Alone in the Dark (7 page)

talk. At least King would have something worthwhile to say. His thoughts turned to

Patience, to the dumb move he'd made minutes earlier.

Taking a corner, he heard a thud behind him. King has fallen off the seat. "Sorry about

that, but if you'd settled down and sat, you wouldn't have fallen off the seat."

Why was the dog so agitated? he wondered. And then it hit him. King was probably

feeding off his own agitation. There'd been more than one time when he felt as if the

animal read his thoughts, reacted to his tension. Usually it took place in the field, but

perhaps the dog was attuned to his personal life, as well.

Brady glanced in the rearview mirror. Warm brown eyes met his. He laughed, something he

rarely did. "Yeah, I know just how you feel. She get to you, too, boy? Or was it that pretty

dog of hers that has you going?" King barked in response. "The soup bone, huh? Thought

you'd hold out for something bigger than that, like a lifetime supply of treats."

Again King barked.

"What's gotten into you tonight?" he asked. "You'd think we were tracking down a main artery of the Colombian cartel. You know what we both need? To get away from things. To

just kick back and lie on the beach."

King's response was to bark even more.

"Yeah, me neither. It would drive me nuts within an hour. I guess we weren't meant to

relax."

As if in total agreement, King stopped barking and finally settled down on the seat.

«^»

"
D
idn't I just see the two of you yesterday morning?"

Patience's words were addressed to Josh as the policeman and his K-9 partner walked

into the first exam room behind her. Technically, this was the beginning of her lunch hour,

and she'd been stuck doing paperwork thanks to the fact that her receptionist had bolted

the minute the big hand had met the little hand at twelve on the oversize clock. Shirley

was lovable and good with animals, but no one was ever going to accuse the pixish young

woman of being an overachiever.

Once Mrs. Chambers and her Siamese cat had crossed the threshold and were gone,

Patience had had every intention of locking the clinic door. She needed to grab a bite to

eat in her own kitchen and more important than that, she needed a few minutes to herself.

A few minutes to unwind. She felt exhausted.

For the most part, sleep had been notably absent from her bedroom last night and this

morning. Consuming the remainder of a half gallon of ice cream right before bedtime

wasn't exactly conducive to a restful night's sleep, but then, she knew that wasn't the

real culprit for her sleeplessness. Kissing Brady had been responsible for that.

Kissing the quiet, brooding man had undone every neatly tied ribbon within her. She was at

loose ends now, without the slightest idea of how to get herself back on track again.

One couldn't unring a bell. And one certainly couldn't take back a kiss.

What the hell had she been thinking?

This is what came of acting on instinct rather than logic. Instinct was all well and good if

you had four feet and fur, but it wasn't nearly enough for self-preservation and survival if

you walked upright and harbored a heart.

When she'd come down into the clinic, she'd tried to bury herself in her work. She was

hoping to push the whole thing from her mind through sheer volume of work, but as luck

would have it, almost all of her regular patients were doing fine today. Her jam-packed

morning had gotten a great deal roomier when two of her appointments canceled and one

turned out to be a no-show altogether.

By all rights, she should have welcomed Josh and his faithful partner, but the sight of the

former's uniform served to reinforce her own lack of common sense last night.

Josh looked surprised at her less-than-welcoming question. "Hey, not so loud," he

cautioned, pretending to whisper out of Gonzo's earshot. "He might think you don't like

seeing us."

She flushed. Lack of sleep was making her punchy. She would have never phrased it that

way normally. "Sorry, I'm a little preoccupied." She opened the chart she'd brought in

with her. "It's just that he was fine yesterday."

Josh's broad shoulders moved up and down in a careless shrug. "You know how it is with

dogs. Kinda like with kids. Fine one minute, problem the next."

Amusement highlighted her eyes. "Interesting philosophy for a bachelor." She looked back at the canine. "And just what seems to be the problem?"

Making himself comfortable, Josh leaned a hip against the examination table as he

crossed his arms in front of him. "I think he's got something in his ear." He nodded at the one that appeared to be at half-mast. "He keeps pawing at it and holding his ear down."

"So I see." Patience smiled at the dog as she patted the examination table. "Okay, Gonzo, hop up here and let's have a look."

The dog jumped up on the table in one fluid, graceful motion, like a gazelle. Patience

turned to pick up the instrument that would allow her to look more deeply into the dog's

ear.

Josh shifted slightly, watching her. She was aware of his moving in a tad closer. "Can I

help?"

Patience paused as she looked up from the animal. "You mean, you want to look into

Gonzo's ear for me?"

He shook his head. "No, I meant with whatever's preoccupying you."

She smiled, waving away the offer. The question was typical Josh. He seemed to always be

so ready to help. Brady was, too, she reminded herself. He just wasn't very vocal about it.

Still, finding him sitting outside her house, keeping vigil had really startled her before

she'd realized that it was him. The man could really stand to take a few people lessons

from Josh, she decided. For that matter, the man could stand to take a few people lessons

from his own dog, who was a lot friendlier than he was.

If he's so unfriendly, why did he kiss you? More important, why did you kiss him?

If she had answers to that, maybe she would have been able to sleep last night. She

realized that Josh still watched her, waiting for an answer.

"I'm not really preoccupied, I just didn't get enough sleep last night, that's all."

He looked mildly surprised. "I was up until late last night, too. If you were awake, you

should have called me. We could have done something together."

Shifting to the other side, she examined Gonzo's good ear to make sure there wasn't a

problem there, as well. "Josh, you know about my rule."

He looked at her for a long moment. "Just thought you might have decided to bend it a

little for a friend, that's all."

She rested the instrument on the examination table. Was it just her guilty conscience at

play, or did he know something? Had Brady said something to him?

