“Galoshes?” Claudia had a vague memory of black rubber boots that her mother used to make her wear in the rain. But she gave those up when she found fashion in the fifth grade. Maybe she had one or two more colds as a result of wet feet, but nobody said beauty was painless. Lesson number two at the Brooklyn Academy of Beauty.
Bending down, she pulled on the ugly boots, and finally she was ready for the outdoors. As she followed Rosie outside, she had to adjust her gait. Hard to sway hips when one was plodding.
The barn was a massive building, painted white to match the house and the building beyond. “What’s that?” Claudia wondered, pointing to the building beyond the barn.
“It’s where we milk the cows. You’ll see how that works a little bit later.”
If the cows were in the other building, then what was in the barn? Rosa May pulled the two handles in front, and two enormous doors opened wide.
“Oh. My. God! What is that smell?”
Rosa May giggled. “Let me introduce you to the horses.”
Taking a deep breath, her last of fresh air, Claudia followed Rosa May into the barn. It was dark inside, the only light coming from the open doors. There was a row of stalls on each side of the barn, and a ladder in the front of the barn that led to a loft that was filled almost to the ceiling with hay. To the left was a horse in one of the three stalls that lined the barn. To the right, Claudia couldn’t see what was in the stalls, but she heard snorting. She decided not to investigate.
“Ohmygod. Ohmygod,” Claudia chanted as she stepped through the thin layer of hay, fearful of the unseen little creepy crawlies that might lie beneath it. Cockroaches she could handle. Back alley rats didn’t scare her. Anything else sent her into fits.
“This is Shannon,” Rosa May said, introducing her horse.
She never realized how big they were. They always looked so sweet on television. And the poor horses that pulled the carriages in Central Park always gave her the impression of being worn down and aged. But this animal was a fine, strong, healthy animal. She was a rich brown color with a white star along the length of her nose. Her mane was secured in tight, small braids that created a sophisticated French effect.
“Cool hair,” Claudia complimented.
“I braid it,” Rosa May proclaimed proudly. Then she opened the stall gate and led Shannon into the middle of the barn. “Here, I’ll show you how to groom her.”
The horse snorted and some stuff came flying out of her nose. With a screech, Claudia jumped back from the animal. “If you don’t mind, I’ll just watch.”
“Don’t be scared. She’s sore because Devil is out in the fields.”
“Devil?”
“Dad’s horse.”
“Appropriate,” Claudia murmured.
“Horses like company. That’s why I got Shannon. Because we have the room, we might actually try to board some more.”
“More horses. Fabulous.” Claudia stood back and watched while Rosa May set about a series of chores that seemed as natural as breathing to her. She fed the horse, watered the horse and brushed the horse over and over again.
“Here, come try,” Rosa May said, holding out the brush for Claudia to take. It was a large round brush with a handle looped over the top to fit over a hand. The large prongs appeared sharp, but Rosa May assured Claudia that Shannon loved a firm brushing.
She moved the brush in large strokes down the animal’s side. Not too bad. She could definitely get into this. After all, grooming was grooming whether it be on people or animals, and nobody knew more about grooming than she did. Claudia moved in front of the horse and began to brush her chest. She bent over to stroke the front of its legs…
“Ooouch!”
She jumped up and immediately gripped her bottom.
Rosa May, who’d been mucking the stable while Claudia brushed Shannon, came running out of the stall, pitchfork in hand. “What happened?”
“She bit me. The ungrateful…never mind.”
Rosa May giggled. Shannon snorted. Claudia didn’t think it was funny at all.
Still rubbing her bottom in an attempt to ease the pain, Claudia backed away from the offensive horse. “I think I want to try another job.”
Rosa May shrugged her shoulders and held out the pitchfork. “You can muck her stable. I’ll brush her.”
Cautiously, Claudia took the weapon. If it was possible, it smelled worse than the barn. “What do I do with this?”
“All you have to do is get a block of hay, and pitch it into the stall. I already cleaned it out.”
