Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 100367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
She’d better not fucking move on.
I flag the truck driver over to the greenhouse area, and we all grab shovels and get to work. It’s not easy to carry tons of dirt, but it’s an excellent workout. And by the time the beds are all overflowing—the dirt will settle—each of us is a sweaty mess.
“Let’s call it a day,” I say to my guys. They all came to help me today, rather than working around the ranch, and I’m grateful. What started as a project that I would have sworn would take half a day, turned into most of the day because I added a seventh box.
The only thing left to do tomorrow is add the wildlife fence around the whole thing so the deer don’t eat the produce.
We all go our separate ways. The guys head home, and I go inside, take my boots off on the back porch, then walk through the kitchen and straight up to the bathroom. After stripping down and tossing my filthy clothes into the hamper, I turn on the shower, and while the water heats, I check my phone for the fortieth time today and feel my stomach jump when I see that I have message from my Duchess that came in about an hour ago, likely when the truck was running loudly in my ear.
Duchess: We’re wrapping up here in the next few hours. I hope. Definitely this evening. I don’t know if you wanted to know that, I just thought I’d give you a heads-up.
She doesn’t know if I want to know?
I’ll make sure she understands the next time I see her that I want to know everything she’ll tell me.
I get through the shower and dress in a clean long-sleeved T-shirt and jeans, then head downstairs to start dinner. I’ll make tacos so I can easily heat them up for her whenever she gets home. There’s no way she’s going to her cabin tonight. I’ll bring her here, get something in her stomach, and curl up around her all night.
Do I sound a little unhinged? Yeah. I do.
It’s dark outside when I get the kitchen cleaned, the outdoor cats fed, and then do some work on the computer, waiting to hear from my girl.
It’s almost midnight, when I think to check the time, and scowl. But just when I’m about to call her, my phone rings and it’s her name on the screen.
“Hey, sweetheart,” I say when I answer.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
DARBY
God, the sound of his voice immediately soothes every jagged edge from the past two days, and I can’t help but exhale in relief.
“Are you there?” he asks. His voice is rough and low, and it almost brings tears to my eyes.
Jesus, he makes me feel better.
“I’m here.” I can hear the exhaustion in my voice. “I’m on my way to your ranch, but I’m so tired, Tucker. I need you to talk to me while I drive so I don’t fall asleep.”
“Just tell me where you are, and I’ll come get you.”
“I don’t want to leave my car here. I’m okay, I’m only thirty minutes away at the Kincaid ranch. Just keep me company while I drive, okay?”
“I’ll do anything you want,” he says. “Talk to me. What’s been going on?”
I blow out a breath while I pull down the long driveway to the highway and turn to the right. I have to go through Silver Springs to get to the Hendrix Ranch on the other side of town.
“A horse was in labor, and she was in danger. The foal was breech.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah, ‘fuck’ is right. Every time we got that baby turned, she’d turn back again. That lasted forever, Tucker. It was horrible, and the mare just couldn’t do it. We ended up putting her down yesterday morning and delivering the foal alive.”
“But that’s its own set of problems.”
God, I love that he knows animals so well. That I can talk to him about this and he just gets it. I don’t have to try to explain it all to him, he just understands.
“Yeah, so it’s been a rough couple of days of trying to get this foal to attach to a nurse mare.”
“You found one?” He sounds incredulous, and I can’t help but smile. But then that smile disappears when I see lightning flash across the sky.
No. No no no.
I’m not strong enough right now to deal with a storm. I’m too wrung out.
“Darby?”
“Oh, sorry.” Another flash, and I swallow thickly. “Yeah, there’s another mare on the ranch who just had a baby a couple of days ago, and we worked with her to see if she’d take the newborn.”
“And did she?”
Thunder rolls overhead, and I pull in a sharp breath.
“Whoa, what’s happening?”
“Storm,” is all I say as more lightning flashes, and then the sky opens up, and my breathing becomes rapid and ragged, and shit.