Purebred (2 page)

Aidan woke with a start. He’d soiled his sheets with the first sexual relief he’d experienced since the funeral.

“No, no, no!”

Pegeen had not been the woman he could still see in his mind’s eye.

He hadn’t seen her face, but the woman had long dark hair like Catrina Clarke.

Could he trust the dream or not?

He no longer knew.

Either he’d had a peek into the future, or he’d been tricked again.

Either way it didn’t bode well for his new partnership.

He had to make sure the dream didn’t take on a life of its own this time.

Chapter Two

Woodstock, Illinois

“So what do you think?” Cat asked, when the vet finished examining Diamond Dame, one of her biggest client’s broodmares.

Helen Fox removed her examination gloves and disposed of them. “I think she’ll be ready for cover in a few days. Make sure you tease her with a stallion between now and then since she’s a maiden.”

“Got it.” Cat grinned at the redhead. “Things are going so well, I can’t help thinking this is going to be a spectacular breeding season.”

“You’re good at what you do. That’s why I like working with you.”

Cat liked Helen, as well. The vet loved her job. Loved animals. In her early forties, trim and attractive enough to look far younger, undoubtedly because her job so agreed with her.

Cat followed the vet out of the barn. “More mares will be coming in to be bred next week.”

“I’ll be back tomorrow to see if Diamond Dame is ready. And to check on Fairy Tail.”

“Hopefully she’ll be with foal,” Cat joked.

When she caught sight of the shiny new red truck pulling up in her drive, Cat felt her pulse immediately jump. It wasn’t that seeing her ex-husband excited her. Quite the opposite.

Helen got into her truck and started the engine. “If you get three out of three of Dean’s mares on the first try, he’ll have to buy us a bottle of champagne to celebrate.”

Cat waved the vet goodbye, a smile now plastered to her face. She was going to have to deal with Jack. Knowing he’d come because he wanted something from her, she was on edge at his very presence. She didn’t wait for him to swagger over to her.

Leaving the barking dogs locked in the house, she met him halfway to the truck. He’d bought the shiny new toy with money he’d demanded and gotten from her in the divorce settlement. Beneath a tousle of wheat-blond hair, his gray eyes lit with amusement and his thin lips stretched into a smile, both of which made her cringe inside.

“What is it this time, Jack?” she asked. “Could there possibly be something you forgot to take from me?”

He’d already taken her self-respect, in addition to money he hadn’t earned and several of her best mares, to boot. She’d been grateful the judge had allowed her to hang on to her stallion. The farm itself was a Clarke family land trust, so thankfully Jack hadn’t been able to lay his sticky fingers on any part of it.

“Now, Cat, is that any way to talk to the man you love?” he asked.

He moved closer so she had to look up at him.

“If I ever loved you, Jack, I can’t remember. You drove any good feelings out of me long ago.”

“Is that your excuse—?”

“I need no excuse for anything where you’re concerned. You lost the right to my good will when you took up with that…” She wanted to say
that bimbo,
but she bit it back since the other woman’s father was still a good client. “…woman.”

“You mean my fiancée.”

“Now you’re marrying her?”

“Of course I am. I can’t live without her. We’re getting married as soon as possible.”

The snide note in her ex-husband’s tone rankled. Though they’d lived apart for the better part of a year, more than half as long as they’d been together, the divorce had only been finalized a few weeks before. To her shock, she’d been summoned back from her buying trip in Ireland for a final court date. Jack hadn’t been able to wait to openly be with Simone Bradley.

Simone obviously didn’t see Jack for the cheater and liar that he really was. He was good, really good, at fooling people. Women. Her. Undoubtedly Jack considered Simone a step up and had somehow convinced the young woman that he’d been the injured party in the marriage.

“As soon as possible?” Cat asked, unable to keep the sarcasm from her voice. “Is it because she’s pregnant?”

“Would you be jealous if she was?”

“No, although I’m sure you would like that. The only blessing in our marriage is that I never brought a poor child into this world.”

“Another reason I left you.”

