Must Be Doin' Somethin' Right [The Chisholms of Texas 3] (Siren Publishing Classic)
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The Chisholms of Texas 3
Must Be Doin’ Somethin’ Right
Dillon Chisholm is not an easy man, but he is overworked. He is a dominant male who likes to be in charge at all times. Needing to hire another veterinarian to help him at the ranch, Dillon interviews Abigail Barnes. Dillon knows immediately she is the woman for him. However, as his student, she is off-limits for the next year. Will he be able to keep his hands off her? If his feelings aren't reciprocated, will Abby cry sexual harassment when Dillon makes his feelings for her known?
Abby is not looking for another dominant male in her life. Her father had been dominant in a bad way and had ruled her life until his death nearly five years ago. Now Abby is finally able to do what she wants. Will she be willing to give away control to a man, even if it is only in the bedroom?
Genre: Contemporary, Western/Cowboys
Length: 77,077 words
MUST BE DOIN’
SOMETHIN’ RIGHT
The Chisholms of Texas 3
Lea Kinkade
EROTIC ROMANCE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance
MUST BE DOIN’ SOMETHIN’ RIGHT
Copyright © 2012 by Lea Kinkade
E-book ISBN: 1-61926-425-0
First E-book Publication: April 2012
Cover design by Jinger Heaston
All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
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Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
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DEDICATION
To my husband and children for understanding when I have to go to my bat cave to write.
To the rest of my family and my friends for getting behind me and supporting this thing I do.
For my wonderful editor who has kept me honest while writing this series. I don’t know what I would do without you. To my great beta reader who has made this book better for her suggestions.
MUST BE DOIN’
SOMETHIN’ RIGHT
The Chisholms of Texas 3
LEA KINKADE
Copyright © 2012
Chapter 1
Twenty-two months ago
“Shit, you pansies. Haven’t any of you beat him since we left?” asked Ryan as he walked up to the pool table where his brothers were in the midst of a game.
“No, asshole. We haven’t. Are you done looking at my intern?” Dillon asked with a growl and a finger salute. “Don’t either one of you even think about going after her.”
“I don’t know, Dillon. She’s pretty hot. All that dark brown hair. Those deep blue eyes. That hourglass figure,” Ryder said as he mimicked the intern’s figure with a movement of his hands. “She seemed pretty interested in me. Maybe she doesn’t want to wait another year to get some Chisholm love.” Ryder smiled at his brother as he watched Xander continue to run the table. Xander had been winning when he and Ryan had gone downstairs about fifteen minutes ago, too.
“Don’t even joke about that, dumb shit! She can’t know that I’m interested in her that way until after the internship is over. Fuck. That’s all I need. A sexual harassment lawsuit.” Dillon looked truly horrified at the very idea.
“What makes you think she won’t cry sexual harassment after she’s done with the internship and you let her know what you want? Or aren’t you going to hire her?” asked Ryan with a smile he tried to hide as he racked the balls for another game.
“Oh, I’ll hire her. She’s a damn fine veterinarian. It would be stupid to let her go.” Dillon sat down at the table and brought his beer to his lips, taking a long pull.
Ryder could tell Dillon didn’t want to discuss the issue anymore, but he knew his twin. Ryan wouldn’t hesitate to put the screws to control-freak Dillon. “What, then? Are you just going to take the chance she won’t sue your ass?” Ryan lined up his shot and broke apart the rack. One of the solids went into the side pocket. As he moved around to set up another shot, he looked back at Dillon with a raised eyebrow. The other brothers were avidly listening to the exchange.
“Since when are you so interested in CRE business?” Dillon asked in a hard tone.
Ryder could tell Dillon was on the ropes and went in for the kill. “Damn, bro. Why are you so defensive? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you had real feelings for this woman.” He smiled as Dillon opened his mouth to protest this statement only to shut it again with a chagrined smile. He looked around at the rest of his brothers
“Fine, asshole.” Dillon just smiled as the game got underway in earnest. “Just wait until it’s your turn. We’ll see who’s laughing then.”
* * * *
Present Day
Abigail Barnes gave one last look around the rustic cabin that had been her home for the past two years and gave a deep sigh. Seeing that she hadn’t left anything behind, she closed and locked the door to the cabin as she got into her little red Mazda and headed into town.
