Riding Hard (8 page)

But he vowed not to think too far ahead. He’d been lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to spend hours, maybe even days, with Tracy. He wouldn’t get greedy, and he wouldn’t start creating unrealistic expectations. They were together now, and that was great.

He fastened his shirt snaps as he walked down the aisle toward Dottie’s stall. Probably a waste of time. Pretty soon he hoped to be completely naked and rolling around in his bed with Tracy. How funny that she’d lain in wait for him and he’d messed up her plan with his detour to the barn.

Smiling at the image of Tracy lying in his bed while he puttered around in the kitchen, he glanced into Dottie’s stall. Then he went very still. She lay on her side in a bed of straw, her flanks heaving. He’d seen this often enough to know what was happening. Dottie was going into labor.

8

W
HILE
D
RAKE
ASSEMBLED
the necessary supplies from Regan’s truck, Tracy hurried back to the house to throw on some clothes and grab her smartphone to take pictures. She didn’t want to meet this foal wearing nothing but a red silk robe and boots, and any new baby deserved photos.

Much as she’d looked forward to continuing her sexual adventure with Drake in the privacy of his bedroom, the thrill of an impending new life was damned exciting. Nerve-racking, too. If she’d had a working number for Jerry Rankin, she would have called him now. She was sad that he wouldn’t be here.

At least Drake would be, and she had great confidence in him. He was far steadier and competent than she’d given him credit for when they’d first met, but she hadn’t understood him then the way she did now. She wanted to learn more, because she suspected he’d acted out of character when he’d had sex with Regan’s fiancée. That behavior didn’t fit the man she knew.

Pulling on a worn pair of jeans and a T-shirt, she shoved her feet into her boots again. If those boots could talk... She shook her head and smiled. Drake would never let her forget how she showed up in the barn dressed the way she had been. For a brief moment she imagined talking about it years from now.

But that would mean they’d keep in touch. It would mean they’d maintain a relationship where talking about a wild night in the barn would make them laugh instead of cringe in embarrassment. It would mean neither of them would be with other people. It would mean... No, she wouldn’t continue that line of thought. What a pointless thing to do at this stage.

She used the flashlight app on her phone to light her way to the barn. She could have done that earlier, but she hadn’t wanted to announce her presence prematurely. She’d wanted to surprise him, and by God, she’d done that. In
so
many ways.

She chuckled, feeling a touch of pride as she relived those moments. She’d done it. She’d conquered her fears, at least for tonight, and experienced something remarkable. Lesson learned.

Once inside the barn, she switched off her flashlight app and quickly made her way down to the end stall. It was unlatched. Dottie still lay on her side breathing hard while Drake crouched near her head, stroking her and talking to her.

Tracy couldn’t hear the words, but the low rumble of his voice sent warm shivers down her spine. “How’s it going?” She hesitated to step into the stall. The process scared her more than a little, even though she wouldn’t have missed it for anything.

Drake glanced up, his expression filled with a kindness and empathy that tugged at her heart. “She’s coming along. Every time I see this, I thank God I’m not a woman. It’s rough duty, giving birth.”

“I thank God you’re not a woman, too.”

He grinned. “I appreciate that. How’re you doin’?”

“Couldn’t be better.” She could elaborate on that and say she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so alive, but she didn’t want to gush, as if she’d never experienced sex that good. Which she hadn’t.

His grin widened. “I’d go along with that, sweetheart. In fact, I—” He stopped talking as Dottie stirred and lumbered to her feet. “Guess she needs to move a bit.”

“Is that normal?”

“Absolutely.” He snapped a lead rope on her halter. “If you’ll move back, I’ll bring her out and walk her up and down the aisle.”

“But what if she has her baby out here on the bare floor?”

“She won’t.” He started toward the front of the barn. “She’ll let me know when she’s ready to lie down again.”

“Okay.” It made Tracy nervous to see Dottie parading around when she needed to be settled on a bed of clean straw near the equipment Drake had laid out.

He turned and led the mare back toward Tracy. “You look worried. That foal isn’t going to suddenly drop out of her with no warning, like a gum ball popping out of a machine.”

That made her laugh. “I suppose not.”

“Ever been in a maternity ward in the hospital?”

“Not as much as you might think. There’s a growing tradition around here of having babies at home. But yes, I’ve been in one a time or two.”

