Free The Lonely Heart by K.M. Mahoney Page A

saw James rush past without stopping.
    The man didn’t look sorry, though. In fact, Grady would have sworn he saw a smirk.
    For the love of God, he didn’t have time for this. Growling low, Grady swung up in the saddle. Lance pranced a bit more, still worked up. Grady spun him in a circle and urged him forward, putting that nervous energy to better use.
    “You, me and Joseph are going after the bulls,” Isaiah shouted from atop Tobias. “I’m sending everybody else after the loose herd.”
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    THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 53
    Grady nodded his acknowledgement, guiding Lance through the teeming, barely controlled chaos with practiced ease. Horses and men milled about, the frantic energy making it seem like the crowd in the yard was twice as large as it actually was.
    Grady caught up with Joseph, scowling fiercely. “So, how come I’ve got cattle roaming everywhere but where they’re supposed to be?” he snarled. “All at the same damn time?”
    Joseph shrugged and wouldn’t meet Grady’s eyes. “Just bad luck, I guess.”
    “Bull. Shit.”
    “Ease off, Grady,” Isaiah said in a low voice. “Let’s get everybody back where they belong. Then we can worry about the whys and wherefores.”
    To Grady’s complete and utter relief, his two big bulls were moving slow. It took them just a little over an hour to track them down and pen them up. Thankfully without a female in sight.
    With the worst crisis behind them, it was off to join the others. Isaiah urged his mount through the busted fence first, Joseph loping past once they hit the other side. Grady hung back, easing his big grey gelding to a halt at the break.
    He swung down, eyes scanning the terrain. In the distance, barely visible over the horizon, figures weaved back and forth. Whoops and hollers floated on the wind as men rousted cattle out of the brush.
    Grady already knew what he was going to find when he shoved on the post. The break was long, stretching nearly a good hundred feet across the brown grass. Two posts were ripped out, like the herd had hit the fence going top speed.
    But they hadn’t. Crouching down, Grady cursed silently. The wire had been shredded, cut in multiple places. The posts themselves had been ripped out, but going by the tire tracks, it had been done by somebody with four-wheel drive and a couple of thick ropes.
    Goddamn it.
    Grady shoved back his hat, rubbing at his forehead. As if he didn’t have enough to deal with—now they were getting sabotaged.
    “What did you find?”
    Grady stood, shaking his head. “Deliberate,” he spat.
    Isaiah sighed heavily. “Why am I not surprised?”
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    THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 54
    Grady rubbed at his jaw, pissed off and annoyed in equal measures. Goddamn it, why couldn’t people leave well enough alone? He stayed mostly to the ranch, kept his head down.
    Why did they have to push? He remounted, barely keeping his anger under control.
    “We’ll worry about it later,” Isaiah said. “Come on, we’ve got work to do.”
    Grady nodded wordlessly and kneed Lance to the left, cutting off an ambling steer. The big dumb critter lowed at him, turning reluctantly. God, Grady hated this. Riding the land, training horses—that was what he loved. The cows, though, drove him nuts. They were big and smelly and stupid and he was a rancher, for God’s sake. He wasn’t supposed to hate his stock.
    James cantered past and Grady saw his mouth move. This time the disgust on the cowboy’s face was easy to read. Grady was grateful he couldn’t hear the words, certain they were uncomplimentary and bigoted.
    Another steer charged, Lance wheeling easily away before cutting off the animal’s retreat. After the third time an animal ‘got away’ from one of his hands, Grady began to detect a pattern.
    “Don’t get angry,” he muttered to himself. “They’ll be gone soon.”
    He only hired extra guys for certain times of year and couldn’t claim to