Her Lone Star Cowboy

She smiled a dazzler of a smile that blew his boots off.

“I hope so.” She picked 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 at it from the moment she’d driven up. He was glad for the help but trying not to let his thoughts linger too long on how cute she was. She was there to help him out. And he was glad of it. But this? Vetch? It was everywhere. If it was poisonous, then he felt pretty stupid.

“Yes, hairy vetch is a very poisonous plant when it wants to be.”

“Seriously? I’ve never heard of vetch killing cattle. It’s a good, nutritious feed source.”

“Most of the time it’s a great food source. Stop here and let me get a sample. See, vetch is a real tricky little plant. You can graze cattle on it forever and never have a problem and then one day, boom—you’ve got sick cattle. Dead cattle.”

“How have I not known this?”

She laughed. “You aren’t stupid. It’s a sneaky plant. It also just affects dark-skinned animals, like your Angus and Angus mixes.”

“That’s weird. What does it do?”

“It causes skin lesions around the head and the neck area, and also the tailhead.”

“I didn’t notice that on the heifers that died.”

“I didn’t notice it on any of the cattle you brought up for testing either. This is definitely not your culprit. But I’m getting samples of everything I see. Who knows, we could be surprised. There are some worse symptoms from vetch that you would have noticed, far more obvious alerts that something was wrong.”

Floored, Jess listened to her finish talking about the symptoms this plant could cause in his cattle. He had to admit that he was impressed. She knew her stuff.

Full speed ahead, she hopped from the truck and took some plastic baggies with her. He followed, watching as she snipped different plants and placed them in bags. Hands on his hips, he stared at his pasture with renewed wariness and wondered what other toxic plants he might be harboring right beneath his nose that he was clueless about.

“Stop feeling bad about not realizing vetch is a toxic plant,” Gabi said, reading his mind as she squinted up at him in the late afternoon sun. “There’s only about a hundred known toxic plants in Texas alone. It’s not like you’d know them all. And, believe me, you’d be surprised by some of them. Some ranchers know a few, but honestly, not many ranchers would know them all. That’s what makes this so difficult. Some mimic others and some are toxic only under certain conditions.”

She was close enough that he could see the tiny iridescent dark blue specks rimming her sparkling green eyes. Her eyes were incredible. He couldn’t stop staring. This need to look at Gabi Newberry had to be curbed.

“How did you get to be so smart?” Lame question, Holden. “Did they teach you that in tech school?”

“Are you kidding? Susan’s the vet, and even she has to pull out books and do a search to figure out which one it could be.”

“So what you’re telling me is you’re extremely smart and you just know all this stuff about toxic plants that you’ve been rattling off to me.” That got him a big laugh and a wave of her blunt-cut nails.

“No, no. I’m no brain. Me, I’m an in-the-trenches kinda gal. You know, I have to do the grunt work, get my hands dirty and learn things that way.”

That made him smile. “So how do you know this?”

She shrugged. “One of the places I worked my first year on the job had a major problem. Cattle were dropping left and right. It was a terrible thing. It took us weeks and a ton of dead livestock before we found out what the problem was. Turned out it was a combination of two things, not just toxic plants. That was what had everyone turned around so we couldn’t figure it out. Plain bad coincidence that there was a fungus in the feed they were buying and a Tarweed plant problem at the same time.”

“So you spent a lot of hours in the pastures taking samples.”

“You got it. And more time pouring through books and on the internet researching symptoms. Plants are really, really hard to diagnose. That’s why Susan thought I could at least come on out to see what the obvious plants could be that might be your problem. Not super smart, just super tenacious. I don’t tend to give up if I’m on a project.”

“I’m impressed.”

“Don’t be. Not one thing here to be impressed about. I’m a fairly stupid person. My past speaks loud and clear.”

That made him even more curious about her past, but he didn’t pry. “I am impressed and grateful too for your help. If it had been one cow, it could have been anything. But four at one time worries me that they could all drop dead by morning.”

“Then let’s get busy. Show me where the cows were found and let’s search those areas first. Chances are if it was toxic plants, the poisoning happened over a period of time. But it also could have been almost immediate. If so, we are on a race against time. Who knows, maybe we’ll catch a break and figure it out immediately.”

Jess had a bad feeling that wasn’t going to happen as he led the way back to the truck and they headed toward the pasture where he’d found the dead cattle.

Soon as he stopped, Gabi went to work. He tagged along beside her. They talked plants for a while and then took some samples.

“Why did you decide to move here?” Jess asked, filling the silence that settled between them when they were again in the truck. He glanced at her as he drove through one gate toward the back pasture where the cattle had been grazing.

“To be near my Gram. And God. Oh, wow, do I have a lot of catching up to do between me and God. And that is what I’m here for. Tell me about you, Jess,” she said, looking serious. “You and your brothers own this wonderful place. So you ranch all the time?”

