The Truth About Cats & Dogs by Lori Foster, Kristine Rolofson, Caroline Burnes Page A

contained play area.
    â€œShe’s still so shy,” Harris said with a worriedfrown. “It just breaks my heart. I swear, Sadie, I don’t know how you do this.”
    Butch allowed Harris to pat him a few times, then he ran back to Tish.
    Sadie sent a fond smile to Tish. “Some cases are harder than others.” She stood. “Can I get you something to drink?”
    Harris shook his head. “No, that’s okay. We just stopped by because I have a suggestion.” He gave Buck a surreptitious glance and then cleared his throat. “There’s a house for sale next door to Riley’s.”
    Buck stilled. His brain went blank. “There is?”
    â€œIt’s small,” Harris hurried to explain, “and like the one we picked, it needs some work. But if you bought it, the dogs would be close together.” He winked—and Buck caught on.
    Bless Harris, even he had a good idea every now and then.
    Clair knelt down and offered her hand for the dogs to sniff. “Assuming you’d want to keep Tish,” she told Sadie. “I mean, I know you’re supposed to be getting her ready for a family, but she’s…special.” She glanced at Sadie. “Isn’t she?”
    With her bottom lip caught in her teeth, a sure sign she felt unsure of the situation, Sadie nodded. Her voice was faint, and touched with emotion.
    â€œVery special. I’d already thought of keeping her.” She glanced at Buck, then away. “She’s going to need a lot more care before she’s comfortable with beingheld. She’s shy by nature, I think, and whatever she went through set her back more than I’d realized.”
    Harris cleared his throat. “If she was able to see Butch every day, that’d help, don’t you think?”
    â€œYes, being with Butch comforts her.”
    Buck watched Sadie, foolishly wondering if she loved Tish enough to marry him, buy a house and make a home.
    â€œHow much is the house?” Sadie asked. Then she added, “I’m not sure I could afford it.”
    Harris again glanced at Buck. “With your combined incomes…”
    Buck stood, cutting off Harris’s suggestion. He wanted Sadie, more than he’d ever wanted anything else in his life, but damn it, he didn’t need his friend to propose for him, and he didn’t want a house to be the reason she married him.
    She had to love him.
    â€œYou said you were just stopping by. You on your way somewhere?”
    Taking the hint, Clair said, “We’re having dinner with my boss and his wife. We just wanted to tell you about the house.” And because Sadie had asked, Clair turned to her. “It’s cheap enough that Rosie doesn’t think it’ll stay on the market long.”
    â€œThanks. We’ll check into it.” Buck stepped past Sadie. “Come on, I’ll walk you to your car.”
    Sadie also stood. “Thank you,” she called to them before Buck could haul them away.
    After they’d rounded the corner and were out of earshot, he thumped Harris on the back. “Thanks.”
    Clair smiled. “We figured it couldn’t hurt to put the thought in your heads.”
    â€œThe thought’s been in mine almost from the first. Sadie’s the one who needs to be convinced. And I’m working on that.”
    â€œWork fast,” Harris suggested. “Riley and Red will be back tomorrow, and the house won’t last.”
    â€œGotcha.” But Sadie didn’t deserve to be rushed. She deserved a slow, romantic courtship. Still, when he thought of Tish alone, without Butch as a companion…
    When he returned, Sadie was sitting in a sunny spot inside the fence, stroking Butch and crooning to Tish. With his arms crossed over his chest, Buck stopped to stare down at her. “So, what do you think?”
    She continued to pet the dog. “About what?”
    His temper edged up a notch. He