Her Cowboy Dilemma

by C. J. Carmichael

  The dogs knew this and they waited patiently for him to finish.

  Next on the priority list were his dogs. Not a big believer in doggy kibble, Farley fed them a special, homemade mash that he kept in the refrigerator. Both dogs loved it and went straight to their ceramic bowls by the far wall to gobble and enjoy.

  Now it was his turn.

  Farley surveyed his gourmet kitchen.

  Five years ago when his parents retired, he’d sold one section of his land and pumped the money into the sprawling ranch house. He’d put in heated slate floors, new maple cabinetry and all the high-end appliances, as well as redoing the bathrooms. The old windows were replaced with triple panes that blocked UV light and a new red metal roof replaced the aging asphalt shingles.

  He’d bought furniture, too, the kind you saw when you booked into an upscale mountain resort. His house was now his castle, in every sense of the word.

  Maybe it was a little on the big side for just one man and two dogs. But you never knew. One day another dog might come along and join the family. As a vet, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

  Sometimes his mom got on his case, too. Like Liz, she thought marriage and children were the holy grails of life. She didn’t seem to get that when you were doing the work you’d been born to do, a family sometimes seemed more like dessert than the main course.

  Not that he didn’t enjoy the company of a woman now and then. And Amber had her charms. He found her intelligent, attractive and pleasant company. Fortunately she was easygoing, as well, since so far he’d had to cancel three of their seven dates.

  He’d told her he would call her when he got home but it had been five hours since the crackers and cheese Maddie Turner had fed him and he was getting light-headed.

  Farley took out a full carton of eggs and a loaf of bread. He felt as if he could eat all of this and more. It had been a while since he’d used his fancy kitchen to its full potential. Maybe on the weekend he’d invite Amber over for dinner.

  But when Farley tried to imagine Amber standing by the stove or sitting across from him at the table, all he could see was golden-haired Cassidy. Sweet as honey one minute. As fired up as a bumblebee the next.

  Easygoing did not describe Cassidy. But she was so deliciously alive. She’d been around seventeen when he’d stopped seeing her as a spunky little girl and saw her as a desirable woman. He could still remember the exact moment. He’d been watching TV with her brothers when she’d come down the hall dressed in a jean skirt and T-shirt. Her long blond hair had been freshly washed, and she’d been wearing makeup—for the first time that he’d ever noticed.

  Wow, he’d thought. He hadn’t stared, but it had taken all of his self-control not to. She was too young. The sister of his best friends. He knew his feelings weren’t appropriate and he’d done his best to deny them.

  But when he saw her at the bar on her twenty-first birthday, he hadn’t been able to resist asking her out. The date started perfectly. Olive had smiled at him warmly when he arrived to pick up Cassidy, letting him know that she approved of him dating her only daughter.

  And Cassidy had looked beautiful—quieter than usual—but absolutely lovely. They’d danced the first set as if they were the only two people in the room—gazes fused, bodies coming together like two pieces of an interlocking puzzle.

  And then she’d asked for a drink and by the time he returned with the requested glass of punch, she was dancing with someone else.

  This had all happened a long time ago. Four years. He’d thought he’d put it all behind him.

  But then he’d seen her today and he’d felt the old punch of attraction.

  What had been up with that? It didn’t make sense. Once Cassidy Lambert had seemed like his dream girl.

  But the reality was different. She’d grown up into a spoiled brat who treated men like dirt and wanted to live the high life in the city. Not that he had anything against city folk. But he sure had no use for a woman like that in his life.

  Chapter Five

  Cassidy got up around three in the morning to check on Lucy, then again at dawn. Both times the horse seemed to be holding her own, no better, no worse. By six o’clock, Cassidy was hungry. Usually they had oatmeal or boiled eggs and toast for breakfast, but wanting to surprise her mother—and make a special effort to please her—Cassidy decided to cook crepes using a recipe Josh had taught her.

  She passed Corb and Jackson on her way from the home barn to the house. They were heading out to the cow and equestrian barns, respectively.

