"Believe it. But don't get too excited. I can really get annoying."
"Oh Jez, you could never annoy me. I'll love you forever. Forever!"
Apparently finally understanding that Bev's tears were tears of joy, Josie let out a war whoop that made the windows rattle.
"What was that? A fire alarm?"
Bev laughed and gave Josie a thumbs-up. "That's my friend Josie."
"Didn't you tell me about her? She's a vet tech who works at the clinic that serves your animals. And the one with the brother who broke your pipe? "
"Yes, that's her. She had a little chat with him. He decided that he needed a break, and decided to fulfill his lifelong dream and moved to Vermont to work on a goat farm. He's super excited, and he even thanked me for rejecting him so he could finally stop obsessing over me and follow his path." She grinned, thinking of how excited Les had been when he showed her the website of the goat farm. "I think we're safe from further vandalism."
Josie grabbed Bev's arm and whirled her around, shrieking with delight. Bev could barely hear Jez over the ruckus, now that the dogs had chimed in.
"Go work your magic with the sellers, Bev," Jez said. "You have twenty-four hours."
"I know." Bev sobered slightly, though she was still being whirled around by Josie. "What if we don't get it?"
"Then we'll find another property. But go see what you can do. And call me as soon as you know."
"I will. Thank you so much, Jez."
"My pleasure. It'll be fun. Ta ta."
"Bye." As soon as she said her farewell, Josie yanked the phone out of her hand and threw it aside so she could grab both of her arms and spin her around.
"She said 'Yes,' didn't she? Didn't she?"
Bev couldn't wipe the grin off her face. "Yep."
"How much?"
"Whatever I need."
"No way! No way! That's so awesome!" Josie lost her footing and tripped, sending them both catapulting to the floor, where they were attacked by Mac and the beagle, who'd come running at all the excitement. "You have to call Mack and tell him."
Her laughter died in her throat. "Leave it alone, Josie."
Josie held up her hand. "Fine. I'll say no more. But he'd be proud of you."
"Give it up, Josie. He's moved on." But she knew Mack would be proud of her. A sad smile curved her lips. Maybe she would call him tonight.
"Don't you need to go talk to the sellers?"
Bev glanced at her watch. "Yikes. I didn't realize it was so late. Will you finish up here?"
"You bet. Go kick some bootie."
Bev hugged her friend. "What would I do without you? You're the best."
"I know. Now go save this shelter!"
"I will!" Bev was running before she even reached the door.
Thirty minutes later, Bev was knocking on the seller's front door, Mac and the beagle at her feet. The owners were strong advocates of her work at the shelter, so she'd decided that Mac and the beagle might help her cause.
The door opened to reveal Pete Smith, the owner of the building. "Why, hello, Bev. What are you doing here?"
"Hey, Pete. I have to talk to you guys. Is Rose here?" She danced on her toes, unable to stand still. She could almost taste success, inhale the sweet scent of victory for her animals.
"Yes, she's in the kitchen. What's going on?"
"Can I come in? It'll just take a second."
Pete shrugged and held the door open. "Come on in."
"Thanks." She had just stepped through the door, when Pete snapped his fingers for Mac, hoisting him under his arm. She stifled a small smile. Mac would be her secret weapon.
As soon as she walked into the kitchen, Rose dropped the carrot she was peeling and ran over to hug Bev. "I'm so sorry about your shelter, Bev. You know we wouldn't have sold it if we didn't need the money."
Bev patted Rose's back. This was going to be easy. "It's okay, Rose. I don't blame you at all."
"I'm so glad. We were so upset when that awful little man insisted on the ten days, but then he threatened to withdraw his bid. We simply couldn't afford to lose the money." Rose wiped her hands on her apron. "Are you staying for dinner?"
"Actually, I don't have time." Bev sat down at the kitchen table, and the beagle hopped onto her lap. Mac was still showering Pete with kisses.
"Oh, that's our fault, isn't it? You have to clear your animals out of there today, don't you?" Rose shook her head. "I'm really sorry."
