Discovering the Doctor (Masterson County Book 2)

by Brookes, Calle J.

  “Pip is just as beautiful as her sister. Brave. Loyal. Talented. Don’t discount her simply because she’s shy .”

  “Oh, I’m not, of course. Will you introduce me ?”

  “Not at the moment. But I do have a two o’clock meeting with Pip Tyler about a horse. You can watch, but I won’t lie; you’ll intimidate the hell out of her. That’ll make me cranky, understand?” He didn’t know why he said it, but Bowles put his back up for some reason. Maybe it was the way he was so dismissive of a woman Matt admired more than so many others. Maybe it was the way he was eying the Tyler sisters like they existed only to give him what he wanted. To please him. “You can stand back and watch, but that’s it. What the hell do you even think you saw out there that night, anyway ?”

  He had his suspicions. That pricey sedan Bowles had driven up in had been rather distinctive. And familiar .

  “A beautiful red horse, with a small fairy on its back. She wore a thin pale dress and her hair flew out behind her. It was nearly as red as the setting sun. She flew on that horse. Stunning. She’d be beautiful as my Gretta. I want her. I’m willing to pay her, too. A great deal. Those who star in my movies go on to great things, Dr. Masterson. Great things. I can offer her a way out of this little town if she wants it .”

  Matt threw his head back and laughed. If Bowles ever figured it out--well, there was no way little Pip would ever give Bowles what he wanted. “Let me know how that works out for you .”

  4

  R owland studied the cowboy next to him. They were of the same size, though he thought Masterson might have an inch on him or so. Thirty pounds heavier, possibly. Maybe more. Rowland worked to keep himself in shape, but this cowboy was the real deal .

  Guy had the kind of good looks women flocked to the theaters to see, he had to admit. If he was filming a romance, this guy would look beautiful next to Gretta. Strong, rugged, dark-haired, blue-eyed. Quiet, but confident .

  Dr. Matt Masterson didn’t like Rowland’s interest in those redheads. That was abundantly clear. Did the guy have one staked out for himself? Rowland understood. What man wanted someone like him coming in and taking away some guy’s woman? “I won’t touch her, if you have a prior claim, doctor .”

  Masterson’s countenance darkened. “You won’t touch any of them, unless one of those girls asks you to. We’re mighty protective of the Tyler sisters around here. They’ve been through enough recently. All of them. The eldest is my brother’s wife. My brother, the sheriff ...he takes protecting his wife’s family pretty damned seriously .”

  Rowland had misjudged, hadn’t he? Something more was going on with the Mastersons and the Tylers. That had just become perfectly clear. Always a student of people, Rowland wanted to probe deeper, find out more. “I’ll watch your appointment with this Pippy, and I’ll even behave myself while I do .”

  “ Pip .”

  “It’s not her I want, anyway. It’s her sister. And I’ll have her , too .”

  Masterson laughed outright. Like Rowland was an idiot or something. “You go anywhere near Perci Tyler with that attitude and she’ll use a scalpel to teach you some manners. Girl’s got teeth--and she’s not afraid to use them .”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” Rowland wasn’t too worried. A small-town woman would cave in to the idea of what he could offer her. He had no doubt about that. He’d done it time and time again. He’d have Perci Tyler as his Gretta before the week was out .

  With or without Matt Masterson’s help .

  As two more Mastersons--they truly did look perfect as cowboys--hailed his reluctant host, Rowland watched the trio of women enter the diner .

  He was hungry .

  Perfect. Rowland just hoped the place had something gluten -free .

  He started across the diner .

  Masterson called his name. Rowland looked at the other guy. He wasn’t about to let some small-town hick keep him from getting to his Gretta. Period .

  “Might keep in mind what I said,” Masterson warned .

  “I’ll do that.” It didn’t mean he had to listen though .

  5

  M att Masterson wanted Pip to meet him at his vet clinic at two. She had almost two hours until then. Masterson wasn’t exactly a big city—the town itself only had about eight hundred people in it—but it was big enough at times to freak Pip out .

  Crowds of any kind were too much for her. But she dealt. Silently .

  She wasn’t about to lose out on this time with Perci and Pandora because she had panic attacks whenever more than three tables in the diner were occupied .

  Perci squeezed her elbow. Always there. Just like Pan, the youngest sister, used to be. Until she’d left them to be the Mastersons’ housekeeper. When Phoebe returned from her honeymoon in a few hours, she’d effectively become Pan’s boss. No real change there. Phoebe had been bossing from the moment Perci and Pip had been born. Some things would never change .

  They took the last booth on the left. Macy, the owner’s granddaughter, a woman a year or so older than Pip, nodded when they walked by—she had her hands full. The place was crowded .

  With people Pip didn’t recognize. She bit back the panic. She was safe .

  Her sisters were right there. Two men near the back were first cousins. And there, right in the corner booth on the right...was the sheriff of Masterson County and his brand-new bride .

  Phoebe was back. And Pip was safe. She’d just have to keep reminding herself that .

  She changed direction, aware of Pan and Perci following. They all took turns hugging Phoebe. The eldest sister smiled and told them all about her three-day honeymoon, beaming as she spoke. Joel hadn’t been able to take any longer than that, so they’d made the best of the time they had had .

