Reuniting With The Cowboy. Shannon Vannatter Taylor

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      “Who would do that? We don’t have any other neighbors.”

      “I don’t know, unless it was a client.” She twirled the end of her braid round and round her finger the way her dad used to do. “I’ve had a few new ones lately. Maybe someone didn’t like what they saw.” Not everyone liked her strays or her shelter. Some people could be so heartless.

      “If that’s the case, they should find another vet instead of hassling you.” He gestured to the shepherd. “What’s he in for? Armed doggery?”

      She suppressed a grin. “Hoss is just staying with me while his family is on vacation. I didn’t have time to put him in a run yet.” The dog’s tail wagged as she snapped a leash on his collar. “Why did you really stop by?”

      “I brought your dish back. All washed and everything.”

      “You didn’t have to do that.” She raised an eyebrow. “You walked across my rutted yard for that?”

      “I took it slow with my trusty stick.” He patted his cane, cleared his throat. “I also wanted to discuss...uh...to ask you for contacts on some hands. Since you do cattle vaccinations, I figured you’d know the right people.”

      Nervous? Cody Warren nervous? About asking her for ranch hand contacts? She strode over to the bulletin board.

      “A large ranch in the area just downsized. Lots of layoffs.” She removed a business card and pulled two stubs bearing names and numbers, then passed them to him. “The card is the ranch owner for references. The numbers are hands.” She rubbed the ache in the back of her neck.

      “All your tension still lands in your neck and shoulders, huh?” Cody stuffed the contacts in his shirt pocket and limped around behind her. His warm hands grasped her shoulders, kneading her sore muscles.

      She stiffened, almost pulled away. But when she began to relax, all thought of getting away left her. She had to focus on something other than the shivers he was stirring up. “I won’t hold you to four cats. If you’ll just take three, I’ll be under limit.”

      “I want four. I was thinking I’d take the ones who’ve been here longest. But it would be a shame to separate the mama and her kittens, so I’ll take those three plus one of the veterans.”

      Such a sweetheart. Not many men thought that way. If he ever grew up and settled down, he’d make someone a great husband. “That would be Bruno. His past shouldn’t be a problem.”

      “You know his story?” His thumbs soothed away her aches.

      What was she talking about? Oh yes, Bruno. “He killed his former neighbor’s pet rabbit and chickens. We don’t have any of either near here and he won’t be wandering far from home anymore since I neutered him.”

      “Hear that, Hoss.” The German shepherd’s ears pricked. “You better stay on her good side.”

      “I need to get him in his run.” She stiffened again, pulled away and dug four collapsed cardboard carriers from under the counter. “And we better go get the cats before Mr. Humphries decides to come back.”

      And before she melted into a pool of butter at Cody’s feet.

      * * *

      Mama cat supervised her orange tom and gray female as they clambered and pounced on hay bales, while Bruno checked out the loft.

      “You don’t think they’ll run away?” Cody still couldn’t muster up the courage to discuss their past, so he kept coming up with inane subject matter.

      “You fed them.” She scratched the mama calico along her cheek. “So they should stay close here.”

      Cody settled on a hay bale. Would his leg ever stop aching?

      A breeze wafted through the barn, stirring strands that had strayed from her braid around her face. Absolutely beautiful. Why hadn’t some man snapped her up? Was it because of all the homeless pets she kept? Cody loved animals as much as she did, but not everyone felt the same way.

      If she’d found some critter-loving man and were living happily ever after, would it make whatever was left of his life easier or harder? “How come you never married?”

      “Excuse me?” She propped her hands on her hips.

      “Just curious.” He shrugged. “Back when we were in high school, you dreamed right along with Caitlyn about getting married.”

      “I did, didn’t I?” Her voice went soft and she settled on a hay bale facing him, elbows propped on her knees. “My parents married right out of high school and Mom never worked outside the home. She didn’t have a clue about how to get a job, balance the checkbook or pay the bills.”

      She picked up the gray kitten and cuddled it. “Dad had done everything for her. For a while after he died, I thought I’d have to give up college and stay home to take care of her. It made me realize I never want to need anyone that much.”

      “Everybody needs somebody.”

      “Look who’s talking.” She caught his gaze. “Mr. I’m-Never-Getting-Married-so-I-Can-Travel-and-Do-What-I-Want.”

      “I guess it got old.” But it really hadn’t. Not until he’d seen her again. Only one thing was certain. Being close to her drove it home. If he didn’t have a bubble in his head, he’d go after way more than friendship with Ally.

      He had to stop thinking about things he couldn’t pursue. “I could build you a few extra pens above the ones you already have to solve your cat problem.”

      “I’d always planned to do that, just haven’t had time.” She bit her lip. “That would be great, but if you really want to help me, there is something else you can do.”

      “Just ask.”

      “Would you sell me a few acres? I had my eye on five, but one would get me out of a bind.”

      He’d have loved to. But the problem with that was that he was only leasing. Yet he needed his family to believe he was willingly retiring to become a rancher. Otherwise, they’d get curious and if they learned about his health situation, they’d hover and he’d have no peace while he decided what to do.

      He couldn’t burden her with his secret.

      “Well?”

      “Ally?” A man’s voice called out, cutting off any response he might have given her.

      “Over in the neighbor’s barn,” she yelled.

      Footfalls crunched across the gravel and a shadow fell over the doorway.

      A gray-haired man wearing scrubs stepped inside. “Everything go okay with the mastiff?”

      “She’ll be fine.” She nodded. “The car just grazed her. Lacerations and contusions, but no internal injuries or broken bones. Most of her damage came from the highway.”

      “Ouch.” The man winced. “Poor girl. I finished the vaccinations. Derek filled out all the records and СКАЧАТЬ