Riding High

“I have twelve stalls and twenty-one horses, so most of them double up.”

Regan looked more closely at the pink-and-turquoise barn. Judging from the size of it, those twelve stalls wouldn’t be oversized. “So you have a space problem?”

“I’m afraid I do.” She gazed at him with those soulful blue eyes. “The thing is, I can’t help but say yes.”

That comment shouldn’t have had a sexual connotation. But long after he’d driven away from the Peaceful Kingdom Horse Sanctuary, her words floated around in his traitorous brain.

She appeared to be a free spirit. That didn’t necessarily mean she would embrace the concept of a no-strings affair, but it might. The thought created a pleasant ache in his groin. He hadn’t felt that surge of desire in some time. Apparently he’d repressed it, because sure enough, thinking of sex brought up what had happened back in Virginia. Last Christmas Eve he’d found Drake Brewster, his best friend and business partner, in bed with Jeannette Trenton, his fiancée. That discovery had affected him more than anyone knew.

Jeannette had accused him of being cold-blooded because he’d refused to discuss it afterward. Instead, he’d handled the situation with surgical precision. Within a week he’d moved out of their shared condo, ended their engagement, sold his share of the veterinary practice to Brewster and relocated from Virginia to Jackson Hole, where Nick Chance had welcomed him into his practice. The move had been a no-brainer. He couldn’t continue to work with Brewster after what the guy had done, and the previous summer Nick had mentioned needing a partner in his clinic.

Even more compelling was the prospect of being surrounded by family while he put his life back together. Nearly twenty years ago his folks had spent several months in Jackson Hole. His older sister Morgan had loved the place so much she’d vowed to return. When she finally made good on that promise to herself, she’d met and married Gabe Chance. Thus had begun the growing connection between the Chance family and the O’Connelli brood.

Next, Regan’s twin sister, Tyler, had married into the Chance extended family. She was happily hitched to Alex Keller, brother of Jack Chance’s wife, Josie. And most recently, eighteen-year-old Cassidy, youngest of the O’Connelli siblings, had apprenticed as the ranch housekeeper.

Sarah, the Chance family matriarch, had insisted that Regan stay at the Last Chance until he’d decided whether to live in town or buy some acreage. Six months later he was still there soaking up the ambiance. He’d never lived in a place that felt more like home, and he craved that sense of permanence.

For half a year he’d managed to convince himself that he’d moved past that fateful Christmas Eve when two people he’d trusted had betrayed him. He hadn’t dated, but that seemed natural under the circumstances. Lily was the first woman he’d met who interested him, which was ironic. All the evidence suggested her philosophy of life was exactly like his parents’ and the complete opposite of his.

But did that matter? He wasn’t ready for anything serious. As for Lily, if she was the least bit like his parents, she’d grow bored with the horse sanctuary eventually and search for a new challenge somewhere else, so she wouldn’t be around long.

But while she was, maybe they could hang out together. During their conversation she’d slipped in a comment about a potential wife or a girlfriend. Sometimes that meant a woman was trying to find out that information for her own reasons.

He’d know soon enough. She didn’t strike him as a woman who was into mind games. No, she seemed forthright, playful and creative. Instead of wincing at her paint job, he should rejoice, because it told him that she enjoyed having fun. It had been so damned long since he’d had fun.

2

LILY STOOD BY the gate and waved as Regan drove away. She continued to watch until the plume of dust kicked up by his truck’s tires disappeared. Long after he was gone, she stayed where she was, lost in thought. Regan O’Connelli was a pleasant surprise, even if he had informed her that she needed to change how she was running the sanctuary.

He’d meant it in a helpful way, though, and he might have a point. Nick had hinted at the same thing, but she’d been so convinced the horses deserved spoiling that she hadn’t paid much attention. Besides, he was Nick, someone she’d known since she was a precocious whiz kid and he was one of her parents’ favorite students in high school. He behaved toward her like the big brother she’d never had, and she expected him to dispense advice, most of which she would ignore.

In this case, maybe she shouldn’t have ignored it. She was a little embarrassed by how quickly her situation was getting out of hand. Each day she worked to be more efficient, but then a new horse would arrive and she’d struggle to get all her chores done.

