I’d never felt quite so glad to realize I was about to be late.I made a point of looking at the big clock hanging over the fireplace, hoping the panic didn’t show on my face.“Goodness, look at the time!I have to get down to the shelter.I volunteered for the late shift tonight.The staff are going partying to celebrate a birthday.”
“No problem.I’ll give you a ride.”Ryland kept possession of my hand.
“Thanks, but I’ll need my car to get home.It’s been nice seeing you again.”I tried without success to free my hand.
“Not a problem.I’ll pick you up when you’re done and we can go for drinks, or perhaps dinner.You haven’t eaten yet, have you?We have a lot to talk about.”
I shook my head.“No, we don’t.”
Ryland just grinned, that damned send-flames-of-lust-racing-through-me grin of his.“Now, you don’t want me to go into detail about what we need to talk about, not in front of my sister, do you?It could prove embarrassing.”
The man was impossible!“Fine.You can drive me to work, but I won’t be done until ten so you’re going to have to find something to do to amuse yourself until then.”Yanking my hand free, I crossed the room in three choppy strides and scooped my jacket off the coat hook.
I half turned but avoided making direct eye contact with my roommate.“I might be a bit late getting home, Sasha.Don’t wait up.”
Pivoting, I opened the door and exited the house with my head held high.If it hadn’t been for the little sigh of envy I heard Sasha make as Ryland followed me out, I might have felt worse.As it was, I wasn’t sure if I should be charmed or annoyed by Ryland’s tenacious pursuit.
I stopped dead at the sight of the car in the driveway.He’d traded the truck for a Mercedes convertible?Of course he had.I eyed up the little sports car, so clearly out of place on the streets of Port Heddy.
“If you plan to be inconspicuous, that car’s not going to do it for you.Not here.Maybe in Vancouver or Victoria but even then…” I shook my head.“Everyone’s head is going to turn when they see this thing coming.”
He came up behind me, opening the door of the little vehicle with an elaborate sweep of his arms.“I don’t care about everyone.Since I had no idea you knew my sister, I thought this little beauty might convince you I’m not just another raving lunatic.”
“I should feel better that you’re a raving lunatic with a hefty bank account?”I snorted inelegantly.“I’m not sure that’s quite what you want me to think.”I slid onto the soft leather seat, impressed despite myself by the luxurious interior.
“I was hoping it would make me look a little more like the kind of guy you might consider going on a date with.”Crossing to the driver’s side, Ryland slid behind the wheel and keyed the ignition.“You know, honest and respectable.”
Was he serious?“Respectable is a boring four-door domestic model, not a European import with a leather interior.Frankly, the truck looked more respectable than this.”
“But what’s the fun in boring?”He flashed me a sexy grin as he put the car in gear and backed smoothly out onto the road.“So where am I going?”
“Port Heddy Animal Rescue.1361 Valley Road.”
Ryland punched the address into the onboard GPS and a map flashed up on the monitor on the dashboard.
I rolled my eyes.The dashboard looked like something you’d expect to see in the cockpit of an airplane.Gauges and digital display terminals flashed information too fast for me to absorb.A smooth female voice issued from hidden speakers, giving directions to the shelter.Ryland took a left at the end of the boulevard, merging effortlessly with the traffic on the main road.
“You mentioned you volunteer at an animal shelter.That must be very fulfilling.”
“Yeah.Some days.Other times, it just feels like you aren’t really making a dent in the suffering.The animals don’t understand why one day they have a home, and the next they’re being dropped off at a scary place like the shelter.They really suffer.People need to realize how important it is to spay or neuter their pets.”
He nodded.“I hear you.My job’s much the same.We take down a ring of poachers, and another one replaces it.What we need is to change people’s thinking.As long as there’s a market for the slaughtered animals, poaching is never going to stop.We humans are a very selfish race.”
I nodded.“Kind of a depressing point of view, but it’s true, isn’t it?I can’t count the number of times I’ve looked into the sad eyes of a dog that’s been beaten or abandoned and felt ashamed of my own species.”
Despite myself, I felt a sense of kinship with him.We were both in a thankless line of work that never seemed to end, and we’d stay with it no matter how tough it got because it really wasn’t thankless.There was the joyous feeling that warmed my whole being when a terrified animal came to me willingly the first time, the amazing high when the vet I’d coerced into treating an abandoned cat and its litter of kittens announced that they’d all survived.Or the way my heart leapt when a scruffy mutt found its forever family.
Ryland negotiated the roundabout that some idiotic civil servant had decided the town needed.“Most people are good.And they don’t condone the mistreatment of animals.I’d even say most of them would be willing to do whatever they could to save endangered species, but there are huge inequities in our world order.The rich, like my mother and stepfather, are unwilling to do anything that might threaten their privileged lifestyle.Then there’s the half of the global population that are fighting just to get enough food and water to keep them and their families alive.They don’t have the time or the energy left to do anything about the injustices to other species, which leaves us.We care, and we try and maybe, we hope, if we don’t give up we can make enough of a difference to make the world a better place.”
I stared at him in awe.There was a ring of truth to his words.He really believed what he was saying.I’d never met a man like him, one that passionately believed in the same things I did.
I gave my head a mental shake.I couldn’t believe the way my thoughts were getting away from me.There was no good way for this to end.We weren’t going to join hands and run off into the sunset to live happily ever after.Ryland was from a different world, a world where people owned their own planes, and could do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted.He was way out of my league.
“So, is there a good place to eat in this town?One that’s still open at ten o’clock tonight when you get off work?”He glanced over at me.“Since I’m sure I’m the reason you missed your supper.”
“Guilty as charged.It’s all on you.”Frankly, the sight of him in my living room had caused all thoughts of food to be replaced by a more primitive appetite.“There’s a pub down by the marina that makes a mean T-bone steak.I wouldn’t object to stopping in there after work.”
“You wouldn’t object?”He shook his head as he pulled into the shelter’s lot and put the car in park.“That’s got to rank as the least enthusiastic ‘yes’ to a dinner invitation I’ve ever received.”
