They had to take it slow since Maybel’s gait was mired so heavily by her giant pregnant belly. By the time they made it back to the barn, half the day had already gotten away from Cassie and she hadn’t even begun on her daily chores yet, plus she still had damage to clean up from that danged storm.
She’d taken to mending the fence when a woman in a crisp business suit strode up, her heels sinking into the dirt. When she finally made it over, she offered her hand along with an uneasy look.
“C-can I help you?” Cassie rose to a standing position and wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead.
“I heard you’re looking to sell some land. You’re Cassandra Brown, right? We spoke on the phone yesterday. If this is a bad time, I can—”
“Oh, no, it’ s a great time. Sorry, I was so busy cleaning up after the storm that I completely forgot about our appointment. Thanks for coming by.” She wiped her palms on her jeans and then shook the woman’s hand.
“It’s really no problem. You have a beautiful piece of land here. Are you looking to sell the whole thing to one buyer or to split it up a bit?”
“Well, I’m hoping neither. If you could help me out with an appraisal, I could figure out how much I need to come up with so I can buy out my sister, and then maybe she’ll let me set up a payment plan, and I won’t have to sell it at all.”
The realtor’s expression softened. “This place means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”
“More than you could ever know. If I have to break off pieces to sell, I will, but first we need to exhaust all the other options. Can you help me do that?”
“Well, I can certainly try, but I can tell you right now that it’s going to take a lot of cash to buy out the other stakeholder. Your sister, is it?”
Cassie’s heart sank. “Yeah.”
“We’ll do everything we can, I promise. I’ll schedule an appraisal for some time later this week. Until then, try to relax. I know how stressful things like this can be, but you’ll need your wits about you to make this work, one way or the other. It probably wouldn’t hurt to say some prayers.”
“I understand, thank you, Ms. Genet.”
“Call me May.”
May Genet? Cassie didn’t mean to laugh, but she just couldn’t help herself.
“Is everything all right?” May’s brows pinched. People probably commented on her unusual name all the time, and here Cassie was being all rude to the one woman who was most in a position to help her save the ranch.
“Sorry, sorry. I just didn’t realize your name was May. Do you believe in signs? My best girl is named May. Well, Maybel. Actually, would you like to meet her?” Maybe if the two Mays met, this one would understand that Cassie hadn’t been making fun of her at all. Suddenly, it became very important that they do just that.
The realtor hesitated but followed Cassie the short distance to the barn where Maybel lay heaving on her side.
Cassie raced to the cow’s side. “Maybel, girl, what’s wrong?” She petted the cow’s head, but Maybel remained completely distraught. Had Cassie been so distracted by Rhett’s visit that she’d missed any early warning signs Maybel had tried to give her?
“Is—is she okay?” the human May asked.
“I don’t know,” Cassie sobbed. “I hope so.”
“I have another appointment to get to, but can I call somebody to come out and help? I hate to leave you like this.”
Cassie glanced up at the realtor and attempted to smile, but she just couldn’t. Instead she decided to take the other woman up on her offer for help. “Can you call the Riverside Large Animal Hospital please? Ask for Judy. She’s the one who knows Maybel’s charts best.”
She handed May her cell phone and continued to sit in the hay stroking the cow’s face and neck as they waited.
After making the call, May returned Cassie’s phone and bent down to squeeze her on the shoulder. “I’m so sorry, but I really do have to go. This next client doesn’t like to be kept waiting. I hope you understand.” She offered one last uneasy look then disappeared through the bright doorway of the barn while Cassie sat in the dark and waited.
Luckily, the vet didn’t take long to arrive. “It’s a good thing you called me when you did. She’s really struggling with the weight of this calf.”
This, of course, was not what Cassie wanted to hear. “What can we do?”
“It’s still a few days before her due date, but I think our best bet is to induce. Otherwise, God forbid she go past her date and the calf get even bigger. She’s going to have a tough delivery as it is. We need to focus on making things as easy as possible for her. It’s getting late now and I don’t have my induction kit with me, but I can come back in the morning and we’ll deliver ourselves a calf.”
Cassie nodded but still felt so worried about Maybel, about everything. “Will she be okay?”
“I can’t make any guarantees, but I’ll do what I can. She’s a good cow, and the drugs will make it so she only feels minimal pain. After this, you should probably avoid getting her pregnant again though. I’m not sure she could survive another calf.”
She nodded again. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Stay with her, talk to her. Act like you normally would with a sick friend. I know how much Maybel means to you, Cass, and I promise I’ll do my best.”
Cassie meant to nod again, to say thank you, but instead she burst into sobs.
Judy knelt down and hugged her. “Are you going to be okay, Cass?”
“Don’t worry about me. Maybel needs you. I’ll be fine.” She wiped at her tears and forced a smile. Her words, though, felt empty. Would she be okay? It seemed like everything that could go wrong had. How could she keep it together long enough to make things work for the ranch, to make sure her favorite animal companion would come through this delivery all right?
After the vet left, Cassie brought a flannel blanket in from the house and snuggled up beside Maybel. Maybe if she could save the cow and her calf, things would be okay. Maybe rising to this challenge would mean she could rise to them all. But if things didn’t work out, if…
She felt more lost and hopeless than ever.
