She winked at him and leaned back in her saddle to address his brothers. “He said you’re both grounded when you get back.”

  All three brothers laughed and even Nan joined in until May rode up on Bess, wearing rain gear as well.

  Thunder rumbled again and Bess tossed her head, prancing in the dirt.

  “Sorry May, but you know how skittish Bess gets during storms,” Colt said. His words sent a silent sigh of relief coursing through Elise. She didn’t want to think about May out on the range with any of the Tanner brothers, but especially Colt.

  Adjusting her bright yellow rain slicker, May pouted, “But Colt—”

  “I mean it, May,” Colt warned before turning his horse away. Mace and Cade followed, kicking their horses into a full gallop to keep up with him.

  As they watched the men disappear over the hill, fat raindrops started to fall. Elise turned Lightning toward the barn, expecting May to follow. When May kicked her heels into Bess and took off toward the pastures, Elise started to call her back, but Nan interrupted her.

  “Let her go, Elise. The woman will bring her own trouble. I imagine she’s tougher than Bess any day.”

  Elise pressed her lips together then nodded. “Let me put Lightning away and I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”

  Once she reached the barn and put Lightning in a stall, Elise started to unbuckle her saddle then thought better of it. Re-cinching her horse, she decided to leave Lightning saddled and ready to go just in case her help was needed.

  She made sure her horse had water and food and before she left, she patted her on the nose saying, “We might be needed to help out. Hope you don’t mind waiting just a bit longer, girl.”

  Lightning neighed and lifted her nose up and down as if she agreed with Elise’s decision.

  As she exited the stables, rain began to pour down. Elise picked up her pace across the yard to the front porch of the main house. Closing the screen door behind her, she entered the kitchen and accepted the warm mug Nan handed her with a smile.

  Inhaling the rich smell of the dark coffee, she took a sip and yummed her approval as the warm liquid slid down her throat, chasing away the chills the rain had caused.

  Elise sat down at the table and asked as Nan sat down across from her, “Tell me about Jackson Riley. I noticed tension between him and Colt when I met him. Why do Rick and Colt think he’d try something on the Lonestar property during a storm or at all for that matter?”

  Nan took a sip of her own coffee, set it down and nodded, her deep brown eyes taking on a knowing look. “Jackson Riley’s dad owned the Lonestar land a few decades ago but lost it in a high stakes poker game. The man who won the property sold it to Colt’s daddy and uncle. After losing his property, Jackson’s dad drank himself into an early grave. Jackson has always claimed the poker game was fixed.”

  Nan paused and shrugged. “Fixed or not, Colt’s daddy and uncle bought the land fair and square and have raised their own cattle and horses on it ever since.”

  “Aaaaah, now it’s all starting to make sense.”

  Nan’s brow crinkled, her expression confused. “What’s starting to make sense?”

  “I never told Colt about this, but Jackson contacted me and tried to get me to sell him my half of the Lonestar. I told Jackson that if James Tanner had wanted him to have it, he would have put him in his will. Jackson wasn’t too thrilled with my rejection of his offer.”

  “That Jackson’s a wily one.” She snorted.

  Concern for Colt laced through Elise. “Do you think Jackson would sabotage the ranch?”

  Nan nodded. “I know so, girl. We’ve had cattle rustled quite a few times, a prize bull inexplicably maimed to where he had to be put down, another bull recently go bonkers from a weed that only grows in the springtime, and a bout of bad water for some of the horses; there’s no doubt in my mind.”

  That’s what the whole bull thing had been about, Elise thought, angry for Colt’s sake.

  A couple of ranch hands opened the back door, their bodies drenched from the rain. “Hey, Nan, got any more slickers in the closet. There aren’t any left in the usual place out in the stables.”

  Nan was already walking out of the kitchen. “I’ll be right back.”

  Elise looked at the men. They seemed agitated, in a real hurry.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked out of intuition more than anything else.

  The blond named Frank pulled on his hat to acknowledge her. “The southwest fence is down and the cattle are roaming, ma’am.”

