Secret Star (4 page)

Someone was calling for help.

“G
o!” Jake said. He gave Sam a shove between the shoulder blades, which propelled her crashing through the shallows toward Ace.

She snatched up a single rein as it trailed past.

“Get going,” Jake called over his shoulder as he pursued Witch. “I'll be right behind you.”

Ace rolled his eyes at the jerk on his bit, and swerved toward Sam. Jogging, she led her horse up the riverbank.

“Good boy,” Sam told the gelding, but his front hooves were shifting as she mounted. Her boot barely touched the stirrup as she vaulted into the saddle.

Sam heard Jake and Witch behind her. The Quarter Horse mare breathed loud with excitement.
Ace was running before Sam's heels grazed his sides.

Some distance ahead, maybe a couple of miles, the small white plane sat on the range.

Had the plane crashed? For one cruel minute, Sam wondered what the pilot expected when he went flying around chasing range cattle, but she shook off the thought.

Sam and Jake let the horses gallop, pushing them harder when an arm-waving figure appeared alongside the plane. Ace responded with a leap. The clatter of his hooves drowned out all other sounds. Had she ever ridden him this fast before?

Sam molded herself to her horse, leaning down on Ace's neck. His blowing black mane whipped stinging against her face. She was so determined to ride out this two-horse stampede, Sam barely noticed when her short-legged gelding thundered past Witch.

Through eyelashes squinted against the wind, Sam saw the figure leaning against the plane. Wait a minute. No flame showed orange against the desert. No smoke billowed. And that person looked almost relaxed.

She couldn't run Ace at this speed much longer if it wasn't a real emergency. Sam moved her fingers on the reins. It was a tiny movement, but Ace's reaction sent his weight slamming back on his haunches. His hindquarters tucked under. His head rose and Sam caught her breath, trying not to lose her seat as Ace
skidded to a dusty stop.

Sam looked back. She couldn't believe she'd left Jake and Witch so far behind. They approached at a swinging lope, though Sam could tell by the way Witch shook her head from side to side that it was Jake's choice not to gallop.

The black mare wanted to catch up with Ace, but Jake had apparently reached the same conclusion Sam had. This wasn't a rescue.

So why had someone yelled for help?

Sam couldn't quite catch her breath, which was ridiculous since she wasn't the one who'd run across the range flat out. Then she realized her hat had flown off her head and lay against her back. Only her stampede string, pulled tight against her neck, had kept her from losing her prized brown hat.

Sam put her hat back on. Then, still steadying it with one hand, she yelled, “Are you okay?”

Distance blurred the answer, but she heard enough to know the person leaning against the plane was female.

The first words Sam made out were, “Until your hat fell off I thought you were a cow
boy
.”

While the remark was irritating, the lilting voice told Sam the person standing before her was Violette Lee.

She didn't look like she had in the sitcom. No dramatic fall of silken hair hung to her waist. Instead, her pinkish-peach hair stopped at her chin, divided
into hanks, as if it wasn't very clean. Her face was pale, but not much of it showed beyond her huge sunglasses.

It didn't seem likely that she'd been yelling for someone to save her. Still, by the condition of her rumpled jumpsuit, which was cut in a military style but printed to resemble snake, crocodile, or some other reptile's skin, she could have been here a while.

“Admiring my flight suit, are you?” Violette asked. “Well, I'm admiring your horse. What a wonderful little runner!”

As the actress rushed forward, hand lowered for Ace to sniff, he champed his bit and splattered her with foam.

“Yes, he is. A fine runner, and the sweetest, most slobbery boy, too.”

In the middle of the desert, on a Friday morning, Violette Lee was babbling baby talk to Ace.

The whole situation was so unreal, Sam's brain had trouble catching up with what her eyes were showing her. Sam swiveled in her saddle to meet Jake's eyes as he reined Witch to a stop. In the shade of his black Stetson, which of course had stayed on his head, Jake's expression was impossible to read.

“My flight suit,” the actress repeated, and her voice sharpened as she looked up at Sam.

“Uh, it's nice,” Sam answered.

Really, though, it wasn't. In fact, the ugliest garment Sam had ever seen was hanging off Violette's
collarbone and the little points of bone atop her shoulders.

