Read Another Chance for Free Online Page B

believed he'd fed them already.  He had a few arguments about that with my father when my father commented on how thin some of them were.  He swore he'd only just come back from feeding them.
    "Anyhow, my father did his best to look in on him, but he had other people depending on him, clients as well as family.  Time began to stretch between visits.  He'd bring feed with him, but each time he brought more, it was to find the last bags he'd brought were still mostly full.
    "The last time we rolled into that yard, the stench was terrible.  Animals lay rotting in the snow.  We found the old man dead in his bed.  We tried to save those animals that were left, but they were too far gone.  Most had starved or were too close to death to bring them back.
    "Hope was the last standing and I took her home with me that day.  It took a while, and there was a time we weren't sure she'd ever recover, but she did."
    "How old is she?"
    "Three."
    Wade looked the filly over.  She was gorgeous.  Nice lines, solid confirmation.  "Do you know her pedigree?"
    "Since she was born before his mind was too lost, he had all the papers in his house."  Jillian gave the horse another pat.  "She has excellent breeding."
    Had circumstances been different he'd have offered to buy the mare then and there.  The picture of the colt that could come from this animal and Whiskey was clear as a mountain stream and filled Wade's heart with longing.  If only…
    "Why did you show me these animals?" he asked.
    "Because, Mr. Parker, I love them.  All of them.  And even though I've only been here a few days, I'd do anything to protect them and keep them healthy.  It's not only what I do, it's who I am."
    She squared her shoulders.  Considering he knew he was in for a lecture, he shouldn't have noted how it made the cotton stretch over her breasts.
    "I'm terribly sorry about your cow.  I swear to you, I did everything right.  Sometimes these things just happen, despite our best efforts.  Medicine isn't perfect, Mr. Parker.  I know you think things may have been different had Mr. Fletcher been the one to operate, but this wasn't my first cesarean.  I've done many.  My father was well respected in veterinary medicine and I learned at his side.  I'm not here to play at being a veterinarian; I am one."
    She'd taken his words from the other day and thrown them back in his face.  Part of him admired the gumption it took to do so.  Part of him thought she was damn pretty.  The rest of him warned not to be swayed by either fact.  She'd never be content with a man like him, a simple rancher.
    "I suppose I partly deserved that."
    She raised her brows.  "Partly?"
    Wade pushed away from the corral.
    "I stand behind the fact that you deliberately misled us when you accepted our position.  Because of that, and due to the dire circumstances, I was angry and upset."
    "You accused me of killing your animal."
    "I know, and for that I'm sorry.  I've cooled off since then.  I know things could have been worse, that I could have lost them both if you hadn't been there."
    Her shoulders eased.  He expected her to say something about how she was glad he'd come to his senses.  How she'd told him from the beginning that she knew what she was doing.  Instead she simply nodded.
    "I know," she said, lifting her hand, "that I wasn't completely honest when you hired me, but Mr. Parker, I can do this.  I've trained for it my whole life.  All I ask is that, despite what happened at your ranch, that I be given a fair chance."
    Wade took off his hat, clasped it between his hands.  "I can't speak for how folks around here will take the news of you being a woman."
    "About as well as you did, I imagine," she said with a smile.
    She really was a spitfire, he thought as his own mouth curved.  "More than likely.  They're not going to be happy with either one of us, I'm afraid."
    "Tell them you didn't know I was a woman; that should leave you blameless."
    Maybe he hadn't