Chapter Thirteen
With the storm’s strong winds blowing across the pastures, a chill in the air had replaced the Texas heat as the heavy rain fell around her. Ignoring the rain pelting her face, Elise raced across the open fields toward the southwest side of the ranch.
As she approached the downed fence, she slowed her horse and dismounted. Walking over to a secure area, she tied Lightning’s reins to a post and sloshed through the puddles of water in the grass until she reached the area where a couple of the ranch hands and May worked to repair the fence.
Elise noted the barbed wire had broken in two sections of the fence right next to one another, making the repair even more difficult since they’d need leverage from a secured post in between to help stretch the barbed wire taut. Nor did the torrential rain help matters. She watched as they worked to pull the wire taut, but due to the saturated ground, the opposite post shifted whenever they tried to put their full weight behind it.
Dogs barking off in the distance drew her attention. Elise glanced up to see Colt, Mace, Cade, Rick and a couple other men rounding up groups of cattle that had apparently left through the broken area of the fence to huddle together under a couple of huge oak trees up on the hillside. The dogs worked the sides of the herd, keeping them in line as the group slowly moved back in the direction of the downed fence.
Seeing the cattle approach spurred her into action. She tapped Frank on the shoulder and pointed to the other broken area, yelling over the raging storm, “We’ve got maybe ten minutes before the herd is back inside the fence. Let’s have the fence as ready to go as possible so that when they come, all we have to do is the final hook-up and stretch.”
Frank nodded his agreement and called May to take over so he could help Elise start the next section.
Elise pulled on her gloves and she and Frank worked quickly. She felt every ache and strain in her muscles as she tried to use leverage to help tighten the barbed wire against the post, but her boots couldn’t gain purchase in the wet grass and mud beneath her feet. The hood slipped off her head as she fell down in the muck. Now that her head was thoroughly soaked and the cold rain slipped down in the collar of her coat, drenching her clothes, she jumped back up and pulled even harder. Elise’s heart raced as her adrenaline and anger at the situation coalesced to give her the additional strength she needed to complete her task.
She and Frank were almost done with their repairs, but they paused and moved out of the way as the herd walked through the opening in the fence. The animals’ bodies were a slow-moving mass and they even seemed to moo their displeasure in unison. She couldn’t decide if their incessant mooing was due to the fact they’d just lost their newfound freedom or from fear of the storm flashing and booming around them.
When the last cow entered the fence, immediately followed by the men and dogs, Elise and the ranch hand moved in to make the final repair to close off the fence.
Deciding to test the repaired wire one last time before they connected the broken pieces, Elise hooked the wrecking bar tool against a barb and pulled hard, putting all her weight behind it. To her surprise, the wire snapped. As she started to fall, the barbed wire came flying back toward her. She tensed and closed her eyes at the same time she turned her head, hoping to avoid the sharp barbs.
She heard a grunt of pain as a strong arm encircled her waist, catching her before she hit the ground. Opening her eyes, she saw Colt fling the other end of the barbed wire away.
Elise dropped the tool as he pulled her into his arms and held her close. “I meant to warn ya about the barbed wire. Old barb can still have a helluva recoil on it, sweetheart,” he said in a hoarse tone.
She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his chest against his rain slicker. Even with the rain pouring around them, she could smell his masculine aroma. The comforting scent seeped into her bones, warming her despite the cold rain hammering down on her shoulders and jacket. While Colt held her, his hat provided cover for her head and face from the wet deluge.
Colt kissed her forehead and pulled her coat’s hood back over her head. “Let’s finish up so you can get inside and dry off.”
Elise stared at him. Though he’d smiled at her for a brief moment, something was on his mind. His body felt tense, his tone had been matter-of-fact as he stepped away from her.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
He nodded toward the fence as Frank repaired the final barbed wire. “That was Jackson’s handiwork.”
“You think he sabotaged the fence? How do you know?”
Colt picked up some of the discarded old barbed wire that had snapped when Elise applied too much pull. He showed her one end. “See this, it’s rusted and brittle.” Flipping the wire around, careful to avoid the barbs, he continued, “Now look at this side. The edge is smooth and shiny. No oxidation has reached the inside.” Pointing to the side of the wire, he indicated the two embedded ridges along the outside of the wire. “Whatever tool was used, it has a chip in it.”
She jerked her gaze to his, her heart racing. “It’s been cut.”
Colt pressed his lips in a thin line. “Exactly.”
