Page 5 of Dirty Ginger

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Fifteen minutes after leaving Amelia, Beckett slowed his truck when he reached the wrought iron signage that read Blackshaw Training, and he slid his tan-colored Stetson onto his head, feeling like he could finally breathe again.Amelia looked good. He never again wanted to see the haunted look in her eyes when he watched her heart shatter when Luka crushed her. He knew she had a long road of recovery ahead of her, but at least today she looked a little more like herself again. The gravel crunched beneath his tires as he drove up the driveway he’d driven up for the last two years, five days a week, sometimes more if a horse in training needed daily work. Horses were where his heart lay. He’d never questioned his decision to work at the training facility, and he never looked back.

He drove up the gravel driveway, passing by the two-story log house with the wide covered deck where Nash lived with his wife, Megan, and his son and daughter. The farm took in everything from young horses to trouble horses for training, and the facility had garnered a name for itself. People all over North America shipped their horses in for the care and training of Nash and the cowboys working for him. Beckett felt pride over the work they did, and that they saved many horses that otherwise would have been sent for slaughter.

When he stopped his truck next to the black-roofed barn, he spotted Nash approaching from the house. It took Beckett a minute to realize he had a carrier strapped to him with his daughter tucked inside. The view was such a contrast to the tough, rugged image of the famous, retired professional bull rider that it took a moment to process. But when he did, Beckett felt nothing but envy. Children, a quiet life, a wife by his side, he wanted all that and more. Which was why Luka breaking off the wedding was the best day of Beckett’s life. It meant he could fix the biggest wrong he’d ever made. He could get Amelia back in his arms. When they dated, he’d been a reckless idiot who took his life day-by-day, living on the edge whenever he could. A wild mess of a man. When Amelia had spoken about going to college and chasing her brewery dreams, Beckett didn’t want to stand in the way of her happiness. Knowing she’d never leave him to attend college, and with his father in River Rock, he gave Amelia a push to go, declaring there was a distance between them. At the time, he’d been stupid enough to believe she’d return home to him once she finished school. Instead, she met an asshole.

“I’ve got a new one in for you,” Nash said by way of greeting as Beckett exited his truck. Nash skipped his usual cowboy hat this morning, and his messy brown hair and tired blue eyes indicated a few sleepless nights.

Beckett looked to the reason—Nash’s daughter, Callie. She had the brightest blue eyes Beckett had ever seen, unusually aware, even though she was only five months old. He offered his finger and she squeezed it, bouncing her little legs in the carrier. “She looks far more awake than you do.”

Nash laughed dryly. “Because we live in Callie’s world now. She sleeps whenever she chooses, and we simply have to go with it.”

Beckett chuckled. “Ah, tough like her mother, then.” Nash’s wife, Megan, was witty, sharp, and everything Nash needed to keep him in line.

“She is that,” Nash replied, with obvious tender affection.

Callie released Beckett’s finger and began eating her hand, and Beckett shoved his hands into his pocket. “About this horse.”

Nash gestured ahead of them to the closest paddock next to the barn. Laid out in eight rectangular fields were grassy paddocks for the horses to graze. Behind the barn was a large meadow where the broodmares lived out their lives, raising their foals, which were later trained and sold. “The strawberry roan there.”

Beckett took one look in the field and saw the fire in the horse’s eyes. “Mare?” he guessed.

“You bet,” Nash said. “She’s got the attitude to prove it too.”

Not all mares were made of fire and spice, but certain ones had that flavor. Beckett loved those mares the most. Callie began babbling as Beckett asked, “What do I need to know about her?”

Nash planted a boot on the lower railing of the fence. “She’s got impeccable ground manners, but get on her back and you won’t stay there for long.”

A challenge. Beckett’s favorite. “How dirty is she?”

“As dirty as it gets.” Nash studied the mare before frowning at Beckett. “I worked her a little in the round pen when she got here. She’s a bit of a puzzle. Confident in some ways, insecure in others. Seems agreeable with tack. Until you get on her.”

Odd, but when a horse lost trust in humans, they could act unpredictably. Beckett had seen this time and time again. He slid his gaze back to Nash. “How dangerous is she?”

Nash shrugged. “I haven’t seen her act aggressively on the ground yet. But from what I hear, once someone backs her, she’s determined to put a stop to that in any way she can, including flipping over backwards.”

Which meant she’d learned the best and fastest way to get a person off her back. “Good to know.” Beckett studied the horse, who watched him carefully. Horses were flight animals, and the mare was sizing him up as a threat, no doubt about it. “Has Dr. Alan had a look yet?” Dr. Alan owned River Rock’s Veterinary Clinic for large animals, and had Beckett’s respect.

“Not yet,” Nash replied. “Go ahead and get the works done on her.” At Beckett’s nod of agreement, Nash studied the mare again. “If we can’t retrain her, we’ll put her into the breeding program.” Nash made a name for himself with breeding high quality quarter horses. “She’s one of Colby’s, and comes from a good line.”

Professional bareback bronc rider, Colby Warner, bred quarter horses at his ranch in Wyoming. Any that gave him grief, he sold to Nash for what he’d spent on feed during the horse’s upbringing. “Got any videos of her going?”

“A couple. Colby put a few weeks training into her, but said she wasn’t worth his trouble. One of his falls was nasty.”

Beckett snorted. He knew, as did Nash, that the best horses were ones that had heart. No greater reward than when a man gained the trust of a horse. “Can you send me those videos?”

“I’ll add them to your Dropbox when I go back into the house.” Callie snatched the finger Nash offered, babbling on like she was right in on the conversation. “Any news on the charges?”

Beckett blew out a frustrated breath. He’d withheld telling Amelia the news yet, not wanting to ruin her first day back, especially since he figured the last thing she wanted to think about was the dipshit that dumped her at the altar. “As far as I know, Luka is pressing on with the charges. I’m waiting on my lawyer to hear about next steps.”

Nash shook his head slowly. “What kind of man can’t handle a well-deserved punch?”

“A weak one,” Beckett said simply.

Nash agreed with a firm nod. “No matter what happens, you’ve got a place here for as long as you want it.”

“Thanks, man, appreciate that.”

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