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

by Natalie Dean

  “Well, it helps that I’m dating one of the boys of that family. The grapevine’s pretty short there.”

  “You’re uh… dating in that family?”

  Despite Elizabeth’s best attempt to keep her tone perfectly polite for the woman who was essentially saving her bacon, she clearly didn’t do a good job because Teddy let out a soft laugh.

  “I know what you’re thinking. And yeah, that family is a real trip. Exactly how you’d imagine a bunch of rich types running around. But Solomon and Silas? They’re different. They’re real good at seeing things from a practical perspective and actually care about more than money.”

  Oh. That had to cause some interesting family dynamics. “What about Sterling?”

  “Ah yeah, that’s the one you were lucky to meet. Sterling is… well, he’s Sterling.” Teddy laughed again, but Elizabeth just held her stare steady. She needed more data. “See, he and my boyfriend are twins, and they have a lot in common. They’re both ridiculously smart, real good at reading people and prone to getting antsy when they’re bored. Also have a matching pair of insecurity complexes on ’em, thanks to their father.”

  There was another pause.

  “I feel like there’s something else you want to say,” Elizabeth prompted finally while the woman looked over the paperwork attached to the dirty clipboard in her hands.

  “I… alright, woman to woman. Sterling is handsome and smart and witty and real good with smooth talk. But he’s definitely, I dunno, hunting for something, and I’m not sure if anyone should really be that something.”

  Alarm bells sounded in the back of her head. “You mean he’s a predator?”

  “Oh no! Nothing like that! I just mean that it’s super clear to me that he feels like he’s missing something, while denying that he’s missing something, so most of the time he focuses his energy on whatever new thing one of his brothers has to see if that fills the hole.

  “I know their older brother Solomon turned down an engagement to a woman in a rich family. Val…gado? Vall…something or other. So then Sterling started dating two of the sisters. But then he got bored, broke it off with both of them, and that didn’t go well either.”

  “So, he’s a cat around the town then?” Elizabeth said. She knew the type. Men who had too much money and power always thought they could get everything and had loose attitudes towards sex.

  “No, not that either.” She leaned forward, her voice dropping low. “Look, I shouldn’t tell you this because it’s pretty personal, but Silas told me his brother broke it off with the girls because both of them were pressuring him to be intimate, and he wasn’t into it.”

  “Is he gay?” She knew how hateful some folks could be, and how they liked to use the Bible as their bludgeoning weapon. She never understood that, as it seemed like just about the most un-Jesus thing that a supposed Jesus-follower could do.

  “Silas doesn’t think so. Sterling just wants to wait, you know. Until he’s married and all. Silas is the same way.”

  That was interesting. Ever since she was young, Elizabeth had been so keyed into becoming a vet that she didn’t have time or space for anything else. Especially dating. Naturally, in college most of her friends had convinced her there was something wrong with her, some reason why she didn’t want to date or have any romance at all. But that was crazy. She had other priorities. And why waste the time dating when it was more practical and appropriate to wait for the right guy? Besides, waiting for marriage showed she respected herself.

  “Right, well anyways, I’m only telling you since you’re going to be a woman on the ranch and working in close quarters with them. When I was first there, Sterling sort of set his sights on me—mostly because of some sort of twin rivalry thing. He was never inappropriate and didn’t cross any boundaries, but I guess I just wanted you to know because it can be… intimidating having someone like them flirting with you.”

  “Especially since he’s the one that gave me the job.”

  “Yeah. That’s a real wild part, let me tell you. Sterling really only does things for the ranch if his father specifically tells him what to do, so him going out on a limb is right fascinating.”

  Elizabeth nodded. That was an awful lot of information about her employer, and some of it did feel quite private. And maybe Teddy and Silas didn’t really know why Sterling made the choices he did. Elizabeth didn’t know why she had such a hard time believing that the handsome, rich man wasn’t a real gigolo, but maybe that was because he was both handsome and rich with a voice that slid down her spine like velvet.

