Darke Heat

by Ellyson, Nese

  “Listen, little girl, you are not to move a muscle until I say so. Are we clear?” he said while his hand reached back to push her against the side of the building.

  “I’m not a little girl, and I can take care of myself.”

  “Paige, I’m not going to get into a discussion of that while the natives are trying to put some lead into you.”

  His words were said in all seriousness.

  “What the heck are you talking about, Prescott?” she asked in angry confusion.

  “Nothing I can do a dang thing about right now. So, shut your fresh mouth before I shut it for you.”

  She could think of one very satisfying way she’d like for him to shut it, then open it again with his tongue sliding over her lips. But she’d have to wait until he could get them to safety.

  Finally, the backup arrived. The perpetrators ran into the woods toward the lake. Bryce explained the situation to the Sheriff and Deputy.

  “Sheriff, they ran off toward Locke one, should we get the dogs and go search?” asked the deputy from last night.

  “You can take Deeogee and Patch,” Paige offered. “I’ll go get their leashes. And if you don’t bring them back, I will tear the flesh off your hide. Understood?” she demanded.

  “Yes, ma’am,” the Sheriff’s deputy responded. He obediently followed her into the kennel, where she pulled down two leashes and harnessed the two dogs.

  “What’ll they need to get the scent of the intruder?” he asked.

  “Nothing, the intruder came in, they already have his scent.”

  He nodded at that assessment.

  Other officers were gathering evidence. Since the location was the scene of another crime, they were on high alert. Once she had done what she could, and given her statement, she headed toward the house. Bryce broke away from the police officer he was talking to and cut her off, but was waylaid by another officer.

  Soon the officers with her dogs were returning.

  “The perps took off in a black pick-up on the other side of the lake. The plates were covered in mud so no ID.” They handed the dogs back to Paige, so that she could put them in their kennels. One of the officers escorted her to the kennel.

  “Is Deeogee an Asian name?” he asked.

  “No, it’s a spelling. D-O-G.” she replied.

  The officer chuckled in response. “Clever.”

  “He’s a very smart dog who descended from my first dog.” Once the dogs were back in their sleeping quarters, she inspected the damage to the building. She’d had the kennel designed to protect the dogs. The broken glass would need replacing. Why had they broken a window? The only thing of value was her dogs. The police had searched everything, so anything suspicious would have been taken as evidence.

  “Bryce, what did they want? Why destroy my kennels?” she asked, when he finally came over to talk to her.

  “I’m not sure, but since they went for the kennels, I’d say one of your dogs.”

  “Why?” Today’s vandalism had her totally perplexed.

  “I don’t know, but it’s not safe for you to be here.” He stood tall and straight, with his hands on hips, as if trying to intimidate her into doing his will.

  “Yeah, well I’m not leaving my dogs for some weirdo to come and take.”

  “Okay, Paige. I want you to get new locks, and I think you should stay in town until we know it’s safe.”

  “I’ve got several dogs here to be trained, plus Sheba and her babies. I won’t just leave them here. I’m going to get back to work as soon as the police finish.”

  “For tonight, just stay in town until they have more time to search your property thoroughly.”

  “Can you take all my dogs to your place for the night? Then I’ll go stay at the Rose. But only for tonight,” she countered.

  “Sheriff Markham, can you have all the dogs transported to my place?” Bryce yelled over to the Sheriff who was taking photos.

  Paige saw Officer George Spencer staring at her. It made her skin crawl. She remembered him. She doubted he’d be one of the ones to take her dogs over to Bryce’s. He’d once been at the receiving end of her dog’s protect mode and probably still had the scar to prove it.

  “That’s sounds the safest,” the Sheriff answered. The different deputies and officers each grabbed a dog and herded them to different cars. As predicted, Officer Spencer stayed away from the dogs. Paige secretly smiled.

  Bryce called the Millers, who were caretakers for his place, to let them know the dogs would be coming and to make ready for them.

