LITMIR.BIZ

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have acted any differently if I’d been an eighty-year-old grandmother.”

      “Oh, puh-leeze! If you believe that nonsense, then you’re thinking has gone haywire.” Dayna frowned in disbelief. “Didn’t you think he was cute and sexy? The whole staff is still going gaga over him.”

      Stephanie reached into the kennel and rubbed a finger gently down the middle of the head of a calico cat. She loved animals and had ever since she’d been old enough to know what they were. The job she’d held back in Fort Lauderdale had been at an animal clinic such as this one, only larger. She’d enjoyed working there and had been hesitant about giving it up to move here to Texas. But her three brothers had assured her she wouldn’t have any trouble finding an equally worthwhile job. And they’d been right. So far, working for Dr. Neil had been a real pleasure.

      As for having a man in her life, that was an entirely different matter. She’d been burned too many times to let a young hunk like Acton Donovan turn her head.

      “Okay, I’ll admit the guy was super cute and sexy—in a boyish way. Rather young, though,” Stephanie told her, then cast a curious glance at the other woman. “Does he, uh, have a steady girlfriend?”

      Dayna laughed as though her question was the funniest thing she’d heard in a long time. “Let me put it this way—Acton has a steady stream of girlfriends. In the plural sense.” She named several different young women who’d recently brought their pets to the clinic. “Those are a few of his castoffs.”

      Somehow that tidbit of information didn’t surprise Stephanie. The man had reeked of charm and sexiness. He probably had a bevy of women knocking on his door. Which made the idea of him being interested in Stephanie even more ridiculous and her more determined to forget him. Her last boyfriend, the one she thought she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, had been a playboy. Only Stephanie hadn’t known it until her heart had become involved. Then she’d found out the hard way that he was seeing other women on the side.

      “I see,” she said thoughtfully. “So I guess you’d say he’s a playboy in boots and hat.”

      “That’s one way of putting it. But I’m sure every woman who goes out with him likes to believe she’s the one who can settle him down—turn him into a husband and daddy,” Dayna told her.

      Stephanie couldn’t picture Acton Donovan settling down in the near future or even years from now. And she figured any woman who tried to transform him would only be asking for heartache.

      “Well, the guy seemed nice enough. But I’m not interested. Not only is he too young and too much of a flirt for my taste, but there’s only one man I’m interested in. My little man, Linus. He’s my main focus right now.”

      “That’s well and good. But you might not always have Linus in your life. Even if his mother never comes back, there’s a dad out there somewhere.”

      That thought was something Stephanie tried not to dwell on. “That’s the reality I live with every day, Dayna. Although, Laurel told my sister-in-law, Becky, that the baby’s father was totally out of the picture.”

      “Yes, that’s what this Laurel woman said. But can anyone really believe her? What kind of woman gives birth to a baby and only days later, leaves it at the front desk of the Rambling Rose Pediatric Center?”

      Stephanie moved on to another kennel with Dayna following close behind her. “From what everyone who was at the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the center says, Laurel seemed perfectly fine when she went into labor. But who knows? She was just a stranger passing through. She could’ve made up the part about the father. All I know is that I love the little guy like he’s my own. And right now I’m concentrating on him. I’m just not interested in dating anyone.”

      “Well, I’ll say one thing,” Dayna replied. “If you can resist Acton, then I’m going to start calling you Lady of Steel.”

      Stephanie laughed. “Come on, it’s almost closing time. We’d better make sure everything is ready to shut down before Dr. Neil locks the doors for the night.”

      Later that evening, Acton was cleaning up the mess he’d made cooking his supper when he heard a knock on the front door.

      After drying his hands on a dish towel, he walked through the small house where his grandparents used to live and peeked through the curtain covering the paned window on the door.

      Seeing his oldest brother, Shawn, standing on the porch, Acton pulled open the door.

      “What the heck are you doing knocking?” Acton asked him. “You know you can just open the door and come on in.”

      Shawn, who was similar to Acton in coloring, but a bit taller, cast his brother a droll look. “And walk in on you and some lady in a lip-lock or something worse? No thanks. I’ll keep knocking.”

      Up until a couple of months ago, Acton had lived in the big ranch house with his parents and two brothers. But then his father, Ramsey, had decided that his own mother, Hatti, no longer needed to be living here alone and had practically ordered her to move into the big house. Seeing the chance to have a place of his own, Acton had promptly made the move.

      Stepping into the living room, Shawn gestured to the apron tied around Acton’s waist. “What are you doing, anyway? Don’t tell me you’re trying to cook.”

      Acton closed the door behind him. “I’m cleaning up my mess. And who are you kidding? You know I’m a pretty darn good cook. When it comes to making great dishes, Grandma Hatti is a good teacher. I made spaghetti. Want some?”

      “No thanks. I had a burger in town. But I will take some coffee. Got any made?”

      “No. But it’ll just take a minute to get some brewing.”

      The two men passed through the living room, down a short hallway, then into a small kitchen decorated in red, green and white.

      Shawn pulled out a chair at a round pine table and sank into it. “Actually, I didn’t come by to beg for a cup of coffee. I came by to tell you that Dad has decided to work the herd in the northwest corner in the morning. He wants to be loading the portable pens by daybreak.”

      “I hope he doesn’t plan on doing all three hundred head in one day,” Acton said. “Has he hired any day help?”

      Shawn shook his head. “He said if four grown men can’t handle the job, then he needs to get rid of some cattle.”

      Acton groaned as he spooned coffee grounds into a filtered basket. “Sounds like we’re in for a long day tomorrow.”

      “That’s why I stopped by. To make sure you didn’t have something else planned.”

      “Like what?” Acton took a seat at the opposite end of the table. “I show up every day for work, don’t I?”

      “Well, you’ve been known to get distracted by a pretty face.” He eyed Acton’s ragged blue jeans and old gray T-shirt. “You’re not going out tonight?”

      Acton frowned. “On a date, you mean?”

      “Yes. Like you and a girl,” Shawn said drily.

      “No. I wished I was,” Acton admitted. “But I wasn’t sure the girl would agree to going out with me. So I didn’t ask.”

      Shawn’s eyebrows piqued with curiosity. “Don’t tell me you ran in to a woman who actually resisted your charm.”

      Acton grunted with wry humor. “She resisted me, all right. To be honest, I don’t even think she liked me. She was polite enough. But I think that’s because it was her job.”

      “Hmm. Do I know this lady?”

      Acton shrugged. “I doubt it. She’s moved here from Florida and works for Dr. Neil at Paws and Claws as a vet assistant. I took Seymour there

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