Theirs To Protect: a Reverse Harem Romance

by Stasia Black

  Meanwhile, colic could turn on a coin and become deadly.

  Oh God, she should have called him as soon as she realized what was happening with Beauty. Would Beauty die because she’d been too proud to call for help?

  She yanked open the back door and then sprinted to the phone, ignoring the mud she was tracking all over the floor. She pulled the wall phone off its cradle and had Hunter’s number punched in seconds later. She bit her lip and paced back and forth in the kitchen as she waited for it to ring.

  And ring.

  And ring.

  “Dammit.” She raked a hand through her hair.

  “Hullo.” Hunter’s easy greeting came over the line.

  “Hunter! Is that you? Like really you and not just your voicemail?”

  Silence for a second. Then, “Isobel?”

  “Oh thank God, Hunter. Bright Beauty, one of the mares, is colicky. It’s bad. There’s an impaction in her small intestine. It’s bad, Hunter. I’ve been trying to flush it with mineral oil for an hour and it hasn’t moved an inch. I don’t know what to do. I tried to walk her too, but nothing—”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down there. When did she start presenting symptoms?”

  “I don’t know. I just found her down in her stall when I got back from a ride on another horse at, I don’t know,” she searched out the wall clock. It was 3:15 now. “Maybe 2:00? I glanced in on her a few hours early and didn’t notice anything off. But I wasn’t really looking. If I would have just—”

  “You give her a painkiller?”

  “Banamine. 10cc orally. Heart rate sixty-five. Hunter, I’m really worried.” She took a quick breath. “Can you come out?”

  There was no hesitation. “I’ll be there in forty-five minutes.”

  Isobel sank against the wall as she fought off tears. “Thank you, Hunter.” She swallowed hard, her fingers going white-knuckled around the phone.

  “Yup.”

  She thought he’d hung up but then his voice came back over the line. “We’ll take care of her. She’ll be okay.”

  Isobel nodded fervently, then realized Hunter couldn’t see her. “Okay.” Her voice was little more than a whisper.

  “Okay,” he said.

  Still she didn’t hear the click that meant he’d hung up.

  “You want me to stay on the line till I get there?”

  Sometimes when he wasn’t being a world class asshole, Isobel thought Hunter Dawkins was kinda perfect.

  She swiped at a tear that crested before it could fall down her cheek. “I should go be with Beauty and I’m not sure the phone will go that far.” It was a landline. They were so far out there was no cell service here. “Thank you, Hunter.” She hoped he could hear how much she meant it.

  “Not a problem.” This time he did hang up.

  For a long second, Isobel clutched the phone to her chest. Then she set it back down on its cradle and hurried back outside.

  Chapter 14

  HUNTER

  Hunter had been having a shitty day.

  Isobel had run out on him after sex. Again.

  Just like Janine.

  He’d been cursing his luck with women while he delivered the Juarez’s foal and then spent the rest of the morning testing cattle for TB out at Ben Fenton’s place. He’d just made it back on the highway heading north when his phone rang.

  He had his phone on Bluetooth and answered without looking at the number.

  And then came the last voice he expected to hear. When he heard how frantic and panicked Isobel was, his gut clenched.

  It turned out she was only upset about a horse and wasn’t in any trouble herself, but his immediate instinct to protect had already been activated. He was due out for pregnancy checks at the Pimentel farm but they could wait. It had started raining anyway and he might have postponed on that basis alone—or so he told himself

  He pulled off the highway and turned around at the next overpass, pushing ten over the speed limit so he could get to her as soon as possible.

  She’d sounded so upset. The horse was important to her, that was clear. To her, this wasn’t just another case.

  But then, even on their regular cases, he’d seen how she connected with the animals. She had that way about her. Only the really great vets had it. They loved the animals. It could be a liability as much as a positive trait.

