Saddled and Spurred (Blacktop Cowboys 2)

The snow crust was hard enough that he didn’t break through as he started downhill. Harper stayed plenty close; he practically felt her breath on the back of his neck. He kept himself in the mother cow’s direct line of vision so she wouldn’t bolt.

“Looks like you’re almost there.” Bran ran a gloved hand down her heaving side. “Lemme check and see where we’re at.” He motioned for Harper to kneel next to him. “See the hooves coming out pointing down? That means it’s coming out the right way. The rest of the body slides out.”

“Is it always like this? Calves just plop out?”

“I wish. Sometimes the calf is breach and I gotta either stick my arms up there and turn it around or put the chains on it and pull it out.”

Her eyes went comically wide.

“There it comes.” The upper half of the calf’s body was showing, the membrane protecting it still intact.

Harper leaned over to take a closer look.

The mama made a huffing noise. Her belly muscles rippled and disgorged the calf. It slipped out in a wet gush as the sac broke. Immediately the mother stood, mooed, and sniffed the calf’s face. The baby twitched and the mother kept sniffing, right through the afterbirth.

Bran glanced at Harper, half expecting to see disgust, but her face wore an expression of awe. Her eyes were shining. High color dotted her cheeks. And her mouth had curved into a soft smile. “Harper? You all right?”

She met his gaze. “That was amazing. Now what happens?”

“She’ll clean the baby up and then it’ll nurse. But it’ll have to get up on its feet awful damn fast because she’ll need to eat. Nursing mothers require a lot of feed. Calves gain up to ten pounds a day.”

“And they say milk won’t make you fat,” she said dryly.

He grinned. “I ain’t touching that one. Tomorrow we’ll come out here and ear-tag the little bugger. I’m guessing we’ll have quite a few others to do too.”

“If you’re talking about tomorrow with me, does that mean I’m hired?”

“You sure this is what you want? I’ve only shown you one thing—there’s lots more.”

Harper studied him. “Will you just cut me loose right away and have me checking the herd? Because I’m nowhere near ready for that.”

“No. It’ll be both of us doin’ this stuff. It’s too much work for one person with a herd this size.”

“How big is your herd?”

“Around seven hundred cows, which means I’ll end up with roughly seven hundred calves. About fifty bulls. We keep them in separate pastures until it’s time to breed.”

“So in addition to watching for calves, you’ve gotta feed the cows and the bulls every day?”

“And a half dozen horses. Plus I’ve got goats.”

“Goats? I must’ve missed those when I drove in.”

“They’re caged because they eat damn near anything you set in front of them, and even stuff you don’t want them to eat. You should also know—”

His cell phone rang. He said, “Just a sec.”

Harper turned toward the window.

After Bran listened to Les ramble on about nothing for a good two minutes, he ended the call. He stopped at the next gate, and Harper hopped right out without prompting.

She didn’t say much as they made the trek back to the house.

“Any questions?”

“I’m sure I’ll have fifty million the second I start down the drive.”

He pointed at her car. “Is that the only vehicle you own?”

Color bloomed on her cheeks. “Yes. Why?”

“Because, no offense, but that ain’t gonna cut it. The wind blows really hard out here and the entrance to the road can drift shut in a matter of hours. Since Les won’t be needing the ranch truck, you should drive it.”

“Really?”

“Yep. I’ll need you out here every day, no matter what the weather does in town. The only exception is if the highway patrol closes the road. That truck might look rough, but it runs great and gets around in the snow like a champ.”

“Okay. But I can’t leave my car here. Bailey uses it after school most days.”

“What do you do when she’s got your car?”

“Walk.”

The life he’d attributed to Harper the beauty queen seemed a far cry from her reality. “Tell you what. I’ll follow you into town. You can park your car and drive me back out here. That way I’ll be with you to see if you’ve got any problems driving it.”

“Thanks.” Her sweet, unsure smile loosened something inside him and he found himself smiling back.

He switched vehicles and followed her Dodge Neon into Muddy Gap. Harper parked in front of a small house set back from the street. He left the keys in the ignition and got out so she could drive.

Once they were back on the highway, Harper said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve driven a truck. I forgot how much higher up you sit.”

“I can’t remember the last time I drove a car.”

Silence stretched between them.

Bran wasn’t one to run off at the mouth, but in his experience most women were. They’d fill dead air with mindless chatter. Maybe it surprised him that Harper wasn’t like that. She hadn’t turned on the radio either.

So it was really strange, his desire to linger after she pulled up to his trailer. To find out everything about her. To discover what else he’d gotten wrong.