* * *
Colton hadn’t lied. It had been under three minutes when the fire truck and ambulance arrived. The fire truck continued on as Jace yanked open the door to the ambulance and hopped in.
“What’s up, Jace?”
Jace held on as Flint drove the large box-shaped ambulance like a sports car.
“You know, just the usual small-town doctor stuff.”
Flint was a good guy. Last week all the guys shaved their heads into military-short cuts, high and tight. Flint’s black hair and deep brown eyes gave him a brooding, sexy look, but the guy was oblivious to his appeal and wanted nothing more than to help people.
“I’ll tell you what. I thought small towns were boring. I’m from Louisville and couldn’t imagine the job here being exciting, but it is. Just in a completely different way. Plus the food is way better. I can’t tell you how many cakes and pies are dropped off every week. You know how firefighters love good food.”
“I’m glad you like it here.”
“And thanks for letting Jack, Conley, and me move into the house on the farm,” Flint said with a smile, even as he practically took a curve on two wheels. “Hey, what was with those panties you left behind? From the gossip around town, you aren’t getting any. But those panties gave a whole other story.”
“What panties?”
“The fire-engine red satin ones that were partially under the bed in the master.” Flint held out his fist for a fist bump. “Nice.”
“The panty dropper,” Jace said under his breath.
“The what?”
“How have you not heard of the panty dropper?”
“I’ve only been here a month, Doc.”
Jace saw they were coming close to the nursery and pulled the stethoscope from his bag and shoved a pair of exam gloves into his pocket. “There’s been this couple or maybe just this guy having sex all over town. The only way we know this is from the panties left behind. We assume the man is so good at causing those panties to drop that the woman forgets to pick them up afterward. Or maybe it’s one woman and it’s like a calling card. We have no idea, but it’s the biggest bet on the Blossom Café betting books.”
“I didn’t see that one yet. I did see the one about you becoming a priest. I don’t think so. I’ve seen you scoping out some of the Belles when you don’t think anyone is looking.”
Great. Now there was a bet on him in the café. Just what he needed. He had been checking out the Belles and was surprised no one but Flint noticed. Although, to be fair, he hadn’t asked a single one out.
The Keeneston Belles were a group of unmarried twenty-something women who wore the guise of a charitable foundation but were really just husband hunters. Once they were married, they moved onto the Keeneston Ladies Group. They basically ran the town behind the scenes. While the Belles were husband hunters, the Ladies were more mature and actually did do a lot of charity work. His mother and all his aunts were even part of it.
Flint turned the ambulance up the gravel drive lined with freshly planted trees and flowers. It looked amazing. Three months ago this was a rundown farm that had sat empty for years. The short drive gave way to a large open area with rows and rows of trees, bushes, and flowers going out in every direction like sunrays. In this case, the sun in the middle was a barn and a parking lot.
Jace saw that Colton was already off the fire truck and rushing toward the barn. Jace lost sight of him as he hurried from the ambulance with Flint. Jack and Conley were the other two in the truck and met Jace as he raced by.
A frantic looking woman who was doing her very best to not look frantic was holding a little girl with blonde pigtails in her arms. The child cried as she buried her face in her mother’s neck. Her arms were practically strangling her mom as her little legs wrapped around her mother’s waist.
“Oh, thank goodness you’re here. I told April some very nice men were coming to take a look at her boo-boo.” The mother’s big brown eyes showed relief as Colton and Jace stopped in front of her. Her dirty-blonde hair looked as if the kid had pulled it loose from the rubber band holding it in a ponytail. Everything from the shoes to the cargo pants to the tight T-shirt that showed off a mixture of curves and muscle told Jace the mom actually worked in the nursery, too. As did the dirt on her hands currently clinging to her daughter. Normally, Jace would be all about flirting with a woman like this. She was beautiful in this girl-next-door way that he loved. She even had freckles across the bridge of her nose. But alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
“April,” Colton said, stepping behind the mother so he could come face to face with the little girl looking over her mother’s shoulder. “I’m Colton and behind you is my cousin. Do you know what makes my cousin special?”
