“I got a call from the Mayor.” Travis shrugged. “He’s got word about the dog and wants to lay this whole thing at his feet. Or paws, as it would be.”
Sam shrugged. “Sheridan may hold the esteemed office of mayor, but the Old Families don’t pay him much mind. Reggie calls him Mayor McDweeb. That’s got to tell you something. Ernestine is the person the town trusts most.” Sam shook his head ruefully. “Poor guy, he’s great with red tape and bureaucracy. That’s why he’s mayor, but he’s not one of us. You can’t blame him for looking for the easy explanation really. Outsiders want a simple explanation and a simple solution. I guess, for him this is the easiest.”
“He’s trying to tell me to have you destroy the dog.”
Sam frowned. “What did you say to that?”
“I reminded him that in this town, even dogs are innocent until proven guilty. You got anything that clears him?”
Sam shook his head. “No, but I didn’t think I’d have to gather any evidence. The suggestion that a dog did this is too ridiculous. I’ll see what I can do.”
Travis frowned, the concern showing on his face. “How’s Jade?”
“She’s amazing. I think that dog might have found a home. You know she’s not going to accept the Mayor’s orders.”
“Sheridan can order all he wants. He won’t be the one making the decision in this.”
“Any idea of who would have set the trap?”
“I can’t imagine, but I’m going to get some people to scour the rest of the woods in search of others. We’re dusting the trap for prints, but I don’t have much hope we’ll get anything.”
“Have you told the girls’ families yet?” When Travis nodded, Sam said, “I don’t envy you your job, man.”
Travis looked resigned. “I don’t envy you having to tell Jade that the Mayor wants the dog destroyed. She can tell
us
what happened through the animal’s eyes, but Sheridan is an outsider. He’s not going to accept it.”
Sam scoffed. “That bastard can be handled by Ernestine if it’s necessary. I’ll tell you right now, Jade already believes in the dog’s innocence, and she’s right.”
Travis agreed. “Yeah, my gut tells me the same thing. There’s no bloody way any dog did this to two grown women at the same time. We’re looking for something much more frightening.”
* * * *
The dog was as comfortable as possible under the circumstances, so Jade took a little time and visited Wendy and Muffin. She learned that Muffin had indeed smelled something very wrong and that was why she’d forced Wendy to be housebound that morning. Jade looked around the place and didn’t find anything unusual except some very distressed chickens all trying to communicate with her at once. That thing had been close this morning. Knowing there was nothing to be done, she reassured Wendy that Muffin was shipshape and told her to call if she needed anything. She also told her to heed Muffin’s warning if it happened again. She gratefully accepted the berry pie Wendy handed her, got in her car and drove off.
For the rest of the day Jade kept a watchful eye on the dog they’d found that morning. She didn’t neglect the other animals in the clinic. Four of them were going home today. They were relieved. Jade knew their humans would be too. She jumped when the intercom buzzed and the receptionist said her name.
“Jade, call for you on line two.”
She picked up what looked like line two. It was Tom Weatherby.
“Hi, Jade, am I calling you at a bad time?”
“No, no, not at all. It’s just been a trying day that’s all.”
He sounded concerned when he said, “I heard about what happened last night. Everyone’s really upset about it. They’re talking about calling a town meeting.”
Most New England towns still governed democratically using the Town Hall Meeting to make important decisions. New Crescent was no exception. Jade had forgotten all about that charming tradition until Tom mentioned it. If they did, in fact, call a meeting, it would be her first as an adult. What an inauspicious start. She didn’t need anyone to tell her that outsiders would love to pin the attacks on that poor dog, but she knew better. She wouldn’t let them destroy the animal. She didn’t know how, but she’d save him even if she had to smuggle him out of town.
Still on the phone with Tom, she heard him ask a question. “Pardon?”
He repeated the question. “How about going out for Italian food Saturday night?”
Jade smiled. He seemed like a nice man. There was no reason she shouldn’t go out with him. And Sam had encouraged her to open up to life a little.
She took his advice. “Saturday night is great. I’ll meet you there.”
“Okay, how about 7pm. Luigi’s, I’ll make reservations.”
She thanked him, and they said goodbye.
The sound of Sam’s voice made her jump. “I take it that was Weatherby. So you
are
going out with him.”
She looked over her shoulder at him and nodded. “The other night you seemed to like the idea. In fact, if I recall, you encouraged me.”
He nodded ruefully. “I guess I did at that. Sometimes I’m an idiot.”
She laughed at him. “We agree on one thing at least.” She straightened some papers on the desk. “How is Michelle doing? It was nice seeing her at the diner. She doesn’t look the diner type.”
Sam smiled crookedly. “No, Michelle is definitely the gourmet type, but she agreed to slum it for me.”
“That was accommodating of her.” Jade spoke without enthusiasm.
“Michelle can be very accommodating. It looks like she might move to New Crescent.”
Jade forced her voice to behave when she said, “She likes it that much here, huh? Well I don’t blame her. I’ve never wanted to live anywhere else.”
“Well it sure took you long enough to get back here.”
She raised her eyebrows at him. “Are you complaining?”
“Damn straight I’m complaining, Jinx. You belong here just like the rest of us.”
“Yeah, just like an old pair of boots.” Her voice was low and husky.
His hand closed on her upper arm, and he turned her to face him. “You could never be a pair of old boots.” He stepped closer to her. “It’s been a hard day, hasn’t it?”
She nodded, trying to stop her mouth from trembling. She must not have done a very good job because he touched her bottom lip with his finger. Mesmerized, his eyes followed his finger and stayed there as she moistened her lips with her tongue. Sam groaned and tipped her head up to his.
