CHAPTER 4
Harper galloped around the course once more. Spartan’s heavy breathing was the only sound in her world. As they approached the first barrel, she leaned left, squeezing with her legs as her horse made the lightning fast turn and sped off to the next barrel. Surging forward, she tugged the reins to guide him around the second barrel, kicking him swiftly to encourage him to move faster as they raced to the third and final barrel. His black mane flowed over Harper’s hands as she tugged the reins to the left, completing the turn around the final barrel. “Ha!” She kicked his flanks again, racing to the finish.
As soon as she crossed the finish line, she clicked the stopwatch. Pulling it from around her neck, she took a deep breath and then looked at the time.
16.999
It wasn’t perfect. But it wasn’t too bad either.
She took a deep breath as she rode Spartan around the ring at a fast-paced walk to cool him down. They could do better.
Deep down, she knew Spartan was a champion.
But something kept holding him back.
Or maybe it was her.
She fell into the rhythm of Spartan’s steps, the familiarity a welcome and soothing security in a world that didn’t seem safe anymore. She wanted to try again, run the course over and over. But sometimes more practice didn’t make you better; it just made you more frustrated. It was better to end on a high note. So, after several more laps of cooldown with Spartan, she decided to put the barrels away.
“Whoa, mister,” she crooned to the gelding. The dust settled around Spartan’s hooves as she swung her leg from one side of the saddle and jumped down. Setting his reins on his neck, she didn’t even bother to tie him up.
She trusted him.
He trusted her.
Some things were just simpler with animals.
As she walked to the first barrel, she tipped it to the side and rolled it outside the pen. The familiar muted thud of Spartan’s hooves followed close behind as she walked to the second barrel. Only this time, he bumped her butt with his nose, almost knocking her off balance.
“You think that’s funny, don’t you?” She glanced behind her, narrowing her eyes.
The gelding tried to rub his head on her back, making her lurch forward and almost trip over the tipped barrel. “No, you know better.” She turned and pushed his big head away, making eye contact. “Good manners. You don’t get to be all up in my business. Alpha.” She pointed to herself. Then to him. “Not alpha.”
He lowered his head.
“That’s right.” She stroked his white star in the middle of his forehead. “But I love you,” she whispered softly.
Spartan leaned in to her as she started to scratch his forehead. When she stopped, he shook his head and blew out a deep breath.
Harper shook her head then began rolling the final barrel outside the pen. As she straightened, she turned back to Spartan, who was waiting where the barrel had been. Whistling, she nodded toward the barn.
The horse trotted to her then slowed, lagging behind her as she walked toward the small barn on her family’s old homestead. The giant sycamore trees that framed the old farmhouse were turning a muted brown as the evening temperatures continued to fall. The sun was setting, reminding Harper that autumn was here, closing the book on another summer.
Spartan waited as she rolled the sliding door open. With a quick glance, she made sure he waited for her to enter the barn first. Horses were like dogs, they needed the pack organized and needed to understand that they were not the alpha.
In this case, she was.
One bad habit led to others, and it wasn’t fun or safe to have a thirteen-hundred-pound animal with bad manners.
Spartan sighed, as if annoyed that she even questioned his understanding of who was in charge, and followed her into the barn. The scent of horse, dirt, and hay filled her lungs, making her smile. It was a familiar scent.
A safe scent.
Reminding her that she was okay.
He couldn’t hurt her anymore.
Spartan nickered, pulling her thoughts back to the present, away from the past.
Away from the pain.
She petted his nose tenderly. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Soon she was walking out the barn door, the sound of Spartan rummaging through his hay following her into the evening light.
Jasper’s pickup started up the drive, and she waved when he got closer. Kessed was with him, as was the usual. Harper waited as they killed the diesel engine and swung open the truck doors.
“Hey, you.” Jasper waved, absently reaching out and grabbing Kessed’s hand.