Cat swallowed hard and didn’t respond. She wouldn’t let him see how it bothered her. At thirty, she was completely aware of her biological clock. Being a breeder made her doubly aware of the irony of not conceiving herself. When Cat had learned of Jack’s affair, she’d felt like a fool, and had tried to see the positive side of not having children. Betrayed by the man she’d loved, Cat had not only thrown his ring back at him but his name, as well. She’d since done her best to get Jack Murray out of her life forever.

But here he was again, on her doorstep.

What would he demand of her this time?

“I have work to do. Whatever it is, make it fast.”

“I hear you’re backing an Irish colt, bringing him here to race, paying the entry fees. Thousands upon thousands of dollars.”

“Which is none of your business.”

“That’s big bucks. Obviously, you were hiding assets.”

“I’m not the liar here, Jack. You are.”

“Give me my cut and I won’t take you back to court.” Jack’s demand was muted by the sound of another vehicle pulling up.

Cat looked past him to see her horse trailer being driven in by Raul Ayala, one of her workers. The Irish colt in question had arrived. Why now of all times? She’d waited anxiously for the two weeks it had taken to run blood tests to make sure the colt was healthy, then days while he’d been quarantined in New York. Ironic that Jack had to ruin his highly anticipated arrival…just as he’d ruined so many things for her.

Jack looked, too, and then grinned at her. “Maybe I should talk to your new partner—”

“Jack, just get off my property. Now!”

“You can’t kick me out, Cat. If I give Martin the word, he’ll pull his broodmares and stallion from your barn, and where will that leave you?”

Cat gaped. He might be able to do it, too, since apparently he was going to be Martin Bradley’s son-in-law.

“It might be worth it to get you out of my life once and for all!”

Although it might break her financially. And she’d always gotten along with Martin, if not with his daughter Simone.

Aidan McKenna jumped out of the passenger seat of the truck, and with a terse nod at her, went around back to check on the colt. Her stomach clenched. She didn’t want him embroiled in the middle of her troubles with her ex-husband. Not a pretty way to start a business partnership.

“I see George hasn’t returned,” Jack noted, as if he hadn’t just dropped a bomb on her. “What did you do to chase
him
away?” He made it sound like it had been her fault that he’d strayed from their marriage bed.

Cat went speechless for a moment.

Apparently right after she’d left for Ireland, George Odell had simply disappeared. No one claimed to have seen him since. He’d worked for her family since he was a young man. She couldn’t fathom his leaving without giving her some good reason—not to mention a way to contact him—and feared something bad had happened to the old man. The fact that most of his things were still in his trailer didn’t mean anything to the authorities, because it was obvious he’d packed a bag—some of his clothes, his good boots and his shaving kit were gone. According to the police, it wasn’t a crime or a reason for concern for a man to leave his job without notice, not even if he didn’t collect his back pay.

Cat only hoped they were right, and that one day George would simply show up with an explanation as to why he’d had to leave for a while.

“You owe me money, Cat. If you used up your cash on him,” Jack said, indicating Aidan, “I’ll settle for a couple more broodmares.”

A statement that made Cat go stiff. “You already got your settlement in court.”

“I’m going to give those broodmares I was awarded to Simone as a wedding gift. Martin will want you to breed them, of course.”

Cat gaped at him. “You bastard!”

During the divorce settlement, she’d learned how greedy he could be, but she hadn’t known he could be this cruel.

“Go to your new woman if you need cash!”

“What I need is the cash to buy her an engagement ring that will turn heads.”

Cat held herself in tight control so that she wouldn’t lash out at the bastard. She wanted to slap him—hard!—in the worst way. If only she could get him out of her life. If only she could. Him and Simone. The young woman often came to Clarke Acres with her father, Martin, to check on his broodmares.

“What did you do with the settlement, Jack? More bad investments? Don’t come to me to solve your problems!” Realizing she was yelling, she reined in her temper the best she could. “And stop threatening me. Now, get off my property before I call the sheriff!”

With that, she stalked away from him, chest heaving, unable to take a normal breath as she approached the truck and horse trailer. Now she had to deal with another man in the racing game who set her on edge, but she couldn’t let him get to her.

She had to make nice to her new partner.

She’d taken a loan to get the money to bring Mac Finnian from Ireland, and since she didn’t own the farm outright, she’d used her broodmares as collateral. Her business and future was riding on this relationship.

