Anne's Courage [Le Club 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) (5 page)

“I should check in downstairs as well,” she said. “Then I’m at your disposal. I wouldn’t mind a ride out to the farm, or I could spend a few hours at the pool while you wrap up your obligations, whatever you’d like to do.”

“Why don’t you check in at your office, spend some time at the pool, and we can drive out to the farm in the afternoon,” he said decisively.

The natural black bottom pool was the Saturday mornings’ meeting place for the ladies at the club, and the usual suspects were there. Anne, dressed in riding clothes, joined Calleigh Steele and Paula Greenley who had been best friends since college, and Robbie Hamilton with whom they had been friendly for quite some time. Robbie and Paula wore tiny little thong bikinis while Calleigh wore a low-cut black maillot that minimized her baby belly. Anne knew that the three women were known to get into mischief on a regular basis and had been responsible for the departure of Adrienne Vierra, the only female member of the club and a vicious Domme.

Calleigh, Paula, and Robbie had been friends and confidants and had recently inducted Kelly Anderson Devereau into the group. Calleigh and Paula had been bridesmaids in Kelly’s wedding the weekend before and were busy dissecting the event when Anne joined them. She knew they would be surprised to see her as she was usually too busy in her office to spend time at the pool.

“Well, good morning, Anne, I’m glad to see you take a little time away from your desk,” Calleigh said with a welcoming smile.

“And I should be there now since Kelly isn’t here. I don’t know how I am going to replace her, but I can’t help but be delighted that she and Justin have found each other,” Anne said as she settled herself in one of the wide wicker chaises at pool side.

“The wedding was lovely,” Paula said. “Wait until you see the spread in the magazine. It’s going to be spectacular. Kelly made a really lovely bride, and what can you say about Justin? He’s pretty ‘lovely’ as well.”

“I don’t know if I should be seen with you three ladies. It might be dangerous to my reputation and career since you all are notorious troublemakers,” Anne joked.

“Who us?” they chorused innocently.

She laughed. “I only have a little time anyway. I don’t suppose you can cook up a plot that quickly. I’m going out to Devereau Plantation for a ride with Jamie this afternoon.”

“Yes, I understand from Max that you’ve been taking riding lessons from Jamie.” Calleigh grinned, curiosity lighting her eyes. “How’s that working out for you?”

Anne blushed. “You all are incorrigible! I can see why you’re always in trouble!”

Calleigh Steele was tall with wavy, blonde-streaked, dark-honey hair and a curvy figure. She and Paula Greenley had been college roommates. Paula, was barely five two with a cap of dark, curly hair and a compact, athletic figure. Robbie was a tall, gorgeous redhead of forty-five, who, with her husband, Mike, owned one of the most prestigious Thoroughbred farms in Ocala.

Anne reached for a magazine. “It’s a
beautiful
day.”

Paula laughed. “Anne, you might as well give it up. You know you can’t keep a juicy story from this group!”

Anne looked a little chagrined, then she smiled. “You may have been able to weasel the details out of Kelly, but I’m a tougher nut to crack!”

“Fair enough. Just remember we’re here for you,” Calleigh said. “Justin and Kelly’s house is almost finished, and I’ve started on Jamie’s place. The next project will be a new residence for Max Warwick. He’s such a nice gentleman. What’s the scoop with him and Anamaria Sanchez, the wedding consultant? They looked thick as thieves at the wedding.” Calleigh had been the Project Architect on the Laurel Oak Estate project. She had designed the entire Le Club facility, without ever knowing its intended purpose as a BDSM sex club, and as a result had gotten involved with and married Jason Steele, a prominent local attorney and one of the founding members of the club. She was currently eight months pregnant and looking forward to the delivery of her first child in May.

Paula piped up, “I don’t know, but it looked interesting. She’s a very nice woman, and I just adore Max. Maybe a little December-December romance. Wouldn’t that be great?”

“They did seem to be enjoying each other’s company,” Anne replied.

