Wild Horses

And now it didn’t matter what he might want. Clearly there could be nothing between them anymore. Nora despised him. She saw him as the pampered trust-fund kid he used to be. Which was exactly how he’d come across.

“I won’t cause her any more trouble,” he promised. “I screwed up back in college and I screwed up last night. I won’t mess up a third time. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Wade looked relieved. He pulled his cowboy hat down over his shaggy hair. Evidently he was growing out his military buzz cut. “Good,” he said. “Now that we got that over with, do you want go fishing this weekend?”

Now, that was the perfect way to end an awkward conversation. Todd grinned—part relief, part excitement. “That would be great. These past couple years have been so busy, getting the machine repair business going, and my ranch set up. I haven’t had much time to get to know many different fishing holes. It’d be awesome to get out there with a local.”

“Well, my knowledge is a little dated,” Wade admitted. “I’ve only been back a couple weeks and there hasn’t been time for fishing. But probably not much has changed. How about I swing by and pick you up from your work Sunday evening? That’ll give us a couple hours of daylight to nab a few trout.”

“Sounds good,” Todd said. He turned back to his truck, then paused. “You want any help grading this driveway?”

He saw Wade’s shoulders stiffen a little, wary of anything that smacked of charity. “Maybe eventually,” he said. “Right now I kind of like it. Keeps the nosy folks of Benson from paying any calls.”

Todd laughed. “You’re probably right about that. But it’s also hard on your truck. Think about it. I’m happy to help.”

“I appreciate that,” Wade said.

“And I’m not sure Nora mentioned it, but I work with mustangs. I adopt horses caught in government roundups and I train them to be good stock horses.”

“She didn’t say anything, no.”

Relief shot through him. If Nora hadn’t told her brother he worked with mustangs, she wouldn’t have mentioned the other night when he’d set a bunch of them free. “Well, I sell them for the original adoption fee I paid the Department of Range Management. If you need horses, you can’t beat the price. And you’ll be giving a mustang a new lease on life.”

“That doesn’t seem like a sound business plan you’ve got going on there,” Wade said, studying him.

“It’s not meant to be a business. Just something I care a lot about. When you get to a point where you’re ready for some horses, I hope you’ll consider mine.”

“I’d be happy to,” Wade said. “Sounds like a good cause and a great bargain.” He gave a wave and then walked off down the lane, heading toward the ramshackle row of sheds.

Todd climbed into his truck. Fishing. It might be a little awkward at first, hanging out with Nora’s brother. But he liked the guy already.

He’d just have to keep things peaceful with Nora. Though that might be hard, seeing as they were on opposite sides of the wild horses issue.

Plus, she didn’t make him feel peaceful. Quite the opposite. Despite her being so pissed at him last night, she’d changed something inside him. He’d walked out of that bar feeling as if his blood was moving faster, his heart beating stronger. He’d felt more alive than he could remember feeling since college.

He didn’t want peaceful with Nora. He wanted what they’d had before. He wanted to take her by the hand and explore the east side of the Sierras—to swim with her in the ice-cold lakes and go find the secret hot springs that trickled from deep in the earth. He wanted to lose himself in her the way he used to.

He understood that he couldn’t have it, but it didn’t stop him wanting it.

He steered his truck carefully back along the rutted drive. It was heartbreaking, this evidence of such neglect and waste. Nora’s dad had been careless with his ranch and his family.

And Todd had been careless, too—with Nora. He’d loved her for three years, and it shocked him now to look back and realize he’d never asked much about where she’d come from. He’d been too much of an egotistical college boy to talk about much besides himself. Though that had probably suited Nora fine, since she hadn’t wanted to talk about her past. And now he understood why. If he’d grown up here on this depressing ranch, he’d want to pretend none of it existed, too.

A rusted-out Ford pickup, vintage 1970s, stared at him from behind a mesquite, challenging him with its broken headlight eyes. And Todd felt resolve building inside him. He’d find a way to help clean up this mess. The mess he could see around him on Marker Ranch, and the one he’d made with Nora last night. And maybe, if he worked hard enough, he could even do something about the mess he’d made when he walked out on her, all those years ago.

CHAPTER SEVEN (#ulink_b2b85e85-1ce4-5f59-86ec-e04cef60c47d)

“HEY, NORA, DO you have a minute?”

Nora looked up from lacing her hiking boots to see Lee Ellison, the DRM station manager, walking toward her. “Sure, what’s up?”

