Last week we announced that Inglath Cooper’s Good Guys Love Dogs is our Romance of the Week and the sponsor of thousands of great bargains in the Romance category: over 200 free titles, over 600 quality 99-centers, and thousands more that you can read for free through the Kindle Lending Library if you have Amazon Prime!
Now we’re back to offer our weekly free Romance excerpt, and if you aren’t among those who have downloaded Good Guys Love Dogs, you’re in for a real treat:
Desperate father Ian McKinley moves his delinquent teenage son to the small Virginia town of Keeling Creek, a place very unlike the New York City life he has been leading. Love takes him by surprise when he falls for Colby Williams, a woman unlike anyone he has ever been drawn to, a small town vet with a heart for animals and a fierce love for a teenage daughter she is also struggling to raise.
But Colby has a secret in her past, a secret she’s not sure her daughter will ever forgive her for. And as for Ian McKinley, he seems too good to be true. If she had learned anything from the one time she had thrown her heart fully into love, it was that it didn’t last.
And here, for your reading pleasure, is our free excerpt:
Prologue
Ian McKinley had finally made it. Reached the pinnacle. The top rung of the ladder. Tonight represented the crown jewel in the career he’d spent seventeen years of his life building. Thirty-nine, and by most definitions, he had everything. Money. Success. A teenage son. A beautiful fiancée.
Not to mention, having just brought on board the biggest client ever for CCI Investments of Manhattan, he was a hero to his partners. This party at the Waldorf-Astoria had been thrown for him, the invitation list a who’s who of New York City high rollers.
Standing here now among trays of champagne and tables loaded with exotic-looking foods, he should have been nothing but exhilarated. Somehow, he merely felt tired. Bone weary with the routine of his life, the predictability of it.
Every morning he bought his breakfast at the same bagel shop on Sixtieth Street, ate it at his desk with exactly two cups of coffee, no cream, no sugar. Every day he ran six miles at noon. He couldn’t remember when he’d done anything remotely spontaneous.
But this was the life he had wanted. This was what he’d worked so hard for—to prove a poor boy from the wrong side of Manhattan could make it to Park and Sixty-first. He only regretted that neither Sherry nor his mother had lived to see his success. He’d promised them both he would make something of himself one day. He wondered if they would have been proud of him. But then, if Sherry had lived, maybe he wouldn’t have been quite so driven. Wouldn’t have buried himself in his work. Life would have been more about family. More normal for him and for Luke.
Did he even know what normal was anymore?
For the past three weeks, he’d gotten no more than five hours of sleep a night. That might explain his fatigue, except that part of him felt as if he’d been tired for years. He needed a vacation. Away from the city. When was the last time he’d taken one? The last time he’d spent more than an hour alone with his son? Guilt gnawed at him. He would plan something for them to do together. Soon. And he would make sure he kept his word.
“Why is it you look like a man headed for the gas chamber instead of the man of the hour?”
Ian swung around to find Rachel looking up at him with inquisitive eyes and a smile on her lips. “Hey,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder and giving it a soft squeeze. “A pillow and a bed sound pretty good about now.”
“I could go for that. Especially since I’ve been getting just a little jealous of the stares half the women in the room have been sending you all night.” She leaned in to kiss thecorner of his mouth, her right breast pressing into his chest. He waited for the surge of attraction that should have followed her deliberate provocation and decided, when it did not come, that he was more tired than he’d realized.
“Hey, we can’t have any of that.” Curtis Morgan clapped a hand on Ian’s shoulder. A short man with a receding hairline and an expanding waistline, Curtis was one of Ian’s partners at CCI. “Not until after the wedding, at least. Ms. Montgomery, you’ll have our guest of honor ducking out before I’ve had a chance to make my toast to him.”
“I suggest you hurry up and do it,” Rachel said with a raised brow. “I’m afraid he’s nearly dead on his feet.”
“No wonder. You really gave this one everything, Ian,” Curtis said. “Our firm will see the benefit of it. We’re all very appreciative.”
“Yes. I’m so proud of him,” Rachel said. “Now, if I could just get him to agree on a wedding date. . . .”
She looked up at Ian with wide eyes that attempted to convey innocence, but Ian suspected Rachel knew exactly what she was doing.
As methodical about her personal life as she was about attaining senior partnership status at the law firm of Brown, Brown and Fitzgerald, Rachel made no secret of the fact that she thought a marriage between them would be mutually beneficial. She’d continued pressing her case for the past couple of years until she’d finally convinced him she was right.
Two weeks ago, when Ian asked her to marry him, it had been with the understanding that there was no rush. Both their lives were full, and a piece of paper wouldn’t change things drastically. Or so he had told himself.
When Sherry died right after Luke was born, he said he would never marry again. Unexpectedly losing his wife at the age of twenty-three was the most painful, life-altering thing he’d ever known. Something inside him simply shut down. For the first five years after her death, he didn’t date at all. When he did start seeing someone, he made sure it never lasted for any length of time, never long enough to let things get serious.
With Luke almost grown now, he didn’t relish the idea of spending the rest of his life alone. His relationship with Rachel was a comfortable one. It made no demands or even hinted at happily-ever-after and white picket fences. At one point, he’d believed in destiny and people who were meant for each other. A young man’s dreams. He no longer believed in any of that. If what he had with Rachel met the definition of compatibility more than love, he still appreciated her. Smart and beautiful, he personally knew of a dozen men who envied him.
“So what’s the holdup, Ian?” Curtis asked with a punch to his left shoulder. “You need a reason to leave the office before midnight.”
A waiter approached them and handed Ian a cordless phone. “There’s a call for you, Mr. McKinley.”
“Now, who could that be?” Curtis joked. “We’re the only ones who ever bother you at this hour, and we’re all here.”
Ian shrugged and moved to the window, away from the noise of the party. “Hello.”
“Mr. McKinley?”
“Yes?”
“This is Detective O’Neill with the New York City Police Department. Is Luke McKinley your son?”
Alarm shot through Ian. “Yes, he is.”
“He was arrested tonight for possession of marijuana, Mr. McKinley.”
It took a moment for the words to sink in. One by one, they finally did, even as disbelief washed over him. “Is he all right?”
“Yes.”
“There must be some mistake. Luke has never—”
“No mistake, Mr. McKinley.”
The detective gave him the address of the station and told him where to find Luke. Ian hung up, feeling as if someone had just punched him in the gut. He found Rachel and told her everything he knew. When she offered to go with him, he asked her to stay and explain to the others that he’d had an emergency.
He caught a cab outside the building, imagining, during the drive, a hundred different scenarios involving Luke and jail.
When the driver pulled over at the police station, Ian handed him a fifty and sprinted for the door, his stomach churning. Inside, he took the elevator to the third floor. Even at this hour, the place vibrated with purpose. Still dressed in his tuxedo, he got his fair share of stares as he wound his way through a maze of desks littered with coffee cups and mounds of paper.
From the far corner of the room, a thin man with graying hair and skin that could use a little sunshine waved at him and called out, “You Mr. McKinley?”
“Yes.”
“Your son is in the room across the hall. Go on in. I’ll be right with you.”
“Thank you,” Ian said, while the detective went back to his call.
At the door, Ian stopped and drew in a deep breath before quickly turning the knob. Relief flooded him at the sight of Luke standing by the window with his hands jammed in his pockets.
His hair, long in front and short at the sides, halfway covered his eyes. His stance screamed defensive, his mouth set in a straight line. “Guess I messed up your party, huh?” he asked, his tone belligerent.
If Luke felt any fear, he wasn’t showing it.