  In school they talked about developing a detachment from your patients, probably just like doctors with human patients were supposed to. It always rubbed Hunter the wrong way. Animals in pain just felt wrong on a basic level. People might lie to you and betray you but animals didn’t cheat or steal or manipulate. They’d hurt you, sure as hell—you never took your eyes off a cow or you were liable to get kicked for your trouble. But animals were rarely malicious—and if they were, it was only because humans had twisted them up that way. Like a couple of dogs from an illegal dog fighting ring he’d taken pro bono a few years ago.

  He used to pride himself that he loved animals the way he saw in Isobel. But he’d lost it. It had all become routine the past year. Mechanical. He was a robot in a Hunter suit.

  Until her. He used to say the way a person treated animals told you everything you needed to know about them. So what did Isobel’s obvious empathy for all their patients tell him about her?

  Rain had started pounding his window so hard his windshield wipers could barely keep up. He almost missed the turnoff for the Kent’s farm.

  The Florida Georgia Line song on the radio was cut off by three long beeps. “A severe thunderstorm warning is now in effect for Natrona and Carbon counties until nine pm.”

  “No shit, Sherlock.” Hunter pulled the key out of the ignition and pulled on his rain slicker from the floor of the passenger side.

  He was glad for the distraction from thinking about Isobel. Which lasted for… all of three point two seconds.

  She’d left. No goodbye. No nothing.

  What do you expect after you treated her like an ass for weeks?

  His jaw clenched as he pulled in beside the few vehicles parked in front of the ranch house. He hopped up in the truck bed and grabbed his tools, then slammed the tool box closed.

  He was just here to help a sick horse. That was all. He’d do the same for any horse owner who called so panicked. It didn’t have to be anything more than that.

  He jogged around the side of the house. He was familiar with the ranch. He’d come out here for years. The horses Xavier brought in were often in rough condition. He’d helped horses riddled with parasites to difficult foalings to lacerations and other injuries to cases of laminitis. And several cases of colic. Not all of which ended well.

  When the stable came in sight, he saw one of the twins, he couldn’t tell if it was Reece or the other one, standing just inside the stable doorway. He disappeared as soon as he saw Hunter. No doubt to announce his arrival.

  Isobel came flying out seconds later, ignoring the pouring rain.

  It was definitely inappropriate to be noticing how good she looked in a tight pair of Wranglers and a damp maroon tank top that hugged every one of her luscious curves.

  Yep. Completely fucking inappropriate.

  His eyes still lingered for too long.

  He managed to jerk his attention to her face when she came right up to him. Especially when she threw her arms around his neck.

  “Oh thank God you’re here.” The hug was over almost as quickly as it began. She let go of him and then jogged back toward the stables, waving at him to follow.

  He was still processing the feel of all that warm female wrapped around him, but he did manage to find his legs to follow her.

  Four men were standing around the stall of the horse in question.

  “Thanks for staying with me, guys. I know your game is starting. I’m good now.”

  “We’re happy to stay,” said the biggest of the four. Nicholas, Hunter thought his name was. He’d never actually heard the guy speak before today even though he’d been out here ever
y few months.

  Isobel placed her hand on Nicholas’ arm, her eyes softening. “It’s okay. There isn’t anything to do except stand around. But I really appreciate you helping calm me down until the vet got here.”

  “You’re the vet,” said the twin.

  Isobel just shook her head. She waved Hunter toward the stall. “Don’t be ridiculous, Jeremiah.”

  Aha, so it was wundertwin number two. He was glaring at Hunter as he pushed past him. Apparently Twin One had shared what he’d seen out back of the bar. Which made Hunter bristle because it was Isobel’s business and he didn’t like the idea of anyone talking about her like that.

  Hunter glared right back, then opened the stall. Right now it was most important to check on his patient. He set his tools down and then entered the stall.

  He could tell immediately by the look of the mare that it wasn’t good. Isobel appeared right beside him.

  “I just checked her pulse and it was seventy,” she said in a small voice. “She’s getting worse.”

  Hunter pulled out his stethoscope and then went to the horse’s side, gently palpating the gut and listening for activity.

