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  I would be bit before my hand could grab the shovel in the stall next to me.

  When my hands began to shake, I drew in a deep, cleansing breath. There were horses in every single stall except this one, and I knew if I startled it, I was putting all of them at risk. I wasn’t willing to lose another horse to something else in this damn town, and I felt my blood boiling with anger. As it was, the horses were already nervous and creating more of a ruckus.

  I still couldn’t believe there was a rattlesnake in here.

  “Hey, Cheyenne! You in—”

  I held up my hand to stop Rick, and that’s when he heard the rattle as well. He slowly approached me before he rounded the corner, and that’s when I felt his hand come down onto my shoulder.

  “Don’t move. That thing’s ready. I’m gonna go grab our snake stick.”

  “Hurry,” I whispered.

  I kept my eye on it, waiting for it to pounce. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do if it did, but I had on rubber boots and I had better aim with my feet than I did a gun anyway.

  Though shooting its head off didn’t seem like a bad idea right now.

  I felt as much as heard Rick walk back up behind me with a snake stick and a bag. I panned my gaze over to him, and I saw how intently his eyes were locked onto it.

  “Rick, you gotta be careful, alright? If it gets away from you and gets after one of these horses, all hell is gonna break loose in here.”

  “I’ve got this, alright? Just don’t make any sudden moves, and pray one of those horses doesn’t kick up,” he said. Honestly, we were very lucky I had just fed the horses because I knew their eating was what keeping them pretty preoccupied. They were on alert, but still reasonably calm. I just couldn’t get past the fact that it was even happening; my mind was frantically trying to find a logical explanation.

  The moment the snake stopped rattling its tail was when Rick lunged. It dodged him the first time and flared its fangs, and when it snapped back at Rick, one of the horses started to kick up. I turned and ran to try and calm the excited horse, praying that Rick could get it under control.

  “It’s alright,” I cooed as I patted and scratched the horse. “Just calm down. Everything’s fine.”

  Rick grunted and shuffled around, and at one point I thought he slammed his back up against the barn. That sent another horse over the edge across the way, and it immediately starting bucking in the stall, which I knew was likely to cause a chain reaction.

  “Ho. Down, boy! It’s alright. Come here, come here, come here.”

  “I think I got it,” Rick called it.

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah. If you want, just let that horse run before he’s gets them all fired up.”

  I threw open the stall and let the horse go, and he scurried out of the barn and into the pasture. He raised such a ruckus in the process the rest of them started kicking up a fuss, so I let them out as well. None of them were done with their breakfast, but I figured I’d let them run off their nervous energy and let them back in after a bit.

  “These poor horses are going to develop anxiety issues,” I said, with a sigh.

  “I’ve got it in the bag. I’m gonna go drive it on out to the other side of the field and let it go.”

  “Just keep it away from the horses,” I said. “God, how in the world did a rattlesnake that size get itself into the barn? It’s too cold for them to be out here, Rick.”

  “Well, it’s uncommon, but not unheard of. Happened to Colt and Tiffany a couple years back. I didn’t tell them about it because it was just a baby at the time, but if they wander off and find somewhere warm to curl up in, they’ve been known to survive entire winters in barns and lofts and stuff.”

  “Seriously?” I asked.

  “Yep. It’s why people tell you to check your attics around here before winter settles in. They love attics.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” I said with a grumble.

  Rick smirked at me, and I felt relieved to have someone here. I knew I could have wielded that snake stick on my own, but I wasn’t sure if one of the horses or I wouldn’t have been bit had I left them alone with a snake in that barn.

  “My God, what would’ve happened had that snake been in one of the other stalls, Rick?” I asked. I felt tears welling up once my adrenaline started wearing down. My hands began to shake, and my knees felt weak. Never in my life had I felt so helpless and powerless when around horses, but it was like I couldn’t keep them out of danger any longer. Being the horse whisperer and having a sanctuary did me no good if I couldn’t keep my horses safe.

