Page 2 of Second Chance with the Rancher

He cleared his throat and answered her. “Greenleigh. Moved her to a bigger stall since there are two of them now. They’re down at the end.”

Mieka nodded and continued on down through the barn, petting the cheeks and long faces of each horse she passed. She was a lot like her older sister, Triss. Both women seemed to be naturals with animals. He'd noticed it first when she came last summer for Asher and Triss's wedding. All the creatures on the ranch were drawn to her. And that was one of the things that had drawn Nate to her. She had a wildness about her, but as much as she was wild, she was also soft and gentle. Which was something animals—particularly horses—needed.

She poked her head over two adjacent stalls. “These mamas look ready to pop, too.”

“Callie and Hula-Hoop are due with Mercy’s foals any day,” he replied.

“Oh, how fun. A field full of foals for the summer.”

She reached Greenleigh’s stall and peered over the side where Greenleigh was busy nursing a healthy little filly they’d named Daria after her late father—Dare. Dare had been Asher’s horse, but after a freak accident a couple of winters back, Dare had fallen into a gopher hole in the snow, broke his leg and they were forced to put the gentle giant down. Fortunately, they still had a few of Dare’s samples left in the vet’s freezer, so they were able to continue his legacy posthumously. That was where Triss and Asher were right now, telling Dare’s ashes under the old maple tree that he was a daddy.

“She’s beautiful,” Mieka cooed, opening up the stable door without asking and stepping inside. She’d been here before, and was very comfortable around the animals, so Nate had no issues with her opening the stable door and entering. Bruno nudged Nate’s leg and Nate bent down and gave his trusty companion a thorough scratch behind the ears while eying the slim dancer as she cautiously made her way to the side of Greenleigh’s head. “Hello, lovely mama. What a gorgeous little girl you have. Dare would be so proud, I’m sure.” She scratched the long bridge of Greenleigh’s nose until Daria stopped nursing and came over to sniff and check out Mieka, too. She nudged her a couple of times, pulling a laugh from Mieka, who eventually petted the foal, too. “Brazen little thing, hmm?”

“We’re going to keep her and raise her to be a therapy horse for the clinic,” Nate said, hating the awkward silence between them and feeling the need to keep talking like an idiot.

“That’s a great idea. Triss said business is booming and the waitlist is getting longer by the day. It’ll be great if you can offer therapeutic riding and camps for special needs kids and stuff.” She wasn’t looking at him, but rather giving all of her attention to the horses.

“That’s the plan.”

“Well, I’d love to help out any way I can with the upcoming other births.” She finally turned to face him. “That is, if you need help.”

“Can always use another set of hands during a birth. Can always use another set of hands on the ranch.”

He glanced out one of the barn windows to see Triss and Asher making their way back hand-in-hand through the field. Several horses were grazing and he could hear their hired ranch hands feeding the chickens, mucking stalls and tending to the goats. A couple of other hands were out riding the fence looking for holes, and two homeschooled teenage girls whose parents paid for their horses to be boarded at the ranch, were in the outside coral practicing jumps. It was a weekday so things were quiet. It was the weekends and when summer was in full swing that things got hairy. Multiple dude ranch guided rides a day, the petting farm would open up soon, and all the kids with boarded horses would be around riding as much as they could while school wasn’t in session.

It was their best money-making time, but it was also insane and they really could use all the help they could get.

She lifted her casted arm. “Not sure how much help I’ll be, but I’ll do what I can.”

“What happened?” he asked, holding open the stall door so that she could step back out. Macklin, the attention-whore horse who would literally try to sit in your lap if you sat down in his stall made huffs and brays of frustration that he hadn’t been given love yet, so Mieka made her way over to his stall, nuzzling him as soon as she got there.

“It was stupid, really. My own fault.”

He waited for her to elaborate.

“I’m not a spring chicken anymore and can’t do the moves I used to do in my teens and twenties.” Her face fell and she kissed Macklin’s cheek. “I did a flip and went to land on one hand—something I’ve done, or did thousands of times before—but this was a new routine and I was out of practice. My arm twisted, which messed with my balance, then I fell funny and snapped my radius.”

“Fuck,” he murmured.

“Yeah.”

“How long are you out of commission?”

Her bottom lip wobbled for a moment, then she huffed out a sarcastic one-breath laugh. “Well, that depends on who you ask. My doctor says I’ll be in a cast for about six weeks—it’s already been almost two weeks. I might be able to get an air cast sooner if the healing is quick. I’ve got about six screws and two plates in it which will speed up the healing. But if you ask our choreographer and the manager of the production company I was with on the cruise ship, my career is over.”

“What?” Anger lashed through him. “You broke your arm, not your ankle or hip.”

“Thirty-four is old for a cruise ship dancer. They’re surprised I’ve lasted this long without breaking something. My contract was up and they took this break as an opportunity not to renew with me.”

A red heat wormed its way through Nate’s body. “You’ve got to be kidding me?”

Tears welled up in Mieka’s eyes and her throat bobbed on a harsh swallow. “That’s what I said. But nope. So, I’m jobless, homeless—since I lived out of a suitcase on the ships for years, and—” she lifted up her casted arm, “literally broken.” She sucked in a rattled breath and it looked as if she was about to break down into sobs, but Triss’s voice interrupted them and caused Mieka to sober, wipe her eyes and throw on a big smile.

“Mieka?” Triss said.

“Hey, sis,” Mieka said, grinning.

“I … this is a surprise.” The sisters embraced, but Triss cast a curious glance at Nate over Mieka’s shoulder. “Is everything okay?” They broke their embrace and Triss’s gaze fell to Mieka’s casted right arm. “Oh my God, what happened?”

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