Purebred Read Free Page B

on her. “What did you do to chase him away?” He made it sound like it had been her fault that he’d strayed from their marriage bed.
    Cat went speechless for a moment.
    Apparently right after she’d left for Ireland, George Odell had simply disappeared. No one claimed to have seen him since. He’d worked for her family since he was a young man. She couldn’t fathom his leaving without giving her some good reason—not to mention a way to contact him—and feared something bad had happened to the old man. The fact that most of his things were still in his trailer didn’t mean anything to the authorities, because it was obvious he’d packed a bag—some of his clothes, his good boots and his shaving kit were gone. According to the police, it wasn’t a crime or a reason for concern for a man to leave his job without notice, not even if he didn’t collect his back pay.
    Cat only hoped they were right, and that one day George would simply show up with an explanation as to why he’d had to leave for a while.
    “You owe me money, Cat. If you used up your cash on him,” Jack said, indicating Aidan, “I’ll settle for a couple more broodmares.”
    A statement that made Cat go stiff. “You already got your settlement in court.”
    “I’m going to give those broodmares I was awarded to Simone as a wedding gift. Martin will want you to breed them, of course.”
    Cat gaped at him. “You bastard!”
    During the divorce settlement, she’d learned how greedy he could be, but she hadn’t known he could be this cruel.
    “Go to your new woman if you need cash!”
    “What I need is the cash to buy her an engagement ring that will turn heads.”
    Cat held herself in tight control so that she wouldn’t lash out at the bastard. She wanted to slap him—hard!—in the worst way. If only she could get him out of her life. If only she could. Him and Simone. The young woman often came to Clarke Acres with her father, Martin, to check on his broodmares.
    “What did you do with the settlement, Jack? More bad investments? Don’t come to me to solve your problems!” Realizing she was yelling, she reined in her temper the best she could. “And stop threatening me. Now, get off my property before I call the sheriff!”
    With that, she stalked away from him, chest heaving, unable to take a normal breath as she approached the truck and horse trailer. Now she had to deal with another man in the racing game who set her on edge, but she couldn’t let him get to her.
    She had to make nice to her new partner.
    She’d taken a loan to get the money to bring Mac Finnian from Ireland, and since she didn’t own the farm outright, she’d used her broodmares as collateral. Her business and future was riding on this relationship.
    When she heard Jack’s truck start up and move off, Cat was relieved. The last thing she needed was for Jack to complicate things for her right now.
    She had to prove herself.
    If Mac really was as good as she thought he was, he’d race only a year or two at the most, and then be put to stud for six-figure fees. She would pay back the loan with her percentage of the money he made. Then she would be able to breed him with her mares and hopefully foal the next generation of Illinois Thoroughbred champions. Whether she sold the colts and fillies or raced them herself was the big bonus, the opportunity to have money in the bank again, to enhance her reputation, to expand her business—all reasons she’d taken this chance.
    As Aidan jumped out of the back of the trailer, she tried to assure herself this wasn’t impossible, tried not to be affected by his bigger-than-life presence. That had been the first thing she’d noticed about him when they’d been introduced in Ireland.
    The hitch was that she would have to work with Aidan to make the farm’s success happen. Having heard the argument between him and his brother, she feared getting along with him would be as difficult as dealing with Jack.
    No, he