“Is that what you meant to do?” Ian asked quietly, not at all sure where to go with this.
“I didn’t mean to do anything.” Luke shrugged, clearly a rebel with a cause, the origins of which Ian couldn’t begin to guess.
“They said you were arrested for drug possession.”
Another shrug. “Big deal.”
“Big deal?” Ian repeated. “Do you have any idea how serious this is?”
“It must be if you left your party to come down here.”
The verbal slap achieved its intended sting. “I know things have been busy lately, but. . . .”
“Lately?” Luke interrupted with a short laugh. “You’ve been saying ‘lately’ since I was six years old. Probably before then, I just can’t remember so far back. You only have time for work. And Rachel, of course, now that she’s going to be your wife.”
Bitterness layered the declaration. The vehemence behind it shocked Ian. Luke wasn’t a big talker. For the past few years, getting information out of him took the finesse of a secret service agent. Ian chalked it up to teenage rebellion. The boy had been even less communicative since he’d told him about his engagement to Rachel. He looked at his son now and felt as though he were seeing him for the first time in a very long while. “I think we need to talk.”
“So pencil me in before your nine-thirty, and I’ll tell you all about how I know you wish I’d never been born.”
The anger in the boy’s voice hit Ian like a brick in the face. “Why would you say a thing like that, Luke?”
“Because it’s the truth.”
“No. It’s not. Son—”
“If it hadn’t been for me, she wouldn’t have died,” Luke yelled. “Don’t you think I know that?”
Ian grappled for composure. “Nobody could have prevented what happened to your mother. She had a stroke. How could you possibly think I would—”
“I don’t know,” he interrupted. “Maybe because you work all the time just so you don’t have to be around me.”
“Luke!” Ian stopped, at a complete loss for a response. Somehow, when he hadn’t been looking, something had gone terribly wrong between the two of them. Staring across at his son, part boy, part man, Ian wondered how Luke had felt this way without his knowing. How long had Luke been trying to get his attention? “Does this have something to do with my marrying Rachel?”
“I don’t care who you marry. I’m sure you’ll make all the time in the world for her.”
Ian felt as if someone had just held a mirror in front of him. He didn’t like what he saw. He thought about the party given in his honor tonight and realized the price. He’d spent the past seventeen years trying to make sure Luke had the things he himself never had as a kid. He’d sent the boy off to a camp in Wyoming every summer and to Austria in the winter with his ski team. In fact, he’d given him everything possible except one thing.
Time.
Maybe if he had, none of this would be happening.
Maybe if he had, he wouldn’t have needed this kind of wake-up call to see what a mess he’d made of things.
Ian sank down on the chair behind him. He raked a hand through his hair and wondered how he’d gone from such heights to such depths in the span of one night. Luke was in trouble. Ian could blame no one but himself.
1
Monday morning started like every other Monday morning of this past month. Heaven help her, Colby Williams did not understand the adolescent mind-set.
She shot a glance at her watch. “Baby, why can’t you just wear the first outfit you put on? We’re late. I’ve got to get to the clinic.”
“Don’t call me that, Mom.” Lena frowned. “I’m not a baby. And the first outfit looked like dogsh—”
“Lena!” Surprised, Colby stared at her daughter. Lena didn’t talk that way. At least not until recently.
Lena rolled her eyes and stomped up the steps to change for the third time. “Dog poop,” she called out. “The first outfit looked like dog poop.”
Critter, Lena’s one-eared cat, pounced up the stairs behind her. From the Oriental rug on the living room floor, Petey and Lulu, reigning house dogs, eyed Lena’s ascent as if they knew it wouldn’t be her last.
“You’re probably right,” Colby said to the pedigree-free duo, then dropped onto the oversize sage green chair next to the fireplace. She surveyed the small but cozy room with some measure of satisfaction. At least order prevailed in this part of her life. Bookcases lined the wall to the right of the couch, shelves filled with hardbacks collected since her childhood, everything from Beezus and Ramona, which she’d read in the fourth grade, to Gone With The Wind, which she still pulled out on rainy days.
The home she and Lena furnished and decorated together with casual, country touches could be called more than comfortable, but someday, Colby hoped to buy them a house big enough to have a room for her books and a bigger bedroom for Lena. She’d hoped that house would be Oak Hill, an old farm outside of town. But it had sold recently, and that hope was no longer a realistic one.
From the radio on the kitchen counter, a singer twanged an appropriate tune about not dwelling on stuff you couldn’t change. Following her advice, Colby got up and began putting things away, her thoughts turning to Lena. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry these days where her daughter was concerned. She was a thirty-four-year-old woman. A mother. A veterinarian with a thriving practice. And she was losing control of her fifteen-year-old.
The worst part? She had no idea why.
In the past several weeks, Lena’s grades dropped from almost straight A’s to nearly all C’s. Lena was smart. Colby knew that wasn’t the problem. Lena had always been a good child. Maybe too good. Colby had been spoiled by that. Her relationship with her daughter had been the most fulfilling aspect of her life for so long that she couldn’t imagine it any other way.
The difference in Lena seemingly happened overnight, as if aliens had swooped down and stolen her beautiful, fun-loving daughter, replacing her with a surlier version of herself. The kid who lived with her looked just like Lena, sounded like Lena. But she wasn’t Lena.
More than once, Colby started to drive over to her parents’ house and plead for their advice on how to deal with this new side to her. She’d stopped herself each time. Samuel and Emma Williams had always been there for Lena and her. They’d helped put Colby through college and then vet school, lending a hand when Lena was a baby and Colby had been determined to stay in school. They’d been the best of parents, and she’d called on them far too often. She’d find a way to work this out on her own.
The phone rang. Tucking her shoulder-length hair behind one ear, she picked it up with a distracted, “Hello.”
“I know you’re headed out the door, but I’ve got a proposition for you.”
“Does it involve convincing whoever stole my daughter to bring her back?”
Phoebe Walker laughed. “Hormones raging, huh?”
“I don’t know what it is. Isn’t there some kind of pill I can give her until it goes away?” Colby stretched the cord across the kitchen and picked up Lena’s plate of uneaten French toast.
“You’re the doctor,” Phoebe said. “You ought to know.”
Colby dumped the toast in the disposal and stuck the plate under the faucet, watching the syrup slide down the sink. “My expertise is in cows. They don’t turn on their mothers.”
Phoebe chuckled. “If it’s any consolation, I think this is normal.”
“It’s not,” Colby muttered, swiping at a water spot on her blue cotton shirt, and then wanting to change the subject, “So what’s the proposition?”
“An invitation, actually. To dinner.”
Colby tucked the phone under her chin and grabbed a paper towel to dab at her shirt. “What kind of dinner?”
“The kind where you put on a dress, a spritz or two of perfume and leave your calf-birthing clothes at home in the closet.”
“You want me to do all that just for you and Frank?” she asked, deliberately misunderstanding.
“Well—”
“That’s what I thought. Thanks, but no thanks.”
“Colby—”
“Don’t Colby me.” She slipped the plate into the dishwasher. “Have you forgotten what I told you the last time you tried to fix me up?”
“Are you going to hold that against me forever?” Phoebe asked, a whine in her voice.
“I should. You certainly deserve it.”
“He wasn’t that bad.”
“Yeah, if your idea of a hot date is an octopus pickled in Brut.”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake, Colby, you’re too picky!”
“And you’ve got too much time on your hands.” As Colby’s best friend, Phoebe refused to stay out of her love life, saying she’d known her since the beginning of the world and therefore had a vested interest in her happiness. Personally, Colby thought she should join the garden club or take up knitting, anything to relieve Phoebe’s self-appointed burden of finding Colby a husband.
