Cupid Cures: Small Town Western Contemporary (Return to Cupid, Texas Book 5)

by Sylvia McDaniel

  The memory of him kissing her overcame her and she could feel her cheeks blossoming. Oh no, that kiss had been nice. Really nice. Like the best kiss ever, but she denied to acknowledge the attraction.

  "Fight it all you want to, but you were Kyle's first. So far Cupid has been winning with all of us. Cupid three, resistance zero."

  Fidgeting in his chair, looking away Kyle, seemed nervous. The charmer looked scared and that didn't bode well. What he didn't know was he didn't have to worry.

  Once he found out she was Scott Gaston's daughter, he'd be running fully clothed as fast as he could away from her.

  The cell phone at Kyle's waist jingled and he glanced down and walked away from the table. Right now, this call seemed like a lifeline. Hearing Meghan tell Tempe about the Cupid superstition put him on the spot. As a doctor, he didn't believe in such nonsense.

  "Dr. Lawrence," he said.

  "Doctor it's, Gloria. Joe McBowen called and has a constipated cow and needs help."

  "Tell him we're on our way," he said, thinking Tempe would need to go with him and assist.

  Before he reached the table, he sighed releasing the tension he'd been holding. Relief at escaping the restaurant and the wolves sitting around the table. For a moment, guilt gripped him for walking away. For leaving Tempe alone, though she could handle her own. The temporary reprieve gave him a moment to regroup. When told according to legend that she was his true love, the woman actually laughed.

  Kyle worried as soon as they reached the car, she would be interrogating him. For a second he worried Tempe thought they were meant for each other. No matter what his friends said, a statue was not dictating his life. Mumbo jumbo, he didn't fall for that stuff.

  Instead, she'd laughed like that was the most ridiculous thing ever. Part of him felt relieved and the other insulted. After all, he was a great catch.

  Reaching the table, he pulled Tempe's chair back. "Gotta go folks. Duty calls."

  "Don't forget my party Friday night at Valentino's Bar," Meghan said. "I'll be disappointed if you don't show up."

  "We'll be there," Kyle said.

  "You'll be there," Tempe said, rising. "Nice to meet all of you. Don't count on me being Kyle's true love. The reason I'm here is my job nothing more."

  All that earned her was a bunch of smirks and chuckles.

  "Come on, we have an animal needing us," Kyle said, taking her by the elbow.

  Walking towards the door, she looked at him. "What's the hurry?"

  "Constipated cow," he said. "We're going in."

  "Oh, my favorite," she said sarcastically and he couldn't agree more.

  As she climbed into the truck, she stared at him an expression of concern on her pretty face. "Do you believe in this Cupid superstition?"

  "No, and that's why I never said anything about it. It was bad enough, you witnessed me in my birthday suit, but for me to tell you, you're the one. You would never have stayed the night and driven out of town without looking back with no place to stay. They're all happy, but I just did it to appease a stupid bet I made."

  Like she still couldn't accept the concept of dancing naked, she shook her head and smiled. "Good to know. If you deemed a piece of granite could find you love, then I would doubt your intellectual skills."

  "My skills are fine," he said a little sharper than he intended. "My parents were happily wed for many, many years and when we lost my dad to cancer, it devastated my mother. Someday, I want that kind of marriage, but I'm waiting until the right person comes along. Not because of some silly hocus pocus tale."

  It was true, he wanted to marry and have kids, but not with the wrong woman. His buddies from college had raced to the altar taking the next step in life and now some of them are going through painful divorces. Not a goal for him. For him marriage was a one time option with the right woman.

  "For a moment, I feared you weren't as smart as I thought."

  A chuckle escaped from his lips. No one questioned his intelligence. "Nope. Don't worry about being the first woman I saw. That chunk of rock shaped in a boy with an arrow is not a matchmaker."

  Bouncing along the dirt road they headed to the Ketchum ranch. "Lucky for you. I'm bad luck. Really bad luck."

