Patrick frowned. “I thought it was because you two liked each other.” Patrick was twenty-six and seemed to have zero interest in a relationship of his own. It came as a surprise that he’d have even the remotest interest in her finding one.
Kelsey glanced at the house, a blush stinging her cheeks. She couldn’t see anyone through the open windows, but she was reassured that she and Patrick were too far away to be heard. “I’d have to be blind not to notice he’s good-looking,” she admitted, “but that’s as far as it goes.”
Having had her ears abandoned, Pepper let her head sink to the ground and licked her lips contentedly.
Patrick nodded but pursed his lips like he did when he disagreed but thought better than to say it aloud.
“Patrick, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but he and I are going to be working together for a few months. Anything like you’re suggesting could get, I don’t know, weird.”
“It was good for Megan to fall in love,” Patrick said as matter-of-factly as if he was stating that the sixty-five-degree day was refreshing.
A hearty laugh bubbled out of Kelsey, and it caught Pepper’s full attention. The dog lifted her head and stared straight at her. With more agility than Kelsey would have given her credit for, Pepper was on all four feet in a flash. The hairs on the back of her neck ruffled as she stared Kelsey down.
Kelsey realized how naive she’d been to allow herself to remain so comfortable on the ground next to such a powerful dog with a possibly traumatic history. “It’s all right, girl,” she chanted, keeping her voice calmer than she felt. “It’s all right.”
Pepper took a step closer, and Kelsey dropped her gaze to her lap as she chanted the simple phrase. In the same calm voice, she added, “Don’t move unless you have to, Patrick.”
There was a flash, and Kelsey felt a warm, wet tongue swipe the length of her cheek. The relief that swept over her brought tears to her eyes. Patrick let out a sigh like a balloon deflating as Pepper inundated Kelsey with fresh licks.
Taking Patrick’s outstretched hand, Kelsey stood up and gave the dog a pat on the shoulder. She wiped her cheek dry with a shaky hand as Pepper shook her massive head, her collar jangling. “You’d almost think she’d never heard anyone laugh before.”
From the direction of the house, a door swung open. Kurt and Rob appeared on the stoop of the front door, frowning in Kelsey and Patrick’s direction. They’d seen what happened from the windows. Because of course.
Kelsey’s growing confidence about being a good fit for this rehab disintegrated. Now for sure Kurt had to think she was an idiot. And if Patrick had been harboring hopes of Kelsey making a love connection while here, they were probably vanishing into thin air too.
Everyone kept silent as Kelsey and Patrick walked Pepper toward Kurt and Rob. When they got close to the house, Kurt said calmly, “Can we please agree to stay standing around the dogs until we know them better?” Now that she was closer, Kelsey could see two deep lines making a V across his forehead.
She wanted to sink into one of the dry cracks in the ground but instead locked her shoulders as they headed up to the porch. “We can if you can accept that I do know some things about dogs. I’ve worked in a shelter for seven years, and I haven’t misjudged a dog’s character yet.”
Color flashed above Kurt’s collar. As he opened his mouth, Rob placed a hand firmly on his shoulder.
“Of course you do,” Rob said, smiling congenially, “or none of us would be here today embarking on this rehab. Kurt, why don’t we walk them around inside and show them where we’ve placed the dogs? Kelsey, we’ve set up our biggest kennel on the screened-in half of the porch for the Rottweiler. And before I leave, we’ll go over the feeding schedule these dogs have been introduced to the last few days.”
Kurt’s features softened a bit, and the lines disappeared from his forehead. Kelsey felt the muscles around her spine relax in response. Although something told her this wouldn’t be their only disagreement, she gave Rob a nod.
What on earth would happen when no one was around to play peacemaker?
* * *
She wasn’t getting it. That’s what irked Kurt most. Undeniably, it was best to be calm and comfortable around any dog. But this wasn’t the shelter. The thirty-seven dogs brought here were going to be put to the test. He might not be able to accurately determine their individual stress levels. However careful he was, one of them could snap before this was over.
And Kelsey needed to understand this. But Kurt suspected she intended to dive in like Snow White, singing and turning them into her soul mates. Maybe that would be fine, and maybe it wouldn’t.
And that had him on edge. So did the people who kept driving slowly down the street and gawking at the house as if they suspected what was going on inside. That was the thing about the world now. So much information was at anyone’s fingertips. It was public record that the estate had been donated to Kelsey’s shelter. It wouldn’t take much detective work for anyone who’d listened to Kelsey’s interview to figure out this was where the rehab would be taking place.
Kurt suspected that protesters would be camped on the street out front by tomorrow. And there’d be nothing he could do about it. The mansion stood at the end of a
