Losing Ladd (7 page)

This was Troy’s invitation to come
check him out.

As if on cue, Spirit dipped his head,
then raised it, giving another shake. He didn’t make a move toward
Troy. Seemed he wasn’t ready. “No problem, buddy. I got all the
time in the world,” he said, remaining in place. Patience was his
ticket to success. “You and me can hang out here for as long as
you’d like.”

Spirit’s ears pricked forward and
back. He was thinking. Deciding. Troy understood. It was rooted in
the predator-prey instinct. The animal wanted to follow a leader
but was fearful, uncertain. His “flight” capacitors remained
charged. Troy couldn’t blame him. The ordeal of running loose in
strange territory had to be unsettling for Spirit.

A branch cracked loudly in
the distance and Troy cursed under his breath. Spirit’s ears
stiffened, twitched as he backed away.
Dad
gummit
. Troy wasn’t about to turn and see
if the sound had come from returning men. He was relyin’ on Spirit
and his response to the situation for his answer.

Spirit looked around, settled on
nothing in particular, then returned his attention to Troy.
“Nothin’ to see over there,” Troy said softly. “Just Mother Nature
cleanin’ house. You and me…we’re just a couple of friends gettin’
back together.”

Troy dropped a shoulder and turned
away from the horse, simultaneously taking a step. Spirit reacted,
taking a step, too. “That’s it, boy. You remember me.” Troy halted,
reversed direction, then took a few more steps away. Again, Spirit
did likewise. Troy stopped, turned, and faced the animal directly.
Keeping his voice gentle and soothing, he encouraged Spirit to
abandon his natural fear response and let down his defenses. “I’m
not here to hurt you. I’m here to take you home.”

When the horse hesitated, glancing
away, Troy took it as a sign Spirit still wasn’t ready. Angling his
body away from the horse again, Troy worked to reassure the horse
he wasn’t a threat, communicating the message with body language.
Spirit needed to understand that he was safe with Troy, that no
harm would come to him. For several moments, man and horse stood
motionless but fully engaged in one another. Troy rotated back
toward the animal in a slow and methodical fashion. He didn’t stop
for a head-on posture but rather continued his body’s rotation for
a three hundred sixty degree turn until he was facing in the
opposite direction in an effort to get Spirit reacquainted with his
presence. Comfortable. “That’s it,” Troy cooed. “All is good
here.”

Feeling the moment was right, Troy
maintained his angle-away stance and took half a dozen steps from
Spirit. The animal immediately pursued, emerging from the woods and
onto the trail. Troy smiled. The horse wanted to reunite. It was
his job to instill in the animal an emotional security that would
take him all the way to the stables. Circling his body in place
again, Troy liked that Spirit was watching his every move. Ears
pricked forward, the animal was fully intent upon what Troy was
doing. They were close enough that Troy could smell the animal, the
scent mixing with the earthy scent of clay and pine. When he took a
step, Spirit took a step. When Troy stopped, Spirit stopped. Troy
walked several paces down the trail and the animal trailed him,
closing the space between them to mere feet.

Troy stopped and Spirit stopped.
Turning, Troy took a step toward the animal and slowly extended a
hand to touch Spirit’s snout. The horse didn’t draw back but
allowed him the contact. Troy purposefully kept it brief, turned
and took a few more steps away. Spirit followed. Like a horse on a
lead line, the animal was in sync with Troy’s every move. Troy
could walk out of this forest right now and Spirit would probably
track him every step of the way, but Troy didn’t want to push it.
He worked too hard to build a relationship of trust with the animal
and he wasn’t going to blow it now. Instead, he returned to face
the horse, establishing contact again, ruffling the black mane
between Spirit’s eyes. “You’re a good boy,” Troy praised, his voice
light and easy as if he were talking to a child. “You’re a very
good boy.”

Spirit blinked. Unalarmed, standing
still, the animal was demonstrating his acceptance.

Troy quickly walked down trail and
then stopped. Spirit stopped. Troy chuckled. “I think we’re
officially back together, Spirit.” Turning, Troy smiled and patted
the animal once again. “What do you say? You up for a hike
home?”

