Heat Wave (Riders Up) by Adriana Kraft Read Free Book Online

Maggie was
putting herself and her family at risk by hiring an unknown man. Ed had gone
back to his loft as soon as dessert was finished, leaving the women to talk
about whatever they wanted.
    “He’s awfully
quiet, but he does seem like a nice enough man,” Flo said, sipping coffee,
gazing from the porch to the barn. “And the kids seem to be taking to him
nicely.”
    Opening her eyes,
Maggie gazed at her friend, whose long fingers were playing idly with strands
of dark hair escaping her tight bun. Maggie thought the gangly woman actually
looked like she’d been smitten by Harrington. “If you think he’s nice enough,
maybe you ought to try and get him to ask you out.” Maggie winced at her own
words.
    “Oh, my, I wouldn’t
think of doing that,” squeaked Flo. “He’s…he’s your hired man.”
    Tucking a leg under
her torso, Maggie nodded. “Yeah, he is that. A hired man. Not a hired lover or
anything like that.”
    She sat back again and
closed her eyes. It seemed so important to keep the man in his place, yet it
was dangerous to even have him around. She was a woman. He was a man. He could
definitely be a problem; she could feel it in her bones.
    “Do you think we’re
going to get any rain soon?”
    Maggie smiled at Flo’s
attempt to find a safer topic for discussion. “I sure hope so. We need to get
some pretty soon or there’ll be trouble for everyone in Beaverhill.”
    “I remember the
last bad drought.” Flo stretched her long legs out in front of her, crossing
them at the ankles. “Sarah kept me on, but had to lay off two of the other
girls. And the tips dried up just like the ground.”
    “Maybe it will rain
soon.” Rocking back and forth, Maggie prayed that the rain gods were kind this
summer. They had to be. They just had to be. What would she do if she couldn’t
get a decent cash crop?
     
    - o -
     
    Two weeks later, Ed
stood beside his boss at the end of the barn driveway overlooking the paddocks.
Removing his work gloves, he said, “Nothing fancy, but it will be functional
and safe.”
    With reconstructed
stalls and paddocks, the barn and corrals could handle a combination of eight
racing age horses, along with four broodmares and ten yearlings and weanlings. Not
bad. And it hadn’t cost an arm and a leg either. It had required a lot of hard
work, but now they were ready for some horses. At last.
    “It looks great,”
Maggie chirped, grinning broadly. “It’ll be something to see these paddocks
filled with horses.”
    “As I’ve said
before,” Ed said, trying not to share his own excitement, “I think you should
do that in stages. Pick up a half dozen racing stock now. Maybe a couple yearlings.
In the fall, we might want to see about buying three or four broodmares who are
already in foal. That’s a good, efficient way to get started. Afraid you can’t
expect much return on your investment this year.”
    He headed into the
barn. Maggie followed. Stopping in the tack room, Ed reached for an old English
saddle and began checking its leathers for wear. He’d been collecting and
repairing tack since the day he started working for Maggie.
    Maggie stood in the
doorway and watched. “We need a financial cushion to see us through this year,”
she said. “All the corn should be planted by the end of the week. Mr. Jacobs
and his son will put up the hay. He gets half and I get half. I’ll hold some
money back in reserve, but the cash crops are critical for our plans. So, are
we ready to make that trip to Chicago you’ve been talking about?”
    “Got to either buy,
borrow, or rent a six horse trailer first. I’ve been talking with some contacts
up there who raise some decent stock and know of plenty more. We should be able
to do all right.”
    Pulling down hard to
test the irons, Ed looked across the saddle at the profile of his boss, who had
busied herself sorting through a stack of halters and bridles he’d picked up at
a saddle shop the day before. Things had sort of settled