That was good because Claudia didn’t think she’d be keen on cleaning up horse doo-doo. While Rosa May saw to Shannon, Claudia searched for a block of hay. There was one already set out for her at the bottom of the ladder. Giving Shannon a wide berth, Claudia made her way back to the front of the barn where the ladder was. The hay was in a large block kept together with some twine. First she tried to lift the hay. It didn’t budge. Then she tried to kick the hay. It didn’t budge. Then she leaned down and began to pull on the twine, hoping to drag the hay. It budged. A little.
Oh my, this is hard. Claudia lifted her hand to her brow and realized she was sweating. Actually sweating!
“I want to go home,” she mumbled to no one in particular. “I don’t sweat in New York. Well, only when the air-conditioning unit acts up.” Then she leaned over and began to pull on the twine again. And again. And again. Inch by inch the hay slid across the floor.
Ross stood in the open doors of the barn, holding his horse, Devil, who was ready for Rosa May’s tender treatment. His guest was mumbling about air-conditioning while she tried to move a block of hay. Her hair was flopping about her face. Her jeans weren’t allowing her a great deal of movement, and she kept tripping over her own feet. She didn’t have the strength of a flea. Yet, she hadn’t given up. She was struggling, with every ounce of strength she had, to move that hay. He watched as she reached Shannon. Standing and eyeing the horse with a sideways glance, while at the same time holding her bottom, Claudia looked for all the world like a woman who’d been nipped by a horse. Ross couldn’t say that he blamed the horse; he wouldn’t mind taking a nip of that particular piece of her anatomy himself.
Dangerous thinking, Ross warned himself. His daughter in all her youthful innocence reminded him that it had been almost a year since his last date. It had also been almost a year since his last…encounter, to put it mildly. He was frustrated, to put it not so mildly. He’d thought about heading into Madison, visiting one of the local bars and maybe finding some company.
Something about the idea didn’t appeal to him. He was getting a little too old for carousing. What he wouldn’t mind was finding a nice woman he could bring home to the farm to be a wife to him and a mother to his daughter. In his mind, he envisioned a woman similar to Susan. She was the best combination of strength and softness. She was a helpmate as a well as a friend. The odds of finding someone like her were slim. Which meant he was going to have to compromise, but no compromise could have included Claudia. He didn’t need a beauty, he didn’t need humor. He needed help.
So no matter how much Claudia’s fair face and trim curves appealed to him, she was still the last woman on earth he should get involved with. She couldn’t even move a bale of hay without making it look like the most difficult task in the world.
Dropping Devil’s reins, Ross moved in to lend a hand. In a smooth movement, he lifted the bale and carried it to Shannon’s stall.
“Hi, Dad,” Rosa May called. “You’re back early.”
“Have to get the girls milked. As soon as you’re done here, join me in the milking barn.”
Claudia watched as Ross climbed up the ladder and dropped another block of hay from the top. He journeyed down the ladder, not missing a step, hefted the hay onto his shoulder and carried it to Devil’s stall.
He’d removed his long-sleeved chambray shirt. The morning sun making the extra clothing unnecessary. He was dressed in soft worn jeans, and a l
ight-blue T-shirt that was now dark blue from sweat. There seemed to be a lot of sweating on these farms, Claudia noted. He wore a Green Bay Packers cap with the brim low over his eyes. His favorite, she imagined, as she’d seen him wear it often.
It was June. A month that usually brought with it hot temperatures and heavy humidity in New York. In Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, the sun was strong, as there were few trees to offer shade, but the temperature was fairly mild and the humidity was almost nonexistent. Good weather for nail painting. Humidity always reeked havoc on her polishes, making them sticky and making her detailed work extra tricky. She would have to experiment tonight. If only she could find a place where she could catch the light.
“You’re ready,” Ross told her, disturbing her creative dreaming.
His arms were at his sides, and Claudia couldn’t help but note that his muscles seemed so thick that they forced his arms out to slight angles even at rest. This morning she had felt those arms wrapped around her and knew intimately of their strength. She liked the feeling. Those arms made her feel safe.
