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“Eli,” she began, but she didn’t recognize her own voice, breathless and full of something.

Ugh. What is wrong with me?

“We’ll do the tour tomorrow,” Eli continued when she couldn’t think of what to say next. “The clinic opens at 9:00. Be here at 7:00. I’ll show you the reservation system on the computer, and we’ll take it from there.”

They weren’t touching anymore, but barely any space was between them. Still, without really knowing this man at all, Beth was certain he’d somehow drifted a million miles away.

“Eli,” she uttered again. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

He dropped the bowl beside him and pressed his hands to her shoulders, gently moving her out of the way. Then he slid off the exam table that was way too small for his tall, lean, muscled frame and stood. He met her gaze but also seemed to look past her. Through her.

“It’s fine,” he told her absently.

“I’ll see you in the morning?” Beth forced a laugh. “I still have the job?” Though why she cared, when a couple of hours ago she was ready to head right back to Vegas, she wasn’t exactly sure.

Eli nodded. “Yeah. Of course. I…uh…I just need to go see a man about a horse.”

Beth snort-laughed, but Eli didn’t even blink. “Oh. You’re serious,” she added.

Another nod. And then he strode out of the room and into the dark hallway.

She waited a few minutes until she was sure he had left the building.

“Good talk!” Beth called to the empty clinic. Well, it wasn’t a horror flick massacre, yet Beth still somehow felt like she’d been gutted. Also, since she’d effectively been blown off, what was she supposed to do now?

She shrugged, then grabbed the stainless steel bowl from the exam table, washed it, and set it back in the cabinet.

“Gonna see a man about a horse, huh?” she mumbled to herself. Well, if she was going to work in a place full of animals, maybe it was time to get to know one or two of them.

Beth made her way back out of the clinic and was accosted by a chorus of squawking. Violent chickens would not be her starting point, so she made a beeline for the only other place she was sure to find an animal when the clinic was closed.

The barn.

“Are you shittin’ me?” Eli asked, incredulous.

Boone cupped his hands over the ears of the smiling baby girl he wore strapped to his chest facing her potty-mouthed uncle.

“Language, Eli,” the younger Murphy brother responded with a wry grin. “My daughter’s first word is going to be Daddy, not shittin’ me!” He whispered the last two words. “Isn’t that right, my little Kare Bear? Daddy. Dad-dy.”

The tiny blond beauty cooed at her father’s voice and bounced up and down in her little carrier.

Eli couldn’t hold back his grin as he held out his index finger for his niece to grab. She giggled and bounced even more when he tickled her chubby bare foot.

“I thought her name was Kah-ra. Like a short ‘ah’ sound,” Eli challenged. “And she looks nothing like you, you know.”

Shit. Eli was being an asshole, and he knew it. But he needed somewhere to direct this energy. He needed someone who could take it without batting an eye. And that someone was Boone.

His brother shrugged. “She can still be my Kare Bear if I want her to.” He opened the apartment door wide and silently welcomed his brother inside. “And thank god she got all her looks from her mama. Means I’m living with the two most beautiful girls in the world.”

Eli wanted to be happy for his brother, and in theory, he was. But right now he couldn’t get past the horse, the water, and the feeling of Beth’s hand on his goddamn thigh.

He combed a hand through his hair as he strode inside and began pacing as best he could amid the baby toys littering the floor.

“I still don’t get why you and Casey wouldn’t take the guesthouse.”

Boone closed the door and then half walked, half bounced his way into the main living space.

“You built that place,” Boone reminded him. “There’s room on the property for Casey and me to design our own home when we’re ready. But right now, with Casey’s salon downstairs and me taking some time off to do this…”