romance novel. He looked familiar, but it took her a moment to realize why.
When she did, it was with a start. “So it’s not a rumor. The prodigal son has returned.”
He smiled, that movie star smile she remembered better than she ought to. “I’m as surprised as anyone.”
She’d heard rumors that the Devere Ranch was in trouble. “Here on family business?”
He nodded.
She looked at him for a moment, then said, “Look, I’m sorry things aren’t going well over there. I was sorry to hear about your dad’s death last year. Your mom must really miss him a lot.”
He shrugged, noncommittal.
“I really hope you can help her get it all straightened out,” Kate offered.
He looked at her with surprise in his eyes. “I appreciate that.”
“So what brings you here this morning? I haven’t seen any of your trainers around.”
“Actually, I’m here to see your trainer.” He nodded toward Victor and Kate’s Flight. “Or, more specifically, your horse.”
“Really? Why’s that?”
He kept his eyes fastened on the horse’s workout. “I’ve got a colt I think I can run against him. I just wanted to check him out first and talk to Victor about it.”
“Oh.” She thought about that for a moment. It made sense. If he could run a colt against the son of Fireflight and win, it would do wonders for the credibility of Devere’s breeding. “I see.”
“Does that worry you?”
Everything that had anything to do with failing on the track and losing financial security worried her. “Not at all.”
He nodded, his tightened jaw betraying an attempt not to smile. “Good.”
“I mean it.”
“I’m sure you do.”
She frowned and turned back to the track, where Victor was walking toward them. He was small but powerfully built. Every time Kate saw him, the thought came to her that he was shaped like a shoe horn.
“Hey, Kate.” He waved a meaty arm at her. “You take that dog to the vet yet?”
Victor had been telling her Sierra was getting too thin, so, even though she thought it was old age, she’d finally given in and made an appointment. “We’re going this afternoon.”
“Good girl. Better to check it out.”
“I agree.”
He nodded and turned to Ben. “Hey, Ben.” He smiled and put a hand out. “Good to see you again.”
Ben shook his hand. “Thanks. Looks like you’ve got a winner on your hands out there.”
“You know it.”
“How would you feel about running him up against one of mine?”
Victor laughed and ran a hand through his sandy-blond hair. “Bring it on.” He looked behind him and signaled to the jockey on Kate’s Flight. “You talking about that colt from Sunuawa?”
Ben smiled and nodded. “You’ve heard.”
“Hey, word travels. But I’d love to see what your boy can do. You know where to find us.” He turned to Kate and said, “I don’t want to interrupt you two, so I’ll see you later.”
“You’re not interrupting us!” she said quickly, but he was already leaving. Obviously, Bianca had shared her harebrained plan about Kate and Ben with him.
She watched him go, wondering what on earth to say to Ben, who was still standing beside her.
“So I hear you’ve got the technology for Fireflight to sire more,” Ben said, looking sideways at her.
“It’s not for sale,” she said quickly.
“No?” He looked surprised. “I was misinformed, then.”
“It was for sale. My father sold some, but there’s very little left now. As I’m sure you can imagine, offering Fireflight’s bloodlines is our ace in the hole.” She thought about that for a moment. “So to speak.”
“Hmm.” He nodded, keeping his eyes on the track and the horses that were running against each other. Kate’s Flight was leading the competition by a considerable margin. “Not at any price, huh?”
“Nope.” Then, as an afterthought, she added, “Sorry.”
“No problem.” His words were casual, but when Kate glanced at him she thought he looked grave.
“Hey!” a voice barked behind them.
Kate turned to face a squat, wizened old woman she’d noticed several times running the betting windows.
“One of you Katherine Gregory?”
Kate had to work to keep from laughing. “That would be me,” she said, adding the obvious, “Not him.”
The woman didn’t so much as crack a smile. “There’s a phone call for you up in the shop.”
Kate frowned. “That’s weird. Did they say who it was?”
“Think it’s your father or something.” The woman gave an exaggeratedly disinterested shrug. “He said he couldn’t get through on your cell phone.”
“That’s crazy. I don’t need to go all the way to the track shop to get a call.” She patted her pocket, looking for the phone she was sure had been there earlier. But it was gone. “Hmm. Okay, I guess I do need to go all the way up to the shop.” She started toward the main building, tossing over her shoulder, “Nice talking to you, Ben.”
He raised a hand in response.
The woman asked, “Ben Devere?”
“That’s right,” he said slowly.
“There’s a telephone message for you there, as well.”
Kate paused. “We both got phone calls up there?”
“Guess so,” the woman said.
Ben looked at Kate with a frown. “You don’t suppose that fence is down between the properties again, do you?”
She groaned. “I hope not. That was a mess.”
“We’d better go see what’s going on.”
They hurried to the building, up the stairs and into the darkened shop. “You’d think she could have left the lights on, at least,” Kate commented, feeling her way to the counter, where she remembered having seen a phone before.