  “Don’t worry yourself with stuff that didn’t happen,” Rick said. “We got the snake, and once I dump this one, I’ll check the barn for more. The last thing we want is to have a nest of them and not know it.”

  “You think they could’ve been living in those rotted out beams?” I asked.

  “Nope,” Rick said with a chuckle. “But I’ll check the horse’s hay that’s in their stalls as well as the feed room. That place stays pretty warm in the winter because of how insulated we keep it. It’s actually built that way to keep animals out, but if a snake gets in, it’s easy living.”

  “Thanks,” I said with a smile. I knew if that rattlesnake had been in one of the other stalls, the vet wouldn’t have gotten out here in time before permanent damage would have been done. At best, the horse would’ve limped for the rest of its life. At worst? Well, I honestly didn’t want to think about that.

  “Why don’t you go get yourself another cup of coffee? These horses will run for a bit longer, and then you can take them in one by one to finish their breakfast while you groom them,” Rick said.

  And that actually didn’t sound like a bad idea.

  “I’ll be back in fifteen,” I said.

  “Make it twenty, and put your feet up for a bit. Seriously, I know everyone around here is wound tight, but this is just an animal looking to stay warm.”

  “We’ll call it a cool seventeen and make it even,” I said with a wink.

  “You drive a hard bargain, ma’am.”

  Chapter 24

  Colt

  When my eyes opened, I saw Cheyenne sleeping next to me. Having her there felt so good and so right. Despite never having gone out on any dates, we’d been sleeping together for a week now, though neither of us had mentioned it to Tiffany yet. If she knew, she’d surely kick up some sort of fuss that would cause Cheyenne to backtrack, and neither of us wanted that to happen. Plus, with everything that had been going on, it had been nice holding on to each other at night.

  It made me smile that she felt safe with me, and I’d do whatever it took to preserve that feeling within her.

  I bent over to give Cheyenne a kiss on the cheek, then slipped out of bed. It was almost time for me to get up anyway. I was going to feed the horses this morning before I headed into the Iron Stallion so Cheyenne could get some sleep. Plus, Tiffany had been riding my ass on not doing much around here anyway. The farm was never something I’d wanted to be responsible for. It made me feel chained to a place I didn’t want to be. I’d always been used to owning the things around me, but instead, I felt that this farm owned me.

  My life.

  My aspirations.

  But Cheyenne had changed a bit of that. I watched how carefree and beautiful she was with her horses. I saw how much she loved them and what she would sacrifice for their safety. She owned this town and everything she did within it, and in some ways, I envied her for that. I felt that powerful at the restaurant, but I felt helpless and chained at this farm.

  I knew Cheyenne could use the sleep, especially with all she’d been through. When I found my way into the kitchen to get a drink of water, I decided to brew a pot of coffee. I was more tired than I thought I’d be, and Cheyenne would want some whenever she got up. I’m sure she’d be upset at first that I didn’t wake her so she could keep her routine, but I had ways of making it up to her.

  I walked over to the window while the
coffee brewed in the background, and I looked out at the barn. The sun hadn’t quite started to rise just yet, and everything was still blanketed in a settled darkness. The horses weren’t whinnying, and the grass wasn’t blowing with any excess wind. The stars were just now closing their eyes for the day, and the moon was slowly beginning to fade. For me, it was the most peaceful part of the day. The earth was vulnerable, the ground was still, and everything that surrounded the people who still slept was anxiously awaiting their presence.

  I looked out at the stables and finished my water, the smell of coffee filling my nostrils. I was just about to turn and go grab a cup, but a movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. I focused on it—on the corner of the barn—and then the dark movement fluttered again.

  Except it was running towards the barn.

  I ran to the hallway closet and grabbed my robe. I threw it over my shoulders, dug out my shotgun, and ran out onto the porch. If I shot the gun, I’d wake Cheyenne and startle the horses, so I settled for yelling out first.