“This ranch is what I do with my brothers. My business is I buy and transport cattle for myself and others. That income supplements this ranch. The same goes for Luke. He has his rodeo stock. I’m just as worried about his stock as I am our cattle. He’s got a full schedule lined up for them and if we’ve got something infectious going on, then this isn’t good.”

“I’m trying to be positive here, but truth is either way it could be bad.” She didn’t mince words, he liked that, but she gave him a reassuring smile. “On the other hand, it could also be okay. And we know that. So let’s concentrate on figuring this out. The rodeo stock is kept separate from your livestock, right?”

“Right.” He pulled the truck to a stop where another one of the cows had been found.

“It’s not going to be bad. God’s going to come through on this. We just have to do our part to figure it out. Right?”

Jess didn’t answer her question as she hopped from the truck. Pausing with her hand on the door, she cocked her head to the side. “Right?” she clarified. “You do believe that God’s got this figured out, don’t you?”

Jess frowned, not exactly sure how to answer the perky vet tech. When was the last time God ever took care of anything where he was concerned? Unfortunately, that wasn’t exactly the answer a newfound Christian gal with an enthusiastic heart for God wanted to hear. So, he kept his mouth shut.

* * *

Saturday evening Gabi went to Bible study at Norma Sue’s. Gram was there, plus Esther Mae and several couples around her age. She knew many of them from her visits, but there were several that had moved to Mule Hollow who she didn’t know. A really sweet couple sat beside her. Stacy and Emmitt were shy but nice. Roy Don, Norma Sue’s husband led the study on being a good steward with your life. That really hit home for Gabi, since she was trying hard to be responsible. Attending Bible study on a Saturday night was a big step—it was certainly different from hitting the bars and waking up with a booming headache.

Yes, life was different.

Life was better.

She thought about her friends back in Austin who she and Phillip had hung out with almost every night. Most of them had been musicians like Phillip, playing hard both on stage and off. Not all of them were out of control. Some of them were responsible and knew when to say no to another drink. She hadn’t been one of them. And it had really scared her. If she hadn’t woke up when she did, giving up alcohol wouldn’t have been as easy. Without God’s help, she wasn’t sure if she could have at all. There wasn’t a day that went by that she didn’t think about it. Keeping busy and studying the Bible was helping.

She listened intently as different people talked about what they’d done to use God’s gifts in their lives responsibly. She took mental notes and kept her mouth shut. She hadn’t talked to anyone about her past, and she didn’t plan on doing it any time soon. She didn’t feel like opening up about all of her mistakes. Talk about embarrassing. Sure, she’d insinuated a few things to Jess about her life. But then she’d caught herself and hadn’t revealed too much.

Nothing about how really out of control she’d been…what would people think of her if they knew?

Nope, she was here to move forward. Not to look back and be judged by her past.

There was nothing wrong with a girl wanting her privacy. Nothing at all.

Chapter Five

Sunday morning brought a big smile to Gabi’s heart as she rolled over in bed and stared out the window from her room in Gram’s house. Breathing in the scent of lemon wax and rose petals, she stretched slowly, taking advantage of the last few minutes before she sprang out of bed.

When Gram had married Sam she’d chosen to move from the small house she’d lived in for years, which happened to be beside the large family home that Adela had grown up in. She’d turned that spacious treasure into an apartment house. The grand old house sat on Main Street at the entrance of town with its wide porches, majestic turrets and many, many memories from Gabi’s childhood. It was here that her faith had been grounded by both Gram and her mother. She’d no excuse for turning her back on God.

Beside it, though she’d moved to Sam’s home in the country, Adela had kept her small home—just in case family came to visit or wanted to move home. She’d insisted that Gabi live here. Staring out the window, Gabi could see a red bird sitting on the rain gutter. Joy filled her. She loved her life and was so thankful just to be living the opportunity she’d been given. She was home in so many ways than the obvious.

She dressed quickly, yanking on an old pair of jeans and an oversized green T-shirt. She tugged her boots on, then headed out the door. She had animals to tend at the clinic before getting ready for church.

The clinic was quiet as she unlocked the door and entered. From the back, the colt nickered. Knowing she was going to help the hurting animal renewed Gabi’s certainty that she was doing what she was supposed to do with her life.

“Hey, Peanut,” she said, softly. He ambled up and watched her open the gate and enter his stall. Gabi ran her hand over the silken star on his forehead, enjoying the trust in his eyes.

“You’re going to be okay, boy,” she assured him, then gently she began cleaning his wound. She loved that she could help hurting animals heal. She also liked knowing she could help animal owners too…. Jess came instantly to mind.

The handsome cowboy had been in her thoughts all night. Even after she’d left the ranch, she’d spent time digging through her book of toxic plants. But that wasn’t the one thing she was thinking about. It was his reaction to her talking about God.

