A Military Match. Patricia Davids
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Название: A Military Match
Автор: Patricia Davids
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Короткие любовные романы
Серия: Mills & Boon Love Inspired
isbn: 9781408964507
isbn:
He patted Dakota’s neck. “If she wasn’t so cute when she gets mad I might have been able to stop egging her on. Did you see the way that fire leaps in those deep blue eyes?” Giving himself a mental shake for discussing Jennifer with a horse, Avery walked on toward the equipment room.
Lee came out of the door with two long-handled pitchforks and handed one to Avery. It was their turn to muck out the stalls before the rest of the unit returned from exercising the horses.
“Why do you razz Jennifer like that?” Lee asked as he pushed a wheelbarrow toward the first empty stall.
Avery wasn’t in the habit of sharing his feelings or explaining his actions. He shrugged. “She can take it.”
“And dish it out, but you seem to take a special delight in ruffling her feathers. What did she ever do to you?”
“Nothing.”
“I seem to remember that the two of you had a thing going for a while. What happened?”
“We went out a couple of times. It didn’t work.” Avery began pitching the straw from the first stall into the wheelbarrow.
Lee stopped and grinned at him. “She dumped you.”
“Get real. Women don’t dump me.”
Only one had. After that, he never gave another woman the chance. He was always the first to call it quits in a relationship.
“Jennifer didn’t fall for your smooth-talking ways, did she? That must have bruised your ego.”
“My ego is unscathed, thank you. It just so happens the woman can’t leave well enough alone.”
“What does that mean?”
“She wanted me to go to church with her.”
Lee resumed his work. “I go to church. It wouldn’t hurt you to give it a try.”
“Believing that someone or something is in charge of my life doesn’t do it for me. Anyway, she didn’t stop there. After I turned her down and expressed my views on the subject, she made a point of telling all the women at the clinic to steer clear of me.”
“So that’s what the big ears and long nose comment was about?”
“She thinks she knows what’s best for everyone.” She thought she knew what was best for him.
“I heard she was the one who got Dr. Cutter and Lindsey Mandel to patch things up. Now look at them.”
“Exactly. They’re married. In a year they’ll both be miserable and filing for divorce because they hate each other.”
Lee paused and leaned on his pitchfork. “Not every marriage ends in misery.”
“Enough do. If flying in a plane was as risky as marriage, nobody would be racking up frequent flyer miles.”
One look at his parents’ marriage and his own near miss proved his point.
“That’s a grim view.”
“I call it like I see it.”
“I wonder if that’s true.” Lee propped his pitchfork against the wall and lifted the handles of the wheelbarrow.
Avery looked at him sharply. “What does that mean?”
“It means you might not want to admit it, but you’ve still got a thing for Jennifer.” Lee maneuvered the loaded cart out the doorway, leaving Avery to stare after him.
Jennifer pulled up in front of the youth center at the Community Christian Church and checked her watch. “See, I told you I’d get you here on time. Is your math done? You know I’m not going to let you shirk your school work just to have a wild time with your chess-loving friends.”
Lizzie scribbled one more number on her sheet and snapped the textbook shut. “I’m done.”
“Okay, but I still need to check it before I turn you loose.”
Handing over her work, Lizzie said, “Like that’s a surprise. You’re way stricter than Mom is.”
“That’s because, unlike our mother, I believe your education is more important than a silly hobby.”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Jennifer’s conscience pricked her. She shouldn’t be criticizing her mother’s behavior, or calling her sister’s hobby silly.
Still, Mary Grant’s obsession with history and re-enacting the life of frontier widow Henrietta Dutton had been taking up more and more of her time. Her involvement with the local historical society’s plans for the town’s upcoming Founder’s Day Festival had turned into a time-consuming passion that left all of her kids feeling ignored.
There were times when Jennifer wondered if the line between reality and re-enactment were blurring a bit too much even for their eccentric mother.
“Your horse shows are a hobby,” Lizzie said defensively.
“Yes, they are, but I don’t let them interfere with my education or my job.”
Someone in the family had to keep a level head. Since her father’s death eight years ago, that lot had fallen to Jennifer. It wasn’t that she resented it, because she did love her family, but there were times when she felt stifled in responsibility.
She glanced at her sister’s downcast face and realized that she had sounded much too stern. Reaching over, she playfully tweaked Lizzie’s nose. “Only God and shoe shopping are more important. Right?”
Jennifer was rewarded with the smile she had been hoping for. Lizzie rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Whatever. Is my math right?”
Jennifer checked it. “As usual, it’s perfect. Go on and have a good time.”
Lizzie pushed open her door, hopped out and slung her tattered black backpack over one shoulder. “Bobby Pinkerton has been telling everyone he’s going to beat me in fifteen moves. I can’t wait to make him eat his words.”
Jennifer grinned. “You go, girl. Trounce that boy.”
“I will. I hope you and McCloud win today, too.”
“If we do, I’ll get pizza for supper. Mom is picking you up, right?”
“Yup. I told her four o’clock.”
A teenage girl came racing across the parking lot and Jennifer recognized her as one of Lizzie’s friends. Slamming the door shut, Lizzie hurried toward her friend and the two of them entered the building.
After dropping her sister off, Jennifer drove a few more miles to the Kansas State University campus. The Large Animal Clinic was part of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital and Jennifer’s СКАЧАТЬ