12-Alarm Cowboys (31 page)

Tanner rubbed his face again. He was never that loud and rowdy at seventeen, right?

The back door slammed again after admitting Zack. “Thank God the coffee’s hot. We got anything for breakfast?” He dropped into a chair at the table.

“We did. Sausage and biscuits, but a herd of locusts went through and devoured the entire plate.”

Zack laughed. “And that is why Mom always hid a few.”

Tanner hitched a thumb over his shoulder. “In the oven. I wasn’t keeping them safe as much as keeping them warm.”

“Ah. You’re a good bro.” After loading a plate with seven biscuits stuffed with thick spicy sausage, Zack sat again.

“I was never like Dillon and Deb, right? I mean loud and rowdy, and always losing things.”

Zack shrugged. “I don’t remember. I was only 8 when you were a senior. I thought you were the coolest guy in the world, so anything you did was right by me.”

“Awww. How sweet.”

“Yeah, and then I grew up and found out you could be a prick.”

Tanner laughed. “Backatcha, bro.”

His brother swallowed and took a big slug of coffee. “What’s on the agenda today?”

“Well, grocery shopping for sure. Did you get down to the barn yet this morning?”

“Only to let Jolene into the pasture. Poor girl. Her bulging sides make me hurt.”

“So glad the men don’t have to be the pregnant ones.”

The two brothers clinked coffee mugs in agreement.

“So we have mucking and laundry to do this morning.” Tanner blew out a breath. “How did our parents do all this when we were younger? I’m exhausted just trying to remember everything.”

“Don’t ask me. So you want to go to the store or want me to go?”

“Doc Mabee is bringing around the new vet today. I want to be here to meet him. Get a feel of how he is with the animals, you know? So it’s the store for you, mucking and laundry for me. List is on the fridge.”

Zack tilted his chair back on its rear legs until he could snatch the paper under the magnet, then he let the front legs bang back on the floor. He glanced down the paper. “Oh, hell no.” Thrusting the list toward Tanner, he said, “You do this. I’ll wait here for the vet.”

Tanner frowned. “What?”

“I am not going into Whispering Springs and buying tampons for Deb.”

Chuckling, Tanner scanned the items. Sure enough, their sister had added tampons, the brand, the number in the box and the strength she wanted.

“I don’t need to know all that,” Zack said. “Nope. Not gonna do it. Sorry. I have my reputation to protect. She should buy those herself, for Pete’s sake.”

Shoving the paper back at him, Tanner said, “Fine. Get everything else and then when Deb gets home from school, offer your manhood issues to her as the explanation of why you didn’t get what she needed. I’m sure she’ll understand.” The last was stated with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

Zack’s jaw tightened.

“Look,” Tanner continued. “Go through a line with an older woman. She’ll scan those and never say a word. I guarantee it.”

“If I can’t get a date after this we’ll know why.”

Tanner laughed. “Dog. You have trouble getting dates to begin with.”

Both of them knew that wasn’t true. With their wavy dark hair, sun-tanned faces and riveting glossy brown eyes, the Marshall guys never had a problem attracting women. Now, getting rid of persistent women was a whole ’nother problem.

And from what Tanner could tell, Dillon was following their dating legacy. Tanner felt sorry not only for the female hearts Dillon was going to crush, but for the parents of the girls.

When it came to Deborah, however, Tanner would just as soon the boys thought her as ugly as a crone. Yeah, that didn’t seem to be happening either.

Zack drained his coffee mug. “Maybe if I go early enough, there won’t be many customers in the store.”

As small as Whispering Springs was, the odds of that happening were lower than Tanner’s wish that his sister would grow a large wart on her nose to dissuade the teenage boys.

After a grumbling Zack stomped out the door, Tanner started a load of wash. His mother had hired a housekeeper to come in a couple of times a week to keep the dirt down to a bare minimum, but there was always laundry in between.

*

“And of course
this is the surgery suite,” James Mabee said, holding open the swinging door.

