Page 83 of Tempting Fate
“Good job!”
“Thanks for letting me ride him.”
“You’re welcome.” Raylene thought she was getting even more enjoyment out of it than Harper. Maybe someday, when she finally got her horse farm up and running, she’d give a few riding lessons to kids. Though the ranch would be a pipedream without Levi’s Gold. After she donated part of her property sale proceeds to Lucy’s House, she wouldn’t have enough for the land, let alone the capital to get the business off the ground. Not unless she left California. And even then it would be a stretch. “He likes you.”
“You think?”
“No doubt about it. You ready to call it a day?”
“I guess so. My dad and Kristy probably want to get going. It’s a four-hour drive.”
Raylene helped Harper get down and led Gunner toward the barn to unsaddle and groom him.
“Don’t worry about feeding him tomorrow morning.” Raylene wanted to see him one more time before she left. “And this is for you.” She slipped the check in Harper’s jacket pocket.
Harper’s face lit up. “Thank you.”
“Don’t spend it all in one place.” Raylene squeezed Harper’s shoulder. The girl was just so darn cute. “Let’s get done here and get you home.”
She carried the saddle to a small tack room at the rear of the barn while Harper brushed Gunner with a curry comb. Taking a second to look around, she marveled at how neat everything was. Gabe had saved her bacon by sweet-talking Griffin into letting her keep Gunner here. For all her sins, the universe had sent her an angel in Gabe. She wondered if he would keep in touch with her after she left, or if she would simply go back to being Logan’s high-maintenance sister.
She left the tack room, making sure to lock it behind her, and it struck her that she should make Harper a copy of the key. “Hey, Harp—”
Raylene stopped dead in her tracks. There were three people with Harper, one of them a small woman who at first glance looked like a young girl. On closer inspection, all three looked homeless and rough. The hairs on Raylene’s neck went up. Something didn’t feel right. She stuffed her hand in her pocket and fumbled around for her phone.
“Hi there,” one of them, a man with stringy hair, a beard, and clothes that looked as if they hadn’t been washed in a month, greeted her, then wrapped his arm around Harper’s shoulder. Though he smiled, nothing about his demeanor was friendly. “Your friend said it was okay for us to pet your horse.”
Raylene palmed her phone, keeping her hand casually inside her pocket. First, she wanted to put herself between Stringy and Harper. She didn’t like his familiarity with Harper, and from the looks of it the frightened thirteen-year-old didn’t either.
“Sure,” Raylene said. “Harper, can you get me the hoof pick in the tack room?”
“Uh, okay.” But Harper hesitated. Sweet little Harper didn’t want to leave Raylene alone with their threesome.
“Go on.” Raylene nudged her head toward the back of the barn, hoping Harper would take the hint and run to get Drew or the first person she could find. Her creep meter was way off the charts.
Harper started to move, but Stringy pulled her back. “Don’t go yet. What’s your name?”
“Her name is none of your goddamn business. Let go of her. Now!”
Stringy put his hands up in the air. “Why do you have to be so hostile?”
The other two laughed, drawing Raylene’s attention to the small woman who she’d initially mistaken for a child and a man who was slightly taller than Stringy. He had beady eyes and reminded Raylene of a ferret. She couldn’t decide who of the three was the biggest threat, but her money was on Stringy.
“We come in peace,” he said, and again the other two laughed.
“Well, we’re packing up here. My boyfriend’s on his way to pick us up.” And he’s a former Navy SEAL. “You have to be with a resident to stay in the barn, so you’ve got to leave.” Raylene tried to usher them out the entrance, but they didn’t move.
Stringy went back to draping his arm around Harper’s shoulders, as if he hadn’t heard a word Raylene said. That’s when she knew this really, really wasn’t good. She eyed the hay hook and calculated how long it would take for her to get to it, wondering if she’d be better off trying to surreptitiously unlock her phone and dial 9-1-1. Hard to do without looking.
The tiny woman caught the direction of Raylene’s gaze and shook her head. “Don’t even think about it.”
Raylene could take her with one arm tied behind her back. It was the two men she wasn’t so sure about. They weren’t large, both well under six feet and on the waifish side. One on one, she might’ve had a chance, but not all three of them at once. And she had Harper to worry about. If anything happened to her, Raylene couldn’t live with herself.
“What do you people want? We don’t have any money.”
Ferret gave her a once-over that made her skin crawl. She had to get Harper out of here. Pressing the home key on her phone, she felt the surface of the screen, trying to spatially figure out where the numbers were to punch in her passkey. She was so nervous her hand shook.
“What are you doing?” Tiny grabbed her arm.
