Susana laid her hand on Reede’s leg as he sat next to her at the table.
He looked down at her, and she saw the worry in his eyes, felt the comfort of his arm around her shoulders, but noticed a slight shaking in his arm.
“What is it, Reede?” She wanted to help get rid of the spirit that had first helped her, then scared the crap out of her.
“The horse, if I’m thinking right, could be Rival. A thoroughbred I lost at the clinic in Wyoming. When I was still a practicing vet.”
Cheyenne and Thad just looked at him, waiting. Hadn’t they heard this story before? Probably not. Reede wasn’t the confiding kind of guy, from the little she knew of him.
“The horse died.” Reede took a choppy breath. “I moved here.”
Susana glanced at Cheyenne, whose expression was as blank as her own had to be.
Thad lifted his glass to his lips but then set it down. “That’s all you’re going to tell us?”
Reede nodded once. “It doesn’t matter. It’s a past life. One that I’m never going back to.”
“Okay.” Cheyenne put her hands flat on the table. “Any clue who’s riding the horse? Presumably, the horse doesn’t want to haunt you, so it has to be the rider that’s the restless spirit.”
“No clue.” He gave her an even stare. “Will you talk to it? Help me get rid of it?” He glanced at Susana. “I can’t have it doing anything like this again.”
“I’ll try.” Cheyenne zoned out for a few seconds. “I don’t feel his presence right now.”
Reede stared at the door and went completely still for a few seconds. He stood and walked to the door and opened it, then stared out the screen door at the night. He whistled, loud and piercing. “Rival. Come on, boy.” He whistled again.
Nothing.
He tried it a few more times, then turned his back to the door.
Instantly the lights in the kitchen dimmed as a green glow flooded the porch.
“Holy shit.” Thad’s hand shook as he raised his glass to his lips and gulped.
Cheyenne’s eyes turned dark, and she seemed to move into another world.
Reede turned to face it, his eyes wide but not looking at the thing.
Susana couldn’t help the shakes that rattled through her at the malevolence pouring from the apparition.
“We know it’s Rival.” Cheyenne said the word in a voice very different from her own. “Why are you here, riding the horse?”
Everyone stayed silent for long moments.
Cheyenne nodded. “It wasn’t your fault, Reede.” She spoke slowly. “Walter wants you to know that.”
Reede’s whole body jerked, and he grasped hold of the doorknob. “Walter?”
“Walter Johnson is no longer in his earthly body.” Cheyenne tipped her head. “He needs you to do something for him.”
“I’ll do it if he promises to leave Susana alone.” Reede’s voice was hard and loud.
Susana’s heart skittered with emotion. Her cowboy was thinking only of her.
Cheyenne lifted a hand. “He wants you to call Bree.”
“Bree?” Reede shook his head. “She left me. Walter set me up...." Reede straightened his spine and looked up at the face of the spirit. “You set me up to take the fall for Rival’s death, then your daughter walked out on me. Why the fuck would I want to call her?”
The green glow doubled in strength, and stomping noise came so loudly, Susana covered her ears against the percussion.
Reede saw her reaction and held up his hands. “Okay. Stop it, Walter. I’ll call Bree.”
The noise stopped, the glow dimmed.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this.” Reede mumbled the words. “Any message you want me to give her?”
Thad choked out a laugh, Cheyenne smiled, and Susana took in her first full breath since she was nearly run over by the thing.
“Okay.” Cheyenne spoke quietly. “I will tell him. Will you go now? Will you pass over?”
The green glow turned into a mist that slowly disappeared as it dropped to the ground.
“That was intense.” Thad gave everyone but Cheyenne, who hadn’t touched her glass, a little more whiskey.
Reede closed the door, walked on shaky legs, and plopped down on his chair, taking a heavy pull on his drink. “What did he say?”
Cheyenne blinked a few times, her eyes turning back to blue. “He was greedy, and you and Bree suffered for it. He’s sorry.”
Reede let out a huge breath. “He must have been, to have come back to haunt me.” He glanced at the door. “Is he gone? For good?”
With a tip of her head, Cheyenne went quiet for a minute. “I don’t know for sure.” She gave Reede a level look. “He may be waiting to see if you follow through and call Bree.”
He nodded. “I will.”
Susana wanted to hear the whole story. “You and Bree…?” She realized her mistake when Reede stiffened.
Thad and Cheyenne looked at each other, then stood. “Well...." Thad took his woman’s arm. “That’s our cue to go.”
Cheyenne gave Susana a smile. “Let me know if there’s anything else.”
Reede thanked her, and they left, closing the door quietly.
The silence in the room made her dizzy.
“Bree.” Reede turned his glass in a slow circle. “She and I were engaged. She’s Walter’s daughter.”
At the word engaged, Susana stopped breathing.
