Page 26 of Unyielding (Poplar Springs #3)

TWENTY-SIX

DECLAN

“ Y ou see it, right?” Becca asked me. “That little hitch step when he plants his right rear hoof?”

She was leading the gleaming black stallion named Adonis around the ring attached to her main barn.

I couldn’t believe how fancy she looked at the end of what had probably been a busy day.

Instead of work boots and dusty jeans, she was turned out in cowboy boots with a dress heel and jeans that were tight enough to make bending over seem impossible.

She couldn’t possibly get any real work done dressed like that, but from what I’d seen, she didn’t particularly care about being hands-on, anyway. Not with the horses, that is.

“Can you walk him in past me instead of away from me? I’m not seeing much when he’s walking away.”

I was convinced that Becca was more interested in showing off her ass than getting an honest assessment of what looked to be nothing more than a sprain.

“Silly me.” She giggled, batting her eyelashes. “Whatever you say, Doctor .” Yep. She was. I tried not to frown.

When Becca had called into the clinic, it had sounded like she was nearly in tears over what she claimed was possibly a career-ending injury in a racing stallion that was due to bring in tons of money for her.

After my initial assessment, I realized that Becca was going to be one of those clients who managed to turn every bump and bruise into an emergency.

I got the sense that she liked the idea of having me at her beck and call.

I couldn’t afford to alienate her, but at the same time, I couldn’t let her get in the habit of assuming that I had nothing else to do with my time aside from being her personal vet.

I needed to find a way to gently start managing her expectations of my availability without pissing her off and risking her bad mouthing me to the other ranchers.

She led the horse back and forth in front of me a few times.

“Okay, you can bring him on over to me now.” I quickly completed my hands-on eval and patted the horse’s flank.

“It’s a simple sprain, and you’ve got nothing to worry about.

We’ll put him on some anti-inflammatory meds.

No turn outs in the field, hand walking only.

He should be back to normal in a week or so.

” Everything I was sure she already knew.

“Are you sure you don’t want to do any imaging?” she asked. “I’d hate for you to miss something. Obviously I’ll pay whatever it takes…”

“Not necessary. His foot placement is a clear indicator that’s there’s nothing structurally wrong. He probably just overdid it or stepped on something at the wrong angle.”

Becca put her hand on her chest and closed her eyes. “Oh, I’m so relieved. You have no idea how much money this horse is worth! If he can’t keep winning races, he won’t be worthy of breeding. Thank you, Dr. Morris. Or can I call you Declan, since we’re about finished here?”

Fuck. We might have gone to the same school, but I don’t think we ever exchanged words. “Dr. Morris is fine—and I’m happy to be the bearer of good news. That doesn’t always happen.”

I walked back to my bag and started packing up.

Becca walked Adonis over to me. “What do you think of this guy? Handsome, right?”

I paused and looked over the horse again. “He’s perfect. Great lineage, excellent temperament, gorgeous conformation. You’ve got a real winner here.”

“Right?” She beamed at me. “Black Hat is already outperforming last year, but now that this guy is in the mix, we’re about to blow away our annual goals. I feel so lucky!”

I went back to packing up. There was still time to salvage the night with Shannon and as much as I knew I needed to be friendly, I wanted to get the hell out of her barn. “You should be proud. You’ve really built up your program.”

“And we’re new on the scene. I mean, programs like the Caffertys have been around forever.”

“There are other breeding programs around here as well, like the Thornes and the Flying Aces, too.” I started to list out the smaller boutique programs that were more specialized than Becca’s, but she went on as if she didn’t hear me.

“Okay, sure, but you’d think that Shannon would be kicking my ass, but I guess pedigree doesn’t really count for much compared to gumption and drive.

I mean, if she’s just going to rest on her family’s reputation rather than really going after sales, then she’s got to expect to fall behind.

All the better for me— I’m not too timid to go after what I want.

” She paused. “You’ve been over to her place a bunch. How’s her business doing?”

I bristled at the question—and all the digs that preceded it.

I was all about having a friendly conversation, but competitor gossip was out of the question.

And I certainly wasn’t going to stand there and let her drag Shannon’s operation through the dirt.

“She’s great. Seems like she’s setting herself up for a strong season too. ”

That wasn’t quite true. The changes she was putting into place would take a little while to pay off, but the foundation was definitely there, so I didn’t really feel any guilt over my little fib. It would become true soon enough.

“You’re spending a lot of time over there, huh? Are you two an item yet?” She bounced her shoulders and smiled coquettishly.

Hard stop. She’d just veered into none-of-your-business territory.

I was proud to have Shannon as my girlfriend, but that didn’t mean I felt comfortable talking about my personal life with a client.

Especially one I barely knew. You would think growing up in a town this size would mean all the students in the same grade knew each other, but even Poplar Springs wasn’t immune to having cliques and social groups that stayed in their own lanes.

“Lost Valley Ranch is a great client for the practice, and I enjoy working with the whole Cafferty family. We all go way back.”

Becca pouted. “Aw, you’re keeping secrets from me? I thought we were friends too.”

“Doc Wilcox and I consider all of our clients to be our friends, so don’t you worry about that.” I started walking toward the door and Becca fell in step beside me.

“Come on, you’ve got to tell me something juicy. What’s next for Shannon? Is she expanding her barn? Moving away from live cover? Opening a semen banking branch? C’mon, spill it.”

I could tell that gossip was one of Becca’s love languages, and I wasn’t going to escape in her good graces without some sort of offering.

I did find it odd that she persisted in focusing on Shannon specifically.

I wasn’t about to tell her all of the changes we were making to the program, so I settled on the least interesting option.

“Uh, she’s about to buy a new breeding mare. A fine horse, nothing fancy. Not like this guy.” I leaned over to stroke the stallion’s neck.

“Really?” Her eyebrows shot up. “From where?”

According to Shannon, she and the horse’s owner had a verbal agreement, so I didn’t see any problem with spilling the information. “From Harmony Hill. Mary Dugan’s place out in Eastville.”

“Hmm, interesting. I forgot about that place,” Becca said.

We paused at the barn door. “Glad Adonis is okay. Let me know if anything changes, okay?”

“You got it.”

Becca looked like she was going to ask me another question, but I waved and jogged toward my truck before she could even open her mouth.

I needed to get to Shannon’s. I’d missed her this past week and after this appointment with Becca, I was desperately in need of spending time with someone I actually cared about.

I paused at that thought. It was true. I did care about Shannon.

She was a balm on a stormy day, and I was glad to be away from tropical storm Becca.