by Julie Miller
Chapter One
“He was totally flirting with you, Mom.”
Dr. Hazel Cooper startled as her older daughter opened the door to the examination room. She crumpled the disturbing note she’d been reading in her fist and stuffed it into the pocket of her scrubs jacket before fixing a smile on her face and turning around. “You mean Sergeant Burke? I was up to my elbows in dead ear mites and cleaning goop. He brought Gunny in so I could clean his ears and make sure the medication is clearing up the yeast infection he had. He helped me hold the dog and we discussed updating Gunny’s leptospirosis vaccine. None of that is flirting.”
Ashley Cooper pulled on a pair of sterile gloves before sweeping the pile of soiled gauze and cotton swabs off the stainless steel table into the trash. “I was here to hold the dog. Burke didn’t have to.”
“Gunny is his boy. Burke is a hands-on kind of owner.”
“I can tell he’s hands-on,” Ashley teased. “When Burke moved around the table, he brushed against you. By the way, you didn’t move away.”
Hazel shook her head at that silly reasoning. “Practicality. Not evidence. I wanted to show him that the infection had cleared up.”
“Methinks she doth protest too much.” Ashley pulled aside the blinds on the exam room’s window, giving Hazel a clear view of the parking lot and the man in the black KCPD uniform loading his Czech shepherd, Gunny, into the back of his K-9 unit truck. “He’s a bachelor, right? I bet all kinds of women are throwing themselves at him. And yet he brings his dog here to trade quips and rub shoulders with you.”
Jedediah Burke opened the back door and issued a sharp command, and the black-and-tan brindle dog, built like a sturdier German shepherd, jumped inside. The muscular dog was strong and moved his powerful body with a fluid grace. Not unlike his partner and handler. As commander of KCPD’s K-9 unit, Burke oversaw the ongoing training of the twelve dogs and handlers working for the department, in addition to his own duties as a patrol officer. The material of Burke’s fitted black T-shirt stretched tautly across his broad shoulders and tapered down to the thick leather utility belt at his waist and the gun holstered to the thigh of his black cargo pants.
She tamped down the little frissons of awareness that hummed inside her blood as Burke leaned into the truck, pulling other parts of his uniform taut across another well-defined part of his body. The man was fit and interesting and aging like a fine wine. And she really did appreciate a good merlot.
Hazel shook her head at the analogy that sprang to mind. Her daughter’s fantasies must be rubbing off on her. She pulled the curtain and turned away from the window. Yes, Jedediah Burke was an attractive man, but she wasn’t in the market for romance. Or whatever sort of relationship her daughter was imagining for her.
She’d done just fine without a man for sixteen years.
Many of those years had been difficult. All of them had been lonely. But after that blindingly stellar mistake she’d made in saying “I do” to her ex-husband, could she really trust herself to handle anything more than a few frissons of sexual awareness? Could she ever know a man well enough to give in to her hormones and risk her heart again?
“He’s not a bachelor,” Hazel corrected, needing to inject some logic and common sense into this conversation. “Burke is divorced.” She disposed of the syringe in the sharps container and peeled off her gloves.
“What a coincidence. So are you.” Ashley held up the trash can for Hazel to toss her gloves. “You have that in common. I bet that gives you plenty to talk about besides vet care and police work. Failed marriages. Broken hearts. Have you ever comforted each other? I bet he’s good in the sack, too.”
“Ashley Marie Cooper! I am not just your mother—I’m your boss.” She glanced toward the door, confirming it was closed and that no one was overhearing this mother-daughter conversation. “You will not be discussing me being in the sack with anyone. Especially here at work, where another employee could overhear.”
“Did I mention you specifically?” she teased. “Or have you been thinking the same thing?”
“Give it a rest.” Hazel pulled up the computer screen on the workstation beside the sink to update Gunny’s records. “Sergeant Burke doesn’t flirt. And neither do I.”
Ashley was messing with the curtains again. “Then why is he coming back in here?”
“What?” Hazel spun around to look through the window. Burke was striding across the parking lot, jogging up the concrete steps to the clinic’s front door.
