Page 66 of Wanting Alex

I looked at Thomas. I wasn’t expecting anyone.

His shoulders lifted.

Mrs. Roberts answered the door. A smile stretched across her face, and she pointed in my direction.

The beautiful red-haired vet we were just about to go see came into view.My heart stopped at the sight of her.

Even though her hair was wild, and her lips were tightly pressed together as though reminding us she was still mad, she was still a vision.

She stopped in her tracks when she saw me. Her eyes raked over me from top to bottom and then flickered over my shoulder to stare at Thomas.

“Alex,” Thomas whispered.

“Is it true? Are you really going through with it?” Her eyes had blown wide, her voice cracked.

“We were just coming to see you,” I said, wanting to gather her in my arms.

Her face turned a brilliant scarlet red. “Why? So you could break the news to me in person? Did you think it wouldn’t hurt as bad? Except that I had to hear about it from my father first.”

“Okay, we admit we told Dr. Henry, but we didn’t think you would be mad about it.”

“I’m more than mad. I’m hurt. How could you not tell me? Did I seriously mean nothing to you? Was I right, and this was all a joke?”

Thomas pushed past me. “Woah, sweetness. What are you talking about? You mean everything to us.”

She took a step back.The deep red of her face receded. “It sure doesn’t seem like it to me. And don’t sweetness me. You don’t get to call me that anymore. You can call your newwifethat, but not me.” Her eyes glistened.

“Wife? What are you talking about?” Thomas crossed his arms.

She looked up to the ceiling and let out a shaky breath. “Dad told me you guys are getting married this evening.”

“Married?” My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. “We aren’t getting married. Not today, not anytime soon. We told him we got out of the arranged marriage.”

A single tear streaked down her cheek, and her eyes filled with more. “He just came to my office to ask me to be his plus one for tonight. To accompany him toyour wedding.”

She wiped at her cheek and looked away.

I wanted to reach out to her so badly, but I knew she wouldn’t allow it.Not yet.

“Alex.” Thomas’ voice was firm. “We’re not getting married. We were on our way to talk to you about a new program we wanted you to lead at the ranch.”

Her face snapped up. “You’re not getting married?”

“No. And we want to start a new breeding program here. We were hoping you’d agree to be the vet for the project.” His voice softened.

“Why would you want me? You have Caleb and Andrew coming home soon.”

“Caleb and Andrew will be busy with other things. This would call for someone who has experience. Stardust is our trial. If everything goes well, we want to continue, and we would need a vet specifically assigned to it.”

Her jaw dropped.

“The new contract we have is essentially the same as what we had with Dr. Henry. We don’t want the clinic to be negatively affected by this, so we added in the same clause to protect it. At the end of the year, whatever missed earnings will be taken care of. We can’t let the good people of Cottonwood Creek lose their vet because we want to monopolize her attention.”

Alex’s eyebrows went up.

I fought back a laugh. This was not the time for it. She needed to know we were serious.

Her face calmed, and she nodded. “I would love to look over the program and contract. I will need a few days to read it over and get back to you.”

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