Sometimes Lee liked to check in on the progress of her study, even though he wasn’t her actual boss. She’d been hired by his supervisor, Trent Nixon, up in Reno. But Lee’s background was in plant biology and Nora suspected he was a little envious of her job. As a government bureaucrat, he didn’t do much science. So he often sought her out to have a chat, which Nora enjoyed. It was nice to talk with someone else who knew the difference between a stamen and a petal.

Lee sat down on the log next to her, but instead of asking about her recent survey results or her plans for the day, he just rested his arms on his knees and stared at his folded hands. Finally he spoke. “Have you heard about the horses?”

“No.” Nora tried to keep her voice casual—hard to do when she was lying. “Did something happen?”

“They’re gone.”

“What do you mean, they’re gone?” Nora twisted her head as if she was trying to see the corrals from where she sat. She couldn’t, but it seemed like something someone who had just learned about the horses’ disappearance would do. She was a terrible actress and she knew it, mentally cursing Todd every way she knew how for putting her in this position. She looked back at Lee, eyebrows raised in what she hoped was a surprised and worried look. “What happened?”

Lee sighed. “We don’t know. When Vince stopped by to feed them on Saturday, the gate was still latched, but they were gone.”

“Is a fence broken?” She was pathetic at pretending. She just hoped this discussion ended soon.

“Nope.” Lee looked at her carefully. “So you didn’t see anything?”

“No, I didn’t.” Was her protest too strong? Nora’s stomach was in knots.

“It’s just that I’ve checked with everyone else, and they all say your Jeep was the last car in the parking lot that evening.”

“They’re right about that. I got back really late Friday. I’d stayed down in Johnson’s Wash way too long, lost the light and hiked back here after dark.” Had she said too much? Did she sound as if she was trying to give an alibi?

“And you didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary?”

“Honestly, everything seemed quiet. And it didn’t occur to me to go look at the horses. I was exhausted. I just wanted to get home.” Honestly. She couldn’t believe she’d used that word. And she couldn’t believe she was lying outright, for Todd Williams.

Lee sighed. “Look, while you’re out there today, just try to think about that night and whether you remember anything. You’re kind of my last hope here. Trent Nixon called and he’s pissed as hell. I’d love to offer him some kind of explanation. I just hope he doesn’t fire me over this.”

Nora stared at the dust around her feet. It would be awful if Lee got fired. He had three kids, two already at college and one heading there soon. Losing his job would be catastrophic for his entire family. “He can’t fire you for something that happened when you weren’t even here.”

“He’ll find a reason,” Lee said. “It’s not as if I’m the shining star of the DRM.”

It broke her heart to hear him talk that way. He was a good guy, which was a lot more than she could say for many of the redneck yahoos she’d met at this field station. “I really don’t remember anything unusual.” That final lie was extra icing on all the layers of deceit. It was too much and it made her sick. She stood up, self-hatred, anger and guilt all roiling around inside. “But I promise I’ll rack my brain and see if I can recall anything that seemed off.”

“Thanks, Nora. I’d appreciate it.” Lee stood up, too, straightening the tie that never looked quite right on him. “I’d better get back inside. Have a good day out there.”

His kindness just made everything worse. She swallowed the lump growing in her throat. “I will, Lee. You have a good day, too. Try not to worry. Trent would be crazy to fire you over this.”

“I hope so,” he said. And Nora watched him shuffle back to the building, shoulders dipped, looking even more discouraged than usual.

Nora grabbed her pack and swung it over her shoulder, her anger making her strides longer. Todd might justify his actions with bold statements about the rights of the horses, but what about the rights of someone like Lee? The right to do his job and to bring home his paycheck and to not have to take the blame for other people’s stupid deeds? What about Nora’s right to live her life without telling lies to protect her stupid ex-boyfriend?

Her feet hit the trail so hard that dust swirled around her legs. It was going to be a long, hot day and she had to focus on her work. But when she was done she was heading straight into town to give Todd a dose of reality. It was time that he realized how much his single-minded devotion to his causes affected other people’s lives.

* * *

THE KID WHO’D been sweeping up the repair shop when Nora stopped by after work told her that Todd was down the street at the High Country Sports Bar. But he didn’t mention that Todd was there with a woman. A gorgeous woman with a fall of sleek blond hair—hair that cascaded over one shoulder when she looked up from some papers on the table. A woman whose lipsticked mouth showed perfect white teeth when she opened it to laugh at something Todd had said.