“Got you. You just fluffed your hair.”
Hazel pulled her fingers down to her side. “My bangs were in my eyes.”
Ashley touched her mouth. “A little lip gloss wouldn’t hurt, either. You should keep a tube in your pocket.” She reached into the pocket of her own scrubs and pulled out a small compact of pink raspberry balm. “Here. Borrow mine.”
Hazel backed away from the offer. “You should find a nice young man your own age and focus on him instead of creating a love life for me.” She turned her attention back to the computer. “Burke and I work together. He runs KCPD’s K-9 unit, and I manage the dogs’ health concerns. We’re friends. Colleagues. Period.”
Ashley pulled the disinfectant spray from the cabinet beside Hazel and spritzed the examination table. “Then you are woefully out of practice in reading men. He was eyeing your butt when you bent over to pick up the cotton swab you dropped. When was the last time you went out on a date?”
“Why are we having this conversation?”
“Because you were just looking at his butt, too. Or is it the square jaw or those deep brown eyes you like?”
“Why are you sizing up Jedediah Burke’s attributes? He’s old enough to be your father.”
“He’s not old enough to be yours.” Ashley came up beside Hazel and draped her arm around her shoulders. “Besides, hot is hot at any age.”
Although Hazel absolutely loved having Ashley working with her at the clinic as a vet tech, they were going to have to set some ground rules about conversations getting too personal here at work. Especially around the rest of the staff, who might not be familiar with her daughters Ashley and Polly’s lifelong quest to play matchmaker for their single mother ever since she divorced their father after he went to prison to serve a fifteen-year sentence.
Ashley and Polly had been children then, ages six and four. If only they knew the whole reason for that divorce—and why an eight-year sentence had been extended to fifteen. They’d already been traumatized enough, and Hazel had done everything in her power to protect them. There were some secrets that no child needed to know about her father.
Hazel turned and pressed a kiss to Ashley’s cheek. “Just for that remark, you get to finish cleaning up in here. I believe Mrs. Stinson’s corgis are waiting for me in room one.”
“That’s not all that’s waiting out there.”
A soft knock at the exam room door mercifully ended the conversation. Before Hazel could reach it, the door swung open and Jedediah Burke filled the door frame.
“Hey, Dr. Coop.” His low-pitched drawl skittered across her eardrums and made various nerve endings prick to attention throughout her body. He removed his black KCPD ball cap in a politely deferential gesture that spoke to long-ignored feminine appreciations inside her. “One of your receptionists out front said you were still back here. That it was all right to come in.”
Good grief, Ashley was right. He did have a square jaw, dusted by an intriguing mix of dark brown stubble salted with silver, which echoed the military-short cut that framed his handsome face.
Why had Ashley put these thoughts in her head? Not that a normal, healthy woman of any age wouldn’t notice that Jedediah Burke was an attractive man. But she’d never allowed herself to react to the masculinity oozing from every pore and that air of natural authority he carried on those broad shoulders
. And now she was...reacting. Former Army sergeant turned veteran KCPD cop Jedediah Burke was...Burke. A longtime acquaintance. A colleague. A friend.
He wasn’t potential dating material any more than the author of those sickly personal letters she’d been receiving was.
Remembering the disturbing notes effectively put the kibosh on these uncomfortable feelings that had surfaced, allowing her to once again bury her attraction to Burke under a friendly facade. “That’s fine.” She could even get past the staring and offer him a genuine smile. “Did you forget something?”
“Two things. I think I left Gunny’s chew toy in the exam room. That dog is all about play. If I lose his favorite toy, he won’t work for me.”
Ashley picked it up from beneath a chair and handed it to him. “Here.”
“Thanks.” He smiled and nodded before turning those whiskey-brown eyes back to Hazel. “Plus, I forgot to tell you that I’ll be in training sessions with a couple of new recruits all morning tomorrow. The rest of my team and their dogs are coming in to have lunch before you run the monthly checkups on the canine crew. Ed’s Barbecue is catering the meal as a thank-you for Pike Taylor and K-9 Hans stopping those teenagers who tried to rob him last month. You’re welcome to join us.”
