About Stroke of Luck
Written by Jourdan Lane
53 pages / 19500 words
ISBN: 978-1-60370-617-9, 1-60370-617-8
Available file types - html, lit, pdf, prc
Dale and Brandt are doing all right on their ranch in Colorado, raising horses and living together. Brandt still has a jealous bone, and sometimes they fuss about the small stuff, but Dale knows they love each other, and that things will straighten themselves out as long as he and Brandt are honest with each other.
When an old friend arrives from Texas, though, jealousy rears its ugly head, and Brandt and Dale find themselves at odds. Can they help Evan get back on his feet, and keep their own feet on the ground about their relationship with each other? Brandt and Dale first appeared in the popular anthology, Cowboy Up.
Review
Lane's done a fantastic job delving into the relationship between Dale and Brandt: it's a nice mix of the realities of ranch life and the romance of really knowing someone - -and loving them anyway. Evan's arrival can pose a real threat to their relationship: I found myself hoping against hope that things wouldn't go bad.
Of course, they do go bad. This is Jourdan Lane here -- we've got to have that perfect dramatic twist that knocks the air out of your lungs yet is wholly believable, the type of story that makes it all so real, all the time you wish it wasn't. The resolution was unexpected, but still perfectly in character: it's a great tale of how sometimes love forces us to be the best people we can be.
Even when we don't want to.
Strongly recommended.
Sample
Sweat ran down my brow and headed for my eyes. I wiped my forehead for the umpteenth time and continued rasping the hoof on the horse I was trimming. February in Colorado was cold, but damned if I wasn't sweatin' like a whore in church.
The horse licked at the back of my shirt, nosed me hard enough to almost make me lose my balance, then started licking at my clothes again. This one had a habit of play-biting, so I tended to be a little more observant of his body language. He was getting antsy, and that was going to lead him getting a firm smack if he took it any further.
I didn't like having to discipline any of the horses, but sometimes it was a necessary evil. This gelding had come from another ranch and was only about two years old, so we needed to get a handle on this damned biting before he got any older. He was a good horse, but damn if he didn't think making someone whoop in pain was funny.
Last time I trimmed him up he bit me right on the ass. Left a bruise that lasted for two goddamned weeks. He nosed me again and I growled. "Quit it, Bo!"
He whinnied, and it sounded like a laugh. I rolled my eyes and checked the hoof to make sure everything was even. I pulled the Hoofjack over and put his foot down on it, checking it again to make sure there weren't any jagged edges.
All good.
Nice and smooth.
"That bastard bite you yet?" Brandt asked as he walked into the barn. "Looks like he wants to."
"Shut up." I glanced back at him and saw that he was leading yet another horse -- which one, I didn't pay attention to -- into the barn for me. "How many more've I got to do? I've lost count."
"Uh…" He glanced back outside. "Six more."
Jesus H. Christmas.
I was going to be hunched over permanently if I didn't get this shit over soon. I'd been trimming hooves for going on five hours straight. If I had six horses left, then I'd managed to trim up right at twenty horses, Bo included.
Another hour, hour and a half… and I'd be done. I was starving to death as it was. The sandwiches Brandt and I'd had for an early lunch had long since worn off. I moved the Hoofjack and put Bo's foot down, shoved the rasp into the pocket of my chaps, and walked around to give Bo a nice, firm petting.
He nuzzled against me, blowing over and over again. The gesture was nice, but not nice enough for me to forget that last bite of his. "If you'd have bit me, I'd have bit you back this time."
Brandt laughed from where he leaned against the wall. "That sure cured Bitch from biting."
Bitch.