April shook her head and sniffed.
“He’s a doctor. He helps little girls with boo-boos. Do you think you can be a brave girl and let Dr. Davies look at you?”
April’s head nodded again.
“Jimmy killed the snake.”
“Who’s Jimmy?” Colton asked as the mother moved to sit on a nearby chair. She shifted April to her front so that she could sit in her lap.
“Jimmy is my dog. He killed the snake and brought it to me. I admit I was so worried about April I wouldn’t be able to tell you much about it except it’s way bigger than the garden snakes I’m used to.”
Jace gave a nod. “Where is it?”
“Jimmy won’t leave it. I think he thinks it can still hurt April. It’s over there.” The mom pointed to the first row of trees. Jace saw a black and white dog sitting and staring down at the ground.
“I got this, Doc.” Conley called out in his Eastern Kentucky twang. Southern accents varied greatly in Kentucky, but there was no doubting Conley’s accent. He was a country boy from the Appalachian Mountains who could probably identify every native species of snake in the blink of an eye.
April blinked her big blue eyes at him and wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand. “You’re Mr. Colton’s cousin?”
Jace smiled at her and held out his hand to her. “That’s right. I’m Dr. Jace Davies. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” April giggled and shook his hand like a grown-up.
“I’m April Winters.”
Jace looked up at the mom who smiled tightly at him. She was still nervous but he could see that she was beginning to calm down. “Stella Winters.”
“Hey, Doc!” Conley yelled. “It’s a rat snake!”
“Is it dangewous?” April asked, looking like she was about to cry again.
“Nope, it’s not poisonous. It just gave you a boo-boo with its teeth. I’m going to get it all cleaned up and then you’ll be good to go. Do you have any siblings or maybe a younger cousin?”
April shook her head. “I told my mom and dad I want a younger sister but they haven’t been coopewating.”
Jace tried not to laugh as he examined the wound and got everything he needed to clean it out of his bag.
“And my aunt isn’t coopewating either. Mom says she needs a man first before she can coopewate and give me a cousin.”
Jace looked up and saw the mother scarlet with embarrassment. He winked at her to let her know it was okay. He loved working with kids this age. “Do you know I have two older siblings and two younger ones? The youngest, Cricket, is a little younger than you.”
“Seriously?” the mother asked with surprise.
“Yes. If you think you’re surprised, then you should have seen the surprise on my mom and dad’s faces. Cassidy, my other younger sister, is out of college. Piper, the oldest, is in her mid-thirties.” Jace began to clean the wound and April looked ready to cry again. “April, can I tell you a secret?” Jace whispered.
“Yes!”
“I think my big sister will be making me an uncle soon.”
“I don’t have an uncle, but if my aunt would hurry up and get mawied, then I would have one.”
Jace nodded as he put some antibiotic ointment on the puncture wounds. “That’s r
ight. But your aunt needs a man first, right?”
“Mother of . . .” the mother said with a roll of her eyes.
“That’s wight. She had a boyfwiend, but I didn’t like him and she got wid of him.”
Jace began to put the bandage over the wound as he looked up seriously. “That’s important. You and your family should like the man your aunt brings home. After all, you all would be family, and family is important. Do you know that all the boyfriends my cousins bring home have to survive a family dinner where my uncles ask them all kinds of embarrassing questions?”
April giggled. “Do they ask him if they need to use the potty? My mom and dad ask me that all the time and it is embawassing.”
“No, but I’ll add that to the list.” Jace looked up at Mrs. Winters. “Is she up to date on her DTaP boosters?”
“Oh gosh. I don’t know.” They both turned as they heard someone flying up the gravel lane. “Oh, thank goodness. Here’s her dad. He’ll know.”
A minivan flew into a controlled slide that would make a race car driver envious. A man with the same dirty-blonde hair as his wife had leaped from the minivan, not even bothering to turn it off. “April!”
“She’s okay. It was a rat snake bite,” Mrs. Winters called out.
