LinxColson.
She lived near his property, as owner and director of the Mountain Dog RescueCenter.
And he couldn’t trust her as far as he couldspit.
The woman was a liar, a manipulator, and the worst type of tease—as unpredictable as a wildfire snapping itself into a frenzy, egged on by a snarlingwind.
Hot as a towering firetornado.
And just asdangerous.
But still, she had what he needed—dogs needing homes. Even if he had to sacrifice his own sanity, he’d find the best dogs for the veterans he served, and that meant working with Mountain DogRescue.
He brought up his email app and sent Linx Colson a request for an appointment to scout out her availabledogs.
* * *
The Mountain Dog Rescue Centersat on four acres of land, bordered by Sandman’s Creek on the south and a large track of forest on the east. It was on the outskirts of her hometown, Colson’s Corner, far enough so that the dogs’ barking didn’t disturb any neighbors, but close enough to walk to the town square. The plot of land was too small to be a working farm, but large enough to house twenty dogs in a renovated woodenbarn.
Linx lived in a box-shaped cabin that served as both the office and adoption center. Chain-link fence surrounded the rescue center, and she had constructed several fenced-off areas large enough for dogs to run free in the meadow behind thebarn.
Running a rescue center was a constant struggle between outreach, financing, pet care and rehabilitation. Right now, because of Linx’s big splurge at buying a designer wedding gown she’d never need or use, the center was running in the red and in danger of beingforeclosed.
She’d already laid off staff and was at the mercy of volunteers, and every day, when the bills came, she endured nail biting stress as she borrowed from her credit cards to pay for electricity, water, and dogfood.
Still, Linx loved rescuing dogs, mainly because she’d failed at every other endeavor she hadtried.
Dogs weren’tjudgmental.
Dogs didn’tgossip.
Dogs didn’t holdgrudges.
Even the meanest, most maladjusted and abused dog could be won over by loads of patience and a smidgen of love. Unlike men—especially a certain smokejumping instructor she’d had the misfortune to trainunder.
She almost blushed at the “under” part of her training, but she slapped back the naughty thoughts. She’d reached too high when it came to Grady Hart, and he’d disavowed her in her greatest time ofneed.
Nope, dogs were way better than men, and after her experience with Grady and the horrible thing his lack of responsibility made her do, she’d decided it would be dogs over men for her,forever.
Morning came early at the rescue center as the dogs woke up and barked at every disturbance. Cedar, who slept in bed with her, rushed to the window and barked toward the direction of the barn, ready to go out and play with herfriends.
Linx stumbled down the stairs of the loft and answered the insistently clanging old-fashioned phone. It was standard issue black with a rotary dial. These phones still worked in her town, and the town council’s biggest accomplishment this year was fighting the phone company to keep the payphones outside of the diner and generalstore.
“Hello,” she answered before the call kicked over to the tape-recording answering machine she inherited from her grandmother. “Mountain Dog Rescue. What can I do foryou?”
A breathless female’s voice huffed and puffed. “I was jogging near the river bend trail, and I heard high-pitched squeals. I think it’s a newborn puppy, but I’m afraid to look. It’s stuck under a tangle ofgrass.”
“Is the mother dogaround?”
“No, I don’t see her,” the jogger said. “We saw a couple of stray dogs at the Wildman campground, but a mother dog wouldn’t just leave her puppy, wouldshe?”
“Most likely not,” Linx said, grabbing a pencil and paper. “Can you let me know exactly where you’reat?”
“Sure, but I can’t wait around. My family’s packing to leave in half an hour, and my mother told me to be backquick.”
Linx took down the location as best as the jogger could describe. The puppy had been abandoned about half a mile from the campground, and Linx would bet her eyeteeth the mother dog was already packed up and gone with herfamily.
Tourist season meant a spike in lost and abandoned dogs, and the upcoming Fourth of July fireworks show was pure torture for dogs and cats, causing them to run for cover and oftentimes becoming separated from their families—especially if they were camping or visiting from out oftown.