  It was quiet inside. Too quiet. Not good. A healthy gut should be gurgling away. The blockage was stopping normal functions.

  He pulled out a plastic sleeve and pulled it on, then did a rectal exam. He found exactly what Isobel had described over the phone.

  “When was the last time you tried walking her?” He withdrew and pulled the sleeve off, balling it in itself to contain the muck.

  “When I called you.”

  Hunter nodded. “Let’s try taking her out again.”

  Isobel bit her bottom lip in worry.

  “Come on, sweetheart, let’s take another walk.” Isobel tried to hand the reins over to Hunter but he just shook his head.

  “She’ll be more comfortable with you.”

  Isobel nodded while Hunter unlatched the stall door. All the other men had gone inside.

  The mare took several stiff steps forward. Then her eyes went wild, the whites flashing.

  “Let go!” Hunter grabbed Isobel and yanked her behind him right as the horse reared and then threw herself on the floor, rolling and writhing on the ground.

  “We have to help her!” Isobel cried out but Hunter kept her firmly behind himself. The mare rolled back and forth, clearly in extreme pain.

  But where Isobel only saw a beloved animal hurting, Hunter had enough experience to see a twelve hundred pound creature of instinct ready to lash out at anything and anyone.

  “I’ve got some Xylazine in my tool kit. Go get it.” He’d set it down behind them near the door of the stall door. Anything to get her further away from the volatile horse.

  She was eager to help and he relaxed the second he felt her move away from his back. Only then did he venture toward the writhing horse.

  He kept his breathing slow and easy. The only way to deal with a panicked or pained horse was to emit an aura of calm. And you couldn’t bullshit them. Horses were the best lie detectors out there.

  Though if a horse was in enough pain, it wouldn’t matter if you were the Dalai Lama, they’d still lash out at you.

  In all her rolling, the mare’s lead had gotten twisted up underneath her. Hunter leaned down, making sure he was approaching slightly to the left so the horse could always keep him in her view. Sneaking up on a horse was a bad idea for all involved.

  The mare stilled slightly on seeing him approach.

  “That’s right,” he whispered. “Let’s get you back on your feet. Then we can give you some more medicine and see if we can’t get you feeling better.”

  He reached out to the harness around her nose. This would either work or he’d get bitten for his trouble. You didn’t work with horses for as long as he did without enduring a few horse bites along the way.

  He tried not to think about it. Instead he kept up a slow stream of conversation. “That’s right, girl. Let’s get you back up on your feet. Here we go. Let me just get to this lead that’s underneath—” He traced down her harness to where it clipped to the lead line, then gently tugged. “Upsy daisy. Let’s go, honey. Up you go.” He added more command to his voice as he pulled on her lead line and she flipped back over to get her feet underneath her. Finally, she scrambled back to a standing position.

  She let out a groan and then blew air sharply out her nostrils. Horses only groaned like that when they were in severe pain.

  Dammit. He ran his hand up the lead so he had tight control of the mare and then led her back to the stall.

  He breathed a little easier once he had her confined inside again. Only to find Isobel waiting anxiously, syringe in hand. “Is Beauty going to be okay?”

  He could tell by the tightness in her throat that she was afraid of his answer. She was intelligent and she’d just witnessed what he had. None of those were good signs.

  “Let’s get her this shot and see how she responds.” He reached out and she placed the syringe in his hand. He pulled off the cap and entered the stall again. Isobel followed. He tried not to think of her at his back. He knew she was hoping he’d pull off a miracle. He wished he could.

  Why couldn’t this just be a run-of-the-mill colic case?

  He couldn’t change things he had no control over. Hadn’t he learned by now how immovable the universe was when it had decided on a course of action? Grant him the serenity to accept the things he could not change, yada fucking yada. Wasn’t that what he’d spent the last year trying to convince himself of?

  His jaw tensed and he forcibly relaxed it as he administered the shot.

  “What now?” Isobel asked.

