Brad pulled his head up, and his green eyes scanned the horse pen in front of them. They landed on something, and she saw him wince before she was suddenly standing there alone as he sprinted toward the fence. She followed, and when she got close she saw a beautiful black horse writhing on the ground. He climbed the fence and dropped down into the pen with her.
“What’s wrong with her?” The mare sounded like she was dying; her cries were making Stephanie almost sick. Brad was working his hands from her head down the rest of her glossy body. Stephanie could see that the poor thing was almost foamy with sweat. It was a warm morning but not hot enough for her to be sweating like that. It was obvious that she was in horrible pain. Stephanie watched him pause with his hands across her swollen abdomen. He pressed down slightly, and the horse kicked out at him with her hooves as she cried out again.
“She’s trying to give birth but the foal isn’t facing the right direction. See how the hind legs are already showing?”
She looked down. The sight of the two little hooves coming out of the horse was a strange one. However, she knew enough to know what it meant. “She’s breech?”
His face lit up. “Yeah, you know how to do this?”
Horrified even at the thought, she shook her head. “Oh heaven’s no. I just read a lot. That’s all I know.”
He let go of the horse and pulled out his phone. After pressing in a number he said, “Luke, I need your help.” Stephanie’s stomach went from knots over the suffering of the horse to butterflies the size of Texas at the sound of the name. Luke was the name of the cowboy she’d forgotten … the one from the bar that night. Shit.
“I’m out in the back pasture. One of the Arabians is trying to give birth, but the foal is breech. I’ve never done this alone. I’m not sure I can.” He listened and Stephanie saw annoyance spread across his face before he said, “I don’t know how she got missed, Luke. It wasn’t my job to gather the pregnant mares. That’s beside the point right now anyway. I need help or she and the foal are going to die.” Another pause and this time he had a horrified look on his face. “It would be better if you just came out here. Fine, fine … let me put you on speaker and you can talk me through it. I still don’t know why you don’t just come.” He hit speaker and Stephanie heard the sound of Luke’s voice. It definitely tickled a memory in her head.
“If you ever paid attention when I tried to teach you anything, you’d know how to do this.”
“Are you going to lecture me while this mare dies?”
Luke grunted, and the mare let out another long, heart-breaking bellow. Brad gently brushed her coat and whispered reassuring words. It made Stephanie’s heart happy to watch him. He obviously had a good heart. She heard his brother’s voice again. “Okay, so you know where her vaginal canal is, right?”
“Luke, so help me God …”
Luke chuckled. “Fine, fine. You see the hocks?”
“They’re coming, yeah. The hooves are flexed up.”
“Okay, she’s going in this direction so the only thing you’re going to be able to do for her is pull when she starts pushing.”
“Pull?”
“Yes, Brad, you’ll have to pull him out. If you don’t he might suffocate and die on the way out. As soon as you start to see the hips or the tail just take ahold of the hocks and pull, but slow and gentle. You don’t want to break its legs.”
Brad looked like he was going to be sick. Stephanie felt bad for him, but at the same time she was impressed that he wasn’t panicking. A piece of the foal’s tail became visible, and with a deep breath in through his nose and out through his mouth, he took hold of the little skinny legs with his strong hands. She watched in wonder as he and the poor tortured mare worked together to bring the foal into the world.
“Pull toward the mare’s hooves.”
“I am.”
“Gently.”
“I am.”
“Don’t put too much pressure, you’ll crush it …”
“Okay, Luke! I’ve got it!” Brad snapped. Stephanie didn’t blame him. Luke’s tone was slightly condescending even though Brad was the one here doing all the work. Sweat covered his brow, and his upper lip and arm were covered with blood and other slimy fluids. He continued to pull and, for more than an hour, she anxiously watched while every so often Luke would say something else. At last, the foal’s head began to appear, and from her ears to the tip of her nose seemed to be the easy part as she slid the rest of the way out.