No matter how often they went over it, Phoebe just didn’t get it. She refused to believe a woman could be happy living her life without a man—maybe because she happened to be married to one of the last good men on earth. But Colby qualified as walking proof she was wrong. She’d tried the dating scene off and on over the years, thinking Lena needed a father figure. Once in a while, she’d even dated out of a true desire for companionship. But at some point, it stopped seeming worth the trouble. The only men she ever met were either newly divorced and neurotic or looking for a housekeeper instead of a wife.
She’d long ago decided love rarely turned out to be the way Hollywood depicted it. But then, she’d learned that when she’d been eighteen and too green to know better than to fall for a great-looking guy with a great-looking car who came from a different world than the one she knew.
“Exactly who are you going to meet,” Phoebe continued, “tromping around in dairy barns in waist-high rubber boots?”
“The bulls I run into are a lot more interesting than most of the men I know.”
Phoebe let out an inelegant snort.
Just then, Lena tromped down the stairs in black military boots, her purple bombshell replaced by a tie-dyed explosion of orange, red and green that made the first outfit look tame by comparison. The streaks of purple hair, in tribute to the discarded ensemble, remained. “It looks as if Lena’s finally decided on the look of the day,” Colby said, lowering her voice. “I’ve got to get going. We’re already late.”
“Wait! You didn’t answer my question. Dinner this Friday. My house. Be here.”
“Phoebe—”
“I promise you won’t regret it.” Phoebe added a hasty goodbye and hung up before Colby could argue further. If she’d had the time, she would have called her back and given her a definite no on the spot, but Lena would be late for school and Colby had an early appointment. Turning down Phoebe’s invitation would have to wait.
2
Ten minutes later, Colby parked in front of Jefferson County High School. It sat on a small rise, and built of brick with classic lines, it was the kind of building that would never look outdated. A football stadium—impressive for a town the size of Keeling Creek—sat to the right of it.
The engine of her old Ford truck shook a bit as she put it into park. Out of habit, she leaned across to give Lena a goodbye kiss on the forehead.
“Mom!” Lena strained against her door as if Colby had just come after her with a hot branding iron.
Colby sat back in her seat, her hands resting on the steering wheel. The kiss had been a reflex action, one of those things that seemed impossible to stop when she’d been doing it for so many years. It had only been in the past several weeks that Lena started rebuffing her affection. A lump of emotion lodged in Colby’s throat. She hated to see Lena grow up. If this was how the young made themselves independent from their parents, then she only wished the process over. Watching her daughter pull away from her day by day hurt too much. “Are you coming by the clinic after school?” she asked, keeping her voice light.
“No. A bunch of us are going to the Dairy Queen.”
Lena hadn’t come by the office in weeks. Ever since she’d started kindergarten, she hightailed it to the practice as soon as the bell rang, helping out with dog baths and feedings, anything to be around the animals. Now, she seemed to have lost interest. Colby forced herself not to respond, but it hurt, nonetheless. “What time will you be home, then?”
“The usual.”
Colby refrained from mentioning that “the usual” recently stretched its boundaries to anywhere between four and six o’clock. “Just be back by dinner.”
A black Mercedes sedan rolled into the spot in front of them, its bumper barely missing the hood of Colby’s truck.
“Oh, no!” Lena slid down in her seat.
“What is it?” Colby asked, startled.
“The new guy. Luke McKinley. Oh, my gosh, he’s so awesome!”
Not once in fifteen-plus years had Colby ever heard such words from Lena. She’d always been a tomboy. As a child, she’d have chosen playing in the dirt over playing with dolls any day of the week. Not so long ago, boys rated the same level as fish bait. Colby wished they’d stayed there. Nonetheless, she strained her neck for a glimpse of the boy.
“I gotta go, Mom,” Lena said, reserve creeping into her voice as she slid out of the truck.
From the back seat, Petey and Lulu barked in protest when Lena forgot to say goodbye.
Colby glanced at the wounded-looking pair. “So you’ve noticed, too, huh?” She put the truck in gear, stretching for another glimpse of the vehicle in front of her. The boy hadn’t gotten out yet, and she could hardly sit here all day. She wheeled around the Mercedes, watching Lena linger at the door, no doubt waiting for Awesome Luke.
3
Colby headed up Main Street toward the clinic, frustrated by the twenty-five-mile-per-hour speed limit. Joe Dooley tooled along in front of her in his farm-use pickup, an old Chevy that had seen its fortieth birthday and then some. A firm believer that laws were laws, Joe kept the needle of his speedometer safely on twenty-four.
Telling herself to stop fretting and enjoy the early September morning, Colby waved at Ruby Lynch who was sweeping the sidewalk at Thurman’s Hardware. Keeling Creek had become known as one of the few towns that, so far, had been bypassed by the fast-food chains and super shopping stores. Small family-run businesses still flourished, and Colby liked it that way.
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Desperate father Ian McKinley moves his delinquent teenage son to the small Virginia town of Keeling Creek, a place very unlike the New York City life he has been leading. Love takes him by surprise when he falls for Colby Williams, a woman unlike anyone he has ever been drawn to, a small town vet with a heart for animals and a fierce love for a teenage daughter she is also struggling to raise.
But Colby has a secret in her past, a secret she’s not sure her daughter will ever forgive her for. And as for Ian McKinley, he seems too good to be true. If she had learned anything from the one time she had thrown her heart fully into love, it was that it didn’t last.
“I adored this book…what romance should be, entwined with real feelings, real life and roses blooming. Hats off to the author, best book I have read in a while.” – Rachel Dove, frustratedyukkymummy.blog.co.uk
“I am a sucker for sweet love stories! This is definitely one of those! It was a very easy, well written, book. It was easy to follow, detailed, and didn’t leave me hanging without answers.” – layfieldbaby.blogspot.com
“I don’t give it often, but I am giving it here – the sacred 10. Why? Inglath Cooper’s A GIFT OF GRACE mesmerized me; I consumed it in one sitting. When I turned the last page, it was three in the morning.” — MaryGrace Meloche, Contemporary Romance Writers
Good Guys Love Dogs by Author of Amazon Bestselling Truths and Roses, Inglath Cooper – 15/16 Rave Reviews & Just $2.99 on Kindle
Desperate father Ian McKinley moves his delinquent teenage son to the small Virginia town of Keeling Creek, a place very unlike the New York City life he has been leading. Love takes him by surprise when he falls for Colby Williams, a woman unlike anyone he has ever been drawn to, a small town vet with a heart for animals and a fierce love for a teenage daughter she is also struggling to raise.
But Colby has a secret in her past, a secret she’s not sure her daughter will ever forgive her for. And as for Ian McKinley, he seems too good to be true. If she had learned anything from the one time she had thrown her heart fully into love, it was that it didn’t last.
One Reviewer Notes
I love books! From my earliest memories, I loved being read to and then reading practically every book in my elementary school library. There’s something about taking a little trip into a wonderful story that is its own unique pleasure. Over the years, my favorite authors have provided me with glimpses into worlds I would never have known had I not picked up their books. From Beverley Cleary to Lavyrle Spencer to Jodi Piccoult to Anita Shreve and so many others, I am grateful they chose to become storytellers. A great story has the power to move, change and shape its readers. To me, that’s an honorable calling and a task I aspire to.
(This is a sponsored post.)
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Last week we announced that Inglath Cooper’s Good Guys Love Dogs is our Romance of the Week and the sponsor of thousands of great bargains in the Romance category: over 200 free titles, over 600 quality 99-centers, and thousands more that you can read for free through the Kindle Lending Library if you have Amazon Prime!
