Free Miranda And The Ranch Hand (Domestic Discipline Romance) by Coleen Singer

all she could think about was the animals that could be in bad shape.
    Miranda finally made it downstairs and headed for the main barn to get the buckboard hitched. She saw Mickey in the stables and told him to hitch up the team while she got her medical bag and as much salve and bandages as she could find.
    “Miss Miranda, are you sure you should be riding out of here?”
    “Mickey, I’m going with or without help.”
    “All right, miss, I’ll take you. But somehow I don’t think your brothers will be too happy to see you… or me for that matter!”
    Mandy had to smile at that. “I could say I forced you at gunpoint if you’d like.”
    Mickey just grumbled and got the workhorses hitched up to the wagon and then helped Miranda climb in. He could see the flash of pain across her face as she stepped up, but it was quickly covered with a look of determination that told Mickey it would be useless to argue with the boss lady. He took the reins, thinking all along that his uncle would likely take his head off for bringing her out to the fire.
    They could see the smoke long before they got close to the south pasture. As expected, the ranch hands had driven the frightened cattle to the edge of the pasture near the river, figuring they’d be safer near the water. Miranda could easily see several of the herd had suffered burns to their legs. It also looked like there were some injured cattle, probably from a stampede in panic. She immediately went to work, directing Mickey to wet down her bandages.
    Before she could even treat many of the animals she first had to calm them down enough to avoid getting kicked or trampled herself. As she focused on the cattle, her own pain and exhaustion slipped away. Hours passed before her brothers and the other cowboys got ahead of the fire and were able to stop it with a firebreak. Then they headed back to the river to tend to the injured and burned cattle, despite their own exhaustion.
    Marcus was the first to notice Mandy. “Dammit, will that girl never listen to anything for her own good.”
    As he rode toward her, he could see she was working almost in slow motion—dirt, sweat and blood covering her arms and shirt. Then she turned her back to him and he saw a growing spot of blood where her exit wound was. The next thing Miranda knew, there were strong, but gentle arms lifting her and carrying her to the buckboard.
    “I swear, Miranda… one of these days...” The concern she saw in his eyes was mingled with anger, but she couldn’t give up yet.
    “Please, Marcus, put me down—there’s only a few more cattle to be tended too—then I’ll go directly to bed, I promise.”
    “Mandy, you’re bleeding—you’ve obviously busted your stitches. You’re not going to do any of these animals any good if you bleed to death. For crying out loud—you’re a trained doctor. You damn well should know better than to risk your own recovery coming out here.”
    Miranda knew he was right, but she could no more stay away than he or David could. As he carefully laid her in the back of the wagon, he yelled for David to go fetch the doctor. Without her intense focus on treating the longhorns, her own pain started to reach into her consciousness—it was almost as bad as the first week after she was shot.
    As the wagon reached the house, Marcus was surprised to see Dylan come flying out the door wearing a look a panic mixed with the same anger he felt. Dylan stopped short at the sight of Marcus covered in dirt and soot.
    “What the hell happened—are you alright? Where’s Mandy? Jenna said she took off out to the south pasture, but she was a little incoherent about why.” Then Dylan noticed Miranda lying in the back of the wagon and abruptly shut-up, the color draining from his face.
    Marcus jumped down and carefully lifted Miranda out of the wagon. She was pale as a harvest moon and her face told a story of intense pain. She looked up, saw Dylan, thought she was dreaming and then promptly