by Merry Farmer
“You’re on, buster. I’m entering the race, and I will beat you so badly you’ll be too ashamed to even look at a horse ever again.”
“And I will crush you so thoroughly that it’ll sound like you’re walking on gravel every time you take a step,” Stu snapped back.
The two men stared each other down, toe-to-toe, eye-to-eye, before Stu blinked. He turned to Nancy. “Come on, toots. We got a story to scrape up.”
Every fiber of Nancy’s being wanted to stay in the bakery, to stay by Doc’s side. It took a colossal effort of will to remind herself that it was never going to work between the two of them. But maybe, just maybe, if they could talk things out—
“Nance! Get your cute butt over here!” Stu called from the door.
Nancy jumped forward, grabbing her raincoat off the hook on the wall and scooping up her notepad and pen. “I swear, there is such a sexual harassment suit coming your way,” she muttered. No one heard her. She put on a smile as she turned back to the counter on her way to the door. “Bye, guys. Thanks for the idea.”
“Bye, Nancy.” The girls waved her off.
Nancy dragged her eyes to meet Doc’s. “Bye, Doc.” She waved, heart aching with regret.
If only he’d called her…
4
It was a ridiculous cliché, not being able to stop thinking about a woman. Doc ground his teeth and mentally punched himself for not being able to shake any and all thoughts of Nancy as he walked his horse, Booyah, around the paddock at the Culpepper ranch.
“I think he’s in fine form for a race,” Angus commented as he leaned against the fence on the outside of the paddock.
Doc didn’t hear the comment. His mind was still running in circles. How could Nancy date an ass like Stu? He treated her terribly, for one. And even though Doc wasn’t a choir boy or anything, he’d been shocked by the language Stu used around the ladies.
“Why don’t you relax and let him run a bit?” Angus called as Doc reached the far end of the paddock.
Not to be arrogant or anything, Doc’s thoughts continued, but he was a whole lot easier to look at than Stu. What could Nancy possibly see in a short, squat, pin-head like that? She was the same height as him, and she only came up to Doc’s shoulder. Nancy wasn’t the sort to let appearances guide her choice in men—at least he didn’t think so—but it wasn’t just Stu’s looks. It was the whole package. Why was she—
“What’s got your head in the clouds so far that you can’t hear when a man’s calling you ‘noodles-for-brains?’” Angus hollered.
Doc snapped out of his thoughts, wheeling Boo around. “What?”
Angus burst into laughter, shaking his head. “There’s only one thing that could have a man so wrapped ’round the axle like that.”
Doc’s frown darkened. He tapped Boo with his heels and trotted over to the fence where Angus stood. “Don’t you start.”
“Me?” Still laughing, Angus clapped a hand to his chest in a gesture of innocence. “You’re the one who’s so distracted by thoughts of a pretty reporter that you couldn’t hear me trying to talk to you.”
Doc huffed, pulling Boo to a stop beside the fence. “She has a boyfriend. End of story.”
“Hardly.” Angus reached over the fence to pat Boo’s flank. “And I don’t think he actually is her boyfriend.”
“She came out here with him for the race,” Doc reasoned. “And he was…familiar with her at the bakery yesterday.”
“So?”
Angus’s flippant attitude was starting to irritate Doc. At least, he was going to blame his irritation on Angus’s attitude. Anything else made him even more irritated.
“Look, are you going to give me a few tips to help me win this race on the Fourth or not?” he snapped.
Angus shrugged. “You’re the horse expert, mate.”
Boo was restless—probably picking up on Doc’s own restlessness—so he walked him in a small circle. “I’m a veterinary medicine expert, not a racing expert.”
“But you’ve raced before,” Angus said.
“Sure, but nothing formal. Sly and my other brother, Arch, and my sister, Elvie, and I used to race on our family’s ranch all the time.”
“But not competitively?”