He glanced at someone over her shoulder and called out, “Rick, you, Cade and Jim take first shift. Chase, Frank and I will take second.”
Colt walked over and placed a hand on May’s shoulder, “Thank you for your quick discovery. Who knows how many more cattle we would be rounding up if we hadn’t acted so quickly once you alerted us to the downed fence?”
She flashed him a brilliant smile. “All in a day’s work around the ranch, Colt. You know I always do my part.” Her gaze shifted to Elise as she finished her last words.
Elise had stiffened when Colt’s hand landed on May’s shoulder, but she brushed aside her question of May’s true motivations, considering the woman had literally saved the day. Apparently, Colt had forgiven May for disobeying him about bringing Bess out in the storm. Where
was
Bess? she wondered.
Colt approached her once more and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Turning her toward Lightning, he said, “Frank’s done. We’ve mended the fence until the rain stops and the ground hardens again. Go on back to the main house and get dried off. I’ve got to round up Bess. She’s here in the pasture somewhere. I believe she took off when May dismounted to work on the fence.”
He helped her climb up on Lightning and once she was settled, he laid his hand on her thigh. Elise could feel the heat of his palm through her pants.
“I’ll see you in a bit.” His steel blue gaze held hers as he gave her thigh a squeeze.
Her heart rate increased at his reassuring touch. Elise nodded and nudged her horse into a full gallop in the direction of the stables.
When she reached her destination, she dismounted and walked her horse into her stall. Tying her reins, she unbuckled and removed the saddle and wet blanket. After twenty minutes of wiping down and grooming Lightning, Elise heard May enter the stall next door with Bess.
As she used a towel to wring out most of the dampness in Lightning’s mane, Elise paused and turned when May passed by her stall and said, “I see Colt bought you a gift.” Pushing back her hood to display a mostly dry head of hair, May tossed her hair over her shoulder then continued, “Bet he still hasn’t taken you to his house, has he?”
Elise’s blood boiled at the woman’s dig, but she held her silence.
May sniffed the air haughtily, saying with a laugh, “And don’t expect him to either. Colt rarely takes a woman to his home.” Twirling a strand of her long blonde hair, she said with a knowing smile before she walked away, “I wonder if it’s changed much since I’ve been there.”
Elise didn’t give her the satisfaction of a reaction. She turned away, grabbed a brush and began briskly brushing the rest of the excess moisture out of Lightning’s mane.
Bitch
, she thought, her body shaking in anger. The woman just loved to provoke her. God, she’d be glad when the blonde bimbo left on the next round of rodeo tours. She’d be damned if she’d endure that woman’s bullshit the next time around.
Flipping the section of mane hair she’d already brushed over Lightning’s neck, Elise moved on to the next section, her mind whirling. She and Colt were going to have a talk about May. As half-owner of the ranch, which included the rodeo, she had as much say about its employees as he did. She’d looked at the sales figures for the rodeo paraphernalia stand May ran. Over the past couple of years, the stand’s sales had been flat, yet the ticket sales had gone up each year. Elise had enough professional issues to discuss regarding May. The personal ones wouldn’t even need to be discussed. There wasn’t that much money in the paraphernalia stand. It was more of a courtesy to the fans than anything else.
Hey!
she thought as an idea struck her.
Elise perked up as the idea for increasing sales percolated in her mind. She finished the rest of Lightning’s mane and stood on tiptoe to lean over the horse’s neck to flip the hair back into place. As she started to move away to set down the brush, she realized her watch had snagged in the horse’s mane.
She dropped the brush and used her other hand to try to untangle the watch. Unfortunately, nothing less than a good tug would free her. The watch she wore was her grandmother’s and there was no way she was leaving it on Lightning’s mane as an expensive barrette.
Grabbing hold of a portion of the entangled mane to keep from pulling Lightning’s skin, Elise jerked with all her might. She pulled her arm free with a sigh of relief. Looking down to adjust her watch that had twisted around her wrist in her earlier movements, her heart jerked in her chest.
It was gone!
Glancing behind her, at the stall full of hay, she rolled her eyes. Great, the watch must’ve gone flying. Grumpy and uncomfortable from feeling like she took a cold shower—with her clothes on!—all she wanted to do was go home, dry off and have a cup of hot chocolate. Looking all around her stall, she couldn’t find the watch anywhere. When she glanced at the slats of wood that made up her stall’s wall, it dawned on her that her watch must flown over into Bess’s stall.
