The Cowboy and the Doctor

by Eve Gaddy

  The Cowboy and the Doctor

  A Gallaghers of Montana Romance

  Eve Gaddy

  The Cowboy and the Doctor

  Copyright © 2017 Eve Gaddy

  The Tule Publishing Group, LLC

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN: 978-1-946772-31-2

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  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Meet The Gallaghers of Montana

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  He was the last Gallagher bachelor.

  Half an hour before, Wyatt and Mia had tied the knot, putting an end to Wyatt’s single status and leaving Dylan the lone bachelor among the men of his family.

  Maybe there was something in the water. If so, he’d be very careful about what he drank. He liked his sisters-in-law, including the brand-new one, Mia. Jack, Sean and Wyatt all seemed happy. They wanted to be married, wanted to settle down with one woman. That was great. For them.

  So far, he’d take his horses over any woman. He liked women. He liked them a lot. Liked being around them, liked talking to them, really liked having sex with them. But one woman? Forever?

  Not him. He hadn’t met a woman yet who tempted him to give up his freedom.

  Not that there weren’t some women he found pretty damn intriguing. Dr. Samantha Striker being the most recent.

  Though she’d worked at Marietta Regional Hospital for close to a year now, Dylan had only met her a couple of weeks before. His new stallion kicked Clay Landers, one of his longtime ranch hands and Dylan’s right-hand man, in the abdomen and it was serious enough that Dylan took him to the hospital instead of waiting for an ambulance.

  Dr. Striker, the trauma surgeon, had taken Clay to have emergency surgery quickly, but the process took a lot longer than Dylan had hoped it would. He waited around until she came to talk to him afterwards. Wearing baby-blue scrubs, a scrub cap, and with a surgical mask hanging from her neck, she looked pretty solemn, but when she saw him she put on a reassuring smile that didn’t particularly reassure him.

  Dylan was no doctor, but with three brothers who were, he knew a little about medicine. Especially farm accidents.

  “I’m Samantha Striker, the trauma surgeon,” she said, offering a hand. “We didn’t actually meet when you brought in Mr. Landers.”

  “Dylan Gallagher,” he said, shaking hands. “No, you got him up to the OR in record time.”

  “Internal bleeding isn’t something to fool around with. You did the right thing bringing him in. I suspect it would have taken an ambulance quite a while to get out to your ranch.”

  “Good. I worried about that, but his injury seemed serious and I was afraid to wait. How is he, Doc?”

  “Before surgery, he said I could talk to the boss about the accident and his surgery. I take it you’re the boss?”

  “Yes.” And it was Dylan’s hellion horse who’d kicked the crap out of Clay. “Is he going to be okay?”

  She hesitated almost imperceptibly before answering. “He should be, but it’s a serious injury. He had a liver laceration, which caused internal bleeding. We repaired it, but he’ll need to stay in the hospital for some time. I can’t say how long at this point.”

  “I’m not sure how long he’ll stay in the hospital. He hates them. No offense.”

  “None taken.”

  He looked at her a minute before asking, “Is there something you’re not telling me, Doc?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “I have three brothers who are doctors. I can tell when they’re bullshitting me.”

  She smiled at that. “I knew who you were the minute I saw you. You and your brothers bear a strong resemblance to each other. And no, I’m not bullshitting you. He should recover from the accident.”

  “Those are carefully chosen words. If I were on his HIPAA, could you tell me what it is you’re worried about?”

  “Are you on his HIPAA?”

  “No. So I’ll just wait until you talk to Clay and he’ll tell me.”

  She pulled off her cap and rubbed the back of her neck. Thick, wavy, blonde hair reached her shoulders. Damn, a very pretty blonde. Dylan really went for blondes. And redheads and brunettes. But especially blondes.

  “I’ll give you a call when he wakes up.”

  “Thanks. Say, Doc, what are you doing tomorrow night?”

  She blinked at him. “Are you asking me out?”

  “Why, is that a problem?”

  “Not exactly a problem. But I have a boyfriend.”

  “Damn. That’s too bad. Let me know if you two break up, okay?”

  She laughed. “You’ll be the first to know.”

  So that’s Dylan Gallagher. God, he was cute. And nice. And a cowboy. Sam had a real weakness for cowboys.

  Rumor had it he was a flirt. A man who’d never been serious about a woman, at least as far as anyone in Marietta knew. And that was enough to make Sam very wary. Her shift had just ended and she was supposed to meet her friend, Bianca, to go for a run. Most of the time they ran in the morning, but it depended on their work schedules. She went home and since it was cold outside, put on several layers of clothes, along with a knit hat and gloves. Bianca lived a few houses down and on the next street over, which made running together handy.

