by Natalie Dean
Her music plus the active task of applying her sunscreen to wherever she had skin exposed helped the time go by faster. It didn’t hurt that she was actually in a pretty part of the state, with tall, lush fields on either side of the road. To her right was corn, waving and reedy in the bright sun, their golden tassels like little fireworks at the ends. To her left was tall, thick green grass. Or maybe it was wheat. She didn’t really know, but she didn’t need to in order to recognize the beauty of it. Much further south, and there wouldn’t have been enough moisture and far too much heat for those plants. Further north, and it would have been different crops entirely. Or… maybe it was something about different growing seasons? She actually wasn’t sure on that part.
But still, she enjoyed the greenery on both sides, swishing gently in the breeze, offering her the slightest shade from the sun as it beat down on the heated road. It was one of the few actually tarred and maintained paths, which she guessed was because it cut across most of the state. At least she knew it wasn’t potholes or giant rocks in the road that had ended her car’s life.
The sun, for as strong as it liked to beat down, was pretty too, making the road shimmer in rippling golds and blues. It wasn’t as hot as it could be, and with the breeze it was almost pleasant, especially with water to drink whenever she grew warm. Far from some of the blistering days they got in Texas.
Yeah, it could be a lot worse. Then again, she wasn’t sure that she wanted to tempt fate by thinking that. She didn’t even want to know what else it might try to pile on top of her. At least she was single, so she couldn’t be broken up with.
But as she was musing, she saw the faintest blip of a shadow up ahead. A moment later, the figure solidified, and she realized it was a human! A real human!
Elizabeth couldn’t believe it. She’d only been walking for fifteen minutes and she’d actually found somebody! It seemed too good to be true, and yet there they were, beside a truck and some sort of large safe-like thing.
She took a couple more steps forward before realizing it was a man. And a tall one at that, with broad shoulders that cut a dynamic silhouette in the stark sunlight. That made her hesitate for a moment, because how many horror movies had she seen that had started with a stranger running into another stranger on a long strip of road.
It wasn’t like she was a terribly suspicious person, but she was a single woman in the middle of nowhere with no phone and nothing but an emergency flare in her hand. At least she was six feet tall. Although she wasn’t beefy or cut like a warrior, she had always been a nicely muscled woman. Her father had always joked that it had been all the books she’d carried in her backpack as a kid. Goodness knew she didn’t have any time for sports with her busy academic schedule.
But hey, she’d graduated high school a year early with a full semester of college credits, so clearly all the back pain had been worth it.
She took one more long glance at the figure, whose back was to her, before deciding. It was worth the risk, if only to get her home faster and to her wonderful bath.
“Hey!” she called, waving her arms. “Hey, excuse me, sir!”
She would just have to hope her luck turned around.
3
Sterling
Was there someone calling to him?
Sterling looked up from the mail he was sorting through, pausing to listen more carefully. Sure enough, he heard a voice again, definitely human and definitely trying to catch his attention.
Surprised, he turned towards the sound to see a woman striding confidently towards him, her steps long and assured. She was still a way off, but he could make out enough of her features to tell that she was pretty—and also very determined-looking.
He tensed automatically, because normally someone striding towards him like that meant trouble, but he relaxed quickly. He wasn’t at a bar or at a business function where things were tense. They were just on a road, and she was a single person with nothing on her. The chances that she was a threat were slim to none.
She slowed as she grew closer, as if she suddenly realized that she should be cautious. She had a friendly expression across her features when she eventually stopped, and he was surprised to see just how tall she was.
“Hey there. Not exactly the season for hiking enthusiasts,” he said, affixing her with one of his grins. Silas always said it was his soap opera smolder, but Sterling thought it was just a pleasant sort of grin.
But she didn’t seem amused in the slightest. “Actually, my car broke down about a fifteen-minute walk back there. I was hoping to run into someone who could take me to the city so I can get a tow and charge my phone.”
Oh, no wonder she hadn’t been in the mood to blush or flirt. He couldn’t blame her. But still, a fifteen-minute walk by herself was a pretty brave thing to do, especially considering she was about in the middle of nowhere.
“What, were you going to walk all the way back to the city?”
Her dark, dark eyes affixed him with a look that seemed to stare right through to the very core of him. Her eyes were lined in thick lashes, making her umber gaze that much more intense. It almost made his breath catch, but he managed to hide it in a cough. Well… mostly hide it.
“That was the plan. But now that we’ve run into each other, I’m hoping that you might be willin’ to help? Maybe charge my phone if you got a car cord? Or let me sit in the AC of your truck while I wait for one of my friends?”
Sterling smiled broadly. “Well, I’m sure I can help with that. You can charge your phone while I drive you to the city. In fact, I know a pretty good mechanic shop that could probably tow you up right pretty.”
Her face brightened at that, and while he had noticed she was pretty before, he hadn’t realized just how beautiful she was. Her features were broad and smooth, a red undertone to her skin that almost made the sunlight bounce golden off of her dark complexion. “Really? That’s a lot to ask.”
