Page 15 of Hero Unbound

He’d been through so much, she hated to force him into something that obviously scared him, but she didn’t have much choice. She reached down and scooped him up to put him in the truck bed.

“Want him to ride up front with us?” Theo asked.

She let out a short breath of relief. “Would that be okay? He’s very shy.”

“No problem.”

He opened the door for her and, once they were in, slid the back window open so Spice could stick her head in from the back if she wanted to.

The drive to the other barn was made in silence. Eva was too nervous to say much, and Theo didn’t strike her as the overly chatty type. At one time, that would’ve bothered her. Silence would’ve bothered her. That was part of the reason she’d fallen so hard for Gareth—her desire to have someone who washers, someone who wanted to talk to her and chat the day away.

How little all that mattered now. She’d learned that wit and charm without respect to undergird them meant nothing at all.

Theo might not be a talker, but he’d at least been consistent in his actions. When he’d tackled her, he hadn’t tried to convince her it was her fault. He’d taken responsibility for what he’d done and apologized.

Gareth never apologized. It was only now, away from him, that she’d realized that. He never felt like anything he did was something he should take responsibility for.

“Hey, you okay?”

Theo was standing there with the door open for her once again. She hadn’t even realized he’d stopped the truck.

“Yeah. Sorry. Middle-of-the-night brain.”

“Look, maybe you should just head on home. I’m sure Wildfire will be fine until the morning. Becky said we should have at least another week before she gives birth. Where are you staying? The Mayor’s Inn? I can drive you and send someone to get you tomorrow when you’re ready to come in.”

She shook her head. The last thing she needed was for him to drive her back into town to a place she couldn’t afford to stay. “No, I’m fine. And really, I should check on—”

A horse’s scared whinny cut her off. Both of them turned and ran toward the barn.

As soon as she saw Wildfire, she knew the foal was coming tonight. Eva shucked off her exhaustion. “Looks like Wildfire is about to become a mama.”

“Right now?”

She smiled. “Not long.” She hurried over to the barn’s storage room and grabbed the birthing equipment. If everything went right, most of it wouldn’t be needed, but shewoulduse some of it to make the birthing as smooth as possible.

She walked over and gave Wildfire a gentle pat on the neck. “Hey, sweet lady. You ready to see your baby?”

She took some of the vet wrap out of the basket and wrapped Wildfire’s tail with it to keep it out of the way. Then she took the soap and cleaned then dried the mare’s rump area.

“We should let Becky know, right?” Theo asked.

Eva looked over at him. It was the first time she’d heard him sound anything less than one hundred percent confident in himself.

“Yeah, definitely won’t hurt to let her know that Wildfire is in stage one. But horses have been giving birth without human help for a long time. Generally, all we need to do is keep out of the way and let nature do her thing.”

Theo already had his phone out and was texting Becky. Eva wished she could let the other woman know that she didn’t need to come out here—Eva could handle this. No reason for both of them to be exhausted tomorrow.

“This is going to be the first foal born here,” Theo said. “So it’s sort of a special event.”

No wonder he felt a little out of place. She had to smile. “Prepare to witness something truly amazing.”

“Is there anything we can do to help? Wildfire seems agitated.”

The mare was circling her stall and sweating along her neck. “That’s normal. Like human births, the mom’s body is getting her ready. I’m sure it’s not very comfortable.”

“I would think not.” Theo’s rueful half smile changed the appearance of his whole face. Made him look younger and, if possible,sexier. Such a change from his normal oh-so-serious and gruff look.

It might be her exhaustion, but Eva felt something stir in thefeminineparts of herself. Parts she’d assumed had been damaged for good.

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