The Connor Ranch: Mac Read online

  Evernight Publishing ®

  www.evernightpublishing.com

  Copyright© 2014 Vanessa Devereaux

  ISBN: 978-1-77130-975-2

  Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

  Editor: JC Chute

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  To Eileen Green

  THE CONNOR RANCH: MAC

  Big Sky County, 1

  Vanessa Devereaux

  Copyright © 2014

  Chapter One

  Mac hadn’t realized what a great ass Dr. Vandross possessed until he saw him bending over to assist a cow that was about to give birth.

  He pushed his cowboy hat back on his head. That last thought had been totally facetious because he knew damn well this wasn’t the seventy-plus year-old veterinarian he was ogling, but a lady with the sexiest butt he’d ever seen. So sexy, in fact, he was tempted to walk over to her and spank it.

  She stood and moved to the left, allowing him to see that the cow had finally delivered her offspring. The new doctor turned around and then jumped back. She’d obviously been unaware he’d entered the barn. She looked fresh out of college––or maybe it was a sign he was getting older.

  “Geez, I didn’t see you standing there.” She held her hand to her chest. Left hand, no ring, wedding or engagement, but that didn’t mean a thing because most vets took them off so they didn’t get lost when they tended to the animals. Searching around in horse or cow shit looking for lost jewelry was never much fun.

  “I’m Mac Connor, the owner of the ranch. I was expecting to see Dr. Vandross. He said he’d be stopping by when I called an hour ago.”

  She stripped her hands of the latex gloves, threw them down on the straw and took two strides over to him. Not that he was complaining about the sudden replacement in any way, because the front side of her was just as breathtaking as the back.

  “I’m Dr. Stephanie Harris, Dr. Vandross’ new partner. You probably heard that he’s retiring at the end of the year.”

  She stuck her hand out and he took it into his. Firm handgrip, he liked that. Nothing like a woman with a strong hand when she had it wrapped around your cock.

  “No, I didn’t know. We’ll all miss him. So you’re going to take over his practice?”

  “Certainly am, so he thought I should start by working on patients of his regular clients like yourself, so I can learn the ropes. The cow and new calf are doing just fine, by the way. Mom just needed a little help this time around.”

  “That’s great. She’s one of the older cows, and I was a bit worried when she was in labor so long. That’s the reason I called Dr. Vandross.”

  Stephanie walked back over to the cow with Mac in tow. She rubbed its head. “She’s just fine, but I think this should probably be her last calf.”

  “That’s what I thought,” said Mac.

  Dr. Harris turned around to look at him. Blondes were usually his favorite, but this dark-haired beauty with blue eyes already had him captivated.

  “Dr. Vandross said you had a couple of horses you needed him to look at, too.” She pulled out a sheet of paper and glanced at it. “Let’s see what he wrote here: one has something wrong with its hoof, and then another has a growth on his penis.”

  Mac swallowed. Just hearing her say penis had made his go rock hard. Who would have thought a clinical term for a cock could sound so sexy?

  “While I’m at the ranch, I can take a look at both of them for you.” She picked up her bag and now stood closer to him, obviously wanting him to lead the way. She smelled a hell of a lot better than Dr. Vandross––no medicinal odors, just a floral scent that even masked the smell of hay and crap.

  “You want to show me where the horses are at and I can check them over?” she asked.

  He’d love to, but right now he had the mother of all erections and he couldn’t move a foot. His balls felt like they weighed a ton and were about to drop to the ground.

  “Why don’t you head over to the stables and I’ll be right with you. I have the worst cramp in my foot.” He pointed to the left of the barn.

  “Are you okay? Anything I can do?” she asked. She put her hand on his arm, making things worse. His cock was pulsating. Mac bit his lip. Even her words were tempting. There was plenty she could do for him.

  “No, I’ll be fine in a minute or two…like I said, you head over there and I’ll be with you before you know it.”

  “You’re sure there’s nothing I can do to help your cramp?”

  “Oh, I’m positive.”

  Other than a good fuck. Women vets, holy shit, what a temptation to guys who spent most of the day with other cowboys on a ranch and no females in sight.

  She walked away, her butt and hips swaying and making him imagine her naked, which was doing nothing to ease his erection. She suddenly stopped, turned and looked back at him. He waved and then touched the brim of his cowboy hat.

  Had he just wolf whistled?

  Jeez, he hoped not or he was going to find himself at the sorry end of a sexual harassment suit.

  He took off his hat and wiped his brow with the back of his hand. The ranch needed more women around it so this sort of thing wouldn’t happen. Maybe he should think about hiring some cowgirls.

  Dr. Harris finally disappeared out of sight, but his erection hadn’t.

  Mac had to think of something besides sexy butts and pretty faces. Something neutral. Fences on the west side of the property needed mending. He had to go into town tomorrow to pick up feed.

  Boring, but wow…that had solved the problem. He could move again without pain shooting through his crotch. Mac hurried along to the stables, hoping he hadn’t kept her waiting too long. He stepped inside.

