Must Be Doin' Somethin' Right [The Chisholms of Texas 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) (10 page)

The vets at the Chisholm Ranch had the last word on animal care and treatment. If, for example, the vet wanted a horse to have extra pasture time for some reason, the hands would have to make sure that it happened, often creating more work for them. They evidently didn’t appreciate being dictated to by a woman. She worked around the few men that seemed to want to cause problems while she was doing her internship and hadn’t bothered to tell Dillon. She hoped now that she was on staff permanently the problems would stop. Although most of the Ranch employees seemed to accept her, there remained a few who were passively aggressive with her when she dealt with them. She hoped it would work out. She wasn’t a tattletale and didn’t want to think about how Dillon would react to the news.

When she got back to the office, she noted that there was a half-full cup of coffee on Dillon’s desk. The coffee was still warm, so she knew she hadn’t missed him by much. Signing back on to the computer, she input the data for the four horses she had vaccinated and started working on the vaccinations for the next four patients. She worked all morning and had gotten about half of the assigned horses vaccinated by 11:30 a.m. She decided to get four more done before she stopped for lunch and proceeded to get the vaccinations ready. These four horses were all in the second horse barn, which mainly housed the family’s personal horses and the prize mares for the horse-breeding operation.

She got the first three done without incident and went to the last stall where Dillon’s horse, Diablo, was boarded. She slipped into the stall with her bag and calmly talked to Diablo as she got the vaccinations ready to administer. She spent a few minutes crooning to the horse and gentling him by rubbing his muzzle. He nickered to her softly and gave her a gentle head butt. Abby had spent a lot of time gaining Diablo’s trust during her internship. He was a high-strung stallion, but he wasn’t mean. He had, however, broken a couple of the hands’ legs over the past five years. Abby read the reports on the incidents and concluded that the human was at fault in each of the instances. Diablo just needed a firm but kind hand so that he didn’t get spooked.

* * * *

Dillon strode into the second horse barn where one of the hands told him he could find Abby. Other hands were milling around, getting ready to head to the mess hall for lunch. Not spotting Abby, he started walking down the first row of horse stalls to see if she was in with any of the horses.

As he got closer to the end of the stalls, he still didn’t see her. Just as he was about to turn around and ask one of the hands about her, he heard her lilting voice coming from the end stall.

“Okay, big guy. Just one more quick poke and I’ll leave you alone. Once we get this last one done, you’ll be healthy for another year. Oh, you’re such a good boy, aren’t you?” she crooned.

Dillon started to smile at her nonsensical conversation with the horse until he realized it was coming from the last stall on the left.
Fuck! That was Diablo’s stall.

What the hell was she doing in the stallion’s stall? She had no business being in the stall with the temperamental horse. The stallion was well known around the Ranch for kicking and had hurt a couple of hands over the last few years. Both incidents had been determined to be the fault of the hand for not handling the horse properly, but everyone knew now to be very careful around Diablo. Dillon was the only person the stallion would tolerate in such tight quarters, and all the hands knew it. Why the hell had they allowed Abby into Diablo’s stall? Someone was going to pay for that mistake, but first he needed to get Abby out of that stall safely.

Diablo nickered to him as he approached the stall door and Dillon gently rubbed his muzzle.

“Abby?” he asked in a conversational tone.

“Oh, hi, Dillon. I’ll be done in a minute, okay?”

“Abby, I need you to come out of the stall, baby.”

“I’ll be out in just a minute, Dillon. I just have to give Diablo one more shot then I’ll be done with his yearly vaccinations.

“Abby, baby, I want you out of that stall
right now
,” he said in a dangerously low voice.

“What’s your problem? You’re going to spook Diablo, Dillon. Hang on and I’ll be out in just a second,” she told him as she stepped toward the back of the stall.

Getting more anxious by the second, Dillon forced himself to open the gate to the stall slowly when all he wanted to do was rip it open and haul her out as quickly as possible.

“Dillon, what are you doing? You know better than to open a stall door when a vet is working,” she said irately as he grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the stall into the safety of his arms and swung the stall door shut.

“What the hell were you doing in that stall?” he thundered at her.

