Page 57 of Cowboy Stole My Heart
Mia’s eyes widened. “How could I not have thought of that?” she murmured.
“Horses have accidents, but we expect more from their bodies than we do from ours. He’s possibly lived with pain for years now, and this accident has made everything worse for him. To get him to trust again,” Sam said, “we need to treat the root of his problems.”
Mia laughed, the noise a cross between happy and hysterical. “So what exactly do you suggest we do, horse whisperer?”
He leaned in, brushing a loose strand of hair from her face. When her eyes met his he smiled, letting himself go with it instead of pulling away. “I say that I call in all the favors I have, and get the best massage and physical therapist there is here to work on him. I think cold laser therapy might help, too.”
Mia paled, her eyes shutting for just longer than a blink. “You expect someone else to get near him?”
He shrugged. “I don’t care whether he needs sedation before every treatment. If this is his last chance, then we’re going to give him a damn good shot of living past the end of the month.”
Mia leaned into him, her head to his shoulder as they both looked toward Tex. Sam slung his arm around her, content to stand there and stare. Mia was calming, made him feel that after so long pretending to be someone that didn’t come naturally to him, he was finally having the chance to be himself.
“Sorry I had to call you over,” she said.
Sam dropped a kiss into her hair. “Trust me, it’s fine. I was getting a hard time from my brother-in-law, so it wasn’t exactly a hard decision to leave.”
“Still,” she said, turning to him, tongue darting out to moisten her lips in a move he doubted she even knew was so tantalizing to him. “I feel bad dragging you away.”
Sam glanced at his watch, saw that it was almost four now, and he didn’t particularly want to call on his contacts and beg for special favors late on a Sunday afternoon.
“You know, there’s something you could do to make it up to me,” Sam murmured, claiming Mia’s mouth before she had time to reply.
“Oh yeah,” she mumbled against his lips. “I can’t imagine what that would be.”
The sun was hot, her lips were pillowy, and her body pressed to his was warm. He couldn’t have thought of a better way to spend his evening than with Mia.
“You want to come back to the house with me?” she asked when he pulled back and smiled down at her.
“Sounds like a damn good idea to me.”
***
The next day, Mia stood and watched as Sam edged close to Tex, holding a needle that the vet had decided was much better off in Sam’s hand than his own. Tex was calmertoday, but it didn’t take a trained veterinarian to see that the horse was miserable.
“This the horse I’m here to see?”
Mia turned and came face to face with a middle-aged woman with a big smile, holding a case in one hand, her other extending out.
“Yes. I’m Mia,” she said, shaking hands and introducing herself. “And over there is Tex. We’re just waiting for the sedation to kick in.”
The woman frowned. “Tina. Pleased to meet you. I’m not happy about the sedation, but I trust Sam enough to know that if he says we can’t touch a horse without that, he’s more than likely right.”
Sam appeared then, leaving Tex to relax. “If you want to keep all your limbs and avoid teeth marks, then I’m definitely right,” he said with a chuckle, enveloping Tina in a big hug. “I owe you big time, thanks for coming.”
Tina’s smile was warm. “He tell you that he worked wonders on a young filly of mine? I always told him I owed him anything and everything, so I guess this makes us even, huh?”
Sam laughed. “Yeah, if you manage to help this big guy then we’re more than even.”
Mia noticed that Tex’s bottom lip was droopy, which told them all that he was starting to relax.
“Is there anything we need to do to help you?” Mia asked.
“I’ll have both of you in there with me so I can focus on my work and not worry about what he’s doing,” Tina said. “Sam, you clip his lead rope on and keep hold of it, and Mia, you can be my eyes and ears.”
Within minutes they were all in position, and shewatched as Tina started to massage Tex, her movements strong and purposeful. She hadn’t doubted for a moment that Sam’s friend knew what she was doing, but seeing her in action was impressive.
“Will he feel any relief straight away?” Mia asked quietly, never taking her eyes off the horse.
