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Gruff with the hands, rude to Curtis, he discovered that almost everyone on the ranch granted him wide berth. Good! He didn’t care. All he wanted was to find the bloody horse and for Denver and Tessa to cut their trip short and return.
Two days after his confrontation with Cassie and Ivan, Colton stepped off the back porch and spied Curtis on his way from the stables. But before he reached Colton, Curtis stopped dead in his tracks. “Well, I’ll be damned!” he muttered, his old eyes squinting toward the distant hills.
Colton followed the old man’s gaze. Morning mist rose from the grassy fields, and the highest peaks of the mountains, snowcapped and craggy, were gilded by a bright Montana sun. In a field near the foothills, a solitary black horse stood, head raised, mane and tail fluttering in the slight breeze. Colton’s eyes narrowed. “Is it Black Magic?” he asked, running across the yard.
“Or his twin.”
They didn’t waste any time. Together Curtis and Colton climbed into a truck and maneuvered through the series of gates to the most westerly field, where the stallion, ears pricked forward, coat gleaming, picked at a few spring blades of grass.
“Where’ve you been?” Colton asked as Curtis clipped a lead rope on Black Magic’s halter.
“And what’ve you been doin’?” Curtis ran expert hands along the horse’s sides and legs, then looked into his eyes. “He looks good,” the old man said with a relieved sigh, his gnarled fingers stroking Magic’s shoulder. Curtis studied the horse. “Good thing we didn’t call Denver. He and Tessa would’ve worked themselves up over nothin’.”
“Right.” But Colton was still uneasy. True, the stallion looked none the worse for wear. His charcoal coat was glossy beneath the morning sun, his eyes held the same fire Colton remembered, and he butted Colton playfully. “How the hell did you get back here?”
“Beats me,” Curtis said under his breath. “But if I were you, I’d count my blessings.”
While Curtis drove the pickup back to the yard, Colton walked the stallion to the stables. Black Magic pulled and tugged at the lead, mincing and sidestepping. “You’re full of it, aren’t you?” Colton remarked as he closed the final gate and led the horse into the stallion barn.
Curtis was already waiting. The floor of Black Magic’s stall was covered with fresh straw. Oats had been spread in the manger. Curtis finished drawing a bucket of fresh water and offered it to the stallion before locking him into the stall. “Okay, now that he’s back where he belongs, tell me where you think he was.”
“I wish I knew,” Colton said with feeling.
Curtis ran a leathery hand around his neck. “I’ll still stake a month’s wages on Aldridge. You probably scared the bejeezus out of him the other night and he thought he’d better cover his backside. If you ask me, Ivan Aldridge brought our boy, here, back.”
Colton’s eyes never left the stallion. “Is this exactly what happened last year?”
“About. But he was gone longer.”
Puzzled, Colton asked, “Why would Ivan Aldridge have taken the horse last year? If he’s got any gripe against the family, it’s with me, and I wasn’t even around.”
“He didn’t much like John. It happened before his death.” Curtis lifted a shoulder. “He hates the lot of you, you know.”
It was a simple enough explanation, but not good enough.
“You just wait. I bet the foals born on the Aldridge spread this year look a lot like this guy.” Curtis petted Black Magic’s muzzle.
“Then I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?” Colton’s gaze swept the stables before landing on the empty stall next to Black Magic’s. “Maybe I’ll sleep out here tonight.”
Curtis’s faded eyes darkened. “You think he’ll be taken again?”
“I don’t know,” Colton replied, unable to shake the restless feeling that things still weren’t resolved. Just because the stallion was back didn’t mean whoever was behind the theft wouldn’t try something else. “But I don’t want to take any chances.”
Curtis eyed the empty stall. “It won’t be very comfortable.”
“I’ve been in worse places.”
“And look what it got you.”
“I’m not losing this horse again.”
Curtis forked some hay into Black Magic’s manger. “Do whatever you want.”
It’s not what I want, Colton thought unkindly. But it had to be done. He wasn’t about to explain to Denver that he’d lost his prize stallion twice in a few weeks. “Stay with him until I get back.”
“Whatever you say.”
His mind racing for a possible explanation to Black Magic’s disappearance, Colton saddled up Tempest, a sorrel stallion without much personality. Reasoning that the only gate to the field in which Black Magic was found was near the house, Colton decided to check the fence line. Either the stallion had jumped the fence, walked right through the main yard and opened the gate himself, or the fence had been cut again.
