“You okay?” Ben asked, hurrying over and taking his arm. “It’s pretty bad out here.”
“I’m okay. We need to get inside.” The guys would find the horses if they could. In the meantime, he had to take care of the ones in the barn.
It was nearly as cold inside as it was outside, which was bad. He needed the temperature above freezing or the water troughs would freeze and then the horses wouldn’t have anything to drink. “What can I do?” Ben asked.
“There’s a heater in the room over there. Go ahead and drag it out. I’ll get it going, and we can take some of the chill off in here. The horses will generate heat of their own, but we gotta give them some help.”
Ben set off as the door opened and a blast of cold air blew through. “I got Belle,” Lucy called. “She was right beside the building.” He closed the door and got her back into her stall. “I’m going out after Hoover.” Then he turned and left.
Once Ben got the heater out, Ashton had him sweep the area before getting it going. It ran on propane and would put out plenty of heat with an enclosed flame, but he didn’t want anything around that could catch fire, just in case. Ashton hated having to use it because of the fire hazard, but there wasn’t much choice.
It didn’t take too long before the air in the barn warmed. Ashton checked all the water, and Ben brought over buckets so he could refill the troughs. He also carried some hay to fill mangers. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” Ben went to the one of the windows. “Marcel is coming with a horse, and I think Lucy is too.” He opened the doors and let them in. Ashton breathed a sigh of relief that all the horses were back in the barn, safe.
Marcel and Lucy put the animals back in their stalls and fed them, then made sure all the doors and latches were set.
Ashton grabbed a few carrots out of a bag and handed Ben all but one. “Put them in your palm. Keep your hand flat, like this.” He fed the first carrot to show him. “They have teeth, but don’t move quickly. He’s a good horse and not snippy.” He stepped back, and Ben put a carrot in his hand and gently moved it closer. Marshall leaned forward, taking the carrot. “That’s it.” Ben was a natural.
“His lips are so gentle and tickly,” Ben said with a smile, eyes shining, and fed another carrot before gently stroking Marshall’s neck. Marshall nudged Ben’s chest. Horses had good instincts, and Ashton had learned to trust them over the years.
“He’s looking for more treats,” Ashton explained, and Ben smiled and stroked Marshall once more. He wasn’t sure which of the two of them was soaking up more of the attention, which Ashton found kind of sweet. When he was a kid, he always came to the horses for their unconditional affection. Ben might not be familiar with horses, but the beasts seemed to have taken a liking to him.
“Did you see any tracks out there?”
“They came in from the street. I saw tire tracks back on the road,” Lucy explained. “I think they parked there, walked over to open the barn doors, and then hurried away once they’d scared the horses.” He turned to Ben. “If you hadn’t seen Belle, they would have been long gone, and by morning, who knows what could have happened? You did good.”
Ashton knew that as frigid as it was and with the wind blowing as hard as it was, he would have lost some of his horses and they would have been lucky to find the bodies by spring. He would love to wring Henderson’s neck. He knew he was behind these incidents, but he didn’t have any proof.
“Lucy and I are going to head back to the house if you don’t need anything else,” Marcel said.
Ashton nodded. They had both been out in the cold for too long and needed to warm up. “Go on. I’m not going to be too far behind.” His leg ached even worse now, but he needed to see for himself that everything here was buttoned up. Then he was going to latch the door good. He wished he had an alarm to alert him if someone came prowling again, but with the temperatures hovering where they were and the wind picking up, anyone would be a fool to be out.
The guys left, and Ashton sat down on a bale of hay and stretched out his leg for a few seconds. He closed his eyes, trying to will the pain away.
He jumped at the touch on his leg.
“It’s okay. I worked as a massage therapist before—” Ben snapped his mouth closed and gently ran his hands up Ash’s leg, his fingers working some sort of magic. The pain shot upward for a second before the knots in the muscle started to unwind, and Ashton sighed loudly. Damn, that felt good. He heaved out a ragged breath, leaning back against the wall of the stall behind him. “What else do you need done here?” Ben asked.
Ashton tried to think, his mind a haze of relief. “The horses have hay and water. We need to turn off the heater and let it cool, then put it away. I don’t want it out, just in case the assholes who did this come back and decide to burn the place down.” He tried not to shake with rage.
“Do you know who was responsible?” Ben asked, his movements slowing, fingers backing away.
“I think so. One of my neighbors has wanted to buy the place for years. Dad was about to sell before he hurt himself, but then I came home and told him I’d take over. It was what Dad always hoped for, so he changed his mind about selling. But Josiah Henderson has been pissed off ever since. The man throws his weight around and acts as if he’s doing people a favor when he does them out of their homes and businesses.” Ashton wasn’t going to be pressured by anyone, but with the frequency of these incidents, he knew it was time to pull out some of the big guns he had in his arsenal. “I can’t prove it, though—yet.” He sighed softly, not quite ready to get up. “Thank you. That’s the best that leg has felt in a week.”
Ben backed away a little. “You’re doing too much. The muscles are overworked and stressed. They need a chance to heal if they’re going to improve.” He turned and switched off the heater, then closed the gas valve. The barn was comfortable now, and as long as the doors stayed closed, the horses would be fine.
Ashton tried to breathe levelly as a wave of richness filled his nose. Ben reached for his leg once again, and Ashton felt himself stiffen, but not in pain this time. He could spend the rest of his life being touched like that. As his thoughts wandered for a second, he realized he had to put an end to this or he was going to embarrass himself in a big way. It had been a long time since he’d felt attracted to anyone, and Ben was stunning. And the way his hands worked…. Ashton tried not to think of having them on his bare skin.
Too late. The idea sent a rush of heat through him. He wasn’t going to be able to control himself if this kept up. Ben didn’t need a guy who needed a cane to keep his balance perving on him.
Slowly, Ashton got to his feet. “We should get the heater put away and the tailgate secured so we can get back to the house.” He thought of sending Ben alone and just staying here. It would give his mind a chance to clear, but he wasn’t going to be able to explain it to the other guys, so he got to work, with Ben’s help, and quickly put everything where it belonged.
Ashton secured the door on his way out, checking that it was well latched and that the wind wasn’t going to blow it open. Then they got in the truck and made the slow drive back to the house.