"No need to apologize," Bev said. "I actually have a solution that could keep you from feeling bad."
"Really? You found other land? I'm so relieved."
"Actually, what I got was a donor."
Pete sat next to her at the table, propping Mac up on his lap. "How much did you get?"
"As much as I need."
"No kidding, huh? That's amazing. How'd you manage that?" Pete looked impressed.
Bev grinned. "Just got lucky." She could contain herself no longer. "I have permission to outbid Whittle for the property. Whatever you want, I can give it to you. Tell me what it'll take to get you to sell the property to me instead. I have the money."
The words sounded so incredible rolling off her tongue. Better than they had even in her dreams. If only Mack were here to enjoy the moment with her. He'd revel in it, even though it would be foiling his client's plans. He'd be on her side.
Then she noticed the utter silence in the small kitchen. Rose and Pete were looking at each other, and Rose looked like she was going to cry.
Finally, Pete spoke. "It's too late, Bev."
"No, it's not," she said quickly. "You aren't bound until you take the money. Obviously, you'll have to give the deposit back, but I'll cover that. Just don't tell Whittle you're selling it to me, because he'll probably sue. Tell him you're selling to Walt Barnum. He'll never have the guts to go up against him."
"Walt Barnum is your donor?"
"Yep. Well, his wife actually, but it's the same thing. Whittle will never dare challenge him. Walt would crush him." She felt so empowered, so strong Whittle couldn't touch her. Bev looked at Rose. "So, it's not too late. Tell me how much you want, so I can call Jez. She'll get the check today if I call her soon enough."
Pete looked at Mac, and Rose looked at her carrots.
"You won't sell it to me?" She wouldn't have believed that they would choose Whittle over her. It didn't make sense. "I don't understand."
"We'd love for you to have that property," Pete said. "I would've sold it to you in a heartbeat, even if it was only one second before the closing, with that nasty little man standing right there, but we can't do it. We sold the property two hours ago."
"You sold it? But the closing is tomorrow. You couldn't have sold it." She felt like the earth had cracked open and sucked her soul right out of her.
"I'm so sorry, Bev, but it's gone."
She blinked. "Gone? What do you mean, gone?"
"We signed the papers. We don't own it anymore. It's too late." Rose looked pained. "I'm sorry."
She was going to cry. No, she couldn't. Mack would never cry. Ever. So neither would she. Bev stood up. "I have to go."
Numb, she stumbled to the door. To be so close and fail. It hadn't even occurred to her she would fail. But she had. By two hours. One hundred and twenty minutes was all it would have taken for to have everything she wanted.
Except Mack.
Nothing would have changed that.
Chapter 25
The drive back to the shelter felt like she was walking to her execution. For the first time ever, the shelter held no comfort for her. All it spoke of was her failure. The animals who wagged their tails at her tore at her heart.
By the time Bev reached the shelter, Josie had left, and now she was alone with her life.
She called Jez when she got back, and the older woman was matter-of-fact. Jez would call her realtor tomorrow and they'd start the search for another property. In the meantime, the current occupants would have to go to other shelters. There w
as no other way. Jez said she'd bring her gardener's van by in a half hour to help transport the animals.
Bev hung up the phone, her hand shaking. Yes, they'd find another property, but what about the animals she had now? Some of them weren't ready to be adopted. They needed more training or more medical care before a family could or would take them. They wouldn't last at another shelter, and they wouldn't be adopted.
As of this moment, she didn't even belong on the property anymore. And neither did her animals. How long did she have until the bulldozers arrived? Twenty minutes? A day? She had to start packing them up.
She opened the pen of the cocker that had beat up on her beagle just a few short weeks ago. He'd never make it to a home, despite his beautiful golden coat. She felt a lump in her throat, but willed it away. So much for a victory call to Mack tonight.
Mack. She wanted to call him so badly, to hear his voice, feel his arms around her. He'd make her feel better. With Mack, she wouldn't be alone.
