The Cowboy Falls for the Veterinarian: Western Romance (Miller Brothers of Texas Book 3)

by Natalie Dean

  “Is there a reason why your vet has been delayed in getting here?” she asked the closest one.

  “Our vet?” they murmured faintly.

  That was not a good sign. But Elizabeth didn’t let that stop her. Every moment was precious. She kept right on walking towards the nearest door that looked like it led into the pens. She could just hop the fence, but she needed equipment first.

  “Where’s your medical bag?” she asked the moment she was in. But she was met with more uncertain looks. “You have animals, yes? Then where is the emergency medical bag for when your vet arrives? Surely you have something!”

  “We have a couple of vets on retainer through a service. They drive in with their full equipment from the city or we transport the livestock to them. Although usually, the animal is just put down if it’s going to be in pain.”

  Elizabeth whipped around to see that the handsome man had followed her, although he looked a bit perplexed. “Your closest veterinary care is over an hour away and you have no emergency supplies? What happens when something… well, something like this happens?”

  Why was he looking at her like she was bizarre for being keyed up? An animal was in pain and no one knew what to do! When one relied on animals for their living, they owed their livestock respect and caring. And part of that was having a plan for an emergency.

  “Like I said, we put the animal down, more often than not. Humanely, of course.”

  If it were any other situation, Elizabeth would have read him the riot act. But as it were, a sow was in pain with a preventable condition and needed her help.

  “Fine! I need your human first aid kit. And garbage bags! And if you have any rubbing alcohol, I might even take vodka if you have it.” She pointed to one of the workers that looked the muddiest, like he might have been in the pens for a while. “You. Lead me to Peggy.”

  Thankfully no one questioned her. A few scattered, she guessed to get the supplies she asked for, and the one led her into the pens. She was relieved to see that they were heading to a smaller one that was mostly indoors. After the debacle with the bag, she was worried that they wouldn’t even have birthing pens.

  “She went in there herself?” Elizabeth asked, eyeing the ol’ girl. She was lying on her side and breathing heavily, the poor thing, and she wasn’t the peachy-pale color one would hope. No, almost ashen. It broke Elizabeth’s heart to see her laboring so, and it wasn’t going to get better.

  In fact, if she didn’t get in there, it was going to get a whole lot worse.

  “I’m sorry,” the handsome man said, coming up behind her.

  What was his name again? Silver something?

  “But what’s going on here again? And why are you using a first aid kit?”

  Normally Elizabeth would just brush him off. She hated stupid questions even more than she hated trying to explain her thoughts to other people. It was a waste of time nine out of ten, as usually they didn’t understand the terms she needed to use.

  “Your pig is going to die unless I help her. If she can’t leave the pre-farrowing stage, the birthing won’t go anywhere, but her body will fight real hard to force things along anyway. It doesn’t spell out anything good for the mama or the piglets, and it’s incredibly painful.” He opened his mouth, and she held up her hand. “If you’re going to say anything about putting this creature down for something that is easily treatable while you’re within my kicking distance, well I highly recommend you reevaluate your word choice.”

  His mouth snapped closed.

  “Now where is that first aid kit?!” she hollered.

  One of the workers came dashing up to her, pushing a small cart. She was relieved to see the first aid kit was more like a first aid trunk, and practically ripped open the top.

  Bandages, rubbing alcohol, burn cream, antihistamine cream. That was a good sign. She dug deeper and found what she hoped would be buried towards the bottom, tweezers for splinters and the like then—Aha!—there it was. An emergency blade to cut off clothing in case of it getting caught in a machine or pinning someone.

  She yanked out the whole package for it and set about ripping it apart. The more time she took, the less of a chance of survival Peggy had. So she needed to work fast.

  The rest of the world fell away as she amassed all of her supplies then shoved them into the arms of one of the workers, ordering him to follow her. He did so, and the two of them made their way to the poor girl.

  “Hey there,” Elizabeth said soothingly as she approached. Pigs were funny creatures. They were whip-smart and kind, but they also could eat anything. That led to a very strange dichotomy of them being quite loving and friendly but also able to take off a hand if the mood suited them.

  And she’d seen what happened when it did suit them, and she certainly didn’t want that to be her.

  Peggy let out a truly heartbreaking noise, and Elizabeth took a step closer. “Oh sweetie. It sounds like you’re in a lot of pain, but I’m here to help. I’ve done this before, so you don’t have to worry; this is practically going to be a breeze.”

  She knew that some thought it was strange that she talked to the animals like they were human patients, but it worked for her, and it seemed to work for the creatures she helped as well, so she never saw the harm.

  “I know you’re probably thirsty and more than a bit hungry, but that needs to wait for a little longer, okay?”

  Peggy let out a wuffle that would have been adorable in any other situation, but in the current circumstances mostly just seemed very sad. Swallowing hard to keep her emotions down, Elizabeth closed the small distance between them, setting her hand on Peggy’s side. She was way too warm and probably dehydrated. If she was only back at the vet’s office—

  She cut off that kind of thought. She wasn’t there, and she wasn’t going to get Peggy there so better not to waste energy on it. Instead, she poured all the love and warmth into her hands, willing her patient to be able to feel it and be put at ease.

