up the case full of blood samples and headed toward her truck. He closed the gate behind him and followed her, watching as she set them in the seat.
“Let’s pray that this report comes back and it’s an easy fix, or better yet that nothing is wrong with these heifers,” she said turning back to him and holding her hand out toward him.
“That’d be great,” he said, not sure what she was doing.
She cocked her head slightly then wiggled her fingers. “Hold my hand.”
Jess was by no means a fool. He wasn’t about to forego holding the hand of a beautiful woman. When he took her hand, his pulse kicked up a notch… .
“Let’s pray.” She bowed her head.
Pray? Now?
“Oh, Father,” she prayed, squeezing his hand in hers. “Please watch over Jess’s cattle and let them stay healthy and strong. If they are ill, we pray You’ll lead us to the answer quickly and that You’ll help us to know what to do for them so that they return to health quickly. We ask in Your name that Your will be done. Amen.”
Jess wasn’t surprised by much, but this was twice that Gabi Newberry had done it. First asking about his salvation and now taking his hand and praying out loud—he wasn’t sure which had him most startled. He was staring at the top of her head as she finished and raised happy eyes to his. She took his breath away.
“There that should do it.” She grinned, squeezing his hand before letting go and stepping away from him. “I’m heading back so I can get these samples to Susan. We should know something soon.”
“Great,” Jess said, still reeling from her prayer and the touch of her hand. He’d felt a wave of awareness the instant her hand had touched his.
Gabi Newberry had the ability to catch him off guard when most didn’t. He liked that, but she also had a close relationship with the Lord. He wasn’t used to that. Even Luke, who had a strong faith, didn’t pray out loud unless it was before a meal. Jess didn’t pray. He’d stopped a long time ago.
And he was fine with that.
Luke and several of his friends never gave up though. They asked him to come to church all the time. And every once in a while he went so they would feel better. But it didn’t feel right to him, knowing how much resentment about his past he had buried inside of him. He didn’t let his past affect him in many ways, but church was a hard fit.
Attractive to him as she was, Gabi’s front-and-center faith had him backtracking.
Besides, he had a gut feeling that once she found out he wasn’t sold on Jesus like she was, two things could happen. One, she’d want nothing to do with him even if she was attracted to him. Or two, she would make him her project, deciding she needed to “fix” him.
He was fine the way he was and didn’t need, or want to be, fixed! Nope, that idea didn’t sit well at all. Matter of fact, Jess figured the best course of action would be to steer clear of Gabi altogether, which was one more good reason to hope his cattle hadn’t contracted anything that would require a lot of interaction with the vet clinic—or Gabi.
He needed favorable test results. He did not need Gabi out here testing cattle, drawing blood or trying to help him in any way.
Watching her drive off, he felt a pang of regret…she was like a ray of sunshine. Even mad at him. That made him smile.
Yup. He needed healthy cattle.
And he needed to steer clear of Gabi Newberry.
* * *
“I think it’s a plant.”
“A plant?” Gabi was changing the dressing on Peanut’s wound when Susan came through the swinging door from the front of the clinic. Despite the painful wound, the colt was doing great. It wasn’t every animal that would allow people to touch it after experiencing such a traumatic injury. Especially a vicious attack like Peanut had endured. “That could be good or bad. What are your thoughts?”
Gabi ran a gentle hand along Peanut’s flank before stepping out of the stall. She’d had Jess on her mind more than she’d wanted to. She’d been worrying about him and his ranch—after what Susan had told her, Gabi couldn’t stand the thought of something bad being wrong with his cattle and them all dying and leaving him and his brothers in a financial bind. She’d tried to be mad at him when she’d gone to take the blood samples, but she’d been unable to maintain her ire.
Goodness, when the man turned those silky brown eyes on her, it was kinda hard to stay mad. It was maddening, really.
Susan crossed her arms and leaned against the stall gate, checking out the colt’s condition as she spoke. “I found that the liver values showed there was damage. I’m fairly certain that’s what it is. But we both know that I can’t be sure what kind of plant specifically without seeing the contents of the dead animal’s stomach. That’ll show what the cattle have eaten, and we can quickly get to the bottom of this if we got there in time. We don’t want any more of Jess’s livestock to die, so we are going to pray that we’re able to locate the plant culprit and solve the issue before any more life is lost.”
Just as Gabi had thought! “I agree,” she said, hoping on the one hand she’d be sent to test, and on the other hand wishing she wouldn’t. “So do you need me to find it?” she asked. There was no way Susan had time to traipse about Jess’s pasture in search of a poisonous plant. The array of deadly plants and weeds was big, especially in drought conditions when weeds tended to pop up and good grasses were eaten down. It could be something hard to find. Plus, Susan knew Gabi had experience with this.
Susan nodded. “That’s exactly what I need you to do. So grab a sample box and get out there to Jess’s pastures and find any poisonous plant you can.”
Hope and purpose filled Gabi—and yes, anticipation of seeing Jess Holden again. But she had a job to do and if she did it well, she might be able to prevent any more of Jess’s cattle from dying. “I’ll get right to it!”
“Love your attitude,” Susan said, heading back toward the office. “I’ll contact Jess and tell him you’re heading his way. I know he’ll be excited.”
Gabi laughed because she wasn’t so sure about that. She was fairly certain Jess would rather have Susan on the case, but hopefully he’d trust Gabi enough to give her a chance.
She ignored the excitement she felt at seeing him again. She was going to have to get a cap on that unwanted emotion. She was here in Mule Hollow to draw closer to God, and that had nothing whatsoever to do with a man. She was excited about getting to be a blessing to someone, anyone. That someone might just be Jess Holden.
Chapter Four
“There’s some.” Gabi pointed from the seat of his truck the a small patch of purple flowering weeds.
“Vetch,” Jess said, shocked she was pointing at the very common weed here in Texas pastures. The list of plants that could have killed the heifers was long, but her pointing to vetch took him by surprise, as did her excitement about looking for poisonous plants on his ranch. He’d welcomed her enthusiasm for finding the plant that might be responsible for the death of his heifers. The woman had been hard