  Elise’s heart raced at the news. She jumped up from the chair right as Nan returned with jackets for the men.

  “Got any more, Nan?”

  “Nope, just a thin overcoat,” she replied, then stopped. “You’re not going out in that storm, young lady.”

  Elise gave her an oh-yes-I-am look as the men went outside. “The southwest fence is down. They need all the help they can get.”

  Nan nodded solemnly as she turned and walked out of the room.

  Her adrenaline pumping, Elise gripped the back of the chair while she waited for Nan.

  Elise breathed a sigh of relief when she returned with a short jacket. As she slipped into the expensive, albeit less serviceable coat, and pulled the cord tight around her waist, Nan said, “Sorry, it’s the best I’ve got. It was Colt’s mama’s.”

  Elise jerked her gaze to meet Nan’s serious brown eyes, but she didn’t have time to fathom the reason why the woman’s lips were compressed in anger. One thing she knew…Colt may have mentioned his dad, but he’d never talked about his mother.

  Nodding her understanding, she pulled the hood over her head and left the kitchen. Dashing across the yard toward the barn, she ran as fast as her legs would carry her.

  As she entered the stall, the smell of rain, wet hay and earth tickled her nose. Her sudden heightened sense of smell made the shiver of unease that rippled up her spine intensify. She shuddered despite the coat. When she leaned over and grasped Lightning’s reins, the horse neighed and pawed at the ground, nodding her head up and down.

  “C’mon, girl. We might not have taken the round-up-the-freaked-out-cattle-class yet, but we know a thing or two about mending a fence.”

  Once she slid a pair of work gloves in her coat pocket, Elise put her foot in the stirrup, mounted Lightning and nudged the horse into a gallop as she exited the stables.

  Chapter Thirteen

  With the storm’s strong winds blowing across the pastures, a chill in the air had replaced the Texas heat as the heavy rain fell around her. Ignoring the rain pelting her face, Elise raced across the open fields toward the southwest side of the ranch.

  As she approached the downed fence, she slowed her horse and dismounted. Walking over to a secure area, she tied Lightning’s reins to a post and sloshed through the puddles of water in the grass until she reached the area where a couple of the ranch hands and May worked to repair the fence.

  Elise noted the barbed wire had broken in two sections of the fence right next to one another, making the repair even more difficult since they’d need leverage from a secured post in between to help stretch the barbed wire taut. Nor did the torrential rain help matters. She watched as they worked to pull the wire taut, but due to the saturated ground, the opposite post shifted whenever they tried to put their full weight behind it.

  Dogs barking off in the distance drew her attention. Elise glanced up to see Colt, Mace, Cade, Rick and a couple other men rounding up groups of cattle that had apparently left through the broken area of the fence to huddle together under a couple of huge oak trees up on the hillside. The dogs worked the sides of the herd, keeping them in line as the group slowly moved back in the direction of the downed fence.

  Seeing the cattle approach spurred her into action. She tapped Frank on the shoulder and pointed to the other broken area, yelling over the raging storm, “We’ve got maybe ten minutes before the herd is back inside the fence. Let’s have the fence as ready to go as possible so that when they come, all we have to do is the final hook-up and stretch.”

  Frank nodded his agreement and called May to take over so he could help Elise start the next section.

  Elise pulled on her gloves and she and Frank worked quickly. She felt every ache and strain in her muscles as she tried to use leverage to help tighten the barbed wire against the post, but her boots couldn’t gain purchase in the wet grass and mud beneath her feet. The hood slipped off her head as she fell down in the muck. Now that her head was thoroughly soaked and the cold rain slipped down in the collar of her coat, drenching her clothes, she jumped back up and pulled even harder. Elise’s heart raced as her adrenaline and anger at the situation coalesced to give her the additional strength she needed to complete her task.

  She and Frank were almost done with their repairs, but they paused and moved out of the way as the herd walked through the opening in the fence. The animals’ bodies were a slow-moving mass and they even seemed to moo their displeasure in unison. She couldn’t decide if their incessant mooing was due to the fact they’d just lost their newfound freedom or from fear of the storm flashing and booming around them.

