“Why are we stopped? The pond’s right there.” She’d been so eager to ride horses, but now all she wanted was to get down and play in the cool water.
“Sorry, sweetheart. Change of plans. Let’s head to a different spot I know where we can walk through a creek. Maybe we’ll see a beaver dam.”
I had to take her somewhere else. I didn’t know who those men were, or why they were on my land. But having Ariel with me wasn’t the time to figure it out.
Two hours later, Theo came to pick her up. We were outside the stable and practicing mane braiding we’d learned from an instructional video I’d pulled up on my cell.
“Hi, Theo!” Ariel chimed.
“Hey, squirt. Have fun?” he asked, tapping on the riding helmet, then looking my way. His gaze raked over me and I heated all over. Had I actually sucked his dick as his friend fucked me?
Ariel giggled as she took off her helmet, and I blushed.
She leaned close to me and whispered, very obviously, “See, he likes you.”
Theo grabbed his sister by the shoulder and tugged her over to give her a noogie. “Yes, I like her. So let me talk to the pretty lady without you giggling all over the place.”
Of course, that made her giggle even more.
“I didn’t know we had guests.” I turned at my dad’s words. He’d just come from inside the stable, most likely coming in from the far pastures through the back entrance. Neither his voice nor his gaze were filled with welcome, and the way he was looking at Theo told me he wasn’t thrilled to have him here.
“You remember Theo Decker from the other day? This is his sister, Ariel. We just came back from a girls’ ride.” I tried to keep my voice light because Dad might hate Theo, but Ariel was innocent.
“That so? You ride Patches?” my father asked. Fortunately, he wasn’t an asshole to little kids.
Ariel nodded, wide-eyed, completely in love with the animal. “She’s such a nice horse. I want a horse just like her.”
She glanced up at her brother, who didn’t look anywhere but at my father. His blue eyes were narrowed, and his jaw was clenched. If she was going to get a pony out of her brother for her birthday, it wasn’t going to be today.
Yikes. If it hadn’t been eighty degrees out, I’d think a winter frost had cut through the valley.
I cleared my throat. “Ariel, go put your helmet on the hook inside, all right?”
She nodded and scurried off, oblivious to the tension.
“Why is he here?” Dad asked once Ariel was inside the stable.
Theo remained silent but his presence was powerful.
I took a deep breath, prayed for calm. “He’s not here to arrest you. Jesus. He’s picking up Ariel. Horseback riding, Dad,” I prompted.
All I got in response was a grunt.
Ariel came back and hugged me tight. “Thanks, Ali!” She dashed off to Theo’s truck, clearly focusing on the next thing in her day. Most likely dinner. We’d had a snack at the beaver dam, but she was a kid with a bottomless pit for a stomach, and had eaten all the apple slices and cookies herself.
“Thanks, Ali, for taking her,” Theo said. His gaze softened when it turned my way. “I’m sure she won’t stop talking about it for the rest of the week.”
I couldn’t help but smile because I’d had fun too. “She loved it. She’s welcome anytime.”
“The girl is,” my dad added, putting a little more clarity on who he felt was to be a guest.
“Dad!” I faced him and set my hands on my hips.
“I’ll be in touch about the next time,” Theo murmured, and I had to wonder if he meant the next ride for Ali, or the next ride on his dick for me.
Only when Theo left did my dad speak again.
“What the hell, Ali? I thought I made it very clear how I felt about him.”
“Are you angry because he’s wrong about you, or because he might be right?” I countered.
“Don’t push me, young lady.” He pointed at me and glared.
“I’m not eleven like Ariel, Dad,” I replied, with a mixture of annoyance at his behavior, and concern over whether he’d somehow gone off the deep end. “I’m here to be your partner in our family ranch. Why are you so angry all the time? And what’s the deal with the single-wide out by the pond? Why didn’t you tell me it was even there?”
My father stilled. “What the hell were you doing out there?”
“Taking Ariel to the pond like you used to take me.” I hoped the reminder would calm him.
“That’s Tim Hollaroy’s building.”
I frowned. “Tim Hollaroy? His property’s all the way on the south side of the valley.” Why was that cranky, old rancher over here?
“He’s having problems with his wife and he’s staying there.”