quick glance at the massive creature stalking her. “Okay, I have to go.”
“Renee, what’s going on? Are you afraid of dogs? He’s just an old guy who’s very gentle. You don’t have to be scared.”
Scared of a dog? If only it were that simple, she thought, all thoughts of kissing and sex and good times vanishing as she stared at the creature who would be her undoing.
It wasn’t fair—not in the least—yet here she was, facing her worst fear and knowing the second she admitted the truth, nothing was ever going to be the same.
CHAPTER TEN
JASPER HAD NO idea what was going on. If he were to line up ten people he knew, he would assume Renee would be the last one to have an irrational fear of dogs. And while he still thought of Koda as the dog rather than my dog, he found himself feeling protective of his new family member.
He dropped to a crouch and called Koda to his side. When the dog sat next to him, Jasper looked at Renee.
“See, it’s fine.”
Her expression had faded from panicked to wary—an improvement, he supposed.
“He’s a good guy,” Jasper said, careful to keep his voice low and gentle. “I got him when I was on my book tour. Someone dumped him at an RV park and he was starving to death, so I took him in. He’s very gentle. He likes it when I throw the ball or sticks and he has a stuffed toy rabbit he carries around in his mouth. He likes apples and cookies and sleeping by the fire. There’s nothing to be frightened of.”
Renee didn’t look quite as worried, but she also wasn’t getting any closer to Koda.
“I’m sure he’s the perfect animal, I’m just not a dog person.”
“But you’re so softhearted.”
“It’s not anything I can explain. When I was little...” She pressed her lips together. “I always thought maybe one day I could get a cat, but so far I haven’t been able to. It’s more about my mother.”
“Was she attacked by a dog?”
“No. It’s—You wouldn’t understand.” She kept her gaze on Koda as she backed toward the kitchen. “If you can accept my fear isn’t rational, then you should stop trying to explain it away.”
She had a point, he thought, giving Koda another pat before rising to his feet. “Do you want to go home?”
She shook her head. “I’ll still help. Why don’t you leave him here and we can work in your office? You do have an office where you write, don’t you?”
“Out the back of the kitchen.”
She glanced over her shoulder, as if judging the distance, then began inching in that direction. Jasper told Koda to stay until she’d escaped to the hallway leading to his office, then released him.
“I’m sorry about this,” he told the dog.
Koda seemed more resigned than upset. Jasper gave the dog a doggie cookie, then left him in the house and made his way to his office. He wasn’t sure what to make of what had just happened. Renee being scared of dogs bothered him. No—not her being scared. It was how she’d reacted. He was disappointed that she hadn’t made more of an effort. He didn’t want to think she was the kind of person who didn’t even try.
He pushed his questions and concerns aside and joined her in his office. She stood in the center of the room, looking at his desk and the pictures and plotting cards he’d pinned to the giant corkboard against the far wall.
“I didn’t read anything,” she said when she spotted him. “I don’t want to intrude.”
“You’re not and I invited you. You can look at anything you like.”
She stayed where she was and gave him a tight smile. “So do you have pages you want me to look at or are we going to talk about where you are in the book or what?”
What he’d wanted was for her to help him figure out how to describe a kiss only right now that didn’t seem likely. Neither of them appeared to be in the mood. Pages might be safer.
He’d already printed out the scene he’d been working on. He grabbed the sheets from the printer.
“There have been three murders at different weddings around town,” he said, handing over the sheets. “Vidar can’t figure out the connection. In the first wedding, the victim is the bride’s mother. At the second, it’s a guest and with the third, it’s one of the musicians. He’s worried about Mandy’s safety because with