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“Good morning.” He got out of the truck and moved toward the women, who had been staring at him ever since he’d jumped the curb.
Susan crossed her arms and nodded—the smile gone in a flash.
But the little old lady had one big enough for the both of them. “Well, one thing’s the truth, my mornin’ just got better thanks to you, young man.” She gave him the once-over. “My goodness, but you are a handsome fellow. Just in the nick of time, too. Bein’ timely is important. Don’t you think?”
“Yes, ma’am, real important—”
“Good. Good.” She broke him off with a wave of her cane. “I like you—I like this one, Susan.” She shot Susan a sharp eye then gave him a soft smile. “Would you mind terribly, helping Catherine Elizabeth into her car seat? Arthur, the scamp, is acting up today—been giving me and my Catherine Elizabeth both a run for our money. But you—” she smiled up at him, her cloudy blue eyes shining as she grabbed hold of his bicep and squeezed like she might check the ripeness of a grapefruit “—you look like you’re in plenty good shape, so the old bully won’t bother you. No sirree, he won’t.”
Cole looked around for Arthur with every intention of setting the so-called bully straight. He wouldn’t stand by and let a man mistreat the little lady. But there wasn’t anyone else around. He glanced at Susan for some kind of hint and saw that she was biting back a smile. And amazing enough her eyes were twinkling—he lost his train of thought.
“Mrs. Abernathy, may I introduce Cole Turner,” she said rather loudly. “He’s the one who came to my rescue last night. Cole, this is Mrs. Abernathy and this is the one and only Catherine Elizabeth.”
Mrs. Abernathy was still holding on to his bicep with her tiny hand and gazing up at him sweetly. Catherine Elizabeth had managed to lift to her feet and lumbered over to him. She sank onto his boot like a melting blob of ice cream.
“Glad to make your acquaintance, ma’am,” Cole said. “And Catherine Elizabeth, too.” He glanced around again for Arthur but no man had come out of the building. They all were looking at him expectantly—waiting. “Oh, sorry, you want me to load the dog into the car?”
“Thank you. She’s just too much for me. But not you.” She rubbed his arm. “You remind me of my Herman—God rest his soul. He was tall and strong, too. I’m glad Susan’s found a young man like you.”
“Mrs. Abernathy,” Susan interjected, “he’s not my, um, young man.”
Mrs. Abernathy patted his arm. “Well, he should be, dear. You need a strong man, since you’re such a darling, strong woman yourself. I, too, was a strong woman.”
It was Cole’s turn to bite back a smile. The woman wasn’t even five foot and probably had never weighed a hundred pounds soaking wet in her entire life.
She gave him a knowing look. “There’s more to being strong than size, young man. Arthur’s just beat me down a bit through the years and I have to admit it weighs on me…makes even my strong spirit weak at times.”
Cole shot Susan an inquiring glance. “Who is that?” he mouthed over the little lady’s head.
“Ohh,” Susan gasped. “Sorry. Mrs. A., as we affectionately call her, and Catherine Elizabeth both suffer from Arthur-itis.”
Mrs. A. shook her head. “He’s a mean one, that Arthur. But the good Lord puts such nice men in my path to help out in times such as these.” She let go of his arm and, leaning on her cane, she walked carefully to her car.
Watching her slow progress, Cole agreed that Arthur was a real bummer. “Will it hurt when I pick her up?” he asked Susan, staring down at the dog.
“Just be careful and she’ll be okay. But don’t throw your back out or anything.” The last part was soft so that Mrs. Abernathy couldn’t hear.
He almost laughed as he leaned down for the dog. Who did she think he was? Some kind of wimp?
“I mean it—lift from the knees,” Susan said, bending over to whisper the words close to his ear.
The warmth of her breath tickled his skin and sent a shiver of awareness rippling over him. He chuckled, both from the humor in the warning and the shock of her warm breath on his skin, then he lifted—whhoa! The dog was deadweight.
Susan slapped him on the back. “Told you lift with the knees.”