It was August in southeastern Texas and it was already hot as blazes. She cranked up the air-conditioning and turned up the country music station her
radio was tuned to.
Abby looked down at the envelope sticking out of her purse. It was her veterinary license. She was officially a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. If the school hadn’t changed the requirements regarding the length of clinical internships for the veterinary program, Abby would have been done a year ago. She was lucky Dillon Chisholm agreed to let her stay on as an intern for another year. Some of her classmates hadn’t been so lucky with their internships and had to scramble for another position to get the mandatory two years in. Her clinical internship at Chisholm Ranch Enterprises had officially ended last week and, though she would start working as a full-time veterinarian for the Ranch on Monday, she had decided to move into the nearby town of Deseo, Texas, instead of living on the Ranch.
In fact, she was moving into a furnished, two-bedroom apartment over Bach Florists that was owned by Samantha Chisholm, Ryan Chisholm’s wife. The space became vacant a little over a month before because the tenant got married and moved out of the area. Samantha hadn’t rented it out right away and, instead, had some repair work and updates done to the place. Abby asked her about moving into the space as soon as she heard that the apartment was going to be available. Samantha immediately warmed to the idea and took Abby over to the apartment to show her the space right then and there. They quickly reached an agreement as to the lease.
Abby met Jordan, Samantha, and Taylor, wives of three of the Chisholm brothers, and Jessie, their sister, just after she started her clinical internship at the Ranch last fall. She had yet to meet the youngest sister, Jennifer, who was attending law school in Austin. The ladies issued her a standing invitation for their Friday-night get-together at Chaps & Spurs, a club in Deseo owned by the twins, Ryan and Ryder.
There were a lot of Chisholms to keep track of, and Abby found it a bit daunting. There were six brothers, two sisters, three daughters-in-law, one grandchild, and one more on the way. Add to that the mother and father, Cassie and Alex Chisholm, as well as assorted extended family, and gatherings at the big house were chaotic and noisy. Abby knew this for a fact as Cassie Chisholm had invited her to several over the past two years, refusing to take no for an answer.
Dillon Chisholm was a middle child and the head of the Veterinarian-Sciences Division of Chisholm Ranch Enterprises, or CRE. He was also the most lethally gorgeous man that Abby had ever met. Dillon was six feet three inches of lean, hard muscle. His jet-black hair, worn longer than the rest of his brothers to just past his shoulders, and his emerald-green eyes marked him as a Chisholm brother. The brothers looked so much alike it was uncanny. His skin was the color of caramel that proudly announced his Native American and Hispanic heritage. The man was sex on a stick. That’s what he was. Totally yummy—and he didn’t seem to notice that Abby was a woman, let alone a woman he could be interested in.
On the one hand, he looked exactly like his five brothers except for some facial hair, but on the other, he was totally unique. Abby didn’t pant after his brothers like she’d panted after Dillon for the past two years. There was something utterly unique about Dillon, with his goatee, pierced ear, tattoos, and longish hair that drove Abby to distraction. Despite being a respected vet in the veterinarian community, Abby could tell that Dillon was the wild one of the Chisholm brothers.
She saw the tattoos on his arms that were half-hidden most of the time under his muscle-hugging T-shirts. He had gotten down on his stomach in the hay several times during the past two years to help a horse foal and stripped off his shirt before doing so, not wanting to ruin it in the process. The stark black ink on his back and biceps had startled her at first. She’d never been interested in a man with tattoos before. But on Dillon, they just added to the bad-boy persona that was a total turn-on for her. Abby longed to ask him about the unusual markings on his body but hadn’t gotten up the nerve yet. Dillon didn’t seem like the type to get inked with meaningless symbols. She knew there was a story behind the tattoos. The piercing was a single piercing in his left ear decorated with a small gold hoop or a diamond stud, depending on whatever whim struck him, she guessed.
When not working, Dillon’s preferred mode of transportation was a vintage Harley-Davidson motorcycle. He was a sight to behold in his leathers, and Abby longed to snuggle up behind him and hold onto his hard, muscular body as they rode carefree down the highway. Up to this point, her fantasies had remained just that—fantasies.
