Cowboy Take Me Away (2 page)

Chase finished his breakfast, gulped down the rest of his coffee, and headed for the back door to pull on his boots and head out to the barn. He checked his wristwatch; the specialist veterinarian would be pulling up in less than half an hour, and he wanted to get his foreman over to listen to what she had to say.

Damn
. A cloud of dust in the distance told him that she was way ahead of schedule. The last guy they'd sent out had kept him waiting for an hour, so he hadn't been expecting early.

Chase jogged to the barn, calling out to Randy. He ducked into the feed shed, had a quick look around the yards, but didn't see him. The shiny white pickup had pulled up now, and he wiped his hands on his jeans and headed over to meet her. From everything he'd read in the company's latest brochure, there was no one more qualified with modern artificial insemination techniques, and he was looking forward to meeting the new recruit from Dallas AI.

He raised a hand to shield his face from the sun, squinting as she pushed open her door and stepped out.
Wow.
He hadn't expected the vet to have long blond hair or be dressed in skin-tight jeans and cowboy boots.

“Hey,” Chase called out, dropping his hand and walking closer to the vehicle.

“Morning!” The blond vet turned around, a big smile on her face that quickly turned into a look of surprise. “Chase?”

“Hope?”
Holy mother of God.

“I, um, well…” she stuttered, and he just stared, speechless for the first time in his life. “I can't believe it never clicked that this was your ranch.”

Chase clamped his jaw shut instead of letting it fall to the ground, and closed the distance between them, opening his arms and giving Hope an awkward hug. “Howdy, stranger,” he managed, stepping back and staring down at her. “This is…”

“Crazy,” she said, shaking her head and leaning against the driver's door of the pickup. “You look good, Chase.”

He laughed, dragging his eyes slowly up then down as he looked at her. “Straight back at you.” She looked a whole lot better than good.

Hope's face was flushed, her cheeks a pretty shade of pink. He hadn't seen her in years but she was just as gorgeous as she had been back then—blue eyes that danced when she spoke, full lips that framed a wide mouth, and a blond mane of that never looked too perfect to touch.

“So you've been busy these last few years, huh?” he asked, folding his arms and watching her, staring at Hope and wondering how the hell she was standing in front of him. He should have been able to come up with something witty, but seeing Hope had fried his brain. “When they said the new specialist was Hope Walker, it didn't exactly send off alarm bells.”

She grimaced. “Married name, sorry.”

Chase shrugged it off, not even wanting to think about her being married. She was the one who'd gotten away, the girl he'd never gotten out of his system. And somehow she'd ended up on his property without him even realizing it. Not to mention she was taken, which meant he needed to stop thinking about how good she'd look in his bed. He glanced down, noticed she wasn't wearing a ring. “So you've moved out this way for good?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I know I should have looked you up, but…”

“No need to apologize,” he said, shrugging. It ticked him off, but he got it. They'd been out of touch a long time. “I'd have only given your husband a grilling to make sure he was good enough for you, so it could have turned nasty.”

The look in her eyes made him feel like a complete prick. Hope turned away and opened a container in the bed of the pickup, sorting through some things. The girl he'd known had been able to take a ribbing—they'd teased each other mercilessly their entire time in college—but he was pretty sure he'd gone and said the wrong thing just now.

“I'd say I was kidding, but I kind of wasn't.” He folded his arms across his chest, gazed down at her. “Hope?”

Hope turned back around, her smile sweet but not hitting her eyes like it used to. “I'm not married anymore,” she said, her tone somber as she told him. “And believe me, you'd be all fists blazing if you met him, I can promise you that.”

Chase's fists balled at his sides when he unfolded his arms, his jaw tight as he stared at Hope. They might not have seen each other in years, but they'd been best friends all through college and there was nothing he wouldn't do for her, even after all this time. They'd been through a hell of a lot together and it wasn't just something he could forget.

“You need me to teach the asshole a lesson?” Chase asked, trying not to grit his teeth as he fumed inside.