  “I’m going along with this tonight, Bryce, but tomorrow I’m going to be back to get things moving on the house and the dog training. And in addition to the renovations, I now have to replace several windows in the kennel. I can’t afford to be anywhere else.”

  “I’ll fight that battle tomorrow then,” he said with a grin. “I’ll drive you to the Rose and have one of the men follow in my car.”

  “Okay, thanks. I’ll get my stuff.” Paige didn’t wait for an answer. She went inside, threw the essentials into a duffel bag, and grabbed her purse and keys. She stood on her front porch looking at the chaos around her and shuddered—the violence so at odds with such a bucolic setting. What was happening? She’d worked so hard to get away from the violence of her childhood, and yet she’d come home to find trouble all around her. She walked over to her van and Bryce opened the door for her. She threw her purse and duffel bag onto the front seat. “I need to get Sheba and the pups.” She went back into the house and opened the door to the carrier. The carrier was padded so Sheba only had to move the pups into it. Once Sheba and her litter were in, Paige rolled it out to the porch.

  “Bryce, could you help me get her in the van?”

  “Sure.” He lifted the dog carrier and hauled it to her van where Paige had opened the door for him to place it in the back.

  He closed the door. “Paige, I’ll be right back.”

  “Fine.” Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, she felt exhausted. She climbed into the passenger seat, laid her head back against the headrest, and didn’t awaken until Bryce pulled up at the Rose.

  Bryce stared at the woman next to him and felt a supreme wave of tenderness. Paige had never had it easy, but she never complained either. She was such a contradiction to all he’d believed her to be over the years. He gently shook her awake.

  “Paige, we’re here.”

  “Oh, right. Well, thanks, Bryce.”

  She looked mussed and he wanted nothing so much as to kiss her.

  “Paige, about your place, I think you need to stay away from there until we round up these punks.”

  “Bryce, that isn’t going to happen.”

  “Yeah, I figured as much, but I felt I should try and talk some sense into you.”

  “Could you bring Sheba’s carrier up the steps? I’ll be able to take her from there,” she said indicating Sheba in the dog carrier.

  “Sure.” Once again, he hauled the dog cage and lifted it up onto the top step of the hotel.

  “Night, Bryce,” she said.

  Paige grabbed the handle and rolled her dogs into the lobby of the hotel. She walked straight inside The Rose, never once looking back. Bryce climbed behind the wheel of his vehicle and drove off frustrated in more ways than one. He’d hoped that by offering to keep the dogs, she’d come too, and they’d have a chance to talk things through. Instead, she’d insisted on bedding down at a hotel.

  He entered his house and heard the click of nails on the hardwood floors. The Millers must have put the dogs in his house. There were six dogs in all. Deeogee was the first to approach him. He was the alpha dog in Paige’s pack. The German Shepherd was huge. He came right up to him and stuck his nose in Bryce’s crotch.

  “Hey, you’re getting a little personal don’t you think?” He tried to step around the dog, but the others also tried to put their noses in his crotch, each vying for position. One of them went behind him and sniffed his bottom.

&nb
sp; “Cut it out before I lose my balance and crush the lot of you. If that happened, your mama would skin my hide,” he said. They all sat down and watched him. “You know, normally when I meet a girl’s family they don’t go around sniffing my privates,” he said in good humor. “Look guys, I need a shower and then we’ll see about getting you all fed. I hope someone remembered to bring the dog food.” He walked through to his room and stripped along the way then jumped in the shower to clean up. When he came out one of the dogs was in his bed.

  “Get out of my bed,” he ordered. The dog eyed him solemnly and got up only to follow him around. In his living room, there were dogs lounging on his couch and one sprawled in his favorite chair. It looked like the remnants of a furry frat party. Bryce shook his head. Why couldn’t I find a woman with a normal family? But then he thought of Paige, all silken skin and flaming hair, and he wouldn’t trade her for anyone else. In the kitchen, he looked to see if he could find the dog food. The dog from his bedroom was still following him. This one was Patch, if he got the coloring right. He kept trying to put his nose in every cupboard. Then he went and stood in front of the fridge.