Brad was grinning from ear to ear as he watched the little horse take her first breath. He pet the mare and said, “You did it, girl!”
“You both did it,” Stephanie said. She wanted to kiss him again, now more than ever.
“It’s out? Who’s there with you?” She had forgotten Luke was on the phone.
“Thanks, bro,” Brad said. “She’s out.”
“Who else is there? I heard a woman’s voice.” Brad hit end call with his clean hand. Stephanie was thankful. She doubted that Luke even remembered her, and she was ninety-nine percent sure nothing had happened between them anyway. Once the horse stood up and she and the baby were out of danger, Brad walked her back to her cabin.
“I know that was probably a little more than what you bargained for. Usually Luke takes care of the mares. I hope it wasn’t too traumatic.”
“No, quite the contrary. It was amazing to watch. A once-in-a-lifetime experience. And, even though it was your first time birthing a breech mare alone, I think you did an exceptional job.”
He tipped his cowboy hat and grinned like he’d just won the lottery. Before he left to take a shower, he kissed her again. This time the kiss was harder and more passionate, and Stephanie knew she was definitely, hopelessly addicted to this particular cowboy and his kisses.
CHAPTER FOUR
The next morning, after a restless night of dreaming about Brad, Stephanie drew herself a bubble bath. While the tub filled she thought back to that kiss … those kisses. Even her very first kiss hadn’t been as thrilling as either of the two she’d shared with Brad. She’d already been impressed with him before the kiss, and before he’d helped the mare give birth to the little foal. Afterward she’d gone from impressed to in trouble. He was just so damned cute.
After the baby horse was out and in its mother’s embrace, he looked like a proud father, and she’d completely tucked away the anxiety she’d felt when she discovered his brother was very likely the man she’d flirted with at the bar. As long as nothing had happened between them, it didn’t matter, and she was sure it hadn’t. She had no idea if anything more would happen between her and Brad, but after the kiss, she knew she wanted it to. She worried about how it would feel when she had to leave him next week, but at this point she was sure that if presented with the opportunity to take things further than a kiss, she’d risk it.
She hooked up her phone to the little Bose speaker she carried with her and tuned it to her playlist before climbing into the tub. Stretching out her long legs, she lay her head back against the cool porcelain and closed her eyes. At first she simply let herself picture the glorious view from the top of the hill. It was so peaceful and relaxing. She’d never seen anything like it, especially not in New York or New Jersey. She’d been here just under two weeks and she’d already fallen in love with Texas. She wasn’t sure how she would get it out of her system when she went back home. The very idea of inhaling the stench of old trash in the street when she took her walks was enough to make her want to stay.
Her mind went from that to Brad, of course, and the butterflies in her belly took flight as she pulled up the memories of his kiss. Her body was instantly covered with gooseflesh as she remembered the way his lips and tongue had felt, and how sweet he’d tasted. She opened her eyes when she realized the rest of her body was beginning to react and she tried to change her train of thought.
She wondered what it would be like to grow up where chaos was the exception and not the rule. She’d been raised by a single mother who w
as high-strung and rarely uttered a word that wasn’t yelled out at the top of her Italian lungs. Stephanie loved her mother, but moving to New York and only seeing her on holidays and the rare weekend was the best thing she’d ever done for herself. Her mother made her a nervous wreck, and when Stephanie was nervous, she ate. Not that she was blaming her mother for her slight weight problem. Carmella Reynolds was a petite five-foot-two and a hundred and ten pounds at her largest. Stephanie had inherited her height and body structure from her father. He died when she was a baby, but she had a good relationship with the rest of his family. They were Dutch and all stood well over six feet tall. Carmella had always called her Dutch in-laws “stout” people.
She realized that as time went on in Texas, she’d actually felt less self-conscious about her appearance. In New York at the office and even in everyday life she was surrounded by women who spent every spare penny on diets and beauty treatments and the latest fashions. When she tried those things she only ended up feeling worse. Here on the ranch she wasn’t expected to wear dresses that molded to her body or heels she felt were too thin to hold her up or skirts that barely covered her thighs. She felt comfortable in her boots and jeans … and of course the way Brad looked at her, and the kiss … and the way he’d told her she was beautiful like he really meant it, all helped her self-esteem along too, a lot.
