“As soon as you turned away from her,” Holly said, “the dog came running up. I don’t think she even chewed the meatballs, Nick. She just gulped them in a huge bite, whirled around, and raced down the alley.”
“Which way did she go?” Nick asked.
“To the left. It seemed like she knew where she was going.”
Snowflake whined, coming between the seats, smelling Nick’s hip and thigh. Smelling the other dog’s scent on him.
“He was whining all the time,” Holly told him, petting the shepherd. “It was like he knew what was going on.”
“He probably did,” Nick agreed. “Okay, now we need to get to our shut-ins,” he said, putting the van in gear. As he drove slowly down the highway of the town, early Christmas decorations crisscrossing Main Street, his mind and heart were centered on Lady. Yeah, he’d named her, which wasn’t a good sign. But she was a beautiful yellow Lab, with a broad, fine looking head and large, intelligent golden-brown eyes. Just like Dude. She was a spitting image of him in so many ways, even the shape and length of her muzzle. “Have you seen her around here before?” he asked Holly.
Shaking her head, she said, “No, this is the first time.”
“Someone probably dumped her awhile back, she’s so thin and ratty looking. She’s come in close to the town to find food, probably digging in garbage cans, overturning them, trying to find something so she won’t starve to death. She knows that wolves, coyotes, or foxes are nearby, which is why she’s hiding in town.”
“Can’t we do something? I could call Elaine over at the no-kill shelter. Maybe they could catch her?”
“She’s wild, Holly. She’s not trusting of any humans, at all. The dog wouldn’t come if you called her.”
Moaning, she whispered, “But it’s near zero degrees tonight, Nick. Couldn’t we find her? Could you track her?”
“I could, yes, with Snowflake. But if she heard us coming she’d take off. Chances are she’s got a nest under a building or a sidewalk where she’s out of the snow and most of the cold.”
“Well, can’t we do something?” insisted Holly. She was not taking no for an answer.
“You pass by that alley three times a day. You and I could leave her a bowl of dried food, and a small pan of warm water. Right now, she’s starved and probably needing hydration. Her fur is tight on her body and that means she’s not drinking enough water. She’ll eat snow, but it’ll freeze her tongue and mouth and she’ll stop eating it. She’s not getting enough water down her.”
“We could do that!” Holly said, suddenly hopeful. “Can you show me how much I should give her if you’re not with me?”
“Yeah. If we could start feeding her three times a day in the alley, she would come back into it and check it at those times of day. We could talk to the businesses in both buildings and let them know what we’re doing.”
“Oh, that’s the Henderson’s and the Johnson’s. They both have dogs. They wouldn’t mind if we tried to befriend her and got her to a shelter.”
“What I want to do is get Lady . . . I mean . . . the yellow Lab, to expect her food daily. That way, at some point, we can stand a short distance away from her after we bring the food and she could start to learn to trust us. We can talk to her in soft voices. Then, she might eventually come to us so we can put her someplace warm and safe.”
“Lady. Is that what you named her? I love the name. It suits her perfectly. She’s so delicate and beautiful.”
Nick grinned shyly. “She’s a very pretty Lab, really well-built, and feminine looking.”
Reaching over, Holly squeezed his upper arm, beaming at him. “I just love the name, Lady. It really does suit her perfectly! I wonder if she smiles like Dude?”
Chapter Five
November 26
Holly wanted to look especially pretty tonight and critically examined herself in the mirror. Her choice of outfit for Thanksgiving dinner was a red, velvet dress. She smoothed her hand down the simple line of the empire-waistline dress that fell to the middle of her knees. The long sleeves were cuffed, a pearl button on each one. Most of all, she loved the white, crocheted collar. This was a vintage dress from the 1960s that she’d bought from Candy’s Antique Shop a year ago. It was a perfect match to her carrot-colored hair.
The white, delicate crocheted collar, however, was special and she continued to touch it briefly with her fingertips. Tonight, she’d put her hair up on her head with an antique, tortoiseshell clip given to her by her grandmother when she was a child. Her mother had given her a set of small, white pearl earrings for her twelfth birthday, telling her that every young woman should own at least one pair.