Now we’re back to offer our weekly free Romance excerpt, and if you aren’t among those who have downloaded Inglath Cooper’s Good Guys Love Dogs, you’re in for a real treat:
Desperate father Ian McKinley moves his delinquent teenage son to the small Virginia town of Keeling Creek, a place very unlike the New York City life he has been leading. Love takes him by surprise when he falls for Colby Williams, a woman unlike anyone he has ever been drawn to, a small town vet with a heart for animals and a fierce love for a teenage daughter she is also struggling to raise.
But Colby has a secret in her past, a secret she’s not sure her daughter will ever forgive her for. And as for Ian McKinley, he seems too good to be true. If she had learned anything from the one time she had thrown her heart fully into love, it was that it didn’t last.
One Reviewer Notes
And here, for your reading pleasure, is our free excerpt:
Prologue
Ian McKinley had finally made it. Reached the pinnacle. The top rung of the ladder. Tonight represented the crown jewel in the career he’d spent seventeen years of his life building. Thirty-nine, and by most definitions, he had everything. Money. Success. A teenage son. A beautiful fiancée.
Not to mention, having just brought on board the biggest client ever for CCI Investments of Manhattan, he was a hero to his partners. This party at the Waldorf-Astoria had been thrown for him, the invitation list a who’s who of New York City high rollers.
Standing here now among trays of champagne and tables loaded with exotic-looking foods, he should have been nothing but exhilarated. Somehow, he merely felt tired. Bone weary with the routine of his life, the predictability of it.
Every morning he bought his breakfast at the same bagel shop on Sixtieth Street, ate it at his desk with exactly two cups of coffee, no cream, no sugar. Every day he ran six miles at noon. He couldn’t remember when he’d done anything remotely spontaneous.
But this was the life he had wanted. This was what he’d worked so hard for—to prove a poor boy from the wrong side of Manhattan could make it to Park and Sixty-first. He only regretted that neither Sherry nor his mother had lived to see his success. He’d promised them both he would make something of himself one day. He wondered if they would have been proud of him. But then, if Sherry had lived, maybe he wouldn’t have been quite so driven. Wouldn’t have buried himself in his work. Life would have been more about family. More normal for him and for Luke.
Did he even know what normal was anymore?
For the past three weeks, he’d gotten no more than five hours of sleep a night. That might explain his fatigue, except that part of him felt as if he’d been tired for years. He needed a vacation. Away from the city. When was the last time he’d taken one? The last time he’d spent more than an hour alone with his son? Guilt gnawed at him. He would plan something for them to do together. Soon. And he would make sure he kept his word.
“Why is it you look like a man headed for the gas chamber instead of the man of the hour?”
Ian swung around to find Rachel looking up at him with inquisitive eyes and a smile on her lips. “Hey,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder and giving it a soft squeeze. “A pillow and a bed sound pretty good about now.”
“I could go for that. Especially since I’ve been getting just a little jealous of the stares half the women in the room have been sending you all night.” She leaned in to kiss the corner of his mouth, her right breast pressing into his chest. He waited for the surge of attraction that should have followed her deliberate provocation and decided, when it did not come, that he was more tired than he’d realized.
“Hey, we can’t have any of that.” Curtis Morgan clapped a hand on Ian’s shoulder. A short man with a receding hairline and an expanding waistline, Curtis was one of Ian’s partners at CCI. “Not until after the wedding, at least. Ms. Montgomery, you’ll have our guest of honor ducking out before I’ve had a chance to make my toast to him.”
“I suggest you hurry up and do it,” Rachel said with a raised brow. “I’m afraid he’s nearly dead on his feet.”
“No wonder. You really gave this one everything, Ian,” Curtis said. “Our firm will see the benefit of it. We’re all very appreciative.”
“Yes. I’m so proud of him,” Rachel said. “Now, if I could just get him to agree on a wedding date. . . .”
She looked up at Ian with wide eyes that attempted to convey innocence, but Ian suspected Rachel knew exactly what she was doing.
As methodical about her personal life as she was about attaining senior partnership status at the law firm of Brown, Brown and Fitzgerald, Rachel made no secret of the fact that she thought a marriage between them would be mutually beneficial. She’d continued pressing her case for the past couple of years until she’d finally convinced him she was right.
Two weeks ago, when Ian asked her to marry him, it had been with the understanding that there was no rush. Both their lives were full, and a piece of paper wouldn’t change things drastically. Or so he had told himself.
When Sherry died right after Luke was born, he said he would never marry again. Unexpectedly losing his wife at the age of twenty-three was the most painful, life-altering thing he’d ever known. Something inside him simply shut down. For the first five years after her death, he didn’t date at all. When he did start seeing someone, he made sure it never lasted for any length of time, never long enough to let things get serious.
With Luke almost grown now, he didn’t relish the idea of spending the rest of his life alone. His relationship with Rachel was a comfortable one. It made no demands or even hinted at happily-ever-after and white picket fences. At one point, he’d believed in destiny and people who were meant for each other. A young man’s dreams. He no longer believed in any of that. If what he had with Rachel met the definition of compatibility more than love, he still appreciated her. Smart and beautiful, he personally knew of a dozen men who envied him.
“So what’s the holdup, Ian?” Curtis asked with a punch to his left shoulder. “You need a reason to leave the office before midnight.”
A waiter approached them and handed Ian a cordless phone. “There’s a call for you, Mr. McKinley.”
“Now, who could that be?” Curtis joked. “We’re the only ones who ever bother you at this hour, and we’re all here.”
Ian shrugged and moved to the window, away from the noise of the party. “Hello.”
“Mr. McKinley?”
“Yes?”
“This is Detective O’Neill with the New York City Police Department. Is Luke McKinley your son?”
Alarm shot through Ian. “Yes, he is.”
“He was arrested tonight for possession of marijuana, Mr. McKinley.”
It took a moment for the words to sink in. One by one, they finally did, even as disbelief washed over him. “Is he all right?”
“Yes.”
“There must be some mistake. Luke has never—”
“No mistake, Mr. McKinley.”
The detective gave him the address of the station and told him where to find Luke. Ian hung up, feeling as if someone had just punched him in the gut. He found Rachel and told her everything he knew. When she offered to go with him, he asked her to stay and explain to the others that he’d had an emergency.
He caught a cab outside the building, imagining, during the drive, a hundred different scenarios involving Luke and jail.
When the driver pulled over at the police station, Ian handed him a fifty and sprinted for the door, his stomach churning. Inside, he took the elevator to the third floor. Even at this hour, the place vibrated with purpose. Still dressed in his tuxedo, he got his fair share of stares as he wound his way through a maze of desks littered with coffee cups and mounds of paper.
From the far corner of the room, a thin man with graying hair and skin that could use a little sunshine waved at him and called out, “You Mr. McKinley?”
“Yes.”
“Your son is in the room across the hall. Go on in. I’ll be right with you.”
“Thank you,” Ian said, while the detective went back to his call.
At the door, Ian stopped and drew in a deep breath before quickly turning the knob. Relief flooded him at the sight of Luke standing by the window with his hands jammed in his pockets.
His hair, long in front and short at the sides, halfway covered his eyes. His stance screamed defensive, his mouth set in a straight line. “Guess I messed up your party, huh?” he asked, his tone belligerent.
If Luke felt any fear, he wasn’t showing it.
“Is that what you meant to do?” Ian asked quietly, not at all sure where to go with this.
“I didn’t mean to do anything.” Luke shrugged, clearly a rebel with a cause, the origins of which Ian couldn’t begin to guess.
