by Zoe Dawson
“Nope, no Jill. You’ve done enough for now. Eat.”
Jack let out a big sigh and settled down to his dinner.
Callie made her own dinner and sat at the table to enjoy her beautiful view of the city. She let her thoughts wander to when Jill had knocked her over and Owen had helped her up. She had felt his energy, and his heat. God help her, she was so attracted to that man. He had been visibly shaken by Jill’s pregnancy, and it was clear that he only tolerated the dog because his beloved great aunt left her to him. The fact that he actually seemed to be interested in training and interacting with her melted Callie’s heart. He was trying to be a good dog owner. Speaking of his great aunt, the fact that the old woman thought he was lonely piqued her interest. For heaven’s sake, the man had a different woman every week. Why would anyone think he was lonely? She wanted to ask him that question. Maybe she would, caution be damned.
But it had been quite clear that he was indeed the bad boy described in the Scoop. She crunched on the croutons in her salad and let out as big a sigh as her poor, lovesick dog.
#
The knock he was expecting on the door came late the next morning. Callie had been true to her word, and her friend Dr. Poe Madigan stood outside his door. She wasn’t dressed as he expected a vet would be. She wore a black t-shirt with a skull on it, a short, plaid schoolgirl skirt, and black, thick-soled boots with buckles up the sides. She had very intelligent eyes that were both sensitive and warm, even though the blue-streaked hair threw him a bit.
“Hello,” she said, but she was naturally dog-savvy and didn’t even make eye contact with Jill.
Owen extended his hand and they shook. Jill sat down next to Owen and raised her paw. Poe laughed. “Looks like you’ve at least taught her that.”
“Actually,” he said, feeling a bit surprised, “my aunt must have taught her. I’ve never seen her do it.”
“Well, dogs are pretty smart. I prefer them to humans.”
He smiled and nodded, liking her blunt personality. “She likes to outsmart me.”
Poe laughed again, and it was infectious. He smiled.
“So, this is quite a predicament.”
Owen nodded. “Yes, I’m just thankful Callie is being so…gracious.” Thoughts of the girl next door should have been tame, but Owen had to shut down the track his mind was on. That one track would inevitably lead him to a complicated place, and he didn’t want to go there.
Poe started a thorough and methodical examination of his dog, and he already felt better. Those twisting butterflies in his stomach over Jill’s condition subsided some. Maybe he was developing a soft spot for her, which was something else that surprised him.
When Poe finished, she said, “She looks good. You take good care of her.”
“Anything you can recommend?”
“Several things. Make sure she has a spacious whelping box. Get that together early, because she’ll want to fuss with it. Her nesting instinct will be strong. Show her the area and let her explore it. Now, may I see what you’re feeding her?”
He led her to the kitchen and pulled out Jill’s dog food. “Oh, good stuff. I think that you can go ahead and keep feeding her this. It’s packed with nutrients. I’m not an advocate of feeding her vitamins when the food she’s receiving is top-notch. As the pregnancy progresses, you’ll notice she’ll be off her food now and again. If she goes two days without eating, make an appointment. Would you prefer I recommend someone from St. Mark’s?”
“Aren’t you a doctor?”
“Yes.”
“A full-fledged one?”
“Yes. I’m doing my residency because I’m specializing in surgery, but I have my DVM from Cornell.”
“Then I’d rather have you do Jill’s check-ups.
Poe smiled. “Okay. Here’s my card.”
Owen took it and tacked it to his fridge with a magnet.
“Toward the end of her pregnancy, you’ll probably need to feed her more. I took the liberty of bringing our brochure with me that details the changes you can expect in your bitch. That should help.”
“Thank you.”
She nodded. “Well, I’ll be off now.”
“Hey, take this voucher for a night at my club. Bring your friends.”
“Oh, that’s not necessary,” she said, eying the voucher, but making no move to take it.
“It’s the least I can do for your kindness.”
Poe waved a hand at him. “It’s okay. Callie is a very good friend of mine. I’d do just about anything for her, but thank you for the voucher.”
