by Desiree Holt
“Hi. Sable Hunter. Nice to meet you.”
“And, yes,” Pete continued, “the new vet. I hope, anyway.” He looked at Sable. “Ryan owns the Gold Buckle Ranch.”
Sable knew what that meant. She lowered her gaze to his waist and yup, there it was, locked to a leather belt and nestled against his flat abdomen. “I read about you in the Hill Country Herald. You competed on the circuit.”
His laugh had a rumbling sound. “Jinx Malone would like to make me out as some local celebrity, but I’m just an old rodeo cowboy.”
“But a very successful one,” she protested. “Not everyone gets a gold buckle.”
He shrugged. “As much luck as skill. I quit while I still had most of my bones intact and began breeding bulls for competition.” He narrowed his eyes. “If you take over from Pete here, you’ll be tending to them. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone your size wrestle a bull.”
God, she was so tired of hearing that. But getting irritated at a man who might be a client wasn’t going to do her any good. She’d found humor usually worked a lot better.
“Actually,” she told him, “bulls have been known to faint in terror just at the sight of me.” She winked. “Some men too.”
“Damn, you’re good, Sable.” Lynch burst out laughing. “Ryan, I think you’ve met your match.”
The look Ryan gave her was so penetrating it made all her girl parts quiver and her panties were suddenly drenched. Good Lord. What was going on here?
His gaze locked with hers for an interminable moment and she almost forgot to breathe. Then he smiled, an expression nearly as lethal as his voice. “If you decide to buy the practice, come on out and I’ll give you a tour of the Gold Buckle.”
She almost asked if he meant the ranch or the one at his waist. Then she caught herself. What in the world had gotten into her? She never reacted to a man this way. Not ever. Damn. She wet her lips and gave him an answering smile.
“If things work out, I’ll look forward to it.”
“I think I’ll bring her out anyway,” Lynch said. “Maybe seeing those bulls will be a selling point.” He winked. “You good for this afternoon?”
Ryan nodded. “I am.”
“Then we’ll be out. She wants to see some of the ranches anyway.”
“Do it. I’ll look for you later, Doc.” He nodded at Lynch and then shifted his gaze to Sable again. “Nice meeting you.”
She couldn’t help laughing. “Same here.”
She watched him walk away, the muscles of his very fine ass flexing with each stride. He greeted people as he made his way to the exit. Then, just before he pushed open the restaurant door, he turned and looked at her, and once again that jolt of electricity sizzled through her. She had to drag her attention back to Pete, who was talking as if nothing had happened.
“He’s done a fine job with his ranch,” Pete told her. “Took his winnings from the rodeo circuit and sank them into a breeding business for bucking bulls. It was a little shaky at first, but now he’s got some good rodeo contracts and things are on solid footing.”
“I know it’s an expensive business.”
“It is, and we’ve all been pulling for him. He’s a good man.” He scratched his head. “Hope he’s not about to make a mistake though.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s got a damn good breeding bull, but he’s buying another one for great big bucks. It’ll put a crimp in his cash flow for a while, but Red Danger is considered one of the best breeders in the country.”
“Well.” Sable set down her coffee cup. “If that’s true, he can produce bulls that will bring him higher dollars from the rodeos and get himself some good contracts.”
“All true. We’re all hoping it works. We like him. He’s a good man and a good friend.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing his place.”
“I’d like to take you around after lunch so you can meet some of the other ranchers,” he told her. “Kind of let you get the lay of the land. We can make the Gold Buckle one of our stops. What’s your time frame?”
“I planned for three or four days if need be. My partner’s handling everything back in our clinic. I want to be sure this is the right decision for me, so I didn’t want to rush things.”
“Good. Good, good, good.” He took a swallow of his coffee. “I’ll tell you, Sable. I checked out all your credentials, obviously, and I believe I couldn’t leave my practice in better hands. That is, if we close the deal.”
Sable really wanted to get a look at some of the other ranches and take a more intensive tour of Saddle Wells before she signed anything. But every instinct she possessed told her this was where she belonged.
The waitress had just served their food when a woman practically threw herself at Lynch, giving him a huge hug.
“Hey, Reenie.” He laughed as she smooched his cheek and then straightened. “Better be careful. That husband of yours is pretty damn jealous.”
“He’d kiss you himself after saving that cutting-horse mare,” she told him. “You’re a damn miracle worker.” Then she turned her gaze to Sable. “Sorry. We’re really not all crazy around here. Oh, well, maybe we are. I’m Reenie Stark.”
“Crazy can be good,” Sable told her. “Really.”
“My husband and I own Stark Ranch about ten miles outside of Saddle Wells.” She pointed to the blonde standing beside her. “This is my friend Georgie.”
“Hi.” Georgie gave her a soft smile. “Nice to meet you. You’re the new vet, right?”
“She hasn’t signed on the dotted line,” Pete told them, grinning, “but I’m working on it.”
“Well, work a little faster,” Georgie urged. “We all know how anxious you are to take off on that boat of yours, and Rowan County needs a vet.” She looked at Sable again. “How long will you be here?”