“Do you remember seeing pregnant women walking up and down the corridor?”

“I guess I have, now that you mention it.”

“Same idea with a horse. Sometimes just lying there isn’t the best plan. When a mare’s in labor, it can feel better for her if she’s able to move around. Isn’t that right, Dottie?”

The mare snorted.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Need another lap?”

Dottie paused by the stall door.

“Up to you.” Drake smiled and stroked the mare’s neck.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

He glanced over at Tracy and blinked. “What makes you say that?”

“You’re smiling, and you seem very relaxed and happy.”

“That’s partly your doing, sweetheart. And I could say the same about you.”

She blushed. “Point taken.”

“But you’re right. I am enjoying myself, now that you mention it. Which is interesting, because lately I’ve been asking myself if I should continue being a vet.”

“Why wouldn’t you want to be a vet? You’re obviously good at it.”

“I’m a decent vet.” He continued to stroke and scratch Dottie’s neck. “Not as gifted as my buddy Regan, but decent.”

What an interesting admission. She wondered if she could coax him to say more. “You must be excellent or he wouldn’t have left you in charge while he’s gone.”

“I’m fine for backup. But Regan’s understanding of horses is exceptional. I admit I envy that ability.” He glanced at her. “I can see the wheels turning.”

“So you’ll give up rather than compete with him?”

“No, nothing like that. Or I hope that wouldn’t be my reason. And if you’re dying to ask if my jealousy had something to do with what happened last Christmas...”

“It crossed my mind.”

“The answer is yes, probably, to some extent. But it’s not that simple.”

Tracy didn’t think so, either. She was about to ask another question when Dottie snorted even louder than before and stepped back into the stall.

“I think it might be showtime.” Drake led her over to the bed of straw and unsnapped the lead rope. Dottie carefully dropped to her knees and rolled to her side. Then she rolled back and forth, groaning.

“Is she okay?”

“I’m sure it hurts, but this is normal.” Drake unsnapped his cuffs and folded back his sleeves before putting on clear plastic gloves. “Poor girl. Bet you’ll be glad when this is over.” He stood back and gave Dottie plenty of room as she continued to grunt and roll.

Tracy hovered by the stall entrance. “Anything I can do?”

“My usual plan is to let nature take its course. If nature flakes out on me, then I’ll move in and help things along. But for now, we let Dottie do her thing.”

The mare finally stopped rolling and lay in the straw, her flanks heaving. Drake crouched down by her rump. He drew her tail aside and scooped away several handfuls of straw. “Here we go! Come on in here, Tracy. Get a better view.”

She crept closer, heart pounding. Drake had done this countless times, so he probably wasn’t the least bit worried. But she was the one who’d agreed to take this pregnant mare, and she desperately wanted everything to go well. She was torn between fascination with the process and the urge to bury her head in her arms until it was all over.

“See? Here come the forelegs.” Drake’s voice vibrated with excitement.

“Feet first?”

“If we’re lucky, and it looks as if we are.”

Sure enough, two sticks that apparently were legs emerged covered in what looked like a greased, semitransparent garbage bag. Tracy held her breath.

“There’s the nose. See it?”

Tracy leaned closer as a blunt, somewhat head-shaped form followed the spindly legs. “Yeah,” she murmured. “Come on, Dottie. You’re doing great.”

“She is. She’s pushing for all she’s worth, and...there...the body, the hind legs, and...we’re done!”

“What about that slimy thing?”

“We’ll see if Dottie wants to handle that part, too. The less interference from me, the better. Let’s give her a little more room.” Drake edged away a few feet and Tracy followed his example.

Dottie lay still for a moment, still breathing hard. Then she lifted her head and gazed down the length of her body.

“Your foal is right there, girl,” Drake crooned. “You did a mighty fine job. Want to finish up?”

As if she’d understood every word, Dottie maneuvered until she could lick the foal.

“Incredible.” Tracy watched as the little creature gradually was freed of its covering. “It looks like her!”

“It does, indeed.” Drake moved closer. “Will you let me take care of the cord, sweetie? That’s a good girl.” He handled the job with brisk efficiency and then checked between the foal’s legs. “Colt.”

“A son. Dottie has a son.” Tracy couldn’t help thinking of how proud Jerry Rankin would be. She’d make it her job to track him down. He should at least have visiting privileges.