#
“Don’t laugh. It’s not funny.”
“It most certainly is funny,” Brooke said as she cleaned Jack’s ears. They were in one of Brooke’s grooming rooms at Pawlish, her pet grooming service in the Lower East Side. She cupped Jack’s face and pursed her lips. “He’s a big studmuffin,” she said in a cutesy baby voice. Jack made a deep rumbling noise in his chest, and Brooke burst into laughter again. “He’s a big, lovable, studly studmuffin.”
“Stop it,” Callie said, but she, too, couldn’t contain her mirth, and rubbed Jack’s head affectionately. “Don’t encourage him. He’s in enough trouble.”
“What did your parents say?” Brooke said with another chuckle.
She tried to keep from flinching at that. “I haven’t told them yet. We’re driving out to Harrison this afternoon so I can break the news and they can look Jill over.”
“We?” Brooke frowned.
“That’s right, but the trip is totally about breaking it to my parents. I think once they see Jill, they’ll be okay with it. It’s not like Owen tried to steal Jack’s…ah…pedigree.”
Brooke snickered. “No, he obviously is clueless about females.”
“Female dogs, anyway. He’s not clueless about females at all.”
Brooke took a brush from the grooming counter and paused. “Oh, no. What happened?”
“Just a stunning gypsy goddess, who showed up when we were talking in the hall after Jill soared over the sofa like an Olympic hurdler in an attempt to get to her studmuffin.” Jack’s ear pricked at the mention of Jill’s name.
“You sound jealous and miffed. I thought you were going to steer clear of this guy. I don’t want to see you hurt.”
“I was, then Jack had his way with Jill, and—lo and behold!—we’re connected by puppies.”
Brooke gave her a sidelong glance, her eyes sparkling as she efficiently whisked the brush through Jack’s glossy coat.
“I will,” Callie insisted. “Stay away from him, I mean.”
“Uh huh.
“Stop being your skeptical self for one minute. I promise to think of your stern look every time I feel any attraction to Owen. That should kill it stone dead.”
Brooke raised a brow.
“Does that make you feel better?”
She set the brush down and kissed Jack on the bridge of his black and white nose. “Marginally. But, seriously, Callie. We both know he’s not the man for you. We’ve discussed the kind of relationship you want.”
“Yes, I know, but Owen is exciting and handsome.”
“Right, but that’s not everything.”
It was Callie’s turn to give Brooke the sidelong glance.
“Okay, it’s something. But you wanted to be more practical. We’re not exactly young, hip city girls anymore.”
“I’m not sure I ever was, but I see your point. Mature business owners like us have to be smart. It’s pretty clear that Owen is commitment-phobic.”
“There you go. Good for the sprint, but lousy for the long haul.” Brooke glanced at her watch. “Do you have time for lunch?”
“Something light. My mom is making peach cobbler.”
Brooke groaned. “I wish I had my afternoon free. I’d go with you.”
“How about I bring some back for you?”
“I knew there was a really good reason we were friends.”
Two hours later Callie sat at the curb in h
er lime green Jeep Sahara and waited for Owen. She’d already strapped Jack into his doggy seatbelt, folded the seat down so that the two Danes would have plenty of room, and removed the roof panels above the driver’s and passenger’s side. The day was full of sunshine and warm for October in New York. Orange, red, and yellow leaves rustled in the breeze.
Owen emerged with Jill on a leash. Jack got agitated the moment he saw her. “Keep your pants on, Jack. She’ll be here in a second.”
Owen opened the back door and the dogs greeted each other happily. “Settle down,” Callie ordered, and Jack folded down on the seat. Owen strapped his excited dog into her restraint, and when she immediately obeyed his firm command for her to sit he turned and beamed at Callie like a proud papa.
When the passenger side door opened, Callie got the full impact of Owen. He was dressed in beautifully made but more conservative clothes than usual—in deference to her parents, probably. He also smelled delicious. The idea that he might want to impress her parents made her feel that maybe Owen wasn’t as arrogant as the press implied. He smiled as he settled into the seat.
