leg, trying to detach the dog’s jaws clamped around his calf.
“Igor!” She grabbed his bright green collar and pulled. “Bad dog, Igor. Release. Stop it.”
“Ow!” Griff put out his hands. “He’s got his teeth in my leg. Don’t shake him anymore. Talk to him calmly. Try coaxing him away.”
“Igor.” Arden knelt beside the dog, stroking his sides and back. “Igor, let go. Good boy, come on, good boy. You made him stop. That’s a good doggy, Igor. Let’s get a treat.”
Though it seemed to take forever, once Griff stood still, Igor finally backed off.
“Now follow through,” Griff told Arden. “Give him a treat.”
“Are you all right?”
“Sure.” He straightened and took a deep breath. “But maybe I should head back up to the house.”
“Um…okay.”
He gave a half smile. “Maybe Igor could stay in the kitchen while I make my getaway?”
Arden took the dog to the kitchen and gave him a chew bone, then made sure both doors to the room were shut.
“I am so sorry,” she said as she joined Griff at the front door. “He has had all his vaccinations.” She eyed the rip in Griff’s jeans. “Maybe you should see a doctor tonight, though. Dog bites—”
He straightened up from leaning against the wall. “Are an occupational hazard for veterinarians. Don’t worry about me.” With a knuckle under her chin, he lifted her face to his for a restrained kiss. “I’m just sorry we were interrupted. You pack a powerful punch, Ms. Arden Burke.”
She felt her cheeks heat with a blush. “So do you. I hope…” Taking a deep breath, she finished quickly. “I hope we’ll pick up where we left off. Soon.”
Instead of smiling, as she expected, he gave her a serious, searching look. “Me, too. G’night,” he added, giving her a last caress. “Sleep as late as you want and come up to the house when you’re ready.”
“I will.”
She closed the door behind him and leaned back against it. Those moments in Griff’s arms had amazed her—outside her music, she’d never before been so lost in the pleasure of the moment. Her mind had been completely overcome by her body’s reaction to Griff’s touch.
That reaction, she hoped, would burn itself out once they’d made love a few times. She couldn’t afford to become dependent on him for sex, or for anything else—his consideration, his gentleness, his encouragement and protection, for instance. She’d be living her life alone, fending for herself and, she hoped, a child.
Griff Campbell was simply a pleasant—well, more than pleasant—means to an end. As she released Igor from the kitchen and got ready for bed, Arden promised herself she would remember that fact.
Because if she didn’t, this entire effort would become yet another exercise in despair.
GRIFF LIMPED AROUND the yard for a while, letting the frigid darkness serve as tonight’s version of a cold shower. He visited the near pastures, but the horses stayed away, unsure of his identity in the dark. When the throb in his calf had overcome the unsatisfied ache in his belly, he allowed himself to head back to the house.
Wearing his shirt and boxers, he was sitting on the side of the tub in the downstairs back bathroom, scrubbing Igor’s teeth marks with soap and hot water, when his dad appeared at the doorway.
Jake leaned against the door frame. “Run into a wild coon outside?”
“Just an overprotective canine.” Griff turned off the water. “Can you hand me a towel?” When his dad reached for the pale peach one hanging within his reach, Griff shook his head. “You know Mom doesn’t want blood on her good linens. I need one of the everyday towels.”
“Right.” His dad stepped into the laundry room and came back with the appropriate cloth. “Doesn’t look too deep. You might want some antibiotics, though, since it’s more puncture than scrape.”
“Yeah. He had a pretty good hold of me, even through the jeans. Which are now useful for painting in and not much else. Brand-new, too.”
“The world well lost for love.”
“Right.” With his skin dry, Griff applied antibiotic ointment and gauze pads, then rolled tape around his calf to hold things in place. “I suspect I’ll survive.”
“Love, or the dog bite?”
His dad, Griff realized, had stayed up to investigate. Time to be careful about what he said. “The dog bite. Love is always fatal, I believe. Don’t we all die still loving somebody?”
“If we’re lucky. You seem to have found a replacement for Zelda pretty fast. Sure it’s not just a rebound romance?”
“Oh, yeah.” His dad didn’t need