Riding for Love (A Western Romance) (14 page)

Chapter 12

Eve hummed a little ditty while she picked out Tilly’s hooves. She should have done the job earlier, but with Snook’s visit and taking care of Denton, for the first time she forgot. Denton’s presence was messing with her mind, but she was enjoying his humor and willingness to help. Of course his sexiness wasn’t helping things, either. Nope, not at all, and even though things were moving faster with Denton than they probably should, she couldn’t help enjoying her time with him. Her heart sang along with the tune running through her head.

Satisfied the trail dirt was out of the hoof, she dropped Tilly’s hind leg and reached for the other one. The horse refused to bend her knee. Exasperated at the mare’s unusual behavior, Eve turned around and rubbed her flanks. “What’s up, old girl?” she crooned. “I know I should have done this sooner, but things got in the way.” Like Denton’s smile and his teasing and his kiss. Man, oh, man, could the man ever kiss!

She turned back to lift Tilly’s leg again. The mare nickered and stomped sideways, nearly stepping on Eve’s foot. “Tilly, what is wrong with you? Point made. You’re mad I forgot to pick out your hooves. Won’t happen again.”

Tilly nickered once more and stepped back, pushing Eve into the back of the stall. Finally giving up or risk being injured by a horse that never so much as whisked her tail in her face, Eve moved around Tilly and rubbed the mare’s head.

“C’mon girl, what’s bothering you?’ Tilly’s eyes moved to something behind Eve. She caught a movement in the shadows of the barn. “Denton? Why are you skulking over there? I won’t hurt your hand again, I promise.”

Eve threw a hand over her heart when a person, who wasn’t Tom or Dent, stepped into the dim light of the barn. She grasped the pick tighter in her other hand as the stranger moved closer. With everything that had happened lately, she didn’t feel safe anymore. A longer handle on the pick would make her feel a little more secure. Where was Tom? The man stepped closer, and Eve moved to put herself between Tilly and the stall wall.

“Hold up there, girlie. It’s your father.”

She tightened her grip on the pick. Her father? Her breath caught, and she clutched her stomach. A kick in the stomach from Tilly couldn’t hurt worse. She’d never expected him to show his face here. What on earth was he doing in her barn?

“Yeah, it’s your old man, Evie girl.” Ed approached the stall door, allowing Eve a better view of her one remaining parent. He seemed smaller than the last time she’d seen him—the day he’d been escorted out of the courtroom to begin his prison term. What remained of his full head of thick, dark hair was barely a ring of silver wrapping around the base of his skull and ears.

The awful dark mustache she remembered was gone, and with it memories of the way it twitched before he took his first swing; the way it thinned out with his lips before he struck for the second time. Eve had learned to watch for those telltale signs before getting out of the way, most of the time. Her mother had always stood and took whatever he’d doled out.

“Evie?” Ed interrupted her thoughts as he took a step closer.

She glanced at his mouth. No sneer, no thin lips, no warning, twitching mustache. All the same, his presence caused her to shrink inside herself. Then she stood taller. She wasn’t that frightened teenager anymore.

“Stay where you are, Ed,” she said, and was relieved when he stopped. “What the hell are you doing here? There are ten more years on your sentence.” She shook her head. “I thought Snook was kidding when he said you were out.”

“So Snook already broke the good news?”

“Oh yeah. He was eager to tell me my old man was out of the slammer.” Eve couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

Ed pointed a finger at her. “Hey, is that anyway to talk to your father?”

Eve pointed a finger back at him. “You ceased being my father decades ago, long before you killed my mother. Right now, I want you off my property.”

“Your property?” Ed scowled. “Since when is this
your
property?”

Eve decided she wasn’t going to fall into the old trap of having him treat her like she was nothing more than a punching bag. She was stronger and in charge of her life. She took a step toward him and was surprised when he retreated. It was unusual for Ed to back away from anyone.

Words she wanted to say for a long time spewed from her mouth. Hands clenched to keep from striking out at him, she yelled, “Since you got drunk and left me to handle this place alone. Since you killed my mother, you bastard! Since I scrimped and saved and paid the back taxes. Since I worked my fingers to the bone cleaning up your mess and bought the ranch from the bank. Since I worked my way through college on my own and got this place running. This place is
mine,
not yours. Did you bother to look around while sneaking back? Did you even notice all your junk is gone, all the weeds are gone, and how the house is fixed up? Who the hell do you think did all this?”

