Echoes From The Past (Women of Character) (9 page)

"Hello, girl." Her
little black foal approached him in his usual friendly manner. "Hello
Speedball. Don’t want to forget you." Garrett rubbed under the foal’s
chin.

Facing Bridie’s hindquarters,
Garrett ran his hand down the inside of her hind leg. She offered to lift her
leg, but he patted her and stepped back.

"Looks good. Go ahead and
eat, Bridie." Garrett and Sue exited the stall. Garrett pulled the sliding
door closed, pushed the latch home and pulled it down to lock in place.
"How did it go today?"

"Fine. I gave Christie the
general run down on what we do at the farm. She’s a good worker."

"Good. Maybe it’ll be easier
to stay caught up now. Have you seen my daughter?"

Sue looked past him and pointed
toward the open doorway. "I saw Hannah a few minutes ago right outside
with Christie and Buddy."

"Okay, thanks." Garrett
moved from the cool barn interior out to the sun-baked holding and paddock
area, batting the dust off his jeans as he walked.

"Hi, Daddy!" he heard
Hannah yell.

Garrett veered to the left and
spotted his daughter straddling the wooden paddock fence behind Christie and
one of his new hires, Buddy Thatcher.

Christie leaned against the wooden
rail as she held carrots out to the grazing mares.

Garrett approached them. Christie
and Buddy were talking about the horses. He noticed that Hannah ignored
Christie when she turned to talk to her, but as soon as Christie looked away,
Hannah watched her again.

Garrett lifted a hand and wiped
the dust from his face and mouth. All afternoon the hot, almost sultry wind had
blown dirt and grit in his face. He sorely needed a shower, but he figured it
could wait a few more minutes. He walked up to his daughter. "Hannah,
sweetheart, how did your day go? Do anything interesting?" Because she
straddled the top fence rail, Hannah looked down at him.

"Me and Ruth went into town
with Sam. He drove us. We got big red tomatoes and corn. I already had some of
the corn. It was so sweet."

"I hope you saved me some
corn for dinner."

Hannah smiled at him. "Of
course, silly."

Christie darted him a glance, and
something there made him pause. She turned back to the fence, intent on the
horse she was feeding. She put her foot on the bottom rail and hoisted herself
higher. Garrett stared at the slender, fine-boned ankles showing above her
ragged sneakers. He frowned and jerked his gaze upward. Those exposed ankles
made her seem vulnerable, probably because she was all slim arms and legs
anyway. Garrett wondered about her life before she’d landed here. Had it been
anything like Judith’s early life? Any information she’d imparted was sketchy
at best.

Buddy nodded his head at Garrett.
"Hey Boss. I rode the southern pasture today. Everything checked out just
fine and I gave Sam the report."

"Thanks Buddy."

Out of the corner of his eye he
saw Christie lean too far out and begin to lose her balance. Garrett quickly
stepped forward and grabbed her securely on either side of her hips. He
steadied her. "Watch yourself."

Unexpectedly, she leaned against
him, and then hopped down from the rail. Garrett stepped back quickly.

"Garrett." Her voice was
cool.

"How did your first day
go?" he asked, resting his hands on his hips.

"Fine." She shaded her
eyes and looked away from him.

"Any problems I should know
about?"

"No. Sue showed me the ropes.
I spent most of the day in the barn, cleaning tack, raking the aisles and
mucking the stalls. After work Buddy introduced himself. We got talking and
then he showed me where I could feed the horses." She threw his ranch hand
a friendly smile. Garrett envied their easy camaraderie.

"I love watching the foals
play," she said. "That’s the day’s highlight."

Seeing the genuine delight and
caring in her face caused an inexplicable twisting in his gut. Garrett reminded
himself this was all new to her. She was used to New York and enclosed spaces.
A slight breeze swept her dark hair across her eyes. He had the strangest
notion to twine its soft texture through his fingers. He dug his hands into his
jeans pockets instead.

"You’re lucky to live in such
a beautiful place, Garrett. Sue told me some of the history of these
Thoroughbreds. You must be so proud of your success."

He nodded.

"Daddy, look at me!"
Hannah squealed. She jumped from the fence into his arms. Garrett reacted
automatically, catching her as she threw her arms around his neck. He noticed
the quick glance she threw Christie’s way, as if checking for her reaction.
Garrett swung his daughter around and dropped a kiss on her warm neck.