“They said you were arrested for drug possession.”
Another shrug. “Big deal.”
“Big deal?” Ian repeated. “Do you have any idea how serious this is?”
“It must be if you left your party to come down here.”
The verbal slap achieved its intended sting. “I know things have been busy lately, but. . . .”
“Lately?” Luke interrupted with a short laugh. “You’ve been saying ‘lately’ since I was six years old. Probably before then, I just can’t remember so far back. You only have time for work. And Rachel, of course, now that she’s going to be your wife.”
Bitterness layered the declaration. The vehemence behind it shocked Ian. Luke wasn’t a big talker. For the past few years, getting information out of him took the finesse of a secret service agent. Ian chalked it up to teenage rebellion. The boy had been even less communicative since he’d told him about his engagement to Rachel. He looked at his son now and felt as though he were seeing him for the first time in a very long while. “I think we need to talk.”
“So pencil me in before your nine-thirty, and I’ll tell you all about how I know you wish I’d never been born.”
The anger in the boy’s voice hit Ian like a brick in the face. “Why would you say a thing like that, Luke?”
“Because it’s the truth.”
“No. It’s not. Son—”
“If it hadn’t been for me, she wouldn’t have died,” Luke yelled. “Don’t you think I know that?”
Ian grappled for composure. “Nobody could have prevented what happened to your mother. She had a stroke. How could you possibly think I would—”
“I don’t know,” he interrupted. “Maybe because you work all the time just so you don’t have to be around me.”
“Luke!” Ian stopped, at a complete loss for a response. Somehow, when he hadn’t been looking, something had gone terribly wrong between the two of them. Staring across at his son, part boy, part man, Ian wondered how Luke had felt this way without his knowing. How long had Luke been trying to get his attention? “Does this have something to do with my marrying Rachel?”
“I don’t care who you marry. I’m sure you’ll make all the time in the world for her.”
Ian felt as if someone had just held a mirror in front of him. He didn’t like what he saw. He thought about the party given in his honor tonight and realized the price. He’d spent the past seventeen years trying to make sure Luke had the things he himself never had as a kid. He’d sent the boy off to a camp in Wyoming every summer and to Austria in the winter with his ski team. In fact, he’d given him everything possible except one thing.
Time.
Maybe if he had, none of this would be happening.
Maybe if he had, he wouldn’t have needed this kind of wake-up call to see what a mess he’d made of things.
Ian sank down on the chair behind him. He raked a hand through his hair and wondered how he’d gone from such heights to such depths in the span of one night. Luke was in trouble. Ian could blame no one but himself.
1
Monday morning started like every other Monday morning of this past month. Heaven help her, Colby Williams did not understand the adolescent mind-set.
She shot a glance at her watch. “Baby, why can’t you just wear the first outfit you put on? We’re late. I’ve got to get to the clinic.”
“Don’t call me that, Mom.” Lena frowned. “I’m not a baby. And the first outfit looked like dogsh—”
“Lena!” Surprised, Colby stared at her daughter. Lena didn’t talk that way. At least not until recently.
Lena rolled her eyes and stomped up the steps to change for the third time. “Dog poop,” she called out. “The first outfit looked like dog poop.”
Critter, Lena’s one-eared cat, pounced up the stairs behind her. From the Oriental rug on the living room floor, Petey and Lulu, reigning house dogs, eyed Lena’s ascent as if they knew it wouldn’t be her last.
“You’re probably right,” Colby said to the pedigree-free duo, then dropped onto the oversize sage green chair next to the fireplace. She surveyed the small but cozy room with some measure of satisfaction. At least order prevailed in this part of her life. Bookcases lined the wall to the right of the couch, shelves filled with hardbacks collected since her childhood, everything from Beezus and Ramona, which she’d read in the fourth grade, to Gone With The Wind, which she still pulled out on rainy days.
The home she and Lena furnished and decorated together with casual, country touches could be called more than comfortable, but someday, Colby hoped to buy them a house big enough to have a room for her books and a bigger bedroom for Lena. She’d hoped that house would be Oak Hill, an old farm outside of town. But it had sold recently, and that hope was no longer a realistic one.
From the radio on the kitchen counter, a singer twanged an appropriate tune about not dwelling on stuff you couldn’t change. Following her advice, Colby got up and began putting things away, her thoughts turning to Lena. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry these days where her daughter was concerned. She was a thirty-four-year-old woman. A mother. A veterinarian with a thriving practice. And she was losing control of her fifteen-year-old.
The worst part? She had no idea why.
In the past several weeks, Lena’s grades dropped from almost straight A’s to nearly all C’s. Lena was smart. Colby knew that wasn’t the problem. Lena had always been a good child. Maybe too good. Colby had been spoiled by that. Her relationship with her daughter had been the most fulfilling aspect of her life for so long that she couldn’t imagine it any other way.
The difference in Lena seemingly happened overnight, as if aliens had swooped down and stolen her beautiful, fun-loving daughter, replacing her with a surlier version of herself. The kid who lived with her looked just like Lena, sounded like Lena. But she wasn’t Lena.
More than once, Colby started to drive over to her parents’ house and plead for their advice on how to deal with this new side to her. She’d stopped herself each time. Samuel and Emma Williams had always been there for Lena and her. They’d helped put Colby through college and then vet school, lending a hand when Lena was a baby and Colby had been determined to stay in school. They’d been the best of parents, and she’d called on them far too often. She’d find a way to work this out on her own.
The phone rang. Tucking her shoulder-length hair behind one ear, she picked it up with a distracted, “Hello.”
“I know you’re headed out the door, but I’ve got a proposition for you.”
“Does it involve convincing whoever stole my daughter to bring her back?”
Phoebe Walker laughed. “Hormones raging, huh?”
“I don’t know what it is. Isn’t there some kind of pill I can give her until it goes away?” Colby stretched the cord across the kitchen and picked up Lena’s plate of uneaten French toast.
“You’re the doctor,” Phoebe said. “You ought to know.”
Colby dumped the toast in the disposal and stuck the plate under the faucet, watching the syrup slide down the sink. “My expertise is in cows. They don’t turn on their mothers.”
Phoebe chuckled. “If it’s any consolation, I think this is normal.”
“It’s not,” Colby muttered, swiping at a water spot on her blue cotton shirt, and then wanting to change the subject, “So what’s the proposition?”
“An invitation, actually. To dinner.”
Colby tucked the phone under her chin and grabbed a paper towel to dab at her shirt. “What kind of dinner?”
“The kind where you put on a dress, a spritz or two of perfume and leave your calf-birthing clothes at home in the closet.”
“You want me to do all that just for you and Frank?” she asked, deliberately misunderstanding.
“Well—”
“That’s what I thought. Thanks, but no thanks.”
“Colby—”
“Don’t Colby me.” She slipped the plate into the dishwasher. “Have you forgotten what I told you the last time you tried to fix me up?”
“Are you going to hold that against me forever?” Phoebe asked, a whine in her voice.
“I should. You certainly deserve it.”
“He wasn’t that bad.”
“Yeah, if your idea of a hot date is an octopus pickled in Brut.”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake, Colby, you’re too picky!”
“And you’ve got too much time on your hands.” As Colby’s best friend, Phoebe refused to stay out of her love life, saying she’d known her since the beginning of the world and therefore had a vested interest in her happiness. Personally, Colby thought she should join the garden club or take up knitting, anything to relieve Phoebe’s self-appointed burden of finding Colby a husband.
