Making the Play
Page 29
Just like he couldn’t save Rex.
“Sergeant Best?” a woman called from behind the reception desk.
Tyler stood up and slipped his phone back into his pocket. “Yes, ma’am.”
“You can go on through. Our tech, Dani, is waiting in the back to show you around. Just straight back; you’ll see the double doors.”
“Thank you.” Tyler opened the door, assaulted by high-pitched barks of excitement and fear. As he passed by the kennels, he looked through, studying the dogs of all shapes and sizes. He wasn’t sure why he was so melancholy today, but it had been coming on strong.
He pushed through the double doors and immediately realized the man and woman inside were arguing. Loudly.
“No, he has more time. I talked to Dr. Lynch, and he promised to give him until the end of the day in case his owners claim him.” This was shouted by the woman with her back to him, her blonde ponytail swinging with every hand gesture.
“Don’t be naïve. You’ve been here long enough to know that he won’t be claimed.” This was said by the thin, balding man in the lab coat, who was pushing sixty and had the cold, cynical look of someone who’d been doing his job too long. Tyler had seen it on the faces of veterans who had found a way to steel themselves against the horrors that haunted them. But once you shut that part off, it was hard to find it again. “Even if they come looking, they’ll just tell you to put him down anyway. If they had the money to pay for his care, then they could afford a proper fence. All you’re doing is putting off the inevitable and wasting valuable pain meds.”
He tried to sidestep the blonde, who was a good head shorter, but she planted herself right in his path. When she spoke, her voice was a low, deadly whisper. “If you make one more move toward that cage, I will body check you so hard you’ll forget your own name.”
Tyler’s eyebrows shot up, and he crossed his arms, hoping like hell the guy tested her. He really wanted to see her Hulk out.
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About the Author
T. J. KLINE was raised since the age of 14 to compete in rodeos and Rodeo Queen competitions, and she has a thorough knowledge of the sport as well as the culture involved. She writes contemporary western romance for Avon Romance, including the Rodeo series and the Healing Harts series. She has published a nonfiction health book and two inspirational fiction titles under the name Tina Klinesmith. In her very limited spare time, T. J. can be found laughing hysterically with her husband, children and their menagerie of pets in Northern California.
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Also by T. J. Kline
Hidden Falls
Making the Play
Healing Harts Novels
Heart’s Desire
Taking Heart
Close to Heart
Wild at Heart
Change of Heart
Rodeo Novels
Rodeo Queen
The Cowboy and the Angel
Learning the Ropes
Runaway Cowboy
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Excerpt from This Earl is on Fire copyright © 2016 by Vivienne Lorret.
Excerpt from Torch copyright © 2016 by Karen Erickson.
Excerpt from Hero of Mine copyright © 2016 by Codi Gary.
MAKING THE PLAY. Copyright © 2016 by Tina Klinesmith. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. For information, address HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.
EPub Edition SEPTEMBER 2016 ISBN: 9780062651808
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062651815
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