It was both sickeningly sweet and utterly adorable to see her big brother completely in love. He obviously worshiped the ground Kessed walked on, and Kessed’s smile conveyed that she returned the adoration. At times, it was uncomfortable, but for the most part, Harper was thrilled to have an almost sister-in-law.
Just a few weeks.
The wedding was quickly approaching, and honestly, it couldn’t get here fast enough. Already she’d been helping Kessed with the final plans, and in the midst of it, Harper had come to the conclusion that she didn’t like planning. Or weddings.
Or flowers.
She also didn’t really care about what the invitations looked like.
But she did care about Kessed. So, she’d helped with everything she could to make it easier on her friend.
As depressing as it sounded, she was glad she’d never have to go through all that again.
Once was enough, thank you.
One nightmare had translated into a worse one.
“Harper? Did you hear me?” Jasper tilted his head in that annoying big brother, arrogant way.
“No. Ignoring you,” Harper teased, covering for her lack of attention.
Jasper rolled his eyes. “I just asked if you had dinner yet. I’m thinking of ordering pizza.”
Harper shook her head. “Nope, but you know that no one delivers way out here...”
Jasper grinned.
She narrowed her eyes. “You want me to go and pick it up, don’t you?”
“Please?”
Kessed giggled as she smacked Jasper’s arm. “Getting your little sister to do your dirty work? Shameful.”
“What she said.” Harper pointed to Kessed.
“I’ll pay,” Jasper added.
“You’re paying regardless.” Harper folded her arms. “Fine. I’ll do it. But not for you, for her. And me. We deserve pizza.” Harper unfolded her arms and followed them into the house to grab her purse.
“And why do you deserve pizza? Not,” Jasper added quickly, “that I’m questioning it, just curious if we’re celebrating something?”
“I ran under a seventeen on the barrels.” Harper shrugged.
Jasper gave a quick clap. “Awesome. You entering the Naches race?”
“Fall Frenzy? Yeah. I registered last week.” Harper pushed the door open, the squeak growing higher in pitch the wider it opened.
“You going to win?” Jasper asked.
As usual.
“Maybe.” Harper shrugged then grabbed her purse from the chair. “You going to come watch me?”
“Hopefully,” Kessed answered for him.
“I have one fan.” Harper raised her hand and high-fived Kessed.
Jasper pointed to himself. “Biggest fan.” He tugged her arm and pulled her into a suffocating hug.
“Gah, why?” Harper groaned then inhaled a deep breath as Jasper released her. She met his green gaze, so much like her own. “Thanks for the chiropractic readjustment.”
“Anytime. I’m calling in the pizza now, so it should be ready by the time you get there.”
“Fine, fine. Domino’s?”
“Yup.”
“Deviate once in a while.”
“They are the only ones that don’t use caraway seeds. You know that.” Jasper nudged her as she walked back out the door.
“One day I might forget,” Harper threatened.
“Mean!” Jasper called out to her as she walked to her pickup.
Harper grinned and swung open her door and slid into the truck. Her brother had a pretty epic allergic reaction to caraway seeds, one that had doped him up on Benadryl more than once.
One of those times happened because Kessed had brought him dinner.
And hadn’t known he was allergic.
The idiot had known the seeds were in the sauce and ate it anyway.
Love was not just blind, but in some cases, deaf, dumb, stupid, and a hazard to your health.
Kessed, from that point on, had been paranoid about the little seeds being in sauces, or really anything. And Domino’s Pizza was the only place in town that didn’t have the little allergy triggers.
It wasn’t Harper’s favorite place, but it was worth it to keep Jasper from swelling up like a balloon.
She flicked on her lights as she drove toward town and turned up the music to drown out her thoughts.
It sucked to not be able to trust yourself.
“In the morning, I’m leaving, making my way back to Cleveland...” She sang the Kenny Chesney song loudly and probably off tune. She couldn’t tell. As she passed the Elk Heights Ranch’s drive, she glanced over to the hillside and did a double take.