“Not really.” Doc smoothed a hand over Boo’s neck to calm his impatient spirits. “A few county fairs and the like. I enjoyed racing, but there wasn’t time once I started vet school.”
“And you really want to win this race now?” Angus arched a brow.
Doc thought back to the arrogance of Stu’s challenge. There was no way he was going to let a weasel like that walk off with any trophies or ribbons.
“Yes,” he answered Angus, more certain than he’d ever been of anything in years.
“Okay.” Angus held up his hands in surrender. “Of course, I’m not really a racing expert either, but if you ask me, you need to loosen up in the saddle.”
Doc wriggled to try to find a better seat. Boo danced in response. A wave of frustration rolled up Doc’s back. “I have to win,” he said, not really to anyone in particular. “I’m not going to let that…that petulant tree frog win.”
Angus snorted with laughter. “Well, right there, that’s your best motivation.”
“What?” Doc scowled at him.
“You’re trying to impress a woman by wiping the floor with her supposed boyfriend.”
As he spoke, Chastity Culpepper came strolling around the edge of the stable. “Whose supposed boyfriend?” she asked, casual and smiling.
Doc rolled his eyes and growled in frustration, walking Boo in another circle.
“That reporter, Nancy,” Angus answered her.
“Oh. The one Doc has a crush on?” She grinned from ear-to-ear at Doc as he looped Boo back around to the edge of the paddock.
“I do not have a crush on anyone,” he grumbled. “And besides, she’s not interested.”
Chastity blinked. “Really? That’s not what Grace was telling me.”
A spark of hope flared in Doc’s chest. Was it possible that Nancy liked him like that after all?
No, he wasn’t going to make a fool of himself by building up his hopes like a fourteen-year-old. “She gave me a fake number when she was here before in the spring.”
Chastity frowned and moved to lean against the paddock fence. “That doesn’t sound like the kind of thing a reporter would do. Aren’t they all about uncovering the truth?”
The spark of hope that Doc couldn’t put out flared higher.
Just as quickly, it fell. “If she is all about uncovering the truth, then the truth is that she’s dating someone else.”
Chastity scrunched her face. “I honestly don’t think she is.”
“That guy, Stu,” Angus filled in as though she’d asked him a direct question. “The one from Louisville who’s entering a horse in the Culpepper Stakes.”
“Him?” Chastity balked. “That guy’s her boss, Doc.”
Doc rubbed a spot on his chest, just over his heart, that wouldn’t stop aching. So Nancy was dating her boss? No wonder she put up with his pawing. She was probably gunning for a raise or a promotion. The thought made him sick.
And yet, not once had Nancy ever given him the impression that she was the kind of girl who would do that.
“Alright, let’s go back to facts,” Chastity went on. She gripped the top of the fence as though she was standing at a lectern teaching a college class. “Nancy was here last spring, and you two got along really well.”
“Yeah.” Doc sighed. “Really well. I thought…” He shook his head.
“And when she left, what? Did you ask for her phone number or did she give it to you?”
“I asked.” He frowned, rolling over those events in his mind.
“Okay, and you wrote it down?” Chastity went on.
“I put it straight into my phone,” Doc answered.
“And did you give Nancy your number?”
“I texted it to her, which, of course, was point
less.”
Chastity blinked in confusion. “Why?”
“Because she gave me a false number.” Recounting the whole thing left a bad taste in Doc’s mouth. “It was a landline, some plumbing store in Louisville. I know because I called it as soon as she left.”
“Hmm.” Chastity crossed her arms and rested her weight on one hip. She chewed her lip for a moment, then glanced up at him. “Have you ever thought of just going to her and asking why she gave you a fake number?”
“No,” he bit out so fast Boo started.
“Because I read a lot of romance novels, and the single most annoying thing that can happen in one of those plots is when the hero and heroine have something keeping them apart that would take just one simple conversation to sort out.”
Doc’s face heated. “And what makes you think that this situation has a simple solution?”
