Sweet Harmony (Harmony Falls #1) - Elizabeth Kelly Page 0,17
already wincing in anticipation.
“What’s wrong?” Connor asked.
“Kira, incoming!” Her brother hollered from the hallway just as the giant fawn-coloured dog scrambled into the kitchen.
“Holy shit,” Connor breathed. “It’s a goddamn horse.”
“Tank, no,” Kira said as Tank, his tongue hanging from his mouth and a giant doggie grin on his face, lumbered toward her. “Stop! Down! Sit!”
It made her a terrible person, but she almost hoped that Daniel, who was standing in Tank’s path toward her, would be the one knocked over by the friendly but overly enthusiastic dog. After being slammed into, stepped on, and knocked over by Tank for the last three years, she was over it.
Unfortunately, Daniel’s good qualities didn’t include taking one for the team in the form of being trampled by a one hundred-and seventy-five-pound Great Dane with a zest for life and no comprehension of personal space. He made a quick side-step just before Tank could close in on him. The big dog wasn’t graceful enough to turn so he settled for a quick and sloppy slurp across Daniel’s forearm as he skidded by him.
“Tank, sit,” Kira repeated, then steeled herself for impact when Tank didn’t slow his enthusiastic race toward her.
To her surprise, the bone-rattling impact never came. Just as Tank reached them, Connor stepped neatly in front of her. The dog slammed into him in a tangle of long limbs, a madly wagging tail and a slobbery tongue. Connor grunted but bore the impact well, his body only lightly pressing against hers as he fended off the giant dog.
Her brother appeared in the doorway and barked out a command. “Tank, sit!”
Tank sat obediently at Connor’s feet, his tail sweeping back and forth across the floor and his sides heaving with exertion.
“You okay?” Connor asked over his shoulder.
“Yes, uh, thank you. That was really nice of you to throw your body into harm’s way like that.”
He gave her a grin that showed off his dimple before turning back and letting Tank sniff his hand. The dog’s tail thumped hard against the floor and when Connor petted him, he stood up and leaned his entire body against Connor’s.
Connor rocked backward into Kira and she made a low ‘oof’.
“Sorry,” Connor said.
She squeezed out from behind him. “It’s okay. I should have warned you that Tank is a leaner.”
The big dog made a chuff of happiness before leaning against Kira. Connor slipped his arm around her waist, holding her steady as she patted the dog’s head. Tank was so tall that when he lifted his head, his nose pressed against Kira’s chin.
He licked her chin and she wiped the moisture away with a grimace. “Yuck, Tank. Bad dog.”
“Dog or horse?” Connor petted Tank’s back and the big dog chuffed again.
“He’s a Great Dane,” Kira said. “They get… big.”
“How much does he weigh?” Connor asked.
“About a buck seventy-five,” her brother said. “Who are you, exactly?”
Kira groaned inwardly. Gideon was studying Connor like the dentist might be a mass murderer. Her brother was above and beyond protective of her, had been ever since her parents died, and she’d had this half-hearted idea that she could keep her fake relationship with Connor a secret from Gideon.
It would be bad enough for a real boyfriend to be subjected to Gideon’s grilling, her fake one didn’t need to be put through it.
Gideon had brushed past Daniel like he wasn’t even there, not surprising - there was no love loss between her brother and Daniel – and was now standing in front of them. Her brother was born with heterochromia, making his right eye a wintry shade of blue, and his left eye the pale green of a large jungle cat’s eye. The difference in colour was particularly noticeable this morning. Of course, it usually was when he was pissed off.
Keeping his arm around her waist, Connor held out his other hand. “Connor MacMillan. I don’t think we’ve ever formally met, Sheriff Walker.”
Gideon studied his hand for a second or two before shaking it. “You’re the dentist who opened the new practice on Hudson Road with Grant Henderson. That right?”
“Yes. H&M Dental Clinic,” Connor said.
“You’re from Willington,” Gideon said.
“He’s lived here like two years now, Gideon,” Kira said hurriedly. Her brother wasn’t a fanatical Willington hater like most people in Harmony Falls, but the idea of her dating someone from Willington was bound to set him off.
“Why are you in my sister’s kitchen this morning, Dr. MacMillan?” Gideon’s voice had an edge to it.