  Unable to stop himself, he glanced at her surprised to hear her say something so shocking. "Why?"

  "My family is crazy."

  "How is that?" he asked. "Crazy can mean a whole lot of different things?"

  "Ever heard of Scott Gaston?"

  A tingle of something ominous trickled down his spine. All of America knew Scott Gaston. The biggest swindler in history who had stolen millions from little old ladies, teachers' retirement funds and almost every pension in the United States. The man's investment firm had been nothing but a Ponzi scheme until the feds took it down.

  "Of course," he said.

  "He's my father. I changed my name to avoid the public humiliation of what my father had done."

  Shocked Kyle almost ran off the road.

  Chapter 4

  Shocked Tempe sat there wondering why she'd told Kyle about her father. At this point in time he was the only person she ever told about her past.

  The government seized all of their assets, leaving them penniless and her mother committed suicide from the shame of being broke and her father's infidelity. After her mother died, she changed her name, and moved on with her life.

  "Go ahead, say it," she said, waiting for the shoe to drop. It usually did whenever she revealed the biggest financial crook of their time was her father. Quickly she learned never to mention him to anyone, until now.

  She hated her father. She hated what he'd done to so many people affecting not only his life, but everyone around them. In fact, she moved from New Hampshire to Austin just so people wouldn't find her.

  "What?"

  "How did he get away with it? People including the FBI want me to tell them how he kept what he did a secret for so long. Believe me if I knew, I would have turned him in."

  When the story began to break, her father set them down and told them he was experiencing a little trouble, but didn't think it would harm them. Right up until the day they arrested him, he conned them, assuring them over and over that everything would be okay.

  Kyle laughed. "Even if you told me I wouldn't know what to do with the information. My only curiosity is how this affected you."

  A cramp roiled through her stomach remembering those turbulent times. "The first inclination I had that something was wrong, was when the boarding school I attended sent me home. I didn't understand what I had done to be expelled. Every semester, I made the dean's list. Later, I found out they'd not received payment for three months and the head mistress lost all her retirement money in my father's Ponzi scheme."

  The memory of packing her bags while her snobby fellow students came by saying how sad they were she was going. After the trial, they wouldn't acknowledge her on the street. But, they didn't mind talking to the press and revealing they went to school with me.

  The vehicle hit a deep pothole in the road, sending them bouncing on the seats. "Not until the trial, did we realize the depth of dad's deception. We had no money. No place to live, no car to drive, we had nothing. Even colleges denied me because they were afraid of bad publicity."

  The cab of the truck was silent, before he finally asked, "What did you do?"

  "Mom inherited some money years ago that she kept separate from Dad's account. After mom's death, I basically went to college on her inheritance. Her attorney helped me change my name and start my life over. In the space of about three years, I lost wealth, my father, and my mother. My way of life was over. I had to learn how to survive."

  The most desperate time of her life occurred before she turned twenty-one. Anything she dealt with now, would be small potatoes compared to the world thinking your family and you are monsters. "How do you convince people you knew nothing when they want someone, anyone to blame?"

  "You can't. What about your extended family?
Did you lose them as well?"

  Before they came around all the time, seeking favors, looking for money for tuition, a wedding, a funeral. But when her father became bad news they no longer were there. Not even to help her with her mother's burial service. Not one came out of fear of the press, leaving Tempe to grieve alone.

  "Mostly, I don't hear from them very often. They don't want to be too closely associated. And I don't want to spend time with them, because I don't want people to associate the Gaston name with Tangier."

  The road went from pavement to gravel and soon nothing but dirt.

  "When it rains, I bet it's easy to become stuck out here," she said, realizing how this road represented her life. So many potholes, so many ruts, so many challenges. The first eighteen years had been smooth sailing and then three nightmarish years.

  "It's safer to stay home until the mud dries out enough, you don't get bogged down," he said. "Do you ever see your father?"

