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While Daniel canvassed their neighbors about the puppies’ missing mother, then took a trip into town for dog food, Tasha fashioned a crate for them out of the carton her mini-fridge had come in.
Daniel had wanted to take the puppies to his house, but she couldn’t stand the thought of letting them out of her sight until she knew they were well again. “You’ve got too much space for them to scamper around in. I’m afraid they’ll get lost.”
“You’ve got holes in your floor they could fall through,” he pointed out.
“Not anymore. I fixed them all once I had your drill bit.”
She didn’t mean to be a pain in the butt after everything he’d done to help her—but she couldn’t afford to be traipsing down to Daniel’s place to see the puppies. She would end up spending all her time down there, and that would create an impossible situation.
Especially after that spectacular view of him in his bedroom. Her face still burned with embarrassment at the memory, but her heart was also beating deliriously fast. His naked chest, all those muscles, that arrow of hair disappearing down into the sheets.
Oh yes, everything got hot remembering that.
All the more reason she simply couldn’t be flitting down to see the puppies. These little creatures were all that mattered, not her forbidden thoughts about what Daniel looked like naked under his sheet.
When she and Daniel had brought the puppies into the cabin, they hadn’t run around investigating the way normal animals would have. Half starved and still shivering, they’d barely moved at all. After drinking some water, they’d fallen asleep in the makeshift crate, wrapped up in a bed of clean shop rags and hand towels.
Tossing her ball cap, which had become filthy with all the digging and crawling, Tasha sat cross-legged on the floor, her arm draped over the side of the box. “Don’t worry, we’ve got food on the way, and you’re going to be just fine. I won’t let anything happen to you.” She stroked each head in turn, giving comfort and warmth.
“Puppy Chow,” Daniel said from the open doorway. Seeing that the puppies were sleeping, he lowered his voice to a loud whisper as he sauntered in to set a large bag of dog food on the kitchen counter. “How are they doing?” He knelt beside her.
She couldn’t have rescued the puppies without him. And he hadn’t been the slightest bit annoyed over the work time he’d lost. He’d even rushed all the way to town for food and seen whether anyone in the neighborhood knew about a pregnant dog that matched the puppies’ description.
What better knight in shining armor could a girl—or three little puppies—ask for?
“They don’t even have the energy to move or stay awake.” Her voice quavered with worry. “Are you sure we should give them regular puppy food to start? What if they can’t digest it?”
“Let’s try it once they wake up, then we can see how they do and adjust from there. I called the local vet for an appointment, but they’re completely slammed today, and unless we want to drive an hour into Carson City, the earliest they can see them is tomorrow.”
The runt of the litter whined and snorted, as if its tummy was rumbling even as it slept. Daniel reached in to soothe the little one with a stroke over its furry body.
He was good with animals. With women too, she guessed, certain he must have an amazing girlfriend, or else a string of beautiful women he could be with any time he liked.
“I’m so glad you know what you’re doing.” She was wistful. “I had a cat once when I was a kid, but I couldn’t keep it.”
“Why?”
“My family moved so much that it wasn’t practical to have an animal.”
That was the excuse her father always gave. Now she knew the truth—he couldn’t run as fast with an animal in tow. She was surprised he’d ever had kids. Odds were, she suddenly thought, that she and Drew had been mistakes. She couldn’t remember her mother, who’d died of a ruptured appendix when Tasha was only three. Would they have stayed in one place longer and had a real home if her mother hadn’t died? And had her mother known that her husband was crooked?
Tasha tamped down her bitter thoughts. “What about you?”
“No pets. My parents could barely afford to feed all the kids they took in.”
“Oh wow. I had no idea—” She squashed the insensitive words.
“I wasn’t born with money,” he said, answering the question she had no business asking. “Far from it.”
“Your parents sound wonderful.” While her father had been swindling money out of as many people as he could, Daniel’s parents had been busy taking in foster kids even though they didn’t have enough themselves.
He continued to stroke the puppies. “Yeah. They’re amazing.”
It was how she used to feel about her family. And how she would never feel again. At least not for her father. If only she knew how involved Drew had been. Had he been a reluctant partner? Had their father threatened him with something?
She realized Daniel was staring into space, frowning, as though amazing was only part of his mother and father’s story. She couldn’t help but wonder about the things he wasn’t telling her. Not that he owed her any explanations, of course, especially given that she wasn’t about to offer any information about herself.
“Why’d you move so much?” Daniel asked.
