Page 3 of Roping Her In

A coat rack waited in the corner, and Jake hung his cowboy hat on it before he turned toward her. He indicated one of the two chairs in front of the desk and said, “You can sit down.”

Hailey drank in the three framed photographs on the wall opposite his desk, which he surely saw hundreds of times a day, anytime he looked up from his work in front of him. She paused before them. “Are these of the ranch?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said in one of the least barky tones she’d ever heard him use with her.

That fact gave her even more courage, and she turned back toward him, walked over to one of the chairs, and sat down. “Did you take them?”

He shook his head. “No, I’m pretty much useless with anything except cattle or horses.” A small smile tipped up the corner of his mouth. It stayed for such a short period of time that it disappeared before Hailey truly recognized it. “What did you want to talk about?” he asked.

Hailey fumbled to unzip her handbag. “I wanted to bring out my résumé,” she said. “And let you know that I’m at the top of my class in vet tech school, and I’m going to do a great job for you out here.”

She handed him a light purple folder with two pockets inside. She’d worked with Elaine to put together her résumé, and she’d told the intern coordinator at Amarillo State that she was willing to go anywhere but really wanted Three Rivers.

She hadn’t even known they’d applied for the program until Adam had told her about a month ago, in a meeting she’d initiated. Yes, she was a little bit of an eager beaver, she could admit that. But she felt on the precipice of the rest of her life, and she’d worked so hard to get here. She finally enjoyed what she was doing, and she just wanted others to understand that, including Jake.

He flipped open the folder, his expression settling into the frown Hailey was all too familiar with. “Your intern coordinator sent along a few things.”

“He did?” Hailey asked. “May I see them?”

Jake reached into a tray in front of him and pulled out an open envelope. “Sure,” he said, and he extended it across the desk toward her.

Hailey leaned forward and did her best not to snatch it out of his hand. She quickly read the welcome letter, which outlined the new partnership with Three Rivers and Amarillo State, and then told him his assigned interns.

Her heart fell. “You’ve been assigned two,” she said, looking up.

“Yeah, tell me about it,” he said.

Hailey pursed her lips, telling herself not to say anything.

“You don’t seem happy,” he said.

“I guess I didn’t realize there would be more than one of us.”

“Three Rivers is a big place.” He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk in front of him in a faux arms-crossed gesture. “There will be plenty of work and experience for both of you.”

Hailey nodded. “I hope so.” She finished the letter and switched the back paperwork to the front. The very page that told Jake about her, and her experience at Feline Friends, and in her program sat there in black and white.

Hers, in the violet folder, was full color, but she couldn’t help smiling. On the back was her school experience in brief, with her 4.0 GPA right at the top and her rank in class—number one—listed right there. She hadn’t included anything like this in her folder, as it was more of a portfolio and contained photos of her working at Feline Friends or in various week-long experiences through her studies.

She glanced briefly at Patrick’s information, and it wasn’t nearly as neatly formatted or nice as hers. It didn’t even contain his photo, and it listed him as number nineteen in the program with a 3.28 GPA.

Hailey could feign confidence, at least for a little while, and she hoped she seemed put together and self-assured as she refolded the paperwork and tucked it back into the envelope. “My folder will have a little bit more information about my experience,” she said. “And what I’m hoping to learn before I graduate.”

Jake looked back at the folder and even pulled out a paper on the right side. He didn’t look at it for long, and certainly not long enough to read through any of it before he closed the folder. “Thanks for this,” he said. “I hope Three Rivers will be able to give you what you want.”

“I’m sure it will,” Hailey said. “And I’m wondering if you hire out of the program?”

Jake blinked at her, a bit of a blank look in his eyes. “This is our first time having interns,” he said, his voice low and guarded and heavy with that Texas twang she found so attractive.

Hailey’s pulse picked up speed, though she told herself not to be too excited that this man would oversee the final few months of her education. He’ll be your boss, she told herself, and she certainly couldn’t start dating him.

He seemed completely resistant to the very idea of her existence on his ranch and in his life, and the thought of him asking her out almost made her scoff right out loud.

“Sometimes,” Hailey said. “Recent vet tech graduates get hired on at the ranches or farms where they’ve done their internships. I’m simply looking ahead for job opportunities. That’s all.”

A half-smile kicked up the left side of his mouth, and Hailey had always appreciated his lopsided grin. “Again, I have no idea what kind of job opportunities there will be.”

Hailey nodded, and something inside her told her to cut this meeting short, though she’d driven fifty-five minutes to be here and have this conversation. While she’d been doing her vet tech degree, she’d taken a communications class and a public relations class, simply so she’d be better at dealing with people. Her daddy had told her that her bossy, somewhat salty demeanor would take her far in life, but that she would need to learn to tame it at some point, as honey attracted more flies than vinegar.