  “Aren’t you the prettiest horse?” She was talking to his horse, Sadie, and stroking her nose. She obviously wasn’t going to let him sneak up on her unaware a second time, because she turned around when he took his first step toward her.

  “Her name’s Sadie,” said Mac.

  “She’s beautiful.”

  “Yeah, she is. She’s my horse.”

  “I’m sure you enjoy working with her on the ranch. So which are the two horses you need me to look at?”

  “There’s Alice over here. She’s been sort of hesitant to put her back left hoof to the ground for the last day or two.”

  He led her over to Alice’s stall, opened the door and held it for the vet.

  “Should I call you Dr. Harris or Stephanie?” asked Mac as she brushed by him to enter the stall.

  “Neither, because everyone calls me Steph and you’re welcome to do the same.”

  “Steph it is, then.”

  She bent over and ran her hand gently down the horse’s rear left leg. Her butt was even nicer up close. She filled out those jeans perfectly. Mac tried to look away, hoping that would prevent another hard-on.

  Alice kicked out a little as Steph got closer to the horse’s hoof.

  “Okay, Alice sweetie. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  The horse stopped fussing and let Steph lift her leg so she could look at the underside of her hoof.

  “Can you stroke and talk to her while I check this out? Sort of keep her distracted for as long as you can?”

  “Will do.” Mac reached for some straw to feed her while Steph e
xamined the hoof some more.

  Alice began fussing a few seconds later. Steph put the horse’s hoof back on the ground and reached into her back pocket and pulled out her glasses. She put them on and then continued to look at Alice’s hoof.

  “No wonder she didn’t want to put much weight on her hoof. I can see a small piece of rock wedged under the shoe at the front.”

  “How did I miss that?” asked Mac.

  “I was probably looking in the right spot, and the glasses help. Okay, if you could just hold her steady and I’ll pull this out.”

  She bent over again. On the one hand he enjoyed it but on the other, he wished she’d stop it because he felt himself getting hard again.

  Rummaging through her bag, she finally pulled out what looked like pliers and went to work on removing the stone.

  “Gotcha,” she finally said, lifting up a white pebble to show Mac. “She’s going to feel a whole lot better now.”

  Steph patted Alice and they left the stall.

  “And who’s the next patient?” she asked.

  “That would be Cosmo over here.”

  Mac led her over to another stall and opened back the door, where he was sure he saw the brown horse wink at Steph.

  “Hi, there, handsome guy.”

  “You talking to me?” asked Mac.

  Steph burst out laughing. “You should have made that sound more like De Niro…?”

  “De who?”

  “Robert De Niro, Taxi Driver, the movie. Don’t you remember in it, he said, ‘you talking to me’?”

  “Can’t say that I’ve seen that one.”

  She turned to him. “Really? You’ve never seen one of the most iconic movies of all time?”

  Mac shook his head. “I’ve never had much time for movies and TV until the last few years or so.”

  “That’s right. Dr. Vandross told me you were on the rodeo circuit.”

  “Yep. Bull rider, until I broke my leg.”

  “Sorry to hear that. However, now you have more time on your hands to rent Taxi Driver. I think you’ll enjoy it. And to answer your question, no…I was actually talking to the horse.”

  “Jeez, you know how to upset a guy, Steph.” He winked at her. Winking couldn’t be construed as sexual harassment, could it? If so, hopefully she’d just assume he had something in his eye. Well, that was the defense he was going to take.

  She smiled. “Okay, let’s check out your penis…and just in case you’re wondering, I’m talking to the horse, not you.”

  Mac blushed. He damn well blushed. He could feel his cheeks burning. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d done that. Had he ever done that?

  Steph slipped on a clean pair of latex gloves and moved to the rear end of Cosmo.

  “You want to talk to him like you did with Alice?” she asked.

  “Sure can.”

  Mac stroked Cosmo’s nose as Steph rubbed her hand along his belly and then slipped it underneath him. By the look of pure joy in Cosmo’s eyes he guessed her hands were now on his dick.

  Yeah, buddy, wish it was me instead of you.

  Mac squeezed his eyes shut trying to think of the fences that needed fixing, because he was getting hard again.

  Mac glanced Steph’s way. Another dumb thing to do because he saw her hand sliding over Cosmo’s private parts.

  He coughed, hoping that would help with the erection.

  “You say something?” asked Steph.

  “I was just wondering if you’d figured out what’s wrong with him.”

  “Looks almost like a wart. I’m going to rub some cream onto it and I’ll leave you with a tube of it so you can do it daily for him, and hopefully that should take care of the problem.”

  He hadn’t really been listening because all he could focus on was the cream on her hands and his mind drifted to his bedroom. Steph was in it, ready to put whipped cream over his cock.

  Cosmo nudged him, almost knocking Mac off his feet.

  His dad believed that horses could read your mind. If it was true then Cosmo was no doubt scolding him for his dirty thoughts.

  If only I could read yours and you could say how good her hands felt on you.

  “Here is the tube and I’d rub it all over his penis about once a day for two days, and then every other day after that. However, let me know if it’s not getting better and I’ll give him a shot.”