The knock on her door made her turn and she quickly picked up her crocheted white purse that matched the collar, hurrying to the door. Dinner would be served at seven p.m. at the Conway residence. She was a little nervous, wanting to look pretty for Nick, and took a deep breath as she opened the door.
Holly gasped. Nick was dressed in a dark-brown corduroy sports coat, a cream colored shirt, and tan slacks. His hair was sleek and she knew he’d taken a shower earlier. All that scruff was gone, too. She grinned. “Wow, Conway, you clean up well. Come in!” She saw his cheeks grow ruddy over her compliment.
“You look stunning in that red, velvet dress,” he said, giving her a pleasant up-and-down look of appreciation. “You know, this is the first time I’ve seen you in a dress, Holly.”
It was her turn to feel heat fly into her cheeks as she closed the door. “I clean up pretty well, like you, when there’s a reason to do it.” She twirled around in the dress. “I feel like a fairytale princess, to tell you the truth.” Holly could see from his penetrating look that he was tempted to kiss her, and a thrill of anticipation shot through her. Nick made her feel beautiful, even though she knew she wasn’t—not with all her freckles and this untamed, curly red hair of hers.
“I need to take you out more often, then. That collar is beautiful.”
“Oh,” she said, touching it gently, “my grandma, Esmeralda, created it. Back in her day this kind of collar was in vogue. I’m glad she passed it on to me because I just love it. It’s so frilly and feminine.”
“Sure gives a new meaning to that dress you’re wearing,” he agreed amiably. “I like that you have special things from your family passed on to you. That’s important.”
“These pearl earrings were given to me by my mother,” she said, looking at the watch on her right wrist. “I’m ready to go. Could you help me on with my good, gray wool coat?”
He smiled. “Sure.”
“I’ll be right back. Oh, and this purse? My grandma crocheted that, too. Isn’t it pretty?” She placed it in his hands, hurrying down the hall to her bedroom to retrieve her coat from the closet.
Nick smiled, holding the small, delicate-looking purse with a long strap. He was holding a piece of Holly’s family history, which warmed his heart. When she returned with the gray coat over her arm, he said, “You outshine this purse, believe me. Those pearl earrings look like antiques. Are they?” He eased the coat from her and she turned around.
“Yes, my mom bought them at an antique store in Billings, Montana and gave them to me on my twelfth birthday,” she said, easing her hands into the coat sleeves. Turning after Nick brought the coat up around her, she picked up her dark-green knit scarf, her black gloves, and took the purse from his hands.
“You remind me of a woman from the late 1800s, except that your dress is so short.”
She tittered as he opened the door. “I do love what my family gave me. It always makes me feel loved, like they’re here with me in spirit.”
Nick locked her apartment door and handed her the keys. “I’m sure they are. I hope you have an appetite tonight, Ms. McGuire.”
“Oh, I’m starving!” She wanted to add: for you, but didn’t have the courage to say it to Nick. At least, not yet. She slipped her hand through his arm and he drew her close as they walked toward the stairwell. “Aren’t we taking S
nowflake tonight?”
“No, he’s on his doggy cushion in the kitchen. He’ll be fine until we get home.”
Holly nodded. When Nick took her to the movie, bowling, or to the small shopping mall for a meal, he left his dog at home. The night sky was clear now, stars glimmering, a nearly full moon upon them. Earlier, the snow had coated everything in town white once more. To Holly, this town reminded her of a Christmas postcard from the late 1800s. It was odd that Nick would choose that time to describe her, but it made her feel good. In so many ways, they were in tune with one another.
As he slowed at the stairs, she said, “Lady is getting used to us a little, I think. Tonight, when you brought her some leftover turkey for her dinner, she was waiting for you at the end of the alley.”
“Yeah, and she thumped her tail in the snow. I liked seeing that.”
“What does it mean, do you think?”
“That she’s glad to see me. Does she wag her tail for you, yet?”
“Yes, sometimes. But it can get a bit busy at noon with people walking by, and she usually leaves because strangers passing by the entrance area make her nervous.”
