The Last Second Chance: A Small Town Love Story (Blue Moon Book 3) by Lucy Score Page B

look. “Just what the hell did you do?”
    He slid down off Cyrano’s back and took Joey’s reins. “Colby, you mind taking care of these two?”
    Colby took the reins with a grin. “No problem. We made some room inside,” he said with a wink.
    “Why are we making room and why the hell didn’t someone consult me?” Joey snapped. These were her stables, this was her program. Horseflesh did not magically appear on the farm. She carefully researched, weighed options, and then negotiated the purchase with an iron spine and a meticulous plan.
    No one was paying her any mind and she was about to start yelling when the driver released the butterfly latches on the trailer ramp.
    “Now, hold on here,” she said following him. Without thinking, she helped him lower the ramp while she continued to argue. “There’s been some kind of misunderstanding. I didn’t buy a horse.”
    “Horses,” Jax corrected behind her.
    He and Carter were enjoying her irritation. Standing shoulder to shoulder there was no mistaking the family resemblance, right down to their matching shit-eating grins. “You’re both in a lot of trouble so you might as well wipe those asshole smiles off your faces,” she said, setting her jaw.
    The southern drawling leprechaun ignored the bickering and hustled into the back of the trailer.
    “Mind your mouth!” The command came affectionately from Phoebe as she huffed and puffed her way across the drive. “Whew! I was worried I was going to miss this,” she chirped, skimming a kiss on each son’s cheek before doing the same to Joey.
    “You’re in on this mess, too?” Joey felt ganged up on.
    Phoebe shoved a red mittened hand through Joey’s arm. “Sweetie, I know you’re not big on surprises, but trust me.”
    “This here is Calypso’s Secret,” the driver announced as a stunning mare picked her way daintily down the ramp.
    “Calypso’s Secret as in second place in last year’s Breeder’s Cup?”
    “That’s the one,” the man bobbed his redhead as he walked. “She’s retired now and looking forward to the good life.”
    “Oh, holy fuck,” Joey muttered to herself.
    The chestnut mare swung her head around and nuzzled at her pocket. Joey fished out a carrot from her stash and let the mare delicately nip it out of her gloved palm.
    Jax approached to get a closer look.
    “Jax?”
    “Yeah?”
    “What is Calypso’s Secret doing in my yard?”
    “I heard a rumor that you wanted to start a breeding program,” he said, running a calloused hand down the mare’s neck.
    “You didn’t.”
    “You said I owed you an apology.”
    “Jax.” Joey’s voice had the sharp bite of warning in it.
    Damn right she wanted a breeding program. But she’d wanted it on her own terms. Terms that involved budgeting and starting with a broodmare less spectacular than Calypso. The horse in front of her—with the perfect white star on her nose and glossy coat—was levels above where she’d planned to start.
    “If y’all want to move her out of the way, I’ll get the big bastard out.”
    Joey shot Jax a murderous look. “Two horses? Two friggin’ horses, Jax?”
    He took Calypso’s reins and passed them over to Carter. “You can’t have a broodmare like this and a middle of the road stallion.”
    “Y’all might want to move back. He’s a handful,” the driver warned.
    Jax dragged her back a few steps. “What did you do?” Joey hissed at him.
    The stamping and snorting escalated from the front stall in the trailer. Joey heard a well-placed kick strike the wall and wondered if there was anything left of the little driver.
    But a moment later, she saw spectacular smoky black flank grudgingly emerge at the top of the ramp. A silky black tail swished in irritation.
    He was huge. And pissed.
    Sixteen hands at least and all lean muscle and attitude. He picked his way down the ramp with a delicacy that belied his twelve hundred pounds. The second all four feet were on the ground, he tried to rear