“I was set to take over his practice when he retired. Bree and I, we had an apartment together, the business was growing, and our reputation for horse care was spreading.” Reede stood and walked to the other end of the kitchen, facing the window.
“Rival was a thoroughbred stud. He’d been a racer, a winner, but needed surgery.” He turned and leaned his hip on the counter. “One night, when I was on call, he died. He was given the wrong meds.”
Susana felt moisture pooling in her eyes. She was sad for Rival and heartbroken for Reede.
“Walter said I’d given the wrong meds. The chart showed my initials next to the medication, but I didn’t give Rival any meds. Walter was handling him personally.”
“So he lied? Forged documents?” Susana was angry enough to throw something. Instead, she took a sip of whiskey.
“Yeah, but there was no way to prove it. So I was fired, went home, and told Bree.” He crossed his arms and dropped his head. “She packed her bags and walked out. She couldn’t be with a man who made that kind of mistake, then blamed it on someone else. Especially since I was questioning her father’s integrity.”
She wanted to say, better off without her, but she held her tongue.
“Later, one of her friends told me Bree was just using me to keep her father’s business in the family. I was so cocky back then, I thought everything revolved around me and my rising-star career in the field of large animal medicine.” He snorted. “I didn’t even see that she wasn’t in love with me.” His brows shot up. “Or that I wasn’t in love with her.”
She hadn’t expected him to reveal so much, but she loved that he felt comfortable talking to her. “Now you get to call her.”
He looked her way. “Lucky me.” Unfolding himself, he headed to the door. “Might as well get it over with.”
“I can step out, give you some privacy.”
“No.” He pushed out of the screen door, down the steps, and out into the driveway.
She saw his phone light up, then go dark. He still had Bree’s phone number in his contacts?
****
Reede lay naked in his bed next to an equally unclothed Susana, his digital clock reading three A.M. His call to Bree had been a shock. Her father, Walter, had left instructions in his will. He’d admitted to killing Rival in collusion with the horse’s owners for insurance money. Walter left instructions for his lawyer to clear Reede’s name, get him reinstated as a vet, and…this was the holy shit part…give Reede half a million dollars in restitution.
“Holy shit.” He whispered the words.
“I know.” Susana snuggled closer. “Your own vet practice.”
Reede still couldn’t believe it. He’d called Thad and told him the story.
Thad had said nothing, then said he’d call him back. In less than a minute, Reede’s phone had rung.
“Buddy, you can rent a parcel of land on the High Paradise. Cheap. Open your practice there. Be on retainer for the ranch, but still extend your services to neighboring ranches.”
Reede hadn’t been able to speak over the lump in his throat. “What…what about the foreman job?”
Thad laughed. “Like you’d be hard to replace.”
Reede appreciated Thad’s twisted sense of humor. “Thad, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the offer.”
“Well, think on it, and we’ll talk in the morning.” His boss hung up.
Reede stared at the ceiling. He couldn’t do anything but think on it. The offer was like every one of his dreams coming true. Would Susana want to be part of it? He turned his head and kissed her temple. No, too soon to ask. But he’d like to keep her close for a while. Hopefully a long, long while.
She rolled on top of him, wiggling her sexy body over his, sparking his desire instantly. “Wanna have a little midnight snack?”
He laughed as he sat her up on him and handed her a condom. “You know I’m always hungry for you.”
“And this is so much healthier for us than some old pizza.”
He laughed and considered which wild position he’d get them into now.
****
At sunrise, Reede went out to his four-wheeler, ready to start the day. Susana slept soundly in his bed, and his heart swelled with happiness. The past was no longer a stormy cloud, the present was perfect, and his future could be whatever he made of it.
A piece of paper caught his eye. He walked over and picked it up. It had the names of two area ranches on notepaper with the sheriff’s logo in the corner. “Huh.” Susana had met with the sheriff yesterday. This must be hers. He could see why her research might include the ranches, but what did this have to do with the sheriff?
Walking back into the house, he heard the shower running. He ducked into her room and went to set the paper on her desk. Her laptop monitor caught his eye. The screen had a document open. It mentioned High Paradise along with Thad’s name and a date from two weeks ago. Numbers that had to be coordinates were next to it.
He pulled out his phone and accessed his GPS, typing in the numbers.
The shower stopped. Susana hummed quietly.
He paused, wondering why things had to go bad just when they were so damn good. This moment would be perfect if he hadn’t just seen her computer screen.
The coordinates were on state land, up in a high pasture. Was that the same place they’d found the cattle? Wasn’t that two weeks ago?
She walked into the room. “Oh!” The towel around her body slipped, and she grabbed it and retucked the corner. “I thought you’d left.” She smiled at him, then looked at the paper in his hand and at her computer screen. The smile disappeared. “I’m guessing you want an explanation.”