The room had the look of a standard veterinarian operating room. “Nice,” Georgie murmured.

“I know Janet gave you the nickel tour last week, but I wanted to make sure you were comfortable with the layout before I leave.”

Janet McCaughey was head veterinarian assistant at Whispering Springs Animal Hospital, along with two other assistants and a couple of receptionists.

“And don’t forget that Dr. Brian is available to help with on-call. He might be as old as dirt and swear he’s retired, but he still loves to come down and see patients.”

Georgie nodded. “I met him last week. Super nice guy. And I think it would be awesome to have someone to take night call now and then.”

“Trust me, he’ll enjoy it more than you will. Now, I’ve notified all the ranches that we’ll be coming by today so you can meet them. I have no qualms about your abilities to handle anything that comes up, but this town has never had a female vet, so I thought this might smooth the way.”

“Thanks, I think.” She frowned. “Do you really think any of them are going to have a problem with my gender? Good grief. It’s the twenty-first century.”

Mabee chuckled. “True but remember that many of the ranches and farms are owned by older, well-established families with generations of tradition. Change can be hard for some.”

“Well, welcome to the new world,” she said with a smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure the old guys love me.”

“I have no doubt,” James said.

They loaded up into the clinic’s mobile vet van and headed out.

“How many ranches are we going to hit today?”

“I’m hoping for ten at least, maybe fifteen. It’s not the number that’s the problem, but how spread out they all are. Some of these ranches are comprised of thousands of acres, so driving from one to the next is time-consuming.”

“Got it. How often do you have to go to the patient instead of the patient coming to you?”

They discussed his usual schedule, surgery on Wednesdays, half-days on Saturdays and such. The time passed quickly and before she realized it, they were turning into the gravel drive of Flying Eagle Cattle Company.

“This place belongs to the Marshall family. Shoot, I guess they only go back two generations here.” He grinned. “One of our newer families.”

The drive, while dirt and gravel, was well maintained. Both sides were lined with fence, and beyond the fence, fat cattle stood under shade trees or belly-deep in the ponds. The grass was wilted, but the cattle that were eating seemed to like it just fine.

As they made the final turn, a large, white, two-story farm house came into view. Well-kept, the house sported fresh paint, a wrap-around porch with oversized rocking chairs and flower boxes dotting all the windows. An ancient oak spread thick limbs over the drive and house providing protection from the baking sun overhead.

A few hundred yards away, a red barn with a tin roof stood with the doors open and straw strewn on the ground. A man with thick dark hair pushed a wheelbarrow laden with straw-infused manure through the barn doors and stopped. After setting it down, he rose to his full height and Georgie realized he was very tall, much like the firefighter from yesterday.

He waved and headed toward the clinic van, a welcoming smile crossing his face.

Georgie’s breath caught. It
was
the rude fireman from yesterday. What was he doing here pretending to be a cowboy?

“James,” the man said, his hand outstretched. “Good to see you.”

“Morning, Tanner. I told you I’d be bringing Dr. Greyson around.” Mabee turned back toward the van. “Georgie. This is Tanner Marshall. Tanner, this is Dr. Greyson.”

Georgie stepped from the passenger side, rounded the van’s hood and extended her hand.

“I believe we’ve met.”

The smile on Tanner’s face faltered. “You.”

“Me,” Georgie agreed.

Mabee’s face contorted into confusion. “You two know each other?”

Georgie lowered her hand and turned to Mabee. “I had a little trouble at the house yesterday. Nothing serious,” she hurried to add. “Mr. Marshall here came by and gave me a hand.”

Mabee’s hunched shoulders relaxed. “Ah. Then. Good thing you’ve already met, given you’re neighbors and all.”

Tanner Marshall remained mute with his stunned expression in place.

“Neighbors? That can’t be right. The place I’m renting is over on Albright Road. We’re on Marshall Road, right?”

“Correct,” James said and then pointed toward a field with an obviously pregnant mare watching them. “As the crow flies, your place is that way. It butts up to the backend of the Flying Eagle.”

