“On my way. Don’t do anything silly. Tell Audrey the same thing.” He grabbed his keys and ran out to his truck. He got in while hitting speed dial on his phone.
“Grady, fire at the ranch. I’m going to kill that fucking Irish prick when I lay my hands on him again.” He slammed the phone down on the seat, hit the gas pedal, and followed the fire truck roaring through town. His chest tight, he drove like a madman, praying that Audrey wasn’t caught in the blaze. She didn’t need any more grief in her life. If one of her horses was hurt, she would be devastated.
As he hit the dirt road to the ranch, he could see the smoke rising over the roof of the house, and cursed. The fire was running hot; he could see that from the amount of smoke in the air. The fire engine slowed enough to take the turn into the driveway, and he was right behind it. Horses in the side pastures ran in panic, the sound of the crackling flames and screaming whinnying from inside the barn terrifying them.
“Audrey!” he yelled for her long before he parked and got out of his truck. “Audrey, answer me.”
Fire Chief Lukas Black held him back. “Stay out of the way, Riley. Let us do our job.”
He stood with his hands clenched on his head, torn between doing as they said and doing what he wanted to do—go find her. He looked around, trying to come up with an answer, when he saw the horse truck parked down at the stables.
The bastard came back! As soon as I left, he came back. Riley ran down to the truck; it was empty. “Audrey, answer me, where are you?”
The sound of a horse screaming inside the barn chilled his blood. Through the roar of the flames and crashing of falling timbers came the distinct sound of a trapped horse kicking at the stable walls. He ran around to the back of the barn and hopped a fence, looking for a way in. The two new horses were closest to him. They kicked at the wall, spinning around in their stall, looking for an escape route. He unhooked their gates, waving his hands to get them out of the stables and into the pasture. They both bolted past him, the panic showing in the whites of their eyes.
Smoke filled the barn and flames licked the roof above him. The front of the stables was gone, already crashing down as the fire roared through the timber structure. Hot coals and smoke were the only things he could see. A scuffle from the smoke caught his attention and a sound of muffled coughs reached his ears. Licks of flame dropped from the roof and set alight the straw in the stalls and the walkway between the stables.
Audrey came stumbling out of the smoke, tears streaming down her face, tracking soot down her cheeks. Finn followed, leading Grady’s old horse, Ranger, fighting to be free. In his panic, he reared and his front hooves caught Finn on the shoulder.
Finn cried out but never let go of the lead rope, pulling the horse out into the yard seconds before the remains of the roof came crashing down. He dropped to his knees and let the rope go. Ranger bolted to the far fence to huddle with the two new horses Riley had freed.
“What the fuck did you do?” Riley advanced on Finn, his fists clenched at his side. His bitterness was so raw and all-consuming, he didn’t see Grady jump out of his car and run toward them. He hit Finn on the side of the face with his fist, sending him into a heap on the grass.
“Stop that.” Audrey pushed her brother away and knelt down to help Finn. She rolled him over and touched his cheek. Finn didn’t move. “Finn. Finn, wake up, please.” She looked up at Riley, real tears running down her face. “You have it all wrong; you just don’t know it yet. He’s done nothing that deserves this kind of attention.”
“Bullshit. Apart from cheating on Sassie with you, he smokes and never puts out his damned butts. Who’s to say this isn’t all his fault?”
Beth hurried down to help with Finn, giving her son shocked glances. His mother was all for helping people and giving them second chances—not a trait Riley’d picked up.
Grady grabbed his brother’s arm and pulled him away. “That was a stupid thing to do after last night. You’re not helping anyone here by acting like a jealous idiot. He was helping from what I could see. You could at least be grateful for that.”
“Ask Lucas what the cause of the blaze was. Bet it’s a damned cigarette.”
“That is something that will come out in time, but it’s not for you to judge. I can’t save you if he wants to lay charges this time. It was an unprovoked attack and you know it.” Moans came from Finn’s bleeding mouth. “Stay out of the way, Riley.”
Beth and Audrey sat on the ground tending to Finn as he came around. They watched as the firemen put of the blaze, leaving nothing but a pile of burnt posts and twisted roofing iron. No animals had been hurt, but a good amount of Audrey’s equipment was gone, along with all of her stables.
Grady, with Riley close on his heels, walked over to the fire truck as the hoses were turned off and the cleanup began. “Riley seems to think it could be a carelessly dropped cigarette,” he said to Lukas. “Do you have any ideas?”
“Look, it could have been. But you might have to wait a while before I can give you a definite answer. Considering how old the building was, faulty wiring is more than possible too. I’ll let you know as soon as I