“D'you scream for help?” Jake asked. He bumped the brim of his hat back, and now that Sam could see his face, he looked so clearly unimpressed that he had to be faking it.

A faint smile lifted the actress's lips, but Sam couldn't tell if it was for Jake or Witch. Violette kept one hand curled around Ace's sweaty neck as she reached toward the black mare. Amazingly, Witch didn't bare her teeth, and when Violette spoke, she cooed as if she were talking to the horse instead of answering Jake's question. “It's open country, and I thought it might be the quickest way to get transportation.”

No excuses, no playing the damsel in distress, Sam thought. It had been a trick to make someone pay attention. Instead of getting mad, though, Sam marveled at the way Violette Lee, the world-famous actress, tolerated the sweat and saliva of the horses, just to be near them.

Sam tried to put the facts together. Had the plane crashed? Was the pilot sitting inside the cockpit, injured or trying to fix whatever had gone wrong?

“Is your pilot okay?” Sam asked.

Pulling away from the horses as if it pained her, the actress drew herself up tall.

“I am the pilot,” Violette said flatly.

Rather than making the point that Violette Lee
was a bold adventuress, the statement made Sam mad.

Violette had been the one buzzing the cattle, Sam realized. Though she wanted to, some mental roadblock kept her from scolding the actress.

“I'm also Violette Lee,” she said, in case they hadn't noticed. She reached a tiny hand up to grasp Jake's. “But you can call me Vi.”

Sam waited for Jake's blank look to fade into infatuation. How could he
not
develop an instant crush? Violette Lee was one of the hottest movie stars around and she was, well, flirting with him.

Jake didn't speak. He didn't smile, or even nod.

Jake gave Violette's hand a single perfunctory shake and released it so quickly, her reptile-patterned sleeves might have been hiding a real snake.

He must be faking it, pretending he wasn't starry-eyed under the brim of his hat, Sam thought.

But then Jake lifted his reins and backed Witch a few steps away.

Sam wanted to tell him he was being rude. She wanted to make it up to the actress. She also wanted to know why Violette Lee had landed in the middle of River Bend Ranch, when the scene she'd be in probably wouldn't be shot for days.

“Vi…,” Sam began.

“You can call me Miss Lee,” the actress corrected.

She must be kidding, right? Sam gave a nervous laugh.

“No joke, dearie,” the actress said. The honeyed voice that had crooned to the horses had turned cold. “Now, I'll need one of these horses.”

What?
The question slashed through Sam's mind. She wasn't sure if she'd said, or just thought it.

Jake backed Witch another step farther away.

“Oh come now,” Violette said, chuckling. “I can handle that beautiful creature. Don't think I can't.”

“Nope,” Jake said.

Sam was amazed. Jake didn't even pretend to apologize.

“Truth be told, I get along with animals far better than—” She lifted one bony shoulder in a gesture that Sam took to mean everyone else.

Sam believed it.

Seeing she wasn't getting anywhere with Jake, Violette exhaled loudly and turned to Sam. “I suppose your mount will have to do, then.”

Not Ace. She didn't let just anyone ride Ace.

“I don't know,” Sam said slowly.

Half her mind told her to refuse. The other half reasoned that if Bayfire was here to do a stunt for
Princess and the Pauper
, and Violette was starring in the movie, she probably did know how to ride.

So why was she hesitating? Not just because Violette was a stranger. If Inez Garcia had asked to borrow Ace, Sam knew she'd hand over the reins without a word. But Violette Lee was bossy and temperamental. Ace would pick up on that and who
knew what would happen.

“Let's go now. Out of the saddle and turn over the reins. Quickly,” Violette said. She didn't snap her fingers, but her icy tone indicated she didn't expect to be delayed much longer.

Sam looked helplessly toward Jake.

All her years of reading his silence were no help. She had no clue what he was thinking.

Sam was about to give in. After all, it was the polite thing to do, wasn't it? She couldn't ask Violette to drive her plane up to the bridge, and walk over it to the ranch yard, could she?

Actually, it wasn't a long walk, and the actress wore thick-soled footwear that looked like motorcycle boots. Still…

And then Sam saw Gram's car coming and relief washed over her.