  When the last cow entered the fence, immediately followed by the men and dogs, Elise and the ranch hand moved in to make the final repair to close off the fence.

  Deciding to test the repaired wire one last time before they connected the broken pieces, Elise hooked the wrecking bar tool against a barb and pulled hard, putting all her weight behind it. To her surprise, the wire snapped. As she started to fall, the barbed wire came flying back toward her. She tensed and closed her eyes at the same time she turned her head, hoping to avoid the sharp barbs.

  She heard a grunt of pain as a strong arm encircled her waist, catching her before she hit the ground. Opening her eyes, she saw Colt fling the other end of the barbed wire away.

  Elise dropped the tool as he pulled her into his arms and held her close. “I meant to warn ya about the barbed wire. Old barb can still have a helluva recoil on it, sweetheart,” he said in a hoarse tone.

  She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his chest against his rain slicker. Even with the rain pouring around them, she could smell his masculine aroma. The comforting scent seeped into her bones, warming her despite the cold rain hammering down on her shoulders and jacket. While Colt held her, his hat provided cover for her head and face from the wet deluge.

  Colt kissed her forehead and pulled her coat’s hood back over her head. “Let’s finish up so you can get inside and dry off.”

  Elise stared at him. Though he’d smiled at her for a brief moment, something was on his mind. His body felt tense, his tone had been matter-of-fact as he stepped away from her.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  He nodded toward the fence as Frank repaired the final barbed wire. “That was Jackson’s handiwork.”

  “You think he sabotaged the fence? How do you know?”

  Colt picked up some of the discarded old barbed wire that had snapped when Elise applied too much pull. He showed her one end. “See this, it’s rusted and brittle.” Flipping the wire around, careful to avoid the barbs, he continued, “Now look at this side. The edge is smooth and shiny. No oxidation has reached the inside.” Pointing to the side of the wire, he indicated the two embedded ridges along the outside of the wire. “Whatever tool was used, it has a chip in it.”

  She jerked her gaze to his, her heart racing. “It’s been cut.”

  Colt pressed his lips in a thin line. “Exactly.”

  He glanced at someone over her shoulder and called out, “Rick, you, Cade and Jim take first shift. Chase, Frank and I will take second.”

  Colt walked over and placed a hand on May’s shoulder, “Thank you for your quick discovery. Who knows how many more cattle we would be rounding up if we hadn’t acted so quickly once you alerted us to the downed fence?”

  She flashed him a brilliant smile. “All in a day’s work around the ranch, Colt. You know I always do my part.” Her gaze shifted to Elise as she finished her last words.

  Elise had stiffened when Colt’s hand landed on May’s shoulder, but she brushed aside her question of May’s true motivations, considering the woman had literally saved the day. Apparently, Colt had forgiven May for disobeying him about bringing Bess out in the storm. Where was Bess? she wondered.

  Colt approached her once more and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Turning her toward Lightning, he said, “Frank’s done. We’ve mended the fence until the rain stops and the ground hardens again. Go on back to the main house and get dried off. I’ve got to round up Bess. She’s here in the pasture somewhere. I believe she took off when May dismounted to work on the fence.”

  He helped her climb up on Lightning and once she was settled, he laid his hand on her thigh. Elise could feel the heat of his palm through her pants.

  “I’ll see you in a bit.” His steel blue gaze held hers as he gave her thigh a squeeze.

  Her heart rate increased at his reassuring touch. Elise nodded and nudged her horse into a full gallop in the direction of the stables.

  When she reached her destination, she dismounted and walked her horse into her stall. Tying her reins, she unbuckled and removed the saddle and wet blanket. After twenty minutes of wiping down and grooming Lightning, Elise heard May enter the stall next door with Bess.

  As she used a towel to wring out most of the dampness in Lightning’s mane, Elise paused and turned when May passed by her stall and said, “I see Colt bought you a gift.” Pushing back her hood to display a mostly dry head of hair, May tossed her hair over her shoulder then continued, “Bet he still hasn’t taken you to his house, has he?”

