Page 4 of Puppy Kisses

Adam Dearborn, however, wasn’t impervious. Not to herphysicalcharms, anyway.

“Now that I’m thinking about it, you weren’t too adroit with No-Pants Shotgun back there, either,” Zeke added. “For a woman who claims to be so good at manipulating men, you seem to have a pretty terrible track record.”

“At least when an angry man runs after me with no pants on, I know what’s on his mind,” she retorted, nettled. “It’s when they keep their clothes on that I start to worry.”

Chapter 2

There were two things Adam really didn’t want to deal with today, and both of them showed up on his doorstep at the same time.

“Sheriff Jenkins,” he said, tackling the lesser of two evils first. “Please, come in. It’s always a pleasure.”

“No, it’s not,” the sheriff replied. His voice carried its usual gruffness, a gravelly tonality caused by his lifelong smoking habit. “The only time I see you is when there’s a meeting at town hall or your brother is up to some mischief. And there’s no meeting today.”

Adam chose to ignore the implications of this statement. That Zeke was up to trouble—again—was no surprise. Especially considering the woman standing next to the sheriff. He’d have recognized that scent anywhere, though he’d have been damned if anyone asked him to point out how. Dawn Vasquez was the only woman he knew who wore no perfume, used no scented soaps or lotions, and even washed her clothes with an odorless laundry detergent. What he smelled were pheromones, plain and simple.

Those, unfortunately, she had in abundance.

“Dawn,” he said, still in his blandest voice. “To what do I owe the honor? Or is it better if I don’t ask?”

He didn’t know why he bothered. As was usually her custom, Dawn pushed her way through the front door as though his opinion on the matter carried no weight whatsoever. She didn’t make contact with him as she moved past, but that didn’t seem to matter. Adam could always feel her coming. The air around her crackled with energy—most of it sexual.

“Did you forget I was coming by this afternoon with your new service puppy?” she asked in the light, breezy tone that almost always presaged mischief of some kind. “I thought about having Lila call to remind you, but you’re always so organized. I thought for sure you’d remember our date.”

Although he was already holding himself perfectly still, those words caused him to grow even more immobile. “Our date?” he echoed.

“She’s in much worse condition than we feared,” Dawn continued. “Do you mind if I set her on the couch?”

For the first time since he’d heard the crunch of two pairs of car tires in the drive, Adam wondered if he had, in fact, forgotten an appointment. Most of his days were so busy that he had to keep to a tight schedule or risk being out with the cows at all hours of the night. Phoebe did a decent job of keeping him apprised of his calendar, but she hadn’t mentioned anything about Dawn stopping by today.

He definitely would have taken note of that.

“Zeke, be a love and make sure the vet is on her way, would you?” Dawn asked. Adam could tell, from the location of her voice, that she’d decided not to wait for permission and had moved straight toward the couch. “Sheriff Jenkins, would you mind terribly getting a bowl of water? I’d like to get some fluids in this puppy sooner rather than later.”

To Adam’s complete and utter lack of surprise, both men went off to do her bidding. Zeke, because his brother never said no to Dawn, and Harold, because, well, he was male. It didn’t seem to matter that the man was married and old enough to be Dawn’s grandfather. When she issued a request in that sweetly lilting voice of hers, it was impossible not to want to move the sun and the earth to carry it out.

“I’ll get the water,” Adam said. Part of it was a perverse desire not to let this woman have the handling of his household, but most of it was his reluctance to be left alone with her. As hewasn’tmarried and only had four years on her, he had none of Harold’s protective armor in place. “Food, too, I presume?”

Dawn’s approval was evident in the slight hum at the back of her throat. “Yes, actually. If it’s not too much trouble. Some kind of canned beef or chicken, I think, and if you could mash it up to a soft consistency, that’d be great. I’m not sure what condition her teeth and gums are going to be in.” She paused before adding, “Something to clean these wounds would also be a help.”

Wounds?“What did you do to that poor animal?”

“Oh, she’s been beaten, dehydrated, and starved,” Dawn said in a voice that was strangely cheerful for such a macabre list. “But her spirit’s strong. With the right training, she should make you an excellent service puppy.”

That was the second time she’d saidservice puppy, and it didn’t make any more sense this time around. Adam wasn’t in the market for a service animal. He liked dogs just fine, but he had yet to meet a single one who could keep pace with him around the ranch. They always ended up being more of a hindrance than a help.

Kind of like a certain woman he knew.

“Anything else I can do for you while I’m at it?” he asked.

If Dawn noticed his note of sarcasm, she blithely ignored it. “I’d love a drink of water myself, actually. It’s a hot one out there today. Sheriff? Can we offer you anything?”

There was no verbal response, so Adam assumed Harold must have shaken his head. At least, that was how he planned on interpreting the silence. He wasn’t going to play the gallant host unless someone told him what was going on.

It was in a mood of budding annoyance that he moved to the kitchen and began assembling the items Dawn requested. The kitchen, like the rest of the single-story ranch house, was neat and organized, every item in the same location it had been for as long as Adam could remember. Keeping the saltshaker and water glasses in the exact same place didn’t make for a very exciting life, but it did make for an independent one. At least where Adam was concerned. He might not have been able to see the kitchen in a literal sense, but the map was laid out in his mind’s eye just fine. Bowls. Glasses. Water. Antiseptic wash. Paper towels.

Zeke was there, too, hovering in the hallway that led from the bedrooms to the living room. He was probably looking for a way to sneak past without Adam hearing him.

Taking pity on his younger brother, Adam began to hum “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” under his breath. It wasn’t much, but it gave Zeke the boost of courage he needed to slip past him and return to the safety of the living room.