Page 28 of The Cowboy's Justice

“Just cos,” he muttered. “Come on, let’s go out and visit with Marge and Belle.”

As they walked through the barn she noticed Sammy cleaning out a stall. He was shoveling out the soiled shavingsand dropping them into a wheelbarrow, then he’d pile in clean shavings from a second wheelbarrow.

“That looks like hard work,” she remarked. “How many horses do you have here?”

“It is, and currently I have eight clients and twelve horses. There’s plenty of room for more, but the reason they’re all doin’ so well is because I can give both the horses and riders so much of my time. Here comes one of them now,” he added, glancing down the driveway.

Following his gaze she saw a white Subaru SUV come to a stop in the parking area.

“That’s Jennifer. She’s a barrel racer. She has a great horse and she’s a really talented rider. She’s on track to be State Champion this year.”

Watching the shapely redhead climb from the Subaru and wave, Portia felt a twinge of jealousy.

“Hi, Devlin, what happened to your truck?” the girl called, staring at the dented front fender as she jogged up to meet them. “Are Marge and Belle okay?”

“They’re fine. I have to arrange to get it fixed, but it’s still drivable.”

“Hi, I’m Penny,” Portia said quickly before Devlin could introduce them.

“Hi, nice to meet you,” Jennifer replied. “Are you bringing a horse in?”

“Uh, no, I’m just visiting.”

“She’ll be stayin’ with me for a while,” Devlin interjected.

“Oh, I see. Have we met before? You look vaguely familiar.”

“People say that to me all the time. I must have one of those faces.”

As she’d spoken a horse in a nearby paddock let out a loud whinny.

“That’s Joey, my boy,” Jennifer declared looking across at him. “I’d better get over there with his treat before he gets mad. Nice to meet you, Penny.”

“You too.”

“Penny?” Devlin murmured quietly as Jennifer hurried off to the paddock.

“I had to come up with something. I told you, if word gets out I’m here the paparazzi will be all over this place. They’ll be up Smoky Hill climbing the trees and trying to sneak onto the property. If that doesn’t work they’ll try bribing your neighbors.”

“You’re not serious.”

“I’m totally serious.”

“Okay, Penny it is,” he said, taking her hand and heading towards Marge and Belle’s paddock.

“Devlin, I’ve been wondering about something.”

“What’s that?”

“When you saw William put that stuff in my coffee mug why didn’t you call the sheriff then? He could have arrived and caught him red-handed--literally.”

“Believe me, I thought about it, but I didn’t know anything about William. If he could be violent, or if he had a weapon and what he might do if he was cornered.”

“Ohhh, I see what you mean.”

“Then I realized I could warn you about the coffee, and I’d have a good chance of gettin’ you outta there safely.”

“Honestly, Devlin, calling me like that was brilliant, and you did it just in time.”

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