скачать книгу бесплатно
“I didn’t come here to be abused by you. I’m here to do a job and you’re interfering. Do I need to tell Captain Watson that you’re ignoring your own work and keeping me from doing mine? I’m sure it won’t be the first time he’s heard that you’re slacking.”
“She’s got you there, Avery.” Grinning, Lee slapped his buddy on the back then walked away.
“You can tattle to the captain if it makes you feel better, Jenny, but the truth is I’m not doing a thing to prevent you from working. I’m just standing here watching.”
Jennifer bit back a retort. The last thing she wanted was to get into a verbal battle with the man. Instead, she turned away and stuffed the X-ray machine into the carrying case before snapping it shut. “I’m finished anyway.”
Picking up the case, she spun around and marched toward the stall door. Avery pulled it open, swept his arm out and bowed low in a courtly gesture as she passed. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard him chuckling behind her.
The man was insufferable. Why she had ever considered him handsome and interesting was a complete mystery.
The bright sunshine made her squint after the dimness of the barn’s interior. She shaded her eyes with one hand as she crossed to her truck and yanked open the door. After depositing the equipment inside, she slid behind the wheel.
“Thanks a lot, Lizzie. I thought I told you to honk if you saw anyone coming.”
Tapping her lips with her pencil, Lizzie frowned at her book. “I didn’t see anyone.”
Jennifer took a few deep breaths before inserting her key in the ignition. “Dr. Cutter is just going to have to get one of his other students to come do these films.”
“Didn’t you volunteer to do them?” Lizzie scowled as she wrote in her notebook.
“I did, but good grades are only worth so much aggravation.”
“Oh, he was there.” Lizzie turned the page and copied a set of numbers on her paper.
“I could care less about Avery Barnes,” Jennifer stated firmly, hoping to convince herself as much as her sister.
“You were drooling over him last winter when the army had Dakota at your clinic.”
“I don’t recall drooling over anyone.”
“You went out with him last winter and every other word out of your mouth was Avery this and Avery that and Avery is so charming.”
Jennifer still wasn’t certain how she could have been so mistaken about him. Her first impression had been that Avery was devoted to his friends and to helping care for injured animals. Both were qualities she greatly admired. She had sensed something special in him. She had begun to see a future with him.
A future, as it turns out, based on foolish daydreams with no basis in reality.
“He’s charming all right. He’s also as shallow as a petri dish. We saw each other for a few months, but then I learned how superficial and self-centered he really is.”
“Why? Because he stopped asking you out?”
Her sister’s comment hit a little too close to home. “I’m not having this conversation with you.”
Rolling her eyes, Lizzie said, “Whatever. If we don’t get going, I’ll be late for my chess club.”
Jennifer started the engine and checked her rearview mirror as she pulled away from the stable, but she wasn’t granted another glimpse of the unbearable Avery Barnes.
Which was just as well, she decided as she headed toward the checkpoint at the east entrance of the post. If she never had to see him again, it would be too soon.
Chapter Two
A s Avery listened to the sound of Jennifer’s truck driving away, he tried to ignore the ache in the back of his throat. He rubbed his hands on the sides of his jeans and hoped the fact that she still took his breath away had gone unnoticed. Acting like a jerk wasn’t usually so hard.
He hadn’t expected to see her again after the painful brush off he’d given her. Certainly not here in his company’s stable. The harshness of his behavior after their breakup pricked what little conscience he had left, but he tried to ignore that, too.
He thought he’d put his feelings for her behind him. Now, standing here with the lingering scent of her perfume filling him with warmth, he knew he hadn’t. It had been a long time since a woman had affected his equilibrium the way Jennifer Grant did.
It wasn’t that she was such a knockout in the looks department. She wasn’t overly tall, but she had a trim figure and a self-assured way of tossing her blond hair back with a flip of her hand that made a man sit up and take notice. Her nose had a little bump in the middle that the women in his circles would have had smoothed out by a plastic surgeon before they finished high school.
Jennifer’s appeal wasn’t in her deep blue eyes or in her looks. It was how she looked at others. Her kindness and her compassion lit her from the inside like a candle in the darkness. She was unlike anyone he had ever met. The only trouble with Jennifer was that she never knew when to quit.