Smoke.
It wasn’t much, almost a wisp, but that didn’t mean jack shit.
Each year, the hills caught fire, at least in one place or another. And brush fires were no joke. She pulled off to the side and spun the truck around and sped down the driveway. After pulling out her cell phone, she dialed the fire department, letting them know about the location. As she got closer, she could see the smoke growing from a wisp to a cloud. She ended the call when they had the information and tossed the phone to the passenger side. When she pulled in beside the barn, she left her truck on then ran to the ranch door.
Knocking loudly, she bounced on her heels as she waited.
“Harper?” Sterling answered the door, his gray eyes confused as he glanced from her running pickup to her. “What’s up?”
“Cyler—Is Cyler here?”
“Yeah, what’s wrong?” Sterling lowered his chin, leveling her with a commanding stare.
“Fire.”
“Shit.” Sterling darted back into the house. “Cyler!”
Soon Cyler was rushing out the door with Sterling close behind as Harper pointed to the hill just above the ranch’s property.
“Aw hell,” Cyler whispered.
Harper watched as the orange flames became visible against the charcoal smoke.
“Has anyone called the fire department?” Laken asked, coming to stand beside Harper.
“I did.” She turned to Cyler. “Did you make a firebreak this year?”
“Yeah.” Cyler nodded. “But it doesn’t always hold. Let’s go check it out.”
Cyler ran back into the house, leaving Sterling, Laken, and Harper watching the flames grow.
“Where’s the tractor? Is it in the south pasture?” Harper asked, turning to Sterling.
“I—I’m not sure. It should be there unless Cyler moved it.”
“Good. Do you know if there’s any cattle in that pasture?”
Sterling nodded. “Sure is.”
“This is what we’re going to do.” Cyler came charging out of the house as sirens sounded from the direction of town. “You guys, take the two quads and move the cattle into the north pasture. Get them as far away from the hill as you can. I’m going to take that damn tractor and clean up the firebreak. We don’t need that bastard of a fire jumping across and making hell of my ranch.”
Sterling nodded.
“What do you need me to do?” Laken wrapped her arms around her body, clearly concerned.
“Man the phones. Harper, is yours in the car? Grab it. We need to keep in contact. And stay the hell away from the fire, you hear me? All of you. It moves faster than the devil.”
“Laken, can you call Jasper and Kessed? I was on my way to pick up pizza, and they don’t know I’m here. My brother will get freaked if he doesn’t hear from me.” Harper ran to her pickup and killed the engine. Grabbing her phone, she sprinted to the side of the barn where the quads were stored.
Sterling met her there. His eyes were intense, focused in some sort of soldier mode.
“Let’s evacuate some cattle.” Harper put a knee on the seat and turned the key. “Ready?” she yelled over the sound of the second engine starting.
“I’ll follow you.” He made a circular motion with his hand, and she nodded.
She backed the quad out and then took off toward the hill. The sun was starting to set, narrowing their window of daylight. She glanced behind her, making sure Sterling was following.
The scent of smoke filled the air. Keeping the quad on, she jumped off and swung open the gate. Sterling drove past her, and she followed. As soon as she was through, she jumped back off the quad and closed the gate behind them. The smoke was growing thicker, making the sunset a bloody red on the horizon.
“Where do we start?” Sterling asked over the growl of the quad engine.
Harper loaded back up on her quad. “Let’s open the pasture gates first, then we’ll start to round up the cattle.”
“Would it be better to tag team?” Sterling asked over the sound of the engines.
“The cattle will be down by the water, but they’ll keep away from the fire—instinct. Let’s just get those gates open so once we start moving them we don’t have to stop. I’ll get the first, you ride through and get the second, and so on. There should be three or four to the most northern section.”
“Got it.” Sterling nodded and took off, sending a cloud of dust behind him that swirled around Harper as she followed. As they approached the first entry, she swung off and opened the gate quickly, watching as Sterling sped through.