“What do you mean what was I doing in the stall? I was doing my job. That’s what I was doing. What the hell do you think
you
were doing pulling me out like that?” she responded heatedly.

He drew back from her and grabbed both of her arms in his hands, giving her a shake. “What the hell were you doing in Diablo’s stall, Abigail? Everybody on the Ranch knows to stay away from Diablo. Dammit, woman. Didn’t you learn anything during your internship?” he asked angrily. He couldn’t believe that she put herself in harm’s way like this.

They were gaining quite an audience by now, Dillon’s loud, angry voice drawing the hands into the barn to see what the ruckus was all about. Several of the hands smiled at each other in anticipation of the smackdown they expected Dillon to deliver to Abby.

“Shit! Don’t you dare talk to me like that, Dillon Chisholm,” she retorted quietly through clenched teeth. “You talk to me like that again and you’ll be a soprano. Take your hands off of me. We can talk about this back in the office,” she said as she broke out of his hold.

“Just a minute there, missy. I’m not through with you yet. Do you even realize the danger you put yourself in by getting in Diablo’s stall?” he asked in a loud and irate voice, taking her by her arms again.

Several of the ranch hands laughed at that. Dillon looked around at the sound and realized they had developed quite an audience. With a quick glance around he could see several of the hands she had trouble with during her internship standing around and grinning at the spectacle they were creating. Abby didn’t know it, but he knew about the problems a few of the men had caused her during her internship. She had obviously wanted to handle things herself, so he’d let her. Right now, he could tell she was holding onto her emotions with everything in her.

“
Doctor
Chisholm,” she started forcefully. “I would appreciate it if you would take your hands off of me. We can talk about this back at the clinic if you feel the need, but I will not discuss this with you here,” she said icily as she looked around them significantly.

Her iciness was what finally penetrated the fog of his fear and anger. He dropped his hands to his sides and glanced to either side as he took in the audience his tirade had drawn.

“Office. Now,” he grated out.

She nodded at him then walked straight ahead toward the barn doors leading to the vet clinic. The ranch hands split apart for her to pass. As Dillon watched her walk regally out of the barn, he saw the appreciative looks that many of the men gave her as she passed by. That just pissed him off more.

* * * *

In the silence came a gruff clearing of someone’s throat. As Levi moved toward the middle of the barn, he spoke loudly.

“You better get to the mess hall, men, or y’all won’t be getting any chow. Break it up,” said Levi, as he walked toward where Dillon stood. He had just passed Abby on her way out, and she looked ready to neuter something or
someone
.

Judging by the look on Dillon’s face, he must be in her sights. He was just glad it wasn’t him.

“What the hell did you do now, Dillon?” asked Levi with a smile. “Abby looked angry enough to spit nails. I’d wear a cup around her for a while if I were you.”

“Fuck you, Levi. Damned woman. I found her with Diablo in his stall as cool as you please giving him his vaccinations. She could have been hurt or even killed in such a confined space. You know how temperamental my horse is,” Dillon retorted grimly.

“Was he acting up when she was in the stall?” asked Levi curiously.

“No, but that’s not the point. She should have known not to get in the stall with him at all. She should have let me give him the shots,” Dillon said.

“Do you call someone else in to give shots to some of our other temperamental mares and stallions?” asked Levi reasonably.

“That’s different,” Dillon argued automatically.

“Is it? I’m just saying. Did you notice during the last two years what a connection Abby seems to have with the horses? I’ve never seen anything like it. She’s like the horse whisperer or something. She spent time getting to know all of the horses during her internship. Spent a lot of her off hours in the horse barns. Maybe she knew she didn’t have anything to fear from Diablo. Maybe you’re not as special as you think. Maybe Diablo likes her, too,” Levi said quietly.

* * * *

“Shit,” said Dillon on an explosive sigh. He knew she had developed a special affinity for the horses. Levi was right. Diablo had been very calm when Dillon had found Abby in his stall. Normally, he would have been acting nervous and edgy with anyone but Dillon in his stall with him. His brother’s words were making him realize that he was acting like an overprotective ass. Man was he going to pay for this.

