She could admit that to herself and maybe to a good friend or two. But other than that, the attraction didn’t make sense. As a woman of science and an inventor, someone so primal shouldn’t have desire sliding through her veins so fast even her breath heated.
Having him one story away in the guest room was a temptation she didn’t know what to do with, so she forced herself to finish cleaning the kitchen and then went through the reservation booklet her aunt kept by the phone. JT had obviously canceled a few charters, but they had to take the Derby reservations for sure.
She had canceled the charter scheduled for that morning and promised to make it up to the group during the height of the season with an all-day fishing trip. They’d seemed more than happy to swap the cold, rainy day for one in August, so at least that was handled.
Her phone buzzed and she lifted it absently to her ear. “Frost.”
“Hi there, gorgeous.”
It took her a second to recognize Werner Dearth’s voice. “What do you want?”
“Just wanted to check in and see if you’re still an agent.” He laughed. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”
“Call me again, and I’ll have you arrested for harassment.” She ended the call, her heart thundering.
Then she waited for several moments. Finally, she couldn’t sit still. She couldn’t take a full breath, and her skin felt as if ants were crawling across her arms. She finally gave up and had just decided she’d go for a run when the door burst open and JT ran inside with Roscoe in his arms. “What happened?” she cried out.
“I don’t know.” JT placed the dog on the ground.
Roscoe looked up, gave her a doggy grin, and hiccupped.
“Oh no, you gave him alcohol?” Her eyes widened and she stared, stunned, at her brother.
“No, I didn’t give him alcohol,” JT said. “Well, I didn’t mean to.”
This was so bad. Panic caught her. “Explain.” She hurriedly moved to the doggy bowl, made sure it was full of cold water, and shoved it under Roscoe’s nose. “Drink this.”
He lazily let his tongue loll out and started drinking.
Scott pounded down the stairs. “I heard yelling. What’s going on?”
“He’s drunk,” Millie said, pointing at the dog.
Scott stopped cold, his gaze slashing to JT. “You gave him alcohol?”
“I didn’t mean to.” JT threw his hands up. “We went for a run, then I dodged into the bunkhouse to put on a warm sweatshirt. I don’t know what fucking happened. The dog ran for my trunk at the end of the bed—I don’t even know how he got it open.”
“He’s very talented,” Scott noted.
JT scrubbed a hand furiously through his short hair. “Yeah, he had a bottle of Scotch open in no time and was tipping it back before I could blink.” JT shook his head. “Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I have,” Millie said. “He’s very determined sometimes.” She scratched Roscoe behind the ears and he started to purr.
“What do we do?” JT asked. “Should we take him to the vet?”
Millie made sure Roscoe drank more of the water. “No. We’ll watch his vitals and make sure he doesn’t start shaking. Also, he has to keep drinking water.” She sat down on the floor. “Unfortunately, he’s done this several times, and Angus has had him checked out every time, and he’s always been fine. Alcohol should kill dogs, but this one has been lucky.” She glared at Roscoe. “You know better.”
He farted and then hiccupped again, looking deliriously happy.
* * * *
“Thanks. I’ll relay the message to Millie,” Scott said, ending the phone call and studying the woman sitting on the sofa next to a peacefully snoring Roscoe.
She looked up, dark circles beneath her eyes. “Well?”
Scott exhaled slowly. “In the vet’s opinion, since Roscoe drank all that water, is warm and not shaking, he’ll be fine.” Rain lashed the windows in the darkness as dawn arrived; the morning remained cold and shrouded outside. “Based on Roscoe’s medical history and his current status as calmly sleeping, we still don’t need charcoal or any intervention.” Someday Roscoe’s good luck would run out, but apparently not today.
She stroked Roscoe’s coat. “I think I’ll take him in once the vet opens. It was nice of Clancy to let us call him through the night.”