“No kiddin’.” Sending her a good-natured scowl, he then gave it a fortified effort. It felt as if he was hauling a bag of lard into his arms. “What does she feed this horse?” he muttered for Susan’s ears only. She chuckled and Catherine Elizabeth promptly gave him a big ole lick across the jaw, as if telling him not to worry.
“Oh, look, my baby likes you,” Mrs. Abernathy called as she swung the door open wide.
“Seems that way,” he grunted. Reaching the car, he leaned in and placed the dog gently into the backseat. She immediately settled into a spot worn into the imprint of her body.
“Can I help you?” He held out one hand to Mrs. Abernathy after gently closing the door on that…dog.
Mrs. Abernathy batted her eyes at him and blushed. “You are such a catch, young man.” She slipped her hand into his. She looked at Susan. “If you were smart you’d snatch this one up before someone else puts a ring on that blank finger of his.”
Susan surprised him by not looking insulted at the notion. Instead she smiled patiently at her client. “You take care now. And call me if Catherine Elizabeth gets uncomfortable. That extra dose of meds should help her.”
“Thank you, dear,” the tiny lady said and eased behind the steering wheel. “You,” she said, squeezing his hand before releasing it, “have made my old heart’s day!”
“And you have made mine,” he said. “You be careful.”
She gave him a mischievous smirk. “What fun would that be? Bye now.”
He laughed and moved out of her way to stand beside Susan. They watched as the big Crown Victoria eased out of the drive. Mrs. Aberathy’s little blue head could barely be seen over the dash and was totally hidden from behind.
“How does she drive a car that big?”
Susan laughed. “Carefully.”
“Thank goodness. I half expected her to blast out of here on two wheels.”
Susan beamed. “There was probably a day when she did exactly that. Arthur’s put a damper on that, I’m afraid.”
“Not on her spirit, though, I can see,” he said, suddenly feeling rascally himself. “So, you gonna take her advice and marry me before someone else does?”
He was kidding. Susan knew he was, but the question took her completely by surprise. “Of course,” she said, turning to face him. “I’ve been waiting on you my whole life,” she teased back, momentarily letting her guard down.
A slow, dangerous smile spread across his no-way-should-he-be-so-handsome face and his eyes lit with mischief. “You did a joke. Sleep agrees with you, Miss Worth.”
She laughed. “I guess it does. But don’t go rubbing it in or I’ll have to hurt you,” she said, before she thought about what a bad idea it was. And it was. She glanced away, toward her truck, taking a breath to settle the strumming of her heart. “Thanks for bringing my truck back.” She headed inside the clinic before she got herself into trouble. The scrape of his boots on the wooden porch said he was following her. “I’m assuming you aren’t still holding it hostage and you’re actually going to hand the keys over to me.”
His low rumble of laughter had her moving faster to get inside and behind the counter. She needed a barrier between them—she’d enjoyed watching him with Mrs. Abernathy and Catherine Elizabeth a little too much. The man was a charmer.
And bossy, she reminded herself.
And a rover with no concept of responsibility…not a man for her.
“Truck’s all yours,” he said, leaning a hip against the counter. “It checked out good. No undercarriage damage at all. Just a whole herd of dirt clods. The only bad working part it had last night was a worn-out driver who needs to take better care of herself.”
And here we go again! “I was tired,” she snapped, letting the pencil she’d picked up fall to the desk. “It happens. Can we drop that?” Of course her anger was welcome because it helped put that much-needed barrier back up.
He cocked a brow and his gaze dropped to the pencil she’d just dropped. He picked it up, then as he studied her, balanced it on his upper lip as a schoolboy might do. Sigh. The man looked entirely too cute…and was probably well aware of it. She tapped her boot.
“Well,” she snapped again, “are you going to drop it?”
“Nope,” he said, causing the pencil to fall. He caught it without looking. “Not unless you admit that you should have taken your safety into consideration. That sleep you got last night did you a world of good, didn’t it?”