It was almost five o'clock. He was probably landing in California any minute. He'd be turning on his cell phone...but she couldn't call him yet. Josie's words were still dancing in her head, and she hadn't decided what she was going to say to him when she called him.
But she was definitely going to call.
"Go play with Mac," she said to the beagle, not wanting her to get attacked by the cocker. "He's over there."
She pointed to the fleece bed next to the food bin where Mac was, but he wasn't paying any attention to her. He was staring at the front of the building, his ears alert. Someone was here. Bev sighed, not ready to face Jez yet. "Is that you, Josie?"
She could only hope, right?
Mac barked and took off down the aisle, his little paws pounding on the cement floor.
Time to say her farewells. She lifted up the cocker and stared him down. "Hey, little bully, you need to stop beating up other dogs once you get to the other shelter. It's really, really important." She picked up a brush and began stroking his silky fur, hoping to make him look so beautiful that no one would be able to resist him.
Her tears were just starting to blur her vision when she heard footsteps and the click of Mac's toenails. She couldn't bear to look up. "Jez?"
"No."
Her heart thudded and she jumped to her feet. "Mack?"
There he stood, wearing a beautiful suit and a pristine white shirt. His shoes were perfectly polished, and he was wearing a silk tie with dogs on it. The man she loved. "Mack!"
Without waiting or thinking, she released the cocker and threw herself into his arms. He grabbed her so tightly she couldn't breathe, burying his face in her hair. In less than a second, however, an outrageous battle broke at their feet, with the cocker trying to kill Mac.
Bev let go of Mack and grabbed for the cocker, but Mack got him first, hoisting him up. "You take Mac. Make sure he's okay."
She picked up her dog, trembling and scared, but not bloody. Hugging him to her chest, she peered over him at Mack. "You are supposed to be in California."
"Are you sure your dog is okay?"
Why was he avoiding the topic? What now? "He's fine. Why are you here, Mack?"
"Look at his throat. I thought I saw some blood." The cocker sunk his little teeth into Mack's jacket sleeve, and Bev could see from the look on his face that the teeth had reached the flesh of his arm. He grunted and shifted the dog so his teeth were facing away from Mack's body. "Look at your dog, Bev. I'm worried about him."
"Did he just bite you?"
"Yes. I'm fine. Please check Mac's throat."
Bev shook her head. "Have you lost your mind?"
He just glared at her, so she made a little face and lifted Mac's chin so she could inspect the delicate skin of his throat. "I don't see any..."
Her voice faded into stunned silence as she stared at Mac's neck. On his collar, with his two tags, was a diamond ring. A huge, beautiful diamond with smaller, but still huge, diamonds surrounding it. Her mouth dropped open, blood draining from her head so quickly the room began to spin.
"Hey, hey." Mack moved closer, touching her arm. "Are you okay?"
The cocker growled and lunged for Mac, so Mack put him back in the kennel and latched the door. He came back toward Bev, his face an indecipherable mixture of emotions. She was sure her face was frozen with shock. Her hands were shaking so much she was afraid she was going to drop Mac. Knowing her too well, Mack took the dog from her and propped him on his hip. "Bev, I couldn't leave town today."
"You couldn't?" Her voice squeaked.
"No. After I left your apartment last night, I couldn't sleep. Walking away from you was so hard. I missed you, I missed your animals. I tried to work, but I couldn't. All I could do was think of you."
"Oh." Breathe, Bev.
"I imagined going to California and never seeing you again…and it felt the same as when I'd lost my sister. Like everything good in my life had shuttered into darkness, only this time, it was my fault. I had a chance for happiness again…and I'd lost it again. I couldn't survive it again." He took her hand. "I can't lose you, Bev. I love you. "
"You love me?" Heaven help her, she was going to faint.
"I want the same things you want: marriage, a family, kids. My whole identity has been so wrapped up in work and trying to erase the past, that I didn't think there was room for anything else. But then I realized I'd already made room. My hours have been reasonable since I met you. I told off Whittle when he badmouthed you."
