Chapter Two
Holly completed her grocery shopping with only half her brain focused on the task and got in line. The rest of her mind remained firmly with the brooding sheriff of La Colina County, Texas, and his adorable daughter.
Sophia was about as precious as she could be. She’d gotten big since Holly’d seen her last—over a year ago. There was spunk behind that solemn little face, although she seemed rather lost. Holly’s heart had gone out to her. No child should lose laughter in his or her life. The devastation of losing a mother was something with which she was intimately familiar. However, some sixth sense told Holly that Sophia would be okay. She’d find her spark again.
Sophia’s father, however, was another case entirely.
The friendly, open boy she’d known in high school—one of the few people genuinely nice to everyone—had closed in on himself, turned angry and cold. She’d glanced up from Sophia to see Sheriff Cash Hill standing so still in the aisle of the grocery store, seemingly arrested by the sound of his daughter’s giggle.
She’d seen Cash from a distance around town a couple of times since she’d returned home. Given how he’d seemed so distant at the funeral—not just because of his grief, but actively avoiding her in particular—she’d been biding her time before approaching the Hill family, concentrating on getting set up and settled in her new life.
But she’d once promised Georgia she’d watch over Sophia if anything happened, and she meant to keep that promise. No matter how much Cash disliked her.
A twinge of pain shot through her at that knowledge. She’d harbored a crush bigger than the Texas sky for Cash back in the day but was always too shy to say anything. Besides, Mr. Prom King and captain of the baseball team had his pick of the school. And she’d given up on that secret fantasy the day Georgia told her about the baby.
A few weeks after starting her junior year of college, Holly had received a call. Georgia—her best friend, her only friend—was getting married. To Cash, the one guy Holly’d ever liked. And Georgia knew that. The wedding had been a shotgun affair as Georgia was pregnant. A fight between friends and a rift with the guy she’d been seeing at the time resulted in a night with a bit too much to drink, and bam—lives had changed irrevocably. Cash’s. Georgia’s. Holly’s.
To say Holly’d been pissed had been an understatement. Usually one to forgive easily, Holly had refused to attend the wedding, or any of the baby showers, or even talk to Georgia for almost a year.
For her part, Georgia had dropped out of school to become a wife and mother. Betrayal, anger, time and distance had kept the two friends apart until Sophia had been born. Seemed a blue-eyed angel could heal any breach. Besides, Holly had missed her friend.
Until the day of her death, Georgia and Holly had talked on the phone or Skyped every single day. Georgia had brought her daughter to visit Holly at school several times over the years, and social media had been huge in keeping the two connected. As Holly had watched from across Texas, Sophia grew into a lovely little girl, and Georgia had grown more and more serious and withdrawn. Not the bubbly girl Holly thought of more as a sister.
Seeing Sophia in the grocery store had been like putting a vise around her heart; she’d missed Georgia so much. She was Georgia’s tiny mirror image. A perfect reflection of her beautiful mother with her thick, honey-blond hair, heart-shaped face and long, slender build. The only difference was Georgia had brown eyes, whereas Sophia had inherited her father’s baby blues. Cash was certainly going to have his hands full when she became a teenager.
Cash had always been handsome. She used to have a hard time breathing around him. Every one of those Hill siblings was gorgeous. Must be something in the water on that ranch. Once he was Georgia’s husband, Holly’d only ever acknowledged that fact about Cash in an “isn’t she lucky” kind of way, trying to keep a bitter edge out of the thought.
But today…holy smokes! If anything, his rugged good looks had improved with age, like a fine wine. The typical Texas garb of jeans, T-shirt and boots had fitted him like a glove.
Seeing him up close for the first time since the funeral, Holly’s heart had decided to do an imitation of a racehorse, and her breathing went on the fritz, just like when she was a girl, surprising the hell out of her. She was a grown woman, for Pete’s sake.
One with zero interest in or time for men. For the last eight years, she’d been too consumed with work and school to bother looking. And she’d decided a long time ago that marriage and kids weren’t an option for her. Then today, with Cash, an attraction—fierce and immediate—had her stomach clenching just as it did on roller coasters. Not unpleasant but a tad wild. Holly didn’t do wild.
Of course, that’d been before he’d stared at her as if she were a disease he’d rather not catch. Her attraction to Cash was patently one-sided. Holly was used to a certain amount of disdain or judgment around here. She dressed to please herself and didn’t always fit the Texas mold. She liked her funky clothes and colorful hair. And, of course, there was her family history. In some odd corner of her thoughts, she minded that he’d looked at her that way…and it irritated the bejesus out of her that she cared.
“Ma’am?”
