a girl. She likes to look pretty. Even if doing so leaves me looking like a sopping wet disaster afterwards,” Susannah added, brushing a clump of dog hair off her T-shirt. God, she was a mess. She looked about as good as her canine charges—before their baths.
Not that she cared, of course, what Kane Lennox thought about her appearance. It was simply that this man had her feeling off center. She didn’t care at all if he found her unappealing because she’d just finished giving a poodle a bath.
Except a part of her did care. And that part was annoyed that she worried whether she had any lipstick left on her mouth. Whether her bangs were askew. Whether she reeked of eau de puppy.
“What if…” He hesitated. “What if I help you with your work? Will you take this—” he shifted his weight to the opposite foot “—this thing off my hands then?”
“You’re going to help me give a golden retriever a bath?”
He dropped the bag of dog food onto the counter. The spaniel watched the kibble transfer and heaved a sigh of disappointment. “Why are you so surprised by my offer?”
“You don’t strike me as the dog-bathing type. Especially considering the way you’re reacting to your new best friend here.”
Kane’s stance straightened, consciously, or maybe unconsciously, putting some distance between himself and the small dog. “I’m simply making a business proposition. Quid pro quo.”
Susannah considered the neatly pressed Kane again. She doubted he had any experience with pets. Nary a shred of shampooing or grooming background. Yet, she’d give about anything to see this stiff, uppity stranger covered in soapy bubbles and dog slobber.
She thrust out her hand and when he took hers, a spark traveled up her arm, taking Susannah completely by surprise. Attracted? To him?
She couldn’t be. He was not her type. At all. For one, he had that air of uppercrust about him. For another, he was too vague about who he was, where he was from. She liked the men she dated to be open, friendly.
Sort of like a good golden retriever, come to think of it. This man was more of a Lhasa apso, too pretty to be a workhorse. But if Kane was willing to take a little of the burden off her shoulders, who was she to turn him down?
“You’ve got a deal, Mr. Lennox,” Susannah said, attributing her reaction to him as being too tired, too overworked. “I just hope you can keep up your end of the bargain.”
A slow grin stole across his face. “If there’s one thing I always do, Miss Wilson, it’s make sure that the deal is a win-win for me, too.”
And as that smile widened, Susannah had to wonder whether she’d just been outwitted—and whether she’d be the real loser in this proposition.
CHAPTER THREE
INSANE.
Kane Lennox never made spur-of-the-moment offers. Every move in his life had an intention, a purpose, a plan behind it. He operated like a Mercedes with a well-tuned engine and a navigational system. No breakdowns, no detours and no surprises.
Then what on earth had made him open up his mouth and actually volunteer to bathe a canine? He didn’t even like dogs. Or at least, he didn’t think he did. He had no experience with canines, so therefore, no opinion one way or another, except he knew he had no time for that stray, and no room in his life for a spaniel. And yet, here he was, elbow-deep in soapy water beside a way-too-friendly golden retriever.
He glanced over at Susannah Wilson, who was cooing to the dog as she sudsed the animal’s head, and knew exactly what had possessed him to throw that sentence out there. Her. She’d distracted him nearly from the minute he’d met her. Combined with the day he’d had, the dog and his discomfort at being in a strange town, out of his normal element—
Oh, hell, it was really all the pretty woman. The way she had half her blond locks tucked behind her ear, the other half drifting along her cheek in damp waves. And the way she stared at him like he was some kind of weird stalker come to invade her town with a highly viral disease.
The combination—attraction mixed with distrust—sparked amusement in him, and raised his interest in her to a level unlike anything he’d felt in a long time.
Kane had met hundreds of women over the course of his life. Dated dozens of them. But in the circles he traveled, the women were too perfect, too pampered. Susannah Wilson, on the other hand, had a less finished edge to her, like a diamond that had yet to be cut and polished. She was…
Unique.
Intriguing. Very intriguing.
“Hey, I thought you were here to help. That means holding her steady,” Susannah said.
“Easier said than done,” Kane grumbled. “This dog is as slippery as an eel in an oil vat.”
Susannah chuckled, then tightened the rainbow paw-printed lead attached from the top of the deep stainless steel tub to the dog’s neck, which shortened the dog’s roaming room. “Didn’t you ever have a pet?”
“No, never.”
“Not so much as a gerbil?”
“No.” Kane snorted. “Let’s just say rodents wouldn’t have gone with my mother’s décor.”
Susannah gave him a curious look and Kane cursed himself for that slip. He should have lied and told her he’d had half a dozen pets. But he was no better at lying than he was at starting a fire, so his best bet was to keep his mouth shut altogether. Except Susannah—when she didn’t have that look on her face that said she thought he was either crazy or criminal—had the kind of personality that begged friendliness. Openness.
She had a wide smile, a deep, contagious laugh and luminous green eyes filled with curiosity. They drew him in, making Kane forget his cover story, his life in New York, and had him instead longing fora little of that magic she seemed to possess. The same magic she used to calm dogs, as easily as if she were a human warm blanket and bowl of puppy food.
Perhaps, Kane thought, studying Susannah’s bent head, then letting his gaze slip along her lithe form, he could add a little female R & R to his holiday? After all, he was the best man, and she was the maid of honor. They’d have to be together for the wedding. Wasn’t it almost expected that they end up sharing a little more than a dance or two?
The golden retriever squirmed under his inattention, sending a river of water down Kane’s arm. “You better hold on there,” Susannah said with a laugh and a tease in her eyes. “Or I might end up grooming you by accident.”
“You wouldn’t.”
She held up the huge water sprayer. “Accidents do happen, you know, all the time in the workplace.”
He laughed. “What is this, revenge for this morning?”
“What revenge?” She gave him a look of pure innocence. “I’m just saying—” her finger slipped a teeny bit on the button, sending a quick dribble of water his way “—I’m the one in control of the water here and you better stay on my best side.”
The woman didn’t seem to have
