Logan's Luck

by Lexi Post

  “Toast. Toast. Toast. Toast…”

  The litany continued as Gram brought Charlotte downstairs. His time with his daughter every morning was the best part of the day. It always went downhill from there.

  Sighing, he headed for the bathroom and a quick shower. He preferred to sleep nude, but ever since Charlotte came into his life, he’d purchased a half dozen pair of pajama bottoms, one of many adjustments he’d had to make for her, but she was well worth it.

  In no time he was showered, dressed, and headed out to the barn. A new load of hay was expected and he wanted to pull the few old bales out. It was easy to concentrate on work with Charlotte happily playing in her playpen under Gram’s watchful eye.

  He entered the barn to find his brother already there. “I didn’t see your truck. Did you ride down?”

  Trace turned away from Macy’s stall. “Yes. Lightyear needed a good run and Whisper needed my truck to go in to town since hers is still at Dr. Jenna’s house. Whisper said she needed to pick up a couple bottles of antibiotics for a wounded cougar hanging around our place.”

  Logan halted before his brother. “Don’t tell me she’s putting cream on a cougar.”

  Trace chuckled. “Not that she would hesitate to, but no, she’s mixing it into food she leaves out at night. Must be working because every night the food is gone, and we still see the cougar outside our firelight.”

  “How do you know some coyote isn’t eating it, and the cougar isn’t just waiting for you to fall asleep and the fire to go out?”

  Trace had picked up a small cooler, but he stilled and looked sideways at him. “Because Whisper says it’s helping.”

  “Right.” Logan shook his head before turning to view the new foal. He’d had a late night taking care of the afterbirth and making sure everything continued to go well between the two. As much as he hated to admit it, if Jenna hadn’t had Cole remind him about the betadine for the umbilical cord, he’d have completely forgotten. It had been that long since he’d had a mare foal. His family had had a cattle ranch like his grandparents, not a horse rescue ranch like the one Cole had created.

  The foal was a male. He lay next to Macy as she licked his face. Pleased with their progress, Logan moved away and donned a pair of work gloves.

  Trace took a swallow from a bottle of water before stuffing it back in his cooler. “Cole said he’d be here when the truck arrived.”

  Logan climbed up the ladder to the hayloft. “Good. With three of us, we just might get this done before lunch.” He strode toward the hay bales against the back wall and hefted one in each hand. “Hope you have your gloves on because here they come.” He dropped the bales over the edge to the floor below.

  An unexpected shuffle and bleat came from Macy’s stall. He walked along the loft until he could see the pair. The foal stood where he’d been lying just moments ago. This wasn’t going to work. The haybales hitting the barn floor were nothing compared to the sound of the fork lift.

  Striding back to the ladder, he descended before meeting Trace as he was about to re-enter the barn after lugging the bales outside. “We can’t do this with Macy and the foal in there. Just the sound of the haybale startled it. If we use the forklift…”

  Trace nodded. He’d owned a horse ranch before losing it through his divorce. “We have two choices. Either we lug every bale up into the loft by hand, or we move Macy and her baby. What did you name it?”

  “Charlotte’s Horse for now. Is it safe to move them so soon?”

  Trace nodded. “From what I saw, I’d say yes. A lot better than leaving them in here. We could bring them to the corral just south of the barn. That one still has the shelter we set up for when the youth group visited.”

  That corral was not too far, but hopefully, far enough. “Can you get the last of the old bales out of there?” He hooked his thumb toward the barn. “I want to add a little more protection to that shelter. It’s just a roof, but we have those boards I bought for Black Jack’s shelter that he didn’t want.”

  Trace chuckled. “No, he didn’t want them. How many did he bust?”

  Logan frowned. “It only took two before I listened to him. He’s a stubborn horse. Good thing he’s here.”

  “Good thing he’s yours.” Trace smirked. “Sure, I’ll haul the rest of the bales out. Go ahead, but make it fast. That hay truck is due here any minute.”