Holly glanced up. “Sorry?” she mumbled to the checkout clerk.
“I said this is on special. Two-for-one?” he repeated in a thick Southern drawl.
“Oh. No thanks.”
The clerk nodded and kept scanning. Holly quickly paid then got out of there as fast as she could.
As soon as the double sliding doors of the store opened, she stepped into a wall of humidity. It was only mid-April in the Texas Hill Country, but this spring had been unusually hot, and the moisture in the air sent the heat index even higher. Every scrap of her light cotton clothing clung to her instantly damp skin. Even the air in her lungs felt wet and heavy, as if she were breathing in soup. Holly was used to it—she’d lived in Texas most of her life.
At least I’ll look youthful when I’m sixty. Humidity was supposed to be good for skin, right?
She piled her groceries in the cab of her beat-up Chevy truck. She’d had it as long as she could drive, and her grandmother had bought it used. Grams had raised her and her two younger siblings after their father skipped town and their mother died of cancer. Then, a few weeks before Holly graduated high school, Grams had passed away in her sleep. A heart attack, the doctor had said.
Holly didn’t think she’d ever get rid of Big Bertha, which was her nickname for the truck. Besides which, it ran perfectly fine and got her from point A to point B with no trouble. She cranked the engine and gave a happy hum as the air conditioner hit her full blast.
Getting home didn’t take too long. She lived on the other side of La Colina, and the town wasn’t exactly a metropolis, only being slightly over two miles wide and supporting a population of about two thousand, though that didn’t count all the ranches in the area outside of town. Dust flew up from the gravel drive as she pulled around the back of the veterinary clinic building and barn to the small house where she lived.
Holly couldn’t stop her grin at the sight of her home. She couldn’t be happier with how lucky she’d been to find this situation. She’d graduated from Cornell with a Doctorate in Veterinary Science and slightly under a hundred and fifty grand in school loans. She didn’t even consider starting a private practice, despite the market being desperate for more vets in her field willing to operate in the Texas countryside.
However, private practice would’ve meant even more large loans for all the equipment and supplies. Instead, she’d been hired on to work with Dr. Charlie Tribble and his son, Luke. She was their equine specialist, although she also helped with the steady stream of bovine work that came along.
Grabbing a couple of shopping bags, she made her way up to the front porch, making a mental note to fix the third step of the wooden structure as it gave a loud, creaking protest under her weight. That was when her cell phone beeped. Once she got inside and put down the bags, she checked it.
Holly’s heart dropped into her stomach.
The message was exactly what she feared. Another request to meet.
Holly shook her head as the sinking sensation gave way to the slow burn of anger. Why couldn’t Marcus leave her the hell alone? He had to know by now that she had absolutely no intention of disclosing what she knew. Not to anyone. Marcus was a nice guy, but she wasn’t a home wrecker.
With a huff, she put down the phone. Several trips to the car and a good fifteen minutes later, she had the groceries put away. Couldn’t have her ice cream melting in the heat. She took those few minutes to think. Coming to a decision, she picked up her phone and quickly typed in a response.
Message sent, she scooted across to the clinic, waved at Jan, who manned the front desk, strode through the halls and popped her head into the lab, only to find it empty.
“Hey, Luke,” she called.
“In here,” a disembodied voice answered from the exam room in the back.
She followed the sound and discovered Luke examining a dead calf on the table. He looked up and lifted his scalpel in a wave of welcome.
“What happened here?”
Luke continued with the dissection that he looked to have just started. “Not sure yet. Ben Granger found this little guy in one of his back fields. No apparent signs of trauma and no heifer close by.”
“Odd.”
He nodded. “Need something?” He didn’t glance up from his work.
“Quick question. Non-work related.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you remember Marcus Jones? He was about four years ahead of me in school.”
Luke stopped what he was doing, leaned his forearms on the stainless steel table and flicked her a curious glance. “Yes.”
“He’s still a…good guy? Right?”
“Why?”
She gave a casual shrug. “Just wondering.”
He gave her a steady look. “Uh-huh. I’ve known Marcus since grade school.” His tone of voice didn’t give much away.
“And?”
“I haven’t seen much of him since graduation, but I always liked him. He kind of…disappeared the last couple of years. Spends all his time rehabilitating horses on his family’s ranch.”
Well, damn. Anyone who loved horses was good in her opinion. Too bad. She didn’t want to like him.
“Why? Is he bothering you?” Raised eyebrows indicated Luke would be surprised if that were the case.
She shook her head. No way was she dragging Luke into her problems. Besides, bothering was a relative term. Playing on her guilt and heartstrings, more like. “No.”
