Tempted by the Soldier Read online

  Beth looked vastly relieved. “I won’t say anything unless you tell me I can,” she said.

  “I don’t want you to lie to your family,” Stephanie said.

  “I won’t, but neither is there a reason to say anything I don’t know.”

  Stephanie nodded. She had hired Beth out of high school after the girl had volunteered to help with the animal rescue group Stephanie and Eve had started. Beth had convinced her family to let her foster dogs and cats and had enlisted other kids to talk their families into doing the same. She loved animals, and for Stephanie, that was the most essential qualification. In the following two years, Beth had become a fine vet tech. Stephanie urged her to go to college and vet school, but her assistant didn’t have the drive to do it. She wanted marriage and a family more.

  Stephanie wasn’t sure how Beth was going to find one in Covenant Falls. Most of the young men left town as soon as they graduated. Selfishly, Stephanie wanted to keep her at the practice forever.

  “Who’s first this morning?” she asked.

  “Mrs. O’Connor and Honeybun. Honeybun has been limping more than usual.”

  Honeybun was a very elderly cat who was already defying the feline life expectancy. Mrs. O’Connor was in with her every other week, partially, Stephanie thought, because Honeybun was her only family.

  “Okay. I’ll take these two out. Sherry’s already adopted Lulu.”

  “Lulu?”

  “Or whatever the new owner decides to call her.”

  “You are an optimist, Doctor.” With that, Beth ducked out of the office with a big grin on her face.

  The day was too busy to worry. Stephanie slightly upped the arthritis medicine for Honeybun who, otherwise, was doing admirably for seventeen. Then there were exams and shots, a follow-up exam for a dog that had been hit by a car. Doing well. Mrs. Cassidy brought in her son’s rabbit who was acting strangely. Turned out the rabbit was about to be a mother. Mrs. Cassidy thought she had two lady rabbits. No.

  The afternoon was filled with the scheduled spaying of four dogs. She did those for a token cost because too many people in town were just barely getting by. She considered it a community service.

  She would be lucky to be through by 7:00 p.m. Then she would stay downstairs with the animals that had been sedated. She would sleep on the cot there. Good. No time to think.

  The day went fast. There were always at least two clients waiting, and then there was an emergency: a cat fell from a second-floor window that had been left open. By some miracle, it had survived, but one of its legs was broken and had to be set.

  At 2:00 p.m., Eve called her. Stephanie grabbed the phone while standing at the counter giving a patient a prescription.

  “Hi, how was the evaluation?”

  “Good. All but one were certified, and he should be soon.”

  “That’s great. Ready for Stryker?”

  “Has he been a problem?”

  “Nope. I parceled out Braveheart.”

  “To whom?”

  “Clint.”

  Stephanie was appalled. “Why did you do that?”

  “I thought he needed company. Of course, I didn’t tell him that. I just said I needed help since I was keeping Stryker for you.”

  “How did Braveheart feel about it?”

  “He seemed quite pleased. He went willingly into the house and even accompanied Clint on a trip to town. And Clint brought him to our house for dinner, and Braveheart obviously wanted to leave with him.”

  “Are we talking about the same dog?”

  “Yes.”

  “How does Nick feel about it?”

  “He’s willing to share Braveheart for a few days. He really likes Clint.”

  “Good for him,” Stephanie said with a decided lack of enthusiasm. The last person she wanted to hear about now was Clint who seemed to dazzle everyone.

  “We can keep Stryker another night,” Eve said. “I imagine you’re busy.”

  “That would be great.” She paused, then added, “I found a puppy on the road.”

  “Should I alert a foster family?”

  “She’s really cute,” Stephanie tempted. “And scared.”

  “No, no and no,” Eve said. “But...”

  ‘‘What?”

  “Maybe Clint...”

  “No!”

  The silence was deafening.

  She needed to explain. “We don’t know how long he will be here, and he has no permanent home. It would break all our rules.”

  “It would be temporary only,” Eve said.

  “Lulu needs something permanent.”

  Her friend sighed. “I’ll ask around, then. And I’ll bring Stryker over on my way to the office tomorrow.”

  “Thanks. I have appointments until after six so I couldn’t pick him up until then.”

  She hung up before Eve offered anything else about Clint Morgan.

  But then she glanced out the window and stiffened. Clint was standing with Josh outside the office. He wore a light blue long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Lord, but he was fine-looking. Electricity flickered and danced down her spine. Its heat pooled in her stomach.

  Nonsense! She turned away. There was another patient in the waiting room, and she was standing here like a smitten schoolgirl. Missy, a black cocker spaniel, was waiting for her annual exam.

  Beth was in the treatment room doing the preliminaries. Temperature. Weight. Checking the eyes. Missy was still for the examination although her eyes never left her owner.

  Twenty minutes later, Stephanie had finished. The tests were all negative, and with Beth’s help, she’d administered all the shots. Beth filled out the county form for the rabies shot while Stephanie talked to the owner. “She’s in great shape for her age, but she does have some arthritis. There’s a prescription that would help. She’ll feel better.”

