Mary to wonder, not for the first time, why he’d been chosen for the K-9 unit. Everyone in town, including Captain James, knew Eli had been jilted by Natalie. Surely it had occurred to him that the situation might lead to difficulties with the training. It had certainly occurred to her; though at the moment, she didn’t have a clue what to do to make this an easier transition for Eli. Surely he had to realize that she couldn’t help what her sister had done.
Maybe there wasn’t anything she could do, except plow forward, right through the middle of Eli’s morose attitude. She lifted Goliath to eye level and turned the dog so she was addressing his snout. “He’s only six months old, so he’s still learning his manners. Goliath, that is not how we treat guests in our home.”
The Chihuahua yipped once and licked Mary’s thumb.
Eli cleared his throat and rocked back on his heels, jamming one hand into the pocket of his blue uniform slacks.
“Captain James spoke to you?” he prodded, scratching the back of his neck with his free hand, his dark hair curling around his fingers.
“About the new K-9 unit?” Mary nodded. “Oh, yes. I have to say, Ian is quite enthusiastic about the idea.”
“Isn’t he, though,” Eli mumbled in agreement. He didn’t sound happy about the prospect.
She decided not to acknowledge his lack of enthusiasm. Surely things would get better once he got to know his new partner.
“It’s a great opportunity for you and for me, as well. I don’t know how much you’re aware of the work that I do here. I’m just now getting my training kennel off the ground. Your department is my first official K-9 program. My proving ground, so to speak.”
“Meaning I’d better be on my best behavior.”
His eyes lightened to sky-blue, and the strain around his mouth eased, lessening the gravity of his expression. When he looked like that, it was harder to ignore the fact that this was the man she’d had a secret, desperate crush on for so many years....
But that was in the past. She was years past being a silly teenager crushing on the hotshot high school football star. He was a client now—the most important client she’d ever had. She couldn’t let herself lose sight of that just because he had the bluest eyes she’d ever seen.
“You’d better believe it. Are you ready to meet your new partner?” A lot of thought had gone into the pairing of dog to man and man to dog, and she was proud of what she’d accomplished. She couldn’t wait for Eli to meet his new partner, and her eagerness bubbled over in her voice. She recognized that this was one of those defining life moments she’d look back on, either with delight or utter mortification. It was all on Eli to make that call. If he lightened up, this could be good—maybe even fun. Working with a K-9 was every bit as much about enthusiasm and reward as it was about effort and exertion. Perhaps more so.
“Sure. Whatever.” He shrugged offhandedly, as if it didn’t matter to him one way or the other whether or not he met his partner.
Mary sighed in exasperation. Even if he wasn’t thrilled about working with her, she thought he’d display a bit more interest in his new dog. His cavalier attitude was going to have to change, or they would never be able to work together. Where was the man with the happy-go-lucky smile for the world? Who had replaced him with Mr. Chip-on-His-Shoulder? Was it just because of Natalie, or was something else entirely wrong here?
Mary hadn’t a clue. And it wasn’t as if she could ask. How did one even broach a subject like this?
She paused and tilted her face up to his, her gaze lingering on him, questioning him without words. Rather than meeting her eyes, his gaze wandered to somewhere in the vicinity of her chin.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I don’t know what you mean.” It was an adamant denial, even though she hadn’t accused him of anything. He gestured toward the den. “I’m trying to follow orders here. Please. Lead the way.” There was an element of pleading in his tone that hadn’t been there before.
He was giving off mixed signals all over the place—which he clearly wasn’t going to acknowledge. And if he wouldn’t, she couldn’t.
“So we’re good, then?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am.” His voice was low and gruff, and his gaze turned so dark that his stormy blue eyes took on an almost black hue to them.
She wasn’t going to solve any of their problems this way. Maybe the best thing to do was to bring out the big guns—
—or more specifically, the Bullet.
Chapter Two
Eli’s chest tightened almost painfully as he followed Mary through the front room and into the den. In his opinion, it was more of a kennel than a living space. There were several crates, the smaller stacked on the larger, but they were all empty. The dogs who’d greeted him at the door were lounging on fluffy pillows of various shapes, colors and sizes, all of which looked as if they had been haphazardly tossed around the room. Chew toys, ropes, tennis balls and rawhide bones littered the floor.
The whole place was messy. Lived-in. And distinctly feminine. Everything from Mary’s choice of floral wallpaper to the soft pastel curtains screamed woman, unlike his own apartment, which was meticulously clean and simply furnished with only the bare necessities in mahogany and stainless steel. Not much in the way of decor, other than a couple of family pictures on the wall. Eli didn’t require too many things to live comfortably.
Besides, he liked clean. Uncluttered. Mary apparently felt differently.
He didn’t know what he’d expected the inside of Mary’s house to look like, since he knew she shared her space with all her dogs. He supposed he hadn’t really considered it at all.
In any respect, this wasn’t it. These pups looked as if they were living the lives of royalty, not as if they were working animals. He surveyed the dogs. The Chihuahua wasn’t a K-9, formidable attitude notwithstanding, but he supposed some of the other dogs could be.
In addition to those he’d seen in the front room, there were three other large canines—one a creamy yellow color but otherwise identical to Sebastian, a gray dog with whiskers and a lot of fluff on its legs and another that looked a little like Lassie from the old television show.
He wondered which of them would be his. To his relief, they were not overly intimidating. None of them seemed as if they could be a police-trained K-9, either, not that he really knew how to assess one.
“If you’ll follow me to the back patio, I’ll introduce you to your new partner. He’s in the yard getting some exercise with some of the other pups.”
“There are more?” The question was half tongue-in-cheek jesting and half utter bemusement. “How many dogs did you say you have again?”
Mary glanced back and smiled. “Too many. I’ve lost count.”
Eli shook his head and chuckled. “I’m not surprised.”
She stopped at the sliding glass doorway and turned to face him, gesturing back toward the den. “You’ve met Goliath,” she said, pointing to the Chihuahua. “The gray one is a standard
