Honor and Protect

by Lori Ryan

  Her eyes went round and her face flushed. She was moving her mouth as if she couldn’t quite make the words come out despite wanting to, but there was heat there also. Heat and interest. She wanted to come over to his house.

  “I can’t come to your house!”

  He tipped his head back and laughed. She was really cute, he had to give her that. He was about to reassure her that all he wanted was her help getting Honey settled in, but Alton Crawford interrupted them. He’d just come from inside the clinic and had apparently overheard some of their conversation.

  “You’re taking the dog, Deputy Jenkins?”

  Carter would bet he and Lily wore matching looks of surprise when they turned to the lawyer. Carter extended his hand, more out of habit than anything, and Alton gripped it briefly, before reissuing his question.

  “You’re taking the racing dog? The one that was shot?”

  Carter ignored the question. “What’s your interest in Honey, Alton?”

  Alton Crawford was a prominent lawyer in the small town. He and his wife were active in the community and the largest church in town, and Carter couldn’t begin to imagine why he’d be so interested in Honey and where she went.

  “Nothing, nothing.” Alton’s denial was too hurried. Too strong. “I just came by to drop off some papers for Lily and saw the poor thing. Awful, what someone did to her. It’s a miracle you found her and saved her in time, Lily. Just a miracle.”

  Lily glanced at Carter before answering and he found himself placing a hand to her back. “I was out hiking. It wasn’t a miracle at all. Just chance.”

  Alton nodded. “Well, sure. Sure. Anyway,” he turned to Carter again, “you’re taking the dog?”

  Carter didn’t answer and Lily cut in. “Alton, you said you brought paperwork by. Does that mean the landlord is willing to lease additional space to me?”

  “Oh, yes. It’s all set. You just need to sign and write a check. He’ll give you the first two months’ rent free since you’re taking the buildout on by yourself. I still say let him do the buildout and spread out the payments each month, but you seem to be set on doing it your own way.”

  Carter smiled when Lily raised her brows at the lawyer, stopping him in his tracks. He couldn’t help but be impressed by the way she took him on, clearly making her business decisions where she saw fit.

  “Yes, well…” Alton moved past them on the walk, clearing the way to the door for Carter and Lily to enter. “I’ll need the papers back with the check by close of business tomorrow.”

  “You got it,” Lily answered, and Carter was happy to see a smile break over her face. She was proud to be expanding her business, and he was happy for her. She should be proud.

  As they walked away, he watched Alton. The man glanced over his shoulder several times, telling Carter his hunch was right. Something was up. Alton’s interest in Honey was strange. And strange didn’t set well with Carter. Especially when it involved Lily.

  6

  “You shot them?” Alton whispered, even though his office door was closed.

  “Of course I shot them,” Jenk Wilson answered through the line, with a sneer so plain in his voice, it wasn’t hard for Alton to picture it on his face. They’d gone to school together back in the day, but each had gone his separate path until they’d partnered up a year ago. Alton’s path had included a top-tier law school. Jenk’s education came care of the penitentiary system, and it was a lot more limited than Alton’s. But he was street smart, and he knew dog racing. Knew how to train the dogs, how to draw in the crowds without drawing the attention of the police, and how to make them both money doing it. When Alton’s lifestyle first began to creep ahead of his income, he hadn’t worried overly much. When it had bolted forward by leaps and bounds as his income began to decline with each year in this pissant town, Alton had gone along with Jenk’s scheme. Dog racing. Only he hadn’t planned on dogs being shot.

  Before Alton could answer him, Jenk continued. “What did you think I did with them when they were done? You think I have some nice retirement home out in the country for them? If they aren’t running or breeding, or earning their keep in some way, they need to go.”

  “Well, you didn’t bury the bodies deep enough, Jenk.” Alton swallowed his unease at the thought of shooting an animal in cold blood. They needed to do damage control now. “The local vet found the bodies when she was hiking. One of the dogs survived. She had to cut off its leg, but the damned thing is still alive. She’s got the deputy sheriff involved.”