  And Phoebe hadn’t wanted to leave the boys for too long. They’d had a family meeting--Joel included--right before the wedding to discuss how things at the ranch were going to have to change .

  It would take some adjusting for all of them, but Phoebe was moving in with Joel at the Masterson Ranch a few miles away. She’d still be around during the day--Joel would drop her off on his way in to town each day. Either her husband or one of his brothers would pick her up each evening after the chores on the family place were done. After the boys’ homeschool and Phoebe’s drove of Angora goats were tended each day. It wasn’t ideal, but it would work .

  It meant Pip would have to step up with the boys of the evenings, too. Perci could help out on her nights off, but her sister often put in five twelve-hour days at the hospital. On her nights off, she needed to rest. And handle other chores that built up around the place while she was gone. Perci helped where she could—probably too much .

  Change. It was never easy for Pip .

  They were halfway through their meal when three tall, gorgeous men approached. Pip’s hands immediately slicked with nerves as Matt and Nate moved an empty table up to the edge of their booth .

  “Family reunion?” Levi asked, smiling at Pip and Perci as he settled into the chair nearest Pan. “Ok, the scrubs tell me which is which today .”

  Nate glowered at them both. “Persephone’s scar is on the left. Pip’s is on the right. Not that hard to remember .”

  He was right. Perci had a scar just above her left eyebrow from the accident that had killed their mother. Pip had one near her right eyebrow that she’d received when Tom Rutherford had nearly killed her older sister and Joel .

  Pip shivered when the men turned to look at her and the scar .

  “It’s because you dropped him on his head,” the brother beside her said. “He’s been difficult to teach ever since .”

  Matt . Matt was the calm quiet one. The one who’d pulled her from the river when she’d swam in to rescue Phoebe that day. The one who’d covered her and her sister with his own body when bullets had been flying around. Matt had been the one to protect .

  She trusted Matt. He was the one brother who didn’t scare her all the time, the one she could sit next to and
not have a panic attack. The one who she liked talking to .

  Pip forced herself to relax. Even though she could smell the woodsy scent of his aftershave, could feel the warmth of his big body next to her .

  Pip shivered. For a strange moment she wanted to almost snuggle up against that warmth and forget the crowd around her. That was crazy, wasn’t it ?

  She trusted these men. She was safe. She had to learn to stop freaking out every time one of them got close to her, didn’t she? Pip concentrated on eating her lunch and following the conversation around her. She’d spent four years pretending not to panic every time something scared her—she’d gotten good at making her family believe she was fine. Today would be no exception .

  Fake it until you make it, after all .

  Pip looked up at Perci and Phoebe— who shared the bench seat with Joel—a few minutes later,. Looked up in time to see her sisters both pale. To hear Perci’s low curse and Phoebe’s surprised gasp .

  Pip turned to look for herself .

  6

  M att knew something significant had just occurred, but for the life of him he didn’t know what it could be. He looked over his shoulder, following his sister-in- law’s gaze .

  “Pip, no. Don’t look,” Perci ordered sharply. Everyone at the table quieted. Levi and Nate shifted closer to the redheads next to them. Matt slipped his arm behind the one closest to him automatically as her sisters looked at her. Whatever had happened, it involved Pip somehow, didn’t it? “Just get your stuff. Macy will let us out the back way .”

  Matt studied the trio of men who had just entered. They weren’t hard to recognize. Clive Gunderson had lost the election to his own brother for sheriff just the year before. The two younger men next to him looked enough like him to be his sons .

  “Phoebe? What’s going on?” Joel asked .

  “Gundersons,” Phoebe said, disgust and—if Matt wasn’t mistaken—a trace of fear in her tone. “And they hate us more than the Rutherfords ever did .”

  Matt could feel the tremors that went through Pip the instant they began. What in the three hells had happened to this woman? And how did it involve the former sheriff and his sons ?

  Pan wrapped her hand around Pip’s. “So...what do we do ?”

  “You do nothing. You have just as much right as any damned Gunderson to be in this diner,” Nate said, glowering at them all. “No one’s going to bother you or your sisters here .”

  “It’s not Gunderson that’s the problem. It’s his son on the left,” Perci said, hotly. “That sonofabitch is nothing but trouble .”

  “Perci, I’m ok. I can certainly be in the same room,” Pip said, calmly .

  So calmly Matt knew the woman beside him lied. He felt the fear running through her. Felt it .

  So why was she lying to her sisters ?

  And what had the younger Gunderson done to her ?

  “You shouldn’t have to.” There was a world of guilt in Pip’s twin’s tone. Did anyone else catch it? Matt shared a look with his eldest brother. Joel met his eyes and jerked his head toward the door. Matt understood .

  He’d have to move before Pip could .

  But if there was something that significant in the damned diner, he wasn’t about to let Joel’s sister-in-law face it alone .

  Pip was getting a Masterson escort out of the diner. No one would dare mess with her then .

  No one did. Pip insisted they all stay and finish their lunch. And outwardly she seemed calm and composed. But Matt knew. It was hard not to. Did anyone else see it? When it was time to leave, he stood first and automatically put a hand on her back. Pulled her closer .