  “Hey! Who the hell is on my property?”

  I watched while the sun slowly began to peek its first eye open for the day, but nothing looked like it moved. I reached inside the house and flipped on the floodlights. I wanted to know who the hell was poking their nose around my fucking stable.

  “I know you’re there!” I called out. The floodlights illuminated the driveway in a fluorescent light. I stepped out onto the driveway when I didn’t hear Cheyenne come down the stairs, and I cocked my gun just in case someone—or something—came running out at me.

  I made my way slowly towards my stable, and that’s when I heard it. The horses started nickering before I heard a couple stomp their feet. Even with the sun slowly rising, it was still a bit early for any of them to be causing a fuss, and I knew what I’d seen. I felt the hair on my arms stand on end as I slowly approached the fence, knowing I was feet away from catching the son of a bitch who was meddling in our farms.

  “It’s done! I know you’re in there! Now, come on out!” I exclaimed.

  I saw a shape dart from the main door of the barn, and for a split second I watched the figure raise its head. I wasn’t close enough to see their eyes or read the expression on their face, but I knew it was human. I knew, deep down, that it was the person who was causing all the trouble.

  And the figure looked nothing like Bill Coates.

  I raised my gun to my shoulder, and the figure stood completely still. If I needed to, I had the perfect shot. I could take down this son of a bitch, and this would all be over. For all of us.

  But then, the figure turned to run.

  “Stop, or I’ll shoot!” I roared. I hopped the fence and aimed my sights down the barrel of the shotgun, but a part of me hesitated. I was concerned about the nagging sensation in the back of my head that told me it was just some asshole kid playing a prank. If it was a kid, I didn’t want to shoot them. I just wanted to scare them.

  One thing was for sure: it wasn’t Bill Coates.

  I watched the figure run off into the woods, and I lowered my gun from my shoulder. Now, I had definitive proof that someone was intentionally attempting to sabotage anyone who helped and associated themselves with Cheyenne. A very long talk between myself and the sheriff’s department was going to be in order, and I would tell them the next time someone stepped foot onto my property, they’d be coming to collect a body and not a story.

  I was ripped from my thoughts, however, when I smelled smoke.

  “What the—”

  “Colt!”

  I whipped my head around and saw Cheyenne standing on the porch. The commotion of my yelling must’ve woken her up, and the smell of smoke just got stronger. Whoever the hell just ran from my barn had set something on fire, and I wasn’t about to watch everything our parents had built go up in smoke.

  “Get the hose ready, Cheyenne!”

  “Colt! What’s wrong?”

  “Just do it!” I yelled. I dropped my gun and ran towards the stable. I ripped the door open, and smoke poured into my face, and my lungs burned with the need for oxygen while Cheyenne cried out from the porch. I barreled my way through and began unlocking the horse’s stables, trying to get them out of the smoke that was quickly filling my barn. I had a fire extinguisher in here; I just had to find it.

  “Where the hell is it?” I said with a groan. My eyes were watering, and my chest was heaving. My stomach was retching from the smoke filling my lungs, and I knew I’d have to backtrack if I couldn’t find the source of the fire. I finally made my way to the back of the barn and realized one of the empty stalls had burning hay in it, and when I turned my head, the fire extinguisher was hanging on the other side of the wall.

  I yanked it down and went to pull the pin, but when I couldn’t dislodge it, I threw it to the ground. The pin had been bent, no doubt by the asshole that had set this fire in the first place, and the only hope I had was that Cheyenne had heard me and was heading toward the barn with the hose.

  And just like the angel she was, she busted in and promptly turned on the water.

  She sprayed it right into the smoke in order to part the clouds. Like a goddess parting the flames of hell, she emerged in her pajamas with a robe slung around her shoulders. Her eyes were watering from the smoke, and her chest was panting for oxygen, but when she got back to me, I took the hose and pointed it at the burning hay.

  The fire had started licking its way up the wall, but this time we put it out before anything could collapse onto us.