  Jenk grunted. “Doesn’t matter. Dog racing isn’t illegal, Crawford, so you can pull your panties outta your damned ass crack. No one cares if you’re running a few dogs.”

  “They’ll care about the gambling. That’s plenty illegal. And they’ll care about the rabbits those dogs are chasing. About the dogs you’re shooting. If I’m connected to any of that, prosecution won’t matter at all. It’ll ruin me, Jenk, and I’m not about to let that happen.”

  Another grunt through the line was all he heard before the phone cut out. Alton muttered a curse and swiped at his brow as he sank back into his chair. He could not let this get out. Jenk might not care about his reputation, but reputation was everything to Alton. Everything. His would be shot to hell if anyone got wind of this.

  7

  Lily was in a state all day Friday, and it wasn’t a good one. She wanted dinnertime to come, and didn’t at the same time. She knew she should just tell Carter she couldn’t go to dinner with him. That she would help him get Honey settled at his house, but that going out together wasn’t an option. She didn’t date. It was that simple.

  And yet… She sighed. And yet, she wasn’t able to resist feeling the littlest bit of excitement at the thought of spending more time with Carter. The man made her laugh. She liked talking to him, liked hearing his stories. She liked the way he looked at her and listened, and the way he made her feel like she was the only person in the room. The only person he wanted to talk to.

  The way her body responded to him couldn’t be ignored either, but that was the problem, wasn’t it? She didn’t want there to be any attraction between them. Didn’t want him to make her want things, but he absolutely did. Because let’s face it, the man was hot. And he used it to his advantage. Not in a way that made her think he’d push her for something she didn’t want. In fact, he was doing all he could to show her he’d wait. That didn’t mean he couldn’t tell her breath caught every time he stepped close to her. He seemed to know the effect he had when his hand brushed her arm or when he leaned close to whisper something to her.

  “Lily?”

  Lily jumped when Bea walked into the exam room where she was finishing up a client note. “Yes?”

  “Ryan Crawford is here to pick up the lease agreement for his father. He said you were expecting him.”

  Lily glanced at her watch, realizing with surprise that it was five thirty already. Time would be tight to change and be ready when Carter picked her up in half an hour. She refused to do much to get ready for a date she didn’t want to go on, but hadn’t been able to stop herself from bringing cute jeans that fit better than the scrubs she wore every day, paired with a halter top that showed off her arms.

  “Can you send him to my office? I’ll be there in just a minute.”

  Rushing to wrap up her notes, she moved down the hall to her office. She’d met Ryan Crawford a couple of times since moving to town, but usually saw him at his father’s office. Apparently, he was about to begin his third year of law school and planned to join his father’s practice when he graduated. He was a nice-looking man with a fairly unremarkable face, and a smile that seemed genuine and easy. Stacking him up next to Carter, which her mind’s eye couldn’t help but do, he paled in comparison. He was a couple of inches taller than Lily, where Carter stood over six feet tall. Ryan had none of the rugged strength and natural sex appeal Carter had. He was simply…nice-looking.

  “Hi, Ryan. Sorry to keep you waiting. I’ve got the paper
s here for you. Thank you so much for coming to pick them up. I had hoped to bring them down to your dad yesterday, but the day got away from me faster than I thought it would.”

  He took the offered papers and smiled. “No problem. I heard you had some excitement around her lately. Everything from pulling dogs out of ditches to saving Francine Moller’s prized show poodle yesterday when you performed an emergency C-section to deliver her puppies.” He whistled. “I’ll bet she was a Nervous Nellie in the waiting room, huh?”

  Lily smiled. She’d practically had to physically remove Francine from the surgery suite. The prized poodle and her two puppies were safe. It had been a good day.

  “It’s been an interesting few days, to say the least,” Lily said, avoiding the topic of other people’s pets. “I didn’t think a small-town veterinary practice would be so action-packed, but it’s been a nice surprise.”

