stroked and scratched, telling Cleo in a soft indulgent tone how beautiful and clever she was until the dog was happy enough to rise up on its hind legs and lick her face.
‘Oh, yuk!’ Justine remarked in disgust, just as Serena scooped the dog into her arms, holding it securely against her shoulder while she rose from her kneeling position.
‘Shut up, Justine!’ Nic shot at her.
The classically oval jaw dropped in shock.
‘Just let the lady do her job,’ he expounded with no less irritation at his girlfriend’s total lack of any sensitivity to the situation.
Serena almost liked him at that moment. However, she headed straight for the front door without any comment. Nic Moretti followed her right out to the van.
‘What door do you want opened?’ he asked solicitously.
‘The driver’s side. I’ll put her on the passenger seat beside me so I can pat her. There’s a dog harness attached to the safety belt so she won’t be a problem when I’m driving.’
He opened the door and watched as Serena settled Cleo into the harness. ‘She seems to be okay,’ he said half anxiously.
‘Fighting fit,’ Serena answered dryly.
‘I don’t think Justine is used to dogs.’
‘Maybe you should growl at her more often.’ This terse piece of advice took him aback. Serena was past dealing in diplomacy. She reached out and pulled her door shut, then spoke to him through the opened window. ‘Normally I would deliver Cleo back at one o’clock. How does that sit with you?’
‘Fine!’ He was frowning again.
‘Will your girlfriend still be here?’
The dark eyes suddenly took on a rivetting intensity. His mouth thinned into a grim set of determination. ‘No, she won’t,’ he stated categorically.
The decision gave Serena a highly pleasant sense of satisfaction. ‘Then I’ll see you at one o’clock.’
CHAPTER TWO
NIC MORETTI watched the van until it turned onto the public road, chagrined by the way the sassy little piece behind the driver’s wheel had got under his skin, yet unable to dismiss the truths she had flung in his face. A pet groomer…obviously caring more about the canine breed than she did for people. Though he had to concede he hadn’t cut too impressive a figure this morning. Justine even less so.
Which brought him to the sobering conclusion that the scorn in those vivid blue eyes had been justified and maybe it was time he took stock of what he was doing, shrugging off stuff he didn’t like for the sake of cruising along in the social swim, doing his balancing act with people on the grounds that no one was perfect and if they were good for something, what did it matter if they fell short in other areas?
Judgment day…
He shook his head over the irony of that being delivered to him by a pet groomer who’d descended on him out of nowhere. Damned if he could even remember the name she had given! Michelle had been printed on the van she drove but he was sure it wasn’t that.
And it still niggled him that he had seen her before somewhere. Though it seemed highly unlikely, given her job and location on the Central Coast. Sydney was his usual stamping ground. Besides, how could he forget that pert mouth and even perter bottom? Both of them were challenges he rather fancied coming to grips with.
He smiled self-mockingly at this last thought.
The hangover from last night’s party was obviously affecting his brain. What could he possibly have in common with a pet groomer, except the welfare of Cleo for the duration of Angelina’s overseas trip? Better get his mind geared to deal with Justine who was turning into a royal pain over his sister’s beloved Cleo. Worse than that, in fact. There was a cruel streak in her treatment of the dog and Nic didn’t like it. He wouldn’t invite her here again.
He frowned over the memory of her laughing as she’d tossed her hapless victim onto the slippery dip yesterday. ‘Here’s company for you, Nic!’ A great joke, laughing at the dog’s frantic attempts to fight its way back up to the spa level against the inevitable skid into the pool. Unkind laughter.
He’d been annoyed by the whole episode, especially the painful scratches which had led him to transfer his annoyance to Cleo. Wrong! He could see that now. The pet groomer had straightened him out on quite a few areas that needed his attention. For one thing, dog-minding was not a breeze. It obviously required some expertise he didn’t have.
Having resolved to take more positive action on that front, he went inside to face the problem he now had with Justine. She was in the kitchen, watching coffee brew in the percolator. While her attention was still engaged on getting a shot of caffeine, he viewed her with more critically assessing eyes.
Did he want their affair to continue? They’d been reasonably compatible both sexually and socially, but the relationship had been more about superficial fun than deep and meaningful. He had the very definite feeling that the fun had just run out.
She turned around, probably having heard the front door shut and looking to check where he was. ‘Ah! You’ve seen them off,’ she said, rolling her eyes at the fuss of it all. ‘Blissful peace for a while!’
‘Cleo will be returned at one o’clock,’ he informed her as he strolled into the kitchen and headed for the refrigerator. A couple of glasses of iced water should help clear the hangover.
‘It is ridiculous to have our lives ruled by a dog!’ Justine declared in exasperation. ‘Why don’t you put her in one of those boarding kennels, Nic? It would save all this aggravation and you’d be free to…’
‘Out of the question,’ he cut her off.
She swung on him, hands on hips. ‘Why is it out of the question?’
‘I promised Angelina I’d take care of Cleo.’
‘Boarding kennels are better equipped to look after that dog than you are.’
She was probably right, but that wasn’t the point, Nic thought as he downed the first glass of water. Besides, he intended to learn how to handle Cleo better.
‘Your sister need never know,’ Justine argued.
‘I would know. A promise is a promise.’
‘What people don’t know won’t hurt them.’
He cocked a mocking eyebrow at her as he reached for the jug again. ‘One of the principles by which you live?’
‘It avoids trouble.’
‘Oh, I don’t know. Seems to me you get double the trouble when people find out what you’ve tried to hide from them.’ He poured more water from the jug and drank again, wondering how many deceptions Justine had played with him.
She threw out her hands in frustrated appeal. ‘You can’t want to be tied to that cantankerous little bitch for the next two months.’
‘I’ll