He kissed her without apology, plundering. Taking his time, enjoying the shape and taste of her mouth, his tongue ventured inside to touch hers. For Jade, it was a wonderfully erotic thing to do, and she stopped thinking on the spot. She responded with enthusiasm and realized she’d been waiting for this all along. Sam’s kiss was something she’d never stopped wanting from her thirteenth year. The last time he’d kissed her had only whetted her appetite for more. Jade wanted to drive him beyond control the same way he drove her, but she had so little experience in that area. She needed to feel his skin against hers and her hands clutched helplessly at the fabric covering his chest. What was this feeling? It felt like an addictive drug. All at once Jade understood. This, this was the feeling that made women do crazy things. Was it a form of insanity? Of course it was.
Sam’s mouth moved from her lips to her neck, and she felt the knot in her chest explode and send desire rocketing throughout her body. Was this the way it was supposed to feel? Would she feel this with Sam and only Sam? Why? It wasn’t fair! Her frustration turned to fury. She held on to her anger and used it against him, against her own traitorous body. She tore herself away from him. They looked at each other, chests rising and falling.
Hating herself, remembering Michelle, she wiped the back of her hand across her mouth and glared at him.
“You have no right to do that!”
He didn’t show remorse. “You responded.”
“You’re good at it. You’ve had more practice than most people. But you can’t practice with me!”
He shook his head. “You’ve got it all wrong.”
She didn’t wait for him to continue. “I know, I need the practice, but I’m just fine the way I am. I don’t need your instruction.” She looked up at him, desperately hanging on to her anger to keep from throwing herself at him. “Now, out of my way, I’m going home.”
He grabbed her wrist as she walked away. She froze and very slowly looked up at him and then down at his hand on her arm. He let go and she walked away.
She cried all the way home. Rags, who’d been so quiet, following her around all day, whimpered when he heard her sobs. Jade reached her right hand into the back seat, and Rags licked her knuckles. He wanted her to feel better. He didn’t understand what was wrong with her. Jade wasn’t sure she did.
She’d had a crush on Sam from the first day she’d met him so many years ago. It was no secret, and Sam didn’t seem to mind. Even that night on the beach when she’d kissed him, he’d never made her feel rejected. She had to admit that seeing him with Michelle at the wedding made her feel an odd twinge. That was nothing compared to how she’d felt when she’d seen him having lunch with the beautiful woman the day after he’d kissed
her
so passionately. What the hell was he doing kissing her like that?
When it came to sexual games, Jade was a neophyte. Sam could write the instruction manual. They weren’t fairly matched. Jade knew she’d never be in Sam’s league. She was way out of her depth, and it wasn’t fair of him to tease her. He had to know she was not the type of person who could kiss a man like that and not mean it. How could he be so cruel? That’s what hurt her the most. Sam Daniels was not an insensitive man. Why was he doing this to her? Playing with her. He had a good idea what her father had been like. It was pretty clear, she was gun shy with men and was it any wonder?
She stopped her car in the driveway and turned to look at Rags. He was anxious to get inside and indicated that he’d smelled nothing unusual. There was no sign of the frightened little dog he’d been last night. Jade breathed a sigh of relief and opened the car door. Once she was safely inside, she locked up the house and spent some time with her roommates. All the animals were happy to see her. They were a tonic. She’d rescued each one and loved them very much. In fact, she acknowledged that they had given more to her than she to them, but that’s the way it had always been with her friends of another species. This night, they were a great distraction for her.
Jade made sure that everyone was fed, but when it came to her own dinner she considered skipping. She glanced at the calendar on the fridge. It was Christmas time, her favorite season, and as she looked around the house she realized that she’d done nothing to honor the holiday season.
Hot cocoa and Christmas carols helped put her in a better mood. She pulled boxes out of the closet and started to unpack her decorations.
With determination, she pushed Sam Daniels from her mind. She was successful for a while, but the music worked against her. Why was it so hard to be single during this time of the year? Every song seemed to mention lovers. It had never bothered her until this year. Was living in the same town as Sam a bad idea? And if it was, what could she do about it? Since the day her father had dragged her away, Jade had yearned to come home to New Crescent. But now with what was happening between her and Sam, could she be happy here?
* * * *
Sam knew he had to go after her. He’d promised to protect her. It was just last night that she’d been the unnatural thing’s target. At a discreet distance, he followed her home and waited in his truck out of sight as she walked inside and locked the door behind her. Feeling like a stalker, he watched her for a bit then forced himself to put the truck in gear and drive away.
He hadn’t meant to kiss her and he kicked himself for doing it. She’d just looked so tempting and when it came to Jade, Sam was not a strong man. He’d tried to clear up his personal life to make room for Jade, but that had proven more difficult than he’d expected. He’d been very clear with Michelle. He was not interested in her. He’d never been interested in her. Hell, he’d never even kissed her. Their romance existed strictly in her mind. He hadn’t rejected her publicly. He was too gentlemanly to embarrass her around others, but at the risk of losing all hope for something special with Jade? No way. After tonight there was no question. Jade definitely had the wrong idea about him and Michelle.
He’d considered going after her and explaining, but the look on her face when she’d walked out gave him pause. It was no secret that Sam was frequently a little klutzy in Jade’s presence but this was getting ridiculous. He’d always been so confident around women. When it really counted, when it was ‘the one’ he’d made an ass of himself. Too much was happening all at the same time and he was botching everything up. With Jade, all the rules were changed, and Sam was afraid that one misstep would send her running for the hills. This time, with this woman, it mattered, it mattered very much.
On top of it all, if Jade ever decided to complain to her brother, Sam knew he’d be a dead man. He’d breezed through his life up until now. Had it all been just a little too easy for him?... money, friends, lovers? Was this some twisted punishment? The one thing he wanted most, he was doomed to muck up irrevocably? Nothing was going his way. It was a new experience for him, and he had no skills to help him manage it.