  “Want to join Mom and me for breakfast later? I’m planning something special.”

  “You’re cooking? No, thanks.”

  She smacked her brother’s shoulder. “I’m better than I used to be.” She had a reputation for burning anything she tried to make, thanks to her impatient habit of cooking everything on high heat so it would be ready faster.

  “I’m sure you are. I was just kidding. But I want to head back home and make Laurel something to eat when I’m finished here. She had a rough night with the baby.”

  “What about you, Jackson?”

  “I’m kind of tied up today,” her foster brother mumbled. “Thanks, anyway.”

  “Okay, fine, boys. Your loss. I’m making crepes.” She thought that might tempt them, but both men just kept walking. Corb, she could understand—she was actually proud that he’d turned into such a caring husband and father—but Jackson lived alone. You’d think he might enjoy a little company and a meal he didn’t have to cook for himself.

  In the old days, when their father was alive, Jackson had seemed like another brother to her. But lately—and most particularly since the accident—he’d been distant. Cassidy didn’t think it was only to her and she made a mental note to talk to Corb about this.

  In the kitchen Cassidy put on a pot of coffee, then whipped up the batter, prepared the fruit and started a small nonstick frying pan on medium-low heat.

  When her mother came in from her morning “rounds” as she liked to call them, Cassidy had a stack of crepes ready. She waved a hand at the table. “Sit down, Mom. I’m waiting on you for a change.”

  “What’s this?” Olive looked from the table, to the stove, to her daughter.

  “I made you breakfast.” Cassidy handed her mother a cup of coffee with the cream and sugar already added. Then she plated two crepes with some fruit salad and set it down along with the pitcher of syrup.

  “Well. Isn’t this something.”

  Cassidy waited for her mother to take a taste.

  Olive took a tentative bite. “Sweet, isn’t it?”

  “Is it too sweet?”

  “I wouldn’t say that. Stop standing there, watching me. Aren’t you going to eat, too?”

  Cassidy joined her mother, and dug into the meal with a keen appetite. Must be all the fresh air and the hard work from yesterday. When she was finished, she went to the stove to help herself to seconds.

  “Can I give you some more, Mom?”

  “I don’t think so, sweetheart. This was lovely, but I find eggs and toast and oatmeal stick to the ribs when you have a long day ahead of you.”

  “Oh.”

  “Since the frying pan is already out, I think I’ll cook a few eggs. Want me to put some on for you?”

  “No, thanks.” She put the syrup back in the fridge and her plate in the dishwasher. It was silly for her to have hurt feelings because her mother preferred a more robust morning meal.

  She wondered when Corb and Laurel were going to tell their mother about Winnie’s baby. “Any plans to see Corb today?”

  “No. I’m leaving in about thirty minutes to negotiate a sale of some of our yearlings with a rancher out Lewistown way. If the meeting goes too long, I may end up taking a room in town and coming home in the morning.”

  “What about the quarantine?”

  “Yes.” Her mother sighed with annoyance. “We’ll have to delay delivery until that’s cleared up, I guess.”

  �
�Speaking of clearing it up, I’m going out now to check on the rest of the horses.”

  An egg splattered as her mother added it to the hot frying pan. “Good. If any of them seem even a little off, make sure you call Farley right away.”

  * * *

  “MOM THINKS FARLEY walks on water,” Cassidy confided to Sky as they headed out of the house toward the pasture. “So do my brothers.”

  Sky cocked her head as if to say, Go on. Cassidy did.

  “Well, he is a pretty good vet. I’ll give him that. But most eligible bachelor in Bitterroot County? That has to be stretching things.”

  Cassidy’s mood lightened when she spotted the ranch’s working horses munching on the hay Jackson had rolled out for them earlier. She slipped between the rungs of the wooden fence.

  “You stay here, Sky,” she told the border collie, and Sky promptly lowered onto her haunches.

