One Last Sunset (The Long Ranch Series Book 1) (9 page)

Her mother chuckled as they joined the line greeting the preacher.

Walter was making a hasty escape, but it seemed Loretta had decided to help her daughter out. “Walter,” she called with her sweet tones.

Knowing he couldn’t escape if Auntie Loretta wanted him, he passed the baby to his wife Tina, he strode back to Mel and her mom.

“Now, you two were interrupting my services today. Let’s make sure the issue is resolved before it becomes a bad habit.”

“Yes Auntie,” Walt replied.

Loretta went back to dealing with Pastor Bennedict.

“Why do you care about Race Parker?”

“I don’t, Sunny’s back for a bit and no one is giving him answers.”

“Look, Race crossed a few too many lines. He’d come to work hung over then tried to beat off the headache with the hair of the dog.” Walt ran his hand over his head. “There’s a chip on that man’s shoulder that got worse when JT sold his share of the ranch. He got mad because he’s been working the ranch since before most of us were born.”

“It’s a family ranch.”

“Sunny’s family to us. Practically a brother. You know that. But he’s not his father. It’s partially my fault because I snapped on him saying his last name was Parker, not Long, and he needed to know his place on the ranch.”

“You didn’t!” Melody replied as a knot formed in her gut just from the idea of saying something so hurtful to a close family friend.

“It was wrong to say, I realize that, but he’d been snapping for weeks.”

“That’s why you fired him, because he wanted to buy a share of the ranch.”

“No. I fired him because he almost killed Nessa.”

“My little niece Nessa?”

“She shouldn’t have been wandering in the barn. Her mama sent her to get me. Tina was watching from the porch, but I wasn’t just inside like she thought. Race was tossing shit around having one of his drunken rages. I heard Nessa callin’ for me, thankfully.” Walter visibly shook from the memory. “We had a dozen or so cattle that hadn’t moved to the southern pasture yet. Race opened the gate to the barn and screamed at the beasts. He was going to get as many of our herd as he could loose.” Walt started flipping his keys nervously around his index finger. Biting down on his lips he settled himself enough to finish. “It was stupid. You know it and I do, but Nessa…I barely scooped her up before the animals ran her over. It took our dads and three other hands to round them up. I’d overlooked the drinking for years. Not that. He can say what he wants, but safety comes first. It’s not like he was good at his job anyway.”

“Thank you for telling me.”

“I have a feeling I’ll be telling Sunny the same story in a few hours. Clay said he’s looking for a job. He’s one of us, I’d never say no to him. Now, I just have to get creative since he’s stubborn and doesn’t want to heal.”

Chapter Six

On Monday, a report was sitting in the fax machine from the lab. Mel pulled it off and scanned the findings. Going to her computer in the lab, she began searching for caused and effect, level toxicity, and any speculations. “Did you see this?” she asked when Doc walked in from the back where the cow was boarded.

“That the report?” he replied. “I got a call last night, they said they’d be faxing me the results.”

She went through the results and they didn’t make sense. The hair was thick with petroleum. A strange substance since the hair showed ingestion patterns.

“I’ll need you to go out there and take samples of the other heifers we inseminated,” Doc said. “If it’s the same thing we’ll need to test water, grass and hay. Maybe he got some bad feed. I just don’t know what could cause this. It’s not like Winston’s pour forty weight down their animals gullets.”

“The levels are toxic from what I’ve found,” Mel said as she turned from the computer screen where she’d been searching. “You want me to go now?”

“Yes, if it’s environmental we may have to test all cattle before insemination. I’m not charging people to come up dry.”

“That will hurt the clinic, won’t it?”

“Being an honest business… not in my opinion. These ranchers don’t live paycheck to paycheck. They live season to season. It’s much worse. One bad one can kill them. If we have to push back their breeding cycle a few months it’s better than them spending thousands to get nothing.”

“All right, I’ll head out to the Winston’s now.” Mel went to get a tackle box they used as kit and filled it with sterile sample containers. She’d need more than usual as she printed up labels with the Winston’s account on it and some blanks just in case.

Conrad Winston was nice enough to let Mel use one of his utility vehicles so she could go out into the pasture after she collected all the samples she needed from the barns. He was in his forties with prematurely wrinkled tan skin from having worked his family’s ranch that was almost as old as hers. With a bowlegged gate and lean hips, he was the quintessential cowboy. The bachelor of his family, he tended to deal with all the major issues.

“How far out does your cattle graze?” she asked, seeing the men who’d been harassing her coming in from the field. Certainly, they wouldn’t try again, especially with Conrad around. No reason to lose a job over their need to torment her.

