“Are you Andy Friessen?”
Andy didn’t bother to glance up from where he was bent over the hoof, picking mud and gravel from his three-year-old buckskin, Ladystar. Andy dug out the last dried chunk of mud, wanting to snap at whoever was bothering him. “Damn kid I hired didn’t clean out her hoof after riding her,” he muttered. He put her hoof down, and she stomped and pranced as Andy pressed his hand to her hind quarter. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and picked up her front hoof, starting to dig around the frog, picking out all the dried mud. Bent over as he was, Andy could see a pair of blue jeans on some man who was standing behind his horse. “I wouldn’t stand there if I were you,” he said, setting down the mare’s hoof and standing up. “It’s a good way to get yourself kicked.”
A short man wearing shades and a tan sports coat stepped sideways around a pile of fresh manure. “I’m looking for Andy Friessen,” the man said.
“Yeah, well, you found him. What do you want?” he snapped, irritated because all he wanted to do was saddle the horse, head onto the trail, and ride for the next few hours without one more person asking him another stupid question. He just wanted some peace.
“You’ve been served.” The man slapped court papers in his hand and then hurried the other way as if Andy was going to chase him down and pound the crap out of him.
“Hey, what the hell is this?” Andy barked at the man now jogging up the driveway.
Andy swore as he flipped open the document and read Petition for Divorce in bold black letters. Laura was suing him for divorce! He couldn’t believe it. Hell, any woman would give her right arm to be married to him, to have his name. As he read on, he felt like ice shards were ripping through his veins as he saw Diana Friessen’s name written at the bottom as the lawyer of record. She was his cousin Jed’s wife and the one woman he’d probably go to his grave loving. How could she do this to him and not call him? Did Jed know?
He hadn’t heard from Laura in over six months. She’d walked out the door without saying goodbye to him, taking her son, Gabriel, with her and leaving everything he’d bought for them behind. Andy had been furious at first. Hell, he’d even tracked her down to where she’d been staying with the old cook, Aida, who still worked for Andy and his family. But Laura had refused to speak with him, and Aida sent him away and asked him not to come back again. Six months ago, he had expected Laura to return home to the estate with her tail tucked between her legs. After all, she had no money, no family, and no resources, with a little boy to feed, clothe, and shelter. She needed him.
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