  “Thanks.” He headed to the shed on the other side of the barn and quickly loaded the ATV trailer with wood.

  *

  Jenna pulled up to the ranch house at Last Chance and cut the engine. She could think of a hundred other tasks she needed to attend to, but Macy and the foal had to be her top priority, no matter how little sleep she’d had thanks to a certain cowboy living here.

  Falling asleep had been easy. Staying asleep while her dreams were riddled with the memory of Logan’s kiss last night and their time together over a year ago had been impossible.

  She glanced at herself in her rearview mirror. Great. She looked like she felt. What did that matter? She was a vet and she had a job to do. Unclipping her hair, she wound it around and folded it under then reclipped it. Good enough. It wasn’t as if she wanted to impress anyone.

  Grabbing her bag from the passenger seat, she stepped out then headed for the barn. The noise coming from inside had her quickening her steps. A glance at the huge truck with half the hay missing told her exactly what was going on.

  Darn it. There was a new foal inside. Was Logan totally clueless? She stalked to the entrance and froze.

  Cole sat in the fork lift, lowering the fork to the ground, but above in the hayloft Trace and Logan worked on either side of the hay bales, stacking them toward the back. Both men were shirtless, but from her spot, she could only see Trace’s head. Unfortunately, she could see Logan clearly.

  As he lifted two bales, one in each gloved hand, his biceps flexed and the muscles in his back moved as they tensed under the weight. His ass, covered in a pair of tight blue jeans with a bandana hanging out of his back pocket had her unable to look away until he strode out of sight. When he returned to the pile, he pulled off a glove, whipped the bandana out and wiped his face.

  After putting the bandana away, he donned his glove again and lifted his arms to grasp two more bales. He’d just grabbed the hay, his muscles straining, when Trace spotted her and pointed.

  Quickly, she tore her gaze from Logan and strode toward the forklift, the forks now resting on the floor of the barn. Cole noticed her and cut the engine, but she ignored him and stalked to Macy’s stall. Relief and concern galloped through her.

  She turned around in time to see Logan coming down the ladder. With more willpower than she knew she had, she turned toward Cole, who jumped down from the forklift. “Where is Macy and her baby?”

  He opened his mouth to answer, but Logan stepped up. “They’re outside.”

  She had no choice but to face him. “Outside?” It wasn’t hot yet, but it soon would be. “Where? Do they have shelter? Uncontaminated bedding? Was it really necessary to get a shipment of hay today?” Her voice rose with every question, her frayed nerves over Logan combined with her lack of sleep and her deep concern for the horses probably made her sound a little unreasonable.

  “They’re fine. Come, I’ll show you.” He turned toward the other two men. “I’ll be right back.”

  She stared at the damp chest, dirtied with the hay and dust that covered his mounded pectorals. Her gaze flitted lower to his rippled abdominals where a trickle of sweat seeped below the waistline of his jeans. Instead of being repulsed, she felt a flutter of desire spread through her belly.

  Logan turned back and opened his arm toward the barn entrance. “They’re in the south corral.”

  She forced her gaze upward to meet his. Licking her lips, she finally stepped by him, wishing more than ever that she’d never met him in the first place. She was at the ranch more often than not, thanks to the rescue horses Cole brought in, so she was familiar with the sout
h corral. The problem was, it had no shelter.

  Stalking toward the area, her irritation at herself and Logan grew. As she stepped around the last outbuilding, she slowed. A new structure at the east side of the corral had been erected. Her anger dissipated and was replaced with a softening she could ill afford. She turned back to look at Logan. “You built them a shelter?”

  He shrugged, not meeting her eyes. “There was already a roof because we had a youth group here a couple weeks ago. I just partially enclosed it.”

  Facing him hadn’t been her smartest move, so she turned back and opened the corral gate. She needed to focus on the horses and go back to her office as soon as possible. She had appointments scheduled back-to-back this afternoon. She had to have her wits about her and not on a man that had made it perfectly clear he wasn’t interested.

  Then why the kiss last night?

