and she felt Eli’s presence as soon as he was near. It wasn’t his shadow. It wasn’t the soapy leather scent that seemed to surround him. It was just...him. He was back and watching her.
Hadley knew about the cowboy kind. She’d dated a few. They were hardworking, but often narrow-minded, never looking at the world around them, only at the world they knew.
Eli hunkered down next to her and lifted the cat food can. “It looks like she needs a little more.” He forked more food into the lid, his arm bumping hers.
Hadley poured more water from the bottle and almost spilled it. Being this close to Eli made her feel a bit shaky. How crazy was that?
“Do you really think they’ll sleep in the box?” he asked.
As she turned to face him, her body was close to his. She took in the details of his face, the lines around his eyes, the slight furrow in his brow. There was a light scar on the left side of his cheek, and her fingers suddenly itched to touch it.
No, no, no, she told herself, turning away from him. She murmured, “They might. If Momma thinks it’s cuddly, warm and safe.”
Giving her attention once more to the momma cat and baby, she saw the kitten was eating from the dish now, having gotten the idea from tasting the food on Hadley’s finger.
Feeling suddenly nervous around Eli, she needed something to say. “They’ll probably sleep after they eat. If you put the box right near those shelves where they were, they’ll probably settle there. They’re creatures of habit just as we are.”
She used a bit of the water to wash her fingers, and then wiped them on a napkin. She went to her bag that she’d dropped on the desk and took out a vial of antibacterial gel that needed no water and rubbed it on her hands. Then she hurriedly left the tack room to check on Eli’s mustang.
Immediately, Hadley saw that Amber didn’t seem to be in any distress. Maybe Eli had been all wrong about a problem with labor. Maybe she should leave while she could.
On the other hand, she sighed at the thought of being around a whole boardinghouse full of Stricklands. Maybe the truth was that it was getting harder to keep her secret from her family. In some ways, she wanted to talk to her sisters about it. Yet in others, she still felt ashamed and foolish about a romance that had been so wrong. No one really needed to know what she’d done. Not ever. But keeping her past romantic mistake to herself sometimes made her feel as if there was a wall between her and her family.
As she walked back to the tack room, she glimpsed Eli setting the box near the shelves. Joining him, she watched the momma cat walk toward the box and the baby follow. Momma circled a few times, hopped in and kneaded the saddle pad. Baby hopped in with her. Soon she was suckling her mom.
With a smile that made Hadley feel tingly all over, Eli studied the cats with her. Then he asked about Amber. Though she told him the mare was fine, he obviously needed to see for himself.
In the barn once more, he ran practiced hands over Amber’s flanks. “She’s restless, but not pushing. I don’t know what happened earlier. She’s even eaten a little.”
“We’ll keep watching her,” Hadley assured him.
The gusts of wind outside suddenly became more forceful. The side door of the barn blew open, and more than one horse whinnied.
“I’ll get it,” Hadley said, rushing toward the door.
“Put the bar across,” Eli called to her. “Or do you want me to do it?”
“I can do it,” she called back. She might be short and slender, but she was strong. She worked out with weights when she could. She had to stay strong to lift animals, even though she was a small animal vet. Sometimes she had to handle German shepherds that could weigh ninety or a hundred pounds.
The vehemence of the wind pushed against the door, and she pushed back, closing it with a bang. She hefted up the plank of wood beside the doorjamb and swung it into place. She glanced toward the other end of the barn, where, luckily, the large airplane hangar-style door was securely latched. When the wind blew, the plank rumbled a little, but it wasn’t going anywhere. She couldn’t see out of the high windows up above. Falling snow completely blocked them.
Eli came out from the stall. “That was impressive. Do you handle elephants in your small pet practice?”
She laughed. “No, but I try not to let the big dogs run away with me. I had to lift a pregnant Newfoundland once. Ever since then, I’ve kept up my strength. It comes in handy at times like these.”
He beckoned to the tack room. “Come on, let’s finish our lunch. Maybe nibbling on those cookies will help us forget about the wind howling outside. Are you nervous being in here?”
Following him to the warmest spot in the barn, she sat in the captain’s chair and watched as he poured coffee into the top of the thermos and handed that cup to her. He used a foam cup for himself.
“Nervous?” she asked. “You mean about the storm?”
“About the storm, about being cooped up in here with a relative stranger, about not knowing when you’ll get out.”
She motioned to the heater. “We have heat.” She gestured to the cookie tin. “We have food.” She pointed to the water. “We even have bottled water. That’s more than a lot of people have on a daily basis. I think we’ll survive. No, I’m not nervous.” Though if she was really honest with herself, being this close to Eli in a confined space caused the jitters to plague her.
“How long did it take you to gentle Amber?” Conversation seemed the best way to calm them. She had to admit she wanted to know Eli better.
“It depends on what you mean by gentling,” he explained. “It took about a week until she would come to the fence when I called. I just sat there and spoke to her in a low voice, not expecting anything from her. The next part of the gentling was treats. A hungry horse will want to get to know you faster. I ordered those organic cookies that are supposed to be good for horses. She definitely needed her share of vitamins. She took to them. I’d hold out one of those and she’d come right up. She was still skittish, but after another week or so of that, she let me touch her. First her neck, then her flank, then her nose. I would just go outside and sit with her and whittle.”
“Whittle?”
He shrugged. “It’s just a hobby of mine.”
“So you took time out of your daily schedule to spend with Amber?”
“I did. How else was I going to get to know her, or let her get to know me?”
Hadley pulled one of the cookies from the tin to give herself something to do and something else to think about other than the sound of Eli’s voice and the idea of him running a hand down Amber’s flank. The cookie was chocolate chip, and she took a bite and savored it. “Great cookies.”
“My mom knows how to bake.”
“Melba does, too,” Hadley said. “And she teaches me favorite recipes whenever I’m around her.”
“Do you cook much for yourself?” Eli asked.
Hadley shook her head. “I’m rarely at my place.
