Heartsong (Singing to the Heart Book 2) by Sara Walter Ellwood Page A

years ago, she had kept Beau in shape and hoped that someday she might return to the sport she loved. Besides, racing had always been a great stress reliever.
    She brought the gelding around and stopped before Cash. Standing near the high rail fence, he waved and smiled. “You looked pretty impressive. Thinking about going back on the circuit?”
    “No. I just needed to think about something other than what’s happening around here.”
    Cash stroked the neck of the bay. The horse’s black-tipped chestnut hair and dark mane glowed in the morning light. Beau pranced under her, wanting to run again, but the horse hadn’t been worked this hard since Sam and Frankie’s death over two weeks ago. He needed to rest.
    “I can understand that. I figured you could use some help around this place.” Cash squinted up at her from under the brim of his old felt hat. “Sorry for not being around much, but I had some school stuff I needed to take care of.” He’d helped out around the ranch as much as he could, but she hadn’t seen him in about three days.
    She’d encouraged the ranch hands to look for other jobs, and the last one was leaving today. The men and women employed by the Lazy M didn’t want to go, but they refused to work for the corporation buying the place. She couldn’t ask them to stay. “Thanks for coming today. I can really use the help.”
    “So, what’s going on?” Cash entered through the gate, closing it behind him. She dismounted and led the horse around the corral. Cash walked along with her. “I heard about the sale. Is your daddy going to let you stay?” Cash lifted his hat and ran his hand through his short red hair. A few strands stuck to the sweat on his forehead. He resettled the hat.
    “Lemont wasn’t the buyer.”
    Cash stopped, his wide eyes making his round face more boyish than normal. “Who bought it?”
    “No idea. Tom Fleming said a feedlot corporation bought it.” She led Beau around the corral one last time to cool down. Glancing over her shoulder at Cash, she sighed. “Apparently, they out-bid Lemont and he let it go. Probably because he figured if he couldn’t have it, one of those damned feedlot corps would be just as perfect to destroy the place.”
    “Damn…” He let out a long breath and looked around. “What about the animals?”
    “They bought all the stock and the horses, too. Hell, even Frankie’s stupid chickens and her prized peacocks were sold to these people.” She looked away and blinked her eyes, fighting the burn in her sinuses. “I imagine they’ll resell them or have them slaughtered. I don’t know who’d want to eat a scrawny peacock, but I suppose there’s folks out there that do.”
    “What happens to you?” He set his hand on Beau’s lead rein to stop him.
    “I’m trying to decide if I want to stay or leave.” She shoved her hands into her pockets and leaned her back on the top rail of the fence, suddenly too tired to move. “I’ve been offered a job by the corporation, but honestly I hate that so many ranches are being bought and turned into feedlots.”
    “I can’t even imagine that happening to the Lazy M.” His voice deepened with a malice she’d never thought him capable of.
    She envisioned what the ranch could look like in a few months. When too many cattle were crammed into fenced areas and fattened up on subpar grain rather than allowed to graze as natured intended. All the horses sold or sent to Mexico for slaughter, as had happened to a ranch over in Coleman County. The thought not only made her angry, it sickened her.
    With a mental shake to get the horrible images out of her head of her beautiful Angus cattle dirty and living in mud and their own excrement, she nodded. “I tried to call the head of the company to find out what they have planned for the place, but I got nowhere. I’ve left at least five messages since the sale and haven’t gotten a single call back. What would you do if it were you?”
    He shook his