Chapter Twenty-Two
He shouldn’t haveleft Letty like he had.Walking out without a word while she slept was a shit move.But he wasn’t a masochist.Every moment he stayed with her would have made it that much harder to leave.So he went home, took care of the horses, played with his dogs, checked to see if there was paperwork he needed to do.There wasn’t.Nothing that couldn’t be put off, anyway.So he saddled Meteor and took a ride.
Meteor liked the snow and needed the exercise.In fact, Riley felt guilty because he hadn’t been riding him as much as he should have.He’d turned him out, of course, but he knew Meteor missed him if he went too long without riding him.
It was a beautiful winter day.A Montana blue sky, crisp, cold without a breeze, pristine snow sparkling on the ground and tree branches.Riley gave Meteor his head to let him work off a bit of his excess energy.After a while they slowed down and he decided to ride the fence line and look for breaks.Fixing the fence wasn’t his favorite thing to do, but at least it would keep him busy.
He’d gone some distance and was about to turn around when Meteor stopped.The horse was looking at the fence and no matter what Riley did, he wasn’t moving.Riley sighed and looked in the direction he thought had drawn Meteor’s attention.There was a shape in the snow by the fence.He couldn’t tell what it was but when he gave Meteor his head that’s where he headed.As he got closer he heard a whimper.
A dog, he realized, getting closer.He dismounted, ground-tied Meteor, and walked to the dog.If the gray muzzle was any indication, the dog was old.He wasn’t sure if he was a stray, which was bad enough.But if he’d been dumped, it pissed him off that someone would abandon a dog just because it was old.
He went to him slowly, talking soothingly.It was a big dog, a Lab mix of some kind, he thought.The dog wagged his tail and allowed him to pet him.Riley didn’t see any injuries right off, and the dog didn’t snap at him.Maybe the dog was just exhausted.
“Want to go home with me, buddy?”The dog allowed him to pick him up and carry him over to Meteor.The stud stood still and didn’t seem to mind his new passenger.A good thing because Meteor was the reason he’d found the dog in the first place.
Riley took off his coat and wrapped it around the dog.It was cold but Riley could stand it for the short time until he got home.When he reached home his dogs greeted him, and of course, wanted to meet the new dog, but Riley discouraged them.First he needed to figure out if the dog was injured and if so, how badly.Fortunately, one of the hands was around and Riley asked him to take care of Meteor while he took the dog into the tack room and called the vet.
Kayla Carson was fairly new in town and ran a small-animal veterinary practice.She wanted to open a veterinary hospital, but she hadn’t been able to yet.Riley suspected she didn’t have the funding.Riley had switched to her when his original vet retired.
He took his coat back and wrapped the dog in a blanket after looking him over.Then he got a bowl and gave him water, which the dog drank thirstily.He didn’t give him food yet since he wasn’t sure what Kayla would need to do.He gave her a call, told her he’d found a dog and needed to bring it in.“I didn’t feed him in case you needed to do something to him.”
“Is he badly injured?”Kayla asked.
“I didn’t see anything obvious.I think he’s old, cold, and almost certainly hungry.”
“All right.Bring him in.We’ll give him some food after I examine him.”
*
On New Year’sEve, Letty went to Grey’s.She’d debated what to wear.She’d finally settled on a very short skirt and form-fitting sweater.She didn’t wear her knee-high boots since that would have reminded her of her last night with Riley.Instead she wore tights and ankle boots.She streaked her hair with a temporary bright red color.Hung some colorful dangly earrings in her ears and called herself ready.
Fortunately, Grey’s was crowded so she didn’t feel too stupid being there by herself.She found some other single women she knew and sat with them.The talk was all about the newest doctor in town, Ryan Hunter.He was a trauma surgeon and friend of Connor McFarland’s.
“He’s here tonight,” one of the women said.“I’ve been trying to meet him but short of spilling my drink on him, I haven’t figured out a way.”
“He’s to-die-for hot,” another one said.“I think he has a tragic past.He was a battlefield surgeon in Iraq or Afghanistan or somewhere.”
“I met him at a party a few days ago,” Letty said.“I didn’t get a tragic vibe from him at all.He was nice.”
“Nice?You meet the hottest new man in town and all you can say is he’snice?”
She shrugged.She’d been far too busy keeping an eye on Riley to pay much attention to Ryan.Come to think of it, he’d probably wondered why she was so spacey.“I’m going to get a drink.Anyone else want something?”
Since they all had new drinks, no one did.She slipped through the crowd to get to the bar.She’d just ordered a drink when she heard her name.
“Letty?Hi, I’m Ryan.We met the other night at Logan and Cici’s housewarming.”
Speaking of the devil.He said it with a faint question, as if he wasn’t sure she’d remember him.“Hi, Ryan.It’s nice to see you.How are you liking Marietta?”
“Good, so far.Are you here with someone?”
“No.”
“Even better.I’m not either.”
The bartender set her drink down in front of her.She started to pay for it, but Ryan forestalled her.“Let me get it.”
Feeling guilty, she let him.He led her away from the bar to a corner that magically appeared empty.“How did you do that?”she asked.
