Here to Stay (21 page)

Even so, she lingered for a while, her heart aching as she stroked Tornado, her fingertips lightly grazing the scars Tucker’s clippers had revealed. Her heart caught each time Tucker used a stethoscope to check the stallion’s heartbeat.

“Is he okay?” she asked faintly.

“Right as rain,” Tucker assured her. “This is only routine.”

When Mandy finally left for home, the tears she’d held at bay slid silently down her cheeks. The world could be such a cruel place. She’d learned that long ago. But that didn’t make it any easier to accept what had happened to Tornado. She hoped Steve Ristol received a very long prison sentence.

By the time everything had been sent to the Malheur County authorities and Tucker and Samantha had left, Zach was completely exhausted. He flopped down onto his office chair and stared stupidly at nothing. His chest felt as if someone had injected his rib-cage cavity with molten lead that had cooled and hardened into a massive lump. If he lived to be a hundred, he’d never forget Tornado trying to hide his head under Miranda’s arm. The stallion sensed that he’d get nothing but love from her without any expectations riding double. With her, the horse could just be himself, a huge, angry, frightened mass of muscle that wanted to be comforted.

Miranda had delivered. Zach sure as hell hadn’t.

He shut down the computer. Staring past the desk light into the shadowy end of the room, he had to face and accept that he was a horse trainer and an authoritative figure, which made him a fearsome person to Tornado. The horse didn’t know what mean trick Zach might pull on him next. Had Tornado been beaten with a currycomb at some point? Zach’s muscles knotted as waves of sheer rage crashed over him. Men like Ristol grew violent with their fists and with anything they held in their hands. A currycomb could have been used as a punitive instrument at some point.

Now armed with the knowledge of Tornado’s background, Zach realized something else that made him feel small. Tornado had already come a long way by allowing Zach to touch him sometimes. For the stallion, that must have taken tremendous courage, because the horse had learned firsthand how evil and unpredictable men could be.

Zach picked up the phone, hit “menu,” and then scanned the list of callers until he found Miranda’s number. He punched “send” and rocked back on the chair while the phone rang. Finally, her sweet voice came over the wire. “Hello?”

“Hi.” Zach’s voice rasped like a rusty tin can being dragged across bumpy concrete. “It’s Zach. I hope you weren’t asleep. Any normal person would be.”

“I’m not normal, I guess. I had some work to finish up.” She hesitated and her voice tightened. “Did something go wrong with Tornado after I left?”

Zach smiled. “No. He came out of it just fine. I just called to thank you. We could have hazed him into the chute, but it would have been traumatic for him. You saved him from that. He was calm, unafraid. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that.”

“There’s no need to thank me. I was glad to do it. This may sound silly, but he’s special to me.”

“Even so, it was late when I called. You could have said no.” Zach raked a hand through his hair. “I, um, was thinking. You had to pay for a sitter.” Zach didn’t get
why
a nineteen-year-old boy needed one, but he accepted that Miranda never left the kid alone. “I’d like to cover the cost of that.” He suspected she didn’t have much money. “And, please, don’t refuse. My horse, my expense.”

“Don’t be silly. Having the sitter here didn’t cost
that
much.”

Zach pinched the bridge of his nose. “Well, thanks for coming. You made the whole mess a lot easier for my horse.”

“My pleasure. I’m just glad to know he’s awake now and doing well.”

Silence came over the line. Zach tried to think of something else to say and couldn’t. For some indefinable reason, he didn’t want to hang up. The sound of her voice eased the ache in his chest.
Crazy
. They were veritable strangers. Hell, he didn’t even know her well enough to chitchat.

He settled for saying, “I’ll be there tomorrow night as agreed.”

“We’ll be waiting,” she replied softly.

Another silence. Zach listened to her breathing, realized he was clinging to the sound as if it were a lifeline, and tightened his grip on the phone. He felt so awful about not realizing what was wrong with Tornado, and somehow she was like balm on the wound, soothing away the hurt. “Good night, then,” he forced himself to say.

“Good night,” she told him, her voice sweet and as soft as a caress.

Zach disconnected but kept the phone pressed to his ear for a second, not wanting the contact with her to end. Finally he shoved the cell back in its case and pushed wearily to his feet. Ruffling Rosebud’s flyaway forelock, he said, “Come on, sweetheart. We’re bunking in the arena tonight.”