  Once she felt that was done, she stepped away and grabbed the rubbing alcohol then poured all the way along her arms. Then she put on the latex gloves that were inside and poured the rubbing alcohol over her again. Considering that she was going to be working in an unsterile environment—not uncommon with farm animals—she needed to take all the precautions she could.

  “Stay here and do everything I say,” she said flatly to the worker, her mind already switching into doctor mode.

  And in her doctor mode, there was only her and the patient. Turning back to Peggy, she knelt down next to the poor mama-to-be and got to work, murmuring comforts the entire time. It wasn’t easy, and Peggy may have clipped her with her back feet once or twice, but after a half-hour of solid work, the sow was going into farrow. That was the biggest roadblock, and for a moment Elizabeth had been worried it was one they wouldn’t get over. But they did, well Peggy did, and the next thing Elizabeth knew, she was helping Peggy birth piglets.

  Oh, they were cute, chunky little things. And only four of them. Strange that a sow would have trouble going into farrow on such a small litter, but she supposed sometimes those things just happened. Then again, when she recalled how little resources there were around, maybe Miss Peggy was doomed from the start.

  “You did good, mama,” Elizabeth murmured before rising to her feet, her knees protesting painfully. Ugh, she was only just barely thirty; she was too young for her body to hurt the way it did.

  “I got you a water,” an especially young worker said as she walked out of the pen, holding out a cool bottle.

  Elizabeth took it gratefully and gulped it down.

  “Make sure you get water and some food real close to Peggy for her to eat when she wants. And call those useless veterinarians that you supposedly have on contract.” Stronger language than Elizabeth would normally ever use in a professional setting, but she was right mad. What would have happened if her car hadn’t broken down? A poor animal would have died an incredibly painful death and taken all of her
babies with her just because her owners were irresponsible.

  Elizabeth couldn’t be more unimpressed by all the fancy equipment and nice buildings surrounding her. None of it meant anything if the animals were mistreated. Elizabeth ate meat; she was well aware of what went into farming for the sake of food. But she also knew there was a kind and loving and respectful way to treat livestock, and then one that was only obsessed with profit. One that treated living creatures like nothing more than dollar signs. And she didn’t need a grand tour to know what kind of place she was in.

  How foul.

  5

  Sterling

  Watching the woman work was something else.

  The last thing Sterling had ever expected was for his hitchhiker to basically hijack the pigpens and start ordering everyone about, but that was exactly what she did.

  And she didn’t seem to have a single qualm doing it either.

  Sterling had never seen someone come in and take over a situation like that, then proceed to calm a very upset pig which weighed very much more than her, then get coated in all sorts of liquids and waste that no one would want to get covered with. And yet, she didn’t even bat an eye.

  If he didn’t know better, he would think that it was her ranch and she’d known Peggy her whole piggy life. And yet, the two had just met. In fact, he’d just met the mystery woman too.

  What were the chances that the woman stranded in front of their house also happened to be a veterinarian with a specialization in farm animals!? That was the kind of thing that would have Mom fanning her face and claiming that “God is good,” but Sterling honestly didn’t find God in most of their business enterprise.

  She was like a force of nature, this Elizabeth Brown. All of her energy had been focused on the pig. He could practically feel it in the air, despite her completely calm and collected demeanor otherwise. The workers seemed to be caught up in it too, most of them watching her, awestruck.

  Sterling was approaching her afterward without even consciously telling himself to do so, watching the dark column of her neck bob as she completely drained the water bottle that had been handed to her. She reminded him of an old story his mother used to tell him, one that stood hazily in the farther parts of his memory. A legend about how forests and rivers and mountains used to be alive with spirit guardians who fiercely protected them. She could be a protector, as covered in filth as she was.

  “That was—”

  He didn’t even get the congratulations out before she turned to him with a look that most definitely wasn’t a happy one.

  “Are you kidding me?” was what she said instead, handing the empty water bottle to a worker who quickly replaced it with another.

  “Pardon me?” Sterling asked, blinking at her.

  She was using a tone that he wasn’t used to hearing. No one used that kind of tone on him, not even his parents. It was a combination of disappointment along with a whole bunch of righteous anger, and he had no idea what he could have possibly done to warrant that.

  “I said, are you kidding me,” she repeated. Nope, that look and tone weren’t going anywhere, it seemed. “How is it you have a nice car, designer cowboy boots there, a building that would make some ranchers weep, but you don’t even have basic care for your animals?”

  Wait, what? Not have basic care? Sterling looked around at the wide sow pen, with its watering troughs and the parts that extended both in and out of the barn. “We…don’t?” he said finally, trying to catch up.

  A lot had happened in the past thirty minutes, in his defense. He went from knight in shining armor of a very attractive but stranded motorist to watching a live birth of a pig that was also getting its life saved, to being dressed down by a woman who looked like she didn’t care that he was bigger, taller and richer than her.