He ignored Hannah’s squirming
antics and looked at Christie over the top of her head. "Yes, from here my
yearlings go on to another trainer at the racetrack."

"But everything starts here
with you. I’ve never seen anything like this place. Buddy kind of showed me
around after work."

"Well," Buddy broke in,
"I’ve got to get moving. I promised my dad I’d be home to help him with
some chores. I’ll see you folks tomorrow." Buddy tipped his hat to
Christie and nodded to Garrett. "Garrett, one more thing. I saw Les Doyle
earlier. Did he come up to the house?"

Garrett looked at him in surprise.
"No. When was this?"

"Oh, I’d say around nine or
so. He was out by the main road. I think he was having trouble with his truck
but he said he could fix it so I went on."

"I’ll give Kim a call at
home."

Buddy turned to go.

"Thanks, Buddy,"
Christie called after him.

Garrett watched Buddy turn, walk
backwards several steps and give her a thumbs sign up before continuing on his
way.

"He’s a nice kid," she
said, looking up at Garrett.

Garrett raised a brow. "Kid?
He’s probably your age."

"He’s graduating from college
this summer, so I’d guess he’s about twenty-two. I’m twenty six." Christie
smiled. "That’s light years away."

Garrett digested that information.
"I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to introduce you around, but it was
unavoidable."

"Don’t worry about it. I know
how busy you are. Besides Sue I met Ally, Buddy and Emmett, again. Sam took me
around and introduced me to a teenager named Joey."

Garrett looked at her with
surprise. "Sam?" His foreman was getting around these days.

She shaded her eyes and looked up
at him. "Yes. I really like Sam. He tells it like it is." She smiled.
"You know exactly where you stand with him, don’t you? There’s no
deception."

"Always have," he
acknowledged, wondering at her choice of words. "I’ve known Sam since he
worked for my dad doing odd chores. It doesn’t sound like you missed anyone.
What else did you and Buddy do?" he asked casually. He saw her surprised
expression and he wondered if there’d been an edge in his voice.

"Is there a rule against the
help socializing?" she asked coolly.

Hannah pulled the hat off his head
and put it on her own. Garrett welcomed the slight breeze that cooled his head.
"No." He made his voice neutral, knowing it wasn’t his business if
Buddy and Christie spent time together.

Hannah squirmed restlessly.
"Let me down, Daddy. Ally is bringing the puppies out. I want to see
them."

Garrett put Hannah on her feet.
"You’re getting kind of big for me to carry you anyway," he said,
retrieving his hat. "We’re going to eat soon," he warned. "Don’t
be long."

"Okay. I’ll be real
quick."

"Famous last words," he
muttered, smiling. Garrett saw Ally carry the cardboard box with the puppies
from the barn and place it on the grass beside the barn. His daughter ran over
to Ally and dropped to the ground. She fussed over each puppy as she lifted
them out of the box.

Christie looked at him and when he
met her glance. "Hannah adores you. But of course you know that." Her
words seemed measured.

He studied her curiously. "It
works both ways."

"Hannah mentioned you and her
mom used to go to rodeos." Her voice seemed overly casual.

"That part of my life is over."

"That must have been an
exciting time, the hustle of rodeo life, one town after the other."

He stared at her. Something didn’t
feel right. "I’d rather not dwell on the past." Judith had had a
penchant for wheedling the truth out of him, and she hadn’t been averse to
using that knowledge against him. He wondered how Christie would react if he
told her that about Judith. Maybe she’d be the same way.

"If you’ll excuse me, I’m
going to get cleaned up." He didn’t want to talk about personal stuff.
Judith had taught him that lesson. When he took a step back, Christie moved to
stand in front of him.

"Garrett, you lied to
me." Christie’s words stopped him dead. Her gaze rested on Hannah. She
turned her head, eyes laser sharp on him. "You let me believe you’re
Hannah’s father. Hannah told me about her mother marrying you."

He stepped closer to her again,
his entire body now filled with angry tension. "I adopted her," he
said in a low voice. "Make no mistake, I am her father. And any court will
say the same. My God! If you’re thinking of interfering --"

Christie drew a harsh breath and
there was pain in her eyes. "You think I’d take her from you?"

