Wyoming Cowboy Protection. Nicole Helm

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СКАЧАТЬ for the rest of her friends and family, she’d sent a cheery email to them saying she’d gotten an amazing job teaching English in China and she’d send them contact information when she was settled.

      If anyone had been suspicious, she’d been long gone before she could see evidence of it.

      Addie didn’t miss Boston or her cold father or even the furniture store that was supposed to be her legacy. That was also a surprise. Boston and her family had always been home, though not exactly a warm one after Mom had died when Addie’d been a kid. Still, striking out and starting over as a faux single mom had been surprisingly fulfilling. If she discounted the terror and constant running.

      But she wasn’t running right now. More and more, she was thinking of the Carson Ranch as home.

      “You are a hopeless idiot, Addie Foster,” she muttered to herself.

      She startled as the door swung open, the knife she’d been using clattering to the cutting board from nerveless fingers.

      But it was only Noah who swept in, looking as he always did, like some mythical man from a Wild West time machine. Dirty old cowboy hat, scuffed and beaten-up cowboy boots. The jeans and heavy coat were modern enough, but Noah’s beard wasn’t like all the fashionable hipster ones she was used to. No, Noah’s beard was something of an old-fashioned shield.

      She found herself pondering a little too deeply what he might be shielding himself from. Snapping herself out of that wonder, she picked up the knife. “You’re early,” she offered, trying to sound cheerful. “Dinner isn’t ready yet.”

      It was another thing she’d surprisingly settled into with ease. They all three ate dinner together. Noah wasn’t exactly a talkative guy, but he listened. Sometimes he even entertained Seth while she cleaned up dinner.

      He grunted, as he was so often wont to do, and slid his coat and hat off before hanging them on the pegs. She watched it all through her peripheral vision, forcing herself not to linger on the outline of his muscles in the thermal shirt he wore.

      Yes, Noah had muscles, and they were not for her to ogle. Though she did on occasion. She was human, after all.

      “Just need to call the vet,” he said.

      “Is something wrong?”

      “Horses aren’t right. Will there be enough for dinner if Ty comes over?”

      “Of course.” Addie had gotten used to random Carsons showing up at the house at any time of day or night, or for any meal. She always made a little extra for dinner, as leftovers could easily be made into a lunch the next day.

      Gotten used to. She smiled to herself as Noah grabbed the phone and punched in a number. It was almost unfathomable to have gotten used to a new life and think she might be able to stay in it.

      Noah spoke in low tones to the vet and Addie worked on adding more lettuce to the salad so there would be enough for Ty. She watched out the window at the fading twilight. The days were getting shorter and colder. It was early fall yet, but the threat of snow seemed to be in the air.

      She loved it here. She couldn’t deny it. The mountains in the distance, the ramshackle stables and barns. The animals she didn’t trust to approach but loved to watch. The way the sun gilded everything gold in the mornings and fiery red in the evenings. The air, so clear and different from anything she’d ever known before.

      She felt at home here. More so than any point in her life. Maybe it was the circumstances, everything she was running from, how much she’d taken for granted before her sister had gotten mixed up with a mob boss. But she felt it, no matter how hard she tried to fight it.

      She could easily see Seth growing up in this amazing place with Noah as something like a role model. Oh, it almost hurt to think of. It was a pipe dream. She couldn’t allow herself to believe Peter could never find them here. Could she?

      Noah stopped talking and set the phone back in its cradle, looking far too grim. Addie’s stomach clenched. “Is everything okay?”

      “Vet said it sounded like horses got into something chemical. Poison even,” Noah said gruffly with no preamble.

      Any warmth or comfort or love of this place drained out of Addie in an instant. “Poison,” she repeated in a whisper.

      Noah frowned at her, then softened that imperceptible amount she was beginning to recognize. “Carsons have some enemies in Bent. It isn’t unheard of.”

      It was certainly possible. The Carsons were a rough-and-tumble bunch. Noah’s brother, Ty, could be gruff and abrasive when he was irritated. Grady was certainly charming, but he ran a bar and though she’d never spent any time there since the ranch and Seth took up most of her time, Laurel often spoke disparagingly of the clientele there.

      Then there was Noah’s cousin Vanessa. Sharp, antagonistic Vanessa would likely have some enemies. Or Grady’s troublemaking stepbrother.

      The problem was none of them lived at the ranch full-time. They came and went. Noah could be grumpy, but she truly couldn’t imagine him having enemies.

      She, on the other hand, had a very real enemy.

      “Are you sure?” she asked tentatively.

      “Look, I know you’ve had some trouble in your past, but who would poison my horses to get at you?”

      He had a point. A good point, even if he didn’t know the whole story. Peter would want her and Seth, not Noah or his horses. He’d never do something so small and piddly that wouldn’t hurt her directly.

      “Trust me,” Noah said, dialing a new number into the phone. “This doesn’t have a thing to do with you, and the vet said if he gets over here soon and Ty helps out, we’ll be able to save them.” Noah turned away from her and started talking into the phone, presumably to his brother, without even a hi.

      Addie stared hard at her salad preparations, willing her heart to steady, willing herself to believe Noah’s words. What would poisoned horses have to do with her?

      Nothing. Absolutely nothing. She had to believe that, but everything that had felt like settling in and comfort and routine earlier now curdled in her gut.

      Don’t ever get too used to this place. It’s not yours, and it never will be.

      She’d do well to remember it.

      October

      NOAH FROWNED AT the fence. Someone had hacked it to pieces, and now half his herd was wandering the damn mountains as a winter storm threatened in the west.

      He immediately thought of last month and the surprise poison a few of his horses had ingested. The vet had saved the horses, but Noah and Ty had never found the culprits. Noah liked to blame Laurel and her precious sheriff’s department for the crime still being unsolved, even though it wasn’t fair.

      Whoever had poisoned the horses had done a well enough job being sneaky, but not in creating much damage. For all he knew it was some kids playing a dumb prank, or even an accident.

      This right here was no accident. It was strange. Maybe it could be chalked up СКАЧАТЬ