  Bianca Whitehall was a family practice doctor who had recently become partners with Jack Gallagher in his family practice clinic. She was also the person who had convinced Sam to move to Marietta when she decided to leave Dallas. Sam had wanted to go someplace completely different from the big city, and Marietta was definitely different. It still had a small-town atmosphere, though the hospital and medical community had grown enough in recent years to require more specialists. The hospital had become a level III trauma center, which entailed quite a few more personnel than Marietta had. Therefore a lot of the doctors were new.

  “Tell me I’ll feel better once we start,” Sam said when Bianca met her. She needed something to help her unwind. During Clay Landers’ emergency surgery she’d had an unwelcome surprise. Ultimately she’d diagnosed colon cancer and performed a colectomy of the tumo
r. While his cancer had been detected at an early stage, he wasn’t in the clear yet and wouldn’t be for some time to come.

  Starting to stretch and warm up, Bianca asked, “What’s wrong? Bad day?”

  “Parts of it.”

  “Anything you want to talk about?”

  “Not really.” They started off slow, planning on a fairly short run since they both liked to do their long runs in the mornings.

  After a bit, Bianca said, “So, Dylan Gallagher.”

  Sam eyed her warily. “What about him?”

  “I saw you two talking earlier at the hospital. I didn’t realize you knew Dylan.”

  “I didn’t until today. I operated on one of his employees earlier today.”

  “What did you think?”

  “About what?”

  “Not what, who.”

  “Oh, you mean Dylan? He seems like a nice guy.”

  “He is. Also hot.”

  Sam laughed. “Yes, he is. Very.”

  “Did he ask you out?”

  Sam gave her a considering look. “Yes. How did you know?”

  “Lucky guess. So when are you going out?”

  “We’re not.” She shrugged. “You know I don’t date players.”

  “You haven’t dated anyone, period, in months.”

  Instead of answering, Sam said, “I’ve got a stitch in my side. I need to walk.”

  Bianca slowed down but, naturally, didn’t let the subject drop. “Dylan’s not a player. Not really.”

  “How can you not really be a player? You either are or you aren’t.”

  “In that case, he’s not. He doesn’t screw around on the woman he’s with. Players do.”

  Sam snorted but didn’t say anything.

  “Tell me you didn’t claim the imaginary boyfriend.”

  “Why not? It’s the most effective way to turn down a guy.”

  “But why turn him down?”

  Bianca knew very well why Sam wasn’t into dating but she wouldn’t stop trying to change her mind. “I’m not interested. If you’re so hot to trot about him, you date him.”

  “I already have. We dated for a while when I first came to town.”

  Sam shot her a skeptical glance. “What happened?”

  “Nothing major. We decided it wasn’t working.”

  “And you still like him?”

  “Everyone does,” she said simply. “I don’t know of one of his ex-girlfriends who dislikes him. He’s a great guy. You should give him a chance.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Sam said. But they both knew she wouldn’t.

  Chapter Two

  “How are you doing, Clay?” Dylan asked his friend the following day. “I saw you yesterday after the surgery but you might not remember. You were pretty out of it.”

  “Feel like shit,” Clay said. “How’s Trouble?”

  “He’s fine. You’re the one who’s injured.” Dylan sat in the only chair in the room.

  “He’ll come around.”

  “I hope so.” But he sure as hell wouldn’t guarantee it.

  “Did the doc tell you what she found?”

  “Besides your hard head? No. I’m not on your HIPAA so she can’t tell me anything unless you give her the okay.”

  “Yeah, this hippa, happa, hoppa or whatever it is. Okay if I put you on it?”

  “Of course.” Clay didn’t have anyone else. The Gallaghers were his family. “What did she find?”

  “Dr. Striker says I have cancer. Colon cancer.”

  “Oh, shit. I knew something else was going on but damn, that sucks.”

  “Yep. It surely does.”

  Dylan asked him for more details but Clay was slim on them. Either because he was tired by then or because he didn’t know. Or maybe he just didn’t want to think about it. Which Dylan could understand.

  “Try not to worry.” Stupid, but what else could he say? “We’ll make sure you’re taken care of. Jack’s your regular doctor, isn’t he?”

  “I guess. He’s been by. He’s bent out of shape about it all. But hell, I haven’t been to see him since you made me get that tetanus shot a few years back. I don’t know why he’d think anything was his fault.”

  Dylan remembered he’d had the devil of a time getting Clay to any doctor at all. He only managed it by threatening to fire him if he didn’t go. Tetanus wasn’t something to fool around with.

  Jack, the eldest Gallagher brother, had come back to Marietta after his training and been there ever since. He and his wife, Maya, had a blended family. Each had a daughter from a previous marriage and they had a baby son together.

