Riding Hard (4 page)

“I understand.”

“Call if you want a spiritual boost from the sacred rock.”

“I will.”

With a wave, she guided her horse to the front of the cabin and rode off. Drake followed and watched her dismount to lower the rail on the wooden fence marking the edge of Last Chance property. Then she led her horse across, replaced the rail and climbed back into the saddle before cantering across the meadow.

It struck him that although he’d devoted his life to horses, he hadn’t ridden much. His parents owned thoroughbreds destined for the track, and so did all his clients. He’d passed the weight limit for being a jockey when he was twelve, and besides, he’d never aspired to that career.

As a kid, he’d been given one of the thoroughbreds that balked at the starting gate. He’d ridden Black Velvet for a few years, but then school and girls had claimed most of his attention. His riding had become sporadic and mostly confined to summer vacations.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d ridden. He knew everything about the animal—skeletal structure, muscles, tendons, circulatory system...the list went on. But somewhere along the way he’d lost track of the riding part.

Back in Virginia he rented a town house. It had never really occurred to him to buy horse property. He could guess why. He had no desire to own a stable of racehorses, and that was the only model he’d known.

But there were other models. The Last Chance was one of them. Regan and Lily’s equine-rescue facility was another. He’d allowed his view to become very narrow, but a relationship with horses didn’t have to involve running them around a track or even caring for their medical needs.

He wouldn’t mind taking a ride now, but he couldn’t go over to the rescue facility and borrow a horse, and he wouldn’t be welcome at the Last Chance, either. He could try to find a riding stable in the area, but he probably was too spoiled to be satisfied with most stable ponies.

Still, he’d had another epiphany. Whatever his future held, he wanted it to involve riding horses. Good thing he’d made some wise investments, because horse property didn’t come cheap no matter where he ended up. He had a rough idea what his parents’ farm was worth, and the amount was staggering.

Eventually he chose a hike over spending the rest of the day in the cabin reading. He took an easy trail, one he could manage in hiking sandals and shorts. The afternoon was warm, so he wore a sleeveless T-shirt. Exercise was a great stress reliever and helped keep his mind off Tracy and his pesky libido. He pocketed his phone out of habit, and he was on the trail headed home when her call came.

“Dottie is leaking,” she said.

“Leaking what?” His heart pounded. He didn’t want anything leaking. He didn’t want anything going wrong with the mare—for several reasons.

“I think it’s milk, or something like milk. What does that mean?”

“It means I need to come over and check her out. Unlock Regan’s truck. I’ve been hiking, so I’m hot and sweaty. You’ll have to take me the way I am.”

“Don’t worry about that.” She sounded frightened. “Just get here.”

“I will, and don’t be scared. Everything will be fine.” He didn’t know that for sure, but it was a good thing to say when people were upset.

Although he didn’t shower, he pulled on jeans, boots and a long-sleeved Western shirt before hopping in the SUV. Shorts and hiking sandals weren’t the most practical thing to have on if he ended up delivering a foal. As he drove back to the rescue facility, he concentrated on his reasons for being there. This was all about the horse and her foal. Taking her in had been an act of mercy that could end up with everyone feeling warm and fuzzy, unless something went wrong.

If she was lactating, that was a sign that she was closer to giving birth than he’d thought. But the colostrum she’d produce at first was critical to the health of the foal and should be collected. Lactating early could also be a sign of serious trouble that could lead to fatalities, both the mare’s and the foal’s. He didn’t plan to let tragedy occur.

Tracy was standing in the yard, arms wrapped around her torso, when he drove through the gate she’d obviously left open for him. As he turned off the engine and climbed out, she hurried over, all hesitation swept away by panic. He was tempted to gather her in his arms to comfort her, but that wasn’t a good idea, and it wasn’t what she needed from him right now.

“It’s not just the leaking,” she said. “It’s her whole behavior. She’s pacing the stall. Sometimes she lies down, but then she gets up again. I drove Regan’s truck down to the barn so you’ll have whatever you need close by.”

