Microsoft Word - Dwyer-Dixie-Lynn-For-the-Love-of-Anna.doc (13 page)

“Will she lose the calf?” Anna asked.

He nodded.

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“Oh, no. Is there anything I can do to help?”

Just then, Charlie called from inside the stable.

Ben turned and headed inside, and Anna did the same, despite the

attempts by the other cowboys to stop her.

“Oh, my God!” Anna whispered as she saw the sight.

Charlie was sweating, his hands were covered with blood, and he

was trying to assist the cow in delivering her baby. The poor cow was

huffing and puffing then it would lay its head down and heave deep,

horrible sounding gasps of air.

“Anna, you shouldn’t be in here.” Ben spoke to her as he helped

Charlie.

The sounds were difficult to listen to, and Anna felt terrible for the

cow. She had to do something.

Without a second thought, and despite both Ben and Charlie’s

protests, Anna sat down next to the cow’s head and began to caress

her fur. She rubbed her chest, recalling doing this many times when

her mother was dying and couldn’t breathe too well. It had brought

her mom some comfort and eventually helped her to calm her

breathing and not panic. Although Anna didn’t know anything about

cows, she thought she would give it a try anyway.

Anna looked down at the cow and her dark brown eyes. She had

lifted her head and looked at Anna.

Anna smiled and continued to massage and caress the cow’s neck

as she spoke to her.

“You need to calm your breathing, lady. You’ve got a healthy,

beautiful baby to deliver, and it’s going to need its momma to take

care of it. So, come on and breathe for me. Listen to my voice, lady.”

Charlie and Ben continued to help the cow.

Time had passed slowly, but Anna refused to give up hope.

“I think it’s working, Anna. I think she’s trying to push. Keep

talking to her,” Charlie stated, sounding breathless as he reached

inside to help pull the calf out.

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“Oh, my God, I don’t believe it,” Ben said as Charlie pulled the

calf while the mother pushed, then mooed really loud. The baby calf

was born.

* * * *

“That was amazing, Anna. Absolutely amazing,” Ben said as he

pulled her into his arms.

Anna laughed as the cow and the calf remained next to one

another and Charlie got cleaned up. A few ranch hands came inside to

continue to care for the animals and clean up.

Ben caressed her cheek and held her close to him.

“Where did you learn to do that?”

“Do what?” she asked, sounding breathless in Ben’s arms.

“Learn to calm a cow down during labor? We thought for sure she

wasn’t going to make it.”

“I had my doubts,” Charlie blurted out as he joined them.

Anna shrugged her shoulders.

Ben caressed her lip with his thumb before he leaned forward and

kissed her softly. It was a quick kiss but left Anna blushing.

His button-down, blue, plaid shirt sleeve brushed against her neck.

He smelled of straw and cologne, and it appealed to her. He was

muscular and good looking with his dimples and all.

Charlie took that moment to take her hand into his own and bring

it to his lips. The feel of his large hands holding her small hand made

her feel protected. He kissed her knuckles as he held her gaze. Her

imagination jumped into overdrive as she imagined him taking each

digit into his mouth and sucking. She swallowed hard.

Get a grip, woman!

“You’re an amazing woman. Thank you for helping.”

Anna smiled then they walked outside of the barn to the fenced in

corral. She was relieved for the fresh air and the open space. Back

inside, between the two sexy men, she’d felt claustrophobic.

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Both men leaned on either side of her against the fence.

She leaned against the fence and looked out between the rungs of

the fence and at the horses that gathered in the corral.

“So, where did you learn how to help deliver calves?” Charlie

teased.

Anna chuckled. “That was my first calf delivery.”

Charlie nudged his shoulder gently into Anna’s shoulder.

“It was impressive.”

She smiled then she thought about her mother. Tears filled her

eyes. She wrung her hands together as the scene of horses before her

began to blur from her tears.

“My mom was very sick with cancer…and I took care of her,” she

whispered.

The men leaned in closer to her and turned to face the corral. They

were taller than her, so they looked over the top rung of the fence.

“My mom used to get so clogged up with fluid or some side effect

from all the medications that she was on that she would have trouble

breathing. It made her panic and could set her into an anxiety attack

or worse. We couldn’t rush her to the hospital every time this

happened, and I couldn’t afford nursing care, so I took care of her on

my own.”

Anna sighed.

“I would talk to her calmly, try to get her to focus on my voice

instead of the inability to take full breaths and, eventually, calm her

down.”

She wiped the tears away, embarrassed that she shared such

information with Charlie and Ben. She had to admit, she trusted them

and was growing fond of them.

“I don’t know what the heck made me think it would work on a

cow!” she blurted out then pushed away from the fence and began to

walk a few steps away.

Charlie stopped her by pulling her back towards the fence

between himself and Ben.

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“Well, it worked, and I bet the cow is thankful, just as I’m certain

your mom was thankful that you helped her through it,” Charlie

stated.

She felt Ben move closer behind her then move her hair off of her

shoulder, away from her neck.

“It was kind of you to help out,” Ben whispered then softly kissed

her neck.

Anna felt the chills run over her body as she unconsciously leaned

back against Ben. Charlie touched her chin.

“Yeah, thank you, Anna.” Charlie kissed her.

It was short and sweet, and before she could panic, they each took

her hand and began walking back toward the house.

