The Black Sheep and the Hidden Beauty. Donna Kauffman
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his normal glamazon type, so he’s projecting some sort of crisis so he can write it off as a work-induced fascination.”
Kate listened to Mac with an indulgent smile, then turned a quite serious expression to Rafe. “What makes you think she’s hiding something?”
“Hey,” Mac said, obviously put out by being brushed off.
Kate leaned up and kissed him on the jaw. “I love you, but you’re reacting like a guy, and not like a business owner. If something is going on, then I need to know about it. My kids and my camp come first. I like Elena. A lot. In fact, she’s the best thing that’s happened around here in awhile.” She looked back to Rafe. “Almost too good to be true. I’ve been saying that since the start. I’d really hate for there to be something to that.”
Mac rolled his eyes, but accepted defeat and turned to Rafe. “When did this amazing insight take place? You’ve evidently had your eye on her since she got here and that was only a few months ago. I was wondering when you’d finally get over yourself and make a move.”
“I’m not ‘making a move,’” Rafe said, though that was precisely what he’d done. He could tell himself that this was about Kate and protecting her interests, and therefore Dalton Downs’ interests, but that didn’t remotely explain why he couldn’t stop thinking about Elena Caulfield. “Maybe the reason I’ve been noticing her is because my instincts have been telling me something isn’t right. And after what I overheard the other day, I think that’s more important than whatever attraction there might be.”
Now Kate’s eyebrows lifted. “Might be?” She avoided Mac’s elbow nudge, keeping her now openly speculative attention on Rafe. “So, what, you think women who work in barns and muck out stalls aren’t good enough for you?”
“Don’t go all feminist rant on me. I never said that. She actually struck me as a sharp, intelligent woman who handles very large animals like they’re small children. I have a lot of respect for that, but I can’t help it if I’m more attracted to women who dress and act like women.”
Kate’s smile turned knowing, and grew wider. She looked up at Mac. “Okay, maybe you have a point.”
Mac just grinned. “Guys know these things.”
“What?” Rafe demanded. “What’s wrong with being honest about what you like and don’t like?”
“Because what you like is Elena, and it’s making you crazy because you just won’t admit it to yourself,” Mac said.
That much was true, but not for the reasons he meant. Well, mostly not for those reasons. Elena was more earthy than his usual choice in female companions, but something about the way she’d held his gaze, and handled his attention, had definitely gotten to him. In ways he didn’t want to understand, but his body certainly had. Which was the last thing he was going to share with either of the two people presently staring him down. “It doesn’t matter whether I’m attracted to her or not. What is important is that she’s got more going on than simply taking on a job that will let her mare gestate in peace.”
“And you came to this amazing conclusion because her vet came out to see her horse. Her pregnant horse,” Mac said.
He’d started to tell Mac the story before Kate arrived, but hadn’t gotten further than mentioning Kenny’s visit. Rafe turned and picked up several folders he’d stacked on the patio table. “You didn’t see her face when he showed up.” He slid two copies of a report out from the top folder and handed one to each of them. “I did.”
“You’re putting together reports on her?” Kate looked up, alarmed. “Rafe, I’m glad that you want to make sure she’s on the up-and-up. So do I. But I need her, and I don’t want you to go pissing her off by digging into her background and—”
“First off, she has no idea I’m digging. I’m a little better than that.”
Mac spoke up, finally serious. “He’s a lot better than that.” He squeezed Kate’s shoulder, then opened his own report. “What did you find?” He was all business now, and Rafe finally relaxed a little.
“Thank you,” he said, to which Mac just looked up and grinned unrepentantly.
“Oh, I’m far from being done razzing you about this, but if you really think something is up here, then at the very least, I want to hear about it.”
“Good.” Rafe turned to Kate. “How much of a background check did you run on her?”
She frowned. “I did the standard check. Her report came back clean. And her references were all in order. Why?”
“Don’t worry, she doesn’t have a criminal record or anything, but did you make contact with her previous employer?”
She nodded. “I always run references, yes.”
“Who did you talk to at Charlotte Oaks?”
“I don’t recall his name off the top of my head. He was the head trainer there, or one of them. John something-or-other. It’s listed on her application if you want me to check. As I recall, he didn’t gush, but I gathered he wasn’t exactly the chatty type anyway. He gave her a solid recommendation, though. Said she was a hard worker, showed up on time, did what was asked of her. It was enough for me.”
“Did you ask him about her departure? Was it questioned in any way? The timing of it?”
“What do you mean?” Kate asked. “Because of her horse being pregnant? I didn’t ask him about that and he didn’t mention it. I’m sure if he’d had any issues with her leaving, he’d have said something. I didn’t get the impression she left them in the lurch or anything. In fact, she just seemed like another employee. It’s a good-sized operation, from what I could tell.”
“But she left a good-sized operation because her horse was pregnant, when you’d think she’d stay and let them help take care of her. Especially if there were any concerns.”
“Were there?”
“I haven’t been able to track it down, but from what I overheard, her horse had trouble the last time she was pregnant.”
Kate’s brow furrowed. “She didn’t mention that part to me.”
“I know. She didn’t want to jeopardize you taking her on.”
“Well, she has her own vet, as you know, so maybe it wasn’t as big an issue as you think.”
“A vet she was surprised to see show up, and who she wasn’t entirely comfortable having here. She even made a point to say she’d bring her horse over to him in the future.”
“Maybe she’s worried about stepping on toes, using her own vet instead of ours.”
“Maybe. But even the vet was concerned that she’d left Charlotte Oaks, that she should have stayed for her horse’s sake. And then he made some reference to something bad happening there, which might have had something to do with her leaving.”
Kate’s frown deepened. “Nothing that I heard about. Again, I didn’t ask more than the standard questions, but they certainly didn’t have anything negative to say.”
“Maybe they didn’t know.”
Mac opened his file. “It says she left there last October. She’s only been here since early March, barely two months. What did she do in between?”
“She thought she had something lined up working for a friend,” Kate answered, reading over Mac’s arm. “But that didn’t pan out, so she stayed with some other friends, worked for a family friend of hers briefly, but there was nothing available long-term until she heard about the spot here.”
“Which means she left Charlotte Oaks without a solid game plan in place,” Rafe said, “with a pregnant horse who could need special care. Why do that?”
Kate shook her head. “She