“Well, I know how to handle film stars, so that’s good.”
“Why don’t we do this,” Jade offered. “How about if you come with me to see a few of my clients and talk with them? You can give them your information, and maybe that will get things started for you.”
“Really? You haven’t seen me work yet. Do you want to watch me do a pet massage or grooming first?” Elisabeth’s heart was beating so fast she could barely hear past it.
“I heard about what you did for Gracie, and word has spread as far as Allure about you picking up the Wynchels’ dogs and grooming them. If Ross trusts you, which he obviously does, then I trust you.” Jade sipped her drink. “And I’d imagine that all that talk will eventually lead to more business for you.”
“Thank you, Jade. You can’t imagine how much this means to me.” Is this really happening?
Ross touched his forehead to hers. “And as far as trust goes, give it time. No one will be able to resist you.”
Chapter Sixteen
ROSS AND ELISABETH cuddled on a lounge chair beneath a blanket and watched the sun rise Saturday morning while Storm, Ranger, and Sarge played in the yard. Knight sat beside them, his black fur rising and falling with each sleepy breath. He had become as attached to Elisabeth as Ross had, and since Elisabeth was lying in Ross’s arms with one hand stretched out as she stroked Knight’s back, he knew she’d become just as attached to Knight. Storm had awoken at five o’clock, and rather than try to go back to sleep, they’d taken all the dogs out and decided to greet the rising sun from the back deck of Ross’s house.
“Why do you think Storm was up so early?” Elisabeth asked.
“Who knows. But Trout did say he had trouble sleeping. I’m hoping it’s just a fluke. Trout thought he was lonely.” He slipped his hand under the back of her camisole. Her skin was warm, despite the chilly morning air. She was wearing a pair of his flannel pajama pants folded down at the waist to make them smaller, and they still nearly fell off her hips.
“Did you suggest moving the crate closer?” Her eyes narrowed.
Ross kissed her. “I did, and I brought him a toy that makes a soothing sound for Storm to sleep with.”
“That should help. I think there’s comfort in numbers, and dogs get lonely just like we do.”
“I have a feeling you’ll be one of those mothers who jumps at every cry your babies make.”
He felt her smile against his chest.
“Probably, but don’t even try to pretend that you’d be any different. You’re a big softie. I see how you are with the boys. Don’t think for a second that I don’t know you’re giving them the cookies I give you at the rate of about three a day.”
“You noticed that, huh?”
“I notice everything, like the way you take extra time to pet them before bed, until each one finally lays his head down and their eyes get sleepy, and the way you smile when they do something cute like push their noses against each other. You can pretend to be caught up in the fundamentals of taking care of animals, but you have a bigger heart than you let on. The same way you do with me.”
“I’ll admit I’m caught up in you.” There was no denying the way he felt about her. “I’ll set up your awning before I go into work this morning. Are you sure you’ll be able to pick up all seven dogs for grooming today? All six of Wren’s dogs and Cherry’s? Do you want me to ask Luke if Daisy’s free, or Callie or Emily?”
She kissed his bare chest. “Oh no, don’t bother them. I can do it. I’ve got it all figured out. I’ll put the Wynchels’ dogs in the hatchback with the backseat down, and I’ll put Contessa’s crate up front with me. You’re so thoughtful, and you take such good care of me. I wish I could do something to take care of you.”
“Babe, you take care of me by just being with me. I’ve never been happier than when we’re together. And you love my boys, and you put up with my sister. It’s all good.”
She laughed. “I love Emily. She calls me almost every day to talk about the renovations and we end up talking about everything. It’s nice to finally have a friend here.”
“You have me.”
“Yes, and you’re the best boyfriend ever. But there’s a big difference between a boyfriend and a close girlfriend.” She pointed out over the mountains. “Here comes the sun.”
“I haven’t watched the sunrise in forever, and I may not have ever done it again if we hadn’t met.”
“Oh, come on. You’d have done it eventually.” She leaned up and grinned down at him. “It just wouldn’t have been as wonderful without me.”
“Damn right about that. Come here.” He pulled her into a delicious kiss.
