“Well, this would be a good place for her,” Gabe said. “And I’ve got one of the best trainers out there working for me.”

There was a smile in Beatrix’s voice. “I know. I almost called Jamie directly, but I don’t know about the space at Get Out of Dodge, and since you’re actually running a rescue, I thought I would just go ahead and give you a call. Since I knew that Jamie would end up riding the horse, anyway.”

“Where’s the horse right now?”

“Right now? Gem’s in my field. But if you want to come by and get her, I’ll have her ready to go.”

“Will do.” He hung up, wondering when he should head out, and if he should wait for Jamie. He knew she’d want to be involved in the situation, but he also figured time was of the essence here.

As if on cue, Jamie Dodge’s truck pulled up to the barn.

“I have an unexpected mission for us this morning,” Gabe said as soon as Jamie’s boot hit the gravel.

“What’s that?”

“We have a new acquisition. Beatrix Leighton just called me.”

“Yeah?”

“A former rodeo horse, apparently. Not retired. But one that’s been in a rough situation for the past month or so. A whole bunch of animals were just removed from the home. The horse is in better shape than the others. Beatrix is managing the rest of the animals, but she figured that we might do the best with the horse.”

“Well, then, let’s go,” Jamie said, immediately gung ho.

This morning she was wearing that same black hat she’d been wearing yesterday, and had a long-sleeve flannel over the top of a white tank top. It completely obscured her figure, but now he had a much better idea of what it looked like after yesterday. So his mind did a good job of filling in the blanks.

She was toned and slender, strong from all the hard work she did. Her breasts were small, but they were a thing of beauty. And her ass was perfection from lifting, squatting, riding and everything else she did on the ranch.

He shook his head and opened the truck door for her. She stopped and stared at him.

“What?” he asked.

“You don’t need to open the door for me,” she said.

“We could save a lot of time if you didn’t protest my being polite.”

Her lips twitched, and she climbed up into his truck, settling into the passenger seat and buckling herself in.

He closed the door behind her and rounded to the driver’s side, climbing in and starting the ignition. “Would you guide me while I hitch up the trailer?”

“Sure,” she said.

A few moments later they were around the back of the barn, and he was getting into position to back up to the trailer. Jamie hopped out and waved him along, and in pretty much record time they were ready to go.

It was a quick drive through town down to Grassroots Winery, where Beatrix’s animal sanctuary was. There was a private access to her portion of the property.