by Jan Drexler
Squaring her shoulders, she covered the short distance of sidewalk between her shop and the next. The door had been propped open. Isobel spied a man in wrinkled work clothes crouched before the counter, a paintbrush in his hand. He wore no jacket and his sleeves had been rolled back. Was this the new owner or a hired worker?
“Good morning.” She rapped a knuckle against the doorjamb and curved her lips into a friendly smile. “I own the shop next door and was hoping to meet the owner of this establish—”
Her greeting ended on a startled gasp when the man spun around and stood. Isobel blinked, hoping and praying she was dreaming. That in another moment she’d realize she was wrong about the new shop owner’s direct connection to her painful past.
There was no mistaking those blue-gray eyes and dark blond hair, though, even if she hadn’t seen them in ages. Which meant the man staring wide-eyed at her was none other than Whit’s younger brother, Alec Russell.
“Isobel Glasen?”
Alexander “Alec” Russell lowered the paintbrush in his hand and took a step toward her, unsure who was more shocked—Isobel or himself. While she looked older than the last time he’d seen her, he would recognize Isobel anywhere. Those beautiful amber eyes were unequivocally hers, as were the lovely face and dark brown hair. But he certainly hadn’t expected her to be among the first people to walk into his newly acquired building.
“Wh-what are you doing here?”
“I was thinking the same about you,” he said, giving her a playful smile. “I knew you’d come West to live near your aunt, but I didn’t know you’d come to Sheridan.”
Isobel inclined her head in a stiff nod. “I’ve been here for the last seven years.”
So this was where she’d come after her broken engagement with Whit. Alec had wondered, especially since his older brother had claimed not to know where Isobel had ended up.
Letting Isobel go had been the only big mistake Alec could ever recall his brother making. In every other area of life—business, family—Whit had achieved great success with innate skill and seemingly little effort. On the other hand, Alec hadn’t initially gone into owning a business as his father and brother had. He’d completed schooling in veterinary medicine and had worked more than a decade at a dude ranch in North Dakota. Even so, Alec still felt obscured by his brother’s shadow.
His father’s edict last month had handed Alec his first real opportunity to prove himself. In order to receive the rest of his inheritance when he turned thirty in August, Alec had to put his veterinary skills to real use by establishing a successful clinic. He’d been given half his bequest to start his business and he’d been allowed to pick the location. Given that his best friend, West McCall, who also came from a wealthy family in Pittsburgh and had worked at the dude ranch, too, had married the year before and was now living near Sheridan, Alec had chosen to set his clinic up here.
Getting his veterinary practice running wasn’t the only challenge he faced, though. He’d also been instructed to find, court and marry a good woman by his birthday. His father wanted Alec to finally settle down, something Alec wanted, as well. However, anytime he’d liked a girl in the past, he would inevitably discover that she had feelings for someone else—usually his brother or a friend.
That had been the case with Isobel, too. Alec had secretly harbored feelings for her, but before he’d braved sharing them with her, she and Whit had announced their engagement. Alec had even considered going after her when that engagement was over, but in the end, he’d decided against it. He wanted to find a girl who wasn’t interested in him just because she’d been thrown over by his brother or someone else Alec knew.
Despite what had happened in the past, Alec was still glad to see Isobel standing in front of him. It wouldn’t hurt to have another friend here in Sheridan. She didn’t look as pleased to see him in return, though. Her demeanor radiated the same ladylike poise and beauty he remembered, but her expression bordered on panic.
“Are you relocating to Sheridan permanently?” she asked in a strained tone that broke the charged silence that had settled between them.
Alec nodded. “I just bought this place.” He gestured to the walls with his paintbrush. “I’m setting up a veterinary clinic—once I have everything ready.”
“A veterinary clinic?”
A flicker of disappointment shot through him at her confusion. Didn’t she remember he’d become a veterinarian? He remembered nearly everything about her—at least, the things she’d liked and disliked seven years ago. Maybe he was being foolish to think they could resume being friends or that she’d see him as anything other than the younger brother of her former fiancé. “I graduated from veterinary school...”
“I remember,” Isobel said quietly. “You were home for a month in the spring the last time I saw you.”