Like the house did.
Her almost-boyfriend Marco never made her feel safe. Claudia never would have expected him to make her feel that way. She was far too independent. She lost her ma young. She lost her pop at twenty-one. She was an only child, so in the last seven years she learned to take care of herself with no help from anyone.
Only now she needed help. From the FBI, from Ross. The agent that was with her in the house in Jersey didn’t make her feel safe. The agent in Virginia who actually took a shot for her didn’t make her feel safe. MacCurdy was too slick to make her feel safe. It wasn’t until she saw this house, and she felt Ross’s arms, that the tension started to ease.
“More mucking?” she asked, attempting to distract herself from her own thoughts. This house was just another temporary hideout. Nothing more. It was silly to dwell on how it made her feel.
“More mucking.”
Claudia took the pitchfork in her delicate hands and moved into the stall, her head as far back on her shoulders as possible to keep her nose as far away from the smell as possible. Ross cut the twine for her, and she was able to break it up with the sharp powerful prongs of the tool she carried. Then she dug the large fork into the hay with the intent to pull some of it out of the pile. Only she dug it in so hard it got stuck, and she couldn’t seem to move it. “Oops.”
His eyes closed, Ross shook his head. This was going to be a long day. He moved to stand behind Claudia and wrapped his arms around her so that she was imprisoned against his hard chest. His hands were on the pitchfork interspersed between hers. “Pitch and lift,” he instructed.
His muscles clenched as he followed his own directions, and Claudia caught her breath. Oh. My. God. He surrounded her. His sweat dampened the back of her shirt, but she didn’t mind. His powerful male scent neutralized the smell of the barn, and that she certainly didn’t mind. Every nerve in her body was alert and tense, and the only thing she did mind was that she knew there was going to be no release from the tension.
“I’m doing all the work,” he growled into her ear.
Was she supposed to have a problem with that? Frankly, she was perfectly content to do this chore all day as long as he was willing to help. She turned her head and saw that his lips were only a whisper away from hers. Full, firm, she couldn’t help but wonder how they might taste.
Ross was prepared to reprimand her again for her lack of effort. Then he noted that her focus was on his lips, and that knowledge sent a loud and clear message down below.
Kiss her, the message said. Steal a taste from her cherry-glossed lips. In response his head inched lower, almost against his control. Lower. Closer.
Claudia sighed and nestled her shoulders deeper into his embrace, unconsciously rubbing her bottom against his thighs. He was so close she could almost taste his breath.
In an instant, his arms were gone. “I think you get the idea,” he said roughly. “Rosa May,” Ross called to his daughter who had moved Shannon outside for more grooming room, “Come back in here and watch her. Join me in the barn when she’s done.”
“But, Dad, that could take forever,” Rosa May told him, as she led the horse back to its stall. “No offense or anything,” she said, looking at Claudia.
“None taken, sweetie.” So she wasn’t a quick mucker; there were worse things in life. Shaking off the blast of lust she’d felt, like a dog shaking off a bath, Claudia decided a little hard work might do her overly tense body some good. “Pitch and lift. Pitch and lift,” she chanted as she attacked the hay. Only it was difficult to keep the cadence up when bits of hay dust were flying into her mouth. “Phth, phth, this stuff tastes awful.”
Nonetheless, she pitched and lifted until her arms ached, and her back was on fire, and blisters had formed on her beautiful little hands. She couldn’t even bring herself to check her nails. Surely they were beyond repair. And she had no doubt her hair was little more than a home for wayward hay.
“Finally,” Rosa May announced. “Onto the other barn.”
Finally, Claudia concurred silently. The next barn had to be easier than the first one. At least she prayed that it was. She only had a little energy left in her body and that was going to have to be reserved for bathing. “Maybe I should take a little rest before I try to tackle the next barn. You know, a power nap.”
Rosie was baffled. “A nap?” she asked. “But it’s still early.”
Claudia checked the slim gold watch attached to her right wrist. She gasped in dismay when she saw that it was only nine o’clock in the morning. She still had eight more hours of this to go. She was never going to make it.
