Once Bitten, Twice Shy

"What are you doing?" Katie spoke in a low voice over Carmen's shoulder.

Carmen jumped. "Nothing," she answered too quickly, her face growing warm.

Katie lifted her brows. "You're ogling my brother, aren't you?"

There was little point in denying the fact that she was watching Alex - and enjoying what she was seeing. "If you knew," she snapped, "then why did you ask?" She turned to the next stall. Now Katie was going to think her cupid act was working.

Katie followed Carmen, her voice a mixture of surprise and humor. "To see if you'd admit it, I guess." She continued to watch Carmen thoughtfully. "Come on, he's not that good looking."

Carmen's face burned even hotter. "I didn't say he was good looking at all. I was just trying to make sure he put the water in the correct stalls."

It was one thing to covertly admire Alex, but quite another to stand here discussing him as though he were high dollar merchandise at a low bid auction . . . and why was Katie so concerned? Shouldn't she feel victorious? Carmen shrugged off an uncomfortable feeling that something was amiss.

"Are there any more goats in labor?"

"I don't know," Katie answered, dropping the subject as Alex approached. "It's supposed to rain tonight. It's so warm out there - like spring. That's probably what brought the kidding on."

Alex paused beside them. "Will the Toggenburg kid develop markings like its mother when it matures?"

Carmen sighed. Finally, a subject she could discuss by the hour without feeling uncomfortable.

"No, I used a Saanen buck. That's why the kid is all white."

"What about the Lamancha? What happened to its ears? Did they freeze off?"

Katie giggled. "No, that's just a characteristic of the breed. It's a descendant of the Mexican earless goat."

Alex nodded, soberly absorbing the information. Was he actually interested, or was he already bored? He glanced around. "What else do you have?"

"Follow me." Carmen led him through the dairy. If he wasn't genuinely interested, he was going to be as bored as Josh was with the dairy. Now there was a thought. Bore him completely out of her hair. Maybe then she could get some work done. They left Katie behind in the dairy and entered the other side of the barn.

"We have a barn on each side of the dairy." Carmen began the tour as if it were a documentary. "We bring the goats in from this side and let them out the other when we're milking, but during the inclement days they stay in this barn."