When Jarod touched her arm, her eyes flew open. She sat straight up. Damn it! She was still in the pickup. She was still in northern Oklahoma and it damn sure wasn't a dream.
"Jarod!" Jewel screamed not two feet from the truck. "It's Butler and the vet is out of town in Albuquerque on a convention. He sent his regrets, but what are we going to do?"
"What in the hell are you talking about?" Jarod asked. Leave it to Jewel to interrupt a private moment.
"Look," she pointed. "I was coming to the house to get Frankie some aspirin for a headache."
An old dog with a white muzzle was trying to get under the fence, dragging a hind leg that was bleeding profusely.
Daisy was out of the truck before anyone could say another word. She opened the back door, grabbed her black bag, and started to run toward the dog.
Jarod hadn't even realized one of the bags he'd loaded had been her vet bag. He'd just figured they were all luggage. He reached the fence at the same time Daisy did and sat down in the grass beside Daisy. He had the bag open when Jewel arrived, out of breath and still crying. Daisy took out a hypodermic and shot the wound full of deadening medicine to start with, then set about cleaning the tear.
"Looks like he's been in a terrible fight. Has he had his rabies shots?" she asked.
"Probably coyotes and yes, he's had his shots," Jewel said.
"How old is he?"
"Ten this last spring. He don't know he's old and he'll go after a coyote with blood in his eye. Never came home like this," Jewel said.
Daisy gave him a shot of antibiotic, sewed him up, and carried him to the porch where she laid him in the shade. "You'll be fine, Butler, but you've got to stop chasin' coyotes. Let the younger boys have that job and you supervise."
Jarod followed every step she took. Admiration and pride filled his heart and soul. This was his woman and after today by damn Jewel should stop giving her a hard time.
"I was so scared. Thank you so much," Jewel stammered.
"I'm a vet tech, not a vet. I did the best I could but you might want to take him in for his normal doctor to take a look at him," Daisy said.
"You did fine and he likes you," Jewel said. "And I'm sorry."
"Me too. I can't stand to see an animal hurting."
"I mean I'm sorry I gave you a hard time. Forgive me?" she asked.
Daisy looked at Jarod and back at Jewel. "Of course."
"I'll stay with him. You two go on and do whatever you want." She sat down beside Butler and rubbed his head.
He whined and licked her hands.
"Take a ride with me," Jarod whispered in Daisy's ear.
"You can't just run out on a party," she said as she allowed him to carry her bag and lead her around the house.
"Oh, yes I can. I've smiled enough for a year. I'm glad these things aren't every week. I'll bring in your bags. You'll want to change into something else. We'll be taking a four wheeler out for a ride over the property. I'd like to check on my cattle. The sale is in a few days and I want to double-check what I've got down to sell this year. We'll get our bags out of the truck and change our clothes."
"How in the devil do you decide which ones to sell and which ones to keep? If I ever had a ranch that would be the hardest part."
"Depends on a lot of things. How much money I need to make for the year. How productive each head of cattle is. You should know all that. You are a vet tech. You've probably helped lots of ranchers make those decisions," he said.
"Nope, not once. I've vaccinated. I've given medicine for hairballs, set broken hips when cats and dogs got run over by cars, put them down when they couldn't be saved, lots of things. But no one ever asked me to help decide which cow to save and which one to grind up into hamburger," she said.
He wasn't sure that he'd make the right decisions with Daisy at his side. Ever since she stepped out of the Honky Tonk that morning wearing that cute little dress that stopped at her knees and those pink boots, he'd had tunnel vision and the light at the end did not have an Angus cow blocking the view.
He unloaded her bags into a bedroom at the end of the hall. "This is where you'll be sleeping unless you want to go home tonight. I'll be across the hallway. There's a bathroom through that door."
When he left she threw herself across the queensized bed. The room was spacious with the bed taking up only a small portion of the room. The walls were painted a soft summer sky blue and the view looked out over a pasture full of black cattle. Sheer white curtains fluttered at the windows when the air conditioner clicked on.
After five minutes she hopped off the high bed and went to the bathroom. The mirror said she'd sweated off every bit of her makeup but she didn't apply more. Not when they were about to ride four wheelers out into the pastures. She opened her bag, removed ponytail holders, and quickly braided her hair into two ropes. She peeled the sundress off her body and replaced it with a bra, plaid shorts, and a hot pink knit tank top. She changed into old worn mustard colored work boots. Pasture grasses could be tough on bare legs and chiggers, in the real sense, were miserable creatures.
Thinking about the red bugs, she remembered that Chigger and Jim Bob were still on their honeymoon. She wished she had a phone number so she could call Chigger and tell her all about the day. Jewel, in particular.
"I probably shouldn't tell Chigger a damn thing. She'll read more into it than really happened. She's already got me and Jarod halfway down the aisle toward the preacher. And if she knew about bitchy Jewel, she'd be buying a couple of brand new shovels and driving up here to help me dig a six foot hole to put her in."
Jarod peeked inside. "Who are you talking to?"
"Myself. I'm a hermit. I talk to myself," she said.
He opened the door wider. Jesus, but those long legs were sexy as hell going from the hems of those short shorts all the way down to the pink boots. "Nice outfit," he said huskily.
He wore a white gauzy undershirt that hugged his muscular stomach and hung outside a pair of jean shorts with a cargo pocket on the side. He'd changed his dress boots for hiking boots that laced up to his ankles where the rim of white socks showed. His calves and his arms looked like they belonged on a professional boxer or wrestler, but then ranching was hard business and not for sissies. Even the Walker triplets with their tall lanky frames had strong arms.
"Get thee behind me, Satan." She smiled.
"So you think I'm the devil?"
