King of the Herd Book 1: Running Midnight

Chapter Four: First night in Utah

"I have never seen that horse NOT give any trouble to anyone." said one of the four guys.

"She even gives Jake a hard time once in a while." said Alex.

"That girl has some talent." said another guy from the four.

"No," said the blonde woman, "she has a special charm in her." Riley smiled, shrugged one shoulder like it was no biggie, and continued to walk towards the crowd.

"Riley, let me introduce you to my wife, Kelly. She works during the day, that's way you didn't get a chance to see her before now." Said Chuck introducing the blonde hair woman. She was tall and slim her hair went past her shoulders, she was wearing jeans, a work shirt and no hat. She realized that she wasn't wearing a hat either, she looked behind her and saw that Grandma Rose wasn't wearing one either. Mrs. Landers looked at her with her blue eyes as she stretched out her hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, and might I say. That was an excellent performance!" said Kelly.

"Thank you, Mrs. Landers!" she said as they shook hands.

"Oh Please, call me Kelly. As you may have notice, a lot of us are on a one-name base. It seems more neighborly and friendly that way."

"Ok, thanks." Riley replied.

"This is John," Chuck said as a man stepped forward to meet her.

He looked like he was in his upper twenties, he was about as tall as Chuck, and he had black hair and brown eyes like Jake's and was square and built like Chuck, like a rancher should be.

"He's our foreman here at Forever Pine Ranch, and he's Jake's oldest brother."

"It's very nice to meet you." John said as he put out his hand and gave her a grin. It was the same guy who commented her by saying that he never seen Katrina give any one no trouble. She grabbed his hand and asked, "So, do you live here or with Jake's family?"

He smiled and looked down, "I live in the bunkhouse," he nodded towards the half size house. "Just in case of any emergence I can be here if Chuck has to leave." he glanced over at Jake and sighed.

Riley looked over her shoulder and realized that he stopped a few feet away from her, he was rubbing the back of his neck again and his hat was shading his eyes so she couldn't see his expression. "I wondered if he's a little embarrassed. But, what?" she thought to herself.

"And, this is Red," said Chuck, pointing to a red hair guy, he looked about eighteen or so. He had lighter skin and was built too. In fact, all the guys were built and squared. "you can tell by the color of his hair, why we call him that."

"Ma'am" he said as he walked over.

"Red here is from Nebraska too!" Chuck commented.

"I moved out here, just after I saw the news about your fire and...your parent. Sorry about your lost." he said as he looked down like he was guilty.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." she replied and gave him a nod, He returned it.

"And this is Patt and Matt," Chuck pointed out to the two guys standing right next to each other, "their twins. Thankfully they are not identical." He said with a chuckle. Riley would have never guessed that they were brothers. Patt had dark brown hair, dark skin and dark brown eyes. Matt on the other hand, had light brown hair, a little lighter skin and blue eyes. But they both had soft smile, same height and sounded the same when they greeted her at the same time.

Patt came up and greeted her with a bow, "It's wonderful to see you here, and we hope you are quite comfortable here on the ranch." Riley was shocked. She never had been treated like she just was. He said in a British accent that was really cool though. Then Matt came up, "Don't mind my brother." he said in a little less accent. "We're really glad that you get to come and live on Forever Pine Ranch with us, And, like my brother Patt said, we hope that you'll be right at home here."