Page 41 of Christmas with the Cowgirl
The door was ajar, some straw spilling out into the barn aisle.Inside a mare that looked a bit like Jackson’s Sorry lay flat on the thick bedding, breathing hard.Riley knelt by her head, stroking, talking softly to her.
“Your dad’s working his way here.Is she all right?”
“She’s just fine,” Riley said in that same luscious croon.“Just a bit longer, I think.Everything’s proceeding normally, the foal’s oriented properly as far as I can tell, so we should be fine.”
He seized on the only thing he could think of to ask.“Oriented?”
“They’re normally born head and front feet first,” she said, never looking away from the mare.“Should start any minute now—her water broke right after I got here.”
Only then did he notice exactly that.Curiosity hit him and he took a step that way.Then stopped and looked at Riley.“Is it okay if I…?”
She flashed him a smile that had that crazy, breath-stealing effect on him.Again.
“Go ahead.She’s not shy.”
In a moment he was crouching behind the mare, watching something he’d never seen in his life.
“A hoof,” he said suddenly when he saw the protrusion.“I see a hoof…”
“The other front hoof should be close behind, then a nose,” she said, still stroking the mare, whose sides were contracting rather fiercely now.Actively pushing he realized.
He continued to watch, fascinated.Riley gave the horse a final pat then got up and came to crouch beside him, pulling on a pair of latex gloves as she did.He edged to one side, giving her room.She was the one who knew what she was doing, after all.The only thing he could do was watch, since he doubted he, a total stranger to the mare, could do much to soothe her as Riley had been doing.
Suddenly things started to happen fast.Riley laughed as the foal’s front legs and muzzle emerged.“Oh, you’re going to get this done nice and slick, aren’t you, girl?Barely ten minutes and here we go.”
Miles knew only the basics of the process, but even he could see Riley was right.The tiny horse slid out in what seemed like one big rush after the head and shoulders—withers, he thought—were out.He saw Riley reach for a cloth from a box he hadn’t noticed before, and she was wiping at the nostrils and eyes.The wet little one gave a tiny snort, and she laughed with delight.
“And here comes the production equipment,” she said then, and he laughed when he realized she meant the placenta and cord.“Nice and quick with that, too.You are a wonder, m’girl.”
The whole thing was a wonder to him.Not only the small miracle of new life he’d just witnessed, but Riley’s obvious joy in it.He watched as she did some cleanup, but then she leaned back and sat in the straw, watching the newborn who was already upright, looking around in what he supposed had to be the equine version of wonder.
He knew they got up on their feet fast, usually, but for now the wonder of the new world was apparently enough.It was certainly enough for Riley, who looked beyond delighted.So delighted that when he laughed, in pleasure at her expression, she leaned over and kissed him.
He nearly jumped.True, it was only on his closest cheek, but the feel of her lips on his skin was still enough to send a jolt rocketing through him.
And he couldn’t help wondering if the foal was the only new life that had just come into being here.
Chapter Twenty-One
She shouldn’t havedone it.But she’d been so excited, both at the new arrival and how easy it had been for Goldie.They’d lost a mare to a horrible delivery once, years ago, and she didn’t ever want to go through that again.But that didn’t mean she should celebrate a normal birth by planting one on the nearest guy.
It wasn’t just the nearest guy.It was Miles.
And somehow, that made it different.Which told her she was slipping dangerously close to territory she’d thought herself well done with.Never again, she’d sworn after Derek, and she’d meant it.And had told herself to be thankful that she wasn’t living in the era her grandmother had continually talked about, when the phrase “old maid” was one of the worst denigrations there was.
“Well, now, that was one to remember.”
Her father’s voice, coming from the doorway to the birthing stall, made her jump.And snapped her out of the risky territory she’d wandered into.But then the words he’d said sank in, and she gave him a startled look.He hadn’t meant…that kiss, had he?Had he even seen it?
No, he was looking at the foal.That was all he’d meant.But he had that smile on his face, the one that had warned her since childhood he knew perfectly well what she was trying to hide.
“It was an easy birth,” she said carefully, beginning to clean up the detritus so the foal would have nothing in his—because it was a he—way when he started trying to get up.Which, judging by the way he was moving his legs, as if trying to figure out how to control them, would be any moment now.She’d immediately scanned the newcomer, and seen nothing unusual, nothing of concern.“And he looks perfect.”
She was aware Miles had also moved and wondered if her father’s sudden words had startled him, too.Or maybe he just wanted to be sure she wasn’t close enough to plant another kiss on him.She grimaced inwardly at the sour thought that seemed quite possible.After all, the man worked with celebrities, beautiful ones, all the time.
But then she saw that he’d shifted over to stroke Goldie’s neck.
“I think that means you done good, girl,” he said to the mare, who was already upright, if not back on her feet yet, her equine gaze fastened on the new life she’d just brought into the world.