"Yes, I do. Only the devil could make me think things that are this sinful. Let's go before I not only think but do sinful things," she said.
Jarod blinked several times. "Did I hear you right?" "You did. I never said you weren't one hell of a sexy man. I never said there's not a sizzle between us and that every time you touch me I feel like I've been hit with a hot branding iron. What I did say is that I do not intend to do anything about it because I love my life as it is. I can get over this infatuation if I work at it." She shimmied past him.
He leaned against the wall and folded his arms across his chest. Life would never be dull with Daisy. Uncle Emmett had been so right when he said that she was his Mavis. Now he just had to convince her to leave the Honky Tonk and go home with him permanently. He couldn't sneak up on her blind side and he couldn't use persuasion. The only way it would ever work was for her to believe it was her idea.
They went out the kitchen door, across the yard to a multi-vehicle garage beyond the yard fence. He pushed a button at the edge of one door and it rose with a loud creaking noise. Several four wheeled machines were lined up and Jarod rifled through keys hung in a long line inside the garage door and settled on one that had a red fishing bobble hanging from the chain along with the keys.
"Why this one?" Daisy asked as she crawled on the back of the ATV and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"Because it's mine," he said.
He drove out of the garage, through the pasture, and down a dirt road to the back of the property. The hot wind whipping her braids and rushing across her face was exhilarating but not as much as hugging up to Jarod's broad muscular back. When he stopped under a tree to look at a herd of cattle, she unwrapped her arms and threw one leg over the seat like it was a saddle. She slid off and checked the area around a pecan tree for poison ivy before she sat down. She tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear and sat down at the base of the pecan tree, her back against the rough bark.
"So do you run all Angus?" she asked when he removed a notepad from his pocket and started flipping through the pages.
"Mostly. I've got a small herd of Lowline."
"Really? Can I see them? I've read a lot about them but I've never seen anything but pictures. No one down around Mingus is even interested in them. But then Texans wouldn't want a small steak. If it doesn't cover up a good sized platter, it's not a real steak."
"Sure. I keep them back behind the house in a separate pasture."
"Is it true they live totally on the pasture and that saves money, plus the calves are ready for market sooner than Angus?"
"This is my first year to have them but it's lookin' pretty good," he said.
***
He sat down and wrapped a strong arm around her, drawing her close to his side. She looked up to find his eyes locked on her mouth. He bent forward and kissed her eyelids shut then moved down to the sensitive skin under her ear. By the time he reached her mouth it was slightly open in anticipation. His tongue made love to hers until they were both breathless.
"I've wanted to do that all day and couldn't."
"But you said—" she started.
He shut her up with a lingering kiss. When he broke away he said, "I was thinking about in my parents' house with their bedroom right down the hall. I didn't say we wouldn't have it under a shade tree in a pasture."
She pushed out of his arms. "Jarod, I can't do this."
"Why?"
"Because one more minute and I couldn't stop."
"Why would you want to stop?"
"Sex blinds me," she said.
He grinned and made a lunge at her, toppling her over into the green grass. "Then we'll just do it until you can't see in one eye. It's good enough to give up sight in one eye, isn't it?"
She laughed. "That line is old and worn out."
He stretched out on the grass beside her after a quick chaste kiss on the lips. "I've never felt like this before."
"And that line is older than you and me both."
"I'm being honest, Daisy. How about you?"
"You've been engaged three times, Jarod. Don't tell me you've never felt like this."
He crossed his heart with his finger. "Cross my heart. Not even with the girl I took to the senior prom and I was head over heels in love with her."
In love?
Those two words sent cold chills up Daisy's backbone. She wrapped her arms around her bent legs, resting her chin on her knees.
Love?
Chris threw that word around. Then he cheated on her and hit her. She'd heard her mother's husbands and boyfriends use the word like it was magic. Tell her that they loved her and she'd do anything, including ironing their shirts, supporting drinking habits, and paying the rent while they sat in a recliner all day and watched reruns on television.
"You've gone quiet all of a sudden. One minute I'm Satan I look so sexy and the next you aren't even talking."
"Right then I was thinking about what you said. Love is a powerful word."
"Yes, it is and it's a powerful emotion or it wouldn't endure fifty years of marriage or wanting to leave this life to go on to the next to be with your wife like Uncle Emmett did."
Daisy inhaled deeply and asked the question that was on her mind. "Did you ever use it when you didn't mean it?"
"No, I don't think I did. This is a pretty heady conversation for a four wheeler ride to steal a few kisses."
"Then we'll change the subject. Where did you live when you were here? Surely at thirty-five you weren't still in the house with your parents."
He sat up beside her and leaned against the tree. "My house is back across the pasture. If you are going there by car you go out to the road, go one mile north, and catch that section line road back east for two miles and turn back to the south. From here its about fifteen minutes on a four wheeler to my backyard."
"Can I see it?" Daisy asked.
"You sure you want to see it?
"Yes, I do. Is there something there you need to cover up before you let a woman into the house?"
"Hell, no, it's just a house," he said coldly.
"Then why are you getting an attitude with me?"
"Because you said you'd never leave the Honky Tonk, and you can't kiss me because it might lead to something. You sure you want to see my bedroom? You sure you can trust me?"
"Hell no, I'm not sure about anything right now." Exasperation filled her voice.
"Are we fighting?" he asked.
"If we are, I'm winning."
"Well hot damn. Uncle Emmett said that the best part of the day was when he and Aunt Mavis fought and they could make up. So come on over here, sweetheart, and make up with me," he teased.
She flipped around and threw one leg over both of his, sat square in the middle of his lap, and wrapped her arms around his neck. The kiss she planted on his lips shut him up and had him panting in record time. She'd teach him to light a fire and then not put it out.