“Thanks. Good idea. Let’s go see what our girl is up to.” He walked fast, Tracy skipping to keep up with him. Before this, she’d always maintained a certain physical distance between them, but that didn’t seem important to her anymore.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have taken her, but I don’t know what Jerry would have done if I hadn’t. If she needs veterinary care, he wouldn’t have been able to afford that, either. I’m so glad you’re here, Drake.”

His heart stuttered. He hadn’t realized how much he’d longed for someone—
anyone
—to say that to him. After being persona non grata for so long, those words sounded damned good.

She rattled on, obviously needing to vent. “I did some research online and found out she should have a bigger stall, but the stalls are all the same size. Do you think she’ll be okay in there? The way she’s been pacing, I thought maybe she needed more room, but I don’t know what we can do about that.”

“The one she’s in will be fine. All the stalls in this barn are a generous size.” He was touched by her anxiety. At Spirits and Spurs she was in complete control as she dispensed food and drink with flair. But now she was in unfamiliar territory. Fortunately it was familiar to him.

The July sun was drifting slowly toward the horizon, but it wouldn’t be dark for another couple of hours. The barn faced east and west, and she’d opened the back doors to let in the afternoon light. Drake was happy to have the sun. A crisis always loomed larger in the dark.

Sure enough, Dottie was pacing restlessly in her stall and ignoring her flake of hay while the other horses munched their dinner contentedly. Drake talked calmly to her as he entered and kept talking as he ran his hands over her warm coat. Gradually he made his way to her udder and swiped a finger over the liquid oozing from her teat. Apparently he’d misjudged how soon she’d deliver.

Tracy hovered at his elbow, her breathing shallow. “Well?”

He turned to look at her. Her face was pale with fright, and this close, he noticed little flecks of gold in her dark eyes. “The discharge is colostrum, which is extremely important for her foal’s immune system. It’s good that you noticed. I’ll get what I need from Regan’s truck so we can collect and freeze it until she goes into labor. Then we can bottle feed it to her foal in the first twelve hours.”

Her eyes widened. “When do you think she’ll go into labor?”

“Could be anytime, and I can teach you how to—”

“Did you say
anytime?
”

“Yes, but I can’t say for sure exactly when. Could be tonight, could be tomorrow, could be two days from now. In the meantime, you can—”

“Look, I hate to ask this of you, but I’m scared to death. I won’t have the faintest idea what to do if she goes into labor, and I could freak. I’m freaked now, in fact. She’s not safe with me.”

He had to admit she looked petrified, but he could talk her down. She could do this. “She’s perfectly safe with you, Tracy. I’m not far away, and all you have to do is call me. I’ll be here before you know it.”

She shook her head. “Not good enough. I can feed the animals, clean up after them and love on them, but I’m not fit to be a first responder when a mare delivers a foal. Besides, I have to work my shifts at the Spirits and Spurs, and Dottie would be alone for hours. That could be a problem, right?”

He’d forgotten about that. “Do you have to work tonight?”

“No, but I have to go in at eleven tomorrow morning. What if she waits to go into labor until then?”

“You can call me.” But he was less sure that everything would work out easily. Dottie had changed the game considerably in the past couple of hours.

“Drake, if you leave, I’ll spend the night camped out next to her stall worried sick with my phone right next to me.”

He believed her. “Then
I’ll
camp out beside her stall tonight. I’m sure there are some old blankets in the house I can use to make a bedroll.”

“You don’t have to go
that
far. Lily has a spare room. You could sleep in there, maybe set your phone to wake you up every few hours to check on her and collect that stuff the foal will need.”

“Colostrum.”

“Right. Colostrum.”

He hesitated. Sleeping in the barn was one thing. Sleeping in the house with Tracy was a whole other deal. “That’s okay. The barn’s fine.”

“No, no, just because I said I would sleep there if you left doesn’t mean you should put yourself through that. You’re a pro. You’ll know whether it’s safe to grab a few winks, and you’d be better off in a real bed.”

“Yeah, but—”

“I’ll bet you don’t want to stay in the house because you think I don’t like you.”

“You don’t like me.”
But once your panic wears off, you’ll be attracted to me, whether you want to be or not.

“I don’t like what you did to Regan, and I don’t blame you for not wanting to hang around someone who’s said some hurtful things, but I’m desperate. Please stay. And take the guest room.”

