Читать книгу Her Cowboy Reunion - Ruth Herne Logan - Страница 15

Chapter Four

Determined. Troublemaker. Big Red. Night Shadow. Red Moon Rising.

Lizzie stared at the impressive list of stallion names, refusing to be overwhelmed.

Getting eight mares bred to top quarter horse stallions had set her uncle back a cool hundred grand. And based on their lineage, the healthy foals could pay back three times that without a single credential to their record.

That meant each one better hit the ground running, healthy and sound.

You are now responsible for a million dollars in marketable goods. She stood and faced the broad window overlooking the verdant pasture as Heath walked toward the stable the next morning. And your goods aren’t static. They’re impulsive babies who run and jump and cavort. Your job is to keep them alive and unblemished.

Her business major had prepared her for the financial scenario, but she’d assumed she’d be working with publishing spreadsheets and corporate executives, not living creatures. Despite all she knew about horses, she’d never felt less prepared in her life.

“Sticker shock?” asked Heath when he paused at the office door.

“Is it that obvious?”

“Don’t get me wrong.” Heath came through the door. “Sean knew what he was doing. He didn’t play to lose. Ever. And his goal was to bring Saddle Up blood onto the farm one way or another, so three of those mares are bred to Saddle Up stallions. Speaking of which, this just came through the fax.”

He handed her a picture of a magnificent red roan quarter horse. Red Moon Rising, with an offer of sale attached from Rising Star Ranch.

She sighed, staring. “He’s gorgeous.” She noted the western Nebraska ranch named in the corner of the fax. “I have a note here from Uncle Sean saying this was his top choice, and pretty sure they’d never sell. And yet—” She raised the spec sheet higher. “Here we are. How did this happen?”

“I don’t know. Sean approached them over a year ago and got nowhere. Then this appears, out of the blue. Do we want him?”

The perfectly formed horse stood tall and proud, the way a stallion should. But he had a gentleness in his eye, too, an important factor on a working farm. “That’s not even a question. Of course we do. But I thought we were short on money.”

“Short on cash, temporarily. At least until we get things squared away with all the changes. But we’re long on assets,” he told her. “And since this is something Sean tried to do before he died, I think we need to follow the plan.” He tapped the printed sheet in her hand. “I’m glad they decided to share. Sean could be mighty convincing when he needed to be. When it came to horses, he knew what he wanted and where to get it. I don’t have the knack,” he went on. “Sheep, yes. Horses, no. But Sean did. And he thought you did, too.”

“Being an accomplished rider doesn’t make me a breeder.” She clutched the sale offer and gazed at the mares in the near pasture. “And there’s no big name vet on hand to offer advice and testing like other places have. And one groomer to help me, a guy who doesn’t speak horse.”

“Not everyone’s a whisperer, Liz.”

He used to tease her about that when they were young, about her ability to work well with the horses, to understand what they wanted. Needed. “It’s not whispering. It’s just instinct.”

“It’s a gift and not everyone has it. Eric Carrington is expanding his place a little further south in the valley. He’s looking at expanding his cattle breeding operation into horses. He and Sean talked about a partnership, but then—”

“Angus cattle, black and red.” She pointed to the laptop computer. “His name came up in my searches. We passed his pastures on the drive in, didn’t we?”

“Yes. And if you decide to cut the deal for Red Moon Rising, I’ll transfer the money to the equine account. That’s a mighty fine-looking horse right there. And there are three stallion stalls sitting empty at the moment. He’d pay for himself in stud fee savings in a year.”

She tapped the open page with one finger, thinking, then looked up. “A part of me feels vastly unqualified to make this call.”

He waited.

“The other part feels like someone just handed me the best opportunity in the world. To make my living working with horses. Who’d have thought?” She lifted her shoulders lightly because when the bankruptcy rulings swept in, the horses, the tack, the trailers, the food...everything disappeared. And there wasn’t a thing the girls could do about it.

“Then the hesitant side will tug the reins on the other side so you don’t go hog wild.” He glanced behind her and whistled lightly when he saw the big calendar she’d mounted on the wall. “All the auction dates for next year. You didn’t waste any time.”

“No time to waste if we’ve got foals due all summer. We want mama and baby teams to socialize together the first six months, so if I’m going to make this call, I need to get on it now.”

“I’ll leave you to it. Call my cell if you need anything. I’ll be in the newer lambing barn up front, but I can get back here quickly.” And just when she thought he was extending an olive branch, his face tightened. “Whether I like it or not, what happens in this barn can make or break thirty years of hard work and investment. And that’s nothing I take lightly.”

She met his gaze and kept her face flat on purpose.

She didn’t punch him.

She gave herself extra points on that, because she really wanted to.

“Nor should you. Thanks for stopping by.” She sat down, dropped her eyes and reached for the phone, effectively dismissing him.

He hesitated.

She didn’t look up.

And then he left, heading toward the house.

She tried not to notice how good he looked as he strode away. She tried to ignore the breadth of his shoulders in that long-sleeved blue T-shirt and how easily he moved in the faded denim jeans. He wasn’t wearing fancy Western boots. He walked off in well-made, waterproof farm boots, perfect for working stock animals.

As the Rising Star Farm phone began ringing, she saw Zeke rush out of the house to meet his dad. Heath scooped him up, noogied his head, then hugged him close.

An old ache nudged her heart with a feeling of loss, but then someone at Rising Star answered the phone. She brought her attention back to the present. She hauled in a breath and introduced herself to the person on the other end, and by the time she was through her day, she’d cut a deal on an impressive stallion and set up an appointment with Carrington’s ranch manager to see two mares the next day.

They might not be what she was looking for. Until she got here and met Sean’s herd, she didn’t know what she’d be looking for.

Now she’d had a firsthand look, and if Sean was willing to put his trust in a woman he didn’t know, Heath better be all right with doing the same.

He’d said that Sean played to win. She did, too. And the only time she lost was when the outcome was taken totally out of her hands. But life went that way sometimes, and that meant you needed to straighten up, keep your chin up and pray your way through it. She’d had to do that more than once in her life, and when needed...she’d do it again.

* * *

Heath transferred farm equity funds into the equine account, and by the time he got showered and dressed for supper, the funds were out of the account. “You cut the deal with Rising Star that quickly?” he asked when Lizzie crossed the green square separating the stables a quarter hour later.

“Yes.” She tipped a smile over his shoulder when Zeke spotted her and came racing their way. “I read Uncle Sean’s notes on possible stallions, and he was over the moon about this one. No pun intended,” she added. “If he felt that strongly about Red Moon Rising, I didn’t want to take a chance they might renege on the deal. Hey, bud.” She laughed when Zeke skidded to a stop and grabbed her hand. He looked up at her, she looked down at him and when they shared a smile, an old flicker of something warm and good ignited within Heath.

“They’ll deliver him Thursday with all the appropriate testing and paperwork attached. He’s already in the money with his foal lines, so unless something unexpected happens to him, we’ve got a perfect match for those next broodmares.”

Zeke tugged her arm. “What is that?” he asked when she looked back down.

She made a face of question. “What is what, sweet thing?”

His smile deepened again as he tightened the grip on Lizzie’s hand. “A brood thing.”

“Ah.” She squatted to his level, and Zeke’s eyes lit up. “It’s a horse who’s going to have a baby. A foal. Some of the horses are pregnant and that’s what we call them. Broodmares.”

He clapped his other hand to his forehead, astonished. “We’re going to have baby horses?”