When she heard Jack’s truck start up and move off, Cat was relieved. The last thing she needed was for Jack to complicate things for her right now.

She had to prove herself.

If Mac really was as good as she thought he was, he’d race only a year or two at the most, and then be put to stud for six-figure fees. She would pay back the loan with her percentage of the money he made. Then she would be able to breed him with her mares and hopefully foal the next generation of Illinois Thoroughbred champions. Whether she sold the colts and fillies or raced them herself was the big bonus, the opportunity to have money in the bank again, to enhance her reputation, to expand her business—all reasons she’d taken this chance.

As Aidan jumped out of the back of the trailer, she tried to assure herself this wasn’t impossible, tried not to be affected by his bigger-than-life presence. That had been the first thing she’d noticed about him when they’d been introduced in Ireland.

The hitch was that she would have to work with Aidan to make the farm’s success happen. Having heard the argument between him and his brother, she feared getting along with him would be as difficult as dealing with Jack.

No, he couldn’t possibly be as infuriating as her ex-husband.

Although the way Aidan was looking at her now, caution stilling his perfectly chiseled features, his thick-lashed green eyes narrowing on her, Cat knew she had her work cut out for her.

She had to make this partnership succeed.

Had to,
or she could lose everything.

Chapter Three

“Welcome to Clarke Acres, Aidan,” Cat said, holding out her hand.

He took it for a shake and was surprised both by her strength and the feel of her palm and fingers. No softness there. It was evident she didn’t just run the place but worked it herself. She was dressed in dirt-streaked work clothes—cotton shirt rolled to the elbows, jeans, mucking boots—and her dark hair was pulled back from her makeup-free face in a ponytail. Not that she needed makeup or a fancy hairdo or clothes. She was attractive without trying.

“To the start of a successful partnership,” he said.

“I’m counting on it.”

Though her words were positive, her smile was forced and didn’t quite reach her hazel eyes. Because of the argument she’d just had with the ex, or because of him? He’d known she had a temper, so while mildly unpleasant, witnessing the argument had been no surprise.

Aidan nodded and released her hand. “Where does Mac go, then?”

She indicated the very large building set back a hundred yards from the house. “Raul will get him set up in a stall.”

“I’ll be doing that myself, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh…of course. I just thought you might be tired from the flight. Or hungry.”

The flight from Shannon to New York had exhausted him, but he’d had three days to recuperate while the colt had been quarantined. The two-hour flight from New York to Chicago had raced by in comparison. But they didn’t feed him in economy, and then, after the plane had landed, he’d been too concerned with checking to make sure Mac had made a safe crossing to worry about finding food for himself.

“I could use a bit of food,” he admitted. “After I make sure the colt is settled.”

Cat nodded. “I don’t cook fancy, but I have a pot roast in the Crock-Pot. It’ll be ready anytime you are.” She moved to the front of the trailer and opened the truck’s passenger door. “Raul, please take them to the barn, and show Mr. McKenna around. Get him anything he needs.” She indicated Aidan should get back in the passenger seat. “Then bring him around to the house and take his bags down the rear stairs.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Aidan nodded as he climbed back into the truck. Cat had thought of everything, including a temporary living arrangement in something called an in-law apartment on the lower level of her home. He would make certain that it would be very temporary. Once he settled Mac in a stable at the track, he would then look for a flat for himself nearby. Confident he could control what did or did not happen between them if he put his mind to it, Aidan knew he couldn’t chance living this close to Cat for any length of time.

As Raul drove to the far end of the barn, Aidan noticed an outdoor arena and four paddocks. “So how big is the farm?”

“Seventeen acres.”

“What about the barn?”

“Forty-two twelve-by-twelve-foot box stalls, nearly a dozen empty right now,” Raul said. “But it’s still early in the breeding season. In the next week or two, owners will be lined up to get their broodmares in and out of here, and then there won’t be enough room.”

“So she has a good stallion.”

“Good enough, I guess. He’s loco sometimes. Dangerous, like his name.”

Raul’s lack of enthusiasm confirmed Cat’s reason for wanting to get Mac Finnian at stud. His sire lines were impeccable—Mr. Prospector and Bold Ruler before that—as were the dam’s sire lines—Sadler’s Wells and before him Alleged.

