Peace River (Rockland Ranch Series) (12 page)

             
She seemed a little hesitant to look him in the eye this morning and asked, “Did I, uhm, did I have bad dreams last night?”  Her hands were fidgeting in her lap.

             
“I think you did.  Yeah.”  He looked back at the laptop.

             
“I wasn’t sure if I dreamed it all or not.  Thank you for waking me.  Did I wake Rossen up too?”

             
He hesitated as well before admitting, “Yeah, I’m pretty sure you did.” 

             
“That bad, huh?”  She began to massage her temple. 

             
Trying to smile, he said, “You weren’t too bad until the Judd part.  That part was pretty loud.” 

They were silent for a minute or tw
o while he worked at the laptop and Rossen talked in the background. Finally, Slade asked, “So, who is Dante?”  He kept his eyes on the computer screen, but he held his breath for her answer.  She’d mentioned him one other time and after her talking in her sleep, Slade wondered a lot.

             
“Dante is my tall, dark buddy from home.  He’s Eli’s son.  We basically grew up together.  Why?”

             
He still tried to study the computer. “You were talking to him in your sleep last night.  I just wondered.” 

             
“He’s my best friend.  He’s like the brother I never had.  He was six years older, and has always been my bodyguard.”  She laughed softly.  “Anna and I used to try to get him to be the knight in shining armor.  He would have none of it.  I wish I had a way to contact him.  I haven’t called or emailed for fear Judd would somehow find me.”

             
“I wouldn’t try to call right now, but Email should be secure enough, if you don’t say anything about where you are.  He already knows you’re somewhere, he just doesn’t know the location.  An Email won’t change that.”

             
“If you really think it wouldn’t hurt, maybe I’ll try right now.”  She went back in the trailer and came out a minute later with her own laptop.

             
Grinning, Slade said, “No wonder that bag was so heavy.  I’ve been meaning to ask you how you ever got to where we picked you up the other morning.  Where did you come from?” 

             
“I told you I came across the fields, remember?  And you’re right.  That bag was heavy; I had a hard time getting it and me up on Ebony.  He’d never carried anything other than a rider, and I’d never gotten up on him by myself.  It was a bit of a trick in the dark.”

             
Slade shook his head.  “You rode that huge stallion bareback across fields in the dark, carrying that bag?” 

             
“Oh, I wasn’t bareback.  I have his exercise saddle in the bag so it was a little lighter.  And he’s pretty bulletproof.  The only time that horse acts up is if Judd gets near him.  It’s the weirdest thing.”

             
She booted her laptop, logged on and typed away for a few minutes.  At one point, she shook her head and muttered under her breath, “Twenty-four from Geoffrey,” then made a dainty groaning sound that made Slade wonder who Geoffrey was, and if the groan was good or bad.  Then to Slade, she said, “Dante left a message to take care and keep in touch.” 

Chapter 5

              True to their word, the guys got through the next night’s rodeo and then pulled out for their homes in Wyoming at daybreak the next morning.  It was a fourteen hour drive straight through from where they were in Oregon, so they switched drivers several times, and got the horses out and exercised them at about the halfway point.  That was a longer drive than they usually liked to make in one shot, but under the circumstances they thought it best. 

             
They pulled off the highway onto a gravel road in southwestern Wyoming that night at a little after eleven p.m.  They drove for several miles, turned off through a set of locked gates near a guard shack, and continued on for another twenty minutes before stopping in front of a cluster of outbuildings.  The horses were unloaded immediately. Slade and Rossen turned theirs out into a large paddock together, where they could move around to loosen up after that long of a trip. 

             
Rossen approached Isabel and asked, “Do you want him in a stall or a run?” 

             
She looked around in the dark.  “A run would be great if you think it’s safe.”

             
“We’re twelve miles from the nearest paved road, behind a locked gate that’s monitored by video cameras, and the only people anywhere near are my family.  They can be a little off the wall, but you can trust them with your life.” 

             
“Just like you, huh?”  She put a friendly, tired arm around his waist.  “A little off the wall, but absolutely trustworthy.  Ebony is going to love it here, I can tell already.”  She breathed in a deep breath of cool mountain air.  “What is that wonderful smell?”

             
“That would be horse manure.  And you think I’m off the wall.” 

She laughed. 
“How could you still be silly when we’re this tired?  No.  It’s like a spice or a tree.  Like Cedar only more . . . more . . . something.” 

Rossen
walked over to a bush growing on the roadside, broke off a twig and crushed it between his calloused fingers.
 
“More like this?” 

She held the twig to her nose.  “That’s it.  It’s marvelous.  What is it?”  She breathed it in deeply again.

              “It’s sage.  That’s the sweet scent of Wyoming.  Welcome home.”  As she tried to understand why he would say that to her, he unloaded the stallion and they led him into a run and turned him out still in his coverings.  He trotted in a circle around the perimeter and began to buck like a weanling and Rossen said, “I’ll bet that feels marvelous to be loose after more than a week of a stall and lounge line.”  They watched him play for a minute before Rossen turned away.  “Come on, Isabel.  Come meet my family.”

             
The Rockland family didn’t appear to notice it was almost midnight.  They were obviously glad to see the cowboys and didn’t seem to love Slade any less than Rossen.  Even Isabel felt loved among this large and happy family.  Rossen’s dad, Rob, and brothers Ruger, Sean, and Treyne were much alike in looks and mannerisms and the “little” sister Joey, who stood 5’10”, was stunning as well as friendly.   

