Back In The Saddle. Karen Templeton
her nervous. Although he could only imagine all the people she’d met over the years. Worked with. Why a country vet like him should discombobulate her, he couldn’t imagine. But if getting outside put her mind at ease...
“Sure. Josh asked if I’d check out the stable conditions for Waffles, anyway. He’s pretty protective of the horses that leave his care.” He grinned as she led him through a glassed-in sunroom and onto an obviously new deck that looked over a small pond. “And every bit as bad as your mother.”
She belted out a laugh that made him smile. “You saying we’re doomed?”
“That’d be my take on it, yep.”
“Family,” she muttered as Benny collapsed in a patch of sunshine on the deck and promptly passed out. “Can’t live without ’em, can’t kill ’em. Aw...poor guy. He’s not exactly a pup, is he?”
“Nope. In fact, he’s closing in on fourteen.”
“Get out!” she said, chuckling when the dog released a deep, contented breath. “He’s in fantastic shape for an old dude. You’ve obviously taken great care of him.”
“Actually I’ve only had him a few months, since his owner passed away. She made me promise to take Benito if anything happened to her. Since she was in her nineties, it was touch-and-go which of them would leave first. And she was worried about what would happen if he ended up in a shelter.” Squatting beside the golden, Zach gently stroked the warm fur. “Not many people want to adopt older dogs.”
His eyes still closed, Benny lethargically thumped his tail, then lifted his head to give Zach’s hand a quick slurp before drifting back to sleep. Zach stood, smiling for the old dude. “So how could I not make whatever time he has left as good as possible? And he and the kids are inseparable.”
“I can see that. Then again, dogs and boys are a match made in heaven.”
He looked over to see a gentle smile creasing Mallory’s face as she watched the dog. “You’ve got a pretty soft spot for them, too, I’m guessing.”
“I was raised on a ranch, remember? We always had dogs. Four or five, at least.”
“But Edgar’s your mom’s?”
“He is. We had three pups, back in LA. Rescues, all of ’em.”
“Breeds?”
“Mixed. One big, two medium. They’re with my ex. Or more to the point, with Landon. Because no way was I going to separate them. Poor kid’s been through enough, he can keep the dogs. Well. On to the stables?”
“Sure.”
Her shoulders bunched under the sweater as she navigated the gently sloping ramp leading to what looked like a recently poured cement path, the autumn sun turning her hair nearly the same color as the early-frost-kissed sycamore leaves overhead. “I actually closed on the place three months ago. Took some time, though, to get this all done. And my Realtor was a jewel, supervising it all.”
“It looks like it was always like this.”
“That was the idea. You ever been here before? For the previous owners, maybe?”
Zach shook his head. “Property’s been vacant for years. Twenty, at least.” He stopped short of the stables—four stalls, what looked like a good-sized loft—to take in the spacious dog runs, a sturdy chicken coop. And beyond them, a small orchard. Tart cherry trees, probably. Several types of apple. Whatever might actually produce fruit at this altitude.
Then he glanced over at the stables, and she said, “Yes, I’ve already checked them out. They’re fine. Although I probably won’t bring the horse over until closer to when Landon gets here. Since Waffles needs to be ridden. And it’s not like I can simply hop up on the saddle and take off.”
For the first time, he heard in her voice, if not exactly fear, at least apprehension. A stark contrast to the persona she otherwise presented. To him, anyway. But not only was it none of his concern whether she got back up on a horse or not, he hardly knew the woman. Still, he was surprised how mad it made him, that she’d let fear get in the way of doing whatever she needed, wanted, to do.
Like he had room to talk.
He let his gaze roam over the property, which seemed to go on for a while. “How much land you got here?”
“About twenty acres. After LA, I wanted some space. Needed it.”
“You miss Texas.”
“More than I wanted to admit, yeah.”
“So why didn’t you buy a place there?”
“Didn’t miss it that much,” she said, and he smiled.
“What are you going to do with all of this, though?”
“Haven’t decided. Doubt I’ll entertain much, so I don’t feel any pressure to spiff it up. Although the landscaping could stand some tending. You know anybody who could do that?”
“I’ll get you some names.”
“Good. Thanks.” She paused, her hands folded in her lap. “But I’m sure you’re not the only one who wonders why I chose to buy up here.”
“Because of what happened, you mean?”
She smiled. “Let me guess...your brother?”
“When we were discussing the horse, yeah. As for other people wondering about it...” He shrugged. “None of their business. And if anybody gets up in yours...ignore ’em.”
* * *
Looking back, Mallory thought it was almost scary how naive she’d been when she’d first arrived in LA. How easily she’d trusted people she’d later discovered did not deserve that trust. Twenty years on, she was far more cautious. Far less likely to take anyone at face value.
But something about this man resurrected all that old...innocence, she supposed it was. She knew in her bones she was safe with him, that he was as honest and pure as the landscape that had wrapped itself around her soul from the moment she’d seen it.
“I bought a house here,” she said, “because I fell in love with the area fifteen years ago. The accident didn’t change that.”
“Was that before or after the first Transmutant movie?”
A laugh burst from her chest. “After. By several years. But oh, Lord, what I wouldn’t give to expunge those from my history.” She cocked her head. “So you’ve seen them?”
He smiled. “Only one, when I was a teenager. Although I’d apparently expunged it from mine,” he said, and she laughed again, then sighed.
“I was so young. Barely legal. But both Russell—”
“Russell?”
“Eames. My ex. The director?” Zach shrugged, and she smiled. “Anyway...he and my agent swore it was a good deal. And by the third release, it was a very good deal, money-wise.” A hawk fluttering overhead made her look up. “Although by rights I should’ve been pigeonholed as The Hot Chick and my career would’ve been over before I was twenty-five. Russell’s taking a chance on me beyond that, that I could do something different... I was extraordinarily fortunate.”
“No wonder you married him. If he had that much faith in you.”
A smile pushing at her mouth, Mallory looked out over the wooded ravine dropping off twenty feet from the path. “He really did.” Because that much, at least, was true. “And yes, I suppose that was a major reason why I did marry him. Even though everyone thought I was nuts, what with his being only a couple years younger than my father and all. But for a long time, Russ was everything to me. My champion, my protector, not to mention my acting coach...” She released a breath. “For that much, I’ll always owe him a great deal.”
“So what happened?”