“Oh, baby! Are you okay?” Mr. Winters bent down as all the firemen huddled behind him watching.
“I’m okay, Daddy. Dr. Davies fixed my boo-boo.”
“Thank you so much, Doctor.” Mr. Winters held out his hand and Jace shook it. “But are you sure it’s a rat snake?”
“Sure as shi . . . sure as the sun,” Conley said, catching himself before he cussed. “I know my snakes. I got rid of it for you, ma’am.”
“Thank you.” Mrs. Winters said as she handed April off to her father. “I’m so sorry, Karl.”
Mrs. Winters looked close to tears and every man there stood a little straighter. It wasn’t her fault. Why was she about to cry to her husband to forgive her? He should understand how terrifying it was for her.
“It’s okay, Stella. It wasn’t your fault. I’m surprised you killed the snake,” he said with a little chuckle.
“Jimmy killed the snake,” April announced.
“I asked your wife if April up to date on her DTaP booster yet. She didn’t know. If she hasn’t, then she should have one just to be safe.”
“You talked to my wife? She must be freaking out.”
Five male heads all turned to look at Stella and then back to Karl. Karl followed Jace’s eyes before his went comically wide. “Oh no! Stella’s not my wife. She’s my sister.”
“The single aunt who needs a good man?” Colton asked as suddenly four male faces had broad smiles on them. Jace’s didn’t. She had acted just like the mother of the child would, and damned if that wasn’t what turned him on even more than the cute freckles and the curves he could now fully appreciate guilt-free for having previously noticed.
“Guilty.” Her face blushed and she looked horribly uncomfortable.
“Don’t feel bad,” Jace said, lowering his voice. “I haven’t dated in so long there’s a bet going on that I’m entering the priesthood. I’m not, by the way. I was just busy getting through medical school and setting up my practice.”
“Smooth, cuz,” Colton said with a laugh and Jace about wanted to die. Ugh, he was so out of practice.
3
Stella had so many emotions roiling around right then she didn’t know which to pay attention to first. Well, yes, she did. Relief. She was beyond relieved that April was going to be okay. Second was utter embarrassment. All these men now knew she was the spinster aunt from the fairy tales, thanks to April. Then she even felt embarrassment for the poor doctor who had been so good with April. Stella had felt a kindred spinsterhood with him after he confided in her. Then it made her wonder what the masculine form of the word spinster was. Confirmed bachelor, maybe?
Stella didn’t know how Dr. Davies could be a male spinster. He was calm under pressure, he was kind, and he was sexy. Like, take me now sexy. Standing next to Karl who was six feet tall, Dr. Davies had to be around six-one or six-two. Then there was the sexy combo of broad shoulders and narrow waist that made her wonder if he’d ever done any boxing. His brown hair matched some of the deeper brown in his hazel eyes.
Stella closed her eyes for a second. How pathetic was she that she had looked that closely at the doctor’s eyes? That just made matters worse, because clearly April was correct in her assessment of her aunt needing a man.
“Smooth, cuz,” the fireman in charge, Colton, teased.
Stella’s eyes popped open. She didn’t want Dr. Davies to feel the embarrassment she was currently feeling. “Stop teasing your cousin,” Stella scolded Colton. “I understand Dr. Davies perfectly. Sometimes you sacrifice a lot following your dreams.”
“Well, ma’am, if you’ve been looking for a man to keep you company, I’d be happy to oblige you,” the big man, built like a linebacker, who had taken care of the snake said with a smile and a tip of his firefighter’s hat.
“Seriously, Conley?” Dr. Davies sighed.
“Just being friendly is all, Doc,” Conley smiled and gave her a wink.
Stella couldn’t help but return the smile. Contrary to his looks, it was clear Conley was a teddy bear. “I appreciate all of your help today. I was so scared for April.”
Another of the firemen bent down to April’s level. Apparently being tall, sexy, and built like a linebacker was a requirement to be part of the Keeneston Fire Department. “Hi, Miss April. My name is Jack. Do you want to pull the horn on the fire engine?”