Chapter 7
Rhett had never been a morning person, but that didn’t stop him from waking up early for the second day in a row and driving up to the Saddleback Ranch. The more he drove the dirt roads to Cassie’s place, the more he understood why she’d opted for that old truck which had served as the setting for their impromptu first date.
Today he’d come prepared, wearing jeans and flannel of his own and sporting a baseball cap on his freshly washed hair. Baseball, no thank you. He’d played for junior varsity in high school but never made it past that. Football was the only sport for him. It had paid his way through college and now that he was in his late twenties, it was still paying the bills… and then some. In fact, his handsome salary had allowed him to buy his car with cash. He’d never imagined he could do something like that as he grew up the only son of a single mother working two jobs, but now here they were.
So he was good—okay, really good—at running a ball. Did that make him any more deserving of such luxury items than, say, his mom or any other blue collar worker? As spoiled as he had become since making the national league, he still made sure to give back to his mother whenever he could and whenever she’d allow it. That’s why she had a Viper of her own. After all, what good was having all that money if he couldn’t take care of the one woman who had always looked out for him? He had more than enough to have whatever fun he wanted afterwards.
He pulled up to the stables and got out of his car, but Cassie was nowhere to be found even though both horses stood impatiently in their stalls. He tromped up to the farm house and rang the doorbell.
Nothing.
He took out his phone, but remembered that he still didn’t have her damned phone number. Where could she be?
At last he found her in the barn, snuggled up in the hay next to the same cow they’d wrangled the afternoo
n before. He hated to wake her, especially since she really looked like she could use the sleep. But he was also pretty sure that she hadn’t meant to sleep in so late and that she’d be upset for missing the start of her work day.
He cleared his throat, and she squirmed and rearranged herself into a new sleeping position, her eyes still closed.
“Cassie?”
“Mmm,” she answered, still in sleep’s embrace and looking so sexy he almost climbed down into the hay with her.
He laughed. “Cassie,” he urged louder.
“Rhett?” she said with a dreamy sigh, proving once again that she did like him, that she did think of him the way he thought of her.
He stooped down and touched her face. “Yeah, Rhett.”
Her eyes shot open and fixed on him. She sprang up so fast that they bumped foreheads. “Oh my God, Rhett. Oh my God. Did I…? Did we?” Now she was standing, wiping smudges of hay and dirt from her clothes while also squeamishly covering her breasts and turning a bright shade of red.
“Calm down, Cassie. It’s nothing like that.” He helped brush some hay from her back, but she whipped around and studied his face as if trying to see through a lie.
“Honestly, nothing happened. I just got here and found you sleeping like an angel.”
She frowned. “I’m confused. Why are you here?”
The time had come for him to reveal his brilliant plan. At least he hoped it was brilliant. If saving the ranch was as important to her as she said, then he was about to make her an offer she couldn’t refuse. He smiled and revealed his plan in two simple words. “To work.”
“What?” She frowned again, seeming confused by the whole thing. “What about your job?”
“What about it? You mentioned that you had lots to do, and I figured I could lend a sturdy back and a pair of helping hands.”
She considered this for a moment. “I can’t pay you.”
“Wasn’t expecting you to.”
“And you’re sure?” There, finally she was smiling.
“One hundred percent. Now tell me my first chore, boss.”
Cassie picked at a strand of her hair then shuddered. “Well, after all night sleeping in the barn, I could sure use a shower.”
He drew closer to her and put a hand on her hip. He just couldn’t resist. “I can definitely help with that.”
She, of course, turned brick red. “That’s not what I meant! Maybel here isn’t doing so well, and I don’t want to leave her alone until the vet arrives. Can you keep an eye on her?”
“Sure.”
“And, umm…” She seemed embarrassed. “Maybe muck out some of the stalls while you’re in here?”
He wrestled a pitch fork from its holster on the barn wall. “Sure thing, boss. With this?”
She laughed and came over to take the tool from him, letting her hand linger as it brushed up against his. “This might be better.” She returned the pitch fork to its place and handed him a shovel instead. “And there’s fresh hay over there.” She pointed to the farthest stall on the right and quirked an eyebrow. “Think you can handle this, city boy?”
“Oh, I can handle whatever you want to throw at me. Cow sitting, mucking, your body.”
Somehow she grew redder still. Adorable. He loved knowing he had that effect on her.
“That’s it! I’m off to the shower. Thanks for helping out, even if you did turn up uninvited.”
“Hey, you wanted me here, and you know it. Now go on. Maybel and I will be just fine. And if you need any help soaping up, you know where to find me.”
“You—”
“You better go. Otherwise I might be forced to escort you to make sure you get there safely.”
Cassie huffed and marched away, and he enjoyed watching her go—her curvy hips swing left, right, left, right, as she disappeared from the barn. So damned sexy.
Just because she didn’t invite him to go with her didn’t mean he couldn’t picture the sweet scene taking place in that farm house bathroom. Until now, he’d only seen Cass fully clothed, but it wasn’t difficult to imagine the sweetness underneath. He pictured her long wet hair finally freed of its ponytail and clinging to her back; pictured the wash cloth as she dragged it over her body and cleaned all the parts he so badly wanted to make dirty.
