Summer Nights (Fool's Gold #8)

“Over here. I’ll keep them close to each other while they get settled.” He’d prepared four stalls in the barn.

Rafe joined them. It didn’t take long for them to get the horses settled. Shane compared the items delivered with the invoice and carefully crossed off the line about Reno being “thrown in for good measure.” He and Rafe then waited while the truck driver called his office.

“You got to admit, the pony’s funny,” Rafe said.

“Not to me.”

“Good thing Mom’s not here. She would insist he stay.”

“Then I’m glad they left for Tahoe this morning.” He glared at his brother. “She’s not to know about this.”

“That you’re turning out a poor, old, homeless pony? What’s he supposed to do now? Who’s going to take care of him?”

“The guy who owned him in the first place.”

No way Shane was going to back down on this one. He’d never met a horse he couldn’t handle, but ponies were another matter entirely. As far as he was concerned, they were vicious animals who terrorized kids and took great pleasure in their actions. He’d been six when a pony had thrown him, then tried to trample him at a local farm. Rafe had been the one to pull him from beneath the sharp hooves.

Rafe glanced back toward the stable. “You’re taking on a lot.”

“The riding lessons?” Shane shrugged. “I couldn’t figure out how to say no. It’s a few lessons. How much time could it take?”

“Not a question you want to ask,” Rafe told him. “It’s this town. One minute you’re minding your own business, the next it’s sucking you in. Look at me. I’m moving my whole company here. Dante’s not happy.”

“He’ll get over it. He’s a lawyer. He lives to compromise.”

Rafe chuckled. “He’d prefer to win, but he’s dealing. He’s driving over in the next week or so and we’re going to find a suitable space. Anything we buy will have to be remodeled which means commuting or renting something temporary.”

Shane knew his brother nearly as well as he knew himself. “You’ll rent close,” he said confidently. “Heidi likes having you around.”

Rafe nodded. “I like being around her, too.”

Because making his bride-to-be happy was what Rafe lived for. Shane could remember when his brother had lived for the deal. Much like Dante, he wanted to win. But all that had changed when he’d fallen in love.

Shane had acted the same way. Maybe it was part of the Stryker DNA. Their mother had mourned the loss of their father for decades. Until she’d met Glen, over twenty years later. He didn’t want to be like that—waiting that long until he was willing to trust again.

The delivery guy ended his call and walked toward him. “Okay, I’ve been cleared to take back Reno. Where’d you put him?”

Shane glanced toward the fence line, where the pony had been last. The animal was gone.

“We didn’t move him.”

The other man shook his head. “I tied him up myself. He couldn’t have gotten away.”

“Evidence to the contrary,” Rafe murmured.

“This is just like a pony,” Shane said, looking around. He didn’t see him by the barn or the house. Not in the garden or the—

Rafe nudged him. “I think you’ve got a problem, bro.”

Shane turned and saw that Reno had made his way to the elephant enclosure. Priscilla stood right by her fence, her trunk slipping between rails as she rubbed Reno’s bony back in a gesture even a human could tell was an invitation to be friends.

Beside him, Rafe started to chuckle.

Mayor Marsha had been right. The cats probably weren’t enough companionship for a social animal like Priscilla. The mysterious Wilbur hadn’t arrived yet and the mares hadn’t bonded with the elephant. Which meant he couldn’t turn away the pony, no matter how much he wanted to.

“Well, damn,” he said, then turned to the delivery guy. “Just leave him.”

“You sure?”

No. He wasn’t sure. This was hell. He’d been happy to be coming back to Fool’s Gold, to buy land and start his breeding program. What he’d gotten for his trouble was a bunch of animals he didn’t want, a woman he couldn’t forget and a sense his life was being managed by forces he couldn’t understand or control.

Rafe patted him on the back. “Reno is one of us now, Shane. You’d better get used to it.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

ANNABELLE PARKED BY the house on the ranch and quickly got out. She hurried to the corral where four unfamiliar horses waited. Shane carried saddles out of the barn. As usual, the sight of him doing something tough and manly set her girly hormones humming in appreciation. She ignored the quiver in her tummy and the desire to feel his mouth on hers and focused on the more important question.

“Is it true?” she asked when she saw him. “Did Glen and May really elope?”

He put down the saddles. “They phoned last night to say it was a done deal.”

Annabelle had gotten the call that morning. Everyone in town was buzzing about the romantic news. “So the trip to Tahoe wasn’t just a getaway.”