Ed put a hand up to stop her tirade. “Hold up there a minute, girlie. I noticed, and the old place is real nice. Why, it’s so fancy, I could live in this barn.” He swept his arm out. “I wouldn’t want to with all those damn old horses in here. Why, I’d be like a millionaire living the house you fixed up so fancy.”

“I’ll have you know, Ed,” Eve said through clenched teeth, “these damn old horses are what are keeping this place alive, and you’ll never set foot in my house again.”

Ed chuckled. “Yeah, well, I’m back and things’ll be different around here. I never did see any use for horses.”

Eve planted her hands on her hips. “What the hell do you mean by that?”

Ed shook a finger in her face. “Don’t you be swearing at me like that, girlie. Show some respect.”

Eve slapped his hand away. “I show respect when respect is earned, which, old man, you certainly haven’t. Now get off
my
property and out of my life.”

Her stomach dropped as his face turned red and he clenched his hands into fists. His lips thinned. She prepared herself for the coming punch. In the past, no one, especially his worthless daughter, had dared defy him. To her amazement, he stepped back.

“You’ll be sorry, girlie. No matter what happened in the past, I’m still your father, and you have to do what I say.”

Eve gave a harsh laugh. “Maybe in the past, but while you were locked up like the slime you are, I grew up. I don’t have to obey you anymore.”

“Think you’re smart, don’t you?” He grabbed her arm. “You won’t be laughing when I get through with you. Now, what room will I be in at that fancy house? I need something nice, especially after living in that lousy cell for all these years.”

“There’s no room for you.”

Ed jerked his head back. “What do ya mean?”

“What part of ‘You won’t be living in
my
house’ don’t you get? You will never, ever live here again. You were so far behind in payments, the bank took it over and
I
bought it back. It’s mine.”

His eyes turned mean. “Where the hell am I supposed to live if not in my own home?”

Eve crossed her arms over her chest. “I keep telling you, Ed, this place is mine, lock, stock, and barrel.” Eve paused, trying to calm her racing heart. Would he ever understand what she went through to make this place her own? “How long have you been out of prison?”

Ed ran a thick-veined hand over his balding head. “A week.”

“Where are you living?”

“With Snook. He’s the one that picked me up seein’ as my own daughter wouldn’t.”

Eve narrowed her eyes. “First of all, I didn’t find out until this afternoon you were out of prison. Even if I had known, no way in hell would I have picked you up.” She studied him closer. “I’m not sure how you pulled off an early release. You didn’t break out, did you?”

Ed laughed. “Hell, no. I was on my best behavior and got out before my time was up.”

“Wisconsin needs to change their laws,” Eve commented. “If you’ve been staying with Snook for a week, you can go back to his place.”

“Why would I do that when you have plenty of room? Why, I could stay in one of those stupid little buildings you put all over the place. What a waste of good space.”

“No one asked your opinion, Ed. And like the horses, those stupid little buildings help pay the bills.” Eve pointed a finger at him. “How did you get here? I don’t see a car.” She paused and snapped her fingers. “I know, you rode a horse.”

“Huh. Very funny, girlie.” He pulled a bright red baseball cap out of his back pocket and twisted it in his hands. “Snook dropped me off, but he left. So now I’m stuck here.”

“You can just call Snook up and tell him to pick you back up. You’re not wanted here.”

“Well, see, the thing is, Snook’s wife doesn’t want me at their house, either. Seems she thinks I’m a bad influence on her kids.”

Eve didn’t remember her father ever whining. Yelling, screaming, swearing; his booming voice getting what he wanted. She snorted. “Go figure. Go call one of your cronies who were so in love with you before you killed my mother.”

“Quit saying that, Evie. I didn’t mean to crash the car.”

“Yeah, well, in Wisconsin, if you drink and drive and a passenger in the car dies from a crash, it’s called murder. The same as if one of those beatings you gave her had killed her.”

He took a step closer. “You’ve gotten hard, girlie.”