She probably shouldn’t accept any more horses, but how could she turn them away if they had nowhere to go? She needed to find homes for some of them, but she hadn’t figured out the adoption part of the plan. Come to think of it, the Turners hadn’t mentioned it, either. They’d both been a little absent-minded during the transfer of ownership, and she hadn’t thought to ask.

Regan might have some suggestions. She smiled to herself. The guy was hot. As she finally admitted that she’d noticed that, she laughed. His hotness was the real reason she was standing here dreamy-eyed over her new vet.

He was one juicy dude, in a Johnny Depp kind of way. That comparison couldn’t be confirmed until she’d found out whether he had dark eyes, and he’d kept his bad-boy shades on the entire time, darn it. What a great idea, inviting him to dinner so he’d be around after the sun went down.

Maybe he’d kept the shades on because he had sensitive eyes, but she wondered if something else was going on with him. Sunglasses could also provide emotional protection. She’d always been super conscious of people’s emotions, and after hanging out with rescue animals, she picked up on their moods, too. Understandably, many of the horses had trust issues, and she’d felt the same vibe coming from Regan.

Buck plodded over and nudged her from behind, so she turned to give the sway-backed horse some neck scratches. “I could be wrong, Buck, old boy, but I think that guy might need to be rescued as much as the rest of you around here.”

The horse bobbed his head, and Lily smiled. “Thanks for validating my hypothesis.” She patted his neck and reached for the cell phone in her back pocket. “Let’s see if Dr. Chance agrees with me.” She scrolled through her contacts and called Nick.

He answered on the second ring. “How’d it go with Regan?”

“Fine. You busy?” Holding the phone to her ear, she set off in search of the two pigs. They were probably okay, but she wanted to make sure.

“Yeah, I’m an extremely busy and important man, but for you, I’m willing to postpone my critical work for a few minutes.”

“You are so full of it. I’m convinced you passed my mom’s class purely on your ability to BS.”

“I might’ve. But I aced your dad’s science class with a minimum of BS. Just ask him.”

“Don’t have to. You two have a mutual admiration society going on.” She located the pigs wallowing in the large mud pit she’d dug a few days ago for Wilbur. Harley was going to fit right in. “I like Regan a lot, although he’s already telling me I’m doing this horse thing wrong.”

“What does he think you’re doing wrong?”

“Letting the horses roam the property, for starters.”

“Well, Regan prefers more order than that, but those six horses are pretty old. I don’t think it’ll hurt to let them have some freedom in their golden years.”

“I, um, have more than six, now. And they’re not all in their golden years.”

“Oh? How many do you have?”

“Twenty-one.”

“Good golly, Miss Molly! What did you do, advertise?”

“Not exactly, but I’ve talked to people when I go into town. Oh, and I redesigned the website and made sure it came up on all the search engines. It’s a kick-ass site, if I do say so.”

“I’ll bet.”

“I guess the word got out that I was here and had room for more horses.”

“I’m sure it did.” Nick was quiet for a bit. “Lily, you don’t have room in your current barn to keep twenty-one horses forever. You’ll have to renovate that barn and add more stalls.”

“What do you mean, forever? Won’t people come and adopt some of them?”

“Not usually. You have a sanctuary, which means you take in animals that are too sick or old to be ridden anymore and you keep them until they die.”

“Oh.” How embarrassing. She hadn’t understood the basic premise of the project she’d taken on. “What do you call a place where you adopt out some of the horses?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe an equine rescue facility. But not a sanctuary.”

Lily swallowed. “Well, that’s what I need this to be, then, an equine rescue facility, at least for the animals I’ve taken in since I arrived. They’re not old and ready to die. People didn’t want them, so I accepted them. I thought that was what I was supposed to do.”

“It’s okay. No harm done. But you can’t ever adopt out those original six. They’re there for the duration.”

“I did figure that, but the barn holds twelve, and I thought it was a shame for the other stalls to go to waste.” Still, she felt like an idiot.

“Don’t worry. You can sort this out. What’s your plan for the adoption process?”

“Um...I’m working on it.” She hated to admit that no plan existed yet, but it couldn’t be that hard. She’d had no trouble finding people who wanted to get rid of horses, so now she needed to find the other half, the ones who wanted horses. “I should also probably mention the chickens.”

“What chickens?”