April looked up at her father with anticipation in her blue eyes. “Can I, Daddy?”
“Of course.” Karl always had a hard time saying no to April, and in this case, it looked as if Jack was just as eager to show her the fire engine as April was to see it. “Thanks again, Doctor Davies. Is there anything else I need to do?”
“Her pediatrician can give her a DTaP booster if she hasn’t had one. Or I can. Then you’ll need to change the bandage and apply this ointment.” Jace handed over what he’d used to clean the wound. “Call me or your doctor if you see a rash, increasing redness, swelling, or if a fever develops.”
“I’ll call my wife right now and let you know about the DTaP. Anyway, can we downplay the snake? Maybe say she stepped on two nails?”
Stella instantly felt the guilt return. April had been hurt on her watch and she’d never forgive herself.
“It’s not your fault. These things happen,” Dr. Davies said quietly to her. “Bad things happen to everyone and you responded well.”
Stella stopped biting her lip and turned her head toward him. “That’s nice of you to say but harder for me to believe.”
“Oh, believe it,” Colton added. “You should hear the stories of stuff I’ve seen or worse—done.”
Dr. Davies laughed and nodded his head as if remembering something that had happened between them in the past. His face was angular and covered in neatly trimmed scruff that looked that he just forgot to shave for the day. But his smile. Oh gosh, did it do something to Stella’s heart and other places she wasn’t going to mention.
A loud horn went off and Stella almost jumped. April’s giggles could easily be heard from the fire truck along with several masculine ones. “Is she okay with them? I don’t want her bothering y’all.”
“She’s fine,” Colton assured her. “My guys regularly play with my niece, Emersyn, and she’s still a baby. In fact, to raise money for the fire station, we auctioned off babysitting services before we did the bachelor’s auction. Jace here even volunteered. It wasn’t a surprise that he got the highest bid for babysitting.”
Stella’s ovaries had a fit of the vapors. She’d asked the manager of her Lexington Seasons Flowers and Gifts shop where all the good men were. Well, it sure looked like she’d found them. There were firefighters playing with a three year old and a doctor who babysat for charity. “Who won the bachelor auction?�
�
Her eyes went to Jace. After hearing Colton call him that, she couldn’t think of him as Dr. Davies. He was Jace. It fit him perfectly. He shrugged. “I came in second.”
Colton rocked back on his boots and grinned. “Let’s just say I can dance.”
Jace grinned, but also shook his head at his cousin.
“Were you clothed?” Stella asked as she got into the playful banter between cousins.
“Mostly. I dance better when I’m not hampered by clothing.”
Jace rolled his eyes. “Have you been hanging out with Draven?”
“Saw him yesterday. Addison only sprayed him three times for inappropriate flirtation.”
“More cousins?” Stella asked, dying to hear the story.
“No. Just friends. Draven is, well, you’ll see. I think he’s here all week so I’m sure Addison, who is the town prosecutor, will come to the opening on Friday and drag her boyfriend along. He’ll be the one with the sword.” Colton looked back as he saw the guys approaching with April.
“Is sword code for something else?” Stella asked, dropping her voice.
Jace and Colton looked at each other and shrugged.
“Yes,” Colton said.
“And no,” Jace added.
“Aunt Stell! Did you hear the honk?” April ran into her arms and Stella scooped her up.
“I did. I think everyone in Keeneston did.”
“It was right nice to meet you, ma’am,” Conley said. “And little ma’am.”
April giggled as each of the firefighters said goodbye.
“We’ll see you on Friday. We’ll tell everyone at the Blossom Café how great it looks out here. You’ll be packed,” Colton called out as he climbed into the fire truck.
“Thank you, again,” Stella called out as her brother joined her.
“My wife is trying to make an appointment for April to get the booster but she’s having trouble getting hold of anyone. We’ll make sure she gets it as soon as possible,” Karl told Jace. “Do you have any sedatives for my wife in your bag?”
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