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Nate transported the puppy box in the covered bed of his truck They were bundled up with extra blankets and wouldn’t get too cold on the short ride Annie followed in her own truck They n that said Jensen Stables, Dr Nathaniel Jensen, DVM The road was paved, which was high cotton in this part of the world It was tree-lined and the snow-covered brush was cut back fro Then it opened into a well-lit coe open area, with a corral surrounding it on the side and back The clinic itself was attached to the stable There were Christht was a sprawling, modern one-story house with a brick sidewalk that led up to double front doors of dark wood set with beveled-glass s Not a single Christht or ornament on the house at all Annie wondered if the vet tech had decorated the clinic
Between the house and stable were two horse trailers One could hold six horses, the other two, and both were so fancy they probably cae door at one end of the house opened automatically, and Nate pulled in Annie parked outside and walked through the garage She carried the for to open the door into the house and flick on lights with his elbow as he walked through the kitchen and then disappeared The kitchen was the kind Annie’s e new appliances, six-burner stove, double oven, work island with a sink It was gorgeous It looked newly re past a long breakfast bar into a spacious fa furniture and a beautiful fireplace On each side of the fireplace were floor-to-ceiling bookcases filled with leather-bound volumes
"Annie? Where are you?"
She stopped gawking and followed the voice She passed a very long, old oak table in a large breakfast nook inside bay s that looked out on the back of the property A sharp left and down a short hall took her past a bathroom, a bedroom and into a laundry room In addition to cabinets, there was a stainless-steel washer and dryer, along with a deep sink This was not an old farmhouse, that was for sure
"I’ll use linens from the clinic to line their box," Nate said "They’ll be fine in here Listen, I know you signed on for this duty, but I don’t want you to feel like you have to rearrange your schedule to get out here the first inia, et called out so, so it’s not usually too hectic But--"
"Okay," she said "I won’t come I’ll leave a number If you need me"
"Well, could you still coiveup, I’ll thaw a hunk oflike Preacher’s, but edible Just let me knohen you can be here"
"You have your tech…"
"I don’t like to ask Virginia to stay after five unless we have special patients--she wants to get home, have dinner with her husband I’ll fix you up with a key, in case I’m tied up on a case and you beat me home"
"Sure Tell me exactly what you want," she said
He put his hands on his hips "I want to knohat’s wrong Why are you frowning like that? You’ve been frowning since I walked into Jack’s"
Mentally, she tried to smooth out her eyebrows, but she could still feel the wrinkle She’d been trying to picture hiirl on his arh-muck-a-muck ranch who raced or showed horses all over the world Or e as as smart and successful as he was And he was so daine all this But she said, "You’re downright chipper This is exactly what you didn’t want, but you’re al the puppies here What’s up with that?"
He laughed "Nah I kneas going to colad Jack and Preacher handled them for that first week for two reasons--they had to be fed, dried and checked frequently, and I enjoyed stopping by the bar on the way home every day Don’t knohen I’ve eaten so well," he added, rubbing a flat belly "Now that it’s apparent they’re all going to make it, they only have to be checked and fed every few hours, soree with you about the shelter They’d probably be just fine--those folks are devoted, and they interview and screen efficiently before they let a tiny, orphaned animal out of there But why take chances? If we have to use the shelter, we’ll just do so after Christet stuck with thehed "Corew up in, we’ll put on soht How about that?"
"You don’t have to showaround in here"
He grabbed her hand "I’ain, pulling her back through the kitchen He took her through a spacious great roohts between rew up, there was old, floral, ratty furniture in here, but once everyone got educated and off Moan to appear around the house Things got updated and remodeled" He pulled her down the hall, showed her where the ot the bed-and-bath on the other side of the kitchen Kept reat roo roo roo fae kitchen
"It’s enormous," she said breathlessly "It’s very beautiful What e?"
"I probably took it for granted, like any kid would," he said with a shrug "It’s still h I doubt they’ll ever move back here Come on, I’ll put on coffee"