  Cassidy had grown up with most of these horses and considered them just as much family as she did Sky...and her brothers. She made the rounds, saying hello to each and every one of them, at the same time checking for signs of the dreaded strangles.

  Finally she came to her own coffee-colored mustang, Finnegan. She’d owned him since she was eight, and he was now twenty-one years old.

  “Hey, old man. How come you’re not chowing down with the others?” She offered him a hunk of a carrot she’d snatched from the fridge earlier. Finnegan just gave it a sniff.

  She patted his neck and some of his light brown hair went flying. “You could use some pretty serious grooming, huh?” In fact, all of the horses were looking scruffy.

  “Hey, Cass!”

  She swiveled, following the sound of Corb’s voice. He’d just left the cattle barn and was walking in her direction.

  “If you have time today, they could all use a little action with the shedding shears.”

  “I noticed.”

  “It’s been hard without Brock.” Corb shrugged. “We can’t seem to get enough done in a day, despite the extra workers B.J. hired.”

  Their eldest brother had returned to the rodeo circuit a week after Brock’s funeral. Cassidy suspected he’d hired the extra workers to assuage his guilt for leaving them all so quickly.

  Not that she’d been any better. She’d gone right back to school, hoping she could run from the heartbreak of losing her brother.

  Focusing on her studies had helped some, but she’d spent a lot of tearful nights. “I guess it would take more than one hired wrangler to replace our brother out here,” Cassidy said sadly, eyeing the neglected herd.

  “Jackson used to take care of these guys as well as handling all the admin work and accounting. But I asked him to step in and manage the breeding program, so he’s pretty much run ragged these days.”

  “Is that why he’s being so standoffish?”

  “Overwork?” Corb gave the idea less than two seconds of thought. “No. I think he still feels guilty about the accident.”

  “But it wasn’t his fault. There was nothing he could have done.” Savannah Moody had made that clear after the investigation was completed and no charges had been laid.

  “He still blames himself, and I guess I understand how he feels. I’d probably feel the same in his shoes.”

  “Have you tried talking to him?”

  “Of course I have. But it doesn’t help that Mom is treating him even more coldly than she used to.”

  For some reason their mother hadn’t been keen when her husband came up with the idea of taking on a foster son. But while Bob Lambert usually gave in to whatever Olive wanted, on this point he’d been surprisingly firm, and Jackson had come to Coffee Creek Ranch where her father had treated him the same as one of his own.

  “If only Dad was still with us. He’d know what to say to make Jackson feel better.”

  “Maybe he could.” Corb sighed. “But we might as well wish the accident had never happened. Dad and Brock are both gone and we have to deal with it.”

  He glanced at Cassidy then, and she wondered if he thought her plans to work in Billings were selfish, when she was so obviously needed here.

  “Do we have the money to hire more help?”

  Corb nodded. “When Jackson moved to the breeding program, the plan was to find a new accountant so he wouldn’t have to bother with the desk work anymore. But so far Mom hasn’t given the go-ahead on that.”

  Cassidy could guess why. Her mother expected her to fill that role.

  “I’ll do what I can to help while I’m here, Corb. But I can’t stay. I worked hard for my degree and I want a chance to use it.”

  Besides, after living apart from her mother the past five years, she could never go back to living in the same house as her.

  The crepes episode was a perfect example of how a simple little thing could get her all upset. Life was too short to keep doing that to herself.

  “I just couldn’t come back here to live. I’m sorry.”

  “Hey.” Corb patted her shoulder. “I didn’t mean to make you feel guilty. I get it.”

  “By the way, you’ll have to wait to tell Mom about Winnie’s baby. She’s off to Lewistown today and may not be home until tomorrow.”

  “Thanks for letting me know that.” He stepped back from her and gave the horses a good look-over. “So how do they seem to you? Any signs of strangles?”

  “Nothing obvious. But I noticed Finnegan seems to be off his food. He didn’t even want the carrot I just offered him.” She unclenched her fist, where the untouched chunk of carrot still sat.