“Well, that’s why I’m offering.” He tried to make sure his smile looked charitable and not predatory. He knew there were plenty of folks who would want to take advantage of a girl in her situation. He wasn’t someone like that at all, but she had no way of knowing that.
Nah, he wasn’t interested in being perverted or anything like that. But he was real interested in doing something that would unequivocally help someone for no personal gain.
Because his twin Silas was always called such a saint for helping out Teddy and her family. And Frenchie always spoke about how his older brother Solomon practically saved her in her time of need. If Sterling could do something nice for someone who so clearly was a little down on their luck, maybe then he wouldn’t be so buried in his brothers’ shadows that he couldn’t even see the sun.
“Here, why don’t we charge your phone first and I’ll give my mechanic friend a call. I think you’d like her; she’s a smart cookie.”
The woman clearly looked surprised by his comment. “The mechanic you know is a woman?”
“Yeah, why? That a strange thing?” He knew perfectly well that it was. Teddy had plenty of stories of sexist and stupid things that had been said to her as a female auto specialist. But his reply was enough to surprise her, and her laugh revealed bright, white teeth behind her full lips.
“Maybe a little. But yeah, that would be nice.”
“Alright, well let me hook you up with the charger while I give Teddy a ring.”
She nodded, and he made sure to give her space as he walked around to the driver’s side of his truck. Although he’d never had a sister, he wasn’t an idiot. He knew enough about women that someone who was bigger and taller should respect their personal bubble.
It didn’t take long to get Teddy’s number up and call it. She was one of about fifteen people in his contacts, and he still spoke to her somewhat on the regular.
Granted, it had been much more on the regular when he had first met her, and she was working on the ranch. She’d had an easy smile and interesting hair, and most of all he’d seen how S
ilas looked at her. Naturally, if his older brother was mooning over a girl, she had to be something special, so sue Sterling that he’d started flirting with her too.
Not that it was an imposition. She had a backside that most of the current pop artists would dedicate full albums to—although they would never actually date someone that size—and a snappy wit that could keep up with both him and his brother. But, for some reason, she’d chosen Silas, and now the two of them were thick as thieves. It wasn’t that Sterling resented his twin, but he couldn’t help but feel like his brother always got everything. As the older twin, he got the responsibility of acquisitions. He got the girl. Heck, when people confused them, they always thought only Silas existed. Not once had his older brother been mistaken for Sterling.
Which was crazy considering the massive scarring Silas had along one of his collar bones and going down into his torso. It was from an accident when they were kids—an accident that was Sterling’s fault—but the guy was majorly self-conscious about it. It was one of the few things that was imperfect about perfect Silas.
Although it did seem lately that those imperfect things were growing, more and more fights happening between the older brothers and Sterling. Who knew, with the way things were going, maybe he would end up the new heir of the family instead of just the pointless middle child and younger twin.
“Hey Sterling, long time no ring.” He couldn’t help but grin a bit impishly at Teddy’s casual tone on the phone. He remembered there was a time where she had to hold him at arm’s length because things were weird between them. While he was glad that was over, he knew it was only because she and Silas were so rooted in their relationship that they weren’t going anywhere. He’d even seen his brother looking at rings online.
“Hey, yeah, it’s been busy with you hogging up all my brother’s time.”
“I ain’t takin’ any time he don’t wanna give. Trust me.”
“Yeah, yeah. It’s unbecoming to brag, you know.”
“Fair ‘nuff. Did you need something?”
“Yeah, actually, I have a driver here whose car happened to give out on the road by our estate. Think you could take a look at it?”
“Hold on. Let me check.” There was the always amusing sound of Teddy yelling through the shop, her brother yelling back that he couldn’t understand her yelling, and then the receptionist guy calling out from the office. After that cacophony of a verbal onslaught finished, Teddy returned to the phone as calm and steady as usual.
“Yeah, we got a tow truck free, but it’s probably going to take me at least an hour and a half to get out there. Can you tell me what happened?”
He handed the phone to the woman in his car, who explained the situation and wow, it did sound pretty bad. Teddy said something else on the phone and then hit the speaker button.
“Can you hear me?” Teddy asked.
“When can’t I hear you?” Sterling said.
“Bless your heart, you’re just hilarious, aren’t you? Anyways, if it’s what I’m thinking it is, we can prob’ly fix it by tomorrow afternoon, but I definitely recommend staying in a hotel in the city for the night, ma’am.”
The woman looked to Sterling uncertainly. “Are you willing to wait with me here? You don’t have to.”
“I’m not going to leave you stranded here for an hour and a half. Besides, if I recall right, one of the tows doesn’t have AC, right, Teddy?”
He could hear Teddy rolling her eyes, he was sure of it. “How is it that even though you boys have a whole empire to run, you can still remember that one of our trucks doesn’t have air conditioning?”
“Answer the question.”
“… yeah, it’s the broken one. If you can give your friend a ride to the city, I’m sure she’d much appreciate it,” Teddy said.
“Alright, then. Maybe I’ll swing by your shop and say hi.”
“As long as you don’t flirt with the new mechanic again.”
