The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [232]
“If you mean, has she ever seen his temper,” Gabe asked, “the answer is no. I got the feeling she doesn’t think Jordan has a temper.”
Morgan choked, but there was admiration and pride in his voice when he said, “Jordan is so damn sly. He hides it well. Most women don’t realize that he’s only civilized on the outside.”
“As long as you don’t mess with his animals, or anyone he cares about, he keeps it together. But get him on one of his crusades…” Sawyer shook his head in wonder at the way his middle brother could handle himself when provoked.
Even Gabe grinned at that. Jordan gave the impression of a quiet peacemaker—and to some extent, he was. But when quiet tactics didn’t work, he was more than capable of resorting to what would. “He does seem to like championing the underdog, doesn’t he?”
Morgan stroked Godzilla’s wet back. “Literally.”
After yanking on his shirt, Gabe faced his brothers. He had his hands on his hips and a nervous chip on his shoulder. “I’m going to ask Elizabeth to give us a chance. I’m going to tell her how things’ll be.” He pointed an accusing finger at both of them. “But if this backfires on me, I’m coming back and kicking both your asses.”
As Gabe strode away, Sawyer yelled, “Good luck.”
Morgan muttered loud enough for Gabe to hear, “Never thought I’d see the day when Gabe would have women troubles.”
Gabe sincerely hoped today wasn’t the day, either, because he just didn’t know what he’d do without Ms. Elizabeth Parks in his life.
GABE FOUND LIZZY pacing outside the front of Jordan’s clinic. Her hands were clasped together, her expression frightened. Not knowing what had happened, Gabe left his car in a hurry and trotted toward her. Lizzy looked up, saw him and relief flooded her entire being.
She ran to him. “Gabe, something’s wrong!”
Gabe reached for her shoulders, but she pulled away and sprinted toward the clinic door. “Listen to the animals. They’re never that noisy. They’re all making a racket.”
Gabe could hear the whine of dogs, the screech of cats. He frowned. “Jordan always keeps them calm, but Jordan isn’t here.”
Lizzy put her hands to her mouth. “Something’s wrong. I just know it.”
Gabe considered her worry for only two seconds, then said, “Okay, just hang on, hon. I’m going in.”
“How?”
For an answer, Gabe picked up a rock and tapped the glass out of a window. The howling and crying became louder with the window open—and then they smelled the smoke.
“Oh, God.” Gabe jerked off his shirt, wrapped it around his hand and safely removed the broken glass. “Quickly, Lizzy. I’ll go in and unlock the door. Use the cell phone in my car to call Morgan. He’ll send people here. Hurry.”
Lizzy ran off and Gabe carefully levered himself over the windowsill. The smoke wasn’t very thick yet, but he could smell the acrid stench of burning plastic and paper. Gabe ran to the door and unlocked it, then pushed it wide open. He wasn’t really given a chance to see what was burning or why, not with so many animals calling for attention. He hefted the first big cage he came to and hauled it outside.
Lizzy was back. “Morgan’s on his way. What can I do?”
“Just pull these cages away from the house as I bring them out.”
“But there’s too many of them!”
“Just do it, Red. We don’t have time to talk about it.” Gabe didn’t know how sick the animals were, if it was safe to open the cages…He raced inside and hauled two more out. He almost tripped over Lizzy. She had a big empty cage that she was dragging over the threshold. She had to pry open the double doors before it would fit through. Gabe frowned at her. “What the hell are you doing?”
Without answering, she ran in. She opened three pens filled with cats and began carrying the cats—without the bulky cages—outside. She got several scratches for her efforts, but the empty cage she’d taken outside was quickly filled. As Gabe worked he watched her make trip after trip, occasionally repeating the process of setting up an empty cage. The animals, penned together, might hurt each