  “Oh, you know where the goodies are kept,” Bryce said to the dog. “I don’t know if Paige feeds you stuff from the fridge, but not in my house. Here you will eat dog food.”

  He opened the pantry and there was the hundred-pound bag of dog food. He looked over at the dog standing in front of the fridge and wondered how long the bag would last. Maybe one meal with these guys, he mused. He dragged it out to the counter and found plastic bowls. He filled a big pot with water, and then his plastic bowls with food. The dogs all came at the sound of the bowls being filled. They lined up with perfect manners waiting for him to let them know it was okay to proceed. Patch was looking at the bowls but kept his stance at the fridge. As soon as he stepped away from the bowls, Deeogee came forward to choose his bowl and the rest followed suit. Patch finally left his spot at the fridge and took the last bowl, but kept watch on the fridge. Bryce wondered what about the fridge held the dog’s attention. Curious, he opened the door to the fridge, but the dog just stood there. Curiosity peaking, he opened the freezer drawer and the dog bounded over, reached in, grabbed the ice-cream container, and ran from the kitchen before Bryce could stop him.

  “Hey, that’s my ice cream! You can’t eat that. It’ll make you sick!” He ran into the living room where he found Patch, the carton between his front paws, tearing the lid off with his teeth. As Bryce approached, he heard the dog growl at him.

  “Okay, mister, it’s your ice-cream. But don’t say I didn’t warn you when you have an upset stomach tomorrow.” He finished getting ready for bed, and shooed the dogs out of his room. He found two of the dogs in the bathroom drinking from the toilet. He felt like he was back in college with a bunch of frat boys. He shut his bedroom door and lay down to get some sleep.

  Bryce woke in the night to the sound of a dog whimpering. He raised himself on one elbow and glanced down at the end of his bed. He couldn’t discern what dog it was, but one of them had its face on his bed and there was a foul odor in the room. Apparently, the door latch hadn’t clicked into place. Bryce switched on the lamp on his bedside table and sat up in bed to see over the side. Patches had had an accident…correction, make that lots of accidents.

  “So you’re lactose intolerant. Great, just great!” Bryce threw back the covers and got out of bed, taking care to sidestep the globby mess as he made his way to the bathroom. He glanced back to see that Patches hadn’t moved, except to lie down on the floor beside the bed. Poor dog. He must be in agony, Bryce empathized.

  “Well, come on. We have to get you cleaned up. Jump into the tub, and I’ll run some water.”

  The dog moved to obey, but as soon as he rose to his feet, a rip-roaring fart rent the air.

  “Geesh, Patches! No more ice cream for you. I’ll never be able to sleep in here tonight,” Bryce said, as he went to open the window.

  While waiting for the tub to fill with water, he brought out paper towels to clean up the worst of the mess, valiantly trying not to spew his own dinner. He grabbed some old towels to clean up the residue, disposed of the paper towels, and then immediately threw the towels into the washer.

  Patches was too weak to get in the tub by himself, so when the tub was ready, he lifted Patches into it and cleaned him off. He figured, if the dog tried to clean himself, he’d only get sick again. After washing the dog, Bryce emptied the tub and toweled him off before lifting him out. He only looked slightly better, so Bryce called the vet and got the answering machine.

  “Hi, this is Bryce Prescott. I’m watching Paige’s dogs. One of them ate ice cream and appears to be lactose intolerant. He’s been ill and seems listless. Could you call me if there is something I should do for him? Thanks.” He left his number and hung up, then looked over at the pathetic dog still lying on the bathroom floor. Bryce dragged out some blankets and put them on the floor next to his bed and called Patches over to sleep next to him. On his way over, the dog gave a mighty shake sending water everywhere.

  As Bryce stood there dripping, he noticed the bed had gotten wet too. “Thanks you ungrateful mutt.”

  For an answer, Patches promptly farted again.

  Bryce groaned and tried to cover his nose as he stripped the bed and remade it. He collapsed between the clean sheets, pulling the top one over his head to ward off the smell.