“So really, Anne, what’s the scoop with you and Jamie Devereau?” Paula asked, always on the hunt for a good piece of gossip. As the editor of one of the local magazines, she usually knew what was up around town. Her insatiable curiosity had gotten her into more than a little trouble. Paula was the “sub-in-training” of Trent Redding, a prominent heart surgeon and professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He was having a hard time keeping her in line.

“Jamie has been very generous with his time in giving me riding lessons out at the farm. It’s really nothing more than that. It seemed a shame to be in the middle of horse country and not know how to ride.”

At that moment, Jamie walked up to the pool, smiled his devastating smile, and said, “Hello, ladies. I just spoke with Jason and Trent, and I think we’re all meeting for dinner in the dining room tonight.” He bent down, kissed Anne’s neck, and said, “Let’s go, cher.”

“
Right
!” the three women said in unison.

“Not a thing is going on!” Paula chirped.

Anne blushed. “I was right. You three are nothing but trouble! I’ll see you later.”

Jamie had no sooner parked Justin’s black Range Rover in front of the barn when Max and Manuel, the assistant barn manager and head groom, rushed out to intercept him as he was helping Anne from the car. Max looked extremely upset. He said, “Jamie, Jester has been injured. I’ve called the vet, and he should be here momentarily.”

“What happened?” Jamie asked.

“When I went to move Jester to the center aisle for grooming this morning, I saw four gashes on his side,” Manuel replied. “He was very skittish when I went into the stall with him, and he’s never like that. I immediately called Mr. Max, and he came right down to the barn.”

“The gashes are not too deep, but they may require some stitches. I can tell you I don’t look forward to telling Justin about this. He will be beside himself, and he’s too far away to be of any help,” Max said. “He loves that horse like a child.”

“Let’s wait and see what the vet says before we call Justin,” Jamie replied as he walked into the barn to see the injuries for himself. As Max had said, the four gashes were not too deep and were evenly spaced on Jester’s barrel. “These look like marks from a pitchfork,” he said tentatively as he glanced at a pitchfork leaning against the wall and noticed the tines were spaced the same distance apart as the marks on Jester’s side. “I don’t want to jump to any conclusions, but who has had unsupervised access to Jester’s stall?”

“Well, Mr. Jamie, all of the grooms, the stall cleaners, exercise riders. Anyone really,” Manuel replied anxiously.

“We need to find out what happened,” Jamie said. “This really doesn’t look like an accident. We can’t leave Jester vulnerable to another attack, but we can’t accuse anyone without evidence either.”

Anne put her hand on Jamie’s arm. “Can I make a suggestion? The security team at the club is excellent. Why don’t you have Tom Lange, the head of club security, come out and set up surveillance, cameras in Jester’s stall and at the entrances to the barn. They can be monitored from another location.”

“That’s an excellent idea,” Max said as Jamie gave her a grateful smile. “We can set it up in the small house I’m currently using. It’s close to the barn, and someone can monitor the cameras from there. We can set up shifts.”

Just then the veterinarian’s truck rolled up to the barn, and Dr. Jeb Samuels jumped out and moved quickly to the back of the truck. He lifted the hatch and opened the back, exposing all of his mobile veterinary equipment. He said, “Well, let me look at Jester and see what we have to do.”

Jester was tied in the cross ties in the center aisle of the barn. He was standing calmly, although blood was oozing from the wounds in his side. Dr. Samuels examined the wounds then went back to his truck for supplies. “These are not too deep, but they will require a few stitches. I’ll clean them out and get started,” he said.

“Doc, they look like wounds from a pitchfork to me. What do you think?” Jamie asked.

The vet looked from the horse’s side to the pitchfork leaning against the wall. He picked it up and looked it over carefully. “This looks like blood on the tines,” he said. “I don’t like the looks of this. It appears to be deliberate.”