As they came off the stairs and on the clean sidewalk sprinkled with salt, Nick said, “I’m going to try something new tomorrow. I’m going to bring Snowflake out with me on the leash. I want Lady to see that my dog likes me and isn’t afraid of me. It might help her relax and trust me a little more.”
“That sounds like a great idea!” Holly agreed, suddenly excited. Tonight, Nick was driving them to dinner. He opened the door for her and she slid in, tucking the dress and coat around herself.
Nick got in and she breathed in his male scent. It made her want to touch him, kiss him, and . . . Holly wasn’t about to admit that since their kiss two weeks earlier, she’d wanted to do it again. Okay, so they hadn’t, but other nice things had happened between them since. She had sexual dreams of loving Nick and she often woke up, her heart beating crazily, her lower body aching for his touch.
He touched her more often now, in a friendly, warm way. Nothing sexually suggestive, but as if the kiss had broken down a barrier that had lain between them earlier. He laughed more with her. They joked around frequently with one another. Maybe her red hair was her downfall. She was in a hurry to create more intimacy and friendship between them.
Nick was unveiling himself to her a little more each day and she craved his trust in her because she trusted him. Sometimes, Holly wished she wasn’t so darned impatient and always in a hurry. Nick was the opposite: slow, steady, and sure. That was probably why he’d been a military dog handler. She’d never make that grade, either.
“You’ve fed Lady at least half the time,” Nick said, slowly driving the car out of the snow covered parking lot. “She seems less afraid of you. Have you noticed that?”
“She doesn’t tense up as much. And she’s quicker to come to me than you,” she agreed.
“I think a man badly abused her. I think Lady considers you safer than me because you’re a female.”
Shrugging, Holly said, “Well, I love her and maybe that’s what she feels. But I know you love her, too, from a distance,” she said, catching his shadowed glance as he guided the vehicle onto Main Street.
“I’ve watched her closely,” he murmured, “and I’m just wondering if you should be with me when I feed her next time. If she sees us together, she might see us as a pack, alpha male and female, so to speak. And by adding Snowflake to the mix, providing she gets along with him, she might feel more willing to trust us more. Every dog wants to belong to a pack.”
“Those ancient wolf genes, right?” Holly teased, reaching out, moving her gloved hand down his forearm. Tonight, Nick looked utterly delicious. She had wanted him in her bed, and if her dreams got any hotter, she’d burn up the sheets! Compressing her lips, she moved her hand on his hard thigh, feeling his muscles leap in response to her light touch. It was time to become more obvious because Nick seemed not to be reading her subtle messages. Maybe she was being too subtle for him.
“Yes, wolf genes,” Nick agreed. He kept his hands on the steering wheel, making a left onto the street where his parents’ home was located. The flakes were becoming almost horizontal, the blasts of wind accompanying the deep cold front sweeping across the area, shaking the car.
“I like being the alpha female in our relationship,” she said, watching his smile grow.
“Snowflake has already accepted you as part of his pack.” He grinned, “To him, you’re just another sheep to herd around.”
“You’re a sheep, too, but the ram of the herd,” she teased.
Nick slowed down to a driveway that had been recently cleared but was quickly adding snow to it once again. “That’s true.”
“I like the idea of being in a pack with you, Nick,” she said. Her obvious statement couldn’t be missed and she watched him out of the corner of her eye as he turned into his parents’ single-story ranch home. Chet had decorated it weeks earlier with Christmas lights strung along the roof gutters. She loved Christmas and all that it meant and held for her and her lost family.
Parking the car, Nick took off his seat belt and leaned over, sliding his arm around her shoulders, giving her a light kiss on the lips. “Then,” he growled, holding her gaze, “we need to make this night special.” Releasing her, he gave her a dark look that held a wonderful promise.
Nick didn’t like the ferocity of the blizzard as they left his parents’ home after a wonderful evening. He bundled Holly up, shielding her with his body as he led her to the car. They had eaten turkey with all the fixings, laughed a lot, joked, and he felt she had genuinely become a part of their family. His heart swelled with need of Holly in every way. Just looking at her from across the table, he found her unbelievably beautiful. Now, snowflakes melted in her hair even though his mother had given Holly a large scarf to protect her head on their run to the car.