  “Anyways, I didn’t want to stress you out. I just wanted to… I guess give you the sort of scoop I wish I’d had when I first started working there. It was a pretty stressful time of my life, and I sort of built the guys up in my head as these terrible monsters who were trying to take advantage of me.”

  “And they weren’t?”

  She shook her head. “I wouldn’t be dating one if they were. In fact, I would have probably punched them in their unfairly handsome faces.”

  Elizabeth chuckled at that. “I wouldn’t recommend decking rich people. They don’t take kindly to that.”

  Teddy’s grin grew wolfish. “Oh, I know. The whole reason I was there was because I tried to pummel a millionaire competitor of theirs into the ground, but my brother got to him first.”

  Now that gave Elizabeth pause. “You’re kidding?”

  So many white, pearly teeth were bared in Teddy’s smile, and Elizabeth loved it. “I ain’t never kidded about that and I don’t think I ever will.” She reached into her pocket and handed over the lanyard Elizabeth had left with the worker the previous evening. “Anyway, here’s your keys. Best of luck on your first day. Make sure you have a big water bottle on you. They’ve got spigots around and the like, but it takes valuable time to go back and forth between the two, and their mini-fridges are filled up with the tiniest water bottles.”

  “I know what you mean. I drained one in practically three gulps.”

  “Ain’t that right? It’s Texas, what’s with the little sixteen-ounce serving?” They shared another laugh, then Teddy was giving a crooked little salute. “I’ll have Roman bring the car around. Hopefully I’ll see you again for a non-mechanic-related reason.”

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind that.”

  “Me either. Just remember not to fall in love with any of those boys, because I definitely snatched up the best one.” Her face grew serious. “And watch out for Sal. He’s jonesing for Solomon’s old position.”

  “What do you mean by—”

  But Teddy was already through the door into the mechanic shop, the heavy wood entrance swinging closed behind her.

  Huh.

  Not the best note to end it on, but Elizabeth just shrugged and went about everything she needed to do. Only a bit later, she was in her car and headed to the ranch, following the GPS until she reached the part where Sterling had to give her manual directions.

  Because apparently their estate was so large, as was their enterprise, that she would get hopelessly lost before ever getting near the pens. Elizabeth kept trying to mentally map out how big that exactly must be, but she never was quite able to put together the total acreage. Surely it couldn’t be so big.

  It was.

  The first time she’d been on the ranch, she’d been concentrating on getting to Peggy so hard, running through her mental checklists, that she hadn’t realized just how long it had taken them to get from point A to point B. So, as she drove through for the first time on her own, she was wryly grateful for the directions.

  Elizabeth finally arrived at the pigpens, grabbing her notebook, a pen, and her fancy sort of hip-pack that she put her phone in and clipped her thermos to. It was made of leather, with a belt attachment that went through the loops of her jeans and another strap that buckled around her thigh. It had been something she had salivated over for years but could never justify the cost of it. But then her dad had bought it for her as a graduation present,
and she used it whenever she could.

  He shouldn’t have, considering he was on a fixed income and they were both struggling to pay off her mother’s funeral. Nevertheless, he must have saved for a couple of months with his part-time grocery job that he was able to keep even though he was retired, and that touched Elizabeth more than he could ever know.

  Her father was something else, as lonely as he had been since her mother left the world. He was the one she got her drive from. And with the sudden pay hike she was going to get from the Millers, Elizabeth was already daydreaming of what she could do for him.

  But first, the pigs.

  She started at one end, walking around and writing everything she spotted that needed work. Improvement. She figured she needed to aim astronomically high in order for Sterling to negotiate her down to something passable. It was a tactic she had learned in high school, and it served her well into adulthood.

  Except when it came to stubborn old veterinarians who needed to retire, it seemed.

