Return of Dr Irresistible

‘Oh.’ She swallowed back down another wave of hysteria and fastened the belts until the little horse was lifted ever so slightly from the floor.

‘Too high,’ he called. ‘His front hooves aren’t on the ground.’

‘I think the next notch will put too much weight on his leg, though... This is the best we can do. Maybe we can find a tile or bit of wood, something to slide under his good foot so he can stand but keep the weight off the other.’

‘After we clean your arm.’

Back to the arm. ‘Later. What happened out there? You saw it, right?’ Should she give him a sedative? Could she even do the math right now to figure out the right dose, or find a vein to inject it?

‘He hurdled a little leap and just landed badly.’ He let go of Gordy slowly, letting him test the sling, and she waited to climb down until she was certain she wouldn’t have to adjust the buckles.

Reece got to that decision before she did then stood and plucked her off the top of the stall. Picking her up again.

She’d forgotten he did that, just picked her up whenever he wanted to. And now that he was twelve gazillion feet tall, he might be even worse about it.

‘Good grief, put me down.’ Being this close to him made her feel more breathless than she wanted to sound. She wanted to sound angry. Angry was better than fragile and girly.

‘I’m helping you down.’

She couldn’t kick him because he might drop her and she already hurt. Though in a way she was grateful for the pain as having something else to focus on had to help keep her from thinking too hard about the past and just what Reece was there to do. ‘I climbed up on my own, I could’ve climbed down without your help too.’

‘You’re hurt, and you’re too stubborn to let me take care of you...your wound.’ He set her in the straw, and when Gordy whinnied and tugged at the sling, he lowered his voice. ‘It needs to be cleaned at the very least. Animal mouths...’

‘I know. But it’s waited this long. If I’m going to catch some dreaded horse-bite disease, then I’m pretty sure there is no difference in waiting fifteen minutes to clean it or fifty.’

Gordy thrashed about, trying to escape the makeshift sling, causing the lumber above to skid on the stall. Jolie watched the wood move enough to be convinced: Gordy definitely needed a tranquilizer. And she needed a shot of something too. Like whiskey.

‘Who’s going to take care of him if you’re sick?’

‘I won’t get sick. You’re the one who’s been looking like you were going to throw up.’

He ignored her vomit talk. ‘This is ridiculous. He is in the sling. There is absolutely nothing else you can do for him until the vet arrives. Come with me to Mom’s RV and let me treat it.’

‘No.’ She redirected his attention. ‘I have some sedative but I need some help with the math. You do medicine dosage calculations all the time, right?’

‘I don’t know the dosage for horses,’ Reece muttered, but reached up to hold the lumber steady.

‘I know the dosage for a big horse and the weight differences, so you should be able to figure out what to give Gordy if I tell you that, right?’

‘Fine, then we’ll deal with your arm.’ He looked at her, but direct eye contact did something to her insides and she had enough to worry about.

She looked away, told him the dosage for a full-sized horse and the weight differences, and then left him thinking and holding the lumber to run to her trailer where she had the medication in her fridge. When she came back, he stood there still and immediately told her the number.

Flipping the cap back on the needle, she plunged it into the vial and extracted a slightly smaller amount than Reece had told her. Just to be safe. ‘You can treat my arm when the vet gets here. Gordy needs me. He needs reassurance. The last thing he needs is to be alone and scared.’

‘Jolivetta Chriselle Ra—’

‘You just stop right there, Dr. Reece I’m-Going-To-Act-Like-The-Boss Keightly.’ She’d poke him in the chest if her arm didn’t hurt so much and she didn’t have a needle in the other. ‘I’m not going anywhere. The vet or someone might come in and get the idea of putting him down if I’m not here to stop them. Now, let go of the wood and hold him still. This medicine isn’t great in the muscle—it eats it up. Has to go into the vein.’

‘Do you want me to do it?’ Reece asked. Like she hadn’t done this a hundred times before.

‘No. I want you to hold Gordy.’ And stop being bossy. And stop being around. And stop being...everything else.

Reece let go of the wood, rubbed a hand over his face like he could wipe off frustration, and slung his arms around Gordy’s chest again, his voice gentling a little too. ‘Why are you so convinced they’re going to put him down?’

