Stranger At The Crossroads. Gena Dalton

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СКАЧАТЬ said. “Most of the time, people are trying to get free veterinary care instead of turning it down.”

      Still wheezing, Tara looked at her flanks as they walked toward the trailer, then lifted her head and looked straight at Darcy as if she knew she was trying to help her. Her tail lifted and switched back and forth restlessly. She was obviously in early labor and ready to foal.

      Darcy patted her sweaty side and tried again.

      “If you want her to get through this foaling alive, she’s going to need some help.”

      Then it hit her.

      “You don’t want a woman veterinarian, do you? You’re that narrow-minded!”

      She bit her tongue. This was no way to get him to let her treat the mare.

      It made him talk, though.

      “I don’t know why women are always trying to be equine vets when they’re not strong enough to do half of what needs to be done,” he said bitterly.

      His blue eyes blazed at her again.

      “And you’re smaller than most.”

      “And you’re more two-faced than most,” she said, blazing back at him. “You act like a real horseman, yet you starve a fine mare. And then you deny her medical care.”

      Jackson opened the tack room door of the trailer. He flicked a careless glance at her as if her opinion meant absolutely nothing to him.

      “If you want a job so bad,” he said, “hold her a minute while I get a better halter.”

      He handed Darcy the lead rope, opened the door and stepped into the neatly arranged tack room. Its contents included several expensive saddles on built-in racks. He could certainly afford a veterinarian.

      Tara moved around uneasily, and Darcy turned her attention to the mare. Her tail was going like a metronome, switching back and forth. Back and forth. Then she dropped her head and seemed to be looking for a spot to lie down.

      Dear Lord, don’t let this mare foal right here in the road.

      She was so angry with this strange, contradictory man she could scream. But she had to control her temper and her tongue or she’d never be able to help this good mare through her hard time coming.

      Maybe she could be friendlier and accomplish more.

      To calm herself and Tara, she stroked the horse’s cheek some more. Her fingernail caught in one of the ravelings of the halter. It was nothing but a ragged remnant of a halter, truly not safe to use.

      “Why did you ever put this one on her?” she called.

      “I was in a hurry,” he said, his voice muffled by the wall. “It was all I could find.”

      “Were you hauling her to the vet?”

      When he didn’t answer, she turned to look at him. He was stepping down from the trailer, favoring the weaker leg as he reached the ground.

      “No,” he said. “I was stealing her.”

      Darcy stared at him. He appeared to be perfectly serious.

      He walked toward her with a good halter, new, high-quality and embroidered along the side. It fit with the truck and the saddles but not with the looks of the place. She read it as he slipped off the old one and slid the new one on.

      Rocking M Ranch, it said, and beneath that was the brand.

      “Is the Rocking M mainly a horse-stealing out-fit?” she said, trying for a lightly charming tone.

      She smiled at him as she checked Tara’s respiratory rate. It was twice what it should be, and the mare was sweating more than ever. Darcy flipped the mare’s lip up to reveal pale, pasty gums. This horse was in trouble.

      “Not usually.”

      He growled the words but he looked straight at her, his eyes and mouth holding that hint of humor again. His gaze lingered on hers for a long moment, too—almost as if he were seeing her for the first time.

      “Tara’s a special case,” he said. “I don’t make a habit of stealing just any horse.”

      “Why’d you pick her?”

      He adjusted the halter and buckled it.

      “We bred her on the Rocking M and sold her as a two-year-old. She won a lot in reining and she gave her all every time—she beat a lot of more talented horses. Her heart’s as big as Texas.”

      He took the lead from her, and she thought he was going to walk away.

      “What about the consequences of being a horse thief?” she said quickly.

      He shrugged.

      “He may come after me, but I doubt it.”

      “Who?”

      “The worthless neighbor of mine who won her papers in a poker game. He neglected her. I warned him twice.”

      Tara’s side rippled, and she turned to look at it. Again, she smelled the ground and thought about lying down.

      “Well, God sent you to get her this morning,” Darcy said. “She’s in first stage labor. She would’ve died foaling over there.”

      “God has bigger things to do,” Jackson snapped, his voice so bitter it chilled her.

      Then, in a slightly nicer tone, he added, “Thanks for your help in getting her out of the ditch. I’ll take her home now.”

      “You know,” she said, “I should just wrap that tail for you and scrub and dry the—”

      “I’ve foaled out many a mare,” he said.

      Darcy’s control snapped.

      “Then how come you can’t see that she’s sick, as well as in labor? That she’s sweating like mad and acting as if she’s going down? Her mucous membranes are as white as a sheet, she can barely breathe with those raspy lungs and she’s dehydrated.”

      Jackson bristled and glared at Darcy.

      Tara made her decision and lay down, half-on, half-off the road.

      As soon as he felt the tug on the lead, he tried his best to keep her up, but she went down too fast.

      Darcy wanted to scream with frustration, but then she was glad. Maybe this stubborn man would see that he needed help.

      “Well, at least there’s not a whole lot of traffic along here,” she said sweetly. “In case you can’t get her up, I mean.”

      Jackson threw her a furious frown, then he pulled and pushed, smooched and begged, but Tara ignored all that and looked at herself as if wondering what was going on inside her.

      “If you’re determined СКАЧАТЬ