Spirit rewarded him with a low
rumbling nicker. Troy laughed. “I knew you missed me.” Stroking his
neck, the round length of his sweaty muscle, Troy added, “Now let’s
say you and me get back to the stables. Miss Delaney is gonna want
to see you.”

Mindful of the forest around him, the
possible intrusions and potential surprises, Troy headed down the
trail the way he came in, Spirit on his heel. Miss Delaney wasn’t
gonna like what he had to tell her about Jeremiah Ladd being here,
but she was gonna love seein’ Spirit.

Chapter Six

“
Blue!” Felicity’s boots
crunched over the gravelly riverbank as she jogged toward the
water. “I can’t believe you,” she cried out breathlessly. There in
the middle of the river stood her horse, the animal’s body half
submerged in the slow-moving depths of the river. Blue whinnied,
then shook her mane like a nuisance fly had buzzed her.

“
Told you it was a
possibility she’d be here,” Travis said.

“
But she’s never come this
far on her own.” Felicity clicked a call from her mouth and her
mare responded, plodding carefully over the rocky river bottom, her
slick black coat shiny in the bright sunlight. Felicity went
quickly to her, boots splashing in the shallows of the river’s edge
as her horse walked out. Felicity grabbed hold of Blue’s neck and
hugged her, the round muscular body comforting to the touch. “Oh,
Blue, I’m so glad we found you.” Felicity buried her face in the
coarse hair of Blue’s mane. The horse was stinky with sweat and
Felicity’s blouse was soaked through, her jean shorts too, but she
didn’t care. Heartbeats kicked in her chest.
Blue was safe
.

Her baby was okay.

“
Probably came here to
cool off,” Travis remarked.

Pulling away, Felicity slid a hand up
and down Blue’s neck, rubbed the curve of her jaw, the pillow of
her snout. The mare groaned and Felicity giggled, relief spurting
through her limbs. “Oh, girl, you had me scared.” Blue nudged
Felicity who cupped a hand to her velvety muzzle. “And you’re so
spoiled,” she said. “Look at you. Here you’ve been gone for two
days and all you want is a good scratch.”

“
She’s probably hungry,”
Travis noted.

“
I’ll bet she is,”
Felicity said, instantly concerned over Blue’s well-being. Had she
been hurt? Had she been scared? Was she starving?

“
Why don’t you call your
mom and tell her you found Blue.”

Felicity nodded, instantly wondering
how Troy had fared. Had he found Spirit? Taking a few steps from
the river with Blue loyally following, she said, “You call Troy.
I’ll call my mom.”

Travis plucked the cell phone from his
waistband while she pulled hers from her back pocket. Her mom would
be so relieved to know Blue was safe and Felicity could only hope
the same held true for Troy.

As Felicity and Travis entered the
stables, an elated Delaney immediately filled a bucket with water.
Striding over, she deposited the bucket on the ground, slid a hand
down the stretch of Blue’s back and examined the horse from head to
toe. “She looks okay. Doesn’t appear to be dehydrated.”

“
We found her in the
river.”

Delaney smiled. “Figures.” With a pat
to Blue’s hind quarter, she said, “Decided to go for a swim, did
you?”

The animal jerked up its head and
shook its mane.

“
I was surprised,”
Felicity said. “It’s not like her to go that far.”

“
Probably wanted to steer
clear of the stables, seeing as how they’ve been a source of
instability of late.”

Felicity knew her mom was referring to
the incident with her father. When he attacked her and the gun had
discharged, the horses had been spooked. Add a stranger entering
their midst and shooing them from their stalls and her mom was
right. Anxiety pushed in Felicity’s stomach. Blue wouldn’t want to
be anywhere near here. “Have you heard from Troy? We called but he
didn’t answer.” It could have been due to bad cell reception.
Service was spotty in the mountains. Nerves flitted through
Felicity’s breast. It might be that he’d found Spirit and was on
his way back right this minute. At least she hoped so.

