ignored the question. It was too soon to say. “Bella. Such a fitting name for a pretty girl.” And probably deadly too, because she’d be willing to bet every last nickel in her bank account her patient was a military working dog.
“Okay, run me through how she got hurt.”
The man, Jackson, introduced himself and ran through the events as Risa slowly felt each muscle, joint and bone, noting the dog’s reaction—especially the yelp when she touched her hindquarters.
“That’s where she hit the deck of the dog walk.” Jackson put his face right in the dog’s face and crooned to her. Risa thought about warning him that dogs in pain could bite unexpectedly, but the man and dog seemed to have a bond that went beyond that of a normal partnership.
“We’ll need to X-ray her to see if anything is broken. Is Bella a working dog?”
He nodded, never taking his gaze off of the animal as he gently stroked her ears. “She is. We’ve been together through a lot.”
“How old is she?” Risa felt along her spine and let out a small sigh of relief when Bella didn’t cry.
“Seven.”
Risa scratched behind the beautiful shepherd’s ears and examined her eyes, checked her mouth, and looked for other signs of shock.
“The good news is she’s still young and in excellent health, and she’s not showing signs of shock.” But she was too quiet and too still, and Risa didn’t like that at all. That information wouldn’t help Jackson or her patient, so she kept the worry to herself and would wait for test results. “I’ll need to call in one of my techs to help me, so I can X-ray Bella.”
“I can act as your assistant.”
“Keep her calm. I’ll be right back.” Risa slipped out of the exam room and prepped the X-ray table, filled a syringe with a painkiller, and grabbed the trauma board they kept handy for patients that couldn’t handle being picked up. Walking back in the room, her heart broke a little at the sight of the big man—he was well over six feet tall—with tears in his eyes. “How’s she doing?”
He cleared his throat and looked down at the dog. “I think she’s in a lot of pain.” She tried to scoot closer and started whimpering. “She came down hard on the dog walk. You don’t think she’s bleeding internally, do you?”
Risa had no way of knowing at this point, but telling him wouldn’t help him or Bella, and she needed a calm assistant. “No, I think she may have a broken rib or hip, and that’s why she’s so still. I’m going to give her a shot of pain meds, and then we’ll move her into the other room. Okay?”
Risa gave her the injection. Within a few minutes, Bella settled into a deep sleep. Together, Jackson and Risa lifted the dog on to the board and carried her to the X-ray table. Jackson stuck close to Bella’s side.
“Sir, you’ll need to step back here behind the shield with me,” Risa said.
“Please call me Jackson or Jax.”
Jax. She liked the sound of that, especially the way he said it with his southern drawl.
“Where you from, Jax?” She absently asked as she took the pictures necessary to see what was going on inside of her patient.
“Promise you won’t laugh?”
It was the first smile she’d seen and wow! It was a good thing she wasn’t walking or operating heavy equipment. He was a good looking guy, maybe not quite in Hugh Jackman’s league; then again, in her opinion, no one was. His hazel eyes were striking in that they were neither blue, nor green, nor brown, but a mix of all three colors. The hair at his temples had started to gray, yet it blended well and made him look distinguished. But it was his smile that got her. When his lips tilted upward, the result was devastating.
“Cross my heart and hope to die, or however that goes.” For good measure, and to keep the smile in place, she drew a big X across her chest.
He took a deep breath and let it out on a chuckle. “Jacksonville, Georgia, ma’am.”
She cringed and laughed. “Please, thirty-three is much too young to be called ‘ma’am,’ and I hear it way too often with all the young kids in sub school around here.” She stepped out to change the film and angle of the machine. “So Jackson from Jacksonville? I like it. Guess your parents didn’t want you to forget where you came from, huh?”
“Technically I was born in Stuttgart, Germany—Army brat—but I think my mom was homesick at the time.” He watched her every move as he monitored Bella’s sleep.
“I’m almost afraid to ask if you have siblings and, if so, what are their names?”
He moved out of her way as she slipped back behind the screen for the next set of pictures. “Just a sister—Missy Grace.”
“That’s… sweet. Did you live in Mississippi when she was born?” Risa slipped back out to grab the films, stopping to rub Bella’s ears before taking care of the X-rays.
Jax stroked his dog’s back. “No, we were in Georgia by then.”
She looked up, puzzled. “So why not—”
“I have no idea why she didn’t pick Georgia, other than she might have been afraid she’d get about five or six girls come running every time she yelled for us.”
Risa couldn’t even imagine one other classmate with the same name, much less her extremely British mother yelling. Then again, as long as Risa had done well in school and had been home in time for dinner, neither of her parents had worried much about her or her life. She was given instructions and expected to follow them to the letter, which she’d done until college rolled around. Or so her parents thought, because in Risa’s mind, if she didn’t get caught, she wasn’t guilty. College changed everything. The Professor and Mr. Reynolds still weren’t over the fact that she’d turned down Oxford.
They just didn’t understand. England was entirely too far from her animals.
“I’m guessing by the slight accent that slips through, you’re not a native of Connecticut either,” Jax said.
“Guilty. Born just outside of London, where we lived until I was about five. Then my American dad was transferred back to the states and, of course, his fair English bride packed up her life, said good-bye to her homeland, and dragged me here.”
“Did you ever want to go back to England?” he asked.
“No. This is home now.”
Risa slid the X-ray into place and turned the light on, forgetting the conversation. She scratched at the side of her neck as she studied the image.
Good. Very good. But the pictures didn’t explain Bella’s behavior.
Jax had moved quickly and quietly across the room until his body was within an inch of hers. He didn’t touch her or push her out of the way. She wasn’t sure how to explain it, other than the heat radiating off of him, along with his commanding presence, forced her to notice him.
He pointed to a section on the screen. “What’s going on
