Free Her Forever Cowboy by Debra Clopton Page B

woman.
    The dog barked like the echoing of a cannon as Cole closed the door behind him. Cole had made some bad choices in life, but in that instant, walking into the fray had to be at the top of the list. The terrified cat sprangtoward him claws out and hit Cole square in the chest—it did not feel good.
    â€œHold him!” all the women screamed—as if he needed to hold on to a cat using him as a scratching post. Thankfully, one second the yellow tabby was hooked into his chest and the next it flew to the floor and under a magazine table.
    The overexcited woofer spun. Magazines exploded everywhere as the dog hit the small brown table like a linebacker.
    Cole hadn’t moved, too stunned by what he’d walked into to move. This was crazy , he thought, lunging for the leash in an attempt to save the cat.
    But before he could help the cornered tabby it took charge, reared up and with a terrifying hiss, slapped the bully across the nose.
    Three wide-eyed women flattened against their chair backs clutching their trembling pooches as a new battle threatened.
    Cole stormed across the room, snagged the leash and yanked the dog back just as the fed-up cat launched toward it—
    Cole’s timing couldn’t have been worse.
    He stepped straight into the line of attack as the cat overshot the dog! Cole had turned back into a human scratching post when Susan rushed out of nowhere and threw a sheet over the cat.
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    Startled, the terrified cat let go of his arm and Cole watched in shock as Susan disappeared into another room with the secured animal.
    The room went silent.
    Everyone—including the dog at his side—seemed to be holding their breaths.
    â€œI don’t know who you are,” the pint-sized woman said, breaking the silence. “But, oh, boy, am I glad to see you.”
    â€œNot sure I’m glad to be here,” he growled about the time Susan came striding back into the room— without the cat.
    â€œBetty, please take Sampson into exam room two. You,” she barked the command to Cole. “Come with me, you’re bleeding.”
    He had never been happier to be bossed around in all of his life.
    He gladly turned over the leash to Betty then followed Susan into the exam room.
    Oh, yeah, he was bleeding all right. He left a trail as he went.
    â€œWhat was that?” he asked, as she pushed him to sit on the edge of the small animal exam table.
    â€œI’m not exactly sure. Sampson is just a big puppy and normally a doll. But I’d just given him his shots and he was a little shaken up, I gue—” She stopped speaking and was staring at Cole’s arm in horror. “I’m so sorry you got caught up in it.”
    â€œIt’s okay.” He didn’t want to make her feel any worse. She shook her head and reached for his shredded shirtsleeve. A quick and gentle roll exposed a not-so-pretty sight.
    â€œI’m not even going to ask if that hurts—I knowexactly how it feels.” She leaned closer, her fingers trailing along his arm as she cataloged his injuries. “It doesn’t look like you’ll need stitches.” She looked up and met his gaze.
    â€œI’m sure you’ve been attacked many times in this line of business,” he said, feeling no pain, only her gentle touch.
    She batted her Mediterranean blues at him and for a moment he was lost in them.
    She suddenly backed up, spun away and began washing her hands at the sink as if realizing she’d forgotten to sanitize before touching him. “It’s a job risk,” she said briskly. “I seem to keep involving you in all my job risks.”
    â€œTrue. Maybe we should stop meeting this way.”
    She gave a tiny smile, more grimace than anything. “I agree. No more mishaps from this day forward. Mine or yours.”
    He grinned at her as she began cleaning the punctures.
    â€œDo you often have to deal with that sort of craziness?”
    She shook