6
Spur hadn’t told any of his brothers about his date with Olli the night before. Yet somehow, when he walked into the sick bay after Blaine’s text, his brother’s first question was, “Did I take you from Olli?”
Cayden and Trey both looked at him too, and Spur quickly said, “What’s wrong with Glory?”
Leroy had his stethoscope on, and the fact that the vet was here already meant Blaine hadn’t texted Spur right away.
“She’s fine,” Leroy said, smiling. “Her heart rate is normal, and her eyes are clear.”
Fine was not what Spur wanted. All For Glory could fetch them almost a million dollars, and every little hiccup worried him.
“Why did they call you?” he asked, wanting to hear it from the vet and not his brothers. Three of them stood there—the three most tied to the horse care and operations at Bluegrass Ranch.
Blaine oversaw the health of all of their animals, the horses included. Trey managed the track, the trainers, and the housing for the horses. Cayden did all the scheduling for trainers, individual horses, and the buying and selling the ranch participated in.
Spur scanned the lot of them and looked back at Leroy as he started to talk. “Blaine said she took a moment to get up this morning,” Leroy said.
“She was just slow,” Blaine said.
“I was just walking by,” Cayden said. “So I came in.”
“I just saw Leroy when he arrived,” Trey added. “That’s why I’m here.”
“Y’all are terrible liars,” Spur growled. “I know when you start spitting out ‘just this’ and ‘just that.’” He glared at the three of them. “What’s wrong with Glory?” he asked again.
Blaine looked at Leroy and back to Spur, and if he didn’t start talking, Spur wasn’t sure what he’d do, but it wouldn’t be pretty. “She stumbled this morning, Spur,” he said, his voice even and his mouth settling into a straight line afterward.
“Stumbled? Where?”
“Coming out of the stall,” Blaine said. “For no reason. There was nothing there. She went down to her front knees, and I called Leroy to see what was going on.”
Spur stepped over to the pretty gray horse that looked like she’d been sprayed with pepper. He loved her, and not just for the money she could bring to the ranch. Spur had plenty of money, though the drive to make more and keep the ranch thriving also ran hotly through him. “What’s goin’ on, Glory?” he asked the horse, using the same soft voice he’d used when speaking to Olli.
His face heated, but not because his brothers had caught him talking to another horse. He couldn’t believe he’d told Olli last night was important to him too. It had been, though, and Spur was far too old to play games with a woman.
He’d been pleased as punch when Olli had said she called Ginny to dress her whenever she had something important to look nice for. He’d felt important, and he’d seen Olli’s feelings in her eyes while they stood in front of the fridge, her clutching that carton of cream like it alone could save her.
A smile touched his mouth. He’d get to see her that night, and maybe they could have a real conversation about a real relationship.
Don’t go too fast, cowboy, he told himself, pulling on the reins attached to his heart. He knew what bursting out of the gate looked like and felt like, and the horse would be dead before it got to the first turn on the track.
It was always better to start slow, work up to a race pace, and finish strong.
Stop thinking about women in terms of horse racing, he told himself next, glad when Leroy spoke again. Then Spur wouldn’t have to keep talking to himself or horses.
“I’d like to monitor her for a few days. Like I said, her eyes are clear and her heart rate is normal. I don’t see anything that would indicate a problem or that would cause her to stumble.”
“Can she run?” Spur asked.
“I’d like to observe a light training session,” Leroy said.
“I’ll get Kara,” Cayden said, stepping away.
Spur stayed close to Glory and ignored his brothers as they all moved to the practice track to watch Glory do an easy training day. Once Kara had her moving around the track at a walk, Spur relaxed. He could spot a good horse from a mile away, and Glory was amazing. Her legs looked too long for her body, which was exactly what he wanted in a good racing horse. She loved to run, and she kept trying to pick up the pace though Kara held her back.
“She looks good,” Trey said, and he had an eye for horses too. They all did, as horse breeding and racing had been in their blood for generations and generations.
Spur put his right foot up on the bottom rung and let his hands hang over the top one. Glory rounded the curve in the track, and he lost sight of her.