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“Not true, Dad.”
“You never gave them a chance.”
Cassie frowned. “What’re you getting at?”
“Four years of college—then veterinary school. All that time and you didn’t let one man get close to you—not really. And now Colton McLean blows back into town, sticking around only long enough for the bullet wound to heal, and you’re acting like a schoolgirl with a fresh case of puppy love.” He sighed heavily. “It’s beyond me why you’d give a man who’s only caused you heartache a chance to hurt you again.”
Cassie didn’t want her father to deflate her soaring spirits, so she said, “Look, we’ve been over this.” Bending down, she placed a kiss on his forehead. “I’m okay.”
“I hope so,” she heard him whisper over the rustle of newspapers as she dashed up the stairs to her bedroom. In a way, her father was right, she supposed as she stared at her room with new eyes. It was a young girl’s room. Though the movie posters and ruffles had been replaced years ago and her canopied bed was long gone, the evidence of her childhood remained. Everywhere, from the neglected records stacked in the closet to blue ribbons she’d won at a local fair, there were reminders of her youth, a girlhood devoid of a mother and an adolescence dominated by one single obsession: Colton McLean.
She swallowed hard as her father’s advice rang in her ears. She was falling in love with Colton again, and there wasn’t much she could or would do about it. But this time she was older, a grown professional woman with an education, a fledgling veterinary practice and a purpose in life. Colton McLean could never change that, nor could he determine her happiness as he once had. Or could he?
With a frustrated scowl, she dropped onto the eiderdown quilt of her brass bed and stared at the ceiling. Unconsciously she hugged a pillow to her chest and shoved aside any lingering doubts about her own future. She was her own woman, and nothing, not even Colton, could change that.
Chapter Nine
The next afternoon, while she was handing a recuperating Himalayan kitten to its owner, Colton burst through the waiting room door. His gaze collided with Cassie’s. “I need you,” he said the minute Mrs. Anderson walked outside.
The look on his face was desperate. His jaw sported a day’s growth of beard, his eyes seemed sunken and his knuckles were white as he rammed his fingers through his hair.
Cassie swallowed hard. How many years had she waited to hear those three words. But uttered in the middle of the waiting room, they didn’t ring with the desperation and love she’d hoped to hear. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Black Magic.”
Of course. Cassie clamped her jaw together. Always Black Magic. “What about him?”
“Oh, hell, I don’t know. But he’s not right. He’s not eating—and he seems weak. His temperature is over 103 degrees.”
Cassie felt a stab of instant remorse for her selfish thoughts. “Is he coughing?”
“No.”
“Nasal discharge?”
Colton rubbed his jaw pensively. “Not that I noticed. But he was restless last night.”
“What about his vaccinations?” Cassie asked, considering the symptoms. “Are they up to date?”
“I assume so—Tessa and her old man are pretty sticky about that. They don’t fool around when it comes to the animals and their health.”
Cassie lifted an eyebrow. So Curtis Kramer had managed to change Colton’s opinion about him. Maybe there was hope for the Aldridge team. “Let me check our records.” Quickly Cassie flipped through the files, pulled up the chart for the McLean Ranch and scanned Black Magic’s immunization record. “It looks current,” she murmured, mentally checking off the most common problems as she read Black Magic’s history. “Any other symptoms?”
Colton, his lips compressed, shook his head. “All I know is that this came on like that!” He snapped his fingers for emphasis. “I showed him to you just the other day. He was fine.”
Nodding, Cassie remembered the sleek black stallion, the health that fairly oozed from his mischievous eyes and glossy ebony coat.
No wonder Colton was worried. “I’ll come out and have a look,” she said, managing a practiced, professional smile, which belied the fact she was concerned. “Maybe he’s just having a bad couple of days.” But she didn’t believe it for a minute. Black Magic was healthy and young; there was no reason for him to be listless or out of sorts. “Craig should be back any minute,” she said, checking her watch and the appointment book. Fortunately she’d seen her last scheduled case of the day.
Shrugging out of her lab coat, she said to Sandy, “If we get an emergency call or someone comes in before Craig gets back, telephone me at the McLean Ranch. Someone will be near a phone.” She glanced at Colton for confirmation.
He nodded. “Milly’s back at the house, and we have extensions in the barns.”
“Good.” With a few last-minute instructions to Sandy, she grabbed her veterinary bag and followed Colton outside.
“I’ll give you a ride,” he suggested, but Cassie shook her head. As much as she’d have liked to have a few minutes alone with him, she didn’t want to end up stuck at the McLean Ranch depending upon him to take her home to her father’s house.
“I’d better take my own truck. I’ll meet you there.”