Rosebud followed him into the kitchen. Zach left her there to collect a sleeping bag from the storage room. Ten minutes later, he and the mini were walking to the arena. Once inside, Zach fetched Rosebud’s bucket and hay feeder from her daytime holding area. Then he set up a makeshift camp for himself and the tiny horse outside Tornado’s stall. The stallion chuffed and wheeled away as Zach unrolled the sleeping bag and unzipped it. Zach ignored his protests. The stallion would eventually get used to this ritual. For an indefinite time, Zach would be sleeping here every night.

After dousing the lights, he decided to keep his boots on. Sleeping around horses barefoot felt all wrong to him. After he climbed into the sleeping bag and pillowed his head on his crossed arms, Rosebud came over to sniff him. In the wash of moonlight coming through the skylights, her expression looked bewildered.

Zach chuckled. “I know it seems strange to you sleeping out here, but the big guy in there needs a couple of friends. You and I are elected.”

Rosebud, left to wander at will inside the huge building, chose instead to thrust her head through the rungs of Tornado’s stall gate. Zach tensed. The mini and stallion had never met, and Zach feared Tornado might kick or bite her. Instead the big lug touched his nose to Rosebud’s, whickered, and nibbled at her lips. The mini nickered and nibbled back. Zach watched the exchange in wonder.
He’s so sweet
, Miranda had said. Until tonight, Zach had never seen the gentle side of Tornado, but watching him now, he couldn’t deny that the stallion was being very careful with the mini.

Strange
. Apparently Tornado felt that he could let down his guard with Rosebud because she posed no threat to him. The two animals exchanged breath, bumped each other, made odd little sounds, and, just that quickly, seemed to forge a fast friendship.

Zach drifted off to sleep, images of Miranda moving sweetly through his mind.

Chapter Eight

T
he next evening, Mandy’s doorbell rang at precisely seven. She wondered whether Zach had parked at the end of the block and waited in order to be right on time. Sniffing the air in hopes that the cookies she’d just removed from the oven would camouflage any lingering fishy odor from dinner, she raced through the dining room, detoured in the living room to pick up candy wrappers, and then hurried to answer the door.

The sound of her rapid footsteps caught Luke’s attention. “What are you so nervous about? It’s not like he’s the president of the United States or anything.”

Mandy wiped her sweaty palm on her slacks and then grasped the doorknob. In a low voice, she said, “Stuff a sock in it. You promised to be on your best behavior.”

As she drew open the door, Mandy pasted on a smile, praying it didn’t look as stiff as it felt. And then she forgot everything but the cowboy on her steps. Haloed by the porch light, he looked so incredible that
handsome
didn’t begin to describe him. The Wranglers, riding boots, and Stetson seemed natural on him, and his loose-hipped stance displayed his trim, muscular build to perfection. His eyes, gleaming in the light, were what really made her heart race, though. Coffee dark, they had a way of looking
into
her instead of
at
her, making her feel transparent and a little breathless. Rosebud stood beside him. One of his big hands gripped the handle of her harness.

“Hi,” she pushed out, and then wished she’d said something else. What, she didn’t know. She drew the door wide and gestured to welcome him in. “You’re right on time.”

“It’s a failing of mine,” he said. His voice, laced with amusement, made her wonder whether he knew how nervous she felt.

Mandy realized she hadn’t stepped back to allow him in and kicked her feet into reverse so fast that she snagged the two-inch heel of her left slip-on sandal on the carpet. Low-heeled shoes were a weakness of hers. Because she didn’t often go to an office, dressing up a bit made her feel more professional and productive. For a horrible second, she pictured herself falling backward in a sprawl, but Zach snaked out a hand to catch her arm and steadied her just in time. At his touch, a tingle of warmth shot from her elbow to her shoulder. She was glad when he quickly released his hold on her.

“Careful, there.” He glanced down at her shoes and quirked an eyebrow. “Ankle breakers again? What you need are some nice, sensible boots.”

Mandy figured she was more in need of lessons in graceful comportment. “Come in, come in. Luke and I are so excited to have you here.” She smiled at Rosebud. “Both of you.” Turning toward her brother, she cued him with, “Aren’t we, Luke?”

