Page 40 of Taming the Wild Cowboy

Trev pushed his hat back. “I don’t think we’ve ever had that.”

“Not common in beef breeds, but there are instances. I’ll give her a calcium injection and if she’s not up after that, we’ll have to look at internal causes related to birth.”

Trev’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out, his mouth tightening when he saw his boss’s name on the screen. Not the time. He dropped the phone back into his pocket. Maclyn had been studying him, but looked away when he met her gaze, back to Chad who seemed to be conducting his examination of the cow as a training course for Maclyn.

“Are you with the vet in Marietta?” Whom he’d called.

“Brookstone Equine out of Big Timber.” He glanced at Trev. “I did an internship at the Marietta vet hospital, and now I help during calving. More cow emergencies than horse this time of year.” Calving was rough on vets as well as ranchers.

A few minutes after the injection, the cow let out an odd noise and started trembling. Mac touched Trev’s arm, and he put a hand on her back.

“A good sign,” Dr. Kelly said. “The calcium is working, which in turn means we may have nailed the issue first go.” He grinned at Mac. “Which means I can head to emergency number two.”

“How many today?”

He pulled a notebook out of his pocket.

“Five calls that I know of. I’m sure more will come in. Tomorrow I’m off, so I need to pack as much action in as possible today.”

“I applied at your clinic in Big Timber,” Mac said unexpectedly. Both men turned to her, and she gave a self-conscious shrug. “Just thought I’d introduce myself.”

“We’ve had a lot of apps,” Dr. Kelly said, giving Trev’s ranch hand an appraising look. “Maclyn?”

“Maclyn Kane.”

“I’ll tell the staff to keep an eye out for your submission.”

“Thanks.” She smiled. The vet smiled back. Trev looked away, not liking the territorial feeling that was creeping up on him. He had no claim on Mac.

Fifteen minutes later, the vet said he was confident that the cow would be up and around shortly, and to give him a call if she wasn’t. Maclyn walked the man to his truck while Trev loaded the bales they’d used to keep the cow upright back into the tractor bucket. Mac laughed at something the good doctor said before he got into the truck and closed the door. Seconds later he opened the window to say something else that made Mac laugh. She turned toward Trev, a smile still lingering on her lips as he finally drove away. He seemed to be in no hurry for a guy with four more emergencies. He wondered if Mac noticed.

“Good vet,” Trev said.

“He’s going to put in a word with the owner.”

“Great.” He tried to match her enthusiasm, but it sounded forced to him. Better to keep his mouth shut than to have Mac give him another frowning look, as she was doing now. He honestly wanted her to nail down a job in her field.

Thankfully, she couldn’t read minds, didn’t know that he’d hated watching the vet make flirty small talk with her. It was none of his business, but he didn’t have to like it.

“It’d be great if you got on with those guys,” he said. “You’d be close enough to visit.”

“Would you want that?” she asked.

“I would.” It felt like a declaration.

“Too bad you’re not going to be here.”

He wasn’t sure if she was doing a mic drop, but it felt that way as she gave him a long look, then said, “I’ll see you after lunch.”

“Right.”

He turned back to the pasture, resting his hands on the panel rails as he studied the cow and thought about Maclyn. It might take time, but he was confident that she’d land a horse-related job somewhere, while he would return to work and lose himself in technical problem solving. Diverging career paths made for difficult relationships.

He didn’t want her to go. Or maybe he didn’t want to go.

He leaned his forehead against the cool metal of the panel rail after the thought struck him. Maclyn was scrambling to put her life together and he was thinking of tossing in another obstacle. Timing, bud. Timing is everything.

And this is not the time to fall for the woman.