Seventeen-year-old Chloe Matthews is done with guys, done with her ex, and done with the cowboys of the Grand Teton Mountains. She refuses to get hurt again.
All that matters now are the horses. Every horse Chloe helps is another piece of herself pu...
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I couldn't find Jack or Mr. Hunter anywhere on the ranch, so there was nothing left to do but head to Cowboy Coffee for my evening shift. Tara would have to work the tables by herself. The panic attack had drained all my energy, so I planned on hiding out in the back room all night.
But when I walked into the cafe, Mom was sitting across a table from Sheriff Peterson. I jerked to a stop, considered making a run for it. Please, not now. Mom and the sheriff were leaning toward each other, talking in hushed voices. That was one conversation I didn't want to join. I tried to slide behind them into the back room, but Mom saw me and waved me over. "Sheriff Peterson, this is my daughter, Chloe."
Sheriff Peterson turned toward me. The smile slid off his face.
"Hello, Sheriff Peterson." I extended my hand as an image of Penny flashed through my mind. It was one thing to think about hiding her from him when he wasn't around. It was quite another when face-to-face with the guy.
"Hello, again, Chloe." He shook my hand with his big sturdy one, but didn't look happy to see me. He probably didn't want his daughter hanging out with a troubled teen.
"Sheriff Peterson is Gabi's dad," I told Mom, because of the puzzled look on her face.
"Oh," she said. "I guess this is a small town."
"Very." The sheriff looked from me to my mom. "My Gabi has the insane idea that Chloe can do something about her crazy mare."
"Well," Mom said. "Chloe does have a way with horses." I widened my eyes and gave her a slight but definite head shake. No sense in throwing clues his way as to who might help Gabi steal Penny. But I was already as good as busted.
"Well, then," the sheriff said to Mom. "You should join me in forbidding either one of them from going within thirty feet of that horse. That animal is going to kill someone, and I'd rather it not be one of our girls."
"She's just scared," I said. "Someone hurt her."
The sheriff fixed his intense brown eyes on me. "Just found out someone's going to take her off my hands on Friday."