“I planned on three or four days. If Dr. Lynch and I make the deal, I want some time to pester him with questions and get everything settled in my mind.”
“Are you staying in the city?”
Sable nodded.
Georgie shook her head. “That won’t work. You go get your stuff this afternoon and check into the B&B.”
“The B&B?” Sable frowned. “Is it here in town?”
“Sure is,” Reenie broke in. “The Butterfly B&B. Best in the Hill Country. Georgie and her husband, Cade, own it.”
“And we’d like you to be a guest of the establishment, free of charge. It would be our pleasure.” She looked back at Lynch. “Doc, I told you to make arrangements for her with us. Why didn’t you?”
He shrugged. “What if she turned out to be a dud? Then you’d be stuck with her. I figured I’d check her out first.” He winked at Sable to show her he was at least half-joking.
“So how about it?” Georgie persisted. “I’ll make sure a room is all set up for you when I get home.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a business card. “Here’s all the info. Doc can drive you by it so you can see where it is.”
Sable was rapidly getting the feeling that the local vet was something close to royalty in the Hill Country ranching area. But she was somewhat uncomfortable about accepting free lodging from someone she had just met.
“I’m not sure—”
“Even if you end up not buying Doc’s practice,” Georgie added.
Reenie laughed. “You’d better say yes, Sable. Hardly anyone ever says no to Georgie. She’s a force of nature. Just ask her husband.”
Sable put the card in her purse. “Okay, then. Thank you very much. I’ll give you a call later and let you know what time I’ll be there.”
When the women had taken themselves off, Pete Lynch signaled for the check.
“How about we get out of here before the rest of Saddle Wells comes over with a pitch. Let me show you the countryside and some of the ranches you’d be servicing.”
“I’d really like that. The visit to some ranches sounds really good. Do you need to call first?”
“
Nope.” He grinned at her. “I think I’ve got them all primed and on their best behavior.”
Sable had seen a lot of photos of the Hill Country, even more when she’d decided to do a search after she found Dr. Lynch’s ad. She knew it was a twenty-five-county region in Central Texas, although her focus would only be Rowan County, right in the center of it. As the vet drove her down one farm-to-market road after another, she was captivated by the beauty of the rolling hills and the vast acres of pastureland. Everywhere she looked she saw cattle and horses, and in some place goats and sheep.
Pete—he’d insisted she call him that or Doc, not Dr. Lynch—showed her some of the points of historic interest and gave her a brief overview of the cultures that formed what the area was today. They stopped at several ranches and she got a good feel for what the environment was here in Rowan County. She’d expected some pushback from the ranchers. After all, Pete had been here for years, and people didn’t always take well to change. But they were unfailingly polite and eager to explain their operations to her.
“Sure you’re big enough to handle these monsters?” was a question repeated at almost every stop.
She smiled and told them the first time they saw her work they’d stop asking that.
It was late in the afternoon when they pulled through the archway and down the drive at the Gold Buckle. Sable was irritated with herself when her pulse began to pound more heavily, especially in her pussy, which was sending her unwanted signals. Ryan Donovan was a man. Just a man. Nothing more. She’d do well to keep that in mind.
But when they parked in a gravel area to the side of the main house and he walked out of the barn, she couldn’t seem to squash the sense of anticipation that wouldn’t go away.
“Thanks for coming by,” he told Pete. Then he turned to Sable. “We’ve got some good rodeo stock in the barns right now,” he told her. “The hands are working with them to get them ready for the season. Let me show you around.”
When he took her arm to guide her inside the huge outbuilding, she felt his fingers on her as if they were licks of fire. The heat traveled through her entire body, sending sparks to her nipples and her sex. This was definitely not good. If she was going to be caring for this man’s stock, she couldn’t have a sex attack every time she saw him. She dug for all her personal discipline, but it was really damn hard with a man who was sex on wheels.
“Bucking, jumping and kicking is an inborn ability with the bulls,” he began as they walked down the wide central aisle. “That’s why the breeding is a very tricky, detailed, intensive process. The genetics of these guys come from Texas Longhorns and Brahman bulls that survived by tossing off predators.”
“I read that,” she told him, determined that he not think she was clueless. “Before I even contacted Pete, I did my homework. Although I did my internship in a large animal clinic, bucking bulls were never on our patient list.” She laughed. “They don’t raise too many of them in Kansas.”
He stopped and turned to face her. “You’re from Kansas?”
She laughed again, this time at the look on his face. “No, actually Montana. But I had a great opportunity with a vet in Kansas, so I took it.”
“How did you end up in Texas then?” They were walking again, his hand at the small of her back, the touch just as incendiary as before.
“The job in West Texas appealed to me more than any others. Especially since I had a chance to buy in.”
“So what happens if you decide to move here and take over Doc’s practice?”
“My partner’s already agreed to buy me out, so there’s no problem.”
They moved along farther in the barn. As Ryan pointed out the different bulls to her, introduced her to some of the hands and explained more about his operations, she had to work hard to concentrate on what he was saying. In her thirty-two years, no other man had made her self-discipline and concentration waver the way Ryan Donovan did. Just being near him made the air around her sizzle and crackle. She wondered if he felt it too.
