Read Online Summer Rose by Elizabeth Sinclair - Free Book Online Page B

table, he scratched her tummy. “I know you’re not gonna like—What the heck?” He could feel knobs in her tummy. Lumps, as if she’d swallowed a bunch of small rocks.
    He didn’t have to guess twice about what it could be. Pansy was pregnant, but it didn’t make sense. She couldn’t be pregnant. Due to the danger the wild animals presented if she should wander into their cages, she hadn’t been outside the office since she first came in. She was the only cat in the place, except for some patients who’d been here. But they were always in cages.
    He placed Pansy on the examination table and rolled her to her back. Carefully he inspected her nipples. Bright pink and enlarged. Then he felt for the lumps he’d detected in her tummy. They were small, but under his skilled fingers, he couldn’t mistake what they were . . . the heads of several tiny kittens. He estimated a litter of about four, perhaps five.
    For a moment he stared at the cat. Bad enough that this had happened to Pansy. What if it had been a customer’s pet? There had better be a very good explanation for this.
    Anger barely in check, he left Pansy on the examination table and hurried to the front office. Rose had her head bent over the keyboard, entering data into a patient’s file.
    “How did Pansy get pregnant?”
    Rose jumped and jerked around to face him. “Excuse me?”
    “How did Pansy get pregnant?”
    The corner of Rose’s mouth twitched in a half smile. “I didn’t think I’d have to explain to you how that works, Dr. Mackenzie.”
    Her addressing him as Dr. Mackenzie only increased his anger. She’d taken to calling him that in the past weeks, and while he was certain it was a by-product of his businesslike attitude of late, the formality grated on his nerves. Nor did he like the fact that she seemed to be making light of Pansy’s condition.
    “I know how she got pregnant. What I want to know is . . . how she got pregnant.” He sounded like an idiot.
    Rose looked puzzled.
    “How did it happen?” He took a deep breath. “Who did it happen with? She never goes out and no males are in here except for treatments and then they’re either receiving treatment or always in cages. So who’s the daddy? Have you let her outside?”
    Rose frowned and shook her head. Then suddenly her eyes got large, and she clamped her hand over her mouth. It reminded him of the first day she’d stepped into the clinic. Was she going to be sick?
    Just as quickly, she removed her hand. “I think I’m to blame.”
    “What?”
    Rose held up her hand. “No, not for her pregnancy, just for making it . . . possible.”
    His frustration level about at the breaking point, Hunter ran a hand through his hair and took the seat at the desk beside Rose.
    Modulating his tone, he asked, “What exactly do you mean by possible ?”
    Straightening her shoulders, Rose swiveled her chair to face him squarely. She scooped a lock of hair off her face and tucked it behind her ear, then folded her hands in her lap. “Well . . . I . . . uh . . . You see, Thomas, Molly Goodwin’s tabby cat . . . Well, he was meowing, and Pansy was meowing. I thought they might be lonely, so I kind of put them in the same cage to play for a while.” She spit out the last few words as if the faster she said them the less trouble she’d be in.
    Hunter bolted to his feet. “You what?”
    “In my defense, I didn’t know what their problem was, and I was just trying to shut them up so I could get some work done, and they were very quiet after I . . . put . . . them . . .” She dropped her face to her hands. “Oh, crap. I am so sorry.” Then she raised her gaze to him. “Are you going to fire me?”
    Her abject remorse coupled with the reminder that she’d never been around animals before and couldn’t be expected to know the warning signs of a cat in heat, served to cool Hunter’s anger. “No, I’m not going to fire you. Just please, talk to me