Must Love Horses. Vicki Tharp

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      All the horses in the mustang pen ran to the other side when she approached, except the donkey. He trotted over to them and stuck his nose through the bars to sniff Eli. They blew into each other’s noses the way they do—the equine version of sniffing butts.

      So much more civilized.

      The donkey nipped at Eli. Eli nipped back. Then they stared at each other until one of them won, and then the donkey dropped his head and started grazing again.

      Eli turned to go without any prompting, bringing her by the trailers and her dead truck, down past the hay barn, then back up past the big house. The back porch light was on, but the rest of the house was dark.

      They ambled by, heading down the two-track dirt road toward the cabins. She passed the empty foundations with two huge piles of lumber, which must have been the delivery Bryan had mentioned that morning.

      She smelled smoke in the air. The scent grew stronger the farther down the road they went. Then they came over a rise and she caught sight of the campfire in front of one of the cabins. Eli headed in that direction, because where there were people, there were treats.

      “Pull up a log,” Bryan said as she got closer.

      She just wanted to get Eli back to the barn and settled, and then crawl between the sheets. She heard laughter, and two men walked up out of the shadows behind her. One was Santos.

      “Señorita!” Santos called out. “Come have a cerveza.”

      “It’s kinda late.”

      “Never that late,” the other man said. He was tall and lean and came at her with his hand outstretched. “Alby, ma’am.”

      “Sidney,” she said taking his hand.

      “I won’t let ’em get outta line,” Alby said with a broad grin on his face. His eyes sparkled in the firelight and his blond whiskers practically glowed.

      “One beer,” Bryan said as he popped the top on a fresh can and held it out to her. The plop-fizz made her mouth water.

      Santos reached out to tap Eli lightly on the butt to encourage him forward, but Eli was already moving.

      Eli loved his beer. Maybe as much as Bryan did.

      She swung off her horse and managed to grab the beer before Eli could. She poured a taste into her cupped hand and offered it to him. After he’d slurped it up, she sent him a few feet away, wiping her slobbery hand on her jeans as he started munching on the grass.

      Bryan was sitting on the ground, his back against a large log, his legs stretched out before him, his prosthetic propped up beside him. She took an empty spot next to him. Santos and Alby opened their beers and settled on the second of four logs surrounding the fire. The flames burned high, but the cool air at her back kept her from overheating.

      “He’s not gonna run off?” Alby tipped his can toward Eli.

      Sidney shook her head as she swallowed the cold brew. The first sip out of the can was always the best. Eli had better appreciate that she’d given it to him. Though the second sip wasn’t so shabby either.

      “You boys run into any trouble out there today?” Bryan asked Alby and Santos.

      “Saw something a little loco,” Santos said. “Up by that box canyon. Three sets of tracks in the mud by the creek. Two shod, one not.”

      “Two riders and a donkey, I reckon, by the size and shape of the bare hooves,” Alby said. “Ain’t no one been up that way since before the rains last week. Least ways not from the S.”

      The S being the Lazy S ranch, Sidney assumed. “Could it have been someone from one of the neighboring ranches?”

      Alby shrugged. “Eh, maybe, but don’t see no reason why they’d be hauling a pack animal with ’em.

      “See anything else?” Bryan polished off what looked like his fourth can, according to the pile of empties by the cooler, and helped himself to another.

      Sidney wasn’t even a third of the way done with her first one, which included what she’d given Eli.

      She tried not to judge. This was his off time, after all. Wasn’t any of her business. Her business was the new mustangs, and her new job. Nothing else.

      “We didn’t see nada,” Santos said. “No trash, no campfires, no cut fences.”

      “Makes my skin crawl,” Alby said. “After what happened two years ago, I don’t like seein’ evidence of nobody on this land ’cept us.”

      “What happened?” Sidney asked as she sunk down onto the ground so she could lie back against the log and rest her head. “This what the sheriff was talking about this morning?”

      Both Santos and Alby’s faces hardened and the men looked to Bryan. Sidney did also. He drew in a deep breath and blew it out. Then he told her about some trouble on the Lazy S that involved revenge on the part of the previous foreman’s ex-wife and the old sheriff who had loved and enabled her. Thanks to Mac and Bryan, and their military training, it had ended with only one person wounded and several sitting out the next few years in jail.

      “Sounds like everyone is lucky to be alive.” Sidney shivered. “So, that’s how you know Mac? You two served together?”

      “Yep,” Bryan said, too quick, too casual, too nonchalant. He rubbed at the end of his stump. There was a whole lot more to the story about how he’d lost his leg, but she’d promised herself she wouldn’t pry.

      Everything got quiet and awkward. Bryan’s gaze locked on the fire. Alby stared down at his beer. Santos eyed the thick blanket of stars above and said. “Best be turning in, amigos. See you mañana.”

      Alby jumped at the opportunity to leave. “Wait up.”

      Bryan half grunted a reply.

      “Good night,” Sidney called out after them.

      The wind shifted, swirling smoke in their direction. The fire now burned low, so the smoke wasn’t bad enough to make her move. Eli edged closer, nosed through Bryan’s empties, then stretched his neck out and scruffed Bryan’s short hair with his lips. Eli stood there with his face a few inches from Bryan’s cheek. The damn horse always knew when someone was upset.

      The fact that the man smelled like a microbrewery probably didn’t hurt any either.

      “Guess I’m calling it a night too.” Sidney finished off the last of her beer and stood. Already feeling a slight buzz. As small as she was, she made for a cheap date alcohol-wise. “You good?” When he didn’t answer, she nudged him in the thigh with the toe of her boot. “Hey, you all right?”

      He blinked as if bringing her into focus. “Sure, why wouldn’t I be?” If he’d been a dog, his lip might have raised in a half snarl.

      She raised her hands, taking a step back.

      “Sorry.” He blew out a breath and pushed himself up, balancing on the СКАЧАТЬ