“I’ve seen them as far as the ridge line. There are some yellow signs that show the edge of my property to the north.”

“Okay, I’ll look for those. Is that where the creek runs?”

“Yeah, I think that’s why they go out there sometimes. The grass along there is sweetest.”

“Have you been nibbling on the greens?” she teased.

“Just something my dad used to say. Maybe he did.”

“Hola! Chica,” the one with a busted nose cooed as they passed.

“How can he work with two black eyes?”

“You just have to speak to Hector very slowly.” Conrad smiled. “Because he obviously doesn’t listen very well.”

Mel stifled a smile as Conrad opened the gate for her to drive through. The ground was rocky and uneven as she bumped her way stopping occasionally to collect a sample or two. The yellow signs were easy to make out.
Property of Federated Gas trespassing punishable by fine.

As she collected samples from the creek, she felt like she was being watched. Fearing Conrad’s ranch hands, she turned to see a black truck on the gas company’s property. Inside she could see two people, but couldn’t make out if they were men or women. Either way, she felt a chill run down her spine and scrambled to finish her sampling.

Melody decided to stop by the Long Ranch on the way home. Winston’s water source flowed down to their land and she wanted to see the extent of any pollution down stream. There was something about the smell of the water that worried Mel. Coming up to the main house, she parked and walked around back with her kit. Then a sight caught her off guard.

Sunshine was hammering a few two by fours together wearing nothing but a pair jeans, his hat, and cowboy boots. Sinewy muscles rippled down his back as his bicep flexed and the hammer came down.

The tattoo on his back and shoulders surprised her. A horseshoe was on his right shoulder blade while a cross with flames licking around the edges was down his back. Even from the back, she could see he had a cut at his hips that could only mean he had a V. Sweat beaded on his tanned skin and Melody forgot why she was there.

“Sorry,” Sunny said after he caught her staring, and reached for a short sleeve plaid snap up.

After he turned, she saw the full V and a set of abs she wanted to lick, until she saw the purple and green bruising on his ribs and belly.

“It was getting hot and Tina said she was going to feed the kids. I didn’t expect anyone to catch me half naked.”

“You are wearing your hat,” Melody mused. “What are you doing?”

“Tina wanted a garden. This dirt is mostly clay, so I’m building planting boxes.”

“Wow, that’s so wrong.” Mel crossed over to the shed behind the house. “I needed to take out one of the gators.”

Luckily, for her one was available, but it was the older one that broke down most times. Plopping her kit in the flat back of the four wheeled machine, she found the key in rack and started it up. After three failed attempts, it finally roared to life. She was ready to pull out when she looked up to see Sunny standing in front of her.

“That didn’t sound good.”

“It’s purring like a kitten now.”

“Or an asthmatic mountain lion. What are you doing?”

“Getting samples. I’ve already collected from the Winston’s.”

“Aren’t they thirty miles from here?”

“Give or take. Now move it before this thing breaks down again.”

“Let me go with you,” he offered.

Melody’s heart fluttered.

“Just in case it breaks down. I’m pretty good with these things.”

“I got it started this time.”

“Humor me.”

“What about the garden?”

“I do get a lunch break.”

“You told me to go.”

“I’m supposed to protect you.”

“I can protect myself.” Mel stepped on the gas.

Sunny jumped out of the way.

With a smirk of satisfaction, she took off along the fence line.

“So,” Sunny said, easily keeping up even after Mel floored it. He kept running in front of the gator and making her swerve out of the way. “You know this thing doesn’t go very fast.”

Before she could give a comeback, she dodged too sharply and got the vehicle stuck so badly he had to help her get it out.

“Mel, we haven’t really talked since the other day.”

“Wasn’t everything said?” Mel went over a bump while they flew up and back down.

Sunny put his hand on the crown of his hat and laughed. “You could ride broncos the way you stayed on.”

“What can I say,” she challenged as she looked at him. “I can ride with the best of them.”

“I need to clear something up.”

“And that is?”

“You’ve grown into a beautiful woman—”

“But you’re a Long and I like being in one piece,” she whined the excuse the wusses at school used.

“No,” he snapped. “The Long part is right, but it was more about being proper. Right now, I’m pretty sure I’m the last person who would get your family’s approval.”

“You don’t need my family’s, you need mine.”

“I’ve got that,” he smirked.

She wanted to smack it off his face. “No, you
had
it.”

