“Wow.” Isabella’s eyes were dreamy. “Is he a good kisser?”
Sam pursed her lips together. “Good God, Isabella. We’re talking about Cheyenne Wells here, not Brad Pitt.” She picked up her Margarita and sloshed the ice around while Isabella watched her. Then she grinned. “But it wasn’t bad.”
Isabella shook her head in disbelief. “Unbelievable. After all these years you two end up kissy-kissy.”
Sam grimaced. “Kissy-kissy? I don’t think so girlfriend. That was an impulse kiss, not an invitation for a long term relationship. But the worst part was I had a confrontation with Marietta. What a shitty day. I need another Margarita.”
The Mariachi band took a break and there was silence in the restaurant. Sam could hear the two men talking in low voices behind her.
“I heard Wilson was going to sign a contract with that developer,” the young man said. “That’s going to have a negative impact on our open space plans and be a detriment to our ecological environment. Were you able to talk any sense into him, John?”
“Are you kidding!” the other man snorted. “That jackass is so full of himself he won’t listen to anyone. He only listens to the almighty dollar – his god.”
“Well, maybe if we ………”
They lowered their voices and Sam leaned back to try and hear what they were saying.
Isabella stared at her with disbelief. “Are you eavesdropping on those two men behind you?” She asked in a loud whisper.
“Ssssh. I heard them say something about the Wilson’s. You know how I love for people to gossip about the Wilson’s! They may say something I can pass around so be quiet a minute.” Sam giggled as Isabella rolled her eyes.
The waiter brought them two more Margarita’s and someone started the jukebox with an old Freddie Fender favorite, “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights.”
Great, Sam thought. I’ve had the perfect wasted day. Maybe I can get totally wasted before the night is over!
Chapter Eight
The next day dawned with beautiful sunshine and snow on the mountain peaks. Sam’s workdays always started early and she was in her office by 7:00 checking voice mail and other messages left by Melanie. Then she looked at her calendar to see what was scheduled for the day.
The phone rang and Samantha picked it up. “Dr. Kendrick speaking.”
“Dr. Kendrick, this is Suzanne from the Lazy W. Cheyenne asked me to call because we have several horses he’d like you to check. He’s afraid they may be coming down with that same virus. I’ll have Jose bring them to the treating room if you can come out right away.”
“Okay. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Sam groaned when she hung up the phone. She was thinking of Marietta. She knew if Marietta saw her back at their ranch things could get ugly, but she had no choice since Doc wasn’t back yet.
A short time later Sam drove up to the Lazy W. When Dundee saw where they were he jumped in the back and laid down on his pillow. He made it clear he wasn’t interested in joining Sam.
“Chicken,” she told him before she closed the truck door. She walked to the barn and met Suzanne at the door.
“Cheyenne is on his way to CSU to check on Brio, but he left Jose in charge. He’s in the treating room with the horses waiting for you,” Suzanne told her.
“How is Brio doing?” Sam asked before she headed toward the back.
“Cheyenne said he’s not out of the woods. We’re not sure if he’s going to make it.” Suzanne shook her head sadly. “He’s such a beautiful stallion and worth a fortune. He’s insured, but money can’t replace our Brio.”
Suzanne went into her office and Sam made her way through the barn to the vet’s room and saw Jose with two geldings.
“Buenos Dias,” Jose said with a slight nod.
“Do you speak English? Hablas ingles?” Sam asked.
“Yes, un poquito, a little.”
“Good. Let me check these guys out.”
She went to work and looked both horses over thoroughly. “When did they last eat, do you know?”
“Si, not much day before, and no today.”
“Any diarrhea?”
“No, senorita.”
“Well, you need to watch them carefully. I think they may have colic, or eaten some bad hay or grain. I’ll get some fecal samples to test immediately to make sure they’re not coming down with the Salmonella virus. I want you to stall them and not put them with any other horses, do you understand?”
“Si, si, doctor.”
“Good, I’ll give them some medicine to help them get over the colic. Let me know immediately if they start having any diarrhea. You can have Cheyenne call me if he has any questions.”
“Bueno, bueno. Gracias.”
After Sam doctored the horses and Jose led them out, she was finishing up her paperwork when she heard a voice outside the treating room door. Evidently someone was on a cell phone but she didn’t recognize who was talking. She didn’t pay much attention until she heard her name, then her ears perked up.
“Yeah, yeah, I put the note in the mail box just like you told me. But that damn dog that belongs to that vet, Kendrick, found a syringe in the field with the mare. It could be the one that fell out of my pocket.”
There was silence for a minute and then more talking as the voice faded away. Whoever was talking was walking away and Sam quickly moved to peek around the door.
By the time she got there no one was in sight. She didn’t recognize the voice but she knew it was a man. Could someone be intentionally infecting the horses with a Salmonella virus?