The last thing he showed her was Brutus, the current king of the breeding operation, and the stall he’d prepared for the new addition.
“I’m gambling here,” he told her, reinforcing what Doc had said. “But if it pays off, it will be more than worth it.”
“What’s in the next building?” she asked as they reached the end of the concrete center aisle.
“That’s where the hands and I stable our horses. You’ll be taking care of them too.”
“Should we take a look?”
He shook his head. “Most of them are out right now, working the pastures or riding fences. Next time.” He nudged her around to face him. “There will be a next time, right? You are going to buy Doc out?”
“Getting close to it.” She wanted to give Pete her answer before anyone else.
He let his gaze travel over her from head to toe and back up again, sending a wash of sensation over her.
“You sure you can wrangle those big animals? Pete sometimes has to ask one of us to help.”
She swallowed her immediate retort and dug up a smile. “Then I’m sure if I need it, you’ll give me the same help. Right?”
“Yeah. Right.” He still didn’t move. “Just want to make sure you know your way around these critters.”
“Trust me. Don’t let my size fool you. I did my internship with large animals, and most of them weren’t friendly. I can handle it.”
At last he said, “All right then. Thanks for coming by.”
They stood there for a long moment, gazes locked and neither of them acknowledging the electricity zipping around them that nearly turned the air blue. When he touched her elbow to nudge her forward again, it felt as if he’d kissed her skin with a branding iron.
Not good. Not good.
With a tremendous force of will, Sable pushed everything else out of her mind and concentrated on the things Ryan was telling her. She’d be caring for these animals. She needed to know everything about them, their environment and how they were cared for. When they finished checking everything out and he walked her back to where Pete waited, the cool breeze carried the fresh scent of his aftershave along with the earthy scent of the barn. It made all her senses tingle. She would have to give herself a stern talking to if indeed she bought this practice. After all, she’d be working with this man, and mixing sex and business could be a problem.
Or not. She’d wait and see.
“Thank you for the tour,” she told him, reaching for her best professional attitude.
“My pleasure.”
When he shook her hand, the same electricity shot through her. Only the slight narrowing of his eyes told her he’d felt the jolt as well. Holy hell! How would she handle being around a man she constantly wanted to see naked?
“Well?” Pete asked when they were back in his truck. He’d waited and chatted with one of the hands while Ryan had done the walkthrough with her.
“It’s everything you say,” she told him. “And everyone I’ve met seems friendly and easy to be with.”
“As long as their animals get top care,” he added.
“Which is a hallmark of my practice,” she pointed out. She glanced over at him, curious about something. “This boat of yours people keep mentioning must really be something.”
“Sure is.” A look of pure joy flashed across his face. “My wife and I have been planning to live on that boat as soon as I retire for a long time. Which,” he told her, “I hope is right now. We both love it here in Saddle wells, but I promised her we could travel, spend time together. Travel down the Gulf to the Caribbean. Do some fishing, some sightseeing, stay at some five-star hotels.”
“Sounds great. But won’t you miss the animals?”
“Maybe, maybe not. But I do believe I’m ready for a big change. And a promise is a promise.”
“I hope I get to meet her,” Sable told him.
“As a matter of fact, I have orders to invite you for dinner tonight.” He chuckled. “Bring you
r appetite. Maura puts on a good feed.”
“I’ll look forward to it.”
“Then let’s get down to the nitty gritty so we can be on time. She hates it when I’m late.”
Chapter Two
“How is the house hunting coming?”
Sable looked up at Georgie Hannigan, who was standing in the open doorway. In the short time she’d known Georgie and Cade, they’d become like old friends to her. It amazed her, because while she’d made friends in the past, she found herself connecting so easily with the Hannigans, as well as with the other people in Saddle Wells. She was blown away by the women, Georgie’s friends, who’d embraced her so readily and completely. Already she felt more as if she belonged than as an outsider.
“It’s coming.” She sighed. “Sort of.”
“Can’t find what you want?” Georgie leaned in the doorway. “Nida’s usually pretty good at matching her buyers with properties.”
Sable had met Nida the day after she and Pete had signed the agreement of sale for the practice. She was the silently acknowledged queen of the Rowan County real estate market. Pete had told her the woman had a reputation for making great matches and finding people the perfect properties.
Maybe I’m being too picky?
No, she answered herself. If she planned to be here for a long time, which she did, she wanted a place she could really make into a home. Location was important too. She’d discovered she was the only large-animal vet in Rowan County at the moment, which meant she needed to be somewhat centrally located. On that note, she was thankful that Saddle Wells was actually located in the geographic center, so her only other requirement was being close enough to the clinic.
She also had to figure out the best place to stable her horse.
“I should have done all this when I was here the first time,” she confessed to Georgie.
The woman chuckled. “We talked about that, remember? But you were anxious to get back to West Texas and pack up all your stuff, get back here and dive into the practice. How’s that going, by the way?”