Chapter 2
Early the next morning, McKinnon was sitting at his kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee before the start of his work day when Norris walked in. He took one look at his foreman’s expression and knew that whatever news he came to deliver, McKinnon wasn’t going to like it.
“Good morning, Norris.”
“Morning, McKinnon. Beckman’s quit. He hauled ass sometime during the night and left a note on his bunk stating yesterday was the last straw. I guess that little episode with Prince Charming made him rethink staying on until you found a replacement.”
McKinnon cursed under his breath as he set his coffee cup down. This wasn’t news he wanted to hear. Gale Beckman had come highly recommended from an outfit in Wyoming. He had taken the man on, convinced he could do the job, and offered him one hell of a salary to train Prince Charming, one of Sheikh Yasir’s prized possessions. Evidently Beckman had felt he’d met his match with the horse. Granted, Prince Charming had been in rare form yesterday, but, still, in the world of horse breeding you couldn’t expect every horse to be meek and biddable. Far from it. Most were unfriendly and aggressive at best, hot-tempered and volatile at worse.
“Where are we going to find another horse trainer this late in the game?”
Norris’s question reeled McKinnon’s thoughts back in. He and his best friend Durango Westmoreland had started their horse-breeding business a few years ago because of their love for the animals. McKinnon handled the day-to-day running of the operation while Durango, who was still employed as a park ranger for Yellowstone, managed the books.
When Sheikh Jamal Ari Yasir, a prince from the Middle East who was married to Durango’s cousin Delaney, had approached them a couple of months ago about taking on the training of Prince Charming to ready him for the races this fall, they had readily accepted, not foreseeing any problems and thinking it would be a way to expand their business from horse breeding into horse training, as well.
Successfully getting Prince Charming trained was their first major test in that particular area, and their success with that endeavor would assure the sheikh sent more business their way and provided good recommendations to his friends and business associates. But the situation looked bleak since they hadn’t made any real progress and valuable time was being wasted.
McKinnon leaned back in his chair. “I guess the first thing I need to do is place a call to my contacts again,” he said finally answering, although he was quick to think that his contacts’ reliability was on shaky ground since they had been the reason he’d hired Beckman in the first place.
“What about Corey Westmoreland’s daughter?”
McKinnon stiffened, pushed away from the table and stood. “What about her?”
“Well, you saw how she handled Prince Charming yesterday. She had that blasted animal eating out of her hands, literally. Do you think she might be interested in the job?”
McKinnon decided now was not the time to mention to Norris that Casey had been interested in the job—in fact, that had been her reason for showing up yesterday. Instead he said, “Doesn’t matter if she would be. You know my policy about a woman working on this ranch.”
Norris stared at him for a long moment before shaking his head and saying, “It’s been over four years now, McKinnon. How long will it take you to get what Lynette did out of your mind…and heart?”
McKinnon sucked in a deep breath before saying, “I’ve done both.”
Norris was one of the few who knew the full story about Lynette. He had been with McKinnon the night they’d arrived back at the ranch from rounding up wild horses in the north prairie to find that Lynette had packed up and left, leaving a scribbled note as to the reason why.
McKinnon’s brusque words should have warned the sixty-year-old Norris that this was a touchy subject—one McKinnon had no desire to engage in; but Norris, who’d known McKinnon since the day he was born, paid no mind. “Then act like it, son. Act like you’ve put it behind you.”
McKinnon cursed under his breath. “You actually expect me to ask Corey Westmoreland’s daughter to come work for me and live on this ranch? You saw her yesterday. She’s no bigger than a mite. Granted, she handled Prince Charming okay, but what about the others to come after that? Some twice as mean. Besides, I need a trainer that I can invest in long term.”
“I heard she’s moving to town to be close to her father. To me that speaks of long term.”
McKinnon’s gaze narrowed. Evidently Norris had asked questions of the right people after Casey’s impressive performance yesterday. Abruptly, McKinnon walked over to the window and looked out. He had barely slept last night for remembering the sight of Casey standing frozen in place while that blasted animal charged toward her. He hadn’t felt so helpless before in his entire life. The thought of what that horse could have done to her sent chills through his body even now.
“The decision is yours, of course, but I think it will be to your advantage, considering everything, to hire her,” Norris said behind him. “The sheikh expects that blasted horse trained and ready to race in less than two months. And the way I see it, Corey’s daughter is our best bet.”
McKinnon turned and shot a hard glare at Norris. “There has to be another way,” he said, his features severe and unyielding.
“Then I hope you find it,” Norris replied before moving to walk out the door.
* * *
He hadn’t found another way.
And that was the reason McKinnon found himself arriving by horseback on Corey’s Mountain later that same day. Seeing the spacious and sprawling ranch house, set among a stand of pine trees and beneath the beauty of a Montana sky, had bittersweet memories flooding his mind. He could recall the many summers he’d spent here as a young boy with Corey’s nephews—all eleven of them. Just how Corey managed all of them was anyone’s guess, but those summers had been some of the best of McKinnon’s life. He’d been footloose and fancy free, and the only thing he’d worried about was staying away from the blackberries he was allergic to.
These days things were different. He had a lot to worry about. He had both a ranch and a business to run, and now it seemed the woman he’d always intended to keep at a distance would be living on his land, a stone’s throw away…. If she accepted his job offer.
And that was the big question. After the way they’d clashed yesterday, would she even consider coming to work for him now? His contacts in the horse industry hadn’t been any help and now it came down to eating crow and doing the one thing he hadn’t wanted to do—offer Casey Westmoreland a job.
When he reached the ranch house he got off his horse and tied him to a post before glancing around, his gaze searching the wide stretch of land, scanning the fields and pastures. Corey’s land. Corey’s Mountain. McKinnon shook his head thinking it was rather sad that during those times he and Corey’s eleven nephews were spending time on this mountain, somewhere in Texas Corey had three kids he’d known nothing about—a daughter and two sons. Triplets. Being the good man that he was, Corey was trying like hell to make up for lost time.
A sound coming from somewhere in back where the stables and corral were located caught McKinnon’s ears, and before moving up the steps to the front door, he decided to check things out. As soon as he rounded the corner a swift surge of intense desire flooded him. He recognized Casey sitting on the back of a horse, surrounded by a group of men—one he recognized as her father.
He stopped walking and stood there, leaned against the house and stared at her, remembering the first time he’d laid eyes on her. It had been here, on this very land, standing pretty close to this same spot, while attending her cousin and his good friend Stone Westmoreland’s wedding. It just so happened that Corey, who she had met for the first time that day, was also getting married.
It had been just minutes before the wedding was to begin and he