“What else is in the main barn?” Aidan asked.

“There’s two foaling stalls with video feeds to the house, an indoor arena, two tack rooms, office, laundry and medicine room.”

“Impressive place.”

“Miss Clarke does okay for herself.”

Though it should have sounded like a compliment, Aidan sensed something else there. Resentment? Maybe Raul didn’t like working for a woman but didn’t have a choice. Aidan took a better look at the worker. The man was small but muscular and had bronzed features that were smooth but for the wrinkles around his dark eyes. Aidan guessed him to be nearing forty or so. Wondering how long Raul had worked here, but wanting to know more about the farm and Cat, he decided to keep his own counsel until he got to know the man better. Raul hadn’t said much since they’d loaded Mac into the trailer, had only spoken when necessary.

As Raul slowed near a back door, Aidan could see another building farther back on the property, no doubt to hold equipment and supplies. And opposite the buildings, three large four-board fenced pastures and a small dirt track. The farm wasn’t as green as the countryside in Ireland, but it was far more so than he’d been expecting. Far more extensive, too.

Cat Clarke was indeed doing okay for herself, which made Aidan feel better about his situation. He got out of the truck and went around to unload Mac from the trailer. She was a seasoned professional and would undoubtedly do everything in her power to help him make the colt into a champion.

So why did he have the niggling feeling that everything wasn’t as it seemed?

* * *

W
HILE
A
IDAN
WAS
GETTING
the colt settled, Cat took the opportunity to shower. She’d bred Fairy Tail, one of Dean Hill’s broodmares, that morning and hadn’t had a chance to clean up and do something with her hair. Her sprucing up had nothing to do with wanting to impress Aidan McKenna, at least not in a personal way. She hoped to appear the successful businesswoman she wished she really was so that he would have confidence in their new partnership.

Imagining what he might have thought coming in on her fight with her ex-husband, she quickly blow-dried her hair, then entered the bedroom where her two dogs, Smokey and Topaz, were waiting for her with hopeful gazes.

“All right. Give me a second.” As she fetched treats from a container on her dresser, they pushed into her legs. “Go get it.” She tossed the treats across the room and smiled when the dogs bounded after them.

She loved this room that had been hers since childhood. It was all grown up now, with pale gold walls and cranberry and gold bedding. Her favorite thing, though, was the wall holding a smattering of framed photos that traced her history—her on her first pony, her with the horse she’d ridden at her first competition with the ribbon she’d won attached to the frame, her with the first mare she’d bred. And of course the family photos—Mom, Dad, her brother Jens. And George. While not blood kin, she’d always thought of him as an honorary uncle.

Thinking about his disappearance threatened to bring her down again, so she shifted direction. She hadn’t made a great first impression on Aidan. Time to correct that. Looking successful and acting confident went a long way toward becoming successful. Or so her mother had always taught her. To that end, she donned a new pair of brown slacks and a pale gold shirt and secured a thick gold link bracelet around her right wrist.

Then she rounded up the dogs, using more treats to lure them out into their run alongside the house.

Cat finally headed for the kitchen, reminiscent of the fifties when it had been last renovated, other than the appliances that had been replaced several years ago. Even if she had a barrel-load of extra cash, she wouldn’t update the kitchen more than necessary. She’d been serious when she’d warned Aidan about her cooking skills—they were at a bare minimum. She spent as much time outside with the horses as she could manage.

She’d barely set the table when she heard the back door open.

“Aidan?”

“Aye.”

The in-law apartment had its own separate entry out back. She turned to see him come into the kitchen, his shoulders nearly filling the doorway. As had happened the first time she’d met him, he took away her breath for a moment. It wasn’t simply that he was attractive—which he was—but that he had a way about him that narrowed her focus so she couldn’t see anything beyond him. He’d changed into a fresh shirt, and his thick hair looked damp, as if he’d slicked it back with wet hands. Feeling herself flush, Cat blinked and turned toward the counter with the Crock-Pot.

“I just have to put the food on the table.” She removed the cover.

“’Tis making my mouth water already,” he said, moving close enough behind her that she nearly dropped the meat fork. “What can I do to help?”