“
Haven’t heard a word,”
her mom replied.

“
Listen,” Travis said,
placing a hand to Felicity’s shoulder. “Now that we know Blue is
okay, I’m going to run down to Mr. Dakota’s office and see if I
can’t do a little digging.”

“
Digging into what?”
Felicity asked.

Shooting a brief glance to Delaney, he
said, “I want to find out who did this, who might have helped pay
Jeremiah’s debt.”

“
How are you going to do
that?”

“
There are ways to find
the information, and Mr. Dakota’s computer has access I can’t get
anywhere else.”

Not fully understanding but relieved
to know Travis was intent on doing something, Felicity nodded.
“Okay. I’m going to hang out here a while with Blue.”

Lightly kissing her cheek, he said,
“I’ll call you.”

As he walked away, Felicity called
after him, “I’ll let you know if Troy calls with news about
Spirit.”

Travis waved a hand but didn’t look
back, bothering Felicity with his apparent disinterest in all
things Troy. What was going on with him? Why was he being so
detached?

“
Troy will find him,”
Delaney said.

“
I hope so.”

Between them, Blue slurped from her
bucket, then snorted. Drops of water sprayed onto Felicity’s jeans.
Placing a hand to her horse, she looked at her mom, emotions
pulling and tugging in her heart. Felicity didn’t want to think
about the consequences of not finding Spirit.

“
What’s the matter? You
sure look unhappy for a girl just reunited with her missing
horse.”

Felicity shrugged, glanced in the
direction of the open doorway. “It’s Travis. I don’t know what’s
gotten into him lately.”

“
Why? What’s going
on?”

“
It’s like he doesn’t care
about his brother at all.”

“
Oh, I don’t know about
that. They’re just different people,” her mom defended. “Troy’s
situation is not easy. It’s putting stress on the family and Travis
is reacting. It’ll pass.”

“
It’s more than being
different. It’s like he disapproves of Troy’s choices and has cut
him off from his affection.”

“
Travis is headstrong. He
believes what he’s doing is right.” Her mom frowned. “And to be
honest, Troy has made some mistakes.”

“
Mistakes
,” Felicity emphasized.
“It’s not like he has to be tied to them for the rest of his life.
What ever happened to forgiveness?”

The corner of her mom’s mouth tipped
into a smile. “You have a bigger heart than most, Felicity. Travis
will come around. Give him time.”

Grunting, she returned focus to her
horse and ran a hand along the animal’s neck. Not all things healed
with time. Some people didn’t want to mend fences. Travis sure
didn’t seem like he was interested in pounding any nails back
toward his brother.

“
Now that Blue’s back, I
have a favor to ask.”

Felicity looked to her mom. “What
favor?”

“
Will you run down to
Fran’s and pick up a lunch order? One of the guys is celebrating
his birthday, and I offered to buy lunch for the crew.”

“
What about the hotel
kitchen? Don’t they serve food up here?”

Delaney shook her head. “This man
wants fried steak and cornbread, and he only wants them from
Fran’s.”

“
Oh...” Felicity checked
her attire. A bit smudged, her shirt had dried, though if anyone
came too close, they’d surely smell her horse on her. “I guess I
can go.”

“
Thanks.” Picking up on
Felicity’s concern, she said, “Maybe you can run up to the cabin
and change first?”

“
Do I smell that
bad?”

“
Not to me. I love stinky
horse smell but Fran...” Delaney shook her head. “She might
mind.”

Felicity sighed. With nothing keeping
her here other than a hungry horse, she replied, “Okay. Maybe I’ll
pick up some carrots for Blue on my way.”

Her mom grinned. “Good
idea.”

After changing into a fresh T-shirt
and jeans, Felicity drove to the diner, engrossed by thoughts of
Blue and whoever could have been responsible for her release. It
had to be someone that knew Felicity. It couldn’t be a coincidence
that her horse had been one of the ones targeted. Troy, too. Sure,
a few other horses had been set free but maybe that was for
distraction purposes. Maybe the perpetrator was trying to cover his
real intent.