“I had no choice, thanks to you. Now go call Snook or someone to get you out of here.”

“Don’t have a cell phone.” He peered up at her from under his bushy white eyebrows. “Guess I could use the phone in the house.”

Eve pushed past Ed and closed the stall gate. “Guess again, old man. No way are you getting into my house. You need a phone, walk to town and find one.”

Ed followed her down the dim barn interior. “Need to use the john, too.”

“Use a tree on your way to town.”

Ed grabbed her elbow, digging his fingers into her skin, and swung her around to face him. “Listen here, girlie. I ain’t using no public facilities after being in prison. I need my privacy.”

His whining did nothing to soften her feelings toward him. She tried to yank her arm free. “Let go of me. I can have you arrested and sent back to prison so fast your buddies won’t realize you left.”

“You’re my daughter. I can do what I want. Besides, I know some things to change your mind.”

Eve jerked herself free and rubbed her elbow. “You don’t get it, do you? I am an adult. Your control over me is over.” She started toward the barn door. “With your record, it wouldn’t take much to convince a judge to send you back. Now get the hell out of my barn, my property, and my life!”

Ed chuckled. “Not until I’m damn good and ready, girlie.”

“I’d say you’re ready now, Ed.” A deep voice came from the shadows of the barn.

“Tom? Is that you, old buddy?”

Tom stepped into the light, a shotgun held to his side, his finger near the trigger. “Do as she says, or I will call the cops and have you arrested for trespassing.”

Ed pulled back his outstretched hand and wiped his palm on the side of his new jeans. “What, no welcome for an old pal?”

“You’re no pal of mine, Ed. Now get off this property.”

Ed slid his hands into his back pockets and rocked on his heels. “I kinda guessed we weren’t pals no more since you never once showed your face at the prison.”

Tom huffed out a breath. “You actually thought I would visit you in prison? You haven’t changed one bit. You’re still the same self-centered bastard you always were. Now, once again.” He lifted the shotgun. “Get off this property.”

Ed grinned. “Now, where’s your authority, Tom?” He pointed a thumb at Eve. “I don’t think old Evie here has the guts.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Ed. I happen to own a share of this place and, believe me, when I say Eve has the guts to call the police. Since you just got out of prison, are you ready to take the chance you’ll get sent back?”

“You were always jealous of me, Tom,” Ed said, leaning against a stall door. “You can put the gun away.”

Tom rested the stock of the gun across his arms. “Jealous? Of you? You thought you were hot stuff in college as long as you were the football hero, but as soon as things didn’t go your way, you became nothing but a washed-up, whining, quarterback turned drunken wife beater.”

Ed chuckled, his eyes gleaming. “You always were in love with her, weren’t you? Didn’t think I knew, did you?”

Eve shot a glance her friend. “What’s he talking about?”

Tom never took his eyes off Ed. “He’s only blowing off steam, trying to make me out to be the bad guy. I was never anything but a friend to Linda.”

“Oh, but I think you wanted to be so much more, didn’t you? You wanted to sleep with Linda. Now you’re probably banging my daughter.”

Tom shook his head slowly and sighed. “You are one sick bastard, Ed. First, you think I slept with Linda. Now you think I’m sleeping with Eve? What the hell kind of crap did you learn in that joint?”

“You’d never believe what I learned.”

“From what I can tell, none of it any good,” Eve mumbled.

Tom moved to take Ed’s arm. “Well, we’re not going to stand here and discuss it. Your time is up, Ed.”

Eve stepped forward and put her hand on Tom’s arm. “Do you need to tell me something?” she whispered.

“Not now, Eve. We need to get rid of him.”

“Quit whispering about me.” Ed glared at them. “You going to convince Eve to let me stay at the house?” he whined.

Tom shifted the rifle into the crook of his arm. “Not hardly. What I will do, is give you a lift anywhere you want. Anywhere but here.”

“He can stay with Snook again. And if they don’t want him, Snook can find him a place,” Eve said, exiting the barn without a backward glance.

It seemed she’d been in the barn for hours, but when she glanced at her watch, only twenty minutes had passed since she’d entered the barn with Tilly. “Damn,” she muttered as she turned back into the barn to make sure Ed went with Tom. She met him coming out. “Where’s Ed?”