‘He’s got leg problems.’

‘Explain.’

‘Really bad circulation.’ Jolie maneuvered to the other side of the horse before adding, ‘And he’s broken that leg before. It was very hard to heal the first time...’

‘So it might be kinder if they come to that decision now rather than after—’

‘No!’ She shouted, causing the horse to flinch. She took a breath and calmed her voice. ‘It’s not going to come to that. Horses can survive broken legs. And the circus is closing anyway! He has time to recuperate.’

She went for a vein she had found before, back of the neck, easier to get to and somewhere where she could talk softly and provide comfort. Not that she felt calm and comforting right now. She felt way too much of everything. Worry. Fear. Betrayal. Anger. A disconcerting awareness at Reece’s foreign manly scent in the stable... But she channeled worry away for Gordy’s benefit and gentled her tone. ‘We’re leaving here and going back to the farm in a few days, and he’ll have space to relax and get better. He doesn’t need to get better fast so that he can perform.’

‘It’s nothing to do with performing.’

‘No, it’s about taking the easy way out. Gordy’s part of the family, and you don’t just shoot your family if they get a hangnail.’ She threaded the needle into the vein, pulled back to make sure blood came into the cartridge, and then injected slowly. ‘You take care of your family. At least, that’s how it’s done in my family. You might not be willing to fight for yours, but I am.’

The sedation worked almost instantly. She hadn’t given Gordy enough to knock him out, but he did stop thrashing and mellowed significantly. With the safety cap back in place, she waved Reece off Gordy’s back. ‘You can go now.’

‘You know no one is going to put him down if he has a chance to recover.’ He moved to the door of the stall but didn’t leave. ‘I’m not leaving until you stop acting like a crazy woman and let me get a look at your arm.’

If he didn’t stop going on about her arm and about Gordy’s leg, she might hit him. From the angle she’d have to swing up to hit his chin, and might even be able to knock him out. Providing his jaw was more glass than the granite it looked like. ‘He has a chance.’

‘Just wait for the vet.’ Reece leaned against the jamb.

She slid past him to grab a stool and moved it back into the stall. ‘I have been taking care of horses forever.’ Okay, she might be acting crazy—she’d never felt moved to violence before—but Gordy was important. ‘And I take care of people too. I know what I’m talking about. He can be casted. Sometimes a kind of exoskeleton can be built to support a broken leg. I’ve read about it, and we have the slings for the big horses. We have one who has a metabolic condition that causes him to get laminitis, and we had to sling him once. This little makeshift sling is taking weight off that leg, and we can get a better one for him set up. It’s temporary. So stop preparing me for the worst.’

Her throbbing arm needed a break, and so did she. She scooted the stool toward Gordy’s head with her feet. He might be sedated but he’d feel her there. She’d comfort him. And maybe she’d absorb a little comfort from keeping near him too. A little comfort would be good right now. ‘I hope you’re not so fast on the plug-pulling for your people patients.’

CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_6399bfd7-bb85-5b83-a585-ec4919494bd8)

REECE RUBBED HIS HEAD, a headache starting between his brows. This was not how he’d pictured their reunion going. That had gone entirely differently. She’d been wearing something sparkly for starters.

‘Hey...’ His brain caught up with the situation now that the immediate emergency had passed. ‘You’re not dressed.’

‘I’m dressed just fine,’ she bit at him, and then her voice turned honey-sweet as she began to pet Gordy’s face and talk to him. ‘It’s going to be okay. I won’t let anyone hurt you.’

‘For the show,’ he cut in. He’d been waiting at the show the whole time to see her perform, and only now did it register with him that she wasn’t dressed for the ring at all. Jeans and a pink T-shirt with a white unicorn and a rainbow coming from its butt, while funny, wasn’t performance attire. ‘You haven’t performed yet. I figured you’d come at the end, the aerial act maybe, but you’re not dressed.’

‘I don’t perform any more.’

‘Why not?’

‘None of your business.’ Her words were angry, but she kept her tone sweet. Not for him, he realized. She looked back at Gordy and ruffled his ears. The sedative had taken the fight out of the little horse, but her touch and proximity soothed him. Despite the drug, he tilted his head against hers and accepted the comfort.