“Yeah.” Levi smiled as he spoke quietly so they weren’t overheard. “You hired her to do a job. Just because you’re sleeping with her doesn’t mean you can keep her from doing that job. If you didn’t think she could handle it, you never should have hired her. You better learn to curb your dominant nature, at least in the working world. If the look on her face when she left is any indication, she’s not going to just sit there and take your shit where work is concerned.”

“She’s gonna feed me my balls, isn’t she?” Dillon grumbled.

“Better go and get it over with or you’ll be sleeping alone tonight and for the foreseeable future. Is she going to be moving in with you here at the Ranch?”

“I don’t think she’d take the proposition too well right now. I’d better hold off for a while before I raise that issue with her,” Dillon conceded. He wanted nothing more than Abby’s hot body wrapped up tightly with his every morning when he woke up. He’d arouse her while she was still asleep and she’d wake up with his dick deep in her hot pussy. Heaven.

“You better get going. I don’t think she’s going to appreciate you keeping her waiting to ream the hole in your ass she’s planning,” Levi laughed. “See you later.”

Dillon gave him the finger and sighed. “Yeah, later, bro,” Dillon said as he and Levi walked out of the barn and went their separate ways.

* * * *

Neither of the brothers saw the man standing behind the post at the far end of the barn. He’d come in near the tail end of the exchange between Abby and Doc Chisholm.

He wasn’t pleased to hear that Abby was sleeping with the veterinarian. Abby was his. He’d been keeping a close eye on her for nearly two years just biding his time. He’d spent that time cultivating her trust while he danced and flirted with her at Chaps & Spurs. He had no intention of having all his efforts wasted because a Chisholm was coercing her to sleep with him in order to keep her job.

That would end shortly. Abby was his, and he intended that she remain his. Abby was a natural submissive, and Dillon Chisholm was a Dom in every sense of the word. That’s the only reason that Abby was even attracted to the man. Well,
he
could be dominating, too, and he could fulfill that role for Abby just as well, if not better, than Dillon Chisholm. He just hadn’t realized until recently what Abby really needed in a man. Soon, Abby wouldn’t need the Chisholms for anything and she would be all his.

* * * *

Abby was waiting for Dillon in the clinic office staring out the front window with her back to the door. Her purse and a box sat on her desk. A quick glance into the box revealed that it was full of the personal items that she kept on her desk. His anxiety level increased as he realized she had packed up her personal items and was prepared to leave, just waiting to lay into him first about the scene he had just caused in the barn. He could feel her anger rolling off her in waves and he knew she had every right. He’d really fucked up this time.

Knowing that she was comparing him to her father right now, that she was asking herself if she was getting involved with a man like her father had been, nearly brought him to his knees. Actions spoke louder than words. He vowed to himself to show her that allowing a man to dominate her in the bedroom, was not going to lead to any sort of abuse like she had suffered at the hands of her father. He didn’t want to be in charge of her all the time. He just wanted to be in charge of her pleasure when they made love. He hoped he could show her the difference.

“Baby,” he started to apologize to her.

“Don’t you dare call me that, Dillon Chisholm. Do you have the slightest idea what you did to my credibility out there just now?” she asked in an icy voice.

“Abby, I’m sorry about how I handled things out there. It was completely unprofessional, and I know I handled it all wrong,” he said contritely.

“Your being sorry doesn’t undo the damage you just did. You just treated me like your addlepated girlfriend, not a trusted coworker. Not as an equal. Hell, even as your girlfriend I’d be pissed off at the way you talked to me out there in front of half the Ranch. I can’t work here if that’s how you’re going to treat me. You don’t respect me as an equal, Dillon. Why did you even offer me the job if you had so little faith in my abilities?” she asked in an anguished voice.

“Baby, I’m sorry. I do have faith in your abilities. I wouldn’t have hired you if I didn’t know you could do the job. It’s just that when I realized you were in Diablo’s stall, all I could think of was the number of men he’s hurt over the past couple of years. If he got out of hand in the close confines of his stall, he could have really hurt you. Maybe even kill you. I was thinking with my heart, not my head. I couldn’t stand it if he hurt you in any way,” he told her softly as he came up behind her and stood so close he could feel the heat of her body.