* * * *

Anna grabbed a few things and quickly headed downstairs. After

some long, hard thinking, she began to chicken out and decided

sneaking into town for the night was a lot safer than being around the

Cantrell men. They were lethal, and after their kisses today, she was

gun-shy big time.

She was afraid of their size, their personalities, and experience.

They each had a good seven, or more, years on her, and it didn’t take

an experienced woman to know that these men knew how to seduce a

woman. She didn’t want to add that to her list of “things I’ve done

wrong in my life.”

The men were rugged, attractive men, and being around them was

becoming addictive. She sought them out, thought of them

immediately when she landed the job today, and that wasn’t normal.

She shared the story about her mom with them, and that was really

personal. It was scary how comfortable she felt with the men. Her

trust in them could be granted prematurely. The feelings, the need to

be around them was solely her hang-up and was not reciprocated by

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them. They merely felt sorry for her and the fucked-up life she had

back in New York.

The tears stung her eyes as she thought about them. They were

perfection individually, but together, they were a force. They could

have their choice of a woman to share life with. They obviously had

practice in their search for one.

They had to have had plenty of practice. Anna thought about that

a lot. It made her jealous, and it scared her. She saw the way the

women drooled over Wyatt in town. She also noticed the dirty looks

she received when she entered the doctor’s office. Some women had

their faces practically plastered to the front window. They had to have

seen Wyatt kissing her.

Then there was Ben, who always seemed to grab the attention of

the ladies. That would bother her a lot. She was insecure still, and a

feeling like that could cause unnecessary problems in a regular

relationship, never mind one between four people. What the heck did

she know? What about jealousy. When she was talking to Charlie,

Ben or Wyatt would touch her. What if they got jealous of one

another because of her? She could destroy their brotherly relationship.

There were so many what-ifs, but then her body and her heart

reacted so strongly to each of them. Did she want them?

They each had strong characteristics of good partners. Ben was

cheerful all the time, he made her laugh, and he always pulled out a

chair for her or opened the door to let her in first. Charlie had a past

just like hers, with his experience going through war and re-adapting

to “civilization”, as he called it. That conversation they had was

intense and ended in one hot and heavy kiss. She warmed inside at the

recollection.

Wyatt was all man. There were no hidden agendas with him. He

was direct, bossy, stubborn, and…
ah, hell, I’m falling for them
!

Her number one focus should be healing up, doing well at the job

tomorrow, and saving some money to leave. Now that Stacy was

pregnant, it was even more important to keep her and the baby safe.

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Helping with the cow today reminded her about the natural and

unexpected things that could happen during a pregnancy and delivery.

She wouldn’t add danger into the equation. Stacy meant the world to

her. She felt the ache in her belly, and fear clenched her chest. She

didn’t want any trouble to come to the Triple C looking for her and

then have Stacy and the baby caught in the middle. The thought made

her nauseous. Yet, she was scared to go off on her own. The last few

weeks had been nice on the ranch. She never felt so safe, and the open

air seemed to help her heal. But she couldn’t be a wimp. She couldn’t

be so self-centered and want to be part of a family so much that she

put her best friend and the baby in harm’s way. That just wasn’t an

option.

As she slowly tiptoed out the back porch, she heard Stacy giggle

and Eric and Max chuckling. She was envious as she left and hoped

the three of them had a great night. How wonderful that Stacy was

pregnant.

Too bad she couldn’t stick around to see the baby born. But

maybe in a year or two it would be safe for her to return to the Triple

C and visit.

With that last thought, she slowly crept off the porch and headed

around the house to the garage.

“Where do you think you’re sneaking off to?”

The deep voice caused Anna to drop the bag and squeal.

Wyatt came into view as the sun began to set in the distance. She

had thought that the trees provided cover, but apparently, she was

wrong.

“Oh, my God, you scared me.” Her heart pounded in her chest,

and her legs began to shake.

“Where are you going?” he asked again, taking a few steps toward

her. He looked like a man on a mission, and she felt as if he was on

the hunt and she was his prey. His eyes were dark and sexy as they

roamed over her body. His crew cut hair was wet
. Did he just finish

taking a shower?
The thought sent a bolt of quivering desire through

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to her core. She focused on his clothing, relieved he wasn’t wearing

his uniform and was dressed casually. His jeans were loose, but snug

where they should be, leaving a woman to use her imagination. His

black T-shirt was stretched tight across his pectoral muscles, and his

biceps looked huge. He was a big man, from her standpoint, probably

the biggest of the three brothers. Anna suddenly realized his attire

didn’t diffuse the burning attraction inside her, it brought up the heat

index.
Shit!

“I was just going for a walk.” She nibbled her bottom lip and felt

her cheeks flush at the lie. Wyatt was the epitome of intimidation. The

thought of him being forceful with her made her panties damp.
Damn!

Wyatt prowled closer and now stood directly in front of her.

“With an overnight bag?’ he inquired, then placed his hands on his

hips, tilted a little to the left as if daring her to lie some more.

Oh, boy…I’m in serious trouble.

She looked back toward the house where Stacy and her men were.

No help there. The three of them were probably already in bed.

Another bad direction. What was Wyatt doing to her?

She needed to focus and get him to see that her staying in town

was no big deal. But first, she needed to diffuse the intense

atmosphere around them.

“What about you? What are you doing?” She decided to try a

different tactic. Making casual conversation might help to make her

story more real.

“I was looking for you. Heard you were staying the weekend.

Dinner is just about ready.”

“Oh…no. I’m sorry, I’m not staying—”