  He nodded and smiled at her again and she got the feeling he was working up to something. There was a lot of smiling going on. “So, Lily, I was wondering if I could take you to dinner sometime?”

  “Oh, uh—” She mentally swatted at the image of Carter’s face in her head. Why did he keep popping up there? She bit back a sigh and looked at Ryan. Maybe he was the answer. In reality, she didn’t want to date Ryan any more than she wanted to date Carter. But Ryan was safe. She wasn’t wildly aroused when he was around. She’d probably enjoy dinner out with him, without feeling like she might lose her heart the way she did with Carter.

  Sadly, her mouth wasn’t on board with the plan, because she found herself politely declining and making excuses. “I’m sorry, Ryan, I’m not really dating right now. I mean, I’m just focusing on the business and trying to get settled in and that kind of thing.”

  His smile didn’t falter in the least. “Sure. Maybe in a few weeks, then?”

  “Maybe,” she said, returning the smile, but she had a feeling her heart wouldn’t be interested in a few weeks either.

  Of course, that wasn’t at all how she felt three hours later when she and Carter had come back from dinner, and were getting Honey settled into his house. Lily not only had a wonderful time at dinner with him, she’d forgotten all of her objections to dating over the course of their time together. They sat side by side on the floor of Carter’s living room, watching Honey snuggle into the soft, cozy bed he’d bought her as Lily strained to remember all the reasons she was dead-set against this going anywhere.

  She could do this. She’d just remember the words of all the men who had let her down before. Of all the men who’d disappointed her. All the men who’d left. I just don’t think this is going to work for me. That’s what Keith had said when he left her after a year and a half of living together. After all the words of love and promises together, a simple I just don’t think this is going to work for me was what she’d been left with.

  Intent on saying goodnight, since Honey was clearly in good hands, she turned to Carter. She sucked in a breath and knew her lips had parted, despite her efforts to clamp them shut. Because Carter was watching her. And heated gaze didn’t even begin to describe the look in his eyes. A second later, when their mouths met, she was mortified to realize that it might have been her to initiate the kiss, not him. And here she thought she would be strong, fend off his advances, reject him. Instead, she had leaned in and closed the space between them, not only touching her lips to his, but also running the tip of her tongue along his lower lip. Tasting him.

  He groaned as his arms came around her, and Lily lost her breath when he commandeered the kiss, taking it to another level entirely. Incendiary was the word that came to mind. Carter somehow pulled her closer, his body pressing to hers as he slanted his head and deepened their connection. He nibbled, licked, sucked, kissed, and teased moan after moan from her. She answered back, pushed herself farther into him, reveling in how hard his body was. She caught his lower lip in her teeth and tugged gently, loving the low growl she earned in response.

  Though she hated to admit it, if Carter hadn’t pulled back, she couldn’t be sure she would have. That really ticked her off. She’d been so sure she could be strong.

  “I don’t date,” she whispered as he watched her face.

  “So you’ve said. I have to tell you, though, this is beginning to feel awfully date-ish to me. But I’m out of practice. Maybe we should try it a few more times. Maybe it’s not what we think it is.”

  “And you think a few more dinners will help us figure it out?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Lily laid her forehead on Carter’s chest and groaned. “This is bad. This is really bad.”

  “Is it?”

  “You know, one of those guys—Joel—told me he was done. We had been together for eleven months, and the one thing I’d always told him was that I needed him to promise, if things got rough, we’d work on it together before we gave up. He agreed. He said you always needed to work on a relationship, not just walk away when things got rough.”

  She knew talking about her exes on a date was a huge no-no, but he was the one who insisted on making this a date when it wasn’t supposed to be. She was not dating him. Maybe talking about her exes would get that point across to him. “But I guess he and I had other definitions of working on it, because after eleven months, he told me he was done. I had no idea he was unhappy at all. He never said a word. When I asked why he wasn’t willing to work to try to save us, he told me he already had. He said he’d been working on it for a long time, that he’d tried everything he could think of. But I guess he forgot to tell me we were working on it.”

  Carter ran his hand down the side of her face, a caress so soft and caring, she had to turn away from it.