“Uh, because going up to someone and asking ‘hey, why’d you give me a wrong number’ is a simple sentence?” Chastity rolled his eyes.
To the side, Angus chuckled.
Doc glared at him. “What do you think is so funny?”
“This entire conversation,” Angus answered. “And my esteemed sister-in-law is right. Just ask the girl why she gave you the wrong number.”
“And look like a complete ass?” Doc drawled. He shook his head and wheeled Boo around to release some of the horse’s energy. “No way. I’m not going to go up to her and look like an over-eager middle school kid wondering why a girl didn’t text me back.”
“Oh, come on,” Chastity scoffed. “A middle school kid wouldn’t have the balls to ask a direct question. A grown man would.”
Doc hesitated. He really hated the idea of confronting Nancy about anything, especially something with such a high probability of him looking stupid.
“And I swear to you,” Chastity went on, “that guy, Stu, is just her boss.”
Doc scowled. He doubted that’s all Stu was, especially after he’s seen the way the man drooled all over her. But if there was a chance Chastity was right, if there was even a spark of hope that the whole thing had just been some kind of misunderstanding…
What he really needed to do was talk to his big brother. Sly was so much better with women than anyone else Doc knew. He’d have more of a sense of what was really going on. And if he was lucky, he could figure out a way to get Sly to ask Nancy about the fake phone number.
Because there was nothing middle school about getting his brother to ask a girl if she liked him, he thought sarcastically.
“I think I’m done with practice for the day,” he grumbled, tapping Boo to get him to head back to the stable.
It wasn’t his imagination that he heard Angus and Chastity chuckling behind him.
“Thanks so much for meeting with me today,” Nancy told Sly with as big a smile as she could manage as she took a seat across from him.
Behind his big desk, Sly leaned back in his chair with an amused grin. “I’m the one who asked you to meet with me, so I should be the one thanking you.”
Nancy snorted a little laugh at the idea. Dangit, why was she so nervous? Sly O’Donnell was gorgeous, of course, and powerful, but his brother was the handsomer of the two. His brother was the one she wished she were sitting across from. His brother was the one who couldn’t give her the time of day without scowling. Maybe that’s why she was nervous.
“I don’t know about that,” she went on, blushing over her momentarily wandering mind. “You can do much more for me than I could ever do for you.”
Sly made a considering face, then said, “I would still love it if you’d consider my offer of moving here and doing something in the newspaper line for me, but what’s more important is what I can do for you right now?”
Nancy still didn’t think he could possibly be serious about the job offer, so she scooted to the edge of her seat and asked what she came for. “I was over at Culpepper Confectionary Creations yesterday and Grace, Patience, and Felicity helped me come up with a great idea.”
“What idea is that?”
“Well, as they told me, there are so many new people in town that it might be nice to do some sort of a ‘Getting to Know You’ newsletter or something.”
His brow lifted. “That is a good idea.”
“Yeah,” she went on, encouraged. “Maybe it could be handed out on the Fourth of July.”
“That would work.” Sly’s eyes lost their focus, as though he was not only agreeing with the idea, but searching for ways to make it bigger.
“I interviewed Grace, Patience, and Felicity for the newsletter, but I’d like to interview you as well.”
“Me?” Sly’s brow rose further.
“Well, you’re new in town.” She reached into her purse and took out her notepad and pen. “For example, what brought you to Culpepper in the first place?”
Sly smiled. “I grew up not too far from here. My father owned a ski resort near Laramie, not to mention a big tract of land about twenty miles north of here. We were raised on that land.”
“We?” Nancy’s heart did a few flips in her chest.
Sly grinned as though he could see it. “Me and my siblings, Arch, Elvie, and Doc.” The corner of his mouth twitched after Doc’s name.
Nancy felt herself flush hot. “Was…was it a good childhood? Did you all get along?”
“We did.” Sly nodded. “We had to. Our parents didn’t have the best marriage, so oftentimes it was the four of us on our own while they fought.”
