McKnight in Shining Armor by Tami Hoag Read Free Book Online

disaster.
    “Well,” Mr. Svenson said as he rubbed the first of his double chins. “I thought you might have forgotten about me.”
    “Never.” Kelsie tried to smile as a little goat braced its front feet against her thigh and began to nibble at the hem of her jersey. Next door, her sour-faced neighbor, Mrs. Magruder, was peering out her living room window, glaring at Kelsie. “Goats just aren’t in demand right now. I
will
call you if I find something, though.”
    Mr. Svenson frowned at Alec, who had come down to stand next to Kelsie with hands on his hips and a bemused look on his face. “It’s a conspiracy, you know,” the farmer said. “That blasted dairy association. They’re anti-goat. Always have been.”
    Alec nodded, trying to look grave. A big brown goat with a bell around its neck stared up at him, then proceeded to try to eat the ends off his shoelaces.
    “You see,” Mr. Svenson said, warming to hissubject, “cows eat a heck of a lot more. Makes a bigger market for hay and whatnot—”
    A booming bark cut the lecture short. Bronco bounded around the corner of the house. Suddenly goats were bolting everywhere, and the dog was dashing around the yard, enjoying his game immensely.
    “Oh, no!” Kelsie wailed as three goats sailed into Mrs. Magruder’s yard, one landing smack in the middle of a bed of yellow mums. Another scaled the woman’s front steps and balanced itself on a decorative cement mushroom beside the door. “Jeffrey, grab Bronco!”
    The boy made a dive for the dog but missed. Kelsie, Alec, and Mr. Svenson all dashed onto the lawn to try to round up the goats. Mrs. Magruder stormed onto her front step in her bathrobe with her pug dog hanging over her arm, the dog yapping. Mrs. Magruder glared at Kelsie from beneath a cap of pink curlers. She was a retired schoolteacher whose husband spent all his time at the local Moose Lodge. Her lawn was her pride and joy, and she’d disliked Kelsie from the daythey’d met, when Kelsie’s cat, Cheevers, had beat up the Magruder’s ugly pug.
    “I have half a mind to call the police!” she yelled. “I have half a mind to call Councilman Reid!”
    “You’ve got half a mind all right,” Kelsie muttered under her breath. “E.T. wouldn’t have a dog that ugly.” To Mrs. Magruder she said, “Really, I’m very sorry, Mrs. Magruder. I’ll fix everything.”
    Back in her own yard things were finally getting under control. Jeffrey struggled up to her with a goat in his arms. “Mom, can I keep this one?”
    “No,” Kelsie answered. “Put it in the truck with the others.”
    “Sorry about the commotion, Miss Connors,” Mr. Svenson said, loading the last of his herd. “They’re not used to dogs. If that had been a sheep, they wouldn’t have even noticed.”
    Kelsie glanced at Bronco, who was dragging Alec toward the backyard. He might have passed for a small pony, but not a sheep. “I’ll call you if anything comes up, Mr. Svenson. Maybe therewill be a better market for goats around Christmas.”
    “You could be right about that,” the farmer said, climbing into his truck.
    Kelsie took a deep breath as the pickup drove away and her son trudged back to the house.
    “Well, that was certainly something I don’t do every day,” Alec said, brushing dirt off his clothes as he crossed the yard toward Kelsie.
    Poor Alec, Kelsie thought. He couldn’t get within fifty feet of her without having something bizarre happen. “Thanks for helping, Alec.”
    “Don’t mention it,” he said, plucking a blade of grass off his tongue.
    They both sat down on the front steps and sighed.
    “So, what are you doing tonight?” Alec asked. If he was lucky, she would be feeling worn down enough by now to concede and simply answer “going out with you.”
    “Dishes, laundry, and the bathroom tile,” she said. If she was lucky, that answer would turn him off enough to discourage him from pursuing her. Of course, most men would no doubt have givenin