When she approached the second gate, Sterling was already waiting with it wide open for her. And she did the same for him at the third one. Without delay, Harper spun her quad around and headed back toward the fire. The sound of sirens pierced through the air as the flashing lights made their way toward the curling smoke. As she drove to the water where the cattle would be lingering for the evening, she kept her eye on the rye grass. Still.
No wind.
Praise God.
As she rounded the corner to the water, she slowed down. The goal was to herd the cattle, not spook them. Instinctively, they were keeping away from the edge of the pasture closest to the hill. As she gave them a wide berth and circled behind them, she saw Sterling approach. His quad’s light helped illuminate the growing dark as he followed her lead and met her behind the herd.
“You ever done this before?” Sterling asked, his face dusty from the dry dirt the quads kicked up.
Harper shrugged. “More or less. Basically, we need to go slow enough to not freak them out, but be bossy enough to not let them be stubborn about staying. Yell a little, rev the engine, and keep the stragglers with the herd. Make sense?”
“More or less.” Sterling glanced to the cattle.
Harper looked at his leg, curious as to how he was holding up. At least they were riding the quads, not horses.
“Let’s go.”
Sterling nodded, and she took off at a steady pace. The cattle watched her warily as she approached.
“Ha! Get!” she shouted, slowing down and curving toward the back of the herd.
A few trotted away from the group, but Sterling went around her, cutting off their escape, and soon the herd started moving toward the open gate.
They worked together, Harper keeping the majority of them moving forward, while Sterling kept the stragglers in line, revving his quad’s engine when they got a little bold.
Against her better judgment, her gaze kept flickering to him. This wasn’t his area of expertise; he was anything but a cowboy, yet it was like as soon as you gave him a purpose, he made it his own. A unique trait, and she kind of admired that.
As they passed through the third gate, she stopped the quad and hopped off so that she could swing it shut. Sterling met her gaze and nodded, taking up her previous position and moving the herd along to the final gate. Harper jumped back on the quad and caught up, and together they ushered the final steer into the north pasture. She killed the engine and swung the gate shut.
Sterling turned off his quad as well, and as the dust settled, they turned to the hill.
Glowing.
“Shit,” Harper swore.
“What do we do now?” Sterling asked, and Harper studied him.
“I—I don’t know. We pray the wind doesn’t come up. We pray for rain.” Harper watched as he turned back to the flames. And it struck her, oddly enough, Sterling hadn’t found it difficult to ask for direction.
As a guy, she’d expected him to be pushy, demanding, arrogant. After all, he probably had a good reason to be, used to giving orders and having them obeyed.
But also used to being under authority and following direction.
Which was hard.
Damn, it was hard.
Sometimes he stunned the hell out of her.
“Harper?” he asked, his tone questioning.
“Yeah, sorry. Let’s ask Cyler.” Harper got back on her quad and started the engine, heading toward the south pasture. After they passed through the gates, they swung them shut, and soon the heat from the fire was warming the air as they approached where Cyler was disking the pasture.
The flames were bright red and orange, flickering with an angry edge as the black smoke hurled through the air. Several fire trucks were shooting out a layer of water along the ranch’s property line, while others were doing their best to contain the flames.
“What’s over there?”
Harper hadn’t heard Sterling’s approach, and she turned to him, watching the orange light flicker across his face.
“Nothing but more grass to burn. For miles.” Harper took a deep breath of heated air.
“In other words, nothing to stop it.” Sterling met her gaze.
“Basically.”
Sterling frowned. “What if they started a control fire?”
“That’s probably the next step. But there’s always the chance that the wind will kick up and blow the control fire out of control as well. Right now, it’s a miracle that it’s calm out. It won’t last forever.”
“I see. I’m out of ideas then.” Sterling shook his head. “So we just...wait?”
Harper shrugged. “For now.”
And waiting was always the hardest part.