  Dylan knew his brother well enough to know that he would feel responsible for Clay, even though none of this was Jack’s fault. It’s hard to diagnose a disease when the person won’t come in to see you.

  “You look tired.” How old was Clay, anyway? Not much older than Jack, Dylan thought. The surgery had taken its toll. Lying in a hospital bed with tubes everywhere, he looked nothing like the man who never tired and worked harder than anyone except Dylan himself. “I’ll come back tomorrow and we can talk about what the doctor thinks you should do.”

  “She says I need chemo.” He gave a disgusted grunt. “Can you see me at the hospital every week? For who knows how many weeks?” He tried to sit up but instead fell back. “It’s a bunch of crap,” he finished weakly.

  Dylan didn’t argue. He wanted to talk to the doctor to find out what exactly he would have to convince Clay to do. No sense fighting that fight before he had to.

  “Get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Before heading back to the ranch Dylan stopped by the Java Café. The coffee shop on Main Street was one of his favorite places to go when he came into town. He liked their white chocolate mocha latte. While Glory, the Gallaghers’ longtime cook and housekeeper, made great coffee and even better food, she did not make lattes. If Dylan wanted a latte he had to go to town to get it.

  “Thanks, Sally,” he said to the barista when she handed him his coffee.

  “No trouble at all, Dylan.” She added with a flirty smile, “I added extra whipped cream, just the way you like it.”

  He smiled and thanked her again. He admitted he was worried about Clay. He didn’t know whether talking to the doctor would ease his mind or make him more worried. He took a seat at one of the tables and tried to decide if he should call Dr. Striker or try to catch her when she did rounds. Evening rounds, maybe. His mornings were pretty much taken up with ranch chores. Idly, he looked out the window and saw the back of a blonde wearing scrubs walking into the café.

  Samantha Striker walked in. She gave Sally her order and went to the other end of the counter to wait for her drink.

  Dylan got up and walked over to her. “Hi, Doc.”

  She turned around and smiled. “Hi, Dylan. Clay was asking for you this morning. Have you seen him?”

  “Yes, I just came from the hospital. In fact, you’re just the person I wanted to see. Can you sit with me a minute?”

  “Of course.” She picked up her drink and followed him to the small table he’d chosen by the window in the corner. The coffee shop was a popular place in Marietta and also a place where gossip circulated. The tables were grouped close together, and for a moment, Dylan worried that someone might overhear them discussing Clay’s case. Luckily, the shop wasn’t too busy at the moment and the nearby tables were empty.

  He got right to the point. “Clay put me on his HIPAA.”

  “Good. He told me he intended to.” She sipped her coffee and said, “What do you want to know?”

  “Whatever you can tell me. Clay said you found cancer when you operated on him. But he wasn’t at all clear about what that meant, or even what you’d done. I wasn’t sure if that was because he didn’t know much or if the pain meds were making him loopy.”

  “A little of both, probably. He might not have completely taken in what I told him. Most people hear the word cancer and that’s the last thing they hear. I’
m glad he told you, though. I asked him if a family member could be with him and he told me to talk to you. I didn’t realize you were family.”

  “Maybe not technically, but Clay’s been working for us and living on the ranch since he was a teenager. I’m not sure what happened to his parents but he said he grew up in foster care and took off on his own as soon as he could. So, yeah, I guess I’m as much family as anyone.”

  While Clay wasn’t the ranch foreman, he was second only to Dylan in the horse-breeding operation. In fact, he was damn near irreplaceable, besides being a longtime friend.

  Cancer, damn it. Dylan couldn’t help thinking of his mother, who had died from cancer when he was very young. “How bad is it, Doc?”

  Dylan looked worried. Sam wished he didn’t have reason to be. “During surgery I found some suspicious signs and ultimately found a tumor in his colon. I resected a small section of his colon. He’ll most likely need chemotherapy and potentially more surgery, but unless he goes elsewhere to an oncologist, that will be up to his primary care physician and what they find when they run tests.”

  “What’s his prognosis?”

  “I can give you percentages, but that’s not all there is to it. Attitude matters too.”

  “So it’s not good.”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Come on, Doc. Don’t bullshit me.”

  Sam sighed. Dylan was obviously a person who needed all the facts, the bad as well as the good. It didn’t really surprise her that he wanted her to give it to him straight. As he’d said the first time they met, he had three brothers who were doctors. “Clay has stage II colon cancer. The five-year survival rate is eighty-seven percent.”

  “So it’s good unless you’re one of the thirteen percent.”

  True, even if it wasn’t the most hopeful outlook. “Yes. However, it’s fortunate we caught it when we did. If not for the accident it might have progressed much further before it was diagnosed.”

  “Oh, great,” Dylan said with disgust. “So the fact that my horse kicked the crap out of him and damn near killed him is a good thing.”