Pleasure wound through him at her recollection. “My father’s been hinting in his letters for over a year now that I need to set up a practice. I figured with West McCall living nearby, this was as good a place as any to do it.”
“Were you in town for West’s wedding last year?”
Alec smiled at the memory of his friend’s happy day. “I was.”
If only Alec had known then that Isobel was living here, he could have stuck around to see her. “How did you hear about the wedding?” The Russells and the McCalls had been longtime family friends, but Alec didn’t think Isobel knew West’s family well and she hadn’t been at the wedding. He would have definitely remembered if she had.
“I made the bride’s dress.” She glanced around the room. “So you bought this building?”
He followed her gaze. “Yes, I’m hoping folks around here will let me take care of their sick and injured animals.”
“Animals?” There was no mistaking the horror on her face this time.
Alec chuckled. “That’s what a veterinarian does, Isobel. Cares for—”
“I know that, but you can’t do that here.” She retreated a step, her fingers kneading together at her waist. “I-I own the dress shop next door.”
He’d always suspected she would make something of herself and her extraordinary talent for dressmaking. “Congratu—”
“Which is why you can’t have animals in this building,” she said, cutting him off again. “What would my customers have to say about that?”
Fighting a frown, Alec folded his arms. “Your customers won’t need to step foot in here, unless, of course, they have an animal that needs tending to.”
“You don’t understand.” She matched his stance by crossing her arms, as well, her eyes throwing off yellowish-brown sparks. “What about the noise or...or...the smell? My customers expect cleanliness, quiet and style.”
Annoyance heated his neck. Though he secretly feared he wouldn’t turn out to be a born businessman like his father or Whit, he wasn’t completely inept, either. “I plan to run a neat, respectable establishment, too. But you’ll have to forgive me on the style factor. That isn’t so much of a requirement when working with God’s four-legged creatures.”
Isobel looked as if she wanted to spit nails at him, but she wouldn’t. One thing Alec knew, even after all these years, was that Isobel Glasen never acted in a way that wasn’t in keeping with being a proper lady.
“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Doctor Russell,” she ground out. “Welcome to Sheridan.” Head held high, she stepped over the door’s threshold. “Seeing as I have no pets or animals of my own, I doubt we’ll need to interact more than is customary for two neighboring business owners.”
Alec’s irritation deflated in the wake of her cool formality. “I hope we’ll get to see each other more—”
“Good day.”
Throwing him a tight smile, which looked anything but genuine, she spun on her heel and marched away.
“Good day,” he repeated to himself.
Alec
turned to face the room and ran his hand through his likely paint-flecked hair. His excitement at seeing Isobel again had exited the building right along with her. If he couldn’t win over an old acquaintance with his plan for a veterinary practice, would he ever be successful in convincing the rest of Sheridan that they needed his services? With a sigh, he returned to painting the counter.
While he didn’t know what had caused the rift between Isobel and his brother, Alec had experienced enough heartbreak of his own to recognize the glimmer of hurt he’d seen in Isobel’s gaze and demeanor just now. He hated the idea that his older brother might be the cause and that Isobel might harbor lingering resentment toward Alec because of his connection with Whit.
You knew where she was, God, he prayed as he painted, when I felt good about coming here. So help me understand why.
Maybe another reason for his being in Sheridan was to help Isobel heal from the past. Or maybe it was simply to convince Isobel, and thereby the other townsfolk, that a veterinary practice was more than a smelly, noisy establishment. Either way, he wanted to do right by her if he could.
The one thing he wouldn’t allow himself to consider, though, was that he’d been given a second chance with Isobel. Her ringless finger attested to her unmarried status, but she might still have a beau. Regardless, Alec wasn’t going to let history repeat itself.
He needed to find a girl to court and marry, but he wouldn’t knowingly pursue someone who years ago hadn’t been able to see past Whit to the eligible man standing behind him. This time, Alec was determined to find a girl whose feelings matched his own, a girl who liked him first and foremost for being himself.
Copyright © 2019 by Stacy Henrie
ISBN-13: 9781488036552
Convenient Amish Proposal
Copyright © 2019 by Jan Drexler
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