  Her eyes went wide at his question, but the anger only got worse. Apparently, that was not the right thing to say. “No! It’s not! It’s not even close! Look, I know that these animals are how you make your money, but if you can’t even afford to give them proper care, to respect them for what they give to you, then you shouldn’t have them!” Her words picked up speed as she went along and suddenly, it was like someone had shown a light on what was going on.

  She cared about the animals.

  That shouldn’t have been a revelation. She was a vet; of course she had to like animals at least a little. But none of their contracted help ever reacted like she was, and he realized there was a difference between their businesslike way of coming in and cleaning up emergencies or putting sick animals down, and Elizabeth’s knock-out, knuckle-biting push to make sure they were healthy.

  And for some reason, that suddenly seemed very significant.

  “Even if you want to take out the fact that it’s our God-given responsibility to be good shepherds to his creatures, do you really think neglected animals make good food? That they taste great or are nourishing? Even from a greedy, money standpoint, this is unacceptable.” She threw her hands up in the air, all passion and heartache under her furrowed brows. He wondered what had happened to her, what she had seen to make her want to fight so hard for animals that most people thought of as stinky and gross.

  “And now you’re telling me you don’t even know that you’re lacking!?” She looked around at all of the men around her. “None of you know what you’re doing, do you? How to treat, feed and take care of these pigs? Huh?” There were a few muttered responses, but most of the workers had conveniently headed somewhere else when her scolding had started. “You really don’t. Sweet glory, none of y’all have a clue. It would take a good vet and team of contractors at least a year to go around fixing all of this and making sure your ship is straight. Because I’m willing to bet the rest of your ranch is like this too. Irresponsible, I tell you. Irresponsible.”

  “Okay,” Sterling heard his mouth say as he watched her mouth move. Her lips were so full and such a pretty gradient that he didn’t think he’d ever seen before. From dark, umberish brown to a deep sort of pink. The moving colors punctuated her words, drawing him into every syllable they made.

  Her tirade paused, and she narrowed her eyes at him. “What do you mean?”

  Oh, had he said something? Swallowing, Sterling caught onto the tail end of his thought and just dived right along with it.

  “I mean, okay, then do it.”

  There was that wide-eyed look again, and for the first time she seemed at a loss for words. “Do… what?”

  It was insane. He knew that. He knew that even as the words left his mouth. But he meant them wholeheartedly. Silas told him that he had a habit of diving into things feet first—which was basically how the whole firecracker accident happened—but what did Silas know? He was off burning through Father’s goodwill while running around with a mechanic from the city.

  “Fix this place. Make it good for the animals. I want you to do it.”

  “…you can’t be serious.”

  “I am. You say we need a good vet to tell us what’s what, well I’m not seeing any better one around right now. That is, if you think you’re up for it?”

  There was that narrowed-eyed gaze again, but he could already see her shoulders and back straightening as she rose to his challenge. “This is a paid consultation, of course,” she stated rather than asked.

  Oh, he liked her chutzpah. He liked it a lot.

  “Naturally. I wouldn’t dream of having it otherwise.”

  “Somehow, I doubt that.”

  6

  Elizabeth

  Elizabeth rubbed her fingers over the smooth silicone of her phone case, trying to resist the urge to chew on the rubbery-textured material. She didn’t do well with sitting still, but she found herself having to as she waited in the reception area of the auto shop, about to pick up her car and then head to her new job.

  She couldn’t believe it.

  It had been only two days ago that she was jobless with a broken-down car, and in just a few moments, she was going to be driving to he
r brand-new veterinary consultant gig.

  She hadn’t meant for anything to happen as it did. She certainly hadn’t planned on saving a sow’s life and then yelling at the owner of a massive enterprise. But her heart had gotten in front of her brain, and the next thing she knew, she was hauling out her always-ready soapbox about the treatment of animals.

  Oh yeah, she’d googled the Millers once she’d gotten to her hotel room a couple of hours after saving Peggy. It had been one of the workers who had driven her, the same one who had fetched her the water bottles, and she had gotten the feeling that he was kind of afraid of her. Oh well, probably not a bad thing. Whenever she saw people taking advantage of creatures, she usually wanted to deck someone. And when she found out that Mr. Sterling—apparently not Silver—and his family were worth literally over a billion dollars, her rage had increased that much more.

  They had so. Much. Money. She didn’t understand why their animals were in less-than-mediocre conditions. She didn’t understand how none of them were vets or had one on-premise at all times. There was no animal husbandry that she could see, and that was enough to have her spitting mad.

  “Oh, hey there! You’re the new vet for the Miller Ranch, right? I’m Teddy.”

  Elizabeth looked up from the especially chewable corner of her phone case to see a woman standing in the doorway that must have led back to the mechanics’ garage.

  “Yes, I’m Elizabeth. You heard about that already?” she asked, standing up and crossing to shake the woman’s hand. Her grip was as firm as Elizabeth had expected given her broad shoulders and posture, which the vet appreciated. If anyone got what it was like to be a woman in a male-dominated field, it was clearly the mechanic in front of her.