn’t want to find this woman cute, but damned if he couldn’t help laughing. “You’re right. The odds were against you, but it’s still not what I would call a bad decision. Now, allowing your brother to talk you into riding a wild-eyed beast is a bad decision.” Homer chose that moment to come up and nudge his shoulder. He tentatively stroked the horse’s soft forehead. When he glanced over, Belle was smiling.
“You don’t look too upset about riding that wild beast.”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t as bad as I thought. So how did you know where to find me?”
She glanced at the gnarled tree. “As kids, it was my and Liberty’s secret place that none of our other sisters knew about. We even hid a time capsule in the hollow trunk when we were thirteen. We planned to come back and take it out when we both turned thirty.” Her eyes grew sad. “But I’m sure she’s forgotten all about it now.”
After what she’d done to him, he didn’t think he’d ever feel sympathy for her, but he’d been wrong. He knew what it was like to love your sibling above all else. Sunny was the only one who was always there for him. The only one he could count on no matter what. He’d come to love Jesse, but he still didn’t love him like he loved his sister. He and Sunny were connected by more than just blood. They were connected by the things they’d lived through.
It looked like Belle and Liberty were the same.
“I’m sure she hasn’t forgotten the tree or your time capsule,” he said. “She’s just a little consumed with Jesse right now. It won’t last. Jesse’s smart. He’ll figure it out.”
Belle stared at him. “Figure what out?”
“That Liberty isn’t who he thinks she is.”
Her eyes flared with temper. He was surprised. He’d never thought of her as the fiery one. “And just what does that mean? If anyone will figure it out, it will be Liberty. From what I’ve heard, Jesse is nothing but a wandering rodeo bum who can’t stay in one place long enough to get a mailing address.”
“I wouldn’t call a multi-millionaire a rodeo bum, but you’re right about Jesse not staying in one place for very long. Which is another reason I’m convinced it won’t last.”
“So you think Jesse is just going to take off one day and leave my sister with a broken heart?”
“I think it’s as possible as your sister changing her mind and breaking Jesse’s heart.” He cocked a brow. “Something I have personal experience with. And why do you look so upset? Isn’t that what you’re hoping for? You’re hoping they’ll break up so you can have your sister all to yourself.”
Belle opened her mouth as if to argue, but then slowly closed it. Her deflated look bothered him for some reason and he found himself softening his voice. “Look, I get it. You love her and you don’t want to lose her.”
She glanced at him. “Is that why you wanted our ranch? You thought it was a way to keep Sunny close to you?”
He should have left it at that. Belle didn’t deserve his truth. But for some reason, he gave it to her anyway. “I want Sunny to have it all—a husband, a family, a happily-ever-after. Once she does, I’ll be content to fade into the background.”
Belle’s mismatched eyes seemed to drill right through him. “What about you? Don’t you want a happily-ever-after?”
He had once. Once he’d dreamed about a ranch and a wife and a passel of dark-haired daughters. But it had been a foolish dream. Now, he was anything but foolish.
“I’ve learned it’s best not to want too much. That way you’re never disappointed when you don’t get it.”