Sam shuddered as she slipped her hand in her coat pocket and felt the syringe Dundee found yesterday. She decided to get out as fast as possible and take the syringe with the samples to CSU for testing.
Sam packed her gear up as quickly as possible. One thing she didn’t want was to run into Marietta again. She grabbed her stuff and headed for the door. She turned the corner and smacked into Marietta, knocking her red glasses to the ground.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Marietta snarled as she snatched up her glasses and put them back on her face. They were a little crooked but Sam didn’t think she noticed. She was way too pissed to notice anything but her right then.
“Suzanne called me out to check two of your geldings. She said Cheyenne was worried they may be coming down with the same virus the others had and wanted someone to check them over.”
“Where the hell is Doc? Isn’t he back yet?”
“No. He’s supposed to get back some time later on this morning.”
“Well, I don’t want you here without him so get out! You’ve done enough damage to this ranch. I can’t believe you put Brilliante down without consulting me. What kind of moron are you anyway?”
Sam could see Lance rushing up behind Marietta with a concerned look on his face.
“What’s the problem here?” he asked when he got to them.
Marietta turned and gave him a disgusted look. “There’s no problem except this inept girl who’s posing as a vet coming out here and treating my horses.”
Lance patted Marietta’s shoulder. “Now Marietta. Doc wouldn’t have her as a partner if she’s inept, you know that. She’s just doing her job so calm down.”
Instead of having a calming effect Sam could see the blood rushing to Marietta’s face and knew the explosion was coming. She slowly backed away.
“You are such an idiot! I don’t know why I didn’t divorce you years ago!” Marietta screamed at him.
Then she turned to Sam.
“Get out! And I mean now!”
Sam grabbed her stuff and hauled ass to her truck. She looked back once and saw Marietta yelling in Lance’s face with her crooked red glasses bouncing up and down on her nose.
Chapter Nine
March went out like a lamb a day later, and the warm April sunshine melted the snow and felt like a mother’s sweet kiss on the front range of Colorado. But the warm spring weather didn’t soften t
he blow when the test results came back from CSU on Brio and Brilliante. Both had been infected with the Salmonella Colitis X virus.
Brio was making a slow recovery, but Marietta was mad as hell at Sam, telling everyone because of her inexperience she had panicked and made the wrong decision to put the mare down when she could have saved her.
Sam didn’t worry too much about the politics at the Lazy W. When Doc got back she told him everything that happened. She knew he could handle the Wilson’s and squash any malicious gossip spread by Marietta.
After overhearing the conversation on the cell phone, Sam was not surprised when the syringe tested positive with traces of the Salmonella virus in it. Someone had purposely injected the horses with the deadly virus just as she feared.
Doc gave copies of the test results to Lance and Marietta as well as to George Olson, their county sheriff. Unfortunately there were so many fingerprints on the syringe, not to mention Dundee’s own paw prints, that the sheriff wasn’t able to get any clues as to who might have injected the mare or stallion. No syringes or any evidence was found in Brio’s stall.
“I believe it was a threat to try and change Lance’s mind about selling off half his land to developers,” Doc told Sam that morning. “I even told him, but he’s a stubborn old fool and won’t back down. Can’t blame him much on that, though. Tough ol’ ranchers like him can’t be pushed around. But I reckon he’s keeping a real close watch on all his horses so it won’t happen again.”
“You could be right since it happened the same day Marietta got the threatening note in her mailbox,” Sam said. “If it were me I’d take a close look at my help. He’s got a lot of men out there working on the ranch. One of them could have easily injected those horses without being seen.”
SAM WAS BUSY that spring with the foaling of calves and colts. Things had calmed down at the Lazy W Ranch and fortunately no other horses came down with the Salmonella virus and Brio was recuperating at CSU.
The days flew by and the next thing Sam knew it was a week before the big fundraising event for the therapeutic riding center.
Sam always enjoyed going every year and circulating with the volunteers and donors at the dinner. Plus it was fun to bid on the various items up for auction. It was even more rewarding to know that the funds helped support one of the nation’s premiere riding centers.
At the center, children and adults with disabilities, many in wheelchairs, could be seen pushing their chairs or walking in braces to the loading ramps. When they mounted their horses you could see pride and joy in their faces. Even if they couldn’t walk, they could ride. The neat thing was the horses didn’t know they had disabilities and accepted them just as they were. It was a magical place.
Sam and Isabella decided they needed new dresses for the event and met one afternoon at Flatirons Crossing Mall.
They started at their favorite department store that was having a big sale and had a huge selection of dresses. They were trying on everything in their size, and the sales clerks were running back and forth as they narrowed down their selections.
