Read Online Riding Hard by Vicki Lewis Thompson - Free Book Online Page A

if the horses weren’t racing stock being groomed for the track. The intense focus of their lives had too closely mirrored his own, and the pressure had threatened to choke the breath out of him. At the time he hadn’t recognized that.
    When he came to Dottie’s stall, she was quietly munching on the flake of hay she hadn’t cared about earlier. She paid little attention to him as he walked into the stall. When he checked her teats, they were dry.
    “Okay, pretty girl, what’s the story?”
    Dottie continued to ignore him as she ate her dinner.
    “I hope you realize what a commotion you caused around here. You scared poor Tracy to death. So now what? Are you gonna make us all wait a week? Two weeks?”
    The mare lifted her head long enough to gaze at him. But those liquid brown eyes gave nothing away. Then she went back to her meal.
    “A lady of mystery, huh? Okay. I’ll go eat my dinner and be back later. I don’t quite trust this lull in the action. I think you have more tricks up your sleeve.”
    Giving Dottie a final pat on the rump, he walked out of the stall and latched it behind him. He could take a blood sample, but in the end it was still a guessing game. If Regan were here, he’d use his intuitive skills and probably pinpoint the moment of birth within a few minutes. That was why he was a great vet and Drake was merely an adequate one.
    But he’d bring his A-game to this event. Lacking Regan’s horse-whisperer instincts, he’d set his phone alarm to ring on the hour every hour until dawn. If he lost a little sleep, it didn’t matter. He was no longer on a rigid schedule.
    Tracy had turned on some lights in the house, and the cozy look of it beckoned to him. Funny how much he felt at home, even though both he and Tracy were visitors here. A week from now, regardless of what happened with Dottie, he and Tracy would be gone. Yet at this moment, he felt grounded, as if he finally belonged somewhere. Weird.
    When he opened the screen door and walked inside, he had the insane urge to call out Honey, I’m home! He didn’t, both because it would be lame and because she might think he’d gone completely nuts. She was studying psychology, which logically had to include abnormal psych. He didn’t want to be classified with that second bunch.
    Even so, he should at least announce his presence, in case she hadn’t heard him come in. He didn’t want to startle her. “Hey, Tracy!” he called out. “I’m back!”
    “Good.” Her voice came from the kitchen. “I’ll take the corn bread out now.”
    Damn, but this was homey. He’d deliberately avoided sharing a condo or apartment with a woman because he’d known he wasn’t even close to settling down. The thought had always felt stifling. Yet this...was not.
    Tracy was in the process of setting the corn-bread pan on the stove when he walked into the kitchen. She glanced over at him, her face flushed with the heat from cooking. Her ponytail was coming loose, and little wisps of dark hair at her nape were damp with sweat. “How’s Dottie?”
    He longed to get her even hotter and sweatier. It would be so simple to walk over there and gather her into his arms. He couldn’t be absolutely sure how she’d react, but he didn’t think she’d resist once she got over the initial surprise. Women seemed to like the way he kissed.
    She probably thought of him as some sort of Don Juan, though. She eventually might forgive his betrayal of Regan, but he couldn’t deny that he was popular with the ladies. At least he had been before coming here. If he and Tracy ended up having sex, it would be a hundred times better if she made the first move.
    So instead of crossing the room and kissing her, he stayed where he was and answered her question. “Honestly? If I didn’t know better, I’d say that mare’s decided not to deliver for a couple of weeks. Her teats are perfectly dry now.” He walked over to the sink and started washing up.
    “So it’s a false