Free Operation Mustang [The Service Club 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) by Tonya Ramagos

soothe Raven, gently stroking the horse’s mane and talking to her softly. As he’d known, the horse calmed within seconds under her master’s touch.
    Mustang turned slightly toward him, still caressing Raven as she averted her attention to the colt. “He was on his feet, but he was shaky. He tried to walk toward me when he saw me, and he collapsed.”
    Gunner wasn’t a veterinarian like Lucky, but he’d been trained as a medic in the SEALs. He leaned over the colt and studied the horse’s eyes. “He’s disoriented,” he muttered more to himself than Mustang.
    “He’s acting like he’s been tranquilized.” Mustang shifted hard as Raven tried to move her out of the way. “I’m going to have to take her in another stall.”
    Gunner gave her a noncommittal nod as the colt attempted to stand. The horse didn’t make it halfway up before he collapsed again. “If it’s a tranquilizer, somebody gave you a helluva dose, partner.”
    “I can promise you that somebody wasn’t me,” Lucky stated as he stepped inside the stall.
    Gunner looked up. “I thought you and Diek were on the back spread.”
    “We hadn’t made it that far yet. Woman liked to have scared me to death calling over the radio like that.”
    “You should’ve heard her scream.” Gunner knew it would stay with him for a long time to come.
    “He’s right, isn’t he?” Mustang pushed past Diek who stood in the doorway of the stall and fell to her knees beside where Lucky now knelt.
    “Yeah, Gunner’s right.” Lucky examined the colt more thoroughly than Gunner had done, checking the colt’s heartbeat with his stethoscope and shining his penlight in the foal’s eyes. “About the tranquilizer and it being a helluva dose. He’ll be fine, but it’s going to be a while before it wears off. Diek, grab me a muzzle off the wall out there. I don’t want him hurting himself.”
    “You think he might have a seizure?”
    Gunner gave his brother points for being subtle even though he should’ve known it wouldn’t work. When a woman lived her whole life on a ranch like Mustang had, she didn’t have to be a doctor to know the signs of an overintoxicated horse.
    Lucky frowned at her. “You know as well as I do, it’s possible. I’ll have to stay with him until he’s alert enough so I can watch him.”
    Mustang nodded as she got to her feet. She blew a breath up her face, fluttering her bangs over her forehead. “Gunner, you were looking for something to do. You can take Lucky’s place out there with Diek.”
    Back to business, Gunner thought. He wondered, not for the first time, if she ever gave herself a moment to truly feel anything. Images of last night replayed in his mind, and he hid a smile. Yeah, he supposed she did, at least when they made her.
    “Yes ma’am.” He stood, brushing his hands on his jeans. “And what are you going to do?”
    “Work.” Her answer came simple enough, but he didn’t miss the strain in her tone. “There’s still plenty to be done, and Lucky’s got this covered here. I won’t do much but get in his way.”
     
    * * * *
     
    Mustang fully intended to work, though her plans for the day had been greatly altered. She doubted her new definition of work was anything close to what Diek, Gunner, and Lucky expected, either. Someone had come into her room last night. Someone had tranquilized Raven’s baby colt. She aimed to find out who that someone was before sunset.
    She left the barn and headed straight for her truck, figuring Chester would be the best place to start. She found him mending fences on the far side of the ranch. Thomas was with him.
    “Mustang,” Chester greeted, taking off his cowboy hat and slapping it on his thigh as he walked toward her. “What brings you out this way?”
    Mustang propped an elbow on the hood of her truck and regarded her foreman. Sweat beaded on his bushy gray brows. His tanned complexion was reddened by heat and exertion. He moved quickly for a man of his age, but