  “Damn.” Corb checked the mustang more closely, then shook his head. “Doesn’t look sick to me, but just to be sure, we better put him up in a separate area of the barn. Keep him away from both Lucy and the other horses.”

  Cassidy nodded. She’d already decided the same thing, though she was almost positive that Finnegan didn’t have strangles. He couldn’t.

  Still, she brought him into the barn, settling him into the stall farthest from Lucy’s. An hour later Corb and two hired hands tacked up four horses and went out to sort calves for branding. Cassidy busied herself cleaning Lucy’s stall and hauling the soiled hay away and burning it as per Farley’s orders.

  Two hours later, she had to admit that Finnegan was looking worse. She’d offered him some oats and given him a thorough grooming, but he still wasn’t eating and seemed decidedly lackluster.

  Much as she didn’t want to, she could see no alternative.

  She had to call Farley.

  * * *

  CASSIDY MADE THE call from the barn, using the phone in the office where she and Farley had talked just one day earlier. She’d hoped to clear the air with him then, but the truth was she felt even more awkward now than she had before.

  So she was relieved when his phone was answered by someone else.

  “Farley & Sons,” said a woman with a brisk, no-nonsense voice. “Liz speaking.”

  Even though Farley now worked on his own, he hadn’t changed the name of the business to reflect this. “Hi. This is Cassidy Lambert from Coffee Creek Ranch. Farley was out here yesterday looking at one of our horses.”

  “Cassidy Lambert?”

  “Yes.”

  “I see.”

  Was it her imagination or did the woman’s voice shift from businesslike to frosty?

  “Well, if you’re wondering about the test results for your palomino, it’s going to take several days before we know for sure.”

  “I was actually calling because we have a second horse off his feed and I was wondering if Farley could come take a look at him.”

  “Dan has a full schedule today. And plans for dinner with his girlfriend tonight.”

  Dan Farley had a girlfriend? She knew she shouldn’t be surprised, or even interested, but she was both. Fighting the urge to ask questions that weren’t appropriate, Cassidy refocused on the issues that did matter.

  “This second horse is older, and I’m afraid if he has strangles it could hit him hard. I’d really
appreciate it if Farley could come as soon as possible.”

  “Well, he could maybe squeeze in a visit tomorrow. He was planning to swing by Silver Creek then, anyway.”

  Tomorrow. Cassidy hated to wait that long. But it didn’t seem she had any choice. “Do they have strangles at Silver Creek, too?”

  “Not at all. Far as we know, you’re the only ones in the area.”

  Which meant the mystery of how Lucy had contracted the bacterial infection was still unsolved. Maybe it had been that secondhand tack. Cassidy ended the unsatisfactory call and went back to check on the horses.

  While she was applying a fresh compress to Lucy’s neck, Corb and the hired men came back with their horses. They looked dirty and tired and she offered to brush down their horses and clean the tack for them.

  The men gave her grateful smiles, passing off their horses before taking off for their well-deserved dinners.

  Careful to protect the horses from infection, Cassidy brushed them off outside before letting them loose in the pasture. Then she turned to the tedious job of disinfecting the tack room. The job took several hours and she was tired, sweaty and hungry by the time she was finished. Still, rather than head in for the shower and meal that she craved, she washed thoroughly and went back to Finnegan.

  There wasn’t much light left in the day at that point, but she didn’t need it to see that Finnegan had deteriorated. He had discharge in his nostrils and he still hadn’t touched either the oats, the carrot or the hay she’d left out for him.

  Heck and darn.

  Lucy was doing worse, too. Not only were the glands in her neck visibly more swollen, but she seemed to be struggling with each breath.

  Mentally Cassidy went over the instructions Farley had left with her and wondered if she’d missed something. She wished she had someone to ask, but it was past eight o’clock now and there was no one around. She could always call Corb at the cabin. But he had no more experience with strangles than she did, and he already had precious little time to spend with his wife and baby daughter.

  Liz had said Farley might make it tomorrow morning.