He took a deep breath. “Okay.” Once the crisis was over, they’d both be like dry kindling ready to ignite. He’d have to get the hell out of there before one of them lit the fire.

4

O
N
SOME
LEVEL
, Tracy knew she was taking a huge chance by having Drake close by, but she simply couldn’t handle this alone. She walked out to the truck with him. “Since you’re staying, I’ll share the money Regan and Lily pay me for house-sitting.”

“I wouldn’t consider it.” He opened the back end of the truck. “You need that money for school.”

“I do, but if you’re doing part of my job here, then it’s only fair that...wait a minute. How did you know I’m going to school?”

He gave her a deer-in-the-lights look followed by an expression that clearly said
oh, shit.
He tried to pass it off with a shrug. “That’s the way it is around here with secrets. Word gets out.”

“Sure it does, but not to you. You don’t talk to anybody except Regan and Lily. At least not about anything significant. One of them told you, didn’t they?”

“Regan told me and then asked me not to mention it, which I just did. Blame it on my big mouth instead of Regan blabbing. He was trying to respect your privacy, but he thought I might want to know.”

“Why?”

“He thought...” A dull red colored his throat and moved up to his cheeks. “Never mind. It’s not important.” He leaned into the truck and began sorting through Regan’s supplies.

“Okay.” She was ready to let the subject drop, at least for now. Apparently her previous high anxiety had blocked her sexual awareness of Drake, because as it fell, her heat level rose. And here she was, within the three-foot limit, which hadn’t been a problem when she was hyperventilating over the possibility she’d have to deliver a foal.

Now it was a problem, especially with him leaning over like that, which showcased his tight buns. She backed away from the truck. “I need to feed the pigs and chickens. When I discovered Dottie leaking, I lost track of everything else.”

“Sure. Go ahead.” Rustling noises indicated he was still gathering supplies. He didn’t turn around. “I’ll take care of things here.”

Then she realized something else. She should offer to feed
him
—another sticky wicket because logically they’d have to eat the meal together. He might have to spend considerable time within her three-foot limit. Maybe they could sit at opposite ends of Lily and Regan’s dining table as if they were a couple living in a manor house with servants.

Then there was the menu. She doubted it would suit him, but she had to give it a shot. She’d talked him into occupying the premises, and the guy needed nourishment. A small town like Shoshone didn’t have a pizza parlor that delivered.

She screwed up her courage. “After I feed the pigs and chickens, I’ll warm up some dinner for us.”

He turned around, a box in one hand. “That would be great.” He gave her a quick smile.

The effect was potent. She backed up another step. “I should warn you that Lily’s a vegetarian and Regan’s reverted to vegetarianism, too.”

“I know. I’ve been over for dinner a few times.”

“Right. I guess you would have.” So maybe this food situation would work out okay, after all. “Anyway, she was nice enough to prepare and freeze some food for me. I’ve thawed a container of lentil soup for tonight. There’s plenty for both of us, and she also made corn bread.”

“I’m good with that.”

She detected a distinct lack of enthusiasm, but she wasn’t surprised. Not a lot of guys became excited over lentil soup. “There’s also a huge chocolate cake.”

“
Now
we’re talkin’!”

She couldn’t help laughing. “Do you want dessert first?”

“No, I do not. I’m not five. I’ll eat my lentil soup like a good boy.”

“All right.” She did her best not to be charmed, but it was cute the way he drew out the word
five.

“Besides, it’s got to be better than the frozen dinners I’ve cooked for myself whenever I didn’t come into town for a meal.”

She had a sudden image of Drake alone in the small cabin eating a microwaved meal by himself and felt a twinge of sympathy. She had so many friends, while he... No, she would
not
feel sorry for him. He could always go back to Virginia and resume his old life. For whatever reason, he’d chosen to stay here and be lonely.

“I’ve had Lily’s lentil soup,” she said. “It’s good. Come on up to the house when you’re finished here.” She turned and walked away. All the way to the house she lectured herself about not letting down her guard.

She knew all about the big flaw in Drake’s character. That should have been enough to keep her far, far away from him. Her mother had been seduced by a charmer like Drake, but her mother hadn’t had Tracy’s advantage of knowing she was dealing with a cheating bastard.