  “What do you think?” she asked the closest pig. She didn’t have to worry about any humans misinterpreting and thinking she was talking to them, because there wasn’t a single worker around as far as she could tell.

  Maybe they were hiding, scared of her after her first display there. Oh well, all the better for her.

  “Maybe some traffic cones? And some buried logs for rooting? Yeah, you’d like that, wouldn’t you beautiful? Something for you to not be bored, huh?” Elizabeth reached over the part of the fence she was inspecting, scratching the top of the pig’s head. The poor girl had bite marks on her ears and tail, which was a classic sign of some very bored and frustrated animals.

  So many people didn’t get how smart pigs were, and without the proper enrichment, they turned destructive. Pigs loved to chew and needed both hard things and soft, destroyable things.

  “And how about some feed balls too? Some salt licks? Would you like that? I bet you would like that, wouldn’t you gorgeous? Well, you just give me your opinion whenever you got it, okay?”

  The sow gave some appreciative grunts, and Elizabeth couldn’t help but wonder if she was the only one who ever talked to these animals. How sad. She wondered if she could add human interaction to her list. Sure, the animals were going to end up as food, but that didn’t mean they had to be treated like factory by-products. They deserved care, respect and gratitude for everything they would provide.

  “Don’t worry. I’m gonna fight for you guys, okay?”

  Elizabeth gave herself a nod and continued to move along. Of course, her progress would go faster if she didn’t stop to ask most of the curious hogs how they were and give them some solid chin scratches, but she wasn’t going to not chat considering the complete lack of enrichment around them.

  She had made it into the interior of the barn when she heard a pair of assured footsteps behind her. Turning, she saw Sterling, but was surprised to see an almost exact copy of him too.

  Huh, she had heard that they were twins, but she hadn’t expected them to be identical. And they certainly were, all strong jawlines and intense gazes that probably intimidated a good number of people.

  Sure, there were slight differences between them. Sterling’s hair was clearly grown a bit more, forming a gentle, casual wave across the top of his head, and he had about ten or so more pounds of muscle on him. But other than that, it was clear that when God made one of them, he decided he did such a good job on the package that he needed to make it twice.

  “Hey there. I see you’re already hard at work. Can’t say I’m surprised though.” Sterling affixed her with a dazzler of a smile, and if Elizabeth still wasn’t so latently angry about the pig situation, she might have been moved by it.

  Or maybe swoon was a better word for it. But either way, she let it wash over her and moved right along. Men could be pretty sometimes, sure, but it wasn’t something to get worked up over when she had so much on her plate.

  “I’m making a list of everything that needs to be improved or completely redone.”

  “Wait, what’s going on?” the other said, which had to be Silas going by what Teddy had said earlier. “You’re planning renovations? Does Dad know you’re taking another project under your wing? Is the soil one even wrapped up?”

  Elizabeth watched Sterling’s face as he answered. Strangely enough, he looked a little uncomfortable. That was interesting. But the man just shrugged, making a dismissed gesture. “You and Solomon aren’t the only ones who have ambition. Let’s just say I saw an opportunity and I took it.”

  Oh… less interesting. Elizabeth rolled her eyes and returned to her inspection. It seemed that his interest in the pigs was just some sort of rich sibling rivalry pettiness. Wealthy family drama was something for prime-time television, not her working hours. Besides, all she cared about was whether the pigs were getting the better end of the stick, and if things worked out like they had all agreed, they would.

  The two brothers continued to talk, Silas asking questions and Sterling giving non-answers. The older twin wasn’t being aggressive, as far as she could tell with what little attention she was sparing for them. He was just curious. But Sterling was clearly not about it. He kept giving half or non-answers, clearly trying to have the subject die. Eventually, Elizabeth almost felt bad for him and she found herself asking a question in a flat tone, interrupting their not-really-a-conversation.

  “So, who do I need to speak to about setting up direct deposit and my benefits?”

  The two blinked at her, as if they had forgotten that she was there entirely. It was Silas who answered.

