Riding Hard by Vicki Lewis Thompson Read Free Book Online

the stalls in this barn are a generous size.” He was touched by her anxiety. At Spirits and Spurs she was in complete control as she dispensed food and drink with flair. But now she was in unfamiliar territory. Fortunately it was familiar to him.
    The July sun was drifting slowly toward the horizon, but it wouldn’t be dark for another couple of hours. The barn faced east and west, and she’d opened the back doors to let in the afternoon light. Drake was happy to have the sun. A crisis always loomed larger in the dark.
    Sure enough, Dottie was pacing restlessly in her stall and ignoring her flake of hay while the other horses munched their dinner contentedly. Drake talked calmly to her as he entered and kept talking as he ran his hands over her warm coat. Gradually he made his way to her udder and swiped a finger over the liquid oozing from her teat. Apparently he’d misjudged how soon she’d deliver.
    Tracy hovered at his elbow, her breathing shallow. “Well?”
    He turned to look at her. Her face was pale with fright, and this close, he noticed little flecks of gold in her dark eyes. “The discharge is colostrum, which is extremely important for her foal’s immune system. It’s good that you noticed. I’ll get what I need from Regan’s truck so we can collect and freeze it until she goes into labor. Then we can bottle feed it to her foal in the first twelve hours.”
    Her eyes widened. “When do you think she’ll go into labor?”
    “Could be anytime, and I can teach you how to—”
    “Did you say anytime? ”
    “Yes, but I can’t say for sure exactly when. Could be tonight, could be tomorrow, could be two days from now. In the meantime, you can—”
    “Look, I hate to ask this of you, but I’m scared to death. I won’t have the faintest idea what to do if she goes into labor, and I could freak. I’m freaked now, in fact. She’s not safe with me.”
    He had to admit she looked petrified, but he could talk her down. She could do this. “She’s perfectly safe with you, Tracy. I’m not far away, and all you have to do is call me. I’ll be here before you know it.”
    She shook her head. “Not good enough. I can feed the animals, clean up after them and love on them, but I’m not fit to be a first responder when a mare delivers a foal. Besides, I have to work my shifts at the Spirits and Spurs, and Dottie would be alone for hours. That could be a problem, right?”
    He’d forgotten about that. “Do you have to work tonight?”
    “No, but I have to go in at eleven tomorrow morning. What if she waits to go into labor until then?”
    “You can call me.” But he was less sure that everything would work out easily. Dottie had changed the game considerably in the past couple of hours.
    “Drake, if you leave, I’ll spend the night camped out next to her stall worried sick with my phone right next to me.”
    He believed her. “Then I’ll camp out beside her stall tonight. I’m sure there are some old blankets in the house I can use to make a bedroll.”
    “You don’t have to go that far. Lily has a spare room. You could sleep in there, maybe set your phone to wake you up every few hours to check on her and collect that stuff the foal will need.”
    “Colostrum.”
    “Right. Colostrum.”
    He hesitated. Sleeping in the barn was one thing. Sleeping in the house with Tracy was a whole other deal. “That’s okay. The barn’s fine.”
    “No, no, just because I said I would sleep there if you left doesn’t mean you should put yourself through that. You’re a pro. You’ll know whether it’s safe to grab a few winks, and you’d be better off in a real bed.”
    “Yeah, but—”
    “I’ll bet you don’t want to stay in the house because you think I don’t like you.”
    “You don’t like me.” But once your panic wears off, you’ll be attracted to me, whether you want to be or not.
    “I don’t like what you did to Regan, and I don’t blame you for not wanting to hang around someone