“It’s easy to get turned around,” Tanner said, his first words. “In fact, James, all these backroads to the ranches are mostly not labeled. Might be better if the lady stayed with your city practice and you let old Doc Brian take care of whatever needs doing out here. He knows these roads like the veins on the back of his hand.”

Georgie’s back stiffened. “This
lady
is a doctor of veterinary medicine. Not only can I handle large animal medicine, I enjoy it. If I need Dr. Brian to cover the town clinic while I’m out here in the country, I’ll be the one to make that determination.”

“Now, don’t get your drawers in a twist,” Tanner said, his tone a little too condescending. “I just meant that it can be easy to get lost on all the unmarked, dirt roads.”

“Not only are my
drawers
not in a twist, you’re making a huge assumption that I’m wearing any, and that is something you’ll never personally know.”

James Mabee’s head had twisted back and forth between Tanner and her as though watching the championship match at Wimbledon.

“Don’t worry, lady–”

“Dr. Greyson,” she interrupted.

“Dr. Greyson,” Tanner acknowledged. “Your underthings are not of interest. However, the possibility of you burning down my ranch is.”

“Excuse me?” Mabee said, a frown furrowing his brow. “I think I’m missing something here.”

Georgie waved her hand as though swatting away a mosquito. “I had a little fire yesterday and Cowboy Fireman overreacted.”

“Firefighter, not fireman,” Tanner corrected. “A fireman would start the fire. That would be you. A firefighter would control and extinguish the fire. That would be me.”

Georgie rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

The three adults were standing there, all probably trying to figure out what to say when a white truck covered in dirt and dried mud clots came flying into the drive. A younger version of Tanner Marshall jumped out of the driver’s seat.

“You must be Dr. Greyson. Heard all about you in town just now,” he said, walking toward her with his hand extended. “I’m Zack Marshall. I’m the good-looking Marshall.”

Georgie laughed and shook his hand. “I’m Georgina Greyson. My friends call me Georgie.”

“Since I think we’ll be good friends, Georgie it is,” he said, a wide smile brightening his face. “Have you had a chance to meet Jolene?”

“Jolene?”

“God, Tanner. You haven’t even introduced her to Jolene?” Zack rolled his eyes in a dramatic gesture. “Tanner might be the oldest but obviously our parents did a terrible job trainin’ manners into him.” Georgie laughed as the gregarious man tucked her hand into the crook of his arm. “Let me do the honors.”

They walked over to the corral where a shiny, black beauty watched them. The mare’s sides protruded with an obvious late-term pregnancy.

“Jolene,” Zack said seriously. “This is Dr. Greyson, your new doctor. Georgie, this is Jolene.”

“Oh, she’s beautiful,” Georgie said. “I love her name. Jolene is one of my favorite songs.”

Zack smiled. “My mom’s too.”

“How far along is she?” She glanced back at Mabee.

“She’s got about four weeks left,” Mabee said, joining them at the fence.

“I’m a little surprised to have a pregnant mare under my care at this time of the year.”

“Unusual, yes but not unprecedented. The stud Tanner wanted to use wasn’t available for a spring delivery, we stimulated Jolene into a fall cycle for breeding.”

Georgie nodded. “I’ve studied the concept of doing that, but haven’t ever done it myself. How is she doing?”

“So far, a totally uneventful pregnancy,” Mabee replied.

“Just the way we like ’em,” Georgie said. “I should have brought along some treats today.”

A hand shot into view with a ruby red apple resting in the palm. “Jolene has a passion for these.”

Georgie looked into Tanner’s soulful blue eyes. Her heart flipped over at the care she saw there for his horse.

“She loves apples.” Pulling a knife from his front pocket, he quickly cut the apple into quarters. “But trust me, she’ll use you just for the treats.”

Georgie laughed. “I’d like to go in and examine her.”

Tanner gave a sharp nod and lifted the latch holding the gate closed. “I’ll go with you.”