Sam was looking for something slinky in black and was going through the racks when a middle-aged woman came in with her husband. She was short and pudgy, probably about a size 18. He was balding and had a belly that extended over his belt. Sam could hear her mumbling under her breath and it was obvious she was not happy about something. Sam sensed there were sparks flying between them because she could smell the man’s fear. It was sweat. Sam didn’t know what he did to piss her off but he was breathing hard and his eyes darted back and forth as he frantically looked through the racks.
Isabella came out of the dressing room to show Sam her latest choice. She looked stunning in a full-length red dress that meshed to her body. It had a slit on one side that went up past her thigh and the red accented her olive complexion and long black hair and dark eyes.
“That’s it!” Sam exclaimed as Isabella twirled around and swung her hips in an exaggerated model pose.
Sam heard a noise behind her and turned to see the man starring at Isabella with his mouth open. His eyes were glazed over and he was actually drooling. He took a step back, hit a rack of clothes and lost his balance. He fell backwards and was buried under an avalanche of silk and sequins when his wife came running up.
“Robert! Watch what you’re doing!”
Isabella and Sam ran over to help pull him up and get the rack back in place. Two sales clerks came up quickly to help. The man’s face was purple as he mumbled something incoherent to his angry wife.
Isabella and Sam retreated to the dressing room while the couple helped the clerks hang the dresses back on the rack.
“I think you’re right, this is the one,” Isabella told Sam with a giggle.
“Oh, that dress is deadly. We might have to register it as a lethal weapon.”
A clerk came in with a black dress.
“Try this on,” she told Sam. “I think you’ll love it!”
Sam pulled the slinky black dress on and stood back. It was exactly what she was looking for. It was above the knee with one bare shoulder and hugged her body like a glove.
She came out of the dressing room to show Isabella.
“Ay, yi yi! That’s it, girlfriend!”
The clerk smiled and nodded her head. Sam turned around and saw a good-looking hunk walking down the aisle checking her out. He walked into a post and fell down. Sam grinned.
“Wrap it up,” she told the sales clerk.
Chapter Ten
The night of the fundraiser was warm and gorgeous with a full moon. Sam had on her new slinky black dress. She’d pulled her hair up in a knot on top of her head and a few blond wisps floated softly around her face and neck. Sam was going for the sophisticated and sexy look. Isabella was in her full-length red dress that clung to every inch of her gorgeous body with her long black hair flowing nearly to her waist. Sam sighed. Isabella exuded sexiness without even trying.
They rode together in Isabella’s little black Mustang convertible to the historic Fairview hotel where the event was held each year. After giving the keys to the valet, they wasted no time signing in and heading toward the room where all the auction items were displayed. Hors d’oeuvres were served to them as they began looking over the wonderful array of items. It was like a garage sale at Martha Stewart’s house.
“Wow, here’s a really neat painting that would look great in your den,” Isabella told Sam. It was a beautifully framed watercolor of a black paint horse that was absolutely magnificent.
“Well, the starting bid is $500 so let me have a few more drinks and maybe I’ll consider bidding on it. Shit, what am I saying? I’d have to be stone drunk to bid on it, and even then I couldn’t afford it because all I have is $300 in my checking account until payday.”
“I’m going over to look at the jewelry,” Isabella told Sam and headed across the room.
As Samantha slowly worked her way around studying all the items, she didn’t notice Cheyenne enter the room until he came up to her.
“You vets sure clean up nice,” he said casually as he studied her.
Sam stared at Cheyenne. This was their first meeting since the day she put Brilliante down. The last time she saw him in a tux was at their high school prom. He didn’t look so hot then, but he looked pretty damn good now. Sam took a deep yoga breath and let it out slowly. “Yes, I can actually show up for a dinner without a trace of horse or cow poop on my shoes.”
Cheyenne grabbed two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter and gave one to Sam, never taking his eyes off hers. Then he stepped back, grabbed her hand and turned her around slowly, his dark eyes soaking up every inch of her body.
A chill ran down Sam’s back and she suddenly felt very self-conscious.
So this is what it’s like for a man’s eyes to melt to a deep sensuous chocolate, she thought. And hot damn, do I love chocolate!
“Not bad,” Cheyenne said with a smile when she was facing him again.
&n
bsp; “How is your stallion doing?” Sam asked. She had to change the subject before he saw her squirm under his gaze.
It worked. Immediately Cheyenne’s face grew serious as he stopped another waiter working the room with a tray of crab puffs. He gave one to Sam and stuffed the other in his mouth.
“He’s completely recovered,” he said after he finished off the puff and emptied his champagne glass. “In another week we’ll be able to start working him again, but slowly. So far we haven’t had any more outbreaks of the virus, so we’re hoping this was just a one-time incident.”
Cowgirl Up! Page 5