“Sit.” Cat waited until he moved away from her to set the meat on a platter. “Everything’s ready,” she said, adding potatoes and carrots and then ladling thickened beef broth over everything.

“Looks perfect.”

“I hope you’re not disappointed.” Carrying the platter to the table set in a nook surrounded by big windows with a view of the pastures, she put it down between the two place settings. “I’m not much of a cook.”

“I think you’re anything you set your mind to be.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“A young lass running a grand business this size is pretty impressive.”

Charmed by the very Irishness of his wording in addition to the lilt, Cat sat opposite him and indicated he should help himself. “I didn’t start the business, but I’ve worked with the horses since I was a teenager.”

“So it was a family operation, then?”

“Right. Both Mom and Dad ran it ever since I can remember. I always wanted to help them, but they made me wait until I was thirteen. They even paid me a salary. Which of course they made me save to pay for college rather than spend.”

After heaping his plate with food, Aidan passed the platter to her. “No sisters or brothers?”

“One brother. Jens liked riding horses well enough, but he hated the work involved in taking care of them. Particularly having to help with the breeding—rather the cleanup after—even more. He would disappear whenever possible. So he graduated from the Kellogg MBA program and then took a job as far away from here as he could get. New York City.”

“’Tis a shame. That he hated the work, I mean. I understand the other part. Sometimes you do need to get away from family.”

Why had Aidan needed to get away from his brother? Cat wondered as she filled her plate.

Remembering the argument she’d witnessed, she thought it was likely that they didn’t agree on how to run their business. Good, then, that he was a trainer and she was a breeder. Hopefully there’d be no reason for either of them to step on the other’s toes. A perfect partnership. The phone call she’d gotten at the time, about George being missing and about Jack moving up the court date, had put her in a foul mood, an impression she was eager to correct.

Cat wanted to believe they had a fresh start and that she’d been worried for nothing.

Aidan dug into the food. “Your parents can’t be very old, Cat. Why did they leave the farm?”

She sighed. “As much as I love the business, I wish they were still here. Everything seemed perfect, like good fortune would go on forever, until the economy tanked. The stress got to Dad in a big way and he had a heart attack, thankfully not fatal. It was enough for Mom, though. She made him retire early.”

Mom had feared Dad would just drop dead someday. The idea had scared Cat, too.

“So they sold you the farm?”

“The land itself is in a family trust, but they gave me the business and I give them a percentage of the profit to make their retirement easier.” Another reason she wanted to restore her financial footing. “Like I said, Jens didn’t want anything to do with it, so he was glad that I took it over. It would have devastated Dad if the business didn’t stay in the family. That was nearly three years ago.”

Just before she’d gotten involved with Jack.

Cat took a big bite of pot roast and remembered how lonely and trusting she’d been. Unfortunately she’d trusted the wrong man. A rookie horse trainer, Jack had put on a good show as to how he was all about her work and how he was willing to help her run the farm, but it had all been lies. The pretense hadn’t lasted long once they were married. Within six months, she’d started to suspect that he was more interested in the money the business could make for him than he was in her. She’d done everything to make it not so, but as Dad used to say, you couldn’t change a leopard’s spots. Still, it wasn’t until she’d learned about Simone that Cat had kicked him out.

Swallowing the food that had suddenly gone tasteless, she said, “Anyway, my parents moved to Arkansas because Mom feared that if they stayed in the area,
retirement
would only be a word.”

“Arkansas is one of your states, is it not?”

“Right. It might as well be another country for as often as I get to see them.” Realizing Aidan had no idea of the huge distances one could travel in this country compared to his own, she explained, “It would be like you going from Dublin to Paris to see your family.”

“That would be quite a distance, indeed. You must miss them, then.”

“All the time. They come for a couple of weeks in the summer and at Christmas. I try to get to Arkansas for a visit in between, but I can’t leave the place for too long. And days or even weeks just isn’t enough when you’re used to seeing someone every day of your life. I take it you don’t feel the same way about Cashel.”

Aidan laughed. “No, I am not missing him, not yet. I think we needed what you call a time out. ’Tis my younger brother Tiernan I miss. He lives here in America, and I have not seen him for nearly two years.”