Yes, he was coming to her aid at the moment, and she was thrilled about that. But she couldn’t let gratitude and her natural susceptibility override her good judgment. Somehow she had to strike a balance between being properly appreciative and throwing herself into his arms in a fit of lust. She wondered if simple friendship was an option. That might be the safe middle ground, assuming she could pull it off.

Drake had betrayed his best friend, someone Tracy greatly admired. As she stood in the kitchen chopping veggies for the potbellied pigs, she faced a truth she’d been unwilling to admit until now. Drake was also extremely likable. Her choices would be so much easier if he could behave like an arrogant jerk. Then she’d have no trouble separating the guys in the white hats from the ones in the black hats.

She finished filling the bowls for Wilbur and Harley and carried them out to their pens. At one time the two pigs had been free to roam the yard, but the bigger one, Harley, had bullied Wilbur into giving up his food. Now they each had a separate pen for mealtimes, although both had a gate out to a common yard and mud hole they could enjoy together when they weren’t eating.

Tracy set a bowl in each pen and then quickly closed them in their respective homes. “That’s the answer.” She leaned against the fence and watched the pigs eat. “I should be friendly, because after all, the guy is doing me a big-ass favor. But I need to set boundaries, just like you have these fences between you.”

Having Drake sleep in the spare room would be no problem if they established some house rules. She couldn’t appear inhospitable, because after all, she’d invited him to stay. Perhaps she’d even begged him. Her memory wasn’t clear on that point because she’d been distraught at the time.

But now that he’d agreed, they needed to establish a routine that would minimize...temptation. No, she couldn’t phrase it like that. The word
temptation
shouldn’t come up. They would strive to minimize...unanticipated encounters. That sounded stuffy. She’d have to find a better description, but that’s what she meant.

For example, he should keep his shirt on at all times. If he was in the habit of wandering into the kitchen for a midnight snack, he couldn’t do that in his pajama bottoms. He had to put on... Uh-oh. He didn’t
have
pajama bottoms.

She hadn’t thought this through. She’d pleaded with him to stay, but he hadn’t come prepared with extra clothes or toiletries. He certainly hadn’t come with pajamas, either tops or bottoms. Besides, he wouldn’t want to sleep in them, anyway, if he planned to check on Dottie periodically.

She
really
hadn’t thought about how this would work. But now she could see it all playing out in living color. He’d sleep in his briefs, unless he chose to sleep naked. When he got up to check on the mare, he’d put on the basics—jeans, socks, boots. It was mid-July. Bothering with a shirt under the circumstances would be plain silly.

Well, then, she’d stay in her room. That would solve the problem. No, it wouldn’t. She definitely wanted to be in on the action when Dottie gave birth. She couldn’t picture herself cowering in her room like some nervous virgin because Drake was shirtless while he delivered a foal. That would be stupid.

“Still feeding the pigs?” The man in question walked toward her with a loose-hipped stride and a casual smile. He was sexy as hell.

“I’m just finishing up.” He’d look amazing without his shirt. Tracy had no doubt about that. If only he could have a potbelly like the pigs, but then he wouldn’t have been able to seduce Regan’s fiancée, which was the crux of the problem.

She had no idea how she’d handle the temptation of a bare-chested Drake, especially in the likely event that Dottie delivered her foal in the middle of the night. Tracy vaguely remembered discussions among the cowboys at Spirits and Spurs that mares often gave birth at night.

“I didn’t realize you’d be so fast.” She pushed away from the fence as he moved past the five-foot mark and the tingle of awareness began traveling through her body.

“Dottie’s colostrum production is still fairly minimal, which is good. The less she produces before giving birth, the better.”

Three feet.
Her skin began to warm. “I haven’t started on dinner.” She gestured toward the pigs. “I like to wait until they’re done so I can let them back into their communal area. They love being together, except I can’t allow it when they eat.”

“Yeah, Lily explained that to me.” Drake stood next to her and peered down at the two pigs. “Harley seems a little skinnier, though, so I guess the new program is working.”

“It’s working.” And her libido was working, too. Overtime, in fact. Her hormones were racing around like a championship Roller Derby team.