She was going to have to get the details of that one later. When she had a functioning brain again.
"I realized I'd already been adjusting my life for you without even realizing it. Because I already love you and have since the day you told Whittle the property was an EPA violation."
That had made him fall in love with her?
"I love you, I want to adjust my life for you. You'd have to help me, though. Tell me when I'm getting too caught up in work, if I still do. But I might not. I can't stop thinking about you when we're apart. I don't want to be a workaholic anymore."
"But...what about all the money?" This couldn't be happening, it couldn't be true. Was it another one of her fantasies?
Mack shrugged, taking her hand in his. "There's plenty, and there will continue to be plenty, just as my mom has been telling me for years. But it took you to make me realize it."
"Oh, Mack. I..."
He laid a finger across her lips. "Don't say anything yet. I know how you are about your fantasies, and I want this to be worth remembering. I want to do it right."
Keeping Mac tucked under his arm, he kneeled before Bev, right in a muddy puddle. He took her hand, looking up at her with an earnestness that turned her heart. "Beverly Ryan, I promise to be the most loving, most caring husband a woman has ever had. I will love you forever, even if you foil every business deal I ever try to make, and I'll adopt every animal you bring into my house, even if they destroy everything I own. I want children with you, and I'll be the best father I can be. But most of all, I will put you and our children in front of everything. Always. Will you please, please do me the honor of marrying me?" He unhooked the ring from Mac's collar and held it up, letting it sparkle in the light. "Will you wear this ring and be mine forever?"
She took the ring and kneeled in front of him. "This moment will be my best memory for the rest of my life. It couldn't have been more perfect, the way you brought the dogs into this moment, into the start of our life together."
His eyes glittered. "Does that mean you'll marry me?"
She grinned, the smile stretching to her ears and reverberating through her entire being. "Of course I will. I would have married you even without the speech...though it certainly helped."
Mack's face burst into the most glorious smile she'd ever seen, and their kiss shook her to her soul. Her first kiss as an engaged woman. Engaged to the most wonderful man in the entire world. She broke the kiss. "So, I guess that means I'm moving to California with you, huh?"
"Oh, I'm not going."
"What? Why not?"
"I'm engaged. I can't uproot my fiancée while we're starting our life together. I'd be working round the clock out there trying to start a new office and drum up new clients."
"Oh..."
"What? Why do you look disappointed? Did you want to move?" His brow wrinkled in confusion.
"No, it's not that. I just don't want you to resent me. I'm okay with moving. But if you turn it down for me, then you might regret it someday and it might come between us."
Mack chuckled and took the engagement ring out of her hand. "First of all, do you really think I'd ever do anything I didn't want to do?"
A faint smile curved the corners of her lips. "Not really."
He slipped the ring on her finger, then kissed it. "I talked to my partner this morning, and we agreed to hire a third person to work the California office. We're both getting too old for ninety-hour workweeks, so we decided to bring someone else in. I think we're both relieved."
There was no hope of stopping her tears. "I love you, Mack Spenser."
"And I love you. I'm so excited about our new life together, Bev. This is what I've been looking for. You are who I've been looking for." He pulled her close, his breath hot against her lips. "Think of all the fantasies we can live out in the next seventy years..."
She beamed at him, so happy she felt like she could dance on the moon. "And we could start right now... Have you ever made love in a dog shelter?"
"Almost, but you stopped me."
Bev grinned and began unbuttoning his shirt. "I won't stop you this time... Oh, wait. We can't."
"Why not?" He tugged her shirt out of her jeans.
"Because Jez will be here in twenty minutes."
"So we have twenty minutes. No problem." He pulled his tie off and tossed it aside. "Why is Jez coming?"
Bev sighed. "Whittle bought the shelter today. Ahead of schedule. Jez is helping me transport the animals to other shelters."
Mack slipped his hand inside his jacket and pulled out an envelope. "Your engagement present."
Paws for a Kiss (Canine Cupids Book 1) Page 16