“So…so you’re close to…to your siblings.” She would not make this about Doc, she would not make this about Doc.
Judging by Sly’s increasing grin, he knew exactly what the meeting was really about. “We’re very close. Doc and Elvie are twins.”
“Oh?” Nancy sat up straighter.
“Yeah. They did everything together, even going to vet school.”
“Elvie is a vet too?”
Sly nodded. “Sure is. Down in Denver, where her fiancé lives.”
“Oh, nice. And…” She fiddled with her pen, all-too aware that she hadn’t actually written anything down yet. “And Doc is okay with his twin sister living so far away? I mean,” she rushed to qualify her question, “he does okay with long-distance relationships?”
Sly hid a chuckle by leaning back in his chair. “I’m sure he’d prefer for the people he cares about to live closer to him.”
“But how do you know he cares about someone?” she blurted before she could stop herself.
She opened her mouth to apologize and take the question back, but Sly shrugged and said, “He gets a certain look. The same look he used to wear when watching superhero cartoons on TV on Saturday mornings.”
“Really?” Nancy tilted her head to the side with a quixotic grin.
“Oh yeah,” Sly answered. “I’d know. I’ve seen him wear that grin recently.”
“Uh—” A prickly wave of self-consciousness washed over her. She cleared her throat. “Sorry, this interview is about you. Where have you been living and why did you move back to Culpepper?”
Sly steepled his fingers and smiled at her as though he was charmed. “I’ve been living in San Francisco. I started a company there which redevelops towns that have been hit by the recession. We bring jobs back that were lost overseas and the like.”
“Wow. That’s pretty cool.”
“It’s a challenge,” he admitted, “but I’ve always enjoyed it. The company has gotten big, and to be honest, I’m more of a small kind of guy. So I turned over a lot of the reins to my colleagues and relocated back to Culpepper to organize a much smaller operation here.”
“That’s really neat.” Nancy smiled. “And is Doc helping you at all?”
Sly laughed. Nancy cursed herself. She’d gone and tipped her hand again. If she was smart, she’d come right out and ask Sly why his brother never called her, if Sly thought they had half a chance. Then she could concentrate on work.
“Doc never really left home, even though
Culpepper isn’t Dad’s ranch. He’s not much of a businessman, but he’s already a big help on a personal level. This race, for instance.”
Nancy flushed once more at the memory of Doc’s confrontation with Stu at the bakery the day before. “Doc’s entering the race,” she said, half to herself.
“He is.” Sly nodded, looking as though he was fighting not to grin. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
“I…uh… It had nothing to do with me, I swear.”
Sly laughed outright. “I’m sure it didn’t.” His eyes said he was sure it did. “Doc can get mighty competitive, especially about women.”
“Women?” Nancy swallowed hard.
“Oh yeah. When he likes someone, he’ll move heaven and earth to woo them and win them.”
Nancy’s heart soared and then squeezed hard. “Yeah, but if that’s true, why didn’t he—”
A sharp rap on Sly’s office door cut her off. The door pushed open, and Nancy’s heart shot to her throat as Doc burst in.
“Hey Sly, you got a sec—”
His eyes went wide at the sight of her, and his mouth hung open.
5
Doc had once heard the term ‘head-cannon’ used to describe a sudden burst of information that blew one’s mind. As he pushed open the door and stepped into Sly’s office, he experienced what could only be described as a heart-cannon. The bottom dropped out of his stomach the moment he clapped eyes on Nancy, and he forgot every word he’d been about to say. He just stood there in the doorway, staring at her.
She looked good. For some reason, she’d dressed professionally in a cute blouse with butterflies patterned on it and a short-but-not-too-short skirt. She jumped to her feet, and he was treated to the sight of her legs enclosed in silky stockings and pretty, heeled shoes that showed those legs of hers off even more. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to take her out dancing like that or move heaven and earth to get her home so he could take off all of her cute clothes piece by piece.