“You’re guessing right.” His voice came out harsh.
“I’ll tell you everything, but you’ll need to keep it confidential. And I’ll tell my boss that I had to confide in you to keep my cover intact.”
“Your cover intact.” Damn. This was not sounding good.
She sat at her desk. “We’ve been seeing cattle on federal land from satellite pictures and drone flyovers.” Opening her black bag, she pulled out a file, selected a few papers, and handed them to him.
A view from above showed hundreds of cattle spread out on green land. “And you assume they’re from High Paradise?” Anger made his words loud.
“Not at first. We were doing reconnaissance and questioning locals when we received these. Anonymously.” She handed him another stack of papers. It was the same land, he could tell by the river and the oddly shaped rock formation, but taken from ground-level. There were cattle in the picture. With High Paradise’s brand on them.
“Damn.” That explained a lot. He sat on the corner of the bed and looked right into her eyes. “Two weeks ago, we found a break in the fencing. It looked like it had been trampled, but Thad didn’t buy that. He thought it might be a high school prank or something.”
She nodded and waited.
“Hoof tracks led us up to this high field.” He pointed to the top paper. “A couple dozen head of beef were up there grazing. We rounded them up and herded them back down, did a head count, and none were missing.”
“That’s why you thought it might be local kids pranking you?”
It sounded stupid now that she said it, but at the time, they hadn’t been overly anxious to spend time filing a report and figuring it out. “Someone ran the cattle up there, took these pictures, and sent them to you in an attempt to implicate the ranch.”
“Theoretically.” She took the photos and slid them back into her bag.
“So, theoretically, you’re here to investigate a report of High Paradise illegally using government land.” He had a hard time keeping his anger in check.
“That’s exactly why I’m here.” Her cheeks turned red. “Why I rented a place close by. Spent days up on the land with a local guide.”
“You probably rubbed your hands together with excitement when you were invited to stay right here, right in the middle of your investigation.” Now he was getting really mad.
“I’ll admit, it was a lucky break for me, but I never—"
“And questioning my ranch hands? That was your way of taking advantage of the situation.” He stood, his hands fisting at his sides.
“I didn’t question...." She stood, too. “Okay, I did ask a few questions of Hart, but he was the only one.” Her breath came fast. “I wish I could deny all this. Wish I could tell you it never crossed my mind to use my presence here on the ranch to my advantage, but I’m here on business.” Taking a breath, she tipped up her chin and looked right into his eyes. “I never thought I’d fall for you. I’m not the type to dive in this fast or this deep. But I did, Reede Munro. I’ve gone crazy in love with you.”
Her words wrapped around his heart and squeezed. How could he believe her?
She turned from his hard glare. “If I could do it all over again, I’d stay away from you until my investigation was over. Then I’d come back and make a fool of myself over you until you paid attention to me and let me into your life.” A choppy breath escaped her, and she looked at him with watery eyes. “But that’s not how it worked out. And I’m so sorry for that. Because I can see you’re angry with me for keeping things from you.”
He just shook his head, too irate to trust saying anything at all.
Susana laced her fingers together over her stomach. “Reede, I need you to believe that I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything before.”
Her words were so calm and practiced. Her tears were there, but were they forced? He couldn’t trust her. Not now. Not ever. “I’ll get your car and pull it up in front of the house. Get packed and leave the ranch.”
“No, wait.” Her voice squeaked. “Please, let’s sit and talk about this. Don’t just throw me out of your life because I did what I had to do in the execution of my job.”
She went from telling him she wanted him to making excuses for using him the way she did. “I’m sorry, Susana. What happened between us was fun, but now that you have what you need to execute your job, we can stop pretending it was anything more than a couple days of sex.”
She gasped, her eyes going wide. “You know that’s not what it was.”
He didn’t need to hear any more lies. Turning on his heel, Reede stomped out of the room. How had he been sucked in by another woman who took advantage of him? Used him for what she needed and had the nerve to call it love.
He left the house, jumped on his four-wheeler, and spit gravel out from under his wheels in his need to get away from her. Never again. He was done with females. Done with his dreams of little blonde toddlers, family vacations, romantic second honeymoons. “Done.” He skidded to a halt by the machine shop and dropped his head. This one, Susana, had cost him more than he could ever hope to regain. He loved her, too. Soul-melding, heart-stopping love. “Lesson learned.”
Sliding off the ATV, he stormed into the shop. “Drive her car up to my house. Miss Susana is leaving. Now.”
The ranch hands who were sitting on their asses drinking coffee jumped into action.
Reede spun on his heel and walked out. He would watch her leave, but he didn’t want to be close enough to hear any more of her bullshit. He was weak enough right now that he might just change his mind and convince himself to believe all her lies.