“It’s all right, Star. This silly bag won’t hurt you. And wait till you taste what’s inside.”
The molasses-covered grain was a special treat, which the animal quickly discovered when she held the bag up to give him a taste.
Eventually, he allowed her to ease the strap over his head. Tory rubbed his ears and played with his topknot while he ate. When the grain was gone, she walked back over to where Josh stood by the fence.
“I want to go into the pasture. He’s never tried to hurt me. I don’t think he will.”
“Not yet,” Josh said. “I’ve got a call in to the man who owned the ranch before I bought it. I know he wasn’t the stallion’s original owner. I’m hoping he can tell me who was. I want to know as much as I can about Satan—”
“Star,” she corrected.
“Fine. I want to know as much about Star as I can before you get close enough for him to hurt you.”
She sighed. Star tossed his head and nickered. She thought of his sleek black coat and long-lashed dark brown eyes. “I wonder if he’d ever let me ride him.”
Josh’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you kidding me? You don’t know how to ride and this sure as hell isn’t the horse for you to learn on.”
She told herself not to say it, but the words spilled out of her mouth before she could stop them. “Maybe you could teach me.”
Something hot and glittering flashed in his eyes, then it was gone. “You want me to teach you to ride,” he said darkly.
“Why not? This is a ranch, isn’t it? You have a whole bunch of horses. Surely one of them is tame enough for me to handle.”
He shoved his hat back with the tip of his finger, then tugged it into place again. “I don’t have time. I’ve got to rebuild the barn.”
It was true, but she didn’t think that was the reason. “You’re right. You’ve got a lot to do. It’s no big deal.”
Those incredible blue eyes slid over her body in a way that made her nipples peak beneath her cotton blouse. For a moment he closed his eyes as if he were in pain.
“Fine, I’ll teach you to ride. I’ll pick a horse and starting tomorrow, we’ll ask Mrs. T. to stay an extra hour in the afternoon. That suit you?”
Excited, she nodded. “I’m a quick learner. With any luck it won’t take too long.”
“Yeah, with any luck,” he grumbled. He turned toward the pile of black rubble that once was a barn. “I’m heading into town. So far the sheriff hasn’t done squat. I want to talk to Randy Stevens.”
Since the night of the fire, there hadn’t been any more trouble. Tory thought that if Damon had burned down the barn, he would have done something else by now. But the sheriff hadn’t made an arrest yet, so everyone on the ranch stayed wary.
“You don’t have to worry about supper,” Josh said, surprising her. “I won’t be home.”
She wanted to ask him why, but she had a hunch she didn’t want to know. “All right.”
“In the meantime, stay away from Satan.”
“His name is Star.”
He made no reply, just shook his head, turned and strode away. She watched the movement of his muscular behind and tried to ignore the hot tug low in her belly.
She wished she had a disposable phone so she could call Lisa. Her best friend was an expert on men. Surely she could suggest a way to deal with the situation Tory found herself in.
She thought about catching up to Josh, asking him to buy her a cheap disposable phone, but she didn’t want to inconvenience him.
She thought about tomorrow and the riding lesson he had promised to give her. Images arose of a different sort of riding, and heat scorched her face. Tory shoved away her embarrassing thoughts and headed for the house.
Chapter Eleven
Josh pulled his white Ford F-150 up in front of Jim Stevens’s house, a nice brick ranch-style not too far from town. Randy was out of high school but as far as Josh knew, the kid still lived at home.
Josh hadn’t lived in Iron Springs that long, but the town was small enough he already knew a lot of people. The story written about his career as a marine sniper had made him a local celebrity.