He cocked his head and gave her an assessing look. “Okay.” He turned back to his work. “If he is bothering you—”
“He’s not.”
“Then you might think about telling Cash Hill.”
No way. That definitely wasn’t going to happen. That disgusted look Cash had given her in the grocery store was reason enough. Plus, even if he didn’t obviously have something against her, he was still the last person she’d bring into this particular issue.
But she couldn’t tell Luke that. “I know Cash. Thanks.”
He waved away her thanks.
“I’ll leave you to it, then.” Holly turned to leave but hesitated. “Need any help?”
“Nah. This is pretty straightforward.”
“Okay.” Truth be told, Holly got lonely sometimes. Her path in life had dictated her solitary state to a certain extent. And, despite having grown up around here, she couldn’t claim many friends. Just Georgia, really, and she was gone.
“Hey.” Luke’s voice stopped her at the door.
Holly glanced over her shoulder, her brows lifted.
“I saw you working Mischief Maker this morning.”
Holly hid her initial reaction of dismay. “I’m surprised you were here that early.”
“Had to get the trailer for an early morning delivery that was turning sour.”
“I’m guessing it worked out.”
He grinned. “Calf and mama are both fine. But you’re not skirting my question that easily. Those were some impressive drills I saw out there. Barrel riding?”
Holly nodded. “Thanks,” she mumbled, uncomfortable with the praise. “I trained horses through college. Barrel racers, stock horses. It helped pay some of the bills.” In fact, by the end of college she’d been able to stop waitressing.
“Do you compete?”
“No.”
Luke leveled a curious look at her over the rim of his protective eye gear. “Why not?”
“Honestly…money and time.” She couldn’t afford the entry fees. Even now she was working in a decently paid position, every extra dime went toward paying off her debts. Plus, competing meant traveling to rodeos. Time she didn’t have.
“School loans?” Luke asked.
“And then some.” Holly rolled her eyes expressively.
“Yeah. I’m still paying mine off too.” Luke grinned again.
The smile transformed his face from good-looking to downright handsome. Not for the first time, Holly wondered why he wasn’t married. He was tall and, thanks to a physical job maneuvering large animals constantly, well-muscled. Twinkling brown eyes with laugh lines at the corners indicated he was genuinely nice to boot. A terrific catch for any woman.
But what had Holly’s mind spinning with realization was the difference between her lack of reaction to Luke and her over-the-top attraction to Cash today. She gritted her teeth in frustration. That was a complication she didn’t need. Especially not right now, with trying to settle into her new home and job and with Marcus trying to suck her into old drama.
The easy answer was she should avoid the sexy sheriff and his daughter, but she had a promise to keep. She’d told her friend she’d keep an eye on Sophia. That promise was one of the reasons she’d moved home, instead of anywhere else a large animal vet was needed.
Sigh.
“Earth to Holly.” Luke’s voice penetrated her thoughts.
She snapped her attention back to the exam room. “Sorry. I remembered something I forgot to get at the grocery store.”
“Well…it’s not too far of a drive. You can make it there and back, I’m thinkin’.” Luke winked.
Holly waved a hand. “Nah…it can wait. For now, I’m going to go feed Mischief and Solario. After that, dinner, a good book and hopefully a full night’s sleep.”
She turned to go again but was stopped short as Luke said, “Huh. I hadn’t thought of Solario.”
“What about him?”
“If that little quarter horse of yours can do what I saw today, what exactly can that big brute of a thoroughbred stallion do?”
She put her hands on her hips. “He’s not a brute. He’s a big baby.”
Luke raised a skeptical eyebrow and snorted. “He won’t let anyone else near him but you.”
“That might have something to do with the fact that when he was about one, I rescued him from an abusive situation, where he was half-starved and had sores all over his body.” Holly shrugged as though it wasn’t a big deal, but she didn’t think she’d ever forget the state in which she’d found the poor animal. How anyone could do something like that to such a magnificent creature was beyond her. So, despite being a broke college student with one horse she already couldn’t afford, she’d rescued the black yearling and kept him.
“He wants to run. I think he’s fast, but I’ve never worked with a racer before. So we’ll see,” she added.
Holly gave Luke a salute then escaped before he could ask any more personal questions. She checked on the hawk, whose wing was still healing. Then she fed the horses, including a couple of cubes of sugar for Solario, who was a bit of an addict.
All the while, a pair of wide shoulders, a strong jaw and wicked, dark-blue eyes rimmed in black wouldn’t leave her thoughts…even overriding the issue with Marcus. Pesky hormones had a lot to answer for. That was all it had to be, right?