After nearly four months on the job, Dillon had begun to leave her in charge while he took some much-needed time off. He still took his share of weekend duty, but one weekend, when Dillon was off, a prize brood mare had gone into labor unexpectedly. Knowing how important this mare was to the breeding operation, Abby did not hesitate to call in Dillon when it looked like the mare was going to have a difficult delivery. He had shown up on his Harley with his leathers on, and Abby had fallen the rest of the way in lust with him. The man looked good in leather. What could she say?
He went to the clinic office to change his clothes—he kept a spare change of clothes in the office and had advised Abby to do the same—but let Abby take the lead in helping the mare to foal her colt. When they had to intervene and help the foal from the birth canal, he got down right beside Abby and helped her pull the new life into the world. It had felt good to work as a team with him. When Abby hugged Dillon in excitement after the foal was born, Dillon’s body stiffened and he set her away from him quickly, putting some physical distance between them much the way he kept his emotional distance from her for the past two years. Sometimes she caught him looking at her with a heated look in his eyes, but once he noticed her, the heat quickly dissolved, making her wonder whether or not she had imagined the look.
So, given her seemingly unrequited attraction for the man, she needed to put some physical and emotional distance between them before she did something really stupid—like jump his bones. Abby had spent the past two years fighting and hiding her growing feelings for Dillon Chisholm. She knew it wouldn’t have been appropriate for either of them to act on any attraction they might feel for the other while she was, for all intents and purposes, his student. Over the past two years, Dillon hadn’t shown any overt interest in Abby as a woman. Despite her daytime fantasies about the heat with which he sometimes looked at her, he treated her respectfully and professionally even while Abby had secretly lusted after the sexy vet.
Besides, she didn’t want to be attracted to Dillon. He wasn’t what she would call suitable boyfriend material. Despite his laid-back appearance, Abby knew Dillon was the dominant type. He demanded compliance in their working relationship, and that was fine with Abby. After all, he had more experience and this was his family’s ranch. However, Abby suspected that Dillon was also dominant in other aspects of his personality though he didn’t seem to be a male chauvinist or anything. He opened doors for her and treated her like a lady but he let her take the lead plenty of times in caring for the animals on the Ranch even when it was nasty, dirty work. Her father had been a dominant man and, she could now admit to herself, both physically and emotionally abusive. She had no wish to subject herself to another domineering male in her private life. Oh, she knew Dillon would never hit her, not even in anger. He just wasn’t the type. But emotional abuse could sometimes do more harm than physical abuse did. Abby’s father had only ever struck her one time, but that was enough to make her worried that he might do it again. His emotional abuse was that much more destructive after he had hit her that one time as Abby waited for him to escalate to the point of physical violence again. So, she’d just have to lust after Dillon quietly and enjoy the eye candy when she got the chance.
Right now, she needed to head into town with her clothes and other things and get the key to her new apartment from Samantha at the flower shop. Samantha said she’d be there until eleven this morning and Abby had several things to get after she moved her meager belongings into the apartment.
Keys in hand, she loaded up with her two suitcases and struggled up the stairs in the back of the building
to her new home. It was a two-bedroom, one-bathroom, furnished space. The carpet had been replaced and there was a fresh coat of paint on all of the walls. The bathroom had been updated as well as the kitchen, and the place smelled brand-spanking new.
She threw her suitcases on the bed and went back down for one of the three boxes she’d left in the Mazda. After a couple more trips, all of her worldly possessions were in the apartment. She unpacked her clothing and put the items away in the dresser and walk-in closet then got started on unpacking the boxes. An hour later, she had made a mental list of what she needed from the store and was on her way to the Walmart at the edge of town to buy what she needed.
Since the Chisholms had paid her a salary during her clinical internship, as well as provided the fully furnished cabin free of charge, her savings account had increased substantially. She was able to get everything she needed without worrying too much about the cost. Finally out on her own, she needed everything. Bedding, bath towels, small appliances, and the like. She even splurged and purchased a Keurig single-serve coffeemaker.
Abby was something of a coffee snob and would enjoy being able to make a fresh cup of gourmet coffee whenever she wanted one. Having been in both Jordan and Jessie’s homes on several occasions, she had enjoyed the fresh brew they had been able to make for her at a moment’s notice. The cabin had a regular automatic coffeemaker, so she hadn’t indulged herself with the Keurig up to that point. Now, however, she saw no reason not to buy what she wanted.