“Ed’s Barbecue?” She didn’t need to fake her enthusiasm at the mention of her favorite hole-in-the-wall barbecue joint. “Are you getting the scalloped barbecue potatoes?”
Burke grinned. “Can’t have the pulled pork without the potatoes.”
“I can’t pass those up.” She’d walk an extra mile to keep the carbs from settling on her already round hips for a chance to indulge in Ed’s creamy, yummy potato dish. “I’ll get there are soon as I can tomorrow. Make sure you save me some.”
“Will do. See you tomorrow.” He put his hat back on and tipped the brim of it to her and then to Ashley. “Dr. Coop. Ash.”
“Burke.” Ashley’s squee of excitement burst from her lips the moment the door closed behind him. She threw her arms around Hazel and hugged her. “See? That’s flirting. He asked you out to lunch.”
“Down, girl.” Hazel patted her daughter’s arm before pulling away. “The men and women on his team and all their dogs will be there, too. Nothing says romance like routine checkups on slobbery canines and updating vaccinations.”
Ashley rolled her green eyes toward the ceiling in a dramatic gesture. “You’re killin’ me here, Mom. Burke’s a stud. And a nice guy. You two share interests and don’t have any trouble communicating with each other. Isn’t that what you want in a relationship?” Hazel returned to the computer to finish her updates. Ashley followed, her tone sounding more mature, less giddy. “You are an attractive, intelligent, funny, desirable woman who shouldn’t be alone as much as you are. Dad hasn’t been a part of our lives for sixteen years now. Yes, he’s been out of prison for a few months—but we’ve made it abundantly clear that we don’t need his kind of trouble in our lives anymore. Polly and I are grown-up now. You don’t have to be the stalwart single mom who provides for us and protects us 24-7. It’s okay to move on and fall in love again.” She shrugged as though any kind of protest would be a nonstarter. “Polly and I agree—Jedediah Burke is a prime candidate for you to date. Or have a fling with.”
“You dragged your sister into discussing my love life?” Two years younger than Ashley, and a junior in nursing at Saint Luke’s, Polly Cooper might be the quieter of her two daughters, but there was no denying that she could be just as stubborn about a cause as the outgoing Ashley. “Of course you have.” With a weary sigh, she faced the younger version of herself. “First of all, I’m your mother and I love you both, and I will never not want to protect you in any way I can. Secondly, I know it’s in good fun, but this matchmaking has to stop. If Burke gets wind of this conversation, it might embarrass him. Not to mention embarrass me if anyone else overhears this grand design you have for us.”
There was another soft knock at the door, and for a split second Hazel held her breath, half expecting, perhaps half hoping, that Burke had come back for some reason.
Instead, Todd Mizner, another of the three vet techs who worked for her, stepped into the room, reminding her of just how busy the clinic could get this time of the afternoon. Todd was a few years older than Ashley and was attractive in a nerdy-professor kind of way, with his dark-rimmed glasses and longish hair that he pulled back into a ponytail. The young man was driven to achieve, commuting twice a week to Manhattan, Kansas, to pursue his DVM degree while holding down this job, and he had a real knack for handling animals. Her daughter could do worse than a hardworking cutie like Todd.
Hazel turned to give Ashley a meaningful glance. “Speaking of grand designs...”
But her daughter shook her blond ponytail down her back, dismissing the matchmaking role reversal, and left the room.
Right. Much to Hazel’s chagrin, Todd Mizner wasn’t bad boy enough to suit Ashley’s adventurous taste in men. Although Ashley had thankfully left her wild-child teenage years behind her, it was another lingering by-product in how the Cooper women dealt with the rest of the world after those long years of uncertainty surrounding Aaron Cooper’s betrayal and the subsequent divorce, trial and incarceration.
“It’s not so comfortable when the shoe’s on the other foot, is it?” she called after Ashley before the door closed.