His first reaction when he saw her today in Dakota’s stall had been a surge of happiness. He was thankful her back had been turned and he’d had time to school his features into a smirk he knew would annoy her.
What he should have done was keep walking and let her leave without speaking to her. Even now he wasn’t sure why he’d felt compelled to engage her in conversation. He knew she wouldn’t have anything nice to say to him. Perhaps he had been hoping for a tongue lashing from her. Maybe he even had it coming.
Dakota thrust his head out the stall door and whinnied after Jennifer. Avery reached up to scratch the horse behind his ear. “Sorry I ran her off, big boy. I know you like her.”
Dakota had gone through a rough time after his fracture the previous autumn. For a while, it had looked like the horse wouldn’t survive. Jennifer had been one of the people involved in his care, and his recovery was due in part to the hours she spent helping take care of him.
Avery remembered Dakota’s stay at the Large Animal Clinic with more fondness than the circumstances warranted. It had been Jennifer’s company, her upbeat attitude and her bossy but kind nature that had helped everyone from the mounted color guard cope during those difficult days.
It was only later that Avery had realized what a danger she posed to his peace of mind. She was far too likable—and good. Definitely not what he looked for in the women he dated.
He patted Dakota’s neck. “If she wasn’t so cute when she gets mad I might have been able to stop egging her on. Did you see the way that fire leaps in those deep blue eyes?” Giving himself a mental shake for discussing Jennifer with a horse, Avery walked on toward the equipment room.
Lee came out of the door with two long-handled pitchforks and handed one to Avery. It was their turn to muck out the stalls before the rest of the unit returned from exercising the horses.
“Why do you razz Jennifer like that?” Lee asked as he pushed a wheelbarrow toward the first empty stall.
Avery wasn’t in the habit of sharing his feelings or explaining his actions. He shrugged. “She can take it.”
“And dish it out, but you seem to take a special delight in ruffling her feathers. What did she ever do to you?”
“Nothing.”
“I seem to remember that the two of you had a thing going for a while. What happened?”
“We went out a couple of times. It didn’t work.” Avery began pitching the straw from the first stall into the wheelbarrow.
Lee stopped and grinned at him. “She dumped you.”
“Get real. Women don’t dump me.”
Only one had. After that, he never gave another woman the chance. He was always the first to call it quits in a relationship.
“Jennifer didn’t fall for your smooth-talking ways, did she? That must have bruised your ego.”
“My ego is unscathed, thank you. It just so happens the woman can’t leave well enough alone.”
“What does that mean?”
“She wanted me to go to church with her.”
Lee resumed his work. “I go to church. It wouldn’t hurt you to give it a try.”
“Believing that someone or something is in charge of my life doesn’t do it for me. Anyway, she didn’t stop there. After I turned her down and expressed my views on the subject, she made a point of telling all the women at the clinic to steer clear of me.”
“So that’s what the big ears and long nose comment was about?”
“She thinks she knows what’s best for everyone.” She thought she knew what was best for him.
“I heard she was the one who got Dr. Cutter and Lindsey Mandel to patch things up. Now look at them.”
“Exactly. They’re married. In a year they’ll both be miserable and filing for divorce because they hate each other.”
Lee paused and leaned on his pitchfork. “Not every marriage ends in misery.”
“Enough do. If flying in a plane was as risky as marriage, nobody would be racking up frequent flyer miles.”
One look at his parents’ marriage and his own near miss proved his point.
“That’s a grim view.”
“I call it like I see it.”
“I wonder if that’s true.” Lee propped his pitchfork against the wall and lifted the handles of the wheelbarrow.
Avery looked at him sharply. “What does that mean?”
“It means you might not want to admit it, but you’ve still got a thing for Jennifer.” Lee maneuvered the loaded cart out the doorway, leaving Avery to stare after him.
Jennifer pulled up in front of the youth center at the Community Christian Church and checked her watch. “See, I told you I’d get you here on time. Is your math done? You know I’m not going to let you shirk your school work just to have a wild time with your chess-loving friends.”
Lizzie scribbled one more number on her sheet and snapped the textbook shut. “I’m done.”
“Okay, but I still need to check it before I turn you loose.”