  The appointments continued until 6:00 p.m., then she gave Lulu her shots. She made Beth leave at six thirty and finished her paperwork at seven. She wearily went upstairs, made a sandwich and drank a glass of milk.

  The phone rang. She looked at the ID. It was the Boston attorney. He wasn’t going to quit. Resigned, she picked it up.

  “Dr. Phillips?”

  “This is Dr. Phillips.”

  “You’re a hard lady to track down.”

  She didn’t answer. It wasn’t a question. Or maybe it was.

  There was an uncomfortable silence, then, “I’m David Matthews. I’m an attorney representing Mrs. Townsend. I understand you were also married to Mark Townsend.”

  Again no question. No need to reply.

  “Are you the former wife of Mark Townsend?”

  She’d decided during her exchange with Beth that she wasn’t going to lie. Neither did she intend on getting involved.

  “Yes.”

  “Can I ask you why you divorced him?”

  “I didn’t divorce him. He divorced me, at least according to the state.”

  “I would very much like to come to Colorado and talk to you.”

  “Why?”

  “He beat the hell out of his wife, but he contends her lover did it. Problem is she didn’t have one. She just wanted a divorce. From the records of your divorce, I take it you went through something like that.”

  She cut to the chase. “What do you want from me, Mr. Matthews?”

  “We would like you to testify for her.”

  Stephanie swallowed hard. “I’ve spent years trying to forget every moment I spent with him and the following years when he tried to destroy me. Why should I give him a chance to do it again?”

  “Because he’ll keep destroying good people.”

  “How do you know I’m ‘good’ people? I could be exactly what he sa
id I was.”

  “Because I do know Susan Townsend. She’s a close friend of my sister, at least she was before she married Mark. Then Townsend thought my sister wasn’t good enough for them to know. I checked around trying to find you. It wasn’t easy. I had to go through layers and layers.”

  “Didn’t that tell you I didn’t want to be found?”

  “It did. But we need help. I don’t know what he did to you, but I do know what he did to Susan. Isolated her. Chose her friends, her clothes. Insults. Then small slaps that grew into larger ones.”

  Stephanie was silent. She had gone through the first steps. The isolation. The belittlement. The theft of her business. He had hit her, too, and that was when she had left. Her father had hit her mother, and Stephanie had always sworn it would never happen to her.

  But it had, and she did leave, hell with the consequences. She’d known fighting would be an uphill battle after Mark had found men who swore to having sex with her. He was the betrayed spouse in Boston’s eyes, not the man who’d stolen the proceeds from the sale of a veterinarian practice she’d inherited. And she hadn’t had the resources for a long legal battle...

  “Dr. Phillips?”

  “I can’t help you,” she said. “I have a practice that requires all my time. I’m not getting into that quagmire again.”

  “He nearly beat her to death.”

  “Call the police.”

  “He’s convinced them she had a lover and he’s the one who did it, that she’s lying to protect him. Sound familiar?”

  “And just as ridiculous. The police actually believe he has two cheating wives? Doesn’t say much for him, does it?”

  “I don’t know about the police, but certain high officials in the department back him.”

  She believed every word the attorney said. It was the way Mark worked.

  “I’m not sure what you want me to do,” she said. “My reputation is certainly ruined in Boston, apparently enough for your client to have dismissed it and marry him. I can’t say I have a lot of sympathy.”

  There was a silence. “I understand how you feel, but...”

  “I don’t think you do. Look. I fought that battle and lost. By the time I quit, I was the whore of Babylon. He contacted every place I applied for a job and did his best to make sure I wouldn’t work as a veterinarian. He even tried to have my license revoked.”

  “Will you just talk to Susan?”

  She hesitated. She would be opening a door she didn’t want opened. Mark would find out where she was and make her life miserable once again. If he thought for one second she might be helping his wife, there would be hell to pay.

  Coward! She flinched at the word. But she had paid and paid and paid for her stupidity. He can’t hurt you now. People in Covenant Falls knew her and they didn’t know him. She owned the practice. No one could fire her but herself.

  Practically own it. Dr. Langford still held the note. It was almost paid off, but not completely.

  She wasn’t physically afraid. She’d learned to take care of herself. She’d learned independence, and she was quite sure that gentle Sherry wouldn’t let anyone touch her. But she wasn’t sure what Mark would do. From what the attorney had said, his violence had escalated.

  “I can’t make the trip up there. I have too many obligations here.”

  “We’ll come down and talk to you.”

  “What is she like?” she asked.

  “Pretty. And quiet. A little shy. She has a very popular, outgoing sister and I think she always felt in her shadow. She was literally swept off her feet when Townsend showed interest. He showered her with attention.” He paused, then added, “There’s the child. A daughter. He’s trying to take her away from Susan by calling her an unfit mother.”

  Stephanie closed her eyes at the thought of Mark having custody of a girl. He really did not like women. She’d come to understand that. It hadn’t been her who had infuriated him as much as her sex.

  You will not get involved.

  Stephanie capitulated. “I’ll talk to you, but that’s all I’m promising. I really don’t know what I can do. He pretty much sullied my reputation. And Covenant Falls isn’t very convenient. We’re out of the way. You’ll probably have to fly into Denver and rent a car. I can tell you now, I won’t go back. I can’t afford the time, and I never want to see him again.”

