Wilder Hearts. Karen Rose Smith

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      Actually, what he’d brought her wasn’t exactly a gift—unless she wanted to keep it, which, he guessed, would be okay.

      He glanced down at the cardboard box with the airholes he’d poked in the lid. He was in a bind, and the first person he’d thought about was Simone, who had a soft spot for animals.

      After all, she’d not only opened her heart and home to Woofer, a brown, mop-haired dog who stood a slam-dunk chance to win an ugly-pet contest, but she also treated him as though he had a pedigree and was destined for nobility.

      The night Mike had driven Simone home from the cocktail party, she’d invited him in and introduced him to the oversize, gangly mutt that couldn’t walk across the floor without his hind end doing a hokeypokey shake to the right.

      “That’s got to be the ugliest dog I’ve ever seen,” Mike had said.

      “I know,” she’d responded with a pride-tinged voice. “That’s exactly why I adopted him. He needed a home more than any of the other dogs. Besides, he’s a real sweetheart.”

      At that point, Simone had turned to Woofer and given him a big hug, which had caused the hem of her dress to hike up and reveal a lovely expanse of her upper thigh.

      A smile had stretched across Mike’s face, but not just because of the sexy flash of skin. It was the glimpse he’d gotten of the real Simone Garner that evening that had turned his heart on end. A fun-loving, brown-haired beauty that the no-nonsense nurse kept locked away.

      Most of the medical staff at Walnut River General, as well as a lot of the guys at the department, thought Simone was cold and distant, but Mike knew the dedicated E.R. nurse better than anyone and saw things in her no one else did.

      Sure, she could be aloof at times, but Mike suspected she’d been hurt by someone in the past—and badly. He also believed that if anyone could help her heal and forget about the pain, it was him.

      When he first met her a few years ago, it was on a professional level. He and his partner had brought in a teenage girl who’d been the victim of a hit-and-run. The seriously injured teen had been in severe pain and was screaming for her mom, who’d yet to be identified or notified.

      Simone had begun talking softly to her at first, soothing the teen’s fears, while doing her job and getting a name and number for the mother.

      Mike had walked away from the E.R. that night with a great deal of respect for her. Respect had given way to admiration, and over the course of the year, Mike had taken a long, hard fall for her.

      There’d even been a time or two when he’d caught her looking at him, passion clearly brewing in those soulful brown eyes. A guy didn’t misread something like that.

      Yet even though he knew she felt something for him too, she’d turned down each of his attempts to date her.

      Then came the cocktail party that Dr. Peter Wilder had hosted.

      Simone had been a warm and sexy woman that night, her walls and her legion of defense mechanisms down for the count.

      But she’d soon grown distant, claiming it had all been a mistake and referring to what they’d experienced as a one-night stand.

      As soft footsteps sounded, he glanced up and smiled.

      But she didn’t return the friendly greeting. Instead, she seemed nervous, agitated and slightly unbalanced.

      Of course, she’d been acting that way around him ever since they’d slept together. So maybe he shouldn’t read too much into it.

      She nodded at the box he held. “What do you have in there?”

      He untucked the lid and pulled out a sleepy puppy, its black-and-white coat soft and curly. It didn’t take a blood test to determine that it had various quantities of cocker spaniel, poodle and terrier DNA.

      “Oh my gosh. He’s darling.” Simone started toward Mike, then stiffened and froze. “Wait a minute. You said you brought me something. I hope you’re not thinking that I’d consider taking in another dog.”

      “Well, I didn’t exactly plan to give little Wags to you permanently, but he and I really do need your help.”

      She tilted her head slightly to the side. “What’s going on?”

      He held the puppy close, and it nuzzled against him, then gave him a lick. “I was out jogging yesterday and found this poor little guy wandering on the dirt trail near the river. He’s too young to be alone like that. And since we weren’t near any neighborhoods, it was obvious that he’d been abandoned. So I couldn’t just leave him there.”

      Her stance softened—just a bit.

      “I ended my run right there, then took him home. I even checked with the animal shelter, but so far, no one has reported him missing.”

      She looked at the puppy, which was squirming to get down and start checking out its new surroundings.

      “Poor little guy.” Simone reached out and scratched its head. “I wonder who would abandon him like that.”

      “That’s why I decided to keep him,” Mike admitted.

      She looked up and caught his gaze. “Then why is he here?”

      “Because right now, I’m sharing a house with Leif, and when I took Wags home, I found out that Leif is allergic to pet dander. So if I’m going to keep him, I’ll have to find another place to live sooner than I anticipated. I’ll also need someone to keep him for me until then.”

      “And that someone is me?” She stroked one of the puppy’s ears.

      Good, she was beginning to warm and, hopefully, to bond. “Leif’s sister is a real estate agent, and she’s going to search the MLS listing for something in my price range.”

      Of course, even if the agent found something that Mike liked, escrows took time. So he was hoping Simone wouldn’t mind puppy-sitting for quite a while.

      “Here.” Mike handed Wags to Simone. “What do you think? My options are limited, and I can’t just dump him at a pet-boarding place when he’s so young.”

      Okay, so that wasn’t entirely true. Mike did have other options. He could find the puppy another home, maybe with one of the firefighters at the department. Surely someone would want him. After all, a puppy as cute as Wags stood a heck of a lot better chance at being adopted than Woofer. But there was no need to mention that to Simone. Not when Mike was hoping she’d take the fluffy, black-and-white pup and allow him to visit her regularly.

      Wags gave Simone a wet, loving lick on the chin, softening her even more.

      “All right,” she finally said. “He can stay. But only until you find another place. I have no idea how Woofer is going to feel about having him here, and I could be making a big mistake.”

      “You said Woofer doesn’t even know that he’s a dog,” Mike said. “He thinks he’s human. And all kids need a pet. Woofer will probably love having this little guy to pal around with.”

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