Cowboy Bikers MC #1 - Esther E. Schmidt Page 0,1

similar leather cut with patches is waiting for me when I park.

“Hey, lady doc. Thanks for coming,” the man rumbles with a harsh voice, though his green eyes are warm. “I’m Roper. Let me show you the way.”

I grab my bag and follow the man.

“I’m Harlene,” I tell him as he guides me to a large barn where a beautiful Texas Longhorn is standing, looking very uncomfortable.

“I know who you are, ma’am. Your daddy did a fine job at keeping us away from you.” The man has a strangely harsh laugh and yet his eyes carry a gentle twinkle.

“You’re a real sweetheart, Roper, aren’t you?” I give a slight chuckle and drop my bag when I mindlessly add, “Your features might scream that you’re a hardass, but your eyes tell me I would want you by my side if I ever find myself in trouble.”

His laughter abruptly stops and his eyes narrow.

Just in case he says something about my big mouth getting me into trouble—since I’m all too well aware my thoughts slip past my lips before my mind has a chance to catch up—I tell him, “Let me tie her up first. We don’t want you to work up a sweat holding onto those pointy things, right?” I shoot him a wink and grab the rope.

His head tips back and this time rich and warm laughter ripples from him. See? I knew deep down this man is nice once he opens up. I always pay attention to someone’s eyes, it’s the whole “windows to the soul” thing. Well, not really. It’s mostly the lines around the eyes and the look they give you. It can tell you a lot about their personality.

Focusing on the task at hand, I ignore him and make sure I have enough rope before I tie a knot, form a loop, and let it twirl above my head. I manage to catch the Texas Longhorn by the horns in one go and tighten the rope, tying it to a pole. Roper joins in to pull her closer and make sure she’s locked tight.

I might not have a tight ass and a flat stomach like my friend Cassidy, but my body is flexible enough since I do work out almost every day. This benefits me during my job if I have to quickly move out of the way or jump over a fence for instance. But also, it comes in handy for the hard work of pulling a calf out of a uterus. Even more when it’s stuck, like now.

“Motherfucker,” I grumble and have to let my arm disappear inside the heifer in an effort to find the calf’s legs and try to shift it so I can put the chain around it and pull it out. “Come on, dammit,” I mutter and check if the calf is still alive by sticking my fingers into its mouth.

“Quite the mouth on such a pretty lady.” Roper chuckles but I ignore him.

“Still alive,” I state and have a grip on the legs. “Hand me the chain,” I order and Roper jumps into action.

Putting the chain around the calf’s legs I start to pull and without asking Roper rushes over to help me again and we get the calf out, alive and well.

We free the mom and get out of the way to let nature do the rest. I glance down and notice both my braids are covered in goo as are my arms and my white tank which I’m wearing underneath my overalls. But this is Texas and hot as hell, so I tied the top part around my waist, because like I said...this is some hard freaking work.

The sound of roaring bikes bursts through the air when I’m walking back to my SUV. I’ve loaded my stuff in the back when Roper walks toward me with a bucket of water and a towel.

“I thought you’d like to wash up a bit before you get behind the wheel,” he says and places the bucket in front of my feet.

I squat down and quickly wash my hands adding some water to my chest, face, and hair before I take the towel and dry myself off. Just what I needed, some cold water to freshen up. There are two guys parking their bikes and heading our way.

I’m not up for chit chat, even more when I see Trixy strutting toward them with her fake boobs strapped up high wearing her shiny red cowboy boots. God forbid there would land a