Tied Down: A Ryker Ranch Stand-alone Novella by Kim Loraine

Author:Kim Loraine [Loraine, Kim]
Language: eng
Format: epub

7

CLAY

I’d been gone for all of a week, trying to get my head right, to focus on giving Ryker Ranch and Emma what they deserved, but I couldn’t stay away any longer. Emma had done well in her last competition, but from what Clint told me, she struggled with Justin. She wouldn’t talk to him, and resisted working with him unless he was teaching her something, and instead insisted on doing everything alone if she could. She hadn’t been eliminated, but for the first time she was in the bottom two. I couldn’t tell if she was trying to get kicked off the show or not. But I had to assume me leaving was a big part of the reason for her to act this way.

“A storm’s coming in,” Tristan said, his gaze focused on the thick black clouds on the horizon. Fear danced in his eyes, when he turned them back to me. After the tornado that had destroyed a fair bit of the structures on Ryker Ranch, the Ryker boys were understandably spooked.

Tristan pulled his phone out, staring down at the screen. “Looks like we’re in for thunderstorms, some lightning. But so far the winds don’t look too bad. We still need to get in and secure the animals. I don’t want to be calling the vet in if I don’t need to.”

I nodded, spurring my horse on as we headed back to the stables. When I got there, I saw Justin sitting up on a fence post, a wide smile on his face as he spoke with Nellie Langston. “Hey there, Clay. What’s got you racing here like a bat out of hell?”

“Storm. Look out there. We got to get shit tied down and locked up.”

Justin‘s face blanched. He’d been on the ranch during the storm. Saw the destruction firsthand as he escaped the bunkhouse before it was destroyed. “Shit. How bad?”

“Just thunderstorms. We need to keep them from getting hurt.”

He hopped down off the fence and gave Nellie a kiss on the cheek. Then, as he walked past her, slapped her ass.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that, Clay. He’s just a bit of fun. Nothing else.”

I cast Nellie a glance that said it wasn’t any of my business and I didn’t know what she was talking about. “Get home and make sure your mama knows it’s coming. I’m sure Hawk is aware but just in case.”

She noted. “I am positive my brother knows everything that’s going on. He and Nash are so uptight and on each other’s asses about the ranch and the distillery, I don’t think there’s a strong breeze they don’t know about.”

“That’s because they’re smart. Go on,” Clint said, striding toward us.

He looked at me, then back to the storm. “Do me a favor? Go make sure the contestants are set up with emergency radios, lanterns, and they know where the storm shelter is, okay?” He couldn’t hide the tightness in his voice. The fear. The tornado had shaken all of us, Clint most of all.

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