At first, she’d spent a lot of time wondering what he saw in her. She was afraid that he looked at her and saw a somewhat chubby woman who was an easy target for a horny cowboy looking for a one-night stand. The more time she spent around him, however, the more she began to believe the sincerity in his eyes and in his voice. She’d slowly begun to believe that he did actually like her and genuinely found her attractive, for whatever reason; it felt great.
She pictured his jade-green eyes now and the way they shone with desire when he looked at her. She realized that she’d still not seen his hair. He never took off his hat in front of her. She smiled at the wicked thought of a situation where that hat might get tossed to the side of the room and pictured hair the color of the soft brown she saw sticking out from underneath it, lying in curly waves and begging to have a woman’s fingers in it. She went from there to his thick, full lips and moaned aloud at the thought of holding on to his naked body as they kissed. She’d never made love to such a big man. She wondered if it would make her feel sexier and more feminine in bed, and then she decided that with Brad it would be about the way she saw herself reflected back in those warm, green eyes.
She floated between sleep and wakefulness with visions of a sexy cowboy dancing in her head until she was rudely pulled out of it by the sounds of someone yelling. When she realized she also heard loud footsteps on the floor of the cabin she sat straight up, reached over, and turned off the music. She could hear a loud commotion outside the cabin; people were yelling, and the voices competed with the loud whinny of horses and the barking of dogs. She started to stand up when she heard the bedroom door being thrown open. She hadn’t closed the bathroom door. She thought about lunging for it, but it was too late.
“Stephanie!”
She heard Brad’s voice getting closer and his boots coming toward her. She would have to stand up in order to reach the towel, but she wasn’t going to risk that. As bold as her daydream had been, she just wasn’t ready. Instead, she gathered as many bubbles around her as she could, and slumped down further into the water just as he burst in. He stopped in his tracks when he saw her in the tub, and for a second it looked as if he’d forgotten what he came for.
“What the hell are you doing busting into my cabin … into my bathroom?” She screamed at him, almost afraid she still had lust on her face from her thoughts. “How did you even get in here?” Instead of answering her right away, he grabbed the towel off the rack and held it out to her.
“The rec house is on fire. It’s spreading fast, and the fire department’s not here yet. We need to get you out of here. I used my pass key because you didn’t answer the door.”
“Fire?” She tried to process that. The rec center was just behind her cabin. “I didn’t smell anything.”
“Your windows are closed, but trust me, it’s burning. Get dried off; we have to get you out of here.”
“Turn around!”
He rolled his eyes. “We don’t have time for all that.”
“Then I’m not getting out.”
His lips twitched before he finally turned his back to her. “Okay, but get out now before this place goes up in smoke too.”
She jerked the towel out of the hand he now had held out behind his back and wrapped it around her as she stood up. She could hear the sounds of sirens approaching as she stepped over the side of the tub. He turned back toward her, his eyes raking across her body in the towel that barely covered her torso and leaving a trail of heat in their wake. “Are you ready?”
“Are you crazy? I can’t go out there naked.”
“Where’s your robe?”
“I’m not going outside in my robe.”
“Maybe you’re the crazy one,” he said. “You’d rather burn up than go outside in your robe?” The force she was using to keep the towel in place was pushing her breasts up high, and she couldn’t help but notice his eyes kept landing there and lingering. She could almost imagine being naked in front of him and not feeling ashamed. That thought lasted a fraction of a second before she remembered the fire.
“Go out for a minute … out of my bedroom. I’ll get dressed quickly.”
He rolled his eyes again. “You got one minute or I carry you out.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
A slow, sexy smile spread across his face. “I’d love the chance.”
