To Tame a Cowboy (Colorado Cowboys #3)(5)

“Keep your boy on a better leash, McQuaid,” Quick said belligerently. “He’s just stirrin’ up trouble everywhere he goes, and you know it.”

Another burst of anger swelled inside Brody’s chest. He wanted to get up and pound Quick a few more times. But he crossed his hands over his bent knee and pretended to watch the vet as she dabbed what seemed to be saline into the horse’s wound.

She set aside the bottle, rolled out a piece of gauze, and ripped it with her teeth. Without taking her attention from the mustang, she held the cloth out to him.

Hesitantly, he took it. What did she want him to do with it? He might be good with livestock, but he didn’t like doctoring their wounds. Though the blood and open flesh didn’t make his stomach squeamish the way it had before the war, he still wasn’t real good at watching the suffering.

Savannah resumed her efforts at cleaning the forearm gash.

From the corner of his eye, Brody watched Quick holster his revolver and continue across the street toward the Senate Saloon. Flynn didn’t budge from where he stood, likely with those deep, frustrated creases lining his forehead.

Brody fingered the piece of linen, then he held it out to her.

“It’s for your nose.” For the first time since kneeling in front of the mustang, she shifted her attention, tilting her head enough that he found himself peering into a pair of blue eyes as soft and endless as a summer sky. The gentleness within their depths reached out to soothe him as swiftly as she’d soothed the horse.

He released a taut breath, but before it left his lungs completely, she shifted, giving him a better look at her face. Her very pretty face.

His heartbeat stalled.

Every line, from her high cheekbones to her elegantly rounded chin to her perfectly proportioned nose, was exquisite. Her lips were sweetly curved, and he found himself staring at them and at the pretty dip above her upper lip.

She tugged at the gauze dangling in his fingers, took it from him, then lifted it to his nose. He needed to stop her—would have stopped anyone else. But he couldn’t move as she touched the linen to the spot underneath his nose. Gently she pressed it to the bridge.

He winced.

“Sorry.” She loosened the hold, her eyes softening even more as her gaze strayed over his face. “Thank you for what you did to rescue this beautiful creature.”

He wanted to say something, but his tongue felt roped and hog-tied.

She wiped at his nose again. “I didn’t mean for you to get hurt on account of the horse.”

He needed to let her know none of this was her fault. He would’ve taken issue with Lonnie Quick even if she’d never shown up. But he kept staring at her like a blamed fool.

“And I certainly didn’t mean for you to pay for the horse.” She moved the gauze lower, grazing his upper lip.

She was touching his lip. Heaven help him. A rough string began to gallop through his chest.

“Soon as I can, I’ll pay you back.” She dabbed his lower lip before moving on to his chin.

The rough string picked up pace so that he was afraid his heart would burst clear out of his chest. When was the last time a woman had touched him? Other than the nurses after the war, he couldn’t think of when he’d interacted with a woman who wasn’t family.

It had been years. Clearly too long, considering his reaction.

She finished wiping the blood from his chin. “There.” She offered him a smile, one that went down inside and warmed him. And as her eyes connected with his, the warmth spread to his limbs.

He had to get himself under control and stop acting like a dumb and mute dolt. He reached up and took hold of the gauze. In his bumbling, his fingers brushed hers. The contact sent a strange current through him, making him fumble the linen and almost drop it.

She didn’t seem to notice, had turned her attention back to the mustang. “She’s been roughed up. With a little doctoring and tenderness, she has the potential to make a good ranch horse.”

“Reckon so.” His voice sounded strangled, so he cleared his throat.

“I promise I’ll take her off your hands once I’m settled.”

He cleared his throat again. “No hurry.”

She opened a tin and dug her fingers into an oily salve before gently slathering it on the horse’s wound.

Was she here with a husband? She wasn’t wearing a wedding band. But still, most women didn’t come up into the high country without a man.

He glanced around, but he didn’t spot any fellas out of the ordinary. “You settling here with—family?” He couldn’t make himself say husband, but no doubt a woman like her already had a man.

Her fingers stilled.

His breath stuck in his lungs as he waited for her response.

She shook her head. “No. I came alone.” From the note of sadness in her tone, she must’ve left a fella behind. Who was he? Someone special?

For the next few minutes, Brody silently watched as she finished rubbing in the salve and proceeded to bandage the spot.

After securing the gauze in place, she sat back on her heels and wiped her hands on a rag she’d pulled from her satchel. “I’ll come by your place in the morning to clean the injury and change the dressing.”

“Much obliged.” He’d get to see her again. He didn’t know why that thought should please him so much, but it did. A whole heap.