Rossen
’s mother Naomi came straight up to Isabel and wrapped her in a motherly embrace.  It was such a sweet moment that Isabel blinked back tears.  This was what a mother was supposed to be like, fussing, and happy, and confident.  Isabel couldn’t help but wonder what her own mother would have turned out like, had she had a man like one of these for a husband.

             
Ruger introduced her to his wife Martina, who said cheerfully, “You can just call me Dr. Marti like everyone else does.”  Isabel later found out that Marti was a veterinarian who practiced locally as well as helping out on the Rockland Ranch. 

             
Isabel was so tired she wasn’t sure she would remember everyone in the morning.  She was very much a morning person and felt like she would turn into a pumpkin at any moment.  Naomi must have noticed, because she started to shush everyone and encouraged Rossen to send Isabel to bed. 

Isabel
assumed she would be staying in the trailer, but Rossen headed her off and said, “While we’re here you can sleep in a real bed, with a real bedroom and bathroom for a change.  C’mon, we’ll grab a few things from your bag and I’ll show you where.” 

He nodd
ed to where Slade was headed into another room.  “Slade will be here, too.  He usually stays here unless we‘re home for awhile.” Isabel’s and Slade’s eyes met as she walked past the door.  They still hadn’t established for sure whether she was going back on the road with them.  She wondered what he was thinking behind those brilliant green eyes.  It mattered to her a lot.  Much more than was wise, probably. 

As she lay down to sleep that night after her prayers, she placed the twig of sa
ge on her pillow and drifted off to the sweet scent of Wyoming. 

              When she awoke, she was momentarily confused.  Once she knew where she was, she quietly dressed and slipped out of the house to check on her horse.  In the half-light of dawn, everything looked different.  Last night she hadn’t realized what a large and diverse operation this ranch was.  She also hadn’t been able to see that it was in an unbelievably majestic setting in this high mountain valley, completely surrounded by craggy mountains, their peaks and north faces still brilliantly white with snow.  The mid slopes were deep green with conifer trees and lower down there was bright spring green where the fields and pastures lay below.  It was a phenomenal view. 

As she looked
around in wonder on her way to Ebony, she noticed almost at once that the dirt road encircling the perimeter of the complex was, in fact, a small race track.  It wasn’t fancy and there were gated driveways that appeared to cross it intermittently, but it was definitely a track.  She could see the starting gates in a straight-away off the south end.  Why here?  She didn’t even care!  Her heart raced as she ran to the trailer for her riding gear.

             
Five minutes later, dressed in riding breeches, soft, tight jockey boots, and a snug Under Armor shirt, she stood on a fence with Ebony pulled close so she could vault into the tiny exercise saddle on his back without a leg up.  She hadn’t brought her helmet and she no longer worried about someone recognizing her here, so she left her hair falling loose down her back.  It had only been a few days since her race with the dawn, but she’d missed it so that this morning her heart felt like it would burst!  Even the air seemed to want to run!  Ebony must have felt the same way, and she had to hold him firmly as they trotted for one lap to warm up and become familiar with the track.   

Finally, half way down the back side
, she let him go. 

             
It was glorious!  The magic of the morning was hers once again and she reveled in it!  There was an exhilaration that only came with this speed and this freedom—this greatness of steed.  It was an incredible natural high! 

On and
on she let him run, just her, the horse, and the dawn.  She felt this morning and this horse, even this track had been created for just such a race as this.  She felt the wind streaming his mane into her face, her body in perfect rhythm with his stride, and she felt rather than saw the sun starting to come up over the mountains to the east. 

The scent of the sage was int
oxicating as lap after lap the scenery seemed to float past the rail--that frail boundary between this mystical race in the dawn and the rest of creation.  She was inside a sphere that held a seemingly magical power to halt any stresses and was pent with invigoration.  For these few moments at least, girl and horse were more mythical than mortal.    It was a glorious lift--while it lasted.  

             
All too soon, her run was ending.  She felt Ebony start to ease up and the speed that was like a drug lessened.  Gradually the world began to spin on its axis again, and she reined in the horse to begin cooling him down.  Slowly she stood in the high jockey stirrups to stretch the taut muscles in her thighs, flexed her legs, and eased back down to his back.

                                                        ****

              Slade was up and dressing when he heard the unmistakable sound of a fast running horse.  Several others must have heard it too, because he, Rossen, and Treyne collided in the hall on their way outside to find out what was amiss.  They rounded the side of a barn just as Isabel and Ebony came around the corner into the home stretch.  In unison the men halted in the shadow to watch the majesty of the girl and horse come flying down the track. 

Isabel and Ebony
moved as one being, some mythical enchanted beast painted by the colors of the sunrise, almost iridescent on his glistening black hide.  His mane, tangled with her long silvery-gold hair, streamed out behind them in the wind, the fine mist of early morning muting everything.  Even with the rhythmic sound of each massive stride, the stallion’s gait was so smooth the pair seemed to float, as the magnificent beast thundered past and started around the track again. 

The three men were soon joined by the others, and
they all watched in silent awe as horse and rider raced in the glory of the sunrise.  The mystical pair circled the track three more times before the pace started to ease, but the spectators continued to watch quietly as she cooled the horse out, standing in her stirrups from time to time to flex her legs.

             
Someone breathed, “Now that’s a horse!”  Slade wasn’t even sure who said it.

             
“Who’s watching the horse?”  Isabel had just gone past standing in her stirrups.  That time he thought he recognized Treyne’s voice.