AllFreeNovel
Share Us
With a sound of frustration he released her and leaned against the scaly trunk of one of the larger oaks in the thicket. Lethargic raindrops fell from the branches of the tree and glistened in his dark hair. He cocked his head to the side and forced a ragged but devastating smile. “Okay—so why not give me a chance to prove myself?”
“I am. You’re still here, aren’t you?”
She turned on her heel, walked the short distance to the road, extracted the envelopes from her pocket and placed them in the mailbox. Then, almost as an afterthought, she retrieved the morning paper from the yellow cylinder nailed to the fence post.
Rather than consider the implications of her mixed emotions toward Zane, she opened the paper and stared down at the headlines. Her breath froze in her throat. “Oh, dear God,” she whispered as her eyes scanned the front page.
The bold headline seemed to scream its message to her in powerful black and white:
LOCAL BREEDER PLAGUED BY MYSTERIOUS DEATHS.
Chapter Six
Tiffany felt as if the wet earth were buckling beneath her feet. She stared at the two pictures on the front page of theClarion.One photograph had been taken yesterday. It was a large print of Tiffany sitting at her desk. The other, slightly smaller picture was of Moon Shadow after his loss in the Kentucky Derby.
Tiffany read the scandalous article, which centered on the mysterious deaths of the foals. Not only did Rod Crawford imply that there was something genetically wrong with Moon Shadow, who had sired all of the colts, but he also suggested that Tiffany, in an effort to save her reputation as a horse breeder, had hidden the deaths from the public and the racing commission. Crawford went on to say that any horse bred to Moon Shadow was likely to produce foals with genetic heart defects.
The article reported that since Tiffany had assumed control of Rhodes Breeding Farm, she had encountered more problems than she could handle. From the time her husband and the legendary Devil’s Gambit had died, and Tiffany had been in charge of the farm, she had experienced nothing but trouble. It appeared that either Tiffany Rhodes was the victim of fate or her own gross incompetence.
“No!” Tiffany whispered, forcing the hot tears of indignation backward. She crumpled the damning newspaper in her fist. No mention had been made of Journey’s End or any other of Moon Shadow’s living, healthy progeny. Rod Crawford had twisted and butchered her words in a piece of cheap sensational journalism. Nausea began to roil in her stomach. “Damn it, nothing is wrong with him! Nothing!”
Her words sounded fragile into the late morning air, as if she were trying to convince herself.
Zane had watched as Tiffany read the article. She had paled slightly before anger settled on her elegant features. Now she was clenching the newspaper in her small fist and trembling with rage.
“What happened?” he demanded.
“Rod Crawford wrote his article,” Tiffany explained.
“The reporter who was here just yesterday?”
Tiffany let out a furious sigh and looked upward to the interlaced branches of the oak and fir trees. Shafts of sunlight passed through the lacy barrier to dapple the wet ground. “I didn’t think the article would be printed this soon,” she replied, somehow stilling her seething rage, “but I guess in the case of a scandal, even theClarionholds the presses.”
She expelled an angry breath and coiled her fist. “Damn it all, anyway!” She had trusted Rod Crawford and theClarion’sreputation, and her trust had backfired in her face. The slant of the article was vicious, a personal attack intended to maim Tiffany’s reputation. It was the last thing she had expected from a paper with the reputation of theSanta Rosa Clarion.
Zane touched her lightly on the shoulder in an attempt to calm her. “What are you talking about?”
“This.” Her breasts rose and fell with the effort as she handed him the newspaper.
As Zane quickly scanned the article, his dark brows drew together in a savage scowl and his skin tightened over his cheekbones. A small muscle worked furiously in the corner of his jaw, and his lips thinned dangerously.
After reading the story and looking over the photographs, he smoothed the rumpled paper and tucked it under his arm. Every muscle had tensed in his whip-lean body. He was like a coiled snake, ready to strike. “Is there any truth in the article?”
“Enough to make it appear genuine.”
“Great.” He frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, as if attempting to ward off a threatening headache. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?”
Tiffany clenched her impotent fists. “I had enough to worry about with you and your crazy theories about Devil’s Gambit. I didn’t want to cloud the issue with the problem with Moon Shadow’s foals.”
“Even after last night, when I was with Ebony Wine?”
“There wasn’t time.” Even to her own ears, the excuse sounded feeble.
“And that’s why you didn’t want me near Rod Crawford. You were afraid I’d tell him what I knew about Devil’s Gambit, he would report it and something like this—” he held up the newspaper and waved it in her face angrily “—might happen.”
“Only it would be much worse.”
He shook his head in disbelief. “I wouldn’t have, you know.” He could read the doubts still lingering in her eyes and silently damned himself for caring about her.