  Like a vise her chest tightened and she clenched her fists. Hell would have a blizzard before she would visit her father in prison.

  A sarcastic laugh spilled from her lips. "Oh no. The lawyer advised against me seeing him after I adopted my new name. After my mother ended her life, broken hearted that the man she loved had not only stolen money, but cheated on her with a long lasting affair with a broker, she killed herself. I refused to see him again. Scott Gaston is dead to me."

  Occasionally, there would be something on television about him, but frankly, she would never see him again. Life had totally transformed and upended her while she was making it on her own. The scandal and heartbreak were unforgettable.

  For her own peace of mind and sanity, she forgave him, but she would never have anything to do with him.

  "What will you tell your children about him?" he asked.

  This hurt the most. How could she bring innocent people into her life that at any moment could become unhinged with reporters and camera crews surrounding and focusing on who she once was.

  "This is why I will never marry and have babies. No one should have to be hounded and followed with flashes going off in your face and people shouting your name. Especially innocents."

  "Don't you think they've moved on to the next big story?"

  "For now. At any time I could resurface on their radar. That's why I changed my name. I'm trying to live my life without being found. Without harming someone innocent with the shame of my life."

  Kyle glanced over at her and she saw the sympathy in his eyes. "Tempe, you have a lot to be proud about. You're obviously a good vet. An intelligent woman who has gone through an inferno and came out whole on the other side. You're a survivor."

  The words brought tears to her eyes. No one ever said anything kind to her since her mother's death, which caused her chest to tighten. Reaching over, he laid his hand on hers and squeezed, as warmth rushed through her at his touch.

  After she spilled her guts to Kyle about her background, getting to work on the animal was satisfying. It took her mind off her horrible past and back in the present, where another cow was ill.

  And constipation wasn't her diagnosis. The heifer showed the same signs as Cody's cow. The rancher hovered nearby as she took blood samples. Another possible case. Another chance of a spreading epidemic.

  "What bull inseminated her," she asked Joe knowing she'd aborted a calf.

  "Old man Smith's prized bull broke down my fence. At the time, I thought the price for repairs was cheaper than the use of his semen."

  Two cows, one bull, how many others had he infected?

  "We'll get this off to the lab today. Hopefully they can let us know what the problem is," she said, trying to reassure the man, certain he had no idea of the repercussions. "Please keep her separate from all of your animals. This is just a precaution, kind of like when your kids have the measles. If she has a disease, we don't want it to spread."

  Kyle gave the rancher a serious, concerned doctorly stare. "Joe, you don't want any other cattle to come down sick. When you see that bull - send him home with a raging hard on."

  Tempe looked at Kyle, wondering if he had to be so graphic. Yet Joe laughed and she knew the vet had connected on a man's level. Men were so strange.

  "You want to check her uterus or do you want me?" she asked.

  Standing behind her, he grinned as the two men stood watching her work. "Go right ahead. The pleasure is all yours."

  "Okay," she said, the cow securely in the squeeze chute where she couldn't kick Tempe. Lifting her tail, she shoved her hand in her private area only to hear the cow bawl her displeasure. With Tempe's hand inside the cow's uterus, she chose that moment to let loose and go to the bathroom.

  Cow dung splat on her shirt, her pants and dripped down to her shoes. The odor, bad enough to make her nauseous and she almost lost her lunch right there. Even worse, the sound of laughter erupting.

  Like she learned in school, she blotted our their snickers and continued with her examination. After several minutes of their laughter, she turned sideways to give the two a look that clearly expressed her annoyance, just as the heifer let go again. This time the excrement went flying to land on Kyle.

  Now, they were both splattered. Her brows lifted and she shook her head as she stared at him. "Welcome to the party."

  "Arrgh," he said disgusted. "What have you been feeding her Joe?"

  The client was laughing. "Now you've gotten a taste of my world. Some damn cow poops on me at least once a day. My cows eat good old pasture grass. Texas best just landed on your chest."