He chuckled. Her shop had hired a new worker due to an increase in their business with the community center and all. She was a nice enough person, but mostly he did it because it was fun rather than any actual attraction.
“Why? Are you jealous, Teddy?”
“No, she’s just easily distractible, and I’m not on your dime anymore, so stop costing me money.”
“Ouch, and here I thought we got something special,” Sterling said in a teasing tone.
The woman in his passenger seat was giving him a look. It wasn’t one he had a name for, but it was certainly one that let him know that she was observing every single word they said.
“We do. You’re the incorrigible younger twin of my boyfriend, and for some reason, I tolerate your shenanigans. See you soon, Sterling.”
“See you soon, Teddy.”
She hung up, and he looked to the woman in his passenger seat. “Well, you ready—uh… actually. I don’t think I caught your name.”
“Elizabeth,” she said, offering her hand. “Elizabeth Brown.”
“Sterling Miller, nice to meet you L—”
“Don’t call me Lizzy,” she said quickly as he shook her hand.
“I wasn’t going to.”
She narrowed her dark eyes at him ever so slightly. “Yes, you were.”
He smiled crookedly at that. “Alright, yeah I was. You caught me.”
“After thirty years, I’ve learned enough to recognize the sound of someone even thinking it.”
“Thirty years?” Sterling couldn’t quite help his reaction. The woman looked young. Like maybe she was fresh out of college or halfway through it. He wouldn’t have guessed over twenty-four.
“You might have heard this before, but black don’t crack.”
A laugh forced its way out of his mouth at that. That phrase was possibly the last thing that he had expected and certainly wasn’t something that was said often around his home. “I might have heard that once or twice before.” He collected himself and started the truck. “Do you have a hotel preference?”
Before she could answer, his phone started ringing loudly with his business tone. The one he specifically gave the workers if there was an emergency. Normally they would contact Solomon or Silas, so if they were reaching out to him, then it really had to be something serious.
“Sorry, just one moment,” he told Elizabeth, answering quickly.
“What’s going on?” Sterling asked the caller.
“Hey, I’m sorry to bother you, boss, but we got a big problem here.”
“I figured as much. Equipment malfunction?” Hopefully it wasn’t another injury. They were about four months without an accident, and they needed to get to at least six months before their insurance would go down.
“No, nothing like that. It’s Peggy.”
“Okay… what about Peggy?”
“Well, sir, she’s uh… she’s…”
“Out with it, I’m in the middle of something.”
“Peggy is pregnant.”
“I’m sorry, Peggy is what?”
It was only then that Sterling realized he had hit the speaker again out of habit, and his passenger had been listening to everything.
“Lady trouble?” she asked with a wry smile.
“You could say that. Peggy is one of our sows.” He turned his attention back to the call. “Peggy is in one of our sow pens, which is only supposed to have sows in it, so how on earth is she pregnant? And how do you even know?! She ask for a pregnancy test?”
“Sorry, sir, I don’t have any answers for that. I’ve just come back from being out with the flu. As for her being pregnant, well that’s the best guess I’ve got considering she’s trying to give birth right now and having a real bad time of it.”
“She what!?”
Suddenly the woman in his car straightened. “Take me to her,” she said sharply.
Sterling blinked at her. “I’m sorry, what?” He felt like he was repeating himself, but it was already turning out to be quite a day.
“I’m a veterinar
ian. Take me to Peggy, right now.”
What were the chances of that? “Look—”
“I specialize in farm animals, and if you want Peggy to live, I need to get to her as soon as I can. So, start driving!”
It was an order. That much was very clear. Sterling didn’t like orders, and especially not from strange women that he was helping out. And yet he found himself doing exactly what she said, driving off to the pens again.
4
Elizabeth
When Elizabeth had neared the man, she hadn’t expected him to be as handsome as he was. Because he seriously was ridiculously, unfairly handsome. And when he had spoken, his voice had been just like butter. He had the classic sort of cowboy look going for him, but with a whole lot of polish, his hair well maintained even though it was growing out, and he had plenty of muscles. But then all of that went flying out of his very nice truck’s window when she heard what sounded like the description of a sow failing to leave the pre-farrowing stage.
It was a dangerous thing to happen, and if not dealt with, it usually resulted in death, for mama and the little ones. Elizabeth wasn’t about to let that happen on her watch, even if it was just dumb luck that she was in the right place at the right time.
In her head she was already going through her mental checklist of what she needed to look for and what she needed to test. She barely noticed their surroundings as the truck flew along a drive then split off to a less polished road, but she did manage to see plenty of high-tech automation, healthy crops and expensive equipment.
That was good. If they had a bunch of money sunk into the place, they were likely to have supplies on hand that she could use. She wished that she had her emergency vet bag, but that had been left in the car because of the long trek to the city she had thought she’d been about to walk.
Sterling pulled up to what obviously had to be the barn, and Elizabeth was opening her door before he even came to a full stop, vaulting out and dashing towards where they had the pigs penned. It was a wide area, which she had expected, but what she hadn’t anticipated were nearly a dozen workers standing around while looking completely bewildered.