Handing over her work, Lizzie said, “Like that’s a surprise. You’re way stricter than Mom is.”
“That’s because, unlike our mother, I believe your education is more important than a silly hobby.”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Jennifer’s conscience pricked her. She shouldn’t be criticizing her mother’s behavior, or calling her sister’s hobby silly.
Still, Mary Grant’s obsession with history and re-enacting the life of frontier widow Henrietta Dutton had been taking up more and more of her time. Her involvement with the local historical society’s plans for the town’s upcoming Founder’s Day Festival had turned into a time-consuming passion that left all of her kids feeling ignored.
There were times when Jennifer wondered if the line between reality and re-enactment were blurring a bit too much even for their eccentric mother.
“Your horse shows are a hobby,” Lizzie said defensively.
“Yes, they are, but I don’t let them interfere with my education or my job.”
Someone in the family had to keep a level head. Since her father’s death eight years ago, that lot had fallen to Jennifer. It wasn’t that she resented it, because she did love her family, but there were times when she felt stifled in responsibility.
She glanced at her sister’s downcast face and realized that she had sounded much too stern. Reaching over, she playfully tweaked Lizzie’s nose. “Only God and shoe shopping are more important. Right?”
Jennifer was rewarded with the smile she had been hoping for. Lizzie rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Whatever. Is my math right?”
Jennifer checked it. “As usual, it’s perfect. Go on and have a good time.”
Lizzie pushed open her door, hopped out and slung her tattered black backpack over one shoulder. “Bobby Pinkerton has been telling everyone he’s going to beat me in fifteen moves. I can’t wait to make him eat his words.”
Jennifer grinned. “You go, girl. Trounce that boy.”
“I will. I hope you and McCloud win today, too.”
“If we do, I’ll get pizza for supper. Mom is picking you up, right?”
“Yup. I told her four o’clock.”
A teenage girl came racing across the parking lot and Jennifer recognized her as one of Lizzie’s friends. Slamming the door shut, Lizzie hurried toward her friend and the two of them entered the building.
After dropping her sister off, Jennifer drove a few more miles to the Kansas State University campus. The Large Animal Clinic was part of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital and Jennifer’s boss, Dr. Brian Cutter, was the chief equine surgeon at the facility.
She parked her truck and trailer at the side of the building. Getting out, she turned and grabbed the X-ray machine. The second she did, she realized her mistake.
“Oh, I can’t believe it!” She stamped her foot in sheer frustration.
“What’s wrong, Jennifer?”
She whirled around to see Brian coming out of the building. Dressed in his usual dark slacks and pristine white lab coat, he leaned heavily on his cane as he walked toward her. Under his arm, he held a small, tan pet carrier.
Jennifer’s shoulders slumped as she admitted her mistake. “I took the films you wanted of Dakota’s leg, but I left one of the cassettes in his stall. Can you send someone else to get it?”
“It’s Saturday. No one is in today except Deborah and I, and of course, Isabella.” He nodded toward the crate under his arm where his pet rabbit rested, her nose pressed against the cage door and quivering with excitement.
The brown French lop was a favorite with everyone who worked at the clinic. She had the run of Brian’s office plus a small enclosed pen outside the building where she happily napped in the shade or nibbled grass. It was well known that she had her owner and half the staff wrapped around her dainty paw.
Jennifer sighed. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that Isabella doesn’t have a driver’s license.”
He grinned. “Not even a learner’s permit.”
“And if an emergency came in they would need you and you need Deborah to answer the phone and check people in, so that leaves me to make the trip back to the fort. Are you sure you need the films today?”
“Very sure. My grant money depends on accurate and up-to-date information on the results of my gene therapy subjects. The bone growth study Dakota is part of is one of my most important projects. I wouldn’t ask you to make another trip to the fort if I didn’t need it today. Do you want me to call and see if they have someone who can bring it over?”
Jennifer checked her watch and blew her breath out through pursed lips. She didn’t want to miss her competition, but she didn’t want Avery doing her work for her. “No, I’ll go back.”
“Before you leave, I wanted to ask if you could rabbit-sit for a few days. Well, actually a week. Lindsey and I are going out of town and I know how much you like Isabella. We’d pay you the same as last time.”