No matter how often they went over it, Phoebe just didn’t get it. She refused to believe a woman could be happy living her life without a man—maybe because she happened to be married to one of the last good men on earth. But Colby qualified as walking proof she was wrong. She’d tried the dating scene off and on over the years, thinking Lena needed a father figure. Once in a while, she’d even dated out of a true desire for companionship. But at some point, it stopped seeming worth the trouble. The only men she ever met were either newly divorced and neurotic or looking for a housekeeper instead of a wife.
She’d long ago decided love rarely turned out to be the way Hollywood depicted it. But then, she’d learned that when she’d been eighteen and too green to know better than to fall for a great-looking guy with a great-looking car who came from a different world than the one she knew.
“Exactly who are you going to meet,” Phoebe continued, “tromping around in dairy barns in waist-high rubber boots?”
“The bulls I run into are a lot more interesting than most of the men I know.”
Phoebe let out an inelegant snort.
Just then, Lena tromped down the stairs in black military boots, her purple bombshell replaced by a tie-dyed explosion of orange, red and green that made the first outfit look tame by comparison. The streaks of purple hair, in tribute to the discarded ensemble, remained. “It looks as if Lena’s finally decided on the look of the day,” Colby said, lowering her voice. “I’ve got to get going. We’re already late.”
“Wait! You didn’t answer my question. Dinner this Friday. My house. Be here.”
“Phoebe—”
“I promise you won’t regret it.” Phoebe added a hasty goodbye and hung up before Colby could argue further. If she’d had the time, she would have called her back and given her a definite no on the spot, but Lena would be late for school and Colby had an early appointment. Turning down Phoebe’s invitation would have to wait.
2
Ten minutes later, Colby parked in front of Jefferson County High School. It sat on a small rise, and built of brick with classic lines, it was the kind of building that would never look outdated. A football stadium—impressive for a town the size of Keeling Creek—sat to the right of it.
The engine of her old Ford truck shook a bit as she put it into park. Out of habit, she leaned across to give Lena a goodbye kiss on the forehead.
“Mom!” Lena strained against her door as if Colby had just come after her with a hot branding iron.
Colby sat back in her seat, her hands resting on the steering wheel. The kiss had been a reflex action, one of those things that seemed impossible to stop when she’d been doing it for so many years. It had only been in the past several weeks that Lena started rebuffing her affection. A lump of emotion lodged in Colby’s throat. She hated to see Lena grow up. If this was how the young made themselves independent from their parents, then she only wished the process over. Watching her daughter pull away from her day by day hurt too much. “Are you coming by the clinic after school?” she asked, keeping her voice light.
“No. A bunch of us are going to the Dairy Queen.”
Lena hadn’t come by the office in weeks. Ever since she’d started kindergarten, she hightailed it to the practice as soon as the bell rang, helping out with dog baths and feedings, anything to be around the animals. Now, she seemed to have lost interest. Colby forced herself not to respond, but it hurt, nonetheless. “What time will you be home, then?”
“The usual.”
Colby refrained from mentioning that “the usual” recently stretched its boundaries to anywhere between four and six o’clock. “Just be back by dinner.”
A black Mercedes sedan rolled into the spot in front of them, its bumper barely missing the hood of Colby’s truck.
“Oh, no!” Lena slid down in her seat.
“What is it?” Colby asked, startled.
“The new guy. Luke McKinley. Oh, my gosh, he’s so awesome!”
Not once in fifteen-plus years had Colby ever heard such words from Lena. She’d always been a tomboy. As a child, she’d have chosen playing in the dirt over playing with dolls any day of the week. Not so long ago, boys rated the same level as fish bait. Colby wished they’d stayed there. Nonetheless, she strained her neck for a glimpse of the boy.
“I gotta go, Mom,” Lena said, reserve creeping into her voice as she slid out of the truck.
From the back seat, Petey and Lulu barked in protest when Lena forgot to say goodbye.
Colby glanced at the wounded-looking pair. “So you’ve noticed, too, huh?” She put the truck in gear, stretching for another glimpse of the vehicle in front of her. The boy hadn’t gotten out yet, and she could hardly sit here all day. She wheeled around the Mercedes, watching Lena linger at the door, no doubt waiting for Awesome Luke.
3
Colby headed up Main Street toward the clinic, frustrated by the twenty-five-mile-per-hour speed limit. Joe Dooley tooled along in front of her in his farm-use pickup, an old Chevy that had seen its fortieth birthday and then some. A firm believer that laws were laws, Joe kept the needle of his speedometer safely on twenty-four.
Telling herself to stop fretting and enjoy the early September morning, Colby waved at Ruby Lynch who was sweeping the sidewalk at Thurman’s Hardware. Keeling Creek had become known as one of the few towns that, so far, had been bypassed by the fast-food chains and super shopping stores. Small family-run businesses still flourished, and Colby liked it that way.
Just past Thurman’s sat Tinker’s Drug and Soda Fountain. Then came the First Bank of Jefferson County. Across the street, Kirk’s Department Store had occupied the same spot for four decades. Next to Cutter’s Grocery sat the Dippety-Do Hair Salon, where she went for a monthly trim and the current dose of gossip that came free of charge with it.
Ahead, the county courthouse loomed whitewashed and noble. Euell Clemens and Oat Henley, local farmers, stood talking at the door, waving at her as she drove by. In two more blocks she reached the Dairy Queen, where Joe Dooley turned off, no doubt making a pit stop for his morning egg biscuit. Colby waved and sped up a little, only to spot the town maintenance crew up ahead, doing some kind of repair work that brought the traffic to a halt. She glanced at her watch and sighed. Late. About to be later.
She rolled down her window and waved at Ellis Holbrook, now holding the Stop sign at the front of the line of cars. He stepped back to her truck. “Mornin’, Doc.”
“Good morning, Ellis. Think this is going to take long?”
Ellis shook his head and adjusted his Jefferson County High Eagles cap, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “Shouldn’t be but a few more minutes. I’d tell you to back up, but you’ve got too many cars behind you now.”
“I understand,” she said. “How’s Toby?”
Ellis reached through the window to pet Petey, then turned his attention to Lulu, impatiently waiting her turn. “He’s fine. Nasty cut on his leg, but it seems to be healin’ up real nice.”
“He’s lucky he didn’t lose it, getting tangled up in that barbed wire.”
“I wager he’ll steer clear of it from now on. I’d better get back up there. We’ll have you movin’ shortly, Doc.”
“Thanks, Ellis.” Colby rolled up her window, thumped her thumbs on the steering wheel and flicked on the radio. WKKI announced the First Baptist Church’s plans for a bake sale on Court Street this Saturday and then promised to be right back after a few messages from its sponsors.
This was Colby’s favorite season, when summer wound down and took the heat with it, leaving cool mornings and warm days in its place. Traditionally, a time of year that she and Lena always enjoyed together, shopping for school clothes and supplies, registering for school and buying textbooks. But this year had been different. Lena merely endured each of those outings, as if she couldn’t wait for them to be over.
A song came on, as promised, and Colby’s fingers followed the rhythm on the center of the steering wheel while she wondered if she’d somehow taken a wrong turn in her efforts to make up for Lena’s never having had a father. Being a good parent was the most important thing in her life.
In most ways that counted, she hadn’t let Doug be the stumbling block that he could have been. She’d done exactly what she’d always planned to do. Gotten her college degree and gone to vet school. Opened the first female-owned practice in Keeling Creek. In fact, since Dr. Granger retired two years ago, she had become the only veterinarian in town. All of that in spite of being a single mother at nineteen. All of that in spite of Doug Jamison’s refusal to take any responsibility for the daughter they created together.
