Avenging Angel. Alice Sharpe

had been restabled and was drinking out of his trough. She let herself into the stall and, perching on her heels, ran a hand down each beautiful leg, just to make sure he hadn’t hurt himself.

      Of course, he wasn’t the one who had actually hit the ground. He regarded her with big brown eyes as water dripped from his chin whiskers.

      “What are you looking at?” she said as he nibbled at her hair. She reached up and stroked his soft muzzle. He really was a big sweetie.

      “Hey, what happened out there?”

      Elle looked up to find Mike standing in the doorway, his thick red hair going every which way as usual. Two sets of dimples and a ready smile didn’t hurt his popularity with the female clients. In fact, Elle suspected Tabitha had a big crush on Mike who, at nineteen, seemed embarrassed by her adulation.

      “Silver Bells took out his annoyance with Tabitha on me,” she said, wondering for a moment if her own distracted state hadn’t contributed to the horse’s refusal to jump. “Where is Tabitha, anyway?”

      Mike rolled his eyes. “Her father finally showed up and took her home. She asked me to tell you she’d see you next week. Oh, and you got a phone call earlier.”

      Elle’s imagination immediately provided a worst-case scenario. Rising, she whispered, “Was it Scott?”

      “Who’s Scott?”

      “My grandfather’s nurse.

      “Oh. Well, no, it was your dad who called.”

      “Did he mention Grandpa?”

      “No. He wants you to meet him down at the Lakeside Inn at eight o’clock tonight.”

      “He’s here? In town?”

      “I guess.”

      Elle felt like stamping a foot. “What lousy timing.”

      “He sounded like a nice guy,” Mike said.

      Elle shrugged. “The judge and I don’t see eye to eye about certain…things. That’s all.”

      “Yeah. My dad wants me to be a lawyer. He can’t understand why I want to waste my time with horses.”

      “I know. Mine was livid when I delayed grad school to take care of my grandfather.”

      “Your grandfather is back in Arizona, right? If you’re taking care of him, what are you doing here?”

      “We hired a live-in nurse, a big strapping guy.”

      “Scott.”

      “Right. They didn’t need me so I’m taking a break.” Elle didn’t add that this go-getter had happened into her grandfather’s life at a precarious point in more ways than one. As her grandfather’s health had declined, his past regrets had escalated. He’d started rethinking his acceptance of his daughter and her family’s unsolved murders, gotten Elle involved, and when Scott mentioned he had a brother working as a detective in the Seattle police department, Grandpa had roped him in.

      She realized Mike was talking and tried to get her mind back on track. When he paused, she took the opportunity to get away. “I’m going to hit the shower. I have one more appointment at six o’clock. Let’s give Silver Bells the rest of the day off. Would you mind saddling Corky for the student and Majordomo for me?”

      “Sure thing, they’ll be ready when you are.”

      Elle emerged back into the sunshine. Her muddy clothes had begun to dry, which made walking a stiff-legged affair. As she started up the slope to her cabin, she thought about how great a shower would feel.

      And then—well, she had to figure out a way to get rid of her adopted father, a man she’d nicknamed the judge when he took a seat on the Butter Gulch County bench a few years earlier. What did he want? Hadn’t they hurt each other enough the last time they quarreled?

      She heard a door bang shut and turned to find Peg striding up the gentle rise toward her, cigarette smoke circling her head. She wore an expression Elle had never seen before.

      “Need to talk to you,” Peg said, taking the cigarette from her mouth, flicking it to the ground and thoroughly grinding it out with her boot.

      “What’s wrong?”

      “You,” Peg said, expelling the last of the smoke. “You’re what’s wrong.”

      “I don’t understand—”

      “What in tarnation do you think you’re doing?”

      Somewhat startled, Elle blinked a couple of times and said, “You mean asking Alazandro for a job?”

      “Yeah.”

      “Well, I guess I’m moving on. I told you I wouldn’t stay for long when I took this job.”

      “Moving on, is that what you call it?”

      “Don’t worry, I’ll stay here long enough to help you hire someone else.”

      “You might not be here long enough to find me a replacement,” Peg said. Looking at the ground, she shook her head in an almost defeated way.

      “Mike is really good with people as well as horses,” Elle said gently. “Let him take over.”

      Peg’s gaze flew back to her face. “You think it’s the damn job I’m worried about? The job is just part of it. The way you acted with that man—the way you came on to him. I never in my life thought you were that kind of girl.”

      Elle murmured, “It’s not how it looks, Peg.”

      “I’ll tell you how it looks,” Peg said. “It looks like you’re either a scheming gold digger or a stupid little tart. Either which way, that man will eat you for breakfast and spit you out. I bet he’s older than your own father!”

      Elle’s hands bunched at her sides. She had to fight to control her temper as she said, “I know what I’m doing.”

      “Do you? All that bastard wants is to get into your pants, you do know that, don’t you? And you all but gave him an engraved invitation.”

      “You are not my mother,” Elle said, voice trembling.

      “No, and right now, I’m glad I’m not.”

      Elle turned on her heels and stalked up the hillside, leaving Peg in her wake.

      She’d been so caught up in herself she hadn’t stopped to fully consider what her behavior would look like to those on the sidelines. She glanced over her shoulder in time to see the screen door slam behind Peg.

      Drat. Was everyone she knew going to end up angry with her?

      It’s not too late, her subconscious whispered. You can walk away right now.

      But she couldn’t.

      She couldn’t live anymore with her nightmares, couldn’t bear the thought that Alazandro remained free to roam the earth while her family lay long dead in their graves. Besides, she’d promised her grandfather she’d find the truth and, if need be, exact revenge.

      The sun seemed to dart behind the high clouds as Alazandro’s image loomed in her mind. The dark, empty eyes. The crooked nose. The cruel lips. Arrogance dripping out of every pore as he toyed with Peg, toyed with her.

      And then there was Alazandro’s bodyguard, Pete, a man who looked as dangerous as Alazandro, perhaps more so for it didn’t appear he had Alazandro’s ego to fog his vision. Pete might not admit he’d die for Alazandro but there wasn’t a doubt in Elle’s mind he would kill for him.

      Desperate to get into the hot shower and stop her bone-rattling shakes, she unlocked the door and stripped on the way to the bathroom. She stood under the hot water for a long time, eyes closed, hands propped on the tile walls, head hung, caught in the aftershock of her audaciousness.