“Wow, this is a real storm!” Holly said, once inside.
Nick backed out of the driveway, snow crunching beneath the tires. “I remember them like this. That cold front from Alaska sweeps down across the northwest and it hits our mountains and it dumps across it, right on top of us.”
Taking off the scarf, she shook her head, snowflakes falling here and there around her, quickly melting. “I just worry about Lady on nights like this, Nick.”
“I know,” he mused, driving slowly, the headlights glaring on the snow across the two-lane street. “We don’t know where she stays, but I’m sure she’s smart enough to find something to curl up into that is out of the wind. There’s a lot of garage stuff behind Mr. Henderson’s three-story brick building. Lots of hidey holes.”
“I know,” she said, sliding her hand up and down his thigh, “but I still worry.”
He clasped her hand, lifting it, and placing a kiss on the back of it. “You have such a large heart, Holly. Lady will be okay. She knows how to hunker down.”
“I so wish she’d come home with us. I’d love to add her to our little family.”
Nick squeezed her hand and released it, ready to make the turn onto Main Street. “She’s feral, Holly. But the good news is, she’s gained weight and her ribs aren’t so prominent. We’re helping her, so feel good about what we can do for her, okay?”
“I do,” she whispered. Lifting her hand, she moved it across the shoulders of his damp jacket. She knew she was falling in love with this man who cared so deeply for everyone. Moving her fingers across his broad shoulder, she said, “I don’t want to sleep alone tonight, Nick,” and her hand stilled on his jacket as she watched his reaction.
He cut her a glance. “You’re sure, Holly?”
“Very sure. You?”
His mouth crooked and he gave her a tender look. “I’ve been wanting to have you in my bed, in my arms, since I met you.”
Holly nodded, allowing his low, thick tone to flow through her, igniting that place deep within her body where she always found herself aching for his touch. “Fun
ny,” she mused, “when I saw you the first time I felt like I knew you. It was as if you were stepping back into my life and we were going to continue our relationship with one another. I guess it was a crazy thought, but that’s how I felt about you.”
He turned into the charity parking lot, now covered with nearly a foot of fresh snow. The wind had lessened for a while, the snow no longer fell in horizontal sheets, but it was still falling quickly and heavily. Parking the car, he said, “Your place or mine?”
“Yours, I guess. You have Snowflake to think about.”
“Oh,” Nick said wryly, unbuckling his seat belt, “he sleeps out on his fluffy, cozy doggy cushion in the corner of the kitchen. The bedroom door will be closed and it will be just you and me.”
She smiled. “Do you think it will upset Snowflake to have me over there with you?”
“Nah,” Nick said, “he loves you as much as he loves me. He’ll be glad to see you with me.”
Smiling, she got rid of the seat belt. “Let’s go up. You have to take him out to do his business, don’t you?”
“Yep.”
“I’m going to get out of these clothes and into something comfortable and then I’ll come over.”
He gave her a burning look. “You have no idea how much that dress has turned me on, sweetheart.”
Feeling her cheeks heat up, she watched him leave the car. It was the first time he’d used an endearment, and it meant the world to Holly. Waiting, Nick came around and opened the door for her, his gloved hand extended toward her. She took it, loving his courtly manner. Every nerve in her body was on fire and expectant. At last! She was going to be with Nick all night! It seemed like a miracle, a wonderful one to Holly as she stepped out of the car and into another chapter of their lives together.
It was as if she were in one of her torrid dreams with Nick, only this one was real. Holly felt like a beautiful princess as he began to undress her. Because he liked her velvet, red dress, she had kept it on. She’d removed her shoes and nylons and was now barefoot, standing in his arms, looking up at him. He, too, had removed his shoes, and was now in his sock feet, and that made her smile. He’d changed into a long-sleeved dark-blue tee and jeans. The way he looked at her, with his all-consuming gaze, made her feel deliciously desired. She moved her hands slowly up and down his upper arms.
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