Doug left singe marks on her soul where relationships were concerned. Phoebe didn’t understand that. And Colby gave up trying to make her see that even if she ever met someone worth the effort, she couldn’t put her heart on the chopping block again. She’d had it pulverized once in her life, and once had been quite enough for her.
4
Some twenty minutes later, Colby pulled up to the Jefferson County Animal Clinic. She parked the truck in her usual spot and hopped out. Petey and Lulu, used to the routine, waited for her to raise the seat so they could get out. She’d found them three years ago at a gas station in Grayson County where someone apparently dropped them off. Viewing her as their savior, they wanted to go everywhere she went and hated to be left at home.
She hurried across the full parking lot toward the brick building enclosed by a white rail fence with red-and-white impatiens circling each post. She rushed through the door with Petey and Lulu at her heels, all three of them nearly tripping over Don Juan, who lay stretched out like a welcome mat at the clinic entrance. Don Juan lived there, along with several other pets with problems that made people decide they no longer wanted them. Colby refused to take them to the animal shelter, so they ended up making the clinic their home. She and Lena christened him Don Juan because all the female dogs loved him and trailed him like lovesick señoritas. Even the cats adored him.
For the past two years, Colby had been trying to raise enough private funds to build a no-kill shelter where pets stayed until someone adopted them. Unfortunately, she still had a long way to go to meet her goal, and, meanwhile, her collection of animal dependents continued to grow. She gave Don Juan a quick rub behind the ears. “We’re going to have to find you another snoozing spot, lover boy.”
The waiting room overflowed with pets and their people, several of whom offered Colby and her entourage welcoming smiles. The others simply looked annoyed at her tardiness. She didn’t blame them. “Sorry, everybody. I’ll try to make up for lost time here.”
Luckily, her two assistants, Laura and Ruth-Ann, already had the examining rooms ready, a petrified-looking dachshund in one, a bored-looking Saint Bernard in the other. “We took it as far as we could without you, Dr. Williams,” Laura said, smiling. “I did the fecal for little Slim Jim and Ruth-Ann is in the back cleaning up. George there decided not to go to the bathroom this morning, but when she pressed on his bladder, he changed his mind.”
“Just another day at the office,” Colby said, shaking her head and smiling. Laura chuckled and handed her the white jacket hanging on the coat rack behind the door.
One o’clock came and went before she finally got a breather. Her last patient had just left when Stacey Renick walked in with a can of Coke held out in front of her. At twenty, Stacey started working at the clinic after graduating from high school. Customers counted on her smiling face. Colby often wished for the ability to clone her. Stacey’s only character flaw was that, she, too, had the matchmaking bug and constantly reported in on recent “hunk sightings.”
“A receptionist’s job is never done,” Stacey said. “Here. You look like you could use this.”
Colby took the Coke. “Thanks.”
Petey padded in and plopped down on the floor beside Stacey. Laura and Ruth-Ann had gone to lunch, the place empty except for the two of them and a couple of part-time girls who did grooming.
“You’ve barely looked up since you got here.” Stacey leaned against the doorjamb, taking a sip of her own Coke.
“I can’t seem to get Lena out the door these days.”
“I take it you two are still at odds?”
Colby ran her thumb across the condensation on the side of the can. “She’s like a different child or something.”
Stacey shrugged. “Maybe that’s just it. She’s not a child anymore. Is there a guy in the picture?”
“She did mention someone this morning. Some new boy at school. But that’s the first time she’s said anything. I don’t know what to do.”
“Kids go through a stage a week at that age,” Stacey said, waving a hand.
Colby grinned. “I’m surprised you can remember that far back.”
The doorbell dinged outside the examining room. Stacey stuck her head around the corner and said, “Be right with you.” She turned to Colby then and mouthed a whistle along with a silent “Wow!”
“What is it?”
“Major hunk sighting!” Stacey stage-whispered before heading to the front desk. Petey followed, tail wagging. Colby heard her greeting someone in a far more welcoming tone than even good-natured Stacey usually managed.
Colby put the Coke on the counter behind her and began cleaning up the instruments she’d used earlier.
“Dr. Williams?”
She swung around, finding herself face-to-face with the hunk in question. The man nearly filled the doorway in both height and breadth. Dressed in faded jeans, a crisp-looking cotton shirt and leather loafers, he had dark, thick hair with a few flecks of gray at the sides. His eyes, in startling contrast, were blue. And his face. . . .
He had the kind of striking good looks that turned women’s voices to squeaks.
“May I help you?” she asked, a little shaken by how much he reminded her of Doug.
“Your sign said you don’t begin appointments again until three o’clock, but she’s got a briar in her paw,” the man said in an accent so neutral she knew he wasn’t from around here. “Could you take a look?”
Only then did Colby notice the yellow Lab standing by his side, her right paw suspended in midair. Uncharacteristically rattled, Colby knelt down in front of the dog, smoothing a hand across her back. “What’s her name?”
“Smidge.”
She looked up at him, trying not to smile. “Smidge?”
“She’s my son’s dog. He named her that because she was such a little puppy. You can see that didn’t last.”
“No, it didn’t.” Colby gently picked up the dog’s paw. She carefully turned it over and pulled the pads back to see where the briar had lodged. It was stuck in the middle, fairly deep. Smidge whimpered.
“Sorry, girl. Let’s get that out for you.” She stood up and added in a calming voice, “I’m going to put you up here where I can see you now. Easy, girl.”
She bent over to pick up the dog just as the man leaned forward and said, “I’ll get her.” Their heads collided with a thwunk. Colby saw a few stars. They both stood up and began to apologize at the same time.
“It’s all right.” Colby held up one hand and rubbed her forehead with the other, amused. “I’ll get her. I’m used to it. Really.”
The man stepped back, nodding in surrender. She picked up the dog and placed her on the table.
“Sit, Smidge,” he said in a kind but authoritative voice.
Smidge sat, still dangling her right paw in front of her and keeping her sorrowful gaze on the man.
“She’s a little wary of being here,” he said. “She got into a box of hot chocolate once and had to stay at the hospital for a few nights.”
“It’s okay, Smidge. I’ll fix you up and send you right home.”
Smidge’s pink tongue lolled to one side.
“She thanks you,” the man said.
“I think you’re right.” Colby had a habit of judging people by how they treated their animals. So far, he made the A-list.
He really didn’t seem anything like Doug. It was just the confidence with which he carried himself, the way his clothes proclaimed him comfortable with status, the fact that he obviously came from a very different place than Keeling Creek. Or maybe the situation with Lena had her making comparisons.
Focusing on the task, she went to the cabinet behind the table and took out a pair of tweezers and an antibiotic dressing. Holding Smidge’s paw with one hand, she extracted the briar while the man rubbed the dog’s head and kept her calm.
Colby doused the wound with peroxide. “There,” she said. “I’ll wrap it up and give you an antibiotic for her. We don’t want to let an infection set in. She’ll need to take the entire course.”
“You’re very good with animals,” the man said. “But then, why wouldn’t you be?” he added, looking embarrassed. “You’re a vet.”
She smiled and put the tweezers in a jar of disinfectant, saying over her shoulder, “Comes with the territory. She seems to like you pretty well, too.”
“I can’t do any wrong with Smidge.”
“That’s the great thing about dogs.” Colby unrolled a package of gauze and snipped off a strip. She began wrapping it around the still-tender paw, her touch light.
“Wish the same were true of kids,” the man said.
“You and me both.” She looked up. “You must have a teenager in your house, too.”
“As a matter of fact, I do. Don’t tell me you’re old enough to have one yourself.”