  Instead of being put off by her talk of her ex, he pulled her in and hugged her. Didn’t say anything. Didn’t try to kiss her again. Didn’t try platitudes or to end the non-date as awkwardly and quickly as he could. He simply held her. That made her feel foolish about everything she’d just blurted out. Here she was trying to shove him away despite the way her heart and mind were screaming at her to simply fall for the guy hard and fast And what did he do? Pulled her in tighter. He held her like that for a while before kissing her on the nose and walking her out to her car to watch as she climbed behind the wheel.

  “Text me when you get home so I know you got there safe?”

  Lily nodded before he shut the car door for her. She didn’t know where they were headed, but she knew one thing. That was the best non-date she’d ever had.

  8

  They had three more non-dates, each one with Carter casually taking hold of her hand or putting his arm around her, bringing them closer to real dates. Each time he dropped her off at her house, he kissed her senseless and she had to spend an hour reminding herself of all the reasons not to get involved with another man who could steal her heart. She was beginning to think it was a battle that wasn’t worth fighting. Because if they were doing battle, he was kicking her butt. She was falling hard and fast.

  He’d brought her as his “non-date” to John and Katelyn’s wedding, and she’d had a hard time not picturing herself up there as the happy bride someday. No matter how many times her heart had been kicked, she still wanted that. She wasn’t surprised when it was Carter who flashed into her fantasy as the groom. She’d tried to push the images aside and just focus on the bride and groom of the day. Katelyn had been absolutely radiant, surrounded by her bridesmaids. John’s eyes hadn’t left her the whole evening and the smile on his face told the story of their love. Lily would be lying if she said she wasn’t utterly, completely envious of what they had.

  “Hey guys, this is Lily Winn, the new veterinarian in town.” Carter had held his hand on her lower back while he introduced Lily to the bridesmaids and groomsmen, but her traitorous heart did a little belly flop. She realized it was because she was wishing he was introducing her as his instead of simply the town’s new veterinarian. “Lily, this is Laura and Cade Bishop, Ashley and Cora Walker, Shane Bishop, and
I think you already know Danny Widen.”

  Lily nodded and shook hands, once again mentally smacking the crap out of the stupid feelings floating around in her belly. “It’s nice to meet you all. I’m sorry I haven’t been around town much at all. I haven’t really had a chance to get out much with trying to get things squared away at the clinic.”

  Ashley smiled wide. “We’ll have to come drag you out of there now that you’ve had a little time to settle in.”

  “Girls’ night,” Cora said with a grin, and the men rolled their eyes, but that sounded perfect to Lily. She missed her friends from school and back home. Veterinary school was intense and didn’t leave a lot of time for socializing, but time with her girlfriends, even if it was only in study group, had been cherished. She hadn’t realized how much burying her head in work had been costing her until now.

  “That sounds perfect,” she said with an answering smile, and the group went on to chat about where she’d come from and how her grandfather was handling retirement. Throughout it all, Carter stayed close, and that stupid flip-flopping heart of hers starting doing a goofy little tap dance. Not what she wanted. Not at all.

  And yet… Darn, there was that phrase again. She seemed to be thinking and yet an awful lot lately as she questioned herself at every turn. So she stopped questioning quite as much and tried to live in the moment. After getting to know several more people at the wedding reception, she let Carter take her out on the dance floor for one of the slower songs. His version of dancing was wrapping her up in those big arms of his and swaying to the music, his body pressed to hers. She didn’t exactly have a problem with that. She wasn’t a skilled dancer herself, and his way felt good. Really good.

  She stood now in the back of her clinic and faced the truth. She was loving every minute spent with Carter. Except for the few awkward moments the night before when Ryan Crawford had seen them together in a restaurant. The angry looks Ryan had given her were hard to miss. It was all Lily could do to keep Carter from confronting him. She understood what Ryan was feeling. She’d told him she didn’t date and seeing her out with Carter a short time later had to feel crappy. Maybe she could explain.