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She passed several other cages, eyeing the Fullmers’ Siamese cat and the Wilkersons’ pet hamster. Everything was quiet as she turned off the lights.
Outside, lacey clouds gathered over the surrounding hills. An early spring breeze caught in her hair and tossed the bare branches of the old maple near the clinic’s parking lot. Cassie climbed into her car and shoved it into gear.
Her thoughts wandered back to Colton and the empty years when he’d been gone. She’d been devastated, of course, but her father had helped her, and she’d thrown herself into her studies at the university, eventually gaining a partial scholarship to veterinary school.
She’d made friends and dated, but n
ever had she ever let anyone close to her again. She just hadn’t met anyone who held a candle to Colton. “Idiot,” she muttered between clenched teeth.
Why, now? she wondered. Why, after eight years, after enough time had passed that she’d been sure she was over him, did he have to show up?
Chapter Five
Cassie ran the currycomb over Macbeth’s shoulder and was rewarded with a snort and kick that barely missed her shin. “Miserable beast,” she muttered, slapping his rump playfully. She loved Macbeth and his surly temperament. “Okay, go on!” She unsnapped the lead rope, and Macbeth bolted for the far side of the paddock where he promptly lay down and rolled in the dirt beneath a single spruce tree. “Oh, great,” Cassie murmured, seeing her hard work destroyed in an instant.
Long shadows crept across the land, and the sky had turned a dusky blue with the coming of night. “Why do I bother?” Cassie wondered aloud as the horse, his hide dulled by dust and dirt, scrambled to his feet and shook his head.
“You’re wretched, you know that, don’t you?” Cassie laughed as she washed her hands under a faucet near the barn.
She was just wiping her fingers dry on the back of her jeans when she heard the sound of a vehicle thundering down the lane. She didn’t even have to look. She’d been expecting Colton for three days. “Here we go,” she muttered under her breath, bracing herself as the engine died and she spied Colton behind the wheel.
Climbing out of the Jeep, Colton hesitated when he saw her. “Is Ivan home?” he asked, closing the door behind him.
“In the house.”
“Good. I need to talk to him.”
“So you’ve said.”
He cocked one of his roguish brows in amusement. “No arguments from you?”
“Would it change things?”
“No—”
“Then what would be the point?” she countered. “There’s no use wasting my breath.” Without another word she led him through the back door. Ivan was in the living room, scanning the paper. “We’ve got company,” she announced, trying to ignore the fact that her stomach was twisting in knots. Just being in the same room with her father and Colton brought back unwanted memories.
Ivan glanced up, his gaze clashing with Colton’s. With deliberation he laid the paper aside and stood. “I’ve been expecting you,” he said slowly. “Seems as if you’ve been spreading rumors around town about me.”
“I just asked some questions.”
Cassie’s eyes widened. “You’ve been telling people in town that you think Dad is behind Black Magic’s disappearance?”
“Of course not,” Colton said through tight lips as he swung his gaze to her father. “But I did want to find out what you know about it.”
“Nothing,” Ivan snorted.
“The wires were snipped on the fence between your property and mine.”
“Big deal,” Ivan muttered, scowling. “If you’ve come here to accuse me of taking your horse, just do it, get it over with and leave. Or go talk to someone at the sheriff’s department.”
“I already have.”
“And what did he say?”
“Mark Gowan’s checking into things.”
“Good. Then maybe he can clear up the big mystery. But if you ask me, you and your hands just got careless, McLean, and that damned horse of yours wandered off.”
