Jillian Hart - Hometown Hearts

“Dr. Stone.” She plunged her hands into her jacket pockets and offered him a professional smile. “At last we meet.”

“There was no way to avoid it.” He heard his voice boom low as if with dislike and internally he winced. He wasn’t proud of the tone. After his divorce, he had put up so many walls, and he didn’t like that about himself. He automatically wanted women to keep their distance so he wouldn’t be duped like that again.

She didn’t seem to know what to say. She opened her mouth, hesitated, bit her bottom lip for a moment. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. You have the most wonderful girls.”

“You don’t know them like I do.” Those words had sounded lighter in his head, but on his voice they seemed to weigh down like iron. Unlikable, remote, unfeeling iron.

“Daddy, Tomasina’s better.” Julianna bounced away to hold out her hand to one of the nearby dogs. “Cheyenne says she has a good chance. If she lives, we can put her back in her nest.”

“Her mother won’t take her now,” he blurted out, realizing too late what he’d said. He prayed his comment wouldn’t remind the girls of what they’d lost. A mother who had only part-time interest in them.

“Actually, that’s not true.” Cheyenne Granger looked all too happy to correct him. “Julianna knows where the nest is, so we should be able to return the baby to her home. Once Tomasina is back with her siblings, she should be just fine. They are probably looking around the nest wondering where she is.”

“Or saying she shouldn’t have misbehaved, which made her fall out of the nest in the first place,” Jenny supplied with a faint grin. “I have a lot of experience with siblings.”

He ruffled Jenny’s hair. “That’s a relief. Under no circumstances are we keeping a bird in the house.”

“It wouldn’t be right to keep her locked up,” Julianna informed him. “God meant for her to fly in the sky. She would be sad in a cage.”

“That’s right.” Cheyenne’s gentleness drew his attention.

There was something luminous about her and he had noticed it before. When he’d seen her last, she had been wearing a bridesmaid’s dress at the family wedding he’d attended a while ago. He couldn’t forget the way she’d stood out to him above all the other women in the room. He was not so good with words, which had been one of Stacy’s greatest complaints about him. His lack of words became a problem again as silence settled in, but the beautiful veterinarian didn’t seem bothered by it. She knelt to catch Julianna’s chin with both of her slender, gentle hands, a show of affection that surprised him.

“You keep right on helping animals. You call me anytime, got it?” She was at ease with his daughters, sharing a smile with Julianna and then with Jenny.

“Okay, I will. Animals just find me.”

“More like you find them,” Jenny corrected and shared an understanding smile with Cheyenne. He appreciated her kindness to his girls.

“Adam, this visit is entirely on me. You won’t be billed.” She opened and held the door for them. “Julianna and Jenny did a great job of rescuing Tomasina and getting her here safely. They saved her life. You must be proud of them.”

“I suppose I’ll keep them. For now.” He caught each girl with one arm and drew them outside into the sun and heat. He should thank the lady for her help and her gentleness to his daughters, but he wasn’t sure how that would sound. Too grateful, too familiar—would it open himself up too much?

Silence settled between them. He couldn’t ignore the wall he put up between himself and women. It was a gut reaction he didn’t know how to stop.

“Saving lives must run in the family.” Cheyenne raised a hand to shield her eyes.

“I don’t save anyone.” The words came out harsher than he meant them. Again.

“What do you mean? You saved little Owen’s life. Last winter you didn’t have to get involved when he was having problems breathing at the diner. You could have gone about your dinner, minding your own business, but you got involved. Since Owen is about to become my nephew at the end of the month, my family thinks mighty highly of you.”

“That’s because they don’t know me. Give them time and they will change their minds.” The girls broke away from him to scamper off to the car.

“You’re mighty humble for a big-city doctor.” Cheyenne squinted up at him.

“I’m not so big or humble. I do what I can, just the way you do. Life matters. That’s why I work hard at what I do.”

“Me, too.” Their gazes met and locked. Finally, she’d gotten an almost smile out of him. Adam Stone towered above her at an impressive height; he had to be about the same six foot three as her dad.

Handsome would describe him, but remarkable would be a better word. His granite face was a tad too rugged to be classically handsome, but he could outshine George Clooney and all the doctors on any medical show she’d ever watched. He wore all black from his tie to his dress shoes. Since Wild Horse was a casual place, Adam Stone was as out of water as a fish could get. He didn’t look like a kindred spirit, yet they had this in common. They both valued life; they both fought for it.

“I like making a difference and knowing I can ease suffering.” She walked with him to his door, squinting in the sunshine. “Is that why you decided to become a doctor, too?”

“I’m in it strictly for the money.” The promise of a smile dug into the corners of his mouth, dazzling enough to light up his deep brown eyes. “That’s why I came out here for the rest of the summer. Manhattan wasn’t lucrative enough.”

“Yes, and I can see Wild Horse is.” She had patients waiting, but did her feet take her back down the walkway? No. They remained stuck to the concrete, immovable. “Your workday must be a lot more leisurely here.”

“I had three appointments all day, which gives me plenty of time to get to know my new patients. It’s a change of pace.”

“I already know my patients before they walk in the door.”

“You are one of those animal people, aren’t you? You can’t walk past a furry creature without stopping to get acquainted.”

“You have no idea.” The man radiated the emotion of a mountain—solemn, somber, closed off—except for his dark eyes. Sadness lived in them, veiled and shadowed but there all the same. She didn’t know why she could read all of that. “I’ve been this way for as long as anyone can remember. Dad tells stories of me helping him doctor the cattle when I was barely old enough to talk.”

“Medicine was all I ever wanted to do, too.” He stared at the keys in hand and shrugged wide, dependable shoulders. “Best get the girls home. Thanks for, uh, saving Tomasina.”

“Anytime.” She jammed her hands into her white jacket, feeling oddly sad for the man. Everyone heard how his wife had left him and his daughters for his best friend, a fellow doctor who shared his former practice. How hard that had to have been for him, she sympathized, remembering how shattered her father had been years ago when her mother had left him for another man. Adam Stone didn’t look shattered. He seemed invincible, as if no tragedy could ever touch him.

She wanted to say something of comfort or reassurance, but she didn’t know what would possibly be appropriate. They were strangers. She knew his daughters but not the man, who managed a craggy half smile in lieu of a goodbye.

“This isn’t over yet.” She backed away, waving through the sun-streaked windshield to the girls buckled up inside the sedan. “You are invited to our family’s Fourth of July bash tomorrow.”

“Apparently there’s no getting out of it.” His wry tone held the hint of a smile although his face betrayed no emotion. He angled behind the wheel and shut the door.