He’d come here straight from hiking, something she remembered now. If the deodorant commercials were correct, his manly sweat should offend her. But something primitive was going on, because she longed to bury her nose in his shirt and take a big sniff of that heady scent. And then she’d...

“Look at that pig eat!” Drake sounded amused. “He’s practically licking the bowl.”

“Yeah. He’s insatiable.” Whoops. Not the best choice of words under the circumstances.

Drake’s low chuckle held an undercurrent of awareness. “Hey, Harley, are you gonna let the lady talk about you like that?”

“Well, he is.” As if she had no sense of self-preservation, she looked into Drake’s laughing eyes. Oh, Lord. She glanced away, but not quickly enough to mute the effect. Every secret, private place in her body responded. “I can let them loose now.” Her voice had a huskiness that she was very afraid he’d notice.

“You’re sure that’s a good idea? Lily used to let them roam the property, but from what I hear, that didn’t work out well.”

“I mean let them into their community area. They’ll still be fenced in.”

“Oh, right. Yeah, that’s better.”

As she walked over and opened the gates so they could both scurry into the communal pen, she told herself that she and Drake were having a conversation about the pigs. But if they had been, he should have been watching them. Instead his attention remained firmly on her, his gaze assessing.

After she let the pigs into their shared enclosure, she faced him. “I desperately need you to stay here tonight, and maybe for the next several nights.”

He remained watchful. “I know, and I’ve agreed to do that. It makes sense.”

“But asking you to stay doesn’t mean that I—”

“Of course not.” Pain was reflected ever so briefly in his expression. “I’ve been waiting for you to warn me off. Why would you get involved with a man you don’t like very much?” Bitterness laced his comment.

In a flash of insight, she knew that he’d picked up on her unbidden reaction to him. Knowing she wanted him even though she didn’t approve of him was...insulting? Degrading? Maybe both. “Drake, I—”

“No worries.” His jaw tightened. “I wouldn’t dream of causing you to do something you don’t want to do. Women tend to have a certain response to me. Always have, ever since I was a teenager. Mostly it’s fun for both parties, but in this case...”

She’d hurt his feelings. There was no way around it. “I’m sorry.”

“Just for the record, I don’t make a habit of moving in on another man’s territory.” He massaged the back of his neck and glanced away. “I’ve only done it once, and if I could take it back, I would.” Then he sighed and looked over at her. “I’ve never said that to anybody. It sounds like doing it once is no big deal when I know it is. I just wish... Damn it, I wish that one stupid mistake wasn’t the only thing you saw when you looked at me.”

At that moment, it wasn’t the only thing she saw. She saw a man who, for whatever reason, had betrayed himself as well as his best friend. She believed him when he claimed never to have cheated before or since. But why had it happened at all? She thought the answer would be complicated, and unraveling complicated motivations was her passion.

He gave her a crooked smile. “You have that look on your face again.”

“What look?”

“The same one you got back at the Spirits and Spurs when I said I must be a glutton for punishment. I told Regan about your reaction, and that’s when he mentioned your field of study.”

“Huh.” She wasn’t sure which surprised her more—that he’d been paying such close attention to her expressions or that he and Regan had been discussing her that night and she’d had no idea. Apparently she’d been so wrapped up in being cool that she’d missed some things.

“I figure, when you look like that, you’re fixin’ to psychoanalyze me.”

“And you wouldn’t like that.”

“Not much, mostly because you’ve already decided I’m a bad character. I don’t think your evaluation would be unbiased.”

She flushed at that truth. “You’re right. It’s a failing of mine. Being judgmental is a no-no for a psychologist, and I
am
judgmental. I’ll have to give that up if I expect to be an effective therapist.”

“Then why not start with me?”

“I thought you didn’t want me to work with you.”

“I don’t if you consider me lower than whale poop.”

“I don’t consider you lower than whale poop.” That was hard to say without laughing. “Whale poop is at the bottom of the ocean. That’s as low as anybody can go, and I don’t consider you that bad.”

“Okay, then where would you rank me? How about lower than a snake’s belly?”

She couldn’t hold back a grin. “Stop it. You’re being ridiculous.”