She shifted and twisted her body in a vain attempt to check the tie on her ankles. But no matter how much she wriggled or tried to jerk her ankles apart, she felt no give in them at all. Even though her shoulders burned with the movement, she refused to give up. She closed her eyes, pulled a breath deep into her lungs, then opened them again and spoke to Maria, her voice low andsure. “I’m not staying in this damn trailer any longer than I have to. Will you come with me if we can get free?”
“I want to go home.”
“Me too, Maria. Me too.” She didn’t think there was anyone on the planet who would want to stay in this situation if they could get out of it. “Will you help me escape?”
“Yeah.”
CHAPTER FOUR
TUESDAY. STRONGHOLD, KY
Rowan barely hadtime to step clear when the yearling in the pen launched sideways and reared up, lashing out with her hooves.
“Damn, she’s fast.”
Former Marine Scout Sniper, Jericho “Scout” Drummond was almost as quick, but had to backpedal a couple of steps to keep from landing on his ass. “Fucking witch has opinions,” he brushed his hands down his right thigh where one of her hooves had glanced off him. “Motherfucker, that stings.”
“Considering who her dam is, we should have known better than to turn her out on the range with the rest of the weanlings.” Rowan’s eyes followed the filly’s movements as she moved around the pen. “But looking at those hocks and that drive under her ass, she has the makings of a good cutting horse.”
“Who’s her daddy?” Jericho adjusted his grip on the rope.
“Hotshot Grenade, who’s down out of Hot Ladies Man and that makes her a full sister on paper to Smoking Hot Southern Thang.”
“Don’t matter a damn who she’s a full sister to if we can’t get her to chill the hell out.” Gael grumbled, “She tries that crap in the trailer and we’re gonna have a vet bill and a lawsuit before the hauler even makes it to the highway.”
Rowan agreed with his brother. “She’s not leaving this ranch until she learns which end her brains are at, and right now, I’m not sure she has any.” He gestured to Jericho, “Send her ass in the keeper pen. Give her the shots and wormer. We’ll ground work her over the winter and see what she’s looking like before the spring sale.”
“You got it, boss.” Jericho flanked the filly to the left while Rowan and the others fanned out behind her to drive her through the gate and into the adjoining pen. “Come on, Witch, time to start learning you some manners.”
Rowan swung the gate and stepped back as the next colt trotted into the pen.
I’ve been waiting to see how you’ve been coming on.
It was one thing to see the yearlings out on the range with the herd, and quite another to see how they reacted to the pens and being handled. He had high hopes for this boy. He noted how he held his ears forward and how his eyes, while slightly wild, didn’t show as much white as the rest they’d gone through had.
That’s in his favor.
Let’s see what you got, son.
The colt came to a snorting stop in the middle of the pen and watched the humans warily as if he hadn’t decided yet if he needed to blow out of the pen or not. When former Army Rangerbreacher, Colson “Titan” Pike, flicked the whip, kicking up some dirt behind his heels, the colt took off around the pen.
“Operator Peace Pipe.” Gael scratched something on the clipboard. “Colt number six.”
“Down out of Comanche War Trail,” Rowan kept his stance loose as the colt moved to the edge of the fence line. “And Peace Treaty. Momma’s personal mount.”
“That the one you were talking about at dinner last night?” Gael retreated out of the way, then the colt flinched away from him a little as he came past.
“Yeah. I’m liking him. His mama sure passed that eye on to him, though. Look at how he’s watching us.”
“I see it.”
Colson kept the colt moving for another couple of minutes, then let him come to a stop as they decided what his future held. “You gonna geld this one?”
“Not every colt needs to be a stallion,” Gael flipped through the pages on his clipboard. “His bloodlines are solid, but they’re gonna be tight if we ever want to breed him to any of our fillies.”
“I know.” Rowan crossed one hand over his chest and placed the closed fist of the other on his chin as he worked through the options. “I want to run him on through winter and see what kind of mind he’s got before we cut him. If he’s got the brain to match what’s behind him, we send him down to Texas and get him finished out.”
Gael tapped the edge of the clipboard with his pen and nodded once. “Even if he was destined for the sale, it’s probably better not to geld him anyways. We’ll get more for him if he’s intact.”
