“Hold on,” Shay said with a laugh and made his way out to the kitchen. Both Pedro and Faith looked at him. He settled back in his seat, set his phone on speaker, and looked at Pedro. “I have a gentleman on the phone that called me a liar that you are not sitting here. Please, say hello.”
“Who am I speaking to?” Pedro asked.
“Cole Mercury, from New Double horse ranch, I’ve been the manager for the last forty years. Until last year, the ranch’s name was called Double A, and we were based out of Wyoming.”
“No,” Pedro said firmly. “Bad people, Benson Alcott, and Percy Biggins work there.”
“No, they never did, Naomi Alcott, Benson’s daughter is the owner. She inherited everything from her grandfather. Last year, because of Benson and The Big Pig, we moved the entire operation to Denver. Oh, and Benson and Biggins are in jail. Have been for over a year, and we have lawyers working on keeping them there.”
“I’m sorry, Sir, but didn’t Naomi die in that barrel race?”
“No, she’s alive and well, and here in Colorado. How do I know this is you, Mr. Alvarez?”
Cole lifted his phone, snapped Pedro’s picture with his permission, and sent it to Cole.
“Christ on a cracker. I had heard you retired and left the country.”
“I did. My parents were ailing, and I took them home to Spain for the last few months of their lives. I bummed aroundthe country for a couple of years, but it wasn’t for me. I couldn’t settle. I wanted to come back to America and start working again. I miss the horses.”
“I totally understand. Where we are now, we run a tight ship, and we do background checks on our people. Something we didn’t do in Wyoming.” He chuckled and sighed. “It’s much, much better being here. If you could sent me a photo of your driver’s license and social security card, I will get that started. If nothing flags, we’ll get the complete report in a week.” He stopped talking, and everyone heard some whispering, then he was back on the line. “Naomi just walked in, and she wants to know if you would like to come work for her at New Double?”
“As a trainer?”
“Yes.” Came a male and female voice, then Naomi spoke. “Talk to Faith and Shay, they know everything. We, Cole and I, hired Faith as our resident jockey.”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, I was going to save this for when you got here, but what would you do if I told you that I personally own Chocolate Champion’s grandson.”
“I’d call you a liar.”
“She does,” Faith spoke for the first time since Shay returned. “I’ve seen him. They have almost thirty horses, and two dozen are ready to be tested. Including Champ.”
“Are any for sale?”
“Maybe,” Naomi said. “The owners won’t talk to me until they get some sort of stats. Once this snow clears, we need to condition the new track, it’s never been run on, and I’m going to need a trainer to help instruct the people working it. Even though I was in the rodeo, I still listened to Grandpa and Cole about racing. Pedro, you’re the best, along with Faith. Will you come work for me?”
“Yes!” Pedro yelled with a laugh as he dug out the information, and passed it to Shay, who snapped photos and sent it. “I might not be able to come until a couple of more weeks.”
“That’s fine, I sent Faith home to clean up her life there, then she’s coming back here. Don’t worry, you’ll have a place to stay. Talk to Faith and Shay. I can’t wait for you to arrive, Pedro. Thank you for coming to work for me.” They hung up and Shay watched as Pedro sat there in stunned silence.
With fresh cups of coffee from Faith, she and Shay took the next two hours to tell Pedro what they knew about New Double and the horses. Shay was more knowledgeable, but not by much because he had only been working on the ranch for two weeks longer than Faith, but he did recall what he had learned when he’d stayed weeks there before he returned to finish his military career. When Pedro left that evening, he wore a shell-shocked but happy expression.
CHAPTER 13
Faith pacedher bedroom several times before she flopped back on her bed in frustration. She sat up just as fast, paced again, then shook her head. She kept remembering the two brief kisses she had shared with Shay, and couldn’t get them out of her mind. She had gone to bed two hours ago, but couldn’t settle. On a frustrated sigh, she headed to the door, whipped it open, and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Shay standing there with his arm lifted, as if ready to knock.
“Can’t sleep?” He smirked at her.
“No, you frustrate the hell out of me, Shay Hall.”
“Me, what did I do?”
“You kissed me,” she accused and stood as tall as her five-foot nothing frame would allow, and crossed her arms beneath her breasts. She looked at him in shock when he grinned, then leaned against the doorjamb to her room.
“Yep, I did, twice.” He winked. “What are you going to do about it?”
Faith studied him for two whole minutes before she stamped her foot in frustration, uncrossed her arms, made a wild sound, reached up and pulled him to her. When she slammed her lipson his, after he bent his head, she moaned when she felt herself being lifted.