He couldn’t think of a better way to start the morning, or a better way to end the day, since they’d been spending every night together.
PICKING UP THE dogs turned out to be more time-consuming than Elisabeth had counted on. At Wynchels’, one of the dogs took off after a rabbit, and it had taken her nearly thirty minutes to wrangle him back to the car. And true to Jade’s description, Cherry Macomb was a Peg Bundy lookalike from her bouffant hairdo and sky-high heels to her leggings, wide belt, and tight shirt.
“Okay, Tessie, Tessie. Mama will see you soon.” Cherry kissed Contessa on the nose and handed her to Elisabeth. “Her full name is Miss Contessa Macomb, but we call her Tessie.” Contessa weighed only about fifteen pounds. She had fluffy white fur and a few black spots on her back. She had the sweetest eyes and demeanor. Elisabeth fell instantly in love with the little cuddle muffin.
“I’ll take good care of her.” She set Tessie in her fluffy red doggy bed in the carrier, and the pup snuggled up to the two stuffed animals Cherry had also put in the crate.
“She hates to be without her babies,” Cherry said.
“I love that you pamper her. All of my clients in Los Angeles treated their dogs like you treat Tessie. Don’t worry. She’s in good hands.” Elisabeth went around to the driver’s side, and as she climbed into the car, Cherry came to the window.
“Elisabeth, thank you. I’m a little like a three-headed owl around here with the way I treat Tessie.”
That might have more to do with your Peg Bundy getup. “Well, so am I, so we make a great pair.”
By four o’clock, Elisabeth had groomed and returned three of the Wynchels’ dogs, and Tessie. Cherry loved the pink bows she’d put on Tessie’s collar, and she said she would mention Elisabeth’s service to her friends. There was no greater thank-you than a referral, and Elisabeth carried that happy thought with her as she finished grooming the sixth of the Wynchels’ dogs beneath the awning Ross had set up for her. She wondered if he’d found the thank-you note she’d slipped into his truck earlier that morning. She was daydreaming about him when an unfamiliar car drove down her driveway.
Elisabeth recognized the librarian, Callie, as she stepped from the car with the cutest bloodhound on a red leash.
“Hi.” Callie waved. “Emily said you were grooming dogs today, and I thought I’d bring Sweets by. I hope I’m not too late. I had to finish my afternoon at the library.” She tucked her brown hair behind her ear as she crossed the lawn.
Elisabeth knelt to pet Sweets. “She’s beautiful, and you’re definitely not too late. You’re Ross’s brother’s girlfriend, right? I’m Elisabeth.”
“Yes, Wes’s girlfriend. I’ve heard so much about you, and I kind of put two and two together after Emily told me what you looked like. I helped you at the library, remember?” Callie had on a pair of jeans shorts and a blousy peasant top.
“Yes! You gave me Wallbanger to read. Oh my goodness, that’s the funniest book. I loved it. Thank you.” She took Sweets’s leash and they went to her grooming station. “I assume Wes doesn’t want her to have bows?”
“You do bows? I want her to have them. Do you have pink?”
Elisabeth liked her already. “I have more shades of pink than blades of grass.” She set to work grooming Sweets. “I’ve never groomed a dog who didn’t try to smell everyth
ing.”
“She has no sense of smell. When Wes found her on a mountain trail, she was really sick. Ross helped save her, actually. She had distemper, and she was all skin and bones.” Callie reached out and stroked Sweets’s back. “Poor girl. She lost her sense of smell from the distemper, but at least she got through it.”
“Well, a sense of smell isn’t all it’s cut out to be. Sometimes when I’m taking care of the pigs, I wish I didn’t have one.” She smiled and offered Callie a drink of iced tea.
“Thanks, I’m okay. So how do you like Trusty?”
Callie was easy to talk to, and honesty came easily for Elisabeth. “I’ve always loved Trusty, since I was a little girl. So, the lifestyle is everything I always knew it would be and hoped for. And I guess it’ll just take a little time for everything else to fall into place.”
“I’m not from here, either. I’m from Denver, so I know what it feels like to be the new girl in town.”