“No,” she sighed, attempting a smile that did anything but convince him she was okay. “What I need to do is stop talking about my failed marriage and come see your cattle.”

Chase watched her long and hard, trying to read her face. She was brave, he knew that already, but something told him that she'd been to hell and back and then some.

“You want to talk work, let's go,” he finally said, stepping closer to her and taking a metal kit she was carrying. Hope made a face like she was about to protest, but he took it off her anyway. “You're not in Canada anymore, sweetheart. You've forgotten what good manners southern men have?”

She laughed, her head tipping back as she walked. “I've missed you, Chase. Man, have I missed you.”

He grinned back at her, wishing it hadn't been so long since he'd seen her. It had only taken one night to ruin their friendship, and they'd hardly spoken since. She'd been his best friend for years, and now they were as good as strangers, although he could see how easy it'd be to fall back into step like no time had passed at all.

“So tell me what it's like working with sperm all day.”

Hope scowled at him. “You haven't grown up a bit, have you?”

“Nope.”

He matched her stride, not taking his eyes off her. She'd been beautiful back in college and now she was a knockout. Chase glanced around, checked they were alone and Ryder wasn't about to come ruin their reunion. He'd fucked it up with Hope once, and if he had his chance, he'd make up for every second.

“So who's Randy Smith? I have his name on my sheet.”

“Foreman,” Chase told her. “I had him book and confirm the appointment.”

“Ah,” she murmured. “Although if I'd looked farther down my chart instead of rushing to get here on time, I'd have noticed the words
King Ranch
. My bad.”

He stopped walking, locked his gaze on her when she turned. “Would you have come if you'd known it was me?”

Her expression didn't change, her eyes warm as she stared back at him. “Of course I would have.”

Chase smiled and started walking with her again, even though he didn't believe her for a second. Something had changed, something was different about her, and it wasn't just the fact that they'd grown up. But if there was one thing he was good at it was being persistent, and if he had a chance to get Hope back in his life, then he'd make damn sure he didn't miss the opportunity. If she were happily married he would have accepted the fact, but she wasn't.

“That was a lie,” she suddenly said.

He raised an eyebrow as he turned to look at her. “What was?”

“If I'd seen your name I would have tried to get someone else to cover for me.”

He nodded. “Nothing beats the truth.”

She stopped and stared at him, her eyes locked on his. They weren't touching, but she was standing close, her perfume filling his senses, strands of her hair being teased by the wind and blowing toward him. He was recalling exactly why he'd found it so damn hard to keep things platonic between them.

“How did things end up like this between us, Chase?”

He shrugged. “We really screwed up, didn't we?”

“Yeah, we did.” She blew out a breath. “For what it's worth, I'm sorry I never stayed in touch. If it's any consolation, I've missed you a lot.”

“Me too,” he grunted. “All these years and I've never found a drinking buddy half as fun as you.” The reasons he liked Hope were a whole lot more than having someone fun to drink with, but he was pretty sure she knew that without him having to spell it out.

Chase chuckled and slung an arm around Hope's shoulders. She tensed slightly, shoulders bunching under his touch, like she'd stopped breathing for a beat, but he didn't care. Before they'd slept together, they'd touched all the time, buddies but on the verge of flirting every time they hung out. Then after they'd been between the sheets, they'd barely touched again. Well, he was taking charge now and he wasn't going to pussyfoot around.

“I might just take you up on that kicking-ass offer, you know,” Hope muttered, her body finally relaxing.

“You have my word,” Chase said, pleased to be talking instead of picturing her naked, because the moment he'd seen her he'd started thinking about their night together. “I don't care how many years have passed. An enemy of yours is an enemy of mine. You say kill him, he's dead.”

As they reached the barn, Chase reluctantly removed his arm, set the kit down, and hitched a boot against the nearby railing. He had a small herd of heifers waiting in the round pen for Hope to look over, and the sooner he got his mind on cows instead of the woman standing beside him, the better.

