glanced over, not in the least liking his reaction to her low, throaty chuckles as she squirmed—but not really—away from the dog. “George. At least for the last couple of years. If he had a name before I got him, I wouldn’t know.”
“George,” she said, ruffling his fur, then gently shoving him back. She remained twisted around, her brow pinched in concentration. She’d chewed most of her lipstick off, leaving her expressive mouth a soft rose color. “What, exactly, is he?”
“Caninus Godonlyknowsis,” Steve said. She laughed, and Steve felt the fist of tension in the pit of his stomach unfurl, just a little. As if, just for this moment, maybe life didn’t suck. That maybe, somehow, things were going to work out. “Day I closed on the house,” he said, “I came up here with the keys, and there he was. Lying on the porch like he was waiting for me to come home and let him in.”
He could sense, more than see, her grin. “And you did.”
“I didn’t seem to have much choice. He’s dumber than dirt, but he worships me unconditionally.” Steve tossed a glance her way, then back to the road. “There’s a lot to be said for that.”
For some reason, he wasn’t the least bit surprised when she pretended to be offended for the dog’s sake. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her twist around to the panting dog. “Did you hear that? You’re not dumb at all, are you?” George barked. Which wasn’t surprising, either. One thing you could say about old George, he was real good at keeping up his end of the conversation. “No, I didn’t think so.” She turned back around, her arms crossed. “Rather cheeky thing to say, don’t you think, considering that unconditional worship business?”
Steve considered this for a minute, then said, “The chickens might have something to say about that.”
“Excuse me?”
“He chases chickens. Cats, no. A cat could come up to him and blow raspberries in his face—nada. But chickens drive him nuts.” He turned to her. “Like I said. Dumb.”
The breeze coming in the truck’s windows was blowing her feathery hair every which way. Which was very sexy, he realized with a light but firm kick to the gut. She didn’t seem to give a damn, either, which was even sexier, for some reason. “On the contrary,” she said, her eyes sparkling like sapphires. “He’s just smart enough to pick on a species with a lower IQ than his.”
A chuckle spread out from the center of his chest as that fist uncurled just a little bit more. “Huh. Never thought of it like that.”
Looking inordinately smug, Lisa pivoted back around to face front, which is when Steve realized that the cautious, prickly young woman he’d met two days before seemed to have taken a hike, as well. Despite her assorted wounds, her less-than-pulled-together appearance, she seemed to be completely enjoying herself.
And damned if Steve’s woebegone ego didn’t decide to take at least some of the credit for that.
A minute or so passed in comfortable silence, interrupted by Lisa’s occasional question about something they passed. Then, obviously content in the back seat, Rosie started singing softly to herself behind them.
“What are you going to do?” Lisa asked quietly. “About the children?”
His moment of quasi-serenity popped like a bubble. “At the moment, I haven’t the slightest idea.”
“I take it there’s some question about your being able to keep them?”
“According to Family Services, yeah.” He turned to her, his heart hitching at the concern in her eyes. “Not according to me.”
She nodded, then looked out the windshield, frowning as she braced one hand through her hair to keep it out of her face. “But…if you’re the legal guardian, how could they take the children away from you?”
“Because I haven’t been granted full custody. Not yet.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Ted and Gloria didn’t have a will, see. So even though it was always understood that I’d take care of the kids if anything happened to them—both their folks have been gone for some time—there was nothing in writing.”
“I see. And there was no other relative?”
“There’s one cousin on Gloria’s side. She seemed nice enough, the one time I met her at their wedding fifteen years ago, but she’s got four kids of her own. There was no way she could take on another five. So the choices were, split up the kids into separate foster homes, since, again, not many families could take on five at once, or grant me temporary custody, even though I’m not married. And they only did that because I promised to have a full-time housekeeper, at least until Rosie started school.”
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