Luke didn’t strike Zach as being very enthusiastic. He slumped at the end of a tweed sofa, not even bothering to turn his head in their direction. Zach wondered if the kid spent most of his life there, letting his sister wait on him. But then he gave himself a hard mental shake. He’d come here determined to give Luke a fair chance, and he would do exactly that.

“Hi, Mr. Harrigan,” Luke said, his tone not exactly warm, but not cold and resentful, either. “I’m glad you agreed to come.”

“I’m glad to be here,” Zach replied. “Good to see you again, Luke.”

Luke’s mouth curved in a tight smile. “Sorry about my behavior the other day.”

Mandy released a little laugh and pressed her palms together. Then she circled Zach and Rosebud to close the front door. With a wave of her hand, she said, “Excuse the house. I cleaned today, but it’s small, and we clutter it up pretty fast.”

On the way to her door, Zach had admired the fresh paint on the exterior siding and the tidiness of the yard. He could tell she spent a lot of time on maintenance. The interior, filled with what looked like garage-sale purchases, had a warm, cozy ambience that Zach’s expensively furnished house lacked. He had no idea what Miranda did for a living, but if she worked all week, how did she keep everything so nice? From what he’d seen so far, Luke himself was a full-time job and then some.

She smiled at him, apparently uncertain what to do or say next. That made two of them, an unfamiliar experience for Zach. As he looked at her, he got the same feeling he’d gotten the first time he saw her. With her auburn hair loose around her shoulders and her face flushed with excitement, she was even lovelier than he remembered, not in the flashy way he’d always preferred, but in an understated, classy way. Searching her gaze, he once again noticed that innocent look, which baffled him. He guessed her to be in her late twenties. Such a pretty woman had to have had her share of boyfriends. But something about her told Zach that wasn’t the case. Wearing an off-white cotton-knit sweater and tidily creased gray slacks, she emanated a schoolgirl sweetness that was totally at odds with Zach’s knowledge of women her age.

The house smelled faintly of fish, but the scents that made Zach’s empty belly rumble were those of warm-from-the-oven chocolate-chip cookies—he could recognize that smell from a mile away—and freshly brewed coffee. Unlike the Pajecks, he hadn’t had dinner. He’d worked with Rosebud from two until four thirty, then had spent two frustrating hours with Tornado. He’d lost track of time, and when he checked his watch, it had been half past six. After a mad dash to the stable restroom to wash up, he’d finger-combed his wet hair, plopped his hat back on, and driven here. It was just as well. Otherwise he might have considered a shower, a change of clothes, and a shave to impress Miranda, and he wasn’t entirely sure that would have been a good idea.

Cookie’s story about the worst thirty seconds of his life had Zach determined not to make the same mistake. Yes, Miranda Pajeck stirred something within him, and yes, he found her attractive, but that was as far as he wanted it to go. It had taken him a while to learn that his dick wasn’t equipped with brains, but now that the lesson was driven home, he no longer allowed that part of his anatomy to do his thinking for him.

“Are you hungry?” Miranda asked, her guileless hazel eyes fixed on his in question.

Damn
. Zach wondered if she’d heard his stomach growl.
Nailed
. “Yeah, I am a little. I keep rancher’s hours, which means I eat supper whenever the day is done, and sometimes that’s midnight or after.”

“Well, I can fix you right up. I put the food away after dinner, but I’m sure it’s still fairly warm, and we have coffee and cookies for dessert.”

Zach detested fish and would have preferred going straight for the cookies. “That sounds great.”

He bent to remove the guiding gear from Rosebud’s stout little body. The moment the palomino sensed freedom, she made a beeline for Miranda, who welcomed her with the hugs and scratches that Rosebud loved to receive. Then, to Zach’s surprise, the mini went directly to Luke, exhibiting no hesitation at all before she nudged his bony knee. Luke started as if he’d been stuck with a pin. But Rosebud wasn’t going to be put off by shyness. She stretched her neck to nuzzle Luke’s hand and whickered.

Zach didn’t understand Rosebud’s apparent eagerness to make friends with Luke. The kid was a jerk. But the mini seemed to think otherwise. The worry within Zach eased somewhat. Maybe Rosebud sensed something in Luke that Zach couldn’t. She didn’t get side-tracked when the youth jerked his hand back. She just nudged his other hand and patiently waited for him to reciprocate with a friendly hello.