  As the horses came into view, she calmed. The foal was nodding its head and shuffling as if to play. Then it nudged its mom’s teat and started suckling. “This boy knows what he wants and where he can get it.” She smiled as she approached them.

  “Most males do.” Logan’s voice behind her made her stiffen.

  Was that what that kiss had been about? He wanted another night of meaningless sex? He was barking up the wrong tree for that. She didn’t do meaningless sex…unfortunately, for her.

  She lowered her bag to the ground and faced him again. “You can go back to hauling hay. I’m good here.”

  He raised his brows as if he doubted her abilities. “I’m glad I have your permission.”

  His sarcasm was clear, but she ignored it. Instead, she turned her back and opened her bag. “I work better alone, with no one getting in my way.”

  “Right.”

  She continued to shuffle through her bag before finding what she wanted. Then without looking behind her to see if Logan was still there, she approached mama. Macy watched her, so she stroked her on the neck first. The poor horse had terrible markings for a paint, making her face look more like a cow’s. “What an amazing mom you are. You must be very proud.” She kept her voice soft. She didn’t want Macy getting too protective and literally kicking her out of the three-walled structure.

  After making sure mama was doing well, she knelt on clean hay to inspect the foal, who broke off suckling to check her out. Her heart expanded as the horse nudged her shoulder. She chuckled quietly. “I’m not your mama, little one. Just here to make sure you grow up healthy and strong.”

  She performed a thorough examination but did so quickly, not wanting to test Macy’s patience. Any mild-mannered mom could turn into a grizzly if she perceived her baby was threatened. When Jenna finished, she rose slowly and praised Macy again, finally checking to make sure Logan had left and happy to discover he had.

  The foal went back to suckling and she left the two alone. As the first baby to be born on the horse rescue ranch, she couldn’t help wonder what Cole would do with it. Luckily, that didn’t need to be determined for a while.

  She walked back to her bag and dropped her instruments into it. Hefting it over her shoulder, she exited the corral and headed to her car, giving the barn a wide berth. She had no idea when Logan had returned to work, but she was relieved he was there and not following her around.

  As she approached her vehicle, she noticed a red convertible parked next to the hay truck. No one who lived at the ranch drove such an impractical car. Curious, she glanced toward the house. Had Lacey bought a new ride?

  Unable to resist, she dropped her bag and strode to the house. The main door was open but the screen was closed, so she knocked on the frame. Annette’s voice called for her to come in. She walked in to find Annette on the floor with Charlotte.

  “Hi, I was just wondering if you had a bottle of water you could spare.”

  Annette nodded. “Of course, we do. Make yourself at home. You’re here so often, I forget you don’t live here. We tend to have a revolving door when it comes to residents.”

  Jenna chuckled. “Yes, you do, but I just work here.”

  “Too bad we couldn’t make you a resident. I bet it would be cheaper than paying you to make house calls.”

  She tensed, but Annette waved her away. “I’m just kidding. Lacey has the finances under control. You’re welcome here whether you’re working or not.” Annette returned her attention to Charlotte, who had crawled across the room and was in the process of climbing onto the empty second shelf of the entertainment center.

  Jenna grinned as she made her way to the empty kitchen. Taking a water from the fridge, she unscrewed the cap and took a swallow. It didn’t matter that the temperature was only in the nineties, the dry heat of Maricopa county required water all day every day.

  Since the car outside was obviously not Lacey’s, she walked back to the living room and leaned against the doorway. Annette had retrieved the toddler from the entertainment center and now sat about three feet from her. Charlotte was standing up, holding on to the outside of her playpen.

  “Come on, sweetie. Come to Mimi. You can do it.”

  Charlotte squatted bending her knees like she would jump up in the air, but instead her small teddy bear flew at Annette.

  The older woman caught it before it hit the floor, and Charlotte squealed.

  “Great catch.” Jenna toasted Annette with her bottle.

  Annette looked over her shoulder at her. “I’ve had a lot of practice.” She turned back to Charlotte. “Do you want your teddy bear?”

