He set off at a brisk pace, moving along the crest of hills that hugged the slope on one side and opened up to a sweeping vista of valleys and gorges on the other. He guessed the prints were at least a day old, so hehad to move quickly if he hoped to catch up with his quarry before the weather erased the trail.
Suddenly, a sound caught his attention. He stopped, head cocked as he listened. It sounded like...barking? And it was coming from behind—
He slewed around just as a hound the size of a donkey slammed into him, sending him crashing to the ground with an impact that knocked the breath from his lungs.
A black muzzle thrust into his face, a long tongue came rasping out, and Magnus was suddenly covered in slobber.
Chapter 3
“Snaffles!” Izzy cried, sprinting pell-mell along the treacherous path after him. Bloody hell! She was going to turn an ankle if she wasn’t careful! “Come here this minute!”
But Snaffles was most definitelynotlistening and in fact, he was almost out of sight. All she saw was a quick glimpse of his backside before he disappeared over a rise.
Right. This was the last straw. She was not taking him for a walk ever again!
To make matters worse, the weather seemed to have suddenly taken a turn, becoming cold and wintry almost the instant she dashed under that arch of stones. The flask of hot chocolate she’d left in her car was suddenlyveryappealing.
From somewhere ahead came a surprised grunt and then the high-pitched sound of Snaffles’ excited yips. Oh no. What had he done now?
Puffing and blowing, she reached the rise and looked down to see a man on his back, Snaffles jumping all over him in excitement, desperately trying to plant slobbery kisses all over the man’s face. He seemed to have forgotten all about the cat now he’d found a new playmate.
Mortification stole Izzy’s breath. With a flush of embarrassment heating her cheeks, she strode over, grabbed Snaffles’ collar, and pulled him off the man.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” she blurted. “He ran off before I could get hold of him. He’s friendly—well a bit too friendly, actually.”
The man scrambled to his feet, uncoiling all six-foot-something of him, and wiped the slobber off his face with a look of disgust.
“Clearly,” he said, eyeing Snaffles who was now straining against Izzy’s hold, tail wagging furiously.
“Snaffles, sit!” Izzy commanded, her voice echoing between the large boulders that littered the hillside. The dog looked at her, then at the man, and sat down obediently. His tongue lolled out of his mouth in a pant, his tail thumping happily on the ground.
Izzy chuckled nervously. “Well, that’s one way to make an introduction. I’m Izzy by the way. Isabelle, that is. Isabelle Ross. And this unruly ruffian is Snaffles.”
The man finally smiled, a brief flash of warmth in his intense gaze. “Magnus Kerr.”
Izzy held out her hand and Magnus slowly took it. She could feel the callouses on his palm and the strength in his heavily muscled arm. A working man for sure. Snaffles yipped and made a half-hearted attempt at jumping up again but Izzy’s firm grip on his collar stopped him.
“Good to meet you, Magnus,” she said, shaking his hand and feeling relieved he wasn’t more annoyed. “And sorry again about Snaffles. He’s got a lot of energy and ran off chasing a cat.”
“A cat?” Magnus asked, looking surprised. “A striped tabby by any chance?”
