Black Mountain Ranch - A.R.E (little red riding hood ebook free .TXT) 📗

to the horses. Kalie was all beauty, with extra charm and double the heart. At first he was amazed that she wasn’t at least someone’s girlfriend, but after the way she reacted to his comments, he wasn’t surprised anymore.
Rex sighed as the bucket he was filling overflowed. He turned off the hose and hefted up the bucket to bring to the horses. “The boss should just get a really long hose,” he grumbled to himself.
“Rex, I need you to go out with Rufus and Jared around the fences in the pasture. It seems that some of the horses have been escaping, but we don’t know where. You can find them saddling up in the barns.”
“Yeah Boss,” Rex said. He walked to the barns and tacked up a frisky mare that looked like it could use some exercise and joined Rufus outside, waiting for Jared to finish up.
He saw Kalie walking out to a large corral, probably to check on the mare with the inflamed leg. She wasn’t healing on her own, so the girl was nursing her back to health slowly. Rex smiled at her devotion to the horse’s life. That was a girl he could love.
“Let’s go.” Rex looked back to see who had spoken. It was Jared, trotting his horse toward the pasture. He followed, side by side with Rufus.
Kalie watched them go. She wondered if Rex really liked her. He was handsome; the type of guy most girls would fall for in a heart beat. But somehow that made her even more suspicious of his true feelings. Guys like that seemed to think that they got whatever they wanted, simply because girls like their looks.
Once the mare’s leg had a fresh bandage, Kalie sat inside her stall wishing that the sun wasn’t so strong. Slowly her eyes closed softly and she fell asleep. She was unaware of strong arms lifting her up and placing her against the wall outside where lazy hooves wouldn’t crush her accidentally.
Kalie woke over an hour later. The heat of the day had dropped somewhat, but sweat still covered her body. She stood up and resettled her cowboy hat firmly on her head before walking out of the barn. She saw Rufus, Jared, and Rex unsaddling their horses, so she went over there to talk to them.
“Find anything?” she asked them.
Rufus snorted. “There’s a huge break in the fence on the west side, plenty large for the entire bunch to gallop away. It’s going to take some fixing up, and also a few of us to go round up the four that are missing.”
Kalie stifled a yawn and nodded. “When are you planning on doing that?”
“Right now, as soon as we tack up some fresh horses,” Jared cut in. “Would you mind going along with Jake to get the lost horses while we fix up the fence?”
Rex suddenly spoke up. “I’ll go with her. I haven’t done any of that for a while.” His tone sounded reasonable, but Kalie guessed that it was only an excuse to be with her.
“Thanks Rex, but Jake and Kalie do this all the time together. They already know the favorite hiding places,” Jared responded calmly. It was no secret that Rex had his eye on the boss’s daughter.
Kalie ignored Rex nodded. “Yeah, that’s great. I’m going to go get a drink first though, or I might just evaporate into dust.”
The closest thing around was the hose, which she trotted over to without hesitation. She knocked off her hat and let the water gush in her mouth and all over her face and hair. She threw the hose down at Jake’s yell and mounted the horse he already had waiting for her.
“Thanks,” she said quickly, still breathless from the long drink.
“No problem. Let’s go.” He turned his stallion around and headed for the west side of the pasture. Kalie followed. She ran a hand through her wet hair to get it out of her face. The wind against the beads of water cooled her down, and she smiled her pleasure.
“We’ll head down to the forest that is close to the break first and look around there. Then we head over to the cliffs.”
As usual, he didn’t bother saying anything other than he needed to. But Kalie was used to it and brought her horse up along side his. Suddenly she realized that she had forgotten her Stetson back by the hose.
“Ugh! Left my hat back at the barns. The sun is so bright.”
Jake immediately took off his hat and placed it on Kalie’s head. She stared at him, open mouthed.
“Since when do cowboys simple hand around their hats?” she asked incredulously. Jake just smiled.
“My eyes are used to it.”
Kalie groaned and pushed the hat firmer onto her head and tilted it down to block out the sun. Cowboys…always showing off. She glanced over at him and noticed an expression on his profile she hadn’t seen before. Simple kindness?
“Anyway, thanks.”
“No problem.”
Kalie smiled and urged her horse on into a fast walk.
*******************************
Night had fallen by the time Jake and Kalie returned to the ranch barns, with two horses tagging along behind on ropes. After releasing them out into pasture and unsaddling their horses, the two of them walked up into the house. Mr. Hale made it a custom to have everyone eat supper in the house at night, unless the cowboys were having a cookout. Everyone was already eating the great spread before them.