She’d slept like a rock for four hours, but boy, she hated admitting it to him. “If you must know,” she huffed, “Mrs. A. had to knock on my door and wake me up this morning.”
“All right! Hit me with five,” he whooped and held up his palm. “That’s good.”
She ignored the invitation. “I don’t like oversleeping.”
He wiggled his fingers. “C’mon. Hit me with some love.”
Huh? “No! Would you stop?”
He shook his head, reached across the counter and wrapped his fingers around her wrist. His touch was gentle and as the slightly rough pads of his fingers slid across her skin she shivered. Startled by his actions and her reaction she started to pull away, but he held firm and laid her palm against his.
“There, that wasn’t so hard,” he said. “You need to loosen up, Susan Worth.”
Tugging free of his grasp, she hoped she wasn’t pink and that she didn’t look as shaken as she felt. “You need to mind your own business,” she ordered.
He slapped his hand to his chest. “Wow, what a blow. And after all I’ve done for you.”
“Look,” she offered, needing to get him gone. The sooner he was out of her hair the better off she’d be. “I’ve got a couple more patients to see this morning and then I’m heading out to Clint Matlock’s ranch for the rest of the afternoon. I could give you a ride back, but not before then. Unless, of course, you’ve already arranged a ride.” Something told her she wouldn’t be so lucky.
“Thanks. I’ll wait for you. Unless you need me to hoist more obese dogs into cars—I hope all your clients aren’t that large.”
Despite herself, a smile tugged at her lips. “I’ve given up trying to get Catherine Elizabeth on a diet. Mrs. A. has no one else to cook for, and from what I understand, Herman loved to eat. So she can’t help but spoil poor Catherine Elizabeth.”
Cole did a biceps curl, flexing his muscle for her. “She liked my guns. How about you? I mean, since you have agreed to marry me, what do you think?”
She grunted. “I think you need to go sit down and read a magazine.”
“Yup. Just as I thought. You are sidestepping the question because you agree with Mrs. A.”
Oh, she agreed—the man had some muscles. Probably from all that construction work he did. But she wasn’t about to tell him.
She was relieved when the sound of a motor drew her to glance out the window at the truck pulling up outside. She sent up a silent word of thanks that she could get to work and hopefully get her head straightened out…because it was playing in dangerous waters at the moment. She was moving to Mule Hollow for more reasons than her work. She was moving there with the intention of making room in her life for a husband. That meant flirting with inappropriate men, like Cole, was out of the question.
Now, she thought as she met Cole’s watchful stare, if only God would suddenly zap the handsome rover back to wherever it was he’d been before he’d ridden into town last night, she’d be one happy gal.
A man like Cole was not hard to read. He had no plans to settle down; it was all about his job—a job he loved. The ranch he owned with his two brothers had started out as a stagecoach stop—Cole’s roots ran six generations deep and yet of the Turner men, including a first cousin who had also been a groomsman in Seth’s wedding, Seth was the only one who’d actually stayed true to those roots by keeping the ranch going.
Susan wanted a family. Her mind was focused on that, and yet she still had to keep her business running. Her dad had cared so much about her having a career, wanting his little girl to be able to take care of herself. She’d done that, but now she had to find a way of balancing family with her work. She knew that meant she had to find a man who would complement her life. So even looking at a rover like Cole was out of the question.
She walked around the edge of the counter and forced herself not to make a wide arc around him. Instead she stopped beside him and glanced at his “guns.” “Actually, Mrs. A. has a great point. But in reality it’ll take a bunch more than that to interest me.”
The door opened and she hurried to usher the prancing pack of toy poodles into the exam room. The owner was so flustered trying to hang on to four leashes at once that she didn’t even give Cole a glance. Susan, however, paused to note Cole had taken the first seat in the small waiting area.
“Whatever you say, but I’m here,” he said, flexing his muscle for her. “If you need me, you just call.”
She shook her head and closed the door with a resounding thud. She needed Cole Turner the way she needed a hole in the head!