  He didn’t miss the Gundersons’ expressions when they looked at the four redheads walking by them. Or miss the way the younger Gunderson stared--at Pip and her twin. As if he were trying to place them? Figure out which one was which ?

  Like Nate, Matt knew he’d never had a problem telling the two apart. They were as different as night and day. But both had a spine of steel and bone-deep loyalty to their family .

  They didn’t deserve to be afraid any longer .

  7

  P ip kept the panic hidden as she laid eyes on the man who had attacked her four years ago. He was just a man. Not an overly big one—he was certainly no bigger than her father, who was around five-ten and one-hundred seventy pounds. But that was still far bigger than she was .

  She’d fought him off as best she could, but she knew the truth. If Perci hadn’t just known Pip was in trouble and brought herself and Phoebe and Pan to rescue her, he would have succeeded in raping her .

  The men walking at her sides—and the four Masterson brothers made darned good walls—were far larger, stronger. If Jay even looked at her funny, she had no doubt Joel would be there to protect her .

  The same way Jay’s father had protected him all those years ago .

  But that wasn’t right, was it? Because Joel would never terrorize a family of young girls to protect his would-be rapist son .

  What the Gundersons had done to her had been wrong .

  She shouldn’t have to be afraid of them anymore. Pip tilted her chin in the air and walked right by their table. It was time she stopped letting them dictate her life now. If she wanted to eat in the diner with her family, she would .

  She pulled in a deep breath just as Matt’s hand landed on her back and he pulled her closer .

  She looked up into kind blue eyes and felt a bit more of her world right itself .

  Just like she had from the moment he’d pulled her from a raging river .

  8

  J ay Gunderson fought to keep his breathing contained, using the control he’d developed over the last four years in prison. He hadn’t expected to see his Pip again quite so soon. At least not in reality .

  He’d dreamed of the last woman he’d touched every night for four damned years. The dark blue eyes, so soft and vulnerable, staring up at him as he touched her. The red hair that practically burned in the light, but was as soft as silk beneath a man’s hands. He’d had his hands in that hair once .

  He’d long remembered the sweet taste of her trembling mouth beneath his own .

  At first he’d thought the more outgoing twin Perci was closer to his type. But once he’d tasted her sweet, shy, vulnerable twin sister, he’d learned the truth .

  Prison had just cemented his hunger for her. It hadn’t started right away. Before he’d even been inside six months, she’d just been another bitch he wouldn’t mind laying. Or her sister had been, anyway. He’d barely been aware that they had been twins until that last night when he’d seen Perci laughing at him with her sisters .

  Four smoking hot redheads who thought they were too good for a man like him. When Perci had rejected him, he’d wanted to show her entire family what she would have been missing .

  Pip had been beautiful, soft where her sister was a ball-busting bitch .

  Jay had come on a bit too strong, and he knew it. He hadn’t realized how innocent she was. Her blue eyes had haunted him practically ever since .

  He watched Pip walk right by him and ignore him. Like she had forgotten who he was. He hadn’t forgotten her. He never would .

  It took him a moment to figure out which one of those damned Masterson brothers was walking at her side. He’d heard the Tylers were connected to the Mastersons now .

  The whole lot of them looked exactly alike and were arrogant pricks. It had been the eldest brother who had arrested him four years ago, on an anonymous tip, of all things .

  And then took the position of sheriff away from Jay’s father .

  Now it was one of Masterson’s brothers who was taking her. Who had his filthy hands on her .

  Jay bit back the anger that had been his constant companion for years once again .

  He would have her again .

  It was just a matter of time .

  9

  T hey didn’t wait until two. Matt kept one hand on her spine as they walked the quarter of a mile from t
he center of town to his clinic .

  The rescue organization had called; they’d wanted to bring him a special horse in need of rehabilitation and resocialization before she could find a permanent home .

  He pushed the anger away .

  To be honest, he’d wanted to refuse until he’d heard the animal’s story. Matt just didn’t know when he’d have the time to work with her .

  That’s where he hoped the woman still shivering next to him came in. He easily sensed the scene in the diner had upset her more than she was telling him. “I need your help .”

  She looked up at him, her eyes telling him all he needed to know. She hadn’t been paying the least bit of attention to where he’d been leading her, had she ?

  She’d just let him lead her away .

  Matt wanted to turn back. Blacken both Jay Gunderson’s eyes for whatever it was he’d done to her .

  Maybe someday he would. Just on principle alone .

  Just to erase that look in her eyes. Matt fought the urge to pull her closer and reassure Pip that everything would be alright. To kiss her and promise to keep her safe from everything for now until eternity. “This way. The rescue I’m affiliated with called me this morning. They’re bringing me a Quarter Horse who’s had a rough road. Rumor is she only responds to a few people. And to be honest, I don’t have the time to devote to her right now. I was wondering if you can help me move her, if possible. Levi should be done with the far barn on our place in a week or two. I want to stable her there. It’s away from Rollo and the rest of our horses. She’s not too keen on males in her space at all, I think .”

  Rather like the woman next to him .