His dark hair was spiked, and he wore a navy blue crewneck sweater over a white polo, the sleeves pushed up his muscled forearms. His pants were slim-fit grey, a light summer-weight wool, and his shoes a high-shine black oxford with a contemporary blue sole. He looked sharp and successful.
“This is a crazy color for a Jeep, but it suits you.”
“What? Its sportiness?”
“Yes, you have that fresh, girl-next-door, tomboy thing going.” His voice dropped an octave and his eyes traveled over her from the baseball cap on her head to the tight denim encasing her thighs, to the brown cowboy boots on her feet.
Her pulse kicked up a notch. Coming from any other man, the tomboy remark might have offended her, but from Owen it sounded like he found her sexy just the way she was. “I hope that was a compliment.”
Owen’s smile came slowly. “It was meant as one. I can’t say I’ve met anyone like you before.”
That gave her a big boost. “I’m one of a kind,” she quipped to lessen the escalating tension.
“That’s the problem,” he said softly as he sat back in his seat. She pondered that for a moment, decided it was a powder keg that was best left unlit, and put the Sahara in drive.
Chapter Three
He tried to focus on the city as they passed through, but no matter how hard he tried, Callie stole his attention. Unfortunately, both dogs had fallen asleep on the back seat, so he couldn’t be distracted with making sure they behaved. As they approached the I-95 North exit, he said, “Tell me about Lassiter Run.” His voice came out sounding a little desperate, demanding. He shifted in his seat and inwardly groaned.
She glanced at him before she merged onto I-87 and smiled. “Next to the City, it’s the best place on earth.”
All of his childhood had been spent in the City and some of those years were with his dysfunctional mother. When she left one day and didn’t return, he was a lost boy, wandering mean streets as he tried to survive. But his great aunt had never stopped looking for him and rescued him. Even with all his travels as an adult, he hadn’t seen much of the rest of New York State.
“Lassiter Run sits on about thirty acres. We have twelve kennels and nine dog yards, along with puppy runs we use to segregate the older dogs from the little ones. We exclusively breed Danes of all colors. But I, of course, have a soft spot for Harlequins.”
She wasn’t his type. In spite of reminding himself over and over, the attraction between them pulled so hard he swore he’d be leaving a trail scored by his heels on the lawns of Lassiter Run.
“Does your family show the dogs?”
“My mother does. She’s even been to Westminster with Jack’s sire.”
“Did she win?”
“A couple of times. Did your great aunt ever show Jill?”
“No, she didn’t get the chance. She grew too ill to leave the house.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry.”
He nodded and looked away. He still couldn’t seem to stop the well of emotion each time his great aunt was mentioned. The deep grief he felt for her passing had been compartmentalized, like everything else in his life. It was as if his hip, cool persona took everything he had in him to maintain. Letting emotion show, any emotion, would set off a feeding frenzy among his fellow sharks.
He felt her touch on his arm. When he looked at her, he saw that genuine concern deep in her dark green eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s so hard to lose a loved one. When we lost my grandpa, the grief would sneak up on me when I least expected it for more than a year. It was as if the memories were all bundled up inside with nowhere to go. With no outlet, it just feels as if those memories sit on your heart and shred it.”
His breath caught and moisture pricked at his eyes. No one. Not one person of his acquaintance had offered him the tiniest bit of comfort when his great aunt had passed, and yet this authentic, goodhearted woman had already seen through his façade and offered him not only comfort, but sympathy, in a wise and touching way.
It threw him off his game. Usually with a woman he wanted it was all heat and seduction. There was never any substance to those relationships, and he had preferred it that way. Preferred the women who were seduced by his face, body, status, or wealth. It made everything so much easier, so much less…weighty. He had no doubt he could seduce Callie into bed. Even now, his body tightened at the thought of how she would feel against him, how her mouth would fuse to his, taste.
