“I see Thor’s happy to be here.” Jeffrey smiled and gripped the halter when the horse finally settled all four feet on the ground. Luke grunted and the vet let go, so that he could lead the horse to the treatment area.
“What have you done to this animal?” Jayden demanded.
He looked at her standing in the entryway of the building and wished he didn’t feel that twinge in his midsection simply because she was there. His horse had three cuts that would definitely need stitches. But for her to assume he was at fault made his skin itch.
“I didn’t do this to him. He managed to figure out the new lock on the gate and took off early this morning. He got into a neighbor’s barbed-wire fence.”
She glared at him, and he felt guilty, as if he should have known the horse could open the gate, even though the guy at the farm store had promised him it was escape proof.
“He’s underweight, too. Aren’t you feeding him?”
Luke glanced at Jeffrey, who grimaced at his partner’s words. “Yeah, I’m feeding him.” The horse skittered along, nearly bumping the barn door as Luke led him in. He caught the halter and put a steadying hand on the animal’s neck, making low clucking noises in his throat until the horse was calm. He frowned at her. “Do you think we can save the interrogation until we get done?” he snapped.
She was definitely as attractive as he remembered. Thankfully, she had an attitude that would make her easy to resist. Right now he wanted to get away as quickly as possible and maybe find a new vet, even if it would mean a forty-five-minute drive. Jeffrey held a syringe, and Luke noted the grim look he gave Jayden. She seemed to struggle briefly for her composure and finally ignored them to focus on the horse.
Jeffrey examined the cuts. “He definitely needs stitching together.” But when he began cleaning the first wound, the horse snorted and plunged to the side, hitting Jayden with his shoulder. She stumbled and went to one knee. Luke reached to help her, but she waved him away.
“Hang on to the horse.”
Across from him, he saw Jeffrey take hold of the twitch.
“No!” He and Jayden said it at the same time. Jayden scrambled to her feet.
“Let me get him settled.” Luke glanced at her then he rubbed the horse’s head.
The two vets waited as he rubbed Thor’s ears, talking to him in a low voice. For several minutes no one moved, then the stallion sighed audibly, and Luke motioned for Jeffrey to begin. He heard Jayden mumble “horse whisperer” and he winked at her. She came closer and stroked the animal’s neck.
“What’s his name?”
The horse flinched as Jeffrey went to work on him and Luke made a soft grunting noise near his ear.
“Thor.”
She touched the dark red coat. “God of law and order, champion of the people. Not a name I’d have expected you to choose.”
He tried not to wince. Normally, Luke didn’t care what people, especially a woman, thought of him. But something about her bothered him, maybe even touched him. He couldn’t afford to think like that.
“I didn’t name him. He was found by the humane society. I took him in.”
“So you’re a horse rehabilitator and defender of scum. Those two don’t seem to go together.”
“Jayden!” Jeffrey groaned. “Sorry, Luke. Jayden’s had a tough month. She’s on edge.”
She stared at the floor after Jeffrey’s reprimand. As rude as she’d been to him, Luke felt bad for her. Maybe it was because she was so perceptive. Of course he’d named the horse himself.
“Don’t worry, Jeffrey. I don’t mind Ms. Miller. We met yesterday and I’m more than happy to hear her opinions.”
She gaped at him. He didn’t plan on smiling at her, but he did. And he certainly hadn’t expected to see her smile back at him. For the next few minutes while Jeffrey finished closing the cuts they remained on each side of Thor’s head, stroking him.
“All right, I’m finished and Thor was great.”
Luke ripped his attention from Jayden back to Thor. “Bill me, will you. I’m off to find a new lock for my gate.”
He led the horse to the trailer and loaded him. Jeffrey and Jayden were still standing at the barn door when he got in his truck. Even with his back to them he could feel her watching him. He tried to convince himself it was his training that made him so perceptive of her.
CHAPTER THREE
THE OUTBOARD MOTOR reverberated through the night air, and he wondered if the entire world could hear it. He always wondered that, but no one ever seemed to notice him. Luke steered toward the opposite side of the Mississippi. When the bank came into sight he slowed and nosed the boat into a tributary that emptied into the river. He went upstream a few hundred feet to a sandy spot then bumped ashore and tied off to a nearby tree. He didn’t bother with a flashlight. He didn’t need light to get where he was going. He preferred it to be darker—in fact, he wished there were clouds to cover the moon’s glow. After ten minutes, the path he was following opened into a clearing with a wooden shack in the middle. A thin stream of light shone from under the door. He climbed the steps and knocked. Hearing a low voice answer, he went inside, wishing it didn’t feel so natural, so normal.
“Damned mess we got now.”
Joseph Bergeron sat in a metal folding chair in the dim glow of the light bulb hanging from the ceiling, a red plastic cup on the card table in front of him within easy reach. He grabbed the cup and spit, his lower lip bulged slightly with freshly ground tobacco.
Luke dropped into the metal chair across from him and it gave a squeaky protest. “I told you to leave the reporter alone, that he wouldn’t disappear so easily.”
“You think I gave the okay for this? Hell, I’m not that stupid. I’d at least have gotten everything he had on us before I did away with him.” Joseph rested his arms on the table. “And I would have known better than to get that idiot Duke Swayze to tend to business.”
“He’s a member of the Militia and he doesn’t mind doing a piece of work. Why wouldn’t you use him?”
“Come on, he’s crazy as a Betsy bug. Look at what we’ve got now. They found how many bodies at his place?”
“Four.” Luke tried to stay calm. The memory of that day made him sick, and also brought to mind that damned goddess of a vet, the woman he was doing his best to forget.
“Right, four. Now doesn’t that make your job a lot harder?”
“Yeah, it does. But if you didn’t tell him to do this, who did? I doubt he came up with the idea on his own.”
Joseph watched him, and Luke met his stare without faltering. He’d had enough practice at this. Besides, the Militia trusted him.
“There are others who didn’t want that reporter to get away from here with whatever he might have found. We’re working on a big project with another Militia group. We don’t need this kind of attention. We haven’t brought you in on this yet.” Joseph scrutinized him for several seconds. “Maybe later.”
Luke dipped his head slightly in agreement. Okay, they didn’t trust him that much. These things took time.
“Do you think you’ll be able to get ole Duke off?” Joseph asked.
“I don’t know. He’s not much help, spouting off crazy stuff every time the police question him, but I’ll do what I can.”
Joseph