4
SHE WAS NEVER going to make it. Ross watched from one of the stalls as she stopped in the doorway of the barn and clutched a hand over her mouth. To prevent her from vomiting, he assumed. She simply didn’t have what it takes to cut it on a farm. He wondered what she was like on her home turf. Something told him she was no doubt invincible. Returning to his work, he let Rosa May handle the instruction.
“Oh. My. God!!! It keeps getting worse!”
“This is as bad as it gets,” Rosa May promised. “Well, almost. Come on inside, you’ll get used to it.”
Claudia doubted it, but she followed Rosa May’s lead. “What do we do here again?”
“This is where we milk the cows. You can see they’re all lined up in rows,” Rosa May pointed to her left displaying the twenty or so cows that were already lined up in their individual cubicles. “The cows’ teats are hooked to machines that do all the work. The machines milk the cows then funnel the milk into containers that Dad gives to Robbie, the delivery guy, to take to the factories where they process the milk into cheese.”
Okay, so far so good. It sounded like the machines and Robbie, the delivery guy, did most of the work here. “So what do we have to do?”
“Dad is going to move the cows in and out of the stalls, so all we have to do is take care of the stray girls.”
“Stray girls?”
“Some of the cows’ teats are too sore for the suction machine.”
Claudia had an irrepressible urge to cover her breasts. “Can’t say as I blame them.” The puzzled expression on the young girl’s face amused Claudia. “Give it a few years.”
“I know, it will all make sense,” Rosa May finished. “Anyway, those cows have to be milked by hand.”
She’d seen this done in movies before, and it involved sitting real close to the cows and squeezing their things. She didn’t think she’d be any good at squeezing things.
Her expression must have given her away. “You can do it,” Rosa May prodded. “It’s really easy. Just watch me.”
The girl skipped off into a different section of the building. Claudia considered escaping out the barn doors, but New York was a long way away. Instead she followed the kid. There was an area closed off with a fence which contained an open room and several individual stalls. A small stool and large
bucket hung on a post next to one of the stalls. Claudia looked on as Rosa May led one of the cows out of the stall and into the outer area. The fence prevented the cow from wandering out of the pen.
Rosa May stilled the large black-and-white animal, then brought the stool close. She placed the bucket under the cow and reached for the cow’s udder. Taking a firm grip on a teat, she began to squeeze, steadily dropping the milk directly into the container.
“See,” she indicated. “Easy.”
It did seem easy. The cow just stood there and let loose with an occasional moo. And she would get to sit while she did it, so it was already an easier chore than mucking. “All right, I’ll give it a go.”
She moved into the area and closed the fence behind her. Rosa May got up and backed away while Claudia took her seat. Her nose pressed up against the side of the cow, she now understood where the bulk of the smell was emanating from. “Anybody ever tell you a bath would do wonders for that BO?”
“Mooo.”
“Just a suggestion. No need to get snippy.” Claudia tried to pet the animal as a way to make amends, but the cow started to shuffle away. Lifting her behind, she pulled the stool along with her as she followed the movements of the cow. Once the cow stopped so did she. Only the cow started to move as soon as she was settled. Again, Claudia got up and followed the cow. They made two rotations of the designated area until the animal finally settled down. Thank goodness for the fence or she feared she’d be chasing the darn cow around the whole barn.
Huffing from exertion, Claudia panted, “Are you done yet? I’m exhausted. And if I’m not very careful I’m going to start sweating again. Now let’s get this show on the road already.”
“Mooo.”
“Yeah, mooo, yourself.” Irritated by all the chasing, Claudia was ready to milk. Reaching under the cow she found what she was looking for. It was sort of soft, but sort of hard at the same time. It was warm and fleshy and for a minute Claudia wondered if she hadn’t caught a boy cow by mistake. But then she yanked, and a steady stream of white milk shot into the bucket. “Okay, cow. Give me some milk.”
The Doc's Double Delivery & Down-Home Diva Page 20