So he was trapped for the time being. However, what it amounted to was yet another compelling reason to steer clear of Callie. Thanks to this dilemma with Jill and her pregnancy from a prized potential stud, he couldn’t ignore the protocol. The owners had a right to check out his dog. They had a right to be concerned about her offspring.
He also recognized that Jill had to have some training. He wouldn’t be in this predicament if she had been spoiled less and disciplined more. Again, Callie could help him. So, for sixty days at most he would have to interact with her. Jill’s puppies would be born by then, and Jill would be sufficiently trained. He could go back to just being her neighbor.
“But if it doesn’t help to talk about it, I’ll try not to mention your great aunt.”
“If you have questions, it’s all right to ask them, Callie. It’s true that her passing has been hard, but I wouldn’t stifle your curiosity. She was a wonderful lady and deserves to be remembered with respect and love. I was lucky to have had her, to have known her and to have been loved by her.” He was quite shocked at the words that came out of his mouth. Callie squeezed his arm and then was distracted by maneuvering the Jeep through traffic. He had to take a moment to regroup. Never had he revealed so much to anyone.
She pulled into a long drive that led up to a large house with kennels. Two posts held a green and blue sign that said Lassiter Run in bold letters.
The big Victorian was a real showpiece, with a riot of fall flowers planted along the beautifully maintained walk. Pumpkins were scattered here and there, along with multi-colored cornhusks which decorated the front porch posts. Little pumpkin lights were strung along the eaves. Baskets of spider mums hung from the porch’s rafters, and rockers invited guests to sit awhile and enjoy the company of friends. It was very homey and inviting.
A tall, sandy-haired woman came out onto the porch, flanked by a fawn adolescent Great Dane and a full-grown brindle.
She waved to Callie with a wide grin on her face, and it made his heart ache just a little.
Callie jumped out of the vehicle and both dogs launched themselves off the porch and sprinted to her, greeting her joyously with barks that woke both Jack and Jill. He noticed how well the Lassiter Run dogs behaved. Neither one jumped up. She petted them, and then told them to stay as she raced up the steps and gave her mother a big hug.
Owen felt as if he was intruding on her private time, but she motioned him out of the Jeep. His pa
lms sweaty, he wiped them on his pants before getting out. Jill whined when he shut the door, but he ignored her for now.
He approached the stairs, and Callie’s mother eyed his face, then his clothes. She narrowed her eyes at Callie, but the younger woman just shook her head.
“Mom, this is Owen McKay. He’s my neighbor in the City.”
Callie’s mom reached out her hand and said somewhat cautiously, “Hello, Owen. Welcome to Lassiter Run.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Lassiter.”
“Oh, please, call me Kate.”
He nodded.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”
“Someone told me you were making ham and scalloped potatoes and a peach cobbler,” Callie said slyly.
“Oh, Ian has such a big mouth.”
“Yeah, it’s too bad he can’t be here, but he’s got a show to get ready for.”
“I understand,” she said looking from Owen to Callie.
Callie glanced at him and took a deep breath. “Mom, we’re here because, well…Owen has a beautiful Great Dane bitch.”
“Oh, how wonderful. Did you bring her with you?”
“Yes,” he said looking over his shoulder at Callie’s Jeep. “She’s in the car.”
“Mom,” Callie said, and the note of trepidation in her daughter’s voice made her focus on Callie.
“What’s wrong?”
“Well, we happened to walk our dogs at the same time and they got a little excited to see each other. They escaped together for about an hour.”
“I see.”
“Owen had just inherited her from a family member, and he wasn’t aware she was in heat.”
“Oh, dear. She’s pregnant by Jack. Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”
“Exactly.”
“I’m so sorry, Mrs.…Kate. If I could fix this, I would.”
“Well, it seems that the fixing should have occurred before she got pregnant,” she said with a laugh.
Owen’s anxiety lessened by degrees at the open and amused look on Kate’s face. He chuckled and so did Callie.
“Owen didn’t mean for it to happen. I’m sorry that Jack got his dog pregnant. I should have been more vigilant.”