Kalie sat down and filled her plate with pork, rolls, salad, and homemade pie. Jake did the same, and soon they were both happy with their bellies filled.
“How did the round up go?” Jared asked amid the conversations. Kalie shrugged.
“It went OK. We found them all, but two of them were torn to pieces by wolves. One was that prize paint mare, but the other one wasn’t a big loss,” Kalie replied evenly. Horses died all the time, and someone with a heart to soft to accept that wasn’t accepted by the others.
Jared sighed. “That mare might have been a great roper. Ah, well, that’s over now. We patched up the fence so now it’s all good to go. But I think that from now on we should ride the fences more often, Boss,” he finished, directing the last sentence to Kalie’s father.
“Yes, that would be fine. Kalie and Rex, I need you both to check the fences twice a week.”
Rex smiled and nodded, finding himself looking over at Kalie to see what her reaction would be. However, he saw nothing else but a nod. No expression and no emotion. He already couldn’t wait.
Kalie was not satisfied. She was glad to be a help, but she felt uncomfortable alone with Rex. Butterflies would invade her stomach and her throat would clench up. Well…she was going to have to bear it, at least for a while anyway.
True Feelings Come Out

Kalie was going nuts. From the moment she and Rex set off to check the fences, Rex made continuous hints about his affection for her. He was good looking, nice, and went out of his way to help her even. She could tell that he was sincere about everything, and not just teasing her. But for some reason she couldn’t really return the affection. Yet. Maybe someday she would find him really different from the rest, someone worth putting her interest in.
Rex had found horse that he called his own by now. It was a mouse gray mustang stallion he called Smoky. Kalie found the name very unoriginal, but decided it didn’t really matter. When she found a great horse that suited her just right, she would think of a name that matched who it was, not just what it looked like.
And right then, Kalie knew that Smoky was not the one. She tried to lead him out into the pasture, because his work month had been spent. But Smoky obviously thought that Kalie was trying to get him to work for her, and he had other ideas. Such as resisting and trying to stay in the barn.
Kalie growled and tugged harder on the rope, but the stallion only rolled the whites of his eyes and half reared up into the air. Finally Kalie gave up and tied Smoky to a pipe while she went to find Rex, who could work magic with the rebel. Soon he was grazing contentedly out with the bunch, and Rex was satisfied with his horse whispering abilities.
“Maybe you should just go work at a circus,” Kalie said jokingly to him. “You could be the Freaky Horse Whisperer, or maybe Rex the Werehorse.”
Rex chuckled and said, “Oh, you’re just jealous.”
Kalie blinked and let her smile fade. “No I’m not.”
Rex frowned. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-“
Kalie laughed and shoved his shoulder to the side. “I’m just joking. You don’t think you could hurt my feelings that easy do you?”
Rex grinned. Kalie was treating him more and more like the other ranch hands. He knew he had to say something direct to her soon. But somehow something always stopped him, such as times like these when the mood was playful and joyful.
“Well, I have to feed the horses now. I’ll see you around,” Kalie said, walking towards the barns. Rex stopped her by grabbing hold of her arm.
“Er, I can help,” Rex asked, looking her in the eye.
“No thanks, I can manage,” she replied, casually prying off his hand and continuing to the barn. Rex sighed. She had no feelings for him, it was too obvious. She didn’t want to have feelings for him! But he had to try.
Kalie tossed bales of hay to the few horses who were currently sheltered in the barn. Hay became lodged on her hair and clothes sticky with her sweat, making her look more haystack than human by the time she emerged out into the sun, horses fed. Jake happened to be walking by at that moment and took the time to chuckle and comment.
“Ah, such a sight. That’s you, right Rufus?” he asked carelessly, pretending. Kalie played along, speaking in a low voice.
“Yep. Just thought I’d stick all this stuff all over me so the horses like me. I might get down to only one or two kicks a day now,” she said, forcing herself not to burst out laughing as Rufus, roused by hearing his name, peered over at them.
“Not true Kalie!” he protested with a smile on his face. Kalie grinned and started to brush the hay off her body. She spun around.
“Did I get everything?” she asked. Jake shook his head and walked up behind her. He pulled a few pieces of straw from her hair. Kalie stood stock still, eyes wide. What was Jake doing?
“Here.” Jake handed the straw to Kalie and walked away to continue his work. Kalie just stared after him, still shocked. Rufus took the opportunity