“I didn’t know that. I thought both you and Daisy grew up here.”
“Daisy did, but I didn’t. When I first moved here, I had no idea that people had even noticed me, much less talked about me, but I found out when Wes and I started dating. From what I understand, Wes’s settling down kind of shocked the people here. Kind of like with Ross.”
“Like Ross?” She had purposely not asked Ross much about his past. He was thirty-five, so he obviously had a past, but it didn’t have to affect their relationship. Although now she was curious.
“Well, I don’t think Ross was like Wes. Wes was…” Callie furrowed her brow. “He had a busy social life outside of Trusty. I don’t think Ross dated a lot, but I know he never dated girls from town either. The Bradens have this thing about dating women where they live or something. I don’t know for sure, but I think they don’t like to be part of the town gossip.”
“Ross mentioned that he didn’t date women in Trusty, but I didn’t know that about Wes.”
“That’s why Emily thinks your relationship with Ross is serious.” Callie fidgeted with the edges of her shorts, obviously wanting to know more but not wanting to ask.
Sweets licked Elisabeth’s leg. She kissed Sweets’s head, then went back to grooming her.
“Our relationship is still new, but to be honest, I can’t imagine being with anyone else.” She held her breath, a little unsure if she should have divulged that much of herself to Callie.
Callie smiled and met her gaze. “That’s how it was with me and Wes. I swear the first time I saw him he made my heart stop. He still does.”
That was the difference between a boyfriend and having a close woman friend.
“So you totally get it. I’m not crazy to feel that way?”
Callie leaned closer. “Crazy is not following what you feel in your heart. I’m a sucker for happily-ever-afters, and my guilty pleasure is reading romance novels. Ravenously. I thought happily-ever-afters were just for heroines in romance novels, but then…” She rolled her eyes up toward the sky and sighed. “Then Wes came into my life, and it was like we were born for each other. He did all these amazing things, and he really opened my eyes to a whole part of life I’d have missed if we never met. He even picked me up on a white horse for a dance that he put on just for me and my girlfriends.”
“No way.” Elisabeth could only imagine how romantic that must have been.
“Yup. Even surprised us with dresses and brought my friends’ husbands up to his ranch for the dance. It was incredible, and every night since then…it’s like just being with him is romantic.” She held her hands out when she said incredible like the memory was too big for the word.
“Wow, Callie. You’re both so lucky. I’m just the opposite. I’ve always believed in love and marriage and that we all have someone we’re fated to be with.” She finished grooming Sweets and put four little pink bows on her collar. “My whole life, all I wanted was to come back here. I was drawn to this little town as if it were my destiny, or at least as if it were my own hometown, when I’d only spent a few weeks over the years here with my aunt. And now…” She bit her lower lip and drew in a deep breath.
“Now?” Callie’s eyes widened.
“Now I wonder if Ross is the reason I’ve always been drawn here.” Elisabeth knew it sounded stupid. Damn it. She shouldn’t have said it out loud. She covered her face with her hands. “Oh, Callie. I’m so embarrassed. I’ve known you for all of an hour and I’m gushing like a schoolgirl over your boyfriend’s brother. Definitely not the way to appear normal.”
Callie pulled Elisabeth’s hands down and smiled. “Lucky for you, I think normal is totally boring. And in case you don’t know it, Emily is a total romantic, so there’s no way she thinks you’re crazy, either.”
They talked for a while longer, and after Callie left, Elisabeth piled the Wynchels’ three dogs into her car. If she kept this up, she’d definitely have to get a larger car, not to mention a few more hours in her day. Toting animals around was time-consuming.
Ross pulled into the driveway behind her car and leaned out of his truck window.
“Leaving?”
“I have to return the Wynchels’ dogs. Want to come along?” She went to the window of his truck, and he leaned down and met her halfway for a kiss.
“Where you go, I go.” He stepped from the truck and hugged her close. “I found your thank-you note. It made my whole day. How was your day? Did anyone else show up?”
“Callie did, which was a surprise.”
They both turned at the sound of wheels on gravel. The red-haired woman who was in Ross’s office the day Elisabeth brought Kennedy in came rushing toward them. Her clothes were covered in mud, and she had streaks of dirt on her cheeks and forehead.
