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Grinning from ear to ear, Amy hauled the wiggling cocker pup through the door.
“You have a way with animals—and kids,” Beth said.
“I like them both,” Cassie admitted. She stuffed her stethoscope into the pocket of her lab coat and leaned against the scales.
Beth grinned. “So do I—most of the time.”
“You’d better,” Cassie replied, glancing pointedly at Beth’s protruding belly.
“Don’t tell me! I already know I’m going to have my hands full.” She gathered up her purse and glanced at Cassie. “I suppose you’ve heard that Denver McLean’s horse is missing.”
Cassie nodded. Beth was the one person other than her father and Colton who knew how much she’d once cared for Colton.
“Colton stopped by yesterday. He was fit to be tied!” Beth declared.
“I know. He seems to think the horse was stolen.”
“You’ve seen him then?”
“Oh, yes,” Cassie said with a small smile.
“He’s even better-looking now.”
“Is he?”
“Didn’t you notice?”
Cassie shrugged, though she’d noticed all right. Who wouldn’t? Even if the man was a bastard, Cassie understood what Beth was trying to say. Colton was still incredibly male, virile and sexy. Cassie compressed her mouth into a tight line, and drew her brows together.
“Who do you think would have the gall to steal Denver’s horse?”
“Who knows?” Cassie replied, thinking again of Colton’s angry accusations. At least it seemed that he hadn’t spouted off to Josh and Beth about her father. “If you ask me, the horse probably just wandered off.”
“Try to convince Colton of that,” Beth teased.
“I have. He didn’t buy it.”
“Well, maybe Black Magic will just turn up like he did last year.”
“I hope so,” Cassie whispered. If the horse showed up again, it would make things so much easier.
“I’ll see you later,” Beth called, collecting her spritely daughter and excited pup in the reception area.
“In just about six months,” Cassie replied.
Beth shook her head. “Let’s not wait that long. We could have a social life that doesn’t revolve around rabies vaccinations, you know. I’ll have you over for lunch before number two is born.”
“And I’ll hold you to it.”
“Good!” Beth grinned, snapping a leash onto Webster’s collar.
“Is that it?” Cassie asked Sandy as the door clicked shut.
“Until tomorrow at nine,” Sandy replied.
Rotating the kinks from her shoulders, Cassie slipped out of her lab coat, threw it in the laundry basket and washed her hands before walking through the labyrinth of metal cages in the back of the clinic.
At the first cage, Cassie bent on one knee and peered inside. The Monroes’ German shepherd was lying listlessly on the floor, recovering from tendon surgery. She slipped her hands into the dog’s cage to pat his broad, graying head. He rolled glazed eyes up at her, and his tongue lolled from his mouth. “Hang in there,” Cassie whispered with an encouraging smile. “You’ll be a new man in the morning.”
