Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,87

like prey?” he demanded.

“I didn’t think she’d know what a bunny looked like!”

Stupid human. He didn’t say it. He didn’t have to.

“If she swallows some of that stuffing, it could make her sick,” Jana said.

He bared his teeth and looked a lot less human.

“Some toys are meant to be chewed, but not the stuffie toys.” She tried to sound reasonable. She really did. But even she heard the growl in her voice and wondered how close she was to challenging his dominance and being bitten.

He made a sound somewhere between a grunt and a growl and walked out of the office, followed by Kane.

Rusty crawled to Jana and rolled over, exposing her belly.

Sighing, Jana crouched and rubbed the dog’s belly. “It wasn’t your fault. You’re still a puppy and everything is new. I just hope every part of your training isn’t going to include a confrontation with them.”

She put Rusty in the crate and swept up the remains of the bunny. She dumped the bits into the wastebasket, then considered the puppy and dumped the wastebasket into the garbage can out back. Afterward, she tried to settle down and get some work done so that she could have her roping lesson with Tobias.

The phone rang, making her jump. “Sheriff’s Office, Deputy Paniccia speaking.”

“You sound so official,” Barb said.

“I am on duty.”

“What are you doing after work?”

Jana suppressed a sigh. “That depends. I made plans but I could break them.”

“Would those plans include a certain rancher?”

“He offered to teach me to use a lasso.”

“Is that what we’re calling it here?”

“Barb!” She could hear the sparkle in her friend’s voice.

“Okay, I’ll stop teasing. But he is good-looking, and he is giving you riding lessons—which is not another way of saying you know what—and … Hey, he’s single, isn’t he?”

“As far as I know.” And in this town, she doubted anyone could keep their marital status a secret.

“Well then, enjoy a little lassoing and smooching.” A beat of silence. “And if you write any letters to anyone in Lakeside, do not say I said that or Michael will start wondering what I’m up to—which is nothing that I couldn’t tell my mom about—and find a way to be on the next train out here.”

Jana laughed. “I won’t mention it.” She hung up and went back to work.

Unsure of Virgil’s and Kane’s moods when they returned an hour later, Jana moved to the center of the room so that she wouldn’t be trapped behind the desk—just in case Virgil decided to do more than growl at her.

Kane remained in the doorway. Virgil stepped within arm’s reach, held out a toy, and growled, “Acceptable?”

Jana smiled as childhood memories flooded her. “It’s Cowboy Bob.”

As a child, she had loved the Cowboy Bob TV show, where Bob, a cloth doll, could change into a real cowboy who helped the children living in a frontier town. But he became real only when the adults weren’t around to see him.

This Cowboy Bob, complete with his hat, boots, and six-gun, must have been printed on the material—front and back—then sewn together and stuffed. She hadn’t known such a thing existed and wondered if a TV station in this part of Thaisia still aired the old shows.

When she reached for the doll, Virgil pulled his hand back. “Acceptable? It doesn’t look like prey.” He paused before adding, “At least to her.”

Now, that was just being mean. “Yes, it’s acceptable.”

Before she had time to thank him, before she had time to react, Virgil grabbed the back of her neck and vigorously rubbed the doll over her chest, then her face, and finally her hair before he let her go.

“By all the gods!” Her heart pounding, Jana stumbled away from him and watched as he held up the doll and sniffed it.

“We already rolled on it. So did John. That left you.”

There were plenty of things she wanted to say. Plleeeennnnty. She just couldn’t form the words.

Would she have to arrest herself if she whacked him over the head with a stapler? That assumed she could get close enough before Kane intervened.

Virgil crouched, held out Cowboy Bob, and waited for Rusty to creep out of the crate and approach him.

“Pack,” Virgil said firmly.

Rusty sniffed Cowboy Bob. Her tail began to wag.

Virgil set the doll on the floor, belly side up. “Pack.”

The tail wagging became more vigorous. Then Rusty snatched Cowboy Bob and darted into her crate. With her new pack mate nestled between her paws, she settled down for a nap, leaving the