Page 88 of Puppy Christmas

Chapter 17

For the first half of the day, Jeeves showed every sign of being a puppy reformed. Lila was careful to keep a vigilant eye on the cockapoo, her notebook out so she could jot down any aspect of his behavior that troubled her. Jeeves wouldn’t be the first puppy to reject a placement this far into the training, and she was sure he wouldn’t be the last. Dogs were like that. They loved and trusted without question, but the strain of long-term stress could still one day force them to their breaking point.

People were like that, too. No matter how much laughter and sex and camaraderie there might be, happiness was never guaranteed. It could all snap in an instant.

“Maybe it was just a fluke after all?” Ford sidled up next to her as she stood watching Emily and Jeeves work through their basic routine in the backyard. With the exception of Emily’s hand, which was still bandaged and had to be encased in one of Ford’s oversize gloves, Lila could detect nothing about the previous night’s altercation. The puppy showed no signs of anything except placid happiness and a determination to stay close to Emily’s side. “I haven’t seen any sign of aggression out of Jeeves all day.”

“Me either,” Lila admitted. “I’m wondering if your theory about her rolling on top of him might be true. Is she a restless sleeper?”

“Not really, no.”

“Huh.” The word came out in a puff of white breath. She wished she had something more academic—more professional—to offer than that, buthuhwas the best she could come up with. She’d called both Dawn and Sophie that morning with the case notes, but her sisters hadn’t been able to find an explanation for the puppy’s behavior, either.

“Huh, indeed,” he agreed.

There was a note in his voice that she didn’t quite trust. “Whatever you’re going to say next, fight the urge,” she warned him. “It’ll have to wait. I’m going home to shower and change my clothes.”

He cast an obvious look over his shoulder back at the house. “I have a perfectly good shower right here. I promise you’ll feel exactly like you’re naked and lathered up at home. Don’t be afraid to make use of the detachable showerhead.”

“Nice try,” she said, but with a visible effort. She knew it behooved her to tread warily where this man was concerned, but he made it so freakingdifficult. Why, oh, why did he have to smile at her like that? And why, oh, why, did her body react so strongly to it? “This is one of those official on-the-clock moments.”

His rumble of interest warned her away—both from him and from the topic at hand.

Instead of giving in to the pull of flirtation, into the pull ofhim, she whistled for the puppy’s attention. Jeeves alerted Emily and waited for her to join him before drawing close, a picture-perfect service dog from start to finish.

“Very good work this morning, you two,” Lila said as soon as Emily came near enough to both see and hear her. “I’m going to head home, but I’ll be back next week at the usual time. You’re both so close to the finish line. As soon as Christmas is over, I think you’ll be ready to move on without me. Isn’t that exciting?”

“Very exciting,” Ford agreed as he swept down to pull his daughter in his arms. His quick actions meant that he missed the look that crossed the little girl’s face, an expression so full of dismay that Lila’s chest clenched to see it. But when Ford turned his back toward her so she could see Emily again, the girl was nothing but calm. Her thumb was in her mouth, and all the lines wiped from her face.

“Bye, love,” Lila said as she swooped down to kiss Emily’s cheek. The term of endearment was one her own mother often used when talking to her daughters. It came out so naturally that Lila barely noticed it leaving her lips.

She had just gathered her things and made it all the way to the driveway when the scream sounded. At first, she thought someone had broken a leg or, at the very least, suffered a severe stab wound. She dropped her bags and ran back into Ford’s house, prepared to put her annual CPR and first aid training to the test.Always be preparedmight seem like a lackluster motto to some, but Lila had never been gladder to know the steps to applying a tourniquet.

Except that no one was bleeding when she entered the house. All she saw was Emily clutching her father’s legs and a bewildered Jeeves sitting at attention a few feet away. His head was cocked, the long curls of one ear almost sweeping the floor. He was always a serene little thing, but this seemed to be taking things a touch too far. If something bad had happened, he should have been on full alert. That was the whole purpose of him—to keep Emily safe, to protect her from harm of all shapes and sizes.

Her heart was pounding so heavily in her ears that she didn’t hear Emily’s rushed explanation at first. She could, however, make out the gist of it.

“He did it again.”

“He growled and came after me.”

“He tried to run away.”

“He jumped this high.”

None of those garbled phrases seemed to fit the cockapoo, whose dark eyes were deep with worry but not fear.

“Princess Lila, Princess Lila!” The girl transplanted herself from her father’s legs to Lila’s. There was something so pathetically desperate in that clinging grip that Lila’s heart felt wrenched from her chest. “You can’t leave. Jeeves tried to eat me.”

Casting another look down at the puppy, Lila found it difficult to believe that he was capable of eating anything other than his usual bowl of kibble and maybe a treat or two. Then again, there was no denying Emily’s hysteria. Instead of dropping to the girl’s level, as was her custom, she adopted a page from Ford’s book and lifted her in her arms instead.

“Emily, love, I’m not going anywhere, okay? Just breathe very slowly and very deeply, and then you can tell me exactly what happened.”

Emily nodded and struggled to follow her instructions, but her sobs had given over to hiccups, which racked her little body. Lila started to count aloud in an attempt to get the girl to breathe more evenly, but she had to give up. For one, it wasn’t working. For another, Emily rested her head on Lila’s shoulder and clung tighter around her neck. It was almost enough to make Lila start sobbing along with her.

She caught Ford’s eye over Emily’s back. He didn’t look at all like a man whose child was being endangered by the animal who was supposed to be taking care of her. In fact, there was a tightness to his jaw, the sharp angles of his cheekbones more pronounced than usual. His concern, if concern it could be called, was focused on the back of Emily’s head, which gave an occasional shudder against Lila’s shoulder.

“I don’t understand,” she said softly. “They were doing so well this morning.”