He’d sidestepped her attempt at getting him to agree that God had the situation under control. She was certain he’d purposefully began talking about plants in order to not talk about God. Why?

Peanut flinched as she rubbed salve on his wound. “Sorry, fella,” she apologized. “Why wouldn’t Jess want to talk about God, huh, Peanut? I mean, ever since asking God into my life, I like to talk about Him.” It was a relationship and she wanted to get closer to Him.

After she finished with the colt, she checked the other patients then hurried back home, showered and dressed. There were several groups of people standing around on the grass in front of the white plank building when Gabi arrived at the Mule Hollow Church of Faith. She loved the steep rooftop and tall white steeple of the church. Though it was a typical country church, it had stood the test of time well. There could be no doubt in anyone’s mind that this house of God was well cared for and had been built on a solid foundation. Just looking at it gave Gabi a sense of peace and excitement at the same time. She had a smile on her face as she hurried from her old truck and headed toward her friends.

Life was good. How could it get any better?

“Ain’t you a pretty sight this morning,” Applegate Thornton boomed, loud enough for everyone within a mile radius to hear. Skinny as a man could be and not break in half, his seemingly perpetual frown lifted in a smile.

Gabi beamed at his good-natured greeting. “Why, thank you, Mr. Applegate.” She’d pulled on a white blouse and a red skirt with white sandals and was feeling fresh and summery. After wearing jeans and boots at work all week, it was fun to be a little girly. “Even a tomboy like me enjoys frilling up at least once a week.”

“You done good,” Stanley Orr added, almost as loud as his buddy App. His cherry cheeks beamed. The two men were in their late seventies, hard of hearing and retired. They could be found most mornings frowning over a game of checkers at Sam’s Diner. Gabi usually saw them when she stopped in for her morning coffee. She enjoyed giving them a hard time and they relished throwing it right back at her and everyone else who stopped in. They were certainly part of Mule Hollow’s charm.

Before she could say more, Esther Mae and Norma Sue hurried over.

“That’s some hat, Esther Mae.” Gabi was unable to take her eyes off the multicolored monstrosity. There were feathers and flowers erupting all over the place. It looked like a flower arrangement that had had a head-on collision with several flocks of birds.

“Thank you. Joseph had a coat of many colors and I have a hat of many colors. Don’t you just love it!”

Norma Sue grunted. “If Joseph’s coat was as gosh-awful as that hat, then it’s no wonder his brothers sold him off to Egypt. Just shows you that God will use anything to accomplish His will.”

Esther Mae harrumphed and hiked her chin in the air. “They were jealous of his coat.” She patted her feathers and gave her friend a teasing grin. “You can’t have it, Norma Sue, get your own.”

“My own! We can only hope it’s one of a kind.”

Gabi laughed, “Y’all never stop.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” App boomed. Giving them a sour look, he shook his head then addressed Gabi again. “I was about ta ask you—before we were inter-rupted.” He gave them another hard look for good measure. “What’d ya find out at Jess’s place yesterday about his cattle?”

“That’s what we came to ask about, too,” Esther Mae said, turning serious. “Did you find a poisonous plant killing all his cattle?”

News sure did travel fast. She hadn’t told her Gram, so how had they all found out about this? “I was just out there looking—and before y’all get all up in a tizzy, it was only four heifers.”

Stanley looked shocked. “Four’s enough, but I heard it was more on the lines of ten.”

“I don’t know where you’re getting your information but it was only four.”

“For now,” App said, sounding dire. “I shor hope you find the plant.”

“We don’t know for certain that it is a plant. Susan suspects it from the blood work she’s seen, and wanted me to get more information on it.”

That had them all bursting into advice on the various toxic plants that they were aware of in the county. Several other people stopped by to join in on the conversation. Gabi listened, taking in every bit of knowledge she could gleam from the folks who knew this area best. It was not to be taken lightly.

They were all talking when suddenly Norma Sue elbowed Esther Mae so hard her hat slid forward. She nodded toward the parking lot and everyone, including Gabi, turned to see what had Norma Sue’s mouth hanging open. It was Jess.

* * *

Half the front lawn of the church turned to look at Jess as he walked across the parking lot. Glancing at his watch, he knew he’d hit the time between Sunday school and church services. Normally when he came, he timed it so he got there right before Adela started playing the piano and everyone was already inside the church. Today he’d rushed it just a little.

His gaze was drawn instantly to Gabi standing among the group. Her blond hair sparkled in the sun like it always did. It was the first time he’d seen it hanging free of the ponytail she usually wore and it really caught the sun this way. She was in a skirt. It was red, and swung around her calves, very feminine. He had half expected her to be in her jeans, and was surprised and pleased to see her like this. And that was the reason he was about to get himself in trouble. Because half the congregation knew what had brought him out this morning. That was the reason, instead of going into the sanctuary when Adela had clearly begun to play the piano, they were still watching him.