“So these are my girls,” he said.

He recognized the change in her face as she leaned over the railings to look them over. When they'd been studying she'd played hard and studied even harder, which was why his grandfather had always thought she was such a good influence on him. Now, he got the feeling that he was the only one getting time to play—the tiny lines around her eyes told him she was nothing short of exhausted.

“You've got quite the harem of ladies,” she joked.

“Best organic purebred cattle in the state,” Chase told her. “Now I just need to get them pregnant with the New Zealand sperm that cost me a small fortune.”

“And that's why you called in the big guns.”

Chase laughed with Hope, but what he really needed was for them to stop talking about sperm. And sex. And insemination. His head was already in the gutter without any encouragement.

“I'm guessing you must be pretty good if you managed to get a green card,” Chase said, still leaning on the rails but watching her now instead of the herd.

“I've worked my butt off,” she told him. “But yeah, seems that I managed to specialize enough to be of value, and it didn't take long for me to get approval to move.”

Chase nodded. He'd never doubted she would succeed at whatever she set her mind to, not for a moment.

*   *   *

Hope held up a hand to shield her eyes from the bright sunshine. Keeping it together in front of Chase wasn't easy, and it was taking every ounce of her energy. Staring into his eyes was like … She clamped her jaw down, teeth grinding. Her problem was that she'd mentally left Chase in her past, and she sure as hell hadn't been expecting to see him today. Or any other damn day for that matter.

“So did you ever practice?” she asked, ducking through the railings to get a closer look at the heifers. They'd graduated together after training as veterinarians, but he hadn't been sure about his exact career plans when they'd parted ways.

“For a short time,” he said, following her into the yards. “After I graduated I came straight back here and started working alongside our foreman whenever I could, but I also worked with our local vet for a while to get some practical training in. Granddad liked the idea of me having a backup plan career wise in case ranching wasn't profitable for our land one day, but the truth is all I've done since hearing him say that is come up with ways to make sure I can keep the ranching side of our business booming.”

She cursed as he moved near, wishing he'd just back the hell up instead of coming into her space. Having him so close—smelling him, seeing him, looking into his dark eyes as he spoke—it was too much. After trying to forget him for so long, suddenly every memory, every touch was rushing back so fast it was almost impossible to breathe.

Hope inhaled deeply, the smell of cow dung way more calming than the citrusy scent of Chase. She glanced sideways, noticed the wayward curl of his dark hair. He'd kept it shorter in college, and now it was more unruly, but it suited him. Just a little too long at the back and around his ears, almost black, and so hard not to touch.

Enough
. She hadn't thought about Chase in a long time and she didn't need to start now. She was here for work and that was it.

“What I need to do today is give them a work-up, make sure everything's in order, then we can go about getting them in calf. You know the drill.”

Chase cleared his throat. “I don't want to sound like a jerk, but we only purchased a modest number of straws. Are we looking at a pretty high take rate?”

Hope met his gaze, but she kept her body angled so she hadn't turned her back on the cows. She had enough experience to know how easy it was to land a sideways kick.

“Understood. Each insemination has to count, and I'll only inseminate the ones that fit the criteria perfectly.” She nodded as she glanced over them all again, pleased with how they looked from the outset—a healthy herd of big young cows. “Although from looking at them I doubt we'll find any obvious problems from the outset.”

“Nate's riding me big-time over this so I need to prove it was the right decision,” Chase said. “He'd turn this whole place into an oil field if it wasn't for me riding his ass to keep our stock numbers high.”

“Nate's your oldest brother, right?” She was only making conversation, there was nothing about Chase she'd forgotten.

“Yep, that's him.” Chase took a step back and leaned on the railings, his elbows pushed down, legs relaxed as he kicked them out, one ankle crossed over the other. “My granddad's stepped down from the day-to-day running now, and Nate's handling the business side of things with me in charge of the ranches. We have a couple other places nearby, too.”