“Here comes your ride,” Sam said, pointing.

Violette glance over her shoulder at the yellow Buick, then turned back to Sam with a sigh.

“I don't think so,” Violette said.

Was it possible she was too cautious to hitch a ride with a stranger?

“No, really, it's okay,” Sam assured her. “That's my grandmother and stepmom.”

“Lovely,” Violette said, and though there was no way she was misunderstanding Violette's snobbish tone, Sam noticed Violette blushed and pushed up her sunglasses as if she could hide behind them.
Then she crossed her arms.

Seeing them gathered there, Gram braked to a stop. When she did, the car's engine stopped running. Sam really hoped Gram had turned it off. The Buick had been stalling a lot lately, and though it took no more than a push to get it going again, that was the last way she wanted to welcome Violette Lee to River Bend Ranch.

“Hello,” Gram said as she climbed out from behind the steering wheel. She wore a pale-blue dress and her gray hair was tucked into a tidy bun. If she thought this was as weird a situation as Sam did, it didn't show.

Brynna wasn't nearly so unruffled.

“Is everything all right?” Brynna asked, but when Sam recognized Brynna's expression, she braced herself.

Her stepmother had shifted into biologist mode, and as she looked at the crushed vegetation in the plane's path, and smelled the fumes from its engine, Sam would bet Brynna was thinking that somebody better have a pretty good excuse for the damage.

“Brynna, Gram, this is Violette Lee. You know, the actress?”

Violette extended her hand to Gram, giving the same faint smile she'd used to greet Jake. It said this was just another boring part of being a celebrity.

Brynna raised one reddish eyebrow. She'd been
kind of moody since she'd been pregnant. Right now, Brynna looked as if she felt insulted.

Surely Brynna wouldn't say anything mean, would she?

She didn't, until they'd all shaken hands.

“There's an airstrip at Gold Dust Ranch, just one ranch over,” Brynna pointed out.

“I saw it,” Violette responded, smiling.

Uh-oh
, Sam thought. Here it comes.

But Brynna didn't argue with the actress. Instead, she tried to educate her.

“Barren as it looks, the high desert ecosystem is quite delicate,” Brynna said. “If you should fly in here again, you'll want to use it.”

“Well, no,” Violette paused.

“I should have said, you'll need to use it,” Brynna explained.

She might be dressed in maternity jeans and a loose-fitting blouse, but Brynna also wore a sense of authority.

Sam saw the actress part her lips, shift her jaw to one side, then press her lips into a line as she sized Brynna up.

Then Violette flashed an overly sunny smile. “Of course,” she said. “And if it wouldn't be too much trouble, I would so appreciate a ride out to that little farm.” Violette nodded toward River Bend. “I believe someone's waiting for me.”

That little farm?

Brynna's face flushed dark red, and Sam realized her own cheeks were ballooned full of air. Gradually, she let it out as Gram rushed in to say, “Of course, and we hope you'll stay for dinner as well.”

This time, Violette actually blushed a little. Gram was such an expert at guilt, Sam thought. She hadn't had to point out that it was her ranch to make the actress feel embarrassed.

Violette drew a breath and wore an expression that looked like real regret.

“Sorry, but I can't stay. I'm just stopping in to see how Bayfire is doing.”

That fits,
Sam thought. Judging by the way Violette had acted with Ace and Witch, she was a fanatical horse lover. Being worried over Bayfire—worried enough that she'd make a crazy landing without an airport—made a kind of sense.

“Is Bayfire here?” Brynna asked Sam. “And Inez Garcia, too?”

Sam nodded and would have said more, except that Violette hadn't stopped talking.

“That horse is quite dear to me,” she said. She gave a helpless shrug as if she wished it weren't so. “He was my mount in
Redcoat's Daughter
, of course, and we got on together so well, I requested him for
Little Sure Shot
.”

Sam swallowed, hard. No one said anything, and it was obvious they never got off the ranch to see a movie. They hardly ever even rented videos.

Sam gave a hum of appreciation, but Violette's mocking laugh said she wasn't fooled. She shook her head as if she'd never seen such a bunch of ignorant bumpkins.