Sighing, Elise trudged over into Bess’s stall and scanned the hay. She had to move Bess a couple of times as she glanced over the stall. Nothing, damnit!
Sinking to her hands and knees, the smell of manure and hay invading her senses, Elise scanned the floor. She worked quickly, sliding the hay out of the way as she looked for her watch. Finally, along the far side of the stall, where the wall met the floor, her fingers brushed against the watch face. Grinning in triumph, she stood and examined the timepiece, relief flooding through her. The pin holding the band to the watch was missing, but that could easily be replaced.
As she turned to walk out of Bess’s stall, her foot hit something hard under the hay near the far stall wall. Elise frowned and kicked the hay aside. When her gaze landed on a pair of wire cutters, she picked them up and opened them. Noting a nicked edge along one side of the metal cutters, she clenched the tool in her hand. Her heart pounded in her chest as anger caused heat to rise in her cheeks.
* * * * *
With the exception of Elise, the rest of the crew, who’d helped during the storm, had cleaned up and dried off and were now convened in the kitchen drinking hot coffee.
Colt’s blood boiled as he thought about his ruthless neighbor. This on top of the stunt with the bull…he’d wanted to go after Jackson right away, but he knew putting in a showing in the kitchen and thanking everyone personally for their help was a “must do” first.
His duty fulfilled, Colt pushed his chair back from the table and started to walk toward the kitchen door when Cade stood and put a hand on his arm.
“Colt…”
Colt met his brother’s dark, steady gaze.
“Jackson can wait until the storm is over. Remember, we know where he lives.”
Colt set his jaw and clenched his hands into fists. Damn. He knew Cade was right. He always was the calm one in the family. Some even considered him a cold man at times, but Colt knew better. Still waters ran very deep with Cade…always had.
He relaxed and rolled his shoulders. “I suppose the bastard can wait. I need to find Elise anyway. Anyone seen her?”
He looked at May, Nan, Mace and the rest of the ranch hands sitting at the kitchen table. They all shook their heads.
When he turned to go, Cade said, “I think I’ll go with you to see Jackson tomorrow. I don’t want you to
need
a good homicide attorney.”
“There’ll be no need for that,” Elise called out from behind Colt.
Colt turned and looked at her. Standing in the doorway, her clothes soaked and mud splotches splattered all over her, Elise stood ramrod straight, her expression livid.
Oh shit.
His stomach clenched. What had he done now?
She marched over and slammed something in the middle of the wooden kitchen table.
“You’ll do better to look amongst your own, Colt,” she said in a cold tone as her gaze locked on May’s face.
When she removed her hand and he saw a pair of wire cutters, Colt frowned.
May flipped her hair over her shoulder, then crossed her arms over her ample chest, adopting a belligerent stance. “Don’t look at me.”
“Really?” Elise’s continued sarcasm evident. “Geez, and here I thought that’s exactly what I was doing.”
Shoving the bolt cutter across the table toward May, she lifted her hand and said, “Imagine my surprise when I found these buried in the hay in Bess’s stall.”
May gasped in outrage and looked at him to defend her. “Colt, you can’t let her talk to me like that…to-to accuse me of something so awful.”
Then she narrowed her gaze on Elise. “You’re trying to set me up.”
“Set you up?” Elise’s voice shook, she was so angry. “I was looking for my watch that had flung outside Lightning’s stall—”
Cutting herself off, she finished, “Screw it. I don’t have to explain myself to you. If Colt chooses to believe your lies, then that’s his business.”
Turning on her heel, her shoulders squared, her drenched boots made squishing sounds as she walked out the kitchen door.
When Colt looked at May and she couldn’t keep eye contact with him, his chest constricted at the knowledge of her betrayal. But anger quickly replaced his disappointment. Stepping forward, he set his hands on the table.
“Why, May?” he barked, his tone so harsh everyone in the room jumped. Everyone but Cade.
Nodding toward the door, Cade said, “Go after her.”
Ignoring him, Colt laid into May. “You’ve been a member of this team for seven years. Does that mean nothing to you?”
May started to stand, but her appealing gaze darted to Cade when he put a restraining hand on her shoulder and forced her back in her seat.
“I’ll take care of this, Colt,” he said in a calm tone.
Colt met his brother’s gaze for a brief moment, then nodded his assent. As he turned to go, he heard Cade say in a sharp tone, “Everybody out. Now!”