Alex (Killarny Brothers 2)

“It was Nevada Rebel, wasn’t it?”

I nodded. “Had to be.”

He leaned against the stall door and looked at the horse. “What’s going to happen? Will that couple want to buy the foal as well?”

“I think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself there. We’ve got to get her through this first. And before that, we have to decide if she’ll keep it. One of us should probably talk to Madison about it and see what she thinks is the best for Pineapple.”

“Think you should do it? The twins caught me earlier and told me she was the new vet. Of all the things to happen.”

“Yeah. Well, I don’t particularly want to be the one to discuss it with her,” I knew it was a lie the moment the words left my lips but hoped that my brother wouldn’t notice. “I’ll do it though. I’ll see what she thinks, and we’ll proceed from there.”

“Good for her for catching it,” Jake said. “She wouldn’t have been in our regular lot to have checked at all.”

“I know.

It really had been something for Maddy to catch the pregnancy. What I had was only a hunch and not really much to go on, only the thought that the filly might have been grazing in the pasture the afternoon that Nevada Rebel found his way there and had a little party of his own with the mares. It was going to save us a hell of a lot of trouble to know what we did now, rather than three months from now when we shipped her off to Texas. Now she would likely be staying with us for the year until she foaled in the late spring. Assuming that all went well, we would have a foal that belonged to Nevada Rebel, and we would be glad of that come a few years from now when the horse could run in one of the derbies.

“I need to go into town anyway, so I’ll stop by the vet’s office and have a word with her.”

Jake jabbed me in the ribs. “Bet that’s not all you’ll have.”

I shot him a look that made him clear out, and I headed for my truck, knowing full well that I definitely wanted more than a word with Maddy.

The closed sign was already hanging on the office door when I arrived at the clinic. The sign she had painted her name on a few days before was hanging in the place where Doc Halloran’s name used to be, and I smiled as I looked at ‘Madison Graston, DVM.' She had a lot to be proud of.

But now I stood there and didn’t know where to turn. I didn’t have her cell number, and I could have called the office, but if she wasn’t in I didn’t know what good it would do me. I had no idea if she was staying at her dad’s place or if she had found another place somewhere in town. I really hadn’t thought this out well at all.

I didn’t have to though. Just about that time I saw Madison rounding the corner, canvas grocery bags in hand, feeling in her pocket for her keys. She stopped as she saw me and then waved a few free fingers from between the handles of the canvas totes.

“Let me help you,” I said as I moved toward her and extended my hands, taking the bags from her.

“Thanks,” she said, a little uneasily if I was reading her tone correctly. “Is everything okay? Did you need something?”

I shook my head. “No, I just wanted to thank you for checking on Pineapple and letting us know about her condition.”

She smiled then, a little less nervously. “All in a day’s work.”

“Where are you headed?” I asked, looking around and not seeing a vehicle other than my truck parked near the office.

“Oh…” she pointed up above the office with the keys in her hand. “The office came with the upstairs apartment. Doc had been planning to rent it out, but never got around to it and only used it for storage. The place was remodeled very nicely though, and I’m happy with it. Decided to go ahead and buy it when I took on the practice.”

“Smart. Well, let me help you upstairs with these then.”

Maddy paused for just a moment and then unlocked the door that led to the stairwell to her apartment. It was a slim space, but as we climbed the stairs and stepped out into the open floor plan, I could see what she meant. The place was very nice, and Doc had spared no expense in getting the floors done.

“Is this the original wood?”

Maddy nodded with a smile. “Nice, isn’t it?”

It was indeed. There was a wall of exposed brick on one side, while the plaster on the other probably offered a lot of reflection of the early morning sunlight. Not that Maddy got to spend much time here during that p

art of the day, with her job taking her out to the surrounding ranches before dawn sometimes.

“You can just put those on the table if you don’t mind. Thanks for carrying them up.”

“Well, you looked like you had your hands full.”

We both stood there awkwardly for a moment as the silence of the apartment settled around us. Maddy tucked one of her fiery red curls behind the perfect shell of an ear, and it reminded me so much of the girl I had known that I wanted to scoop her up and kiss her there, just behind her ear where the lobe met the soft skin of her face. It had always made her squeal, and the thought of it was arousing.