her hand from his, she stepped back. “It was nice meeting you, Acton. I’m glad you brought Seymour to the clinic to be treated. He should feel better soon.”
Feeling unusually tongue-tied, he stuttered, “Uh, sure. It was nice meeting you. And thanks for taking care of my dog.”
She turned and walked away, but not before the tiny smile on her face smacked Acton right in the middle of his chest. What in heck was going on here? he wondered. First she had Seymour eating out of her hand and now he was feeling like a moonstruck teenager.
“Will that be cash or card, Acton?”
The question failed to register with him. He was too busy watching Stephanie leave the waiting area with an older woman toting a cat carrier.
“Acton! Do you think you can beam yourself back to earth?”
Forcing his attention back to the counter, he stared blankly at Sheri, a young woman he’d known since their kindergarten days.
“Sorry, Sheri. Did you say something?”
Sighing, she gave him a smile that would’ve melted a lesser man’s bones. “How do you want to pay your bill today? With cash or card?”
Mentally shaking himself, Acton dug his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans. “Card. How much is it?”
The amount Sheri quoted caused him to whistle under his breath and he glanced wryly down at Seymour. The dog was grinning happily and thumping his bushy tail. Yep, Acton thought, the dog was still under Stephanie Fortune’s spell.
“Seymour, I’m not so sure you’re worth this,” he said. “But I guess I’ll keep you.”
He swiped the debit card, then punched in his PIN. After he’d placed it back in his wallet, he leaned casually against the counter.
With gamine features and short black hair, Sheri was cute, but in his opinion, not anywhere near as pretty or classy as Stephanie.
“So when did Miss Fortune come to work for Paws and Claws?”
Sheri handed him a receipt. “Before our new clinic opened. She had lots of experience back in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, working with animals, so Dr. Neil hired her right off.”
“Hmm, Florida,” he mused aloud. “Wonder how she happened to come to Texas?”
Surprised, Sheri asked, “Are you saying you don’t know who she is?”
Acton frowned. “Am I supposed to know her?”
She rolled her eyes. “Acton, you really ought to get out of the barn more often. It means Stephanie is one of the Fortunes. It also means that she’s way out of your league, cowboy.”
“Maybe in your mind, Sheri. But I might have other ideas about that.”
Grinning at the shocked look on Sheri’s face, Acton stuffed the receipt in his shirt pocket and led Seymour out of the clinic.
“It was more than obvious the cowboy liked you. The way he was looking at you...” Dayna’s words ended on a wistful sigh. “If only he would look at me that way, I’d be walking around on a cloud.”
Stephanie glanced at her coworker as the two women moved from one kennel to the next, checking on the cats that had been spayed and neutered earlier in the day.
“He? Who are you talking about?”
Dayna rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Oh, come on, Stephanie. There’s only been one hunk of a man stroll into the clinic today. I’m talking about Acton—the dreamy cowboy. You know! Blond hair, sparkling blue eyes and a grin that turns my knees to mush.”
“Oh, him.” Shaking her head, Stephanie turned her attention back to the cats. “If you think the man had any interest in me personally, you’re totally confused. Anyway, he’s obviously a flirt. And I seriously doubt he discriminates by age or looks. He wouldn’t 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