  “We wait and see if she responds to the pain medication. It’s only in severe cases that horses keep showing pain after giving them the Xylazine. In the meantime, let’s check the color of her gums.”

  “Oh my God, I forgot about that.” Isobel wrung her hands.

  “It’s fine. We’re doing it now.”

  Hunter lifted the horse’s lips to examine the gums and he breathed out heavily. Shit. They were supposed to be a salmon pink.

  Beauty’s were a dark red. Isobel’s head swung toward Hunter, eyes wide with fear.

  If a horse’s gums turned all the way purple, it meant the impaction in the gut was cutting off so much blood flow to the intestines that they shut down. At that point, the horse’s death was likely imminent within fifteen to thirty minutes.

  “We have to get her to surgery.” Isobel’s face went white as she backed up quickly, banging into the stall door. She barely seemed to notice. Her hands went to her hair and she spun around. “Oh my God. The trailer. We’ve got to get the horse trailer. It’s not hooked up to anything. But if I go get the guys, they can help and then we can—”

  “Isobel.” Hunter ushered her out the stall door and then he put a hand on her arm. She was so emotionally involved but they had to be realistic. And safe.

  “I’m not sure that’s the best idea. I don’t have the set up for large animal surgery at my clinic. I contract out with the large animal hospital in Casper when I need to. But Casper’s an hour and a half away on a good day.” He gestured out the open stable door to where it was still coming down in buckets. “With the storm.” He shook his head. “I don’t like hauling a horse trailer in weather like this.”

  Isobel’s features went livid and she threw his arms off her. “We have to try. She’ll die if we don’t do anything. I’ll pay for everything, I don’t care how much it costs.”

  “That’s not what I—” He’d pay for it if it came down to that.

  “You’re wasting time Beauty doesn’t have arguing about nothing.” Isobel turned and stalked off into the rain.

  Hunter threw up his hands. Goddamned infuriating woman.

  He jogged through the rain to catch up to her, his boots squelching into deep mud with every step.

  Chapter 15

  ISOBEL

  “Can’t this thing go any faster?” Isobel
leaned over to glare at the speedometer. “Forty-five miles an hour? Seriously?” She glanced out the narrow back window at the trailer they were pulling behind them.

  Please let Beauty be okay.

  Hunter didn’t look her direction but she saw his jaw clench. “Don’t push it.”

  He’d been grouchy ever since she refused to stay behind at the ranch while he rode off with Beauty in the trailer.

  She shook her head. What the hell had he been thinking? He’d barely been willing to do the surgery in the first place. Like hell she was going to let him go off alone with her horse.

  She bit her lip. Okay, that wasn’t fair. She trusted Hunter’s skills when it came to his veterinary practice. But still.

  She’d had to threaten to drive behind him in her own car before he relented, his jaw tight. Between the boys bringing the trailer around, getting it hitched to Hunter’s truck, and getting the distressed Beauty into the trailer, almost forty-five minutes had passed, just at the ranch alone.

  If Isobel was honest with herself, though, she knew it wasn’t him she was angry with. How had she not seen Beauty was sick earlier? And then she hadn’t called him right when she finally realized there was a problem. And God, if she’d only checked Beauty’s gums right away…

  Her eyes pricked and she blinked rapidly. She would not cry. Beauty was going to be fine. She was going to have the life she deserved. A life full of long afternoons grazing in the fields under the wide, blue Wyoming sky.

  Isobel glared out the windshield at the unrelenting downpour. The truck’s windshield wipers were on their highest settings and rain still poured down the glass. There weren’t many other cars out on the small rural highway—they’d even seen a couple pulled off the road, like they were waiting for the rain to slow down before continuing.

  If only today was one of those ideal Wyoming days. For Christ’s sake, almost every day she’d been there had been clear weather. Then the one day Beauty got sick and they needed to get somewhere fast—

  Three low beeps sounded over the radio. Hunter rolled the dial up—he’d had it on his normal country station, but it had been so low she’d barely heard the music playing. The robotic announcer’s voice came through loud and clear, though.