Page 71 of The Search

Galen burst out laughing. “That ball of fluff?”

“Believe me, it’s not funny to Sarah. Call Margaret and have her find out everything she can about the Mexican gray wolves that were released in this area.”

“Why don’t you call her yourself?”

“She was pissed at me for coming here, and Taiwan won’t have made her temper any better. I’ve had a rough night and I don’t want to deal with her right now.”

“Say no more. I wouldn’t want to contact her either.”

“Have you secured the cabin?”

“Six of my best men.”

“I haven’t seen anyone.”

“They can see you. They’re camped up in the mountains and they can see trouble coming for miles. I’ll give you Franklin’s number.”

“Tomorrow. I don’t have a pen and I don’t want to move. I’m hurting like the devil. Bye.”

He had to get a few hours’ sleep. It was almost dawn, and he hadn’t the slightest doubt Sarah would soon be up and tending the wolf. As usual, she’d be fighting any softness toward him and would have no compunction about putting into action her threat to “work his tail off.”

9

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” Sarah stood in the bedroom doorway with her arms folded across her chest.

“Feeding Monty.” Logan patted the dog on the head. “He was hungry, and I didn’t want to wake you.”

“No one feeds Monty but me. I’ve trained him not to accept food from anyone else.” But Monty was eating, she realized with a mixture of amazement and annoyance. “Damn.”

“He was hungry,” Logan repeated as he filled up Monty’s water bowl. “I thought I’d give it a try.”

“I can’t have you interfering with Monty’s training.”

“I can see why you wouldn’t want to have strangers feed him, but I’m no threat.”

“Practically no one is a stranger to Monty. He loves everyone. That’s why I can’t have him fed by anyone but me.”

“Maybe he has better judgment than you think.” He put down the water bowl. “Here you go, boy.”

“I can’t take the chance. So please leave my dog alone.”

“Okay. Just trying to help. Anything else I can do?”

“You can go sit down and rest that leg. You haven’t been off it in the last three days.”

“Whatever you say.” He limped back to his chair. “But it’s getting better. Did you notice I was able to do a lot more yesterday?”

“Yes.” Since the night they’d brought home the wolf, Logan had kept himself busy doing everything from sweeping the cabin to helping nurse Maggie. When they weren’t working side by side, he was cooking or cleaning or on the phone, trying to wield influence to keep the ranchers away from the wolf. She scowled. “Too much.”

“Do I perceive a softening?” He stretched his leg out on the hassock. “You’re the one who wanted to work me to the bone. You asked, I obeyed.”

“I know.”

He grinned. “But you don’t like the fact that I didn’t mind it.”

“Nonsense. I just didn’t—” She smiled reluctantly. “You’ve not been any fun at all. What good is a slave if he’s so obliging? It takes all the joy out of the situation.”

“Sorry.”