Dr. Samuels retrieved his equipment from the truck. He then numbed the wound area and gave Jester an antibiotic shot. Next he carefully cleaned and stitched Jester’s wounds. “I have to say that anyone would be extremely foolish to attack a horse this size, especially a stallion in his stall. His hooves would be very dangerous in close quarters if he were upset and felt cornered. He could have reared up and crushed his assailant. I’m surprised the culprit wasn’t injured. You might want to be on the lookout for anyone who has recently sustained an injury.”

Jester was returned to his stall to rest, and although he was outwardly calm, Jamie could see the anxiety in his very expressive eyes. Jamie was furious. This had happened on his watch, and while he knew he wasn’t at fault, he felt responsible. Justin had left Jester in his care.

Jamie watched as Anne walked over to Jester’s stall with an offering of sugar cubes which were gratefully snuffled up by Jester’s big black muzzle as his whiskers tickled her palm. She put her arms around his huge neck and just hung on. Jamie could see that she was comforting him as well as herself. Jamie walked toward the tack room and pulled his cell phone from his pocket to call Tom Lange at the club for a security consultation.
God help the bastard who did this when I get my hands on him
.

Tom Lange, the head of security for Le Club, came out to the farm immediately with his assistant, Paul Smith, and set up small cameras in Jester’s stall and at each entrance to the barn. A laptop computer for monitoring the surveillance equipment was set up in the small manager’s cottage near the barn.

Since the cottage was Max’s temporary quarters, none of the farm staff would be going in to see the security setup inside. Additional arrangements were made to have the cameras monitored off-site around the clock on a rotating schedule by employees of the security company. None of the farm staff were to know that anything was amiss. Jester’s injury was passed off as a mishap that had happened when he was turned out to pasture.

In addition to the camera surveillance, Jamie and Max worked out a schedule with Manuel, the assistant barn manager, and the security personnel to keep a physical eye on Jester. Although it would look as though nothing had changed, Jester was not to be left alone until the matter had been resolved.

The unpleasant task of informing Justin of the incident fell to Jamie. Jamie assured him that Jester was fine, and he would probably heal without any scars. He assured him that security precautions had been taken to see that no other incidents befell the horse, and cameras had been installed in an attempt to determine who was responsible. Needless to say, Justin was very concerned for the big horse who was his best buddy, martial arts partner, and who had been the solace in his life when his fiancée had been killed in an automobile accident the year before.

“Try to relax and enjoy the rest of your honeymoon, Justin. I have this under control and will keep you informed of any developments. Anne is plying Jester with sugar cubes, and he’s eating out of her hand, literally. A surveillance set up has been installed in Max’s cottage, you know, the one near the barn. Also, we’ve arranged physical security for Jester, so help will be right on hand if anything further occurs. Give my best to Kelly. Tell her the big guy misses her but that he’s okay.”

“Thanks, Jamie,” Justin said from his farm in Provence. “I’m too damn far away, and I feel helpless. It brings back bad memories of Alexa’s accident. I was too far away when that happened, too.”

“Don’t worry, bro. Max and I have it under control.”

As Jamie and Anne dressed for the evening in the Ming Suite, Jamie took her in his arms and hugged her tight. “Thanks for your support today and for the excellent idea about the security team. I was upset, and I really appreciated the input,” he said into her neck.

“My pleasure. I can’t imagine why anyone would do a thing like that. I hope we find something out soon. It’s kind of nerve-racking knowing that someone is out there who would hurt an animal. Do you have any ideas who might have done this? Is there anyone on the farm with a criminal record or anything like that?” She burrowed into his warm embrace.

“Not that I know of. Justin brought some of the farm hands down from the Plantation in Louisana and hired the rest here. I don’t really know anything about most of them. I feel better knowing that not only are Tom’s people monitoring the cameras, but someone is actually in the barn with Jester at all times.” Jamie knew that the ultimate responsibility for Jester’s safety was his, and that Justin had trusted his most prized possession to his care. Jester was more than just a horse, he was Justin’s best friend and martial arts partner. While they would take the same precautions for any animal in their care, Jester was definitely special.