She made sure the gauze was secure and that Smidge couldn’t work it loose too easily. “I’ve been told she’s probably just in a stage, but if it doesn’t pass soon, I’ll look plenty old enough.”
“I know what you mean.”
“There.” Colby stepped back. “That should take care of it. Keep an eye on it. Change the gauze daily. If you notice any redness, swelling or heat in the paw, bring her in immediately.”
“I’ll do that.” He lifted the dog down from the table, setting her gently on the floor and patting her head. “Good girl.”
Smidge looked up, her tail thumping.
“She should be fine.” Colby wiped her hands on her jacket, annoyed with herself for not letting her gaze quite meet his. She’d been off-kilter since the moment he’d walked in the door.
“I’m Ian McKinley, by the way.” He stuck out his right hand. “We’ve only been in town for a couple of weeks.”
“Welcome to Keeling Creek, Mr. McKinley,” she said, gripping his hand with her own and wondering why that name sounded familiar. “I hope you and your family will like it here.”
“I hope so, too.” He let go of her hand, though his gaze stayed fixed on her for a second longer. He glanced away, then backed toward the door. “Come on, Smidge. Let’s get you home so you can put your paw up for a while.”
Colby smiled and followed them through the doorway. “Don’t forget to make sure she takes the full seven days’ worth of medicine.”
“I won’t.” He raised his hand in a wave before stopping at the front desk to pay Stacey, who beamed a thousand-watt smile his way. He took out his wallet and smiled at her, apparently oblivious to the admiration in the young woman’s eyes.
Colby went into the examining room, wondering about the man and what he was doing in Keeling Creek, the familiarity of his name still nagging at her.
The door dinged. She waited another second or two to make sure he’d left before she went back out.
“Incredible or what?” Stacey asked from behind the computer.
Colby ignored her dreamy-eyed receptionist and went to the door. She watched Ian McKinley get into the same black Mercedes she’d seen at the high school that morning.
Ah. Ian McKinley was Awesome Luke’s father.
Continued….
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Desperate father Ian McKinley moves his delinquent teenage son to the small Virginia town of Keeling Creek, a place very unlike the New York City life he has been leading. Love takes him by surprise when he falls for Colby Williams, a woman unlike anyone he has ever been drawn to, a small town vet with a heart for animals and a fierce love for a teenage daughter she is also struggling to raise.
But Colby has a secret in her past, a secret she’s not sure her daughter will ever forgive her for. And as for Ian McKinley, he seems too good to be true. If she had learned anything from the one time she had thrown her heart fully into love, it was that it didn’t last.
One Reviewer Notes
I love books! From my earliest memories, I loved being read to and then reading practically every book in my elementary school library. There’s something about taking a little trip into a wonderful story that is its own unique pleasure. Over the years, my favorite authors have provided me with glimpses into worlds I would never have known had I not picked up their books. From Beverley Cleary to Lavyrle Spencer to Jodi Piccoult to Anita Shreve and so many others, I am grateful they chose to become storytellers. A great story has the power to move, change and shape its readers. To me, that’s an honorable calling and a task I aspire to.
(This is a sponsored post.)
Inglath Cooper’s Romance Novel Good Guys Love Dogs is Our eBook of the Day at just $2.99, With a Perfect Record of 5.0 Stars from 9 Reviewers, and Here’s a Free Sample
Here’s the set-up for Inglath Cooper’s Good Guys Love Dogs, just $2.99 on Kindle:Desperate father Ian McKinley moves his delinquent teenage son to the small Virginia town of Keeling Creek, a place very unlike the New York City life he has been leading. Love takes him by surprise when he falls for Colby Williams, a woman unlike anyone he has ever been drawn to, a small town vet with a heart for animals and a fierce love for a teenage daughter she is also struggling to raise.
But Colby has a secret in her past, a secret she’s not sure her daughter will ever forgive her for. And as for Ian McKinley, he seems too good to be true. If she had learned anything from the one time she had thrown her heart fully into love, it was that it didn’t last.
From the reviewers:
“I absolutely loved the personalities of her characters and the wonderful animals that enhanced the book with their vibrancy. ” – Candy White | 4 reviewers made a similar statement
“As an animal lover, I especially love all of the great animal personalities and the push for adoptions! ” – BHappy! | 1 reviewer made a similar statement
“It is a poignant love story and has some humorous moments. ” – Virginia Jo
Good Guys Love Dogs is a “curl up and enjoy” book. A little romance, a little laughter and a big happy ending. What more could a reader ask for? – Delphos Public Library
You won’t be able to put it down until the end! This book is a wonderful read. Romantic, sad, funny, motivating all these words come to mind when trying to describe the book. The love that each of these parents have for their children is inspiring. – dlang100
I absolutely loved the personalities of her characters and the wonderful animals that enhanced the book with their vibrancy. I didn’t want it to end! – Candy White
Visit Amazon’s Inglath Cooper Page
I love books! From my earliest memories, I loved being read to and then reading practically every book in my elementary school library.
There’s something about taking a little trip into a wonderful story that is its own unique pleasure. Over the years, my favorite authors have provided me with glimpses into worlds I would never have known had I not picked up their books.
From Beverley Cleary to Lavyrle Spencer to Jodi Piccoult to Anita Shreve and so many others, I am grateful they chose to become storytellers.
A great story has the power to move, change and shape its readers. To me, that’s an honorable calling and a task I aspire to.
And here, in the comfort of your own browser, is your free sample of Good Guys Love Dogs by Inglath Cooper:
Good Guys Love Dogs – A 5-Star Romance from Kindle Nation fave Inglath Cooper, Author of Truths and Roses. It’s Our eBook of the Day at just $2.99 on Kindle and Here’s a Free Sample
Here’s the set-up for Inglath Cooper’s Good Guys Love Dogs, just $2.99 on Kindle:Desperate father Ian McKinley moves his delinquent teenage son to the small Virginia town of Keeling Creek, a place very unlike the New York City life he has been leading.
Love takes him by surprise when he falls for Colby Williams, a woman unlike anyone he has ever been drawn to, a small town vet with a heart for animals and a fierce love for a teenage daughter she is also struggling to raise.
But Colby has a secret in her past, a secret she’s not sure her daughter will ever forgive her for. And as for Ian McKinley, he seems too good to be true. If she had learned anything from the one time she had thrown her heart fully into love, it was that it didn’t last.
From the reviewers:
Good Guys Love Dogs is a “curl up and enjoy” book. A little romance, a little laughter and a big happy ending. What more could a reader ask for? – Delphos Public Library
You won’t be able to put it down until the end! This book is a wonderful read. Romantic, sad, funny, motivating all these words come to mind when trying to describe the book. The love that each of these parents have for their children is inspiring. Several times I caught myself laughing out loud then shortly after needing a tissue! As an animal lover, I loved all the animal rescue plugs this book had in it! I also loved that each of the animals had distinct personalities. Who wouldn’t want a “Don Juan” in their lives? – “dlang100”
I had a hard time putting it down and then didn’t want it to end! – “dandysandy”
I love books! From my earliest memories, I loved being read to and then reading practically every book in my elementary school library. There’s something about taking a little trip into a wonderful story that is its own unique pleasure.
Over the years, my favorite authors have provided me with glimpses into worlds I would never have known had I not picked up their books. From Beverley Cleary to Lavyrle Spencer to Jodi Piccoult to Anita Shreve and so many others, I am grateful they chose to become storytellers.
A great story has the power to move, change and shape its readers. To me, that’s an honorable calling and a task I aspire to.
And here, in the comfort of your own browser, is your free sample of Good Guys Love Dogs by Inglath Cooper: