Read Online His-And-Hers Twins by Rita Herron - Free Book Online Page A

But first, he’d talk to August and see if he could understand why his sweet, darling little daughter had suddenly become a four-year-old terrorist at nursery school.
    Because her mother had left her?
    Renee had been gone less than a year and had said shewas moving back this summer, but he didn’t harbor hopes of her returning for good. Even if she changed her mind and decided she wanted family life, he wouldn’t want her. His taste for flighty blondes had run its course with their disastrous short marriage. And they’d only married because of the pregnancy. When the girls had been born, he’d grown up and accepted responsibility for them. Too bad his former wife hadn’t done the same.
    Since the divorce, he hadn’t had the time or energy to pursue a woman, nor the desire to put his own heart on the line to be crushed again. Over the past few months, he’d avoided dating, thinking if the girls saw him with another woman, it might upset them. Now they’d advertised for a mother, and they obviously needed one. He had a few single clients, but no one he could think of sparked his interest. His mind automatically strayed to his sexy next-door neighbor. He’d definitely felt a strong physical reaction to Paige. This morning, her sweet feminine scent had invaded his entire being and had lingered with him all the way to work.
    But Paige wanted to travel and work. He strode back to the stainless steel table, threaded the needle through the dog’s skin, making the stitches as even in length as possible. No, Paige was simply filling in for today. He wouldn’t repeat the mistakes of his past, couldn’t force a woman to be a mother if she wasn’t ready to be one. Renee had taught him that painful lesson.
    â€œAre you about finished with Snowball?” Clara poked her head in the treatment area.
    â€œIn a minute. How’s the waiting room?” Clara’s face puckered into a frown. At forty-seven, the woman was attractive in a brash sort of way, with dark eyes and hair, but her problems had taken a toll on her appearance. Worry lines fanned beside her bloodshot eyes and graystreaked her hair. Today, he could truly sympathize. He felt as though he’d aged twenty years since the divorce.
    â€œOnly one Siamese in the cat room. But the dog side is packed. It sounds like a war zone in there.” She clicked her teeth. “Almost as bad as my house.”
    â€œNot the kids again?”
    She shook her head. “I should have stuck with dogs. Two teenagers are killing me. Jake wants a car and Lori had her first date. She didn’t come in until two in the morning.”
    â€œGeez, I bet you were frantic.” Dark circles deepened the lines below her eyes, and he wondered if she’d slept all night. He wouldn’t have if it had been Summer or August out all night. Just the thought of it made him dizzy.
    â€œShe’s grounded for the rest of her life,” Clara said with a tight laugh. “But I don’t know what I’ll do with Jake. He’s so angry all the time.”
    Like August. “I’m sorry, Clara. I wish I could help. You think it’s just a teenage stage?” Zeke finished the last stitch and secured the Elizabethan neck brace on the dog so she couldn’t chew on his handiwork when she awoke. Lifting her from the stainless steel table, he gently eased her down in one of the beds for recovery.
    â€œI don’t know.” Clara blew out a frustrated breath. “He blames his dad for losing his job. And me for everything else.” The uncertainty in her voice reminded him of his own misgivings about parenting. “I’m doing the best I can, but it doesn’t seem like enough.”
    I know the feeling. “Maybe you should take some time off work.” Zeke gave her a sympathetic smile. Her kids had problems and they had two parents. Would his daughters grow up to have even worse problems because he was