  Elise’s blood boiled at the woman’s dig, but she held her silence.

  May sniffed the air haughtily, saying with a laugh, “And don’t expect him to either. Colt rarely takes a woman to his home.” Twirling a strand of her long blonde hair, she said with a knowing smile before she walked away, “I wonder if it’s changed much since I’ve been there.”

  Elise didn’t give her the satisfaction of a reaction. She turned away, grabbed a brush and began briskly brushing the rest of the excess moisture out of Lightning’s mane.

  Bitch, she thought, her body shaking in anger. The woman just loved to provoke her. God, she’d be glad when the blonde bimbo left on the next round of rodeo tours. She’d be damned if she’d endure that woman’s bullshit the next time around.

  Flipping the section of mane hair she’d already brushed over Lightning’s neck, Elise moved on to the next section, her mind whirling. She and Colt were going to have a talk about May. As half-owner of the ranch, which included the rodeo, she had as much say about its employees as he did. She’d looked at the sales figures for the rodeo paraphernalia stand May ran. Over the past couple of years, the stand’s sales had been flat, yet the ticket sales had gone up each year. Elise had enough professional issues to discuss regarding May. The personal ones wouldn’t even need to be discussed. There wasn’t that much money in the paraphernalia stand. It was more of a courtesy to the fans than anything else. Hey! she thought as an idea struck her.

  Elise perked up as the idea for increasing sales percolated in her mind. She finished the rest of Lightning’s mane and stood on tiptoe to lean over the horse’s neck to flip the hair back into place. As she started to move away to set down the brush, she realized her watch had snagged in the horse’s mane.

  She dropped the brush and used her other hand to try to untangle the watch. Unfortunately, nothing less than a good tug would free her. The watch she wore was her grandmother’s and there was no way she was leaving it on Lightning’s mane as an expensive barrette.

  Grabbing hold of a portion of the entangled mane to keep from pulling Lightning’s skin, Elise jerked with all her might. She pulled her arm free with a sigh of relief. Looking down to adjust her watch that had twisted around her wrist in her earlier movements, her heart jerked in her chest.

  It was gone!

  Glancing behind her, at the stall full of hay, she rolled her eyes. Great, the watch must’ve gone flying. Grumpy and uncomfortable from feeling like she took a cold shower—with her clothes on!—all she wanted to do was go home, dry off and have a cup of hot chocolate. Looking all around her stall, she couldn’t find the watch anywhere. When she glanced at the slats of wood that made up her stall’s wall, it dawned on her that her watch must flown over into Bess’s stall.

  Sighing, Elise trudged over into Bess’s stall and scanned the hay. She had to move Bess a couple of times as she glanced over the stall. Nothing, damnit!

  Sinking to her hands and knees, the smell of manure and hay invading her senses, Elise scanned the floor. She worked quickly, sliding the hay out of the way as she looked for her watch. Finally, along the far side of the stall, where the wall met the floor, her fingers brushed against the watch face. Grinning in triumph, she stood and examined the timepiece, relief flooding through her. The pin holding the band to the watch was missing, but that could easily be replaced.

  As she turned to walk out of Bess’s stall, her foot hit something hard under the hay near the far stall wall. Elise frowned and kicked the hay aside. When her gaze landed on a pair of wire cutters, she picked them up and opened them. Noting a nicked edge along one side of the metal cutters, she clenched the tool in her hand. Her heart pounded in her chest as anger caused heat to rise in her cheeks.

  * * * * *

  With the exception of Elise, the rest of the crew, who’d helped during the storm, had cleaned up and dried off and were now convened in the kitchen drinking hot coffee.

  Colt’s blood boiled as he thought about his ruthless neighbor. This on top of the stunt with the bull…he’d wanted to go after Jackson right away, but he knew putting in a showing in the kitchen and thanking everyone personally for their help was a “must do” first.

  His duty fulfilled, Colt pushed his chair back from the table and started to walk toward the kitchen door when Cade stood and put a hand on his arm.