  “That would be Solomon, actually. He’s up in his office now, so if you’d like, and you have the necessary info, I’d be happy to take you there.”

  “Thank you. I hate paperwork, so it’ll be nice to get it out of the way.”

  There, she had done her good deed for the day. As a thank-you for paying her double the going rate for a recently graduated vet. But that was it. If he wanted to get on her good side, he had to do right by all the animals first.

  7

  Sterling

  “I guess I just don’t get what you think you’re doing,” Silas said.

  Sterling just stared at his twin, who was leaning up against the counter, trying to look nonchalant but appearing anything but. Yeah, maybe he should have thought of an explanation for Elizabeth once his family found out about her, but he’d thought he had more time. Not her first day on the job. Besides, he wasn’t even sure if she was going to stick around.

  And yet she had, and at the end of the workday, she’d promised him her report would be in his email before she went to sleep that night. And that he could expect another the next day. And the next until she was finished assessing the pens and at that point, they would decide if they wanted to move on to other animal habitats on the ranch.

  To be perfectly honest, Sterling hadn’t thought that far ahead. He hadn’t taken the time to figure out how they were going to budget the salary he had offered her. Which, as it turns out, had been on the generous side. His father would be even more peeved if he found out one of his middle sons was overpaying. Sterling didn’t do it purposefully. He’d been relatively sure that he was lowballing her when he’d offered her what would work out to be around eighty-eight thousand or so if she ended up lasting a whole year—which seemed about as possible as pigs flying and the south giving up their sweet tea. But apparently, about seventy-five thousand was the average for a farm veterinarian. Then there was all the costs of the repairs and “enrichment” that were going to be in her report.

  So yeah, maybe he should have thought things through a little more, but that wasn’t any reason for Silas to stand there and lecture him like he was stupid.

  “Good thing you don’t need to then, huh? You can worry yourself with the community center and whatever you’re planning to surprise Teddy.”

  “Who says I’m planning a surprise for Teddy?”

  Sterling affixed his brother wi
th a look. “You’re my twin. I can tell these things.”

  Silas flushed, unable to hold in his emotions as usual. That was the reason that Solomon had been supposed to be the inheritor of the empire even though Silas was brilliant at acquisitions and understanding financial trends. The second oldest was often as cool as a cucumber while the elder twin had the worst poker face.

  “Stop trying to change the subject. We’re talking about you and this veterinarian you randomly hired as a contractor.”

  “Why are you making such a stink about it? Usually you can’t be bothered with what I’m doing. Haven’t you spent the last few months practically chasing me away?”

  “Of course, you’d call it that when you kept insisting on making Teddy uncomfortable.”

  “Uncomfortable, huh? Yeah, because I’m such a predator, we know that. Just because you’re too awkward to banter with the girl that you’re madly in love with doesn’t mean that I’m a bad guy for doing so.”

  “You are so frustrating, Sterling. I don’t think you’re a bad guy. You’re my twin! I just… I just don’t get you sometimes.”

  “What’s to get? I’m not like a soil experiment. I’m your brother. And, I might add, a grown man.” He could tell that Silas was gearing up to say something else, to explain himself maybe, but he was so very done. He was done with the entire day. But instead of more lecturing, his older brother just sighed.

  “I’m glad that you’re taking more interest in the ranch again. I think it would do us all some good to, you know, go back to how things were when we were younger.”

  “Things have always been this way, Silas. We just didn’t realize it until we were old enough to be bought into the business.”

  “…maybe.”

  He didn’t say anything after that, and Sterling took it as his cue to leave. He was irritated and the end of his nerves felt more than frazzled. He wasn’t used to flying by the seat of his pants. Of all of his brothers, he was probably the least ambitious and wasn’t used to having to juggle so many of his own plans all at once. After all, he was a middle son and a younger twin. What else was there for him to do other than public events, where he was assumed to be Silas at anyway?