Page 1 of Roping Her In

1

Jake Ahlstrom stamped his feet on the mat outside the back entrance to the administration building at Three Rivers Ranch. The weather had been in a vicious cycle lately, with a light dusting of snow one day, which got melted by the rain the next day, which turned everything into a sopping muddy mess by day three.

It didn’t usually snow this early in the season, and the unpredictable weather had been a big topic at that morning’s small ranch owners’ group meeting, which he’d been attending for about nine months now.

He couldn’t say he didn’t like it; quite the contrary, as Jake enjoyed getting off the ranch and talking with other adults who faced similar problems as he did. He’d become far better friends with Smiles Glover, the full-time vet at his family ranch on the opposite end of town, as well as JJ Walker, who asked him to come to Seven Sons every now and then to check on a few things.

Squire Ackerman had been the full-time vet along with Cal Hodgkins and Jake’s own mother, one of the ranch’s veterinary technicians, for decades. When they’d retired fully and Momma and Daddy had moved to town, Jake had taken over as the full-time vet here at the ranch, and he currently lived in a smaller cabin next to the larger foreman’s cabin where he’d grown up. Beau Peterson was the foreman now, and he lived there with his wife and two kids.

The way history repeated itself wasn’t lost on Jake, and as he entered his office to blissful, heated air, he told himself that was why he didn’t want to start dating. He certainly didn’t want that history to repeat itself.

They talked through farm and ranch and community news at the small ranch owners’ group meetings, but they also shared personal items. Colt had announced this month that he and Elaine were engaged and had chosen a date in mid-May for their wedding. Whoops and congratulations had gone around, and then they’d talked about Thanksgiving plans for everyone, as the holiday only sat one week in the future, and he’d learned that Mitch and Lacy Glover were due with another baby in late spring.

The news out of the Glover family was that they were anticipating quite a few engagements and weddings next year, as several of Smiles’s cousins had been dating significant others for a while. Smiles had previously volunteered to be set up, but when asked about it this morning, he’d ducked his head and shook it. “Nah, I’m not interested,” he said.

“He’s got his eye on someone,” Rock had said, and Smiles had thrown him a death glare. He wouldn’t say who, and Jake told himself he didn’t really need to know.

Most of the other men in the room were married or dating, and he’d felt several eyes linger on him, but no one had pressured him or asked him if he was seeing anyone. Jake listened more than he talked, and he needed that in his life, because everyone at Three Rivers—at least everyone concerned about the welfare of their livestock—looked to him for answers.

One of his strengths was his record keeping, but it required him to sit at a desk doing paperwork. On days like today, with the Panhandle wind howling across the prairie, he didn’t mind it so much. Other times, the need to be outside under the wide Texas sky itched beneath his skin.

This afternoon, he found someone had put his mail on his desk, and Jake shrugged out of his leather jacket and hung it on the coat rack, along with his cowboy hat. He ran his hands through his hair and sat down, sighing as he pulled the tray of mail closer. He went through the usual solicitations for cattle supplements, reminders to reorder feed and supplies, and a couple of bills for the meds he’d ordered and administered to their cattle once they’d rounded them up this past fall. He’d pass those along to Libby, and everything else he filed in a horizontal tray system on the left front corner of his desk.

The next envelope made him pause, and he reached a little slower for it, finally picking it up. “Amarillo State,” he muttered.

He knew exactly what this was, though he hadn’t opened it yet. Veterinary technician interns.

Elaine Walker had visited him months ago about Three Rivers participating in the program out of Amarillo State. He’d been incredibly resistant to it at first, but after he’d met with his two fully certified vet techs, Leia Samborn and Hartford Mason, they’d both been extremely enthusiastic about the idea. Jake knew they worked fifty or sixty hours a week themselves, and he did too.

In the end, he’d submitted his paperwork to be part of the Amarillo State vet tech internship program as a way to alleviate the stress on his personnel without having to hire more people. Libby had signed off on the program too, and the enthusiasm shown by everyone around him to have interns had opened his mind to the fact that perhaps he hadn’t seen the situation as clearly as he should’ve. He could admit when he was wrong, as that was something Momma and Daddy had taught both him and his younger brother.

He prayed they’d be right about these blasted interns.

Sighing, he flipped over the envelope, already knowing he’d been assigned an intern and who it would be. An image of the lovely Hailey Winters flowed through his mind, no matter how hard Jake tried to push her out. He wondered how long it would be before she was notified of her appointment at Three Rivers, and how long after that until Elaine Walker called him and tried to set up a meeting with the three of them.

He pulled the papers out of the envelope and unfolded them. The cover letter told him what he knew already: Three Rivers had been assigned….

He sucked in a breath. Not one, but⁠—

I’m pleased to let you know that Three Rivers Ranch has been assigned two veterinary technician interns as follows: Hailey Winters and Patrick Keller.

“Two interns,” he said right out loud, his voice filled with disgust. “I’m pretty sure I didn’t sign up for that.”

He scanned the rest of the letter, which said that the intern coordinator at Amarillo State, a man named Adam Reynolds, would be contacting him in the next week to set up their initial meeting at the ranch with Hailey and Patrick—at Jake’s earliest convenience, of course.

He’d attached their bios and qualifications and promised Jake his participation would be a rewarding, helpful experience for all involved.

Jake scoffed and dropped the paperwork. “I don’t know about that.”

He reached for his phone and quickly tapped through his contacts to get to Elaine Walker. He’d never called the woman to learn more about the internship program. He knew how to use the internet and make phone calls, and he’d contacted Amarillo State himself. He’d asked Leia to put everything together for him, and all he’d done was sign where she told him to, and she’d submitted the paperwork so Three Rivers Ranch could become an official partner of Amarillo State in their vet tech internship program.

His ire bubbled and then boiled as the line rang, and then Elaine said, “Walker Foundation for Women. How can I help you?” in that perky, professional voice he really should dislike. The problem was, Elaine Walker did a lot of good for a lot of people, and Jake couldn’t help but admire her.

“Howdy,” he drawled. “It’s Jake Ahlstrom.”

“Jake,” she said brightly. “To what do I owe this great honor?”

He rolled his eyes and leaned back in his luxury office chair. “I just got a letter from Amarillo State, and they assigned me two interns, Elaine. Two. I don’t think that was the deal.”