  He’d clearly missed the bit about him having to rub cream on the horse’s dick. Sorry, buddy, you’re stuck with me from now on.

  “Anything else I can do for you while I’m here?”

  Usually asking women out wasn’t a problem for Mac but this time around his mouth opened and nothing but air came out of it.

  “I can’t think of anything right now,” he finally said.

  “Call me if you remember something after I’ve left, and if the cow or calf have any problems, I’m just a phone call away. In fact, let me give you my cell phone number just in case of an emergency.” She took out a business card and scribbled something on the back and handed it to him.

  Steph didn’t know it but she’d put temptation in his hands.

  “It was great meeting you,” she said.

  “Same here.”

  She walked ahead of Mac and they headed out of the stables. “I parked my truck over there,” she said, pointing to the large black pick-up.

  He didn’t want her to leave without him asking her out for at least a drink at one of the local bars, but once again nothing would come out of his mouth. Just what the hell had happened to him?

  “Have a nice rest of the day,” she said.

  “Yeah, you too and maybe I’ll see you around town,” was all he could get out.

  ****

  Steph had been warned by Dr. Vandross that Mac Connor was the town’s biggest flirt and to watch herself when she went to his ranch. She smiled. Dr. Vandross, or Pete as he’d insisted she call him, had quickly become like a father to her shortly after she’d arrived in town a few weeks ago. He’d not only sat down to fill her in on the information about the ranches, the animals, but also the owners and the ones to watch out for. Owners that called you out for the least little thing. Ones that didn’t pay their bills on time. Mac hadn’t fitted into either of these categories. The warning about Mac was simple. He loved the ladies, but hated commitment. In fact, to him two nights constituted a long-term relationship.

  Steph pulled into the clinic parking lot. Mac hadn’t seemed as bad at Pete had made him out to be, but she’d found him cowboy hunky and could see why he and females got on so well. And yes, while she’d been at his ranch, she had seen the huge bulge in his jeans––twice, no less. Cramp in his foot my ass.

  He’d had a hard-on. She knew it, and that’s why she’d played with him somewhat, asking if there was anything she could do to help him. She almost laughed remembering the look on his face. If she’d interpreted it correctly, it had been a grimace she’d witnessed on that handsome face of his.

  Collecting her bag and notes, she got out of her truck and headed into the clinic. Pete’s wife, Sally, was manning the reception.

  “What did you think of the handsome Mr. Connor? You do know that all the women in town call him MacDreamy, don’t you?”

  “I thought that was Patrick Dempsey on Grey’s Anatomy,” said Steph, placing her bag on the counter.

  Sally waved her hand in the air. “Nope, our Mac was MacDreamy long before him.”

  Pete suddenly appeared in the doorway, still sitting in his office chair. He’d obviously wheeled himself over when he’d heard them talking. “With silly talk like that, it’s no wonder the man’s got women wrapped around his fingers. And Sally, don’t you be filling Steph’s head with foolish ideas about the man. I’ve already warned her about Mac Connor and told her to stay clear of him.”

  Sally rolled her eyes. “I bet you didn’t tell her that he’s dynamite between the sheets? Well, at least that’s what I’ve been told because I can’t speak from experience.”
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  “Sally Vandross, you should be ashamed of yourself for listening to that sort of trash talk,” said Pete.

  She bit her lip to suppress a laugh. “Don’t take any notice of my fuddy-duddy hubby,” she whispered.

  Steph smiled. She loved these two people. They were just like family, loved one another to bits, and when Pete retired she was going to miss working with him and her daily chats with Sally. She had to admit she was more intrigued than ever about Mac now that she’d actually met him.

  “So no woman’s ever captured the heart of MacDreamy Connor?” asked Steph. For one crazy minute she felt like she’d be up to the challenge. Her family had always referred to her as the ambitious one.

  Pete looked at her over his half-rimmed glasses, probably upset that she hadn’t taken any notice of what he’d told her.

  “See what you’ve started?” said Pete, wheeling himself back into his office.

  Sally waved her hand again. “He did have a fiancée while he was on the rodeo circuit, but once he got injured she went off with some other bull rider.”

  Steph leaned her elbows on the counter. “That’s too bad for him.”

  “I think he’s about that age when he’s ready to settle down again, so don’t you go listening to my husband and write off Mac as a lost cause in the romance department.”

  Pete scooted back again into the doorway. “Sally, she doesn’t need someone like Mac Connor. In fact, we should introduce her to Ted’s son Luke.”

  Sally shook her head and pulled a face like she’d just sucked on a whole lemon.

  “And don’t think I didn’t see that,” said Pete.

  “Eyes in your back and ass,” said Sally.

  “So was everything pretty straightforward at the ranch?” asked Pete, stepping into the reception area to put some folders in the file cabinet.

  “Pretty much. Calf was delivered, one horse had a stone wedged under her shoe and Cosmo had what I believe is a wart on his penis. I left some cream for Mac to put on it.”