No, no, he was here to work, to help Cassie out, and prove he wanted more than just her body—prove he wanted her. He shook away the beautiful, dirty thoughts and instead turned to the even filthier stalls before him.
Mucking, right.
It was hard to picture his sparkling angel doing this chore on her own, but he loved that things like this didn’t bother her. He, on the other hand, fought back a gag and continued his task, focused on doing it right to help Cassie. That’s what mattered.
He’d nearly finished the second stall when a terrible high-pitched groan erupted from deeper in the barn.
What is that…?
The pregnant cow, damn. There she lay gasping and straining as a pair of much smaller hoofs emerged from her back end. No, no, no.
He didn’t know the first thing about birthing livestock. The only experience he had was watching that one scene from City Slickers a million years ago. Oh my God, this was Cassie’s favorite pet. He had to do something and had to do that something right. Otherwise they’d be over before they could ever really begin.
Rhett took a deep breath and dropped to his hands and knees, fully prepared to reach in and—well, he’d figure that out as he went.
Miraculously, Cassie—his own personal angel—arrived just then, wrapped haphazardly in a bathrobe and ready to take over.
“I could hear her from all the way in the house. Poor thing. She’s in distress,” Cassie explained while getting down onto her haunches beside Rhett. “I’ll take over here. Can you give her some water from that bucket there?”
She pointed, and Rhett sprang to action, all the while Cassie continued to offer instructions with a calm authoritativeness he found to be very, very sexy.
“Good. Thank you. Now stroke her face, talk to her, tell her it will be all right… It will be all right, Maybel.” She patted the cow’s rump, and Maybel mooed pathetically.
Cassie looked up at Rhett. “The vet will be here soon, but it looks like we’ll have to do this on our own. Are you ready?”
“Yeah, let’s do this.” Of course he was ready, especially since she was the one in charge here. She was the one who knew exactly what to do and did it with confidence. He could only watch in amazement as Cassie’s arms disappeared into the cow one moment and in the next cradled a newborn calf covered in blood and other birthing goop. He’d never seen anything so disgusting. Never seen anything so sweet either.
“It’s a girl, like her Mama.” Cassie beamed proudly as she helped the mother clean off its baby. “Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?”
“No, I really haven’t,” Rhett answered even though he’d stopped looking at the calf long ago. It was the remarkable woman before him who held all his attention now.
He’d fallen in love with Cassie Brown, and there would be no turning back.
There was something so magical about that morning. First, waking up to find Rhett there with her, then delivering Maybel’s calf, and now holding the baby in her arms as she and the gorgeous man before her spoke in amazement about what had just happened.
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” he said, reaching over to brush a strand of hair from her face. “But you may need another shower.”
“Oh, shoot! I must look pretty disgusting, right?”
“No, not one bit. What you did, Cass…” He waited until her eyes locked with his before continuing. “It was amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Her cheeks reddened. She especially liked that he’d taken to calling her by her nickname now, giving them a whole new level of intimacy, and when he stared into her eyes like that, it was as if nothing else existed in the world. It was so...so natural, and that scared her.
&
nbsp; “Well, Maybel helped.” She laughed and patted the cow who had started to relax now that she’d made it through delivery. When he stared at her like that, she felt her heart flutter and her breath hitch. Even though she’d just proven she could act fast in a crisis, she still didn’t feel like she knew what to do when it came to allowing herself to fall in love.
There’d been men in her life, sure. But none had ever made her feel so alive in her own skin, none had ever been like Rhett. He desired her, that much was clear, but he also stepped back when she asked him to, making her feel strong as well as sexy. She loved how she felt when they were together, loved who she became.
And yet…
What did she know about him? He could run faster than anyone she’d ever seen, sure. And he’d moved here from California, recently broken up with his ex, had been raised by a single mother. But what else?
She didn’t know whether he’d gone to college or where, didn’t know where he lived, didn’t even know what he did for a living—only that it must pay well given the car he’d pulled up in the other day. Heck, she didn’t even have his phone number.
But whose fault was that? Definitely her own. She’d been the one pushing him away, telling him not to talk when he tried to get to know her. She’d barely asked him a single question, yet still he kept turning up and doing his best to get to know her.
It felt strange to be pursued so doggedly, but at the same time she also doubted she’d ever have been able to manage the birth without him. It’s as if he somehow knew she’d need him and so he’d shown up to be there for her.
Was love at first sight a real thing? And if it was, did she even have a choice in the matter? Maybe the harder she pushed him away the harder the universe would pull the two of them back together. Cassie had no idea how these things worked, only how she felt.
And in that moment, watching as Rhett helped the calf to its feet and looked on with a smile as it took its first shaky steps, she knew whatever this was between them wasn’t going away. She needed some time to think, to think with her whole wits about her. The shower would provide the perfect excuse to gain a bit of distance and perhaps even some perspective. If she thought hard enough, surely she could find a way to save the ranch and build a relationship with Rhett. Couldn’t she?
A Cowboy Kind of Love Page 5