  To finish the exam, she pulled her hand out of the cow while the animal tried to poop again. Thank goodness, she was done. Finished examining her, she yanked the dirty gloves from her fingers, trying to keep from touching the outer portion. The joys of being a veterinarian.

  Brucellosis was highly contagious to animals and people. Soap and water were needed, now.

  "Whatever is wrong with her is certainly not intestinal. Now, we have to wait for the results of the tests," Tempe said glancing around. "Is there an outside place where I can wash up?"

  The results would only confirm what Tempe suspected. Another case of Brucellosis. Another animal they would have to put down. Now they had two cases just waiting on confirmation.

  "There's a water faucet, you can use on the other side of the barn," Joe told her. "I've got to run to the house for a moment, but you guys can clean up, so you don't go home smelling like roses."

  Roses? Whoever thought that feces and flowers had a sweet aroma needed their olfactory organ examined.

  "Thanks, I think I'll go with Dr. Tangier and rinse off as well, before we crawl back in my truck."

  "You'll call me when you know something?"

  "Yes, sir," Tempe said, tossing her soiled gloves in a plastic trash sack, she carried for that purpose. "Soon as the lab contacts me, we'll talk more. Let me know if her condition changes or worsens."

  "Will do. Go get cleaned up. Both of you smell pretty bad," the rancher said as he walked away.

  Cow crap, a hazard of the job that she disliked immensely. The stench unbearable as she hurried to the pump house wishing she had a change of clothes.

  "Why is it that most cows use their poop as a defense mechanism?" Kyle asked as they reached the water hose. There were two water hoses hooked to the faucet, so they could each have one.

  "Poor cow, if someone was sticking their hand in your privates and you couldn't kick or move, what other option do you have?"

  With a frown Kyle ran the water over his hands, then he pulled his shirt from his pants and yanked it off.

  "Are you going to rinse your shirt off right here?"

  "Why not? It's better than stinking all the way back into town."

  Carefully, she tugged her polo shirt over her head, mindful not to get any of the stinky mess in her hair. In the pasture, standing there in her bra, rinsing her shirt feeling his eyes on her a shiver scurried up her spine. "Eyes up, Doctor Lawrence."

  He ch
uckled. "But the view is exceptional. Besides, they're in plain sight."

  The look she gave him warned him away. After learning about her, she was surprised he hadn't run. "Let's remember the first time I saw you. Only a cowboy hat kept me from getting a glimpse of the full monty."

  A grin crossed his face. "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do."

  Grinning, she squirted water at him, hitting him in the face.

  "What the hell?"

  "A woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do."

  Water gushed out of his hose and he placed his thumb over the metal opening, spraying water wide as he pointed it in her direction. Ice water splashed her, splattering her jeans.

  "Not the pants," she said. "Or the boots."

  "How about the breasts," he said grinning.

  Taking her hose, she rushed at him, getting sprayed with water as he backed away from her. Relentless she went after him, slamming into his chest as the two of them went slipping on the damp grass and mud. Losing his footing, she felt herself falling. Down they went together, with her landing on top of him, the water gurgling between them, soaking the remaining clothes they wore.

  Cold water soaked them, running into her underwear and she threw the hose away. Sprawled on him gazing into his brown eyes, she watched as they darkened. Wearing only her sports bra, his naked muscled chest against her breasts. What was she doing, laying out in the open half naked? With only a strip of clothing between them. She started to rise, but hesitated one second too long.

  Stretched against him, she could feel his manhood hardening beneath her. "Is that a gun in your pocket?" she said in a whispery voice she didn't recognize.

  "No, that's what you do to me," he said.

  His tongue swiped across his mouth, his eyes locked on her. Why wasn't he running from her? The daughter of America's biggest swindler? Yet, she didn't want him to. The memory of their last kiss filled her and she longed to experience the caress of his lips against her own. To see if she would react to his kiss the same or had it only been that one time?