Page 1 of Rancher's Pride

CHAPTER ONE

FALLON

Phone alarms should be outlawed.

Patting the nightstand, I tried to find it without opening my eyes to stop the blaring sound from assaulting my ears. Finally, my hand landed on the extremely noisy nightmare of a device. I wanted to go back to the old alarm clock radio, the one that I had to physically get out of bed to turn off. That was going on my shopping list for this weekend.

Silencing the annoying beep, I climbed out of bed and stared at myself in the mirror. For the first time in two weeks, I’d woken up without red puffy eyes from crying myself to sleep. I’d broken up with my boyfriend of a year and a half only two weeks ago. I hadn’t been madly in love with him. We’d fallen into a comfortable rhythm and I missed having someone beside me. It made me forget how truly alone I was. He was a crutch, not my soulmate. The breakup made my job at thestables awkward and I hated that I loved my job so much, even he couldn’t make me quit.

It might not be a glamorous job or one that would make me famous, but the horses I trained and cared for were the best there was. Managing the stables came naturally to me, even though I hadn’t grown up in the thoroughbred horse world. I’d grown up on a ranch, sitting on the back of a horse from the time I could hold myself up. Flying through the air on the back of one of the horses was where I found my peace, and even if I wasn’t dating Andrew, I wouldn’t let him make me quit a job I was so passionate about.

His family thought I was beneath him, since they owned the stables and I was just a lowly employee. I didn’t live up to their expectations for their son, but it hadn’t mattered to us. I always did what I needed to do to fit in, and Andrew was always grateful for the effort I gave to appease his family, even though it was exhausting.

Andrew had been oblivious to this. All he’d cared about was if I was pretty, poised and on his arm. When I’d say anything about the events we attended, he’d tell me it was my duty to smile and look pretty for the stables. Every time he’d say it, I died a little more inside until I didn’t recognize myself in the mirror.

While I grew up on a cattle ranch, I’d made it my mission to understand our horses. I could turn a barrel like nobody’s business, but I didn’t like to be on the road,or chasing that next high at a rodeo. It started to feel like I didn't have a home anymore because we were traveling so much. A few weeks ago, I’d watched my sisters compete on television at the highest level and win, and although we hadn’t spoken in two years, I was so proud of them.

Barrel racing wasn’t talked about much here in horse racing country because rodeo was beneath them, or at least beneath Andrew’s family. I kept that part of me hidden, and it had worked for me because nobody had been able to find me in two years. I’d had no doubt that The Five would have been looking for me, but I kept my head down and worked hard to keep my name out of the papers, and I never posed for pictures. It made Andrew furious, but I always put the spotlight back on him and he thrived under it, while I continued to hide.

When I’d left home in the middle of the night two years ago, I came to work at the Greystone Racing stables. My calm demeanor with the horses, and knowledge got me promoted, and I was now working on training schedules for the up-and-coming horses. It hadn’t earned me any friends when I’d gotten the positions over long-standing employees but I didn’t need friends; I needed a job. Plus, it was too hard to hide who I was if people got close to me.

And who was I? Fallon Miller, daughter of the largest cattle rancher in the state of Montana, with one of the best purebred programs in the country. Even ifyou weren’t in the cattle industry, you’d probably heard about my dad, or my brother.

Kipp had taken over after our father died with four of his friends, and from the sound of it were making even more strides in the agriculture community than anyone expected. That was typical Miller fashion, do what you loved, make sure you’re be the best at it. In private, celebrate the accomplishments you’ve made happen but publicly share humbly and make sure everyone knows nothing happens without the team behind you.

A shrill ring of my phone made me quit daydreaming, and I walked back to my bed. “Hello?” I didn’t recognize the number, but the farm gave my number out to anyone asking questions they couldn’t answer, so I never gave it too much thought.

“What time will you be in today?” Andrew’s high pitch voice squeaked. His voice was sharp and squeaky, which was what happened when he was already worked up.

“Should be about thirty minutes. Why?” I asked as I tucked the phone into the crook of my neck and pulled on my jeans. Everyone at the ranch wore black pants and a polo shirt, but I’d refused. I needed to feel comfortable and working in anything other than my Wranglers and a well-fitted pearl snap shirt was a no go.

“Well, just get here. We’ve got problems.”

“Care to elaborate before I walk into a hornet’snest?” I set the phone down on the bed but didn’t bother putting it on speaker. He was talking loud enough I could hear him without it.

“There're cops here, and animal welfare just showed up. Just get here, would you?” It wasn’t a request, it was an order. That’s all Andrew knew how to do. Force people follow his instructions. Over the last two years, I’d learned how to handle him and his ranting. It took a toll on me to the point I hated looking at my phone because if it was him, I’d end up with heartburn and nausea. I probably had an ulcer, but I’d worry about that at some other time. I overlooked the behavior because I liked him. How stupid was I? I didn't realize until right now, while he was angry with me, that the last two weeks of avoiding one another had felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

“On my way,” I said as I closed the lid to my coffee maker. It sputtered to life and the smell of coffee filled the apartment.

“You don’t have time for coffee.” He yelled, his voice cracking like he was a pre-pubescent teen, instead of a grown ass man.

“If you want civility while I deal with this, you’ll let me make a cup of coffee. If you want the Montana rancher in me to come out, I’ll leave without it.” I told him, leaving the ball in his court. He’d seen me pull out my ranching temper once before, and I doubted he would want to again. I’d caught one of the trainers abusing a horse, and I lost my mind on him. How Iescaped without charges after turning the riding crop on him relentlessly, like he’d been doing to the horse, is still a miracle, but he wasn’t a horse trainer any longer. I know this, because every few months I look up his name online to see what he was up to.

“Just hurry,” and the line went dead.

Making the turn into the stables, I was met with more vehicles with lights on them than I’d ever seen in my life. I got out of my car and Andrew ran over to me. He took my hand in his and I wanted to wrench out of his grip as he dragged me along behind him. “You have to make this right. If you do, I’ll consider taking you back. I know you’ve been missing me.” He looked over his shoulder and grinned at me. What made him think I wanted us to get back together? I was used to being back in my rundown apartment, and I’d had a night of restful sleep, not feeling guilty about ending this relationship because of my job. Getting back together was so far off my radar.

“Officer, I’m the stable manager. Can I help you with anything?” The man turned. I was struck by his dark eyes and my mind drifted to another man with those same color eyes. How he looked at me, touched me, and made love to me were all burned into my brain forever. Nobody ever measured up.

“Did you hear anything I just said?” The police officer asked, shaking me out of my memory.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m just so worried about the horses. Are they okay? Has anyone gone to see them?” I tried to play off my lack of attention as worry.

“Well, you should be. This horse farm is facing some serious allegations.” He turned and walked to the office, my office and I followed him.

“What allegations?” I crossed my arms, knowing I ran a squeaky clean stable. What went on outside of the barns wasn’t in my job description.

“Money laundering, fixing races and...” His voice trailed off as he flipped through his tiny notebook. It looked so small in his large hands, it was almost comical. “Oh, right, semen tampering?”

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