Chapter Four
“So what’s up, brother?”
Cole opened his eyes and found his brother Seth leaning against the door, grinning.
“Thought I’d swing by and welcome you home, since I heard through the grapevine you’d arrived.”
After Susan had dropped him off at his truck, Cole drove back to the stagecoach house, walked inside and crashed on the couch. It had been a long time since he’d slept. “Sorry I didn’t come by. What time is it?” he asked, rubbing his jaw as he swung his legs around and plopped his feet to the ground. He felt like he’d been run over by a truck. This was most likely how Susan had been feeling last night when she’d run off the road.
“It’s five. And from App and Stanley’s account it sounds like you’ve been busy since arriving last night.”
Cole gave him a groggy nod. Good ole Applegate and Stanley. “Yeah, you could say so. Susan’s going to love knowing everyone in town knows she fell asleep at the wheel.”
“That’s the honest truth,” Seth grunted. “You look like the dickens, bro.” Seth strode into the kitchen, separated from the living room by only an ancient dining table.
“Feel like it, too.”
“You could have given me a call. I would have come and helped out.” He grabbed the coffeepot and began filling it with water.
“Yeah, with the cell-phone coverage Mule Hollow has I’d have been wasting my time.”
“True, but the phone here works and I could have at least picked you up after you drove Susan’s truck to the clinic.”
“Believe me, as hot as I was at you this morning—you wanted me to get some shut-eye before you saw me.” That drew Seth’s attention. “What were you thinking letting that woman leave your barn in the shape she was in last night?” Cole stood up and felt his blood pressure rise thinking about Susan barreling toward those trees as he’d topped the hill. “She was so tired she very nearly got herself killed falling asleep at the wheel.”
“For starters, one doesn’t tell a man how to run his business. Same goes for Susan. She’s worked hard to get where she is with her business and she doesn’t take kindly to being separated out. She assured me she was fine—”
It was the same thing App and Stanley said. Still, Cole pointed out, “She looked like death warmed over—”
“Hey, I took her at her word. Like I would have a man in that situation. Didn’t say I liked it, but that’s the way she wants it.”
Cole padded angrily into the kitchen, not willing to take that as an excuse. “She wasn’t fine. She was dead on her feet. She’d been up three nights in a row. Did you know that?”
“Yeah, I did,” Seth snapped, jabbing the on button to the coffeepot before swinging to face him.
“Then what were you thinking? You would have been responsible if—”
“Now just hold on, Cole. I hate that she had to work that much, but it couldn’t be helped. None of us call her out like that unless absolutely necessary. I’d have had a dead cow and calf this morning if not for her efforts last night. If I’d let them die so she could get some sleep, Susan would have taken it as a slap in the face. You know good and well she’s my friend, but we tread a fine line where Susan is concerned.”
Cole rubbed his aching neck and told himself to back down. He didn’t like it, but he also knew his brother. Seth was levelheaded and kind, and Susan really was his friend. “Sorry, I get your drift,” he grumbled, still frustrated. “But it’d sure be a shame if something happened to her.”
Seth nodded and his serious expression said he was sincere. “We’ll all rest easier when Susan gets moved into town. Did she tell you about all that?”
“Yeah, she told me. Only after I asked her. Applegate told me she was moving into town this morning—or Stanley. One of the fellas did—their conversation ran together in my brain.”
Seth looked amused. “App and Stanley’s conversations tend to run together even on a good night’s sleep.”
“You have a point.” They both chuckled, easing the tension.
“So how long are you here for? I’m here to wake you up and haul your sorry hide back over to the house so Melody can interrogate you. But it should be a fair trade since she’s hard at work cookin’ up a meal fit for a king.”
Cole took the cup of coffee Seth handed him and held it aloft. “Then let me drink this, and then I’ll hop in the shower so I’m presentable to my new sister-in-law. I already have one hometown gal irritated with me, I wouldn’t want to make that sweet bride of yours unhappy with me, too. How’d you get so lucky anyway?”