“Get out.” She tried not to smile as he chuckled. He finally left the room, and she hurriedly dried off and pulled on a pair of yoga pants and a long t-shirt. She grabbed her shoes and went out into the living room. Now she could smell the smoke. Brad had the front door open, and when he saw her he got that look again, like he was having the same kinds of thoughts she’d been having in the bathtub before she was so rudely interrupted.
He didn’t say a word, but rested his hand on the small of her back and propelled her out. She felt a surge of heat there that radiated throughout her body, and she almost didn’t stop to slip on her shoes just because she didn’t want him to let go. It was an odd time for it, but she really wanted another kiss.
As they stood on the porch, the smoke swirled around them and she could actually see the flames shooting up just beyond her cabin. She cringed at the thought of what may have happened if she’d fallen asleep in the tub with the loud music on and Brad hadn’t come in to warn her. Once she had her shoes on, he took her hand and led her through the smoke. She was surprised when she saw his horse, and even more so when he swung up into the saddle and held his hand out to her.
“Uh uh, I’ll walk, thanks.”
He sighed heavily. “We need to get out of here and let the firefighters do their job. I’m taking you up to the main house; that’s where the other guests evacuated. Come on.”
“That horse can’t possibly carry both of us.”
“Will you knock it off, please?” He actually sounded annoyed with her. “Come on.” Reluctantly, she took his hand and put her right foot in the stirrup. She was glad she was so tall because it would have been a sight to see her trying to struggle up on the horse otherwise. She held on tightly to Brad’s hand as she swung her left leg over the horse and dropped her butt into the saddle. Actually, most of her butt was hanging over the back of the saddle, but she tried not to think about what that looked like.
“Hang on,” he told her as he pulled the reins. The horse turned toward the path, which was completely invisible now thanks to the smoke. She had to wrap her arms completely around Brad’s hard torso to keep from falling off as they galloped toward the house—not that she minded.
When they got there, she wasn’t happy to see all the people milling around outside. They were wat
ching the fire, but she was self-conscious about how she looked on the back of Brad’s horse in her yoga pants with her hair wet and uncombed. As soon as he pulled Issy to a stop, she quickly threw her leg over backward and slid down to the ground. “Thank you,” she said quickly before heading toward the house. In seconds he was right behind her. “You don’t have anyone else to rescue?”
He grinned. “Nope, the rest of them answered the phone.”
She stopped walking. “The phone? You called first?”
“The front desk has an emergency system. They just push a button and it rings the phones in all of the cabins and tells them to evacuate to the main house. You didn’t answer yours.”
“I didn’t hear it.”
“You were enjoying your music and your bath.” It was a simple statement, but something about the way he said it was seductive. It was almost like he was picturing her enjoying in the tub, or like he knew she’d been thinking about him. She wanted to kiss him again. She was losing her mind and pulled her eyes out of the jade gaze he had them trapped in and continued toward the house. Once inside, she saw Mrs. McMurtry rushing around trying to make sure everyone was okay and comfortable. As soon as she saw Brad and Stephanie, she rushed over.
“Oh thank goodness he found you. When you didn’t answer the phone we didn’t know if you were out on the ranch somewhere or trapped inside that fire at the center. Are you okay, honey?”
“I’m fine. I’m sorry I worried you all. I was just in the bath and didn’t hear the phone.”
“I’m just glad Brad found you,” she said again. The small woman reached up and put her hand on the side of her son’s face. She used it to pull him down and plant a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you, baby.”
Stephanie was the one now trying to suppress a smile. Brad’s face turned a bright shade of scarlet, and just at that moment another handsome cowboy walked into the room. Her stomach did a somersault when she recognized him. This was the cowboy from the bar that first night … this was Luke. Now that she saw them together she could see how much he and Brad looked alike. It was clear that Luke was older and he wasn’t anywhere near as tall as his younger brother. His eyes were a much lighter shade of green, but otherwise their facial features were almost identical.
To Have And Hold A Cowboy (Cowboy Nuptials Book 1) Page 3
