Page 3 of A Cowboy's Claim
The man she’d left in bed just over an hour ago, looking very well used and very well satisfied. Which, to be fair, had been the goal.
But the fact that she and Declan had been setting fire to his sheets for nearly a year was still a secret. Not even Petra and Tansy, her two closest friends, had pieced it together yet—though Sydney was starting to wonder how much longer that would last.
Guilt over having lied so blatantly to her grandfather was such a faint wisp, Sydney almost felt guilty for the lack of it.
“He’s so damn stubborn,” Petra continued breezily, pushing into the first exam room and dropping a box of medical supplies on the counter. “Trust me, we all agree that tying him down is probably the only way to get him to rest after that knock to the head.”
Oh. Right. The head injury.
Sydney’s face heated. Of course, Petra was talking about Declan’s head injury, not the, uh,otherthings Sydney might’ve been up to with him this morning.
They were having fun. Great, no-strings fun. Declan had been clear from the start that he wasn’t looking for anything long term because he was still grieving his first wife. And Sydney? She had the rules. She had a clinic to run—and a career that only existed thanks to that one very specific condition.
No entanglements?
Grandpa Nate did not need to know how flexible that line had become.
Sydney leaned back on the counter and cleared her throat. “Declan is stubborn, I’ll give you that. But he knows better than to push it when his doctor”—she tapped her chest—”and both his brothers are on his case.”
“Jinx is the worst,” Petra said with pride. “You’d think she was the boss of us all. Yesterday at her birthday dinner she rearranged the entire table to reduce Declan’s movement and Tansy’s stress on the leg cast.”
“Good for her,” Sydney said, returning to wiping down the countertops. “Better to find your voice with the people who love you before you have to use it on the ones who don’t.”
Petra stilled. “You okay?”
“Fine,” Sydney lied automatically.
Petra raised one brow. “You’ve got that Sphinx face again. What happened?”
“Nothing,” Sydney said then sighed. “Grandpa Nate showed up. Surprise inspection.”
“Oof. And?”
Sydney lifted her shoulders briefly. “It went about how you’d expect. Got a raise. Got a new doctor coming onboard here at the clinic. Got another reminder thatallrelationships are distractions, and I need to be careful. So, you know, I might have to fire you as a bestie.”
“Pffft.” Petra blew a raspberry.
Petra knew all about Grandpa Nate’s obsession with Sydney being the best—but not about the strings tied to the clinic’s funding.
When Sydney didn’t tease back, her friend paused, examining her face closer. “And how do you really feel about that?”
Sydney offered a faint smile, and this time she answered honestly. “Distracted.”
Declan steppedinto the ranch house and was nearly trampled by Jinx, her golden retriever guard dog, Dixie, in hot pursuit.
“Hi, Declan. Bye, Declan,” Jinx called over her shoulder, already halfway down the porch.
“Did you get the license plate of the truck that hit you?” Aiden teased from the kitchen, where he was filling a large pot with water.
Declan blinked then closed the door behind him. “Where’s she racing off to in such a hurry?”
“Check the calendar, bro. You signed off for her to attend horse camp the next two weeks with Sasha Stone. They’re picking her up in a bit. Logan’s going along as a wrangler.”
Declan paused mid-step toward the fridge. “He’s barely back to riding.”
“Short periods of time,” Aiden agreed. “But he’s strong enough to help saddle and skilled enough to help instruct the campers who need guidance around the arena. Kevin suggested it would be good for him to have something specific to help out with in the community, and I agreed.”
“Huh. Okay.” Two weeks without the girl around was going to feel odd.