“Tracie, what happened?” Ross asked.
“Am I too late? Are you still grooming dogs?” she asked Elisabeth.
“I was just going to take the dogs back to the Wynchels’, but I can groom your puppy when I get back.”
“I can take the dogs back to Wren. Go ahead and help Tracie,” Ross offered.
“I’m so sorry. Justin Bieber got into the bushes by the creek, and he’s all muddy and filled with burrs. He’s a mess. I tried to give him a bath, as you can see.” She pointed to her clothing. “But I couldn’t get the burrs out.”
Tracie went back to her car to get Justin Bieber, and Elisabeth reached for Ross’s hand.
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” She hated asking him to do more than he already had, especially after he’d worked all day.
“Of course not.”
She touched her forehead to his chest. “Thank you. I owe you.”
His mouth quirked up. “That’s an even better reason for me to do it.”
She swatted his stomach. “Can you please tell Wren that I can’t pick up the dogs next weekend because I’ll be at the fair? I don’t think she’ll care one way or the other, but we should let her know.”
Ross lifted her chin with his index finger. “Hey, I’m proud of you. You’re working so hard, and you aren’t getting anything in return.”
“Sure I am. I already have one paying client, and I got my fill of pups for the day—until I get to see the boys, of course.”
Elisabeth went to work bathing and grooming Justin Bieber. He was a silky terrier, and it took a while to get all of the burrs out of his long locks, but by the time Elisabeth gave him his final brushing, his fur was once again silky and tangle free.
“Wow. He’s never looked so handsome,” Tracie said. “Maddy will be thrilled.”
“Is Maddy your daughter? I saw her at the clinic when I brought my piglet in to see Ross.” Elisabeth smiled at the memory of the first time she saw Ross and how everything about him, from his looks, to his voice, to his in-control demeanor, had reeled her in.
“Yeah. She’s eight. She’s so in love with him. She was too upset to come with me today. She was afraid you’d have to shave him.”
“Oh, no. I try not to do that to dogs. They get embarrassed.�
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Tracie smiled at that and drew her brows together. “So, I guess it’s true about you and Ross.”
“True?”
“That you two are dating.”
“Oh. Yes.” We really are the town gossip.
“I’m happy for you both. He’s such a nice man. I’ve known him forever. He was a few years ahead of me in school, but if you ask me, he’s the best of the Braden men. Not that there’s a bad one in the bunch, but he’s always such a gentleman.” Tracie reached into her purse and pulled her wallet out. “How much do I owe you?”
Elisabeth was still processing Tracie’s approval of their dating. “Nothing, it was on the house.”
“Oh, no. I can’t accept that. You just spent an hour doing something I never could have done.” Tracie opened her wallet.
“No, really, Tracie. You came over because you probably saw a flyer, and the flyer announced free grooming on Saturdays, so we’re good. I appreciate the chance to meet Justin Bieber, who is such a sweet puppy.” She picked him up and snuggled him against her chest.
“Flyer?” She scrunched her nose. “I came over because Janice Treelong said you groom dogs on Saturdays.”
“I don’t know who that is, but please thank her for me. I do groom, but it’s free right now, so we’re even.” She handed Justin Bieber to Tracie as Ross pulled into the driveway.
“I’ll get out of your hair, but I can’t thank you enough. Maddy is going to be over the moon!”
“I’ll be at the county fair next weekend with puppy treats and probably doing free pawdicures. Feel free to stop by and pick up a treat for Justin Bieber.”
“We will. Thank you, Elisabeth.”
Ross stepped from his truck and passed Tracie on her way to her car. “He looks like a brand-new dog.”
“I know. Elisabeth is amazing,” Tracie gushed.
Ross watched her drive away and then swept Elisabeth into his arms. “See? Even Tracie thinks you’re amazing. Wren wasn’t happy that you weren’t going to be available to groom the dogs next weekend. I think she’s gotten used to her dogs looking good. I told her that you’d be at the fair and she was welcome to stop by with the dogs.”
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