They drove in silence for ten minutes as she curved her way around the wooden fence posts tied together with barbed wire. She loved the ranch no matter the season, but a little bit of green butting up against the rust colored expanse that shot up into the sky made her smile. Later, she’d obtain samples from the spigot, but right now she wanted the source. The small creek at the edge of their property drained into an underground aquifer.

Sunny was right, he had her, but damned if she was going to admit it. She’d stepped out of her comfort zone and was rebuked. Left going home to—fucking Kendra calling out the name of her own not so little toy. When she got the stream, she noticed the same odor she’d found at the Winston’s, just not as strong. She chose to keep the gator running with the parking brake on. Sunny turned it off. “You’re carrying my kit back to the house if it doesn’t start again,” she said.

“I’ll get it started,” he assured, then stretched his legs out the side of the vehicle.

He wasn’t a tall man, but his legs were long and lean. Perfect for wrapping around a bronco or tangling in bed. Shaking the erotic thought from her mind, she steadied herself for task at hand. Labeling the specimen vial Long One, she snapped the lid and placed it in the stream. She marked in the notes where she collected it and odor and color at collection time. Turning around, she ran into Sunny standing over her watching her every move.

“Remember the first time we were here together?” he asked and folded her into his arms.

“No.”

“You were collecting samples and wearing this tight t-shirt.”

Melody smirked as heat rushed through her body.

Sunny lifted his hat off his head and placed it on hers. His hand cradled her face while his thumb stroked her jaw line. His other hand went to her hip and his fingers locked into her belt loops. “The sun was reflecting off your skin, turning it bright copper, almost blinding me.”

“I guess since my back was turned I forgot the first time we were here.”

“I never will,” he purred. “Especially, since your back was turned.”

“Why is that?”

“Your hips were screaming you were all woman.”

“Were they?”

“I can’t believe I left for so long.”

“Maybe we needed to be apart that long.”

“Why is it that I never want to do that again?” he asked and ducked his head to claim her lips.

Mel fell against his body as his hand traveled up her neck. Strength and need followed as his tongue darted in her mouth, sweeping against hers. Lost in the moment, she pulled at his shirt and buttons snapped, revealing his chest. Nails glided along the firm wide expanse. A coldness fell on her face, followed by another and another.

Releasing from the embrace, they found themselves caught in a sudden shower.

Laughing, Melody held tight to the top of Sunny’s hat and ran to the gator.

He followed with his normal lazy gait as he walked with water streaming down his chest and through the ridges of his abs. When he took off his shirt, she was sure he’d hold it over his head. Instead, he tossed it on his shoulder. When he got to the gator, he once again claimed her lips. Bright sun mixed with cool rain fell between the two of them and this time, it was Mel who didn’t want to stop as she held his face praying he wouldn’t pull away.

“We better get back,” Sunny said as his lips brushed against Melody’s.

“I’m working, you’re working.”

“But is the gator working?” Sunny asked.

She turned the key, only to get a clicking noise.

“Move over, I’ll get it going,” he suggested.

She obliged. She knew better than to take the ancient thing out. Then again, she wasn’t expecting rain. Looking to the west, she noticed darker, more ominous clouds rolling in. The light sprinkles were getting bigger and fatter as they plopped on them. This gator didn’t have a top. Soon, they’d be stuck in a down pour.

Lightening flashed in the distance and Sunny went from carefree to serious. “The cabin isn’t far from here, right?”

“A half mile, maybe less.”

“Let’s pray for less. I’ll grab your kit. We’re gonna need to hoof it.”

“Seriously?”

“Did you unplug the battery from the wall before you started this bad boy up?”

“No.”

“I don’t think it had much of a charge left to it.”

Thunder rolled as wind began to bite against their skin. This wasn’t a thunderstorm. The temperature dropped and what had been a nice hot day cooled and Mel looked at the dark gray clouds as flickers of light cut through them. The thunder that followed vibrated through her. “Yeah, we better go,” she agreed and they started the hasty retreat to the cabin.

Thankfully, it too was on the fence line and she wouldn’t have to guess at the way, but with loose rocks, now slick from the rain, she kept tripping and stumbling. Each time Sunny caught her until they got to the ridge and multiple rocks gave way. Sliding down the small ravine toward the stream that had picked up speed, she caught herself before falling in. Her knee stung from the sharp impact, but she couldn’t feel any real damage. Sunny helped her back up as rain fell down his face and body. Danger was probably less than a mile from her as flashes began increasing and the thunder became deafening.

“Not much further,” she said to Sunny while praying she wasn’t lying. She’d never counted the fence posts like her brothers had. Having only been to the cabin a handful of times, none of which were recent, she had to depend on her childhood memories. Who better than Sunny to jog them?