"You can’t."

"I wouldn’t!"

He stared at her grimly. "It
remains to be seen why you’re even here."

"You don’t trust me at
all." Her shoulders seemed to slump. "Or maybe it’s just women you
can’t trust. No wonder you won’t talk about anything personal."

"It’s not your business.
Leave it."

"My God!" she exclaimed
softly, studying his face. "What did my sister do to you?"

The note of wonder and soft
sympathy in her voice caught him off guard. "You don’t know what you’re
talking about."

Her dark eyes seemed to hold a
wealth of knowing. "Judith and I are from the same background. I don’t
know what happened to her after she left at fifteen, but I know about her life
before she left. There wasn’t much room for normalcy."

Garrett wanted to know what it was
she meant. But then he actually felt afraid. Maybe he didn’t want to know.
Judith was gone, everything they’d had was dead and buried. Did he want to dig
up old demons?

"Daddy!" Hannah called.
"Come and play with the puppies." She ran over to them and pulled on
Garrett’s hand. "Come on. They’re so cute Daddy. Don’t you think?"

"Everything little is
cute," he said dryly. "Then they get big and chew my boots and track
mud." He squatted down by Hannah. "I’m going to get cleaned up
sweetheart. Why don’t you show Christie the puppies?"

Hannah threw Christie a look of
invitation, obviously happy to show them to anyone. She then ran back toward
the puppies. Christie gave him one last glance he couldn't interpret, then
followed Hannah to kneel in the grass and lift one of the puppies.

Bemused, Garrett stared at
Christie and his daughter, both of them sitting on the grass with eight puppies
climbing over them as they laughed with delight. Hannah actually smiled at
Christie. Judith, despite living on a farm, had never bothered with any of the
animals and he knew darned well she’d never pick up a puppy and kiss the top of
its head as Christie was doing.

Judith and Christie looked as
different as night and day. His wife had been high maintenance, and in the
beginning he’d been proud of it. Somewhere during the time of their marriage
she’d accused him of changing, and he knew she’d been right. A woman who needed
a lot of attention hadn’t meshed well with the long, demanding hours he’d put
in to keep the ranch going.

Garrett hoped Christie would work
out for the short time she’d be here. Even Hannah seemed to be warming up to
her. It would be easier if his daughter decided to be agreeable. One less
fight. Garrett still didn’t know if he could trust Christie’s motives, but for
the time being he’d continue to keep a close eye on her.

Garrett entered the kitchen late the
next afternoon. He had spent most of the day working on the horse exercise
walker that had decided to quit. Usually he liked tinkering, but he didn’t have
the patience for it today. It seemed that every time he turned around he
encountered Christie, and for some reason it was disrupting his concentration.
He’d finally decided that what he needed first and foremost was a cold beer. As
he walked toward the house, he noted his brother Randy’s truck parked in the
driveway and he wondered how long he’d been here. Randy usually came looking
for him. Apparently not today.

As soon as he stepped into the
kitchen the smell of baking cookies made his mouth water. Ruth was making his
favorite chocolate chip cookies. The screen door bumped against him as he
stopped to draw in a deep, appreciative breath. He heard Hannah’s giggles
followed by the low murmur of his brother’s voice.

He dropped his hat on the hook
right next to Randy’s dark Stetson. Hannah sat on Randy’s lap at the table,
armed with a spatula as she removed cookies from a cookie sheet.

Garrett moved toward the
refrigerator.

"Hey, Garrett," Randy
said.

"Randy, I thought you’d be
out keeping the city crime-free today. What brings you to this part of the
county?"

Randy smiled. "I do get days
off from the Sheriff’s department. Hannah called to give me heck for not
showing up last night, so I had to make it up to her. In the meantime, I’m
renewing my acquaintance with Christie."

Garrett gripped the handle of the
refrigerator door. "You’d think you were old friends already," he
said dryly, watching his brother closely. Randy’s light blond hair and usually
immaculate appearance looked a bit the worse for wear. His hair stood partially
on end and his black designer T-shirt had been spattered with bits of cookie
dough. Garrett allowed himself a smile. Today Randy looked more like the
brother he’d grown up with, always ready to have fun, not the sheriff deputy
who’d made himself scarce around the farm of late while putting in a load of
overtime.