Back In The Saddle

Not that Zach minded chatter, as a general rule. At least it kept him from curling up in a ball inside his own head. However, since he’d yet to find anything really wrong with the little dog, other than a general slowing down due to old age, he was guessing Dorelle Keyes had ulterior motives. Motives that Zach strongly suspected had something to do with this hitherto unseen daughter.

One hooded doggy lid briefly fluttered open as if to say You got it, buddy, before drifting closed again, and Zach met Dorelle’s sharp—oh, so sharp—green gaze.

“As part of my practice, sure.” After gently rubbing the dog between the ears—which got a soft groan—Zach scribbled down a couple notes for Shantelle at the front desk to add to Edgar’s chart, then glanced back at Dorelle. Remembered to smile. “Why?”

“Oh. Well, Mallory—” the daughter “—is thinking about buying a horse for her boy. She’s...” Dorelle glanced around, then practically mouthed, “Divorced. And his daddy has custody at the moment—” Her red-lipsticked mouth slammed shut, as though she’d realized she’d gotten stuck in that narrow wedge between discretion and oversharing. “Anyway, when we noticed the stalls out back, that was the first thing we thought of, how much Landon might like to have a horse to ride when he’s here. So I was wondering if maybe you knew of someone local who might be selling. And you strike me as somebody we could trust.”

His mouth twitching, Zach adjusted his glasses. Although his own mother had always said he had one of those faces. However...

“Horses take a lot of work, ma’am—”

“And while I appreciate that your mama obviously taught you to respect your elders, trust me, no woman past a certain age actually likes to be ma’amed.”

“My apologies, m—Mrs. Keyes.”

“Apology accepted. And second... I know how much work horses take. Mallory’s daddy was a rancher. So we know what to do. We just don’t know who to see. Landon’s eleven, by the way. Far as I’m concerned he should’ve had his own horse long ago. But life had other ideas.”

Not for the first time, Zach got the feeling the woman was deliberately baiting him. As though she’d been given instructions not to blab about personal matters, but if someone asked...well. It would only be polite to answer, wouldn’t it? Too bad for her, then, that Zach was sorely lacking in the curiosity department.

Although his own full plate probably had something to do with that. Not to mention a deeply entrenched sense of self-preservation that kept most locals from developing anything even remotely like real relationships with the outsiders who flitted in and out of Whispering Pines. The town was no Taos or Santa Fe, heaven knew, but northern New Mexico’s clear, high desert air and pristine forests attracted its fair share of tourists and temporary residents. Especially during ski season, which was right around the corner. Granted, Zach could be as cordial to visitors as the next townie. Friendly, even. Especially since they often brought dogs, and he was the only vet in town. But get himself all tangled up in their lives?

Nope.

However, he smiled, focusing on the topic at hand. “Has your grandson said he’d like to ride?”

“Oh, my goodness, yes! He already has, actually. A few times out on a farm north of LA. Where we were living, you know.”

Clearly Zach’s cue—again—to ask what had brought them to Whispering Pines. Except he honestly didn’t care.

Heidi would’ve, though. Because his wife hadn’t known the meaning of aloof, embracing—often literally—everyone she saw as if they were best friends...

“Dr. Talbot? Is everything okay?”

With an actual jerk, Zach pulled his head out of his butt to meet Dorelle’s gaze again. “Yeah, sorry...” He cleared his throat. Smiled. “Actually, my brother Josh is the foreman up at the Vista Encantada Ranch nearby—”

“Oh, yes, we passed it the other day when we were out exploring. And your girl out front, she said your brother worked there. One of ’em, anyway.”

Shantelle was young yet. She’d learn. “The Vista breeds champion quarter horses—which wouldn’t be suitable for your needs—but from time to time they foster rescues, too. I seem to recall Josh saying something about an older gelding that’d been used to teach another rancher’s kids to ride. I haven’t seen the horse yet myself, but I’m sure you and your daughter would be welcome to go out and meet him.”

Dorelle lit up as if someone’d flipped a switch. “That sounds perfect—”

“Dad-deeee!”

“Liam! No!”

The groggy little dog scrambled to his feet as, at the doorway to the exam room, Zach’s older son grabbed his baby brother around his middle and yanked him back. “Sorry, Dad!” Jeremy grunted out around the redheaded, windmilling blur that was his three-year-old brother. “Grandma just dropped us off. Man, he’s fast.”

“So were you at that age,” Zach said, then squatted in front of the pair, ruffling the little one’s rust-colored curls. “I’m almost done, squirt. You wait outside with Jeremy, okay?”

But Liam threw himself so hard into Zach’s arms he nearly knocked him over. He had no idea why the boy was so clingy—certainly a lot more than his older brother had been—but his hugs never failed to overwhelm Zach, with love and fear, both.

“Oh, don’t send them out on my account,” Dorelle said behind him, more gently than Zach would’ve expected. Yes, it was obvious she loved her daughter and grandson, but until that very moment he wouldn’t’ve pegged her as a softy.

Even so, the boys knew the rules. Or at least Jeremy did. To Liam, the concept of boundaries was still a little sketchy. So Zach detached himself from his son, then stood, trying for stern and failing miserably when those big, brown, getting-wetter-by-the-second eyes tilted up to his. So who was the softy now?

“Go with your brother,” he said, steeling himself against those eyes, so much like his mama’s Zach’s own stung. “I won’t be long. Why don’t you think about what you want on your pizza while you’re waiting?”

That did the trick. “Peesa?” Liam breathed, as if this was the most awesome suggestion ever.

“Yep. Now scoot.”

After the boys left, Zach turned to find Dorelle watching him with one of those expressions, God help him.

“Neither one of ’em looks much like you.”

“Truth,” Zach said with a smile. “Although I was apparently as blond as Jeremy when I was his age.”

“Which is?”

“Seven. Eight in a few months.”

“And the little one?”

“Liam’s three. He looks...” His throat caught. Damn. “He looks exactly like his mother.”

“She must be one gorgeous creature.”

Zach hesitated. “She was.”

Dorelle sucked in a short breath. “I’m so sorry, Dr. Talbot. I didn’t know.”

Somehow, he doubted that. And it was the end of what had been a very long day, one that had left Zach so tired he could barely see straight. Meaning he found himself sorely lacking patience for whatever game this woman was playing.

“Really?”

The woman’s eyes briefly widened before she released a short laugh. “I suppose I deserved that. Since I’m sure it’ll come as no surprise that digging up information is a hobby of mine. Especially when I find myself in a new place and don’t know anybody. But I swear to you, this is the first I’m hearing of it.” She hesitated, then asked, “How long?”

Oh, what the hell. “Two years,” he said, and she bit her lip, shaking her head. Then she pushed out a little breath.

“Folks tend to keep to themselves around here, don’t they?”

“Pretty much.” Although Shantelle’s keeping it to herself was nothing short of a miracle. Town nosy-body in training, that one.

“Yeah, it was the same way back in Springerville,” Dorelle said. “There were absolutely no secrets between neighbors, but we had that circling the wagons thing down. And oh, dear Lord—” Her hand flew to her cheek. “You thought I had matchmaking on my mind, didn’t you?”

Zach’s mouth twitched. “I had wondered.”

“Oh, dear boy, no. Not that you’re not cute as a damn button, but I did think you were married. Not a whole lot to do around here. Just like Springerville. One learns,” she said with a slight, almost regal, bow, “to make one’s own entertainment. Although we really are looking for a horse. Talking about it, anyway. And I thought...”