Todd joined Hazel at the counter while she printed off the notes for Gunny’s file. “What was that about?”
“Nothing. Some girl talk.”
He reached around her to click the computer mouse. “I’ve got the X-rays ready on that poodle with the herniated disk. Looks like there is a fracture in the pelvis.”
“Oh, damn.” That could mean surgery instead of the laser therapy she’d been planning on using to reduce the inflammation making the dog drag its right hind leg. She took her reading glasses from her chest pocket and waited for him to pull the film up on the screen.
Todd muttered a curse against her ear, reminding Hazel that he was standing right behind her. “This computer is doing its own thing again. I can’t get the pictures I took to load.”
Whether it was a problem with the software or the compatibility of the hardware, Hazel didn’t know. And with patients waiting, she didn’t have time to figure it out, either. “All right. I’ll go look at the film in the X-ray room. You go on to exam three and sit with Maggie’s owner. I know she’s stressing about the accident. Make sure there’s a box of tissues in the room and see if you can pull up the X-rays on the computer screen in there. I’ll want to show her pictures to explain what’s going on.”
“Can’t Ashley do that?”
“She’s doing the prelim intake on Cassie and Reggie.” Mrs. Stinson’s corgis would have to wait until Hazel assessed the poodle’s injuries and started treatment. “With the dog’s age, Mrs. Miller may be thinking there’s nothing we can do for Maggie. I don’t want her alone in there.” She tipped her chin up to Todd and smiled. “Go use some of that Mizner charm on her to keep her distracted until I can get there.”
“But you promised I could scrub in on the next surgery. I want to be a part of the process from initial consult to seeing that dog walk again. Or fitting her for a wheelchair if therapy and surgery don’t work.”
Todd hadn’t budged an inch from behind her, and when Hazel inhaled, her shoulder brushed against his chest. Squashing down an instant imprint of eeuw at the contact, Hazel stepped to the side, so she had room to turn and face him. She hadn’t batted an eye when, as Ashley had pointed out, Burke had bumped into her. But even this accidental contact with the younger man felt somehow inappropriate. Maybe it was the stress of the long day. Or that awkward conversation with Ashley. Or maybe it was something else entirely that made her anxious to get on with her work. “We’ll discuss it later. The priority is the patient’s care right now—and that includes the owner as well as the pet.”
“The more experience I get, the better. One of these days soon, I’ll be finishing my classwork and interning...” Todd rested his hand on the counter beside her, his arm nearly circling around her as he winked. “Then you and I can be full partners.”
The message in that letter burned through her pocket and seared her skin. That was what bothered her about Todd’s tendency to be overly familiar with her. She gently pushed Todd back a step. “Personal space, Todd. We’ve had this discussion, remember?”
Maybe not such a great catch for her daughter, after all. Todd might be good with animals, but his people skills could use a little work.
He stepped back even farther, putting his hands up in mock surrender. “I don’t mean anything by it, Dr. Coop. You know I’m harmless. You’re jumpy today for some reason.”
No. He was behaving in a way that she didn’t appreciate. Not as a boss with her employee. Not as a woman with a man young enough to be her son. Not as someone who’d been receiving anonymous letters that spoke to a disturbing desire for a relationship. She pointed to the door, reminding him that she was the boss here. She didn’t have to explain anything to a vet tech who worked for her. “Exam room three.”
“Yes, ma’am. Whatever you need.” While Todd headed across the lobby to the exam room on the opposite side, Hazel pushed through the swinging door leading into the restricted area where she performed surgery, stored meds and housed specialized equipment. She went straight to the X-ray room to see how poor little Maggie had fared after her fall down a flight of steps.
What she needed was time alone in the darkened room to clear her head. She pulled her glasses from her pocket to study the film. But the moment they touched the bridge of her nose, she thought of the letter and tugged them right back off.
She didn’t need to pull out the letter to read it again. She knew every word by heart.
I’ve been watching you, Hazel.
Your bright green eyes are so intelligent, so pretty. Even when you wear your reading glasses, they shine and entice me. No man deserves you.
Identical Threat Page 20