All the King's Horses Read Free Page B

pulling a dust cloud down the long driveway.
    “That would be Dustin,” John said in his thick Texas twang. “Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

Chapter Two
    Dustin
    I was lucky I didn’t snap off the goddamned gearshift when I put the truck in Park. Even if I had, I wouldn’t have cared. That or I would have just been more pissed off than I already was, so whatever.
    I shut off the engine and picked up the travel log from the passenger seat. I’d write down the mileage later, but at least wanted to jot down the time before I forgot.
    Behind me, the trailer shook as hooves slammed against rubber mats. I closed my eyes and sighed. God help me, if I had to drug these two to get them out of the trailer, I’d drive back to Klamath Falls just to choke the man who’d given them to me.
    “Son of a bitch,” I muttered, tossing the travel log back on the seat before grabbing my hat and getting out of the truck. I brushed some dust off the black felt brim just to do something with my hands that wasn’t putting a fist through a wall.
    With my hat on and blocking out the blazing sun, I looked at the trailer. A twinge in my left side reminded me of every place on my rib cage that was probably black-and-blue by now, and my right kneecap still smarted. And that was from after the gelding had been sedated.
    Calm down, I ordered myself. Just calm the fuck down and take care of the horses .
    Calm down. Right. Easy. Especially when every breath reminded me of the debacle of getting the horses into the damned trailer in the first place.
    The trailer rocked, and the stomping and snorting made me curse into the dusty summer wind. I willed myself to stay completely calm. I could release my frustrations later. Now was not the time.
    Most of the commotion came from the left side of the trailer, so I went around to that side, stepped up onto the running board and opened the top door above Blue’s manger.
    He swung his black head out, nearly knocking me off the running board. His eyes were wide, showing damn near as much white as brown. His nostrils flared, and he snorted loudly, the sound echoing off the nearby barn and startling him.
    “Hey, easy,” I said softly, and slowly held out my hand. “Easy. Calm down, buddy.”
    He eyed me warily and fidgeted again, but when he snorted this time, it was with less enthusiasm.
    “That’s it.” I stroked his face. “Take it easy.”
    So he was here now. He’d made it into the trailer and across the two hundred miles between McBride’s farm and mine. Now, how to get him out of the trailer? It had taken two sedatives just to get him in, and even then he’d put up a fight. If I had to give him an injection now, when he was already confined and claustrophobic, he was liable to hurt himself, not to mention me or Star, who stood calmly on the other side of the divider.
    A tube of Calm & Cool might take the edge off, but it had taken four people and a twitch on his upper lip to get both tubes into him at McBride’s place. And even then, on the way into the trailer with a double dose of that herbal shit along with two injected sedatives in him, he’d still managed to inflict a few bruises and rope burns on all of us in between getting a long—but fortunately shallow—gash on his own shoulder. No point in trying to give him that or a medical sedative now.
    I idly smoothed his unruly black forelock as I played out every possible scenario in my head. A horse like this, anything could happen once the door opened. He could surprise us all and back out calmly. Or he could take two steps back, then freak out, fly up, hit his head or tumble backward down the ramp. If he tried to spin around inside the trailer—and I’d seen panicked horses do it—there was a chance he could fall and get tangled up in Star’s legs, which could be a two-horse disaster. If I took Star out first to keep her out of the line of fire, Blue could come unglued because she was gone. Leave her in, she could get hurt if he