  Even though I’d thrown open all the stalls, there were three horses that were too scared to gallop their way into the fields. I threw the light on and inspected the damage, but I couldn’t see much through the red flooding my vision. Someone had intentionally set my barn on fire, and an attack on my horses was an attack on me.

  Someone was going to jail for this, and I wasn’t going to stop until I knew who the hell had done it.

  “Oh, my God,” Cheyenne said. “What happened out here, Colt?”

  “I came downstairs to get some water and make some coffee, and I saw someone rushing into the barn.”

  “Was that all the yelling I was hearing?” she asked.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  “No, no. You should’ve woken me. You know I like to keep my routine anyway.”

  “You needed the sleep,” I said.

  “Colt—”

  “Cheyenne,” I said, cutting her off, “Someone just came into my barn and set it on fire. But I got a pretty good look at them when they came out of the barn.”

  It was now that I really wished the stable hand was still around, but he moved out when his mom got sick. Had he been around, we could have had some more help. I knew I needed to get him replaced ASAP.

  “Holy cow. Did you see who it was?” she asked.

  “No, but I saw who it wasn’t.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “The sun was coming up, and it outlined pretty well the figure coming out of the barn. They looked at me for a while before they took off, and that’s when I threatened to shoot.”

  “I heard,” she said with a smirk.

  “The figure was taller and pretty lean,” I said.

  Cheyenne was silent when I told her that. All along, she’d been dead set on the fact that Bill Coates was doing all of this to us. And while I wasn’t insinuating that he didn’t set the initial fire that burned down her barn and killed the stallion, I knew—beyond a shadow of a doubt—that Bill Coates was not who I was looking at.

  “I know that Bill Coates—”

  “Cheyenne, I’m not saying he didn’t torch your barn,” I said. “I’m just saying he didn’t torch mine.”

  “What in the world is happening, Colt?” she asked.

  I took her into my arms while the horses slowly grew more agitated. Those that were still in the barn were sweating from the heat and smoke from the fire, and the ones in the pasture were running in, l
ooking for food. I held her close to my chest and tried to calm her trembling body, the only thing I knew how to do. I had wanted to surprise her with some sleep but realized what she really needed right now was something to keep her rooted.

  Keep her sane.

  Keep her mind from running away from her.

  She needed her routine, and she needed these horses.

  “We need to check out the horses that didn’t go out, and they all need food,” I said.

  “I can get them checked out. And they’ll probably need to be washed anyway, so we’ll get them fed and then take them out and hose them down.”

  “You alright?” I asked. I pressed a light kiss on the top of her head, and for a split second, she nuzzled into my body. But the moment was lost when one of the hungry horses barged in and interrupted.

  Laughing, she said, “Yeah, I’ll be alright. I’ll get the horses fed and looked over. You inspect the damage of that fire.”

  “It wasn’t a massive—”

  “Inspect it,” she said.

  “Yes, ma’am,” I said with a grin.

  Chapter 25

  Cheyenne

  Colt and I were on pins and needles the rest of the day. After inspecting the damage and helping me with the horses, he’d gone inside to call the sheriff who said he wouldn’t be able to come out until the following morning.

  We were out at the barn doing the morning chores when the sheriff finally arrived. I had never seen Colt move as fast—or with as much intent—as he did when he saw that vehicle pull in. He knew exactly what needed to happen, but I was concerned about what the sheriff was about to tell him.

  I’d seen this process here enough to know that Colt wouldn’t enjoy what the sheriff had to say. Essentially, without a face, a description, or any sort of evidence, we were screwed.

  And whoever was doing all this was very good at covering their tracks.

  The sheriff walked through the barn, and I was trying to keep the horses as quiet as I could. They were all still on edge from yesterday, but I was hesitant to let them out into the pasture. If they kicked up before they ran out, they could barrel through the fencing, and that would be just another thing we had to take care of while one of us tracked down the runaway horses.