“That’s what I named him,” Ivy told him. “Miss Lauren said it suits him, whatever that means.”
He smiled. “It means she thinks he looks like a Bailey.”
“You will make sure he gets better, won’t you, Daddy?” Ivy’s earnest blue eyes focused on him. “You made all the other animals better.” Ivy lifted a hand and counted them off. “The raccoon, the robin, the baby calf, your horse—”
“I’m impressed,” Lauren said.
Seth shrugged off the compliment.
“My daddy is the bestest vet ever.”
“I’m not a vet, Ivy,” Seth reminded her. “Just someone who likes animals.”
“You could be, you know.” Lauren spoke in a low voice when Ivy shifted her attention to Bailey.
“How could I take time away from her and the ranch to go back to school?” Seth shook his head. “At this point in my life it’s not feasible.”
Lauren just looked at him.
“It’s important not to bite off more than you can chew.” Seth wondered why it felt so much like a copout when he was merely stating facts. The clock in the living room began to chime and he groaned.
“What’s the matter?” Lauren asked.
“Mitch and Anna’s football party.”
“I’d forgotten all about it.” Lauren’s brow rose. “When does it start?”
“An hour ago.”
Chapter Fourteen
Every day for the past five days Seth had tried to convince himself the kiss was no big deal. Just a way to welcome in the new year. But no matter how many times he told himself the kiss didn’t mean anything, his gut told him it did.
The more he was around Lauren, the more he liked her. He enjoyed talking to her, not only about everyday events at home but also about what was going on in the world. Her keen intellect challenged him and had actually caused him to reconsider some of his beliefs. She was fun, too. Looking back, he realized he’d laughed more during these past few weeks than he had in years. Watching Ivy blossom under her attention made his heart melt.
But the more he thought about it; the more he wondered if bringing Lauren into his household had been a mistake. If he wasn’t careful, he could easily fall in love with her. “That would be a disaster.”
“What would be a disaster?”
Mitch’s question jerked Seth from his reverie. He’d almost forgotten his friend had insisted on accompanying him out to the stable.
Seth thought quickly. “If Star got an infection in her wound.”
He picked up the bucket of supplies and headed to the stall of his favorite cutting horse.
Mitch hooked a boot on the gate. “How’d she get injured?”
The nine-hundred-pound bay tossed her head at the unfamiliar voice.
“Bumped up against a fence.” Seth kept his voice calm and low. Star had been a model patient so far, but she obviously wasn’t pleased he’d brought a visitor with him. “What does she think of the new dog?”
Seth glanced down, not surprised to see the black and-white border collie at his feet. Though it had been less than a week since he and Lauren had rescued him from the side of the highway, the animal had made a remarkable recovery. The laceration was healing without any signs of infection, and you’d never know the leg had been injured. “Bailey is good around the horses. And great around Ivy.”
“You’re keeping him?”
“Ivy would throw a fit if I sent him away.” Seth smiled remembering how her little face had lit up when he’d told her they could keep the collie. It had been like Christmas morning all over again.
With supplies in hand, Seth slipped inside the stall. “She insisted we bring him inside New Year’s Day.”
“Is that why you didn’t come over?” Mitch asked. “Because Ivy wanted to play nursemaid to a dog?”
The football party and brunch at Mitch and Anna’s house had been on Seth’s calendar for over a month. But when New Year’s Eve had turned into an all-nighter, Seth had decided he needed a restful day at home more than he needed to socialize.
“Like I told you, I’d been up all night with Bailey.” Seth set the supplies down so he could stroke Star’s nose. “I wouldn’t have been very good company.”
“Anna was disappointed you kept Lauren home with you.”
“I told her she didn’t have to stick around,” Seth assured his friend. “She insisted on staying.”
“Tell me you at least watched the game,” Mitch said.
“I woke up just as it was starting.”
It hadn’t taken Seth long to discover Lauren loved football almost as much as he did. By the third quarter any awkwardness between them had disappeared. “Lauren and Ivy made pizza that morning and we ate in front of the television. After the game we had homemade ice cream to celebrate the V.”
Seth carefully removed the bandage from Star’s thigh and inspected the wound, but his mind kept going back to that afternoon. Lauren had never tasted homemade ice cream and it had been love at first bite. The ecstasy on her face and the sound she’d made when the creamy sweetness hit her tongue had brought all sorts of thoughts to mind, none of them G-rated.
He ignored the sensations the memory aroused and forced his attention back to the mare. Seth felt his friend studying him as he cleansed the wound with saline and applied a fresh bandage.
“Sounds like you and Lauren are getting along pretty well.” Mitch’s gaze turned speculative.
“She’s easy to be around,” Seth admitted.
“You like her?”
“As a friend.”
“Loretta Barbee saw her and Nordstrom having dinner at a restaurant in Bozeman Saturday.”
Seth had tried to put that night out of his mind. He hadn’t wanted Lauren to go but he’d put on a good front. He had no right to tell her who she could and couldn’t associate with, even if the guy was a selfish jerk who’d only seen his father once every five years. While that wasn’t the only reason that twisted the knife in Seth’s gut when she’d walked out the door, it was good enough.
“I didn’t realize they