Drake gathered up his instruments. “Glad I didn’t have to use most of these. When everything goes according to plan, I don’t. This birth was pure pleasure.”

“I’m glad, for many reasons.” Tracy straightened. “And I don’t know what I would have done without you here. The minute she started rolling around, I’d have been beside myself.”

He shrugged. “You would have called the guy from Jackson.”

“And he would have taken a good hour to get here. By then it would have been all over. Even if it had gone well, I wouldn’t have known whether it was going well or not. I would have been a basket case.” She gazed at him. “Minimize your contribution if you must, but I won’t.”

He gave her a lopsided smile. “You sound serious about that.”

“I am.” She didn’t return his smile. “You rode in here like a knight in shining armor and saved the day. I’m incredibly grateful that you did, and I’m prepared to let people around here know that they’ve judged you unfairly.”

“Whoa, whoa! You’re going to start a campaign to get the residents of this town to
like
me? That would be embarrassing as hell. Don’t you dare.”

“I’ll be subtle about it.”

“I don’t know how subtle you can be once they figure out we spent the night together.”

She frowned. “You make that sound as if you’re leaving after tonight.”

“For your sake, I probably should. Maybe we can convince everyone I was only here for the birth of the foal and we were too busy taking care of that to get horizontal.”

“I don’t care if they know we got horizontal, although technically, that hasn’t happened yet. I’m still hoping.”

He chuckled and glanced up at the rafters. “Oh, Tracy. You do have a way about you.”

“You, too. And a killer accent.”

His green eyes danced as he met her gaze. “And you accuse
me
of being charming. If you keep making remarks like that, you’ll make it impossible for me to resist you.”

“Booya!”

“Tracy...” He laughed and shook his head.

“And I do want to set people straight about you. I wish they could have seen you tonight with Dottie. These are horse people, Drake. They’d respect the way you dealt with her, how patient you’ve been the whole time. It would go a long way toward repairing the damage. Please don’t tell me I can’t mention what you’ve done here tonight.”

His eyebrows lifted. “
All
of what I’ve done?”

“No, of course not. The vet part. Not the action on the hay bale. That’s our business.”

“Good luck with that. Apparently you’ve forgotten that I have a reputation around these parts, and everyone will assume I won you over with lots of good sex, and that’s the only reason you’ve become my biggest fan all of a sudden.”

“But
I
seduced
you.
”

“Are you going to tell them that?”

She had to admit that didn’t sound like a good idea. “I’d like to keep sex out of the discussion. This is about you getting a fair shake in this town because you’re not the villain everyone thinks you are.”

“They know Regan has forgiven me, right?”

“Well, yeah.”

He spread his arms. “There you go. They know the wronged party has moved past the incident, but that doesn’t matter. They think Regan is going too easy on me.” He paused. “You thought so.”

“I know, but that was before—”

“Tracy, it’s a wonderful impulse, but I don’t think having you sing my praises is going to help, especially because you’re the town sweetheart and they’ll assume I’ve despoiled you.”

“Despoiled? Who uses that word anymore?”

“Me. It’s one of my closely guarded secrets. I actually liked my English classes. I dug Shakespeare and even thought the sonnets were cool. I, um, have been known to write my own poetry. Which no one has ever seen, by the way.” He peered at her as if he’d just confessed to occasionally committing murder.

She was stunned, both by the fact he was a closet romantic and that he’d never revealed it before. “No one?”

“Nope.”

“Where do you keep it?”

“I have some journals in the cabin.”

“Would you...let me read them?”

He gazed at her for a long time. “I don’t know. Maybe. Let me think about it.”

“Okay.” At least he hadn’t flatly refused.

He broke eye contact and turned his attention to Dottie and her foal. “You know, if we’re not careful, we’ll miss the magic when the little guy first gets to his feet.”

She took her cue. He was through delving into his most personal issues for now. “Can’t have that! I specifically brought my phone to record it.”

“Then get ready, because his momma’s looking to get up, and once she does, she’ll coax her son to do the same.”

Tracy focused her lens on the foal. “He seems so fragile. Can he really stand on those legs?”

“He has to if he wants to eat, and believe you me, he wants to eat. That’ll be his primary goal for quite a while. It’s the way everything’s set up. Foals have to stand to eat, which in the wild means they’ll soon be ready to run if a predator comes along.”

“I’m glad that won’t be a problem for Sprinkles.”