The second the thought occurred to her, she discarded it. Brady wasn't the type to say

anything to anyone. She'd be willing to bet her entire practice on that.

"Why would you think that?" More than likely, Josh was just being Josh. Hopeful. Still,

she needed to hear it from him.

The patrolman shrugged as he gave her one of his most engaging grins. "Hey, people

change their minds all the time."

Discreetly she blew out a breath, feeling a little better. "Yes, well, I won't. Not about

this."

But you already have,a taunting voice inside her head whispered.

One transgression. Just one, she thought fiercely. And it wasn't going to happen again.

Ever.

It couldn't.

Patience looked into Gonzo's left ear again. They weren't here to debate her rules of

engagement or her infractions thereof. They were here to see why Gonzo was holding his

ear at half-mast.

"I see the problem. Poor thing's got a little debris in there." Setting the instrument down, she gave Josh a reproving look. "Have you been letting him ride around with his head

sticking out of the window again?"

Josh spread his hands wide in protest. "Hey, I can't stop him. He loves feeling the wind in

his face."

"And in his ears. And yes, you can stop him. You can roll up the windows. Unless I missed

something very vital in my studies, dogs do not have opposable thumbs, which means they

can't roll down the windows themselves."

"They're electric," Josh pointed out.

"You can also lock them from your side."

He laughed, shaking his head. "Got an answer for everything, don't you?"

"I try." She made a notation in the chart, then turned to look at Josh. "You got off lucky this time. It looks like only one ear's been affected." She gave Gonzo the sign to get down.

The dog leaped from the table. "You stay here, I'm going to take Gonzo in the back and

clean out his ear."

But as she started to go into the back, where she and the part-time assistants conducted

lab tests, took X rays and performed the occasional surgery, Josh followed in her wake.

When she gave him a quizzical look, he explained, "Maybe I can help. Sometimes he won't

hold still."

In the eighteen months she'd been looking after the animal, he'd never given her any

problems. "You'll hold still for me, won't you, Gonzo?"

The dog barked in response to her tone, then licked her hand.

Josh laughed and shook his head. "Got him eating right out of your hand, don't you?"

She dug into her pocket and threw a treat to the animal, making sure to pet him, as well.

"Only because he's such a good dog."

The dog trotted beside her as Josh brought up the rear. The back of the clinic was

brightly lit as sunlight streamed in through tall windows on either side of the room.

"Listen," Josh began, "about that other thing—"

She went to a metal cabinet and opened a drawer. "Other thing?"

"You know, what you're preoccupied about—"

Patience took out two small bottles. One was an ear wash, the other a salve. "I said that

was just lack of sleep."

Josh backed out of her way as she crossed to the animal. "Well, something must have

gotten you to that point."

Taking care to soothingly pet Gonzo, she then turned the dog's head and tilted it. The dog

was surprisingly docile, considering what she was doing. It was as if Gonzo sensed that she

was trying to help him. "Haven't you ever had sleepless nights?"

"Yeah, but that's because I'm usually thinking about something. Look, all I'm saying is

that if you wanted to talk about it, I'm available." He raised his hands as if to ward off

her anticipated protest. "Strictly platonic. Just as a friend."

Putting down the ear wash, she took what amounted to a long Q-tips and applied a little

salve to the end of it. She proceeded to apply the salve to the inside of the dog's ear.

Gonzo whined, but held still until she was finished.

"Thanks." She threw away the swab, then gave the dog another treat. "But this is

something I need to handle myself."

Josh looked vindicated. "So there is something."

She flashed him a grin. "Don't try tripping me up with words, it's nothing, really." She stepped back. "Okay, Gonzo, you're a free dog."

The police dog jumped off the table and immediately started to shake his head, as if

trying to get the remainder of the ear wash and salve out of his ear.

Patience replaced the cap on the second bottle. "He might need another application of

both. I could send an ear wash kit and the salve home with you."

Josh made no move to accept either of the small blue bottles. "I'm sure that Gonzo would

rather you do it. You've got the lighter touch."

"There's nothing to this, really. All it takes is practice."

He still shook his head at the offerings. "This gives us an excuse to drop by."

She thought of the times the patrolman had dropped by unannounced just as she was

closing up, always using the excuse that he was on his way home and thought he could talk

her into grabbing a cup of coffee after hours. "Like you've ever needed one before. Okay,

bring Gonzo by in about three days, we'll take another look to see how he's doing."

"Sounds good to me." Josh paused in the reception area as she made a notation in the

ledger she kept at the behest of the police department. "And I meant what I said before."

She spared him a look before finishing her entry. "About the platonic part?"

He shrugged, resigned. "If that's what it takes to get you to open up, yeah. Just

remember, I'm only a phone call away if you need a shoulder to lean on or a hand to hold."

Shelving the ledger, she walked out with Josh. She was already struggling inside because

of what she'd allowed herself to do with one policeman. She wasn't about to compound her

mistake by turning toward another. Not when there was a chance that Josh was doing

more than flirting with her, doing more than just offering to be a good friend.

Things had a way of happening and she wasn't about to get involved with a policeman.

The crisp breeze wafted in as she opened the outer door for Josh and Gonzo. It made her

think of the adage about shutting the barn door after the horse had escaped.

The horse, she told herself, could always be recaptured and secured back in the barn. And

that was just what she intended to do.

"I appreciate that, Josh." She looked at the dog. "If Gonzo gets any worse, give me a call and bring him by again."

He nodded, then pantomimed talking into a telephone as he left, mouthing, "Call me."

She laughed and closed the front door again.

"Hey, you've been busy while I was gone." The sound of Shirley's voice pulled Patience out of her small office. Unable to quell the restless feeling that continued to skate through