  His phone rang as he was dozing off. “Hello.”

  “Hi, Bryce. It’s Shelby Tenmen, Paige’s vet. You called about Patches. Just so you know, he’ll be fine. He’s done this more than once. I have space here if you want to bring the dogs over. I could examine Patches and then the others. Paige and I were going to find time for me to do it anyway. This just speeds up the time table.”

  “That would be awesome.” Happy about getting the dogs out of his house, he was so tired he didn’t think he sounded as enthusiastic as he felt.

  “Great, just have them brought over sometime today.”

  “Will do.” After he hung up, he lay there wondering how to let Paige know about her dog.

  First thing in the morning, Paige checked on Sheba and her babies, all of which seemed none the worse for all the moving around. She needed to get the other dogs from Bryce’s place and put them through their paces, but first she needed coffee. She called Jamie to give him the run down for the day. “Hi, Jamie. It’s me, Paige.”

  “Hi, Paige. What time do you want me to come in?”

  “I sent the dogs to Bryce’s place, so I’d like you to go out there and get them fed and exercised. I need to take care of some things before I transport them back to the kennels. If you could go over there around eleven this morning, I’ll call Bryce and let him know. Then I can get things taken care of at my place, and we can resume training tomorrow if all goes well.” No need to let him know how dangerous the place was at the moment. What with dead bodies and gunshots and all. He’d probably already figured it out anyway.

  “Okay, Paige. I’ll let you know how things are going.”

  “Great, and thanks for being flexible. I have Sheba and the pups with me. Sorry about yesterday.”

  “It’s okay. There wasn’t anything you could have done.”

  “I appreciate all your help,” she said before hanging up. Now that the dogs were covered, except for Sheba and her brood, she grabbed the carrier, minus Sheba, and put it in the van. She opened the door and Sheba jumped in to lay down with her puppies. With mama and babies secured, Paige left for her farm.

  Fog rolled in off the man-made lake, making the grounds appear creepy. Though it was chilly, she knew from past experience that by noon it would be a sweltering eighty-five degrees, with the humidity up in the ninety percent range. Now was the time of day to get all the hard, physical work done. She let Sheba out for a run as she lugged the carrier inside and left the doors open so Sheba could join them, then she went back outside.

  First off, all the yellow crime scene tape need
ed to come down. The officers had gotten a little carried away in their excitement. Ripping down the tape over the entrance to the barn, she went in to check on the kennel.

  It needed a new window in the door and several windows needed to be replaced on the north side. She was turning the back half into an office. It was most likely a building that had been used for tack and gardening equipment, but it offered enough space for her to do the occasional paper work. Being attached to the kennel kept her accessible to the dogs.

  Bill had told her he’d be over this morning with a crew to help her get the work moving along, but yesterday’s encounter had her toting her shotgun just in case she had any unwanted visitors. She’d only bought the property a few months ago, instinctively knowing that this was the right place for her to resume her dog training school. The house was livable, but it needed a lot of work. It was a good thing she hadn’t scheduled the repairmen for yesterday. Today was going to be busy, and still in the back of her mind she remembered that Bryce once again had avoided any discussion about that night.

  She needed to let it go. She was like a dog with a bone when it came to him. She wasn’t weak, so why allow herself to get so attached? Did she still feel the need to prove herself worthy of being loved? Good lord, she hoped she wasn’t that pathetic. She wasn’t the lonely little girl who went to live with Libby when her dad went to jail. She shook off the thought and grabbed the broom, sweeping up all the broken glass from last night’s shooting spree. The sooner she had the kennels repaired, the sooner she could bring her dogs home.

  She had almost finished the general cleanup of the kennel, when she heard a vehicle coming up the gravel drive. Crossing to glance out the barn door, she saw the contractor’s truck with Bill and his crew. Paige felt the first real smile in a long time stretch across her face.

  She quickly explained to Bill that the kennel needed to be repaired first, and left him and his crew to get started, then went to the house to wait for the furniture movers.