  Charlotte reached out one hand and opened and closed her hand. “Mine. Mimi mine.”

  “Then come get it.” Annette sat the teddy in her lap.

  The concentration on Charlotte’s face was captivating. She obviously wanted her bear, but wasn’t sure what to do about it.

  “Does she walk yet?”

  Annette didn’t look back, her entire concentration on the toddler. “Almost. She gets about one step then falls. I keep hoping.”

  Jenna held her breath as Charlotte let go of her playpen and took one step. She wobbled there for a moment then fell on her butt. She reached out her hand again. “Mine. Mimi.”

  “Then come and get it, sweetie.”

  Jenna released her breath. She would have loved to have seen Charlotte walk for the first time, but her family members deserved that privilege, especially Annette.

  “No.”

  Annette leaned back on her hands. “Then how will you get it? I’m not bringing it to you.”

  Charlotte banged her hands on her thighs. “No. Mine.” Now, her bottom lip stuck out and her little eyebrows furrowed.

  Oh, Jenna knew those signs well. Her nephew was almost three, but he did the same thing at Charlotte’s age. “I better get back to the office. Have fun, Annette.”

  Annette nodded, but didn’t take her eyes off her great-grandchild. “Then come over here and get it.”

  She grinned as she left the standoff and headed outside. Charlotte wouldn’t realize until she was older how lucky she was to have her great-grandmother. Jenna never knew her great-grandmother or her grandmother and her mother was only in her life for seven years, just long enough to make a wonderful impression and leave her with a constant heartache.

  As she strode toward her car, she noticed the red convertible again. It was really none of her business, but she still found herself heading toward the barn.

  She’d just let Cole know that Macy and the foal were doing well and she’d be back in a few months for vaccinations. She had no doubt she’d be called long before then because every rescue horse Cole brought to the ranch was given a thorough examination by her, and unfortunately, there were too many abused, neglected or unwanted horses discovered by animal welfare every week.

  If she was lucky, she’d be able to talk to Cole without running in to Logan.

  Chapter Three

  From on top of the haybale stack, Logan heard the forklift engine cut off. Trace threw him another bale, and he placed it along the wall. The first trucklo
ad of hay he’d stacked when he first came to live on Last Chance had been with just Cole. Having Trace join the team had made them into a well-oiled machine, though he’d never admit that to his little brother.

  At first, having Trace in his grandmother’s house, sharing a room with old Billy, who snored, and spending an hour in the single upstairs bathroom had been far more than an irritation. It was too much like when they were boys with their petty rivalries and race to use the bathroom first. Charlotte refusing to sleep through the night didn’t help his own mood either. But once his brother moved out, they got along fairly well.

  If he could just get Trace to stop smiling all the damn time, he might actually like him. He turned to catch another bale, but Trace had disappeared. Now where did he go? Logan jumped down from the stack and walked to the edge of the hayloft.

  Trace pointed up at him. “There he is. Hey, Logan, you have a visitor.”

  He moved his gaze to the woman in a short, flowered sundress that accented her tiny waist and long legs. Her blonde hair was straight and fine and some of it rested on one breast, though the breast itself wasn’t very large. “Can I help you?”

  She lifted her face to look at him and now her hand covered her chest. “You don’t remember me?”

  At her question, his gut tightened. Hell, those words could only mean one thing —a past one-night-stand had tracked him down. He hadn’t even slept with a woman since moving to Last Chance and that was over a year and a half ago. If she’d found him, she was persistent. “Let me come down there.”

  He hooked his leg over the top rung and climbed down the ladder. She didn’t look familiar, but with so many of the women he’d slept with having been picked-up in bars, the lighting was rarely that good and the sex tended toward a vehicle or motel room. The only ones he took back to his family’s ranch were those from out of town.

  When he reached the barn floor, he found Trace grinning at him and Cole frowning. Under his breath, he stepped up to Trace and muttered so only he could hear. “Give it a rest.”