  “Anything we can learn could be helpful. She’s pretty much alone. Her family blames her for the breakup. She’s not getting any help there.”

  Stephanie sighed. “Let me know when you’ll arrive.”

  “Is there a hotel there?”

  “There’s a bed-and-breakfast. Not very fancy but clean. You wouldn’t want to stay in our only motel.”

  He asked for the name of the bed-and-breakfast and the phone number. Then, “Would the day after tomorrow be okay?”

  She hesitated. No day was good. But she remembered how she felt when she had tried to leave Mark. No one had been there for her. No one had believed her.

  “Okay, but on one condition. Mark won’t know about it unless I agree. I want your promise.”

  “You have it, and thank you. It will probably be later afternoon, but I’ll call you when everything is arranged.”

  She hung up, not bothering to say goodbye.

  Sherry and the new pup seemed to sense her disquiet. They nuzzled her. Sherry licked her hand. “I like you, too,” Stephanie whispered to them.

  They were all she needed. Damn if she would ever give another man power over her. Ever.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CLINT TOOK BART for a walk. It was a grand fall morning. There was that slightly smoky smell, and a sky so blue it hurt.

  When he returned to the cabin, he made breakfast for Bart and himself and enjoyed a second cup of coffee. Then Josh called.

  “I have a meeting this morning at the bank,” he said. “Might take a while. Can I change the meeting time from 10:00 a.m. to noon and pick you up for lunch at Maude’s? We can talk about the dock and then walk over to the hardware store and order the materials.”

  “Sounds good,” he said. Really it didn’t. It meant Bart would probably leave after lunch. The thought was painful. It was staggering to think how much he would miss the animal after just a few days. Maybe it was the solemn way with which the dog regarded him, or the joy in Bart’s eyes when his stomach was rubbed. Or maybe just the comfortable companionship, something Clint hadn’t known he needed, but now knew he did.

  “I talked to Mr. Wilson at the hardware store Saturday,” Clint continued, “and he gave me some advice on the materials needed. All we have to do now is order them. He said he would loan us the equipment I need.”

  “Good. How is Braveheart doing?”

  “We just took a walk. He seems happy.”

  There was a silence, then, “That’s great. I’ll see you later.”

  Clint walked out to the edge of the lake. He’d picked up a measuring tape at the hardware store and now he measured where the first land posts should go. He marked the spots. It was the footings in the water that would require more than one person. He could handle the ones on land.

  Bart watched as he dug the dry holes. Clint relished the labor, and the cool fresh air, so different from the fiercely hot Afghanistan desert. The lake sparkled, cool and clean and inviting.

  Satisfied that he had finally done something constructive by taking the first few steps toward building the dock, he returned to the cabin.

  He drank a glass of water. He’d been in Covenant Falls a week. Building the dock would probably take six or seven days, depending on who helped him. Then he would need to make some serious decisions about his future. These last few days had given him a soft landing from the despair he’d felt in the hospital.

  But aimlessness taunted hi
m. Dr. Payne had told him to expect it. Clint had spent half his life as a soldier, a pilot. When he wasn’t in the field, he was training for it. His friends had been training with him. Some had come and gone, some had been killed. Some had been with him a long time. But he’d always been surrounded by people with a like mind. They wanted to be the best at what they did. They played hard, loved hard, fought hard. They shared the same shattering memories. Losses. Fear. And adrenaline. It was who they were. Who he was.

  Who he had been.

  The loss of that identity was a huge hole. Bart filled a tiny little corner, but there was a still gaping hole. Josh and his wife had been a godsend. Josh didn’t say much, but there was that silent recognition. Josh had defeated the alienation Clint was experiencing, the feeling that no one understood, or could understand, how difficult it was to walk back into a civilian world.

  And then there was Stephanie. She hadn’t left his thoughts over the weekend. Search and rescue. The acerbic vet had a heart. Unfortunately, it seemed to be for those in need of rescue, and he hadn’t qualified.

  He was puzzled by his own interest. He’d never been more intrigued by a woman. His marriage had happened in a burst of exuberance just prior to a deployment, a need to come home to something. There had never been magic. He knew that now. He’d known it on his wedding night. He especially knew it when he didn’t receive much mail from his bride, but a great deal from friends about her activities with other pilots. He knew it when his heart wasn’t broken at the news. He took pride in one thing, though: he was a realist. Ever since he was a young boy, he’d never really believed in anyone. The exceptions were the men and women that flew with him.

  Clint checked his watch. Twenty minutes before Josh would arrive. He showered and changed into clean clothes. Maybe he would see Stephanie in town.

  He fetched the materials list and design and went outside on the porch, Bart on his heels. He sat on the swing and scratched the dog’s ears. “I’ll miss you.” Bart licked his hand and looked at him soulfully, as if he understood.

  He thought about calling Stephanie, ask her for lunch or dinner, or breakfast or a coffee break or whatever. All she could do was say no, and he wasn’t a schoolboy anymore. He just wanted to explore those odd feelings, to know whether she felt any of them. Probably not.