Heart's Refuge

He could be the shelter’s celebrity spokesdog, cruising around town in a convertible and shades.

Temporarily. Until he was adopted. Until her father came back to Holly Heights. Or she made her escape.

Sarah slid into the driver’s seat with a grateful sigh and thought about taking the shoes off to drive barefoot. Then she imagined the picture she’d present to the policeman who pulled her over. Convertible hair would not be conducive to flirting her way out of a ticket.

The drive to Paws for Love was quick, but when she reached the sign pointing the way to the interstate, she paused and considered her options. It would be so easy to hit the road, but she had no idea where to go. So, it was better to stay in uncomfortable but safe Holly Heights. Her foot eased off the brake, and before she’d managed to leave behind all the bad energy from her run-ins with Will Barnes and Celia Grant, she was carefully negotiating the gravel parking lot in high heels behind a determined Bub.

“Hey, boss, I’m so glad you’re back.” Shelly met her at the door and danced back and forth, agitation clear on her face. “I left some messages on your desk. I’m afraid they’re bill collectors.” She whispered the last two words as if it was a big secret that the place was broke.

She wiped her eyes and Sarah wondered if she’d been crying again. “Fine, Shelly. But I’ve told you not to call me boss, haven’t I? We’re coworkers.” Sarah didn’t pay Shelly, although she certainly deserved more than Sarah’s cheap yet undying gratitude.

Unfortunately, that’s all she had to give.

“Oh, right.” Shelly smoothed her shirt down nervously. “Got time to help with the dogs?” She cleared her throat and tacked on, “Sarah.”

What she wanted to do was say no. Shelly could handle the noise and mess of overly excited dogs while Sarah stretched out on the couch and dreamed of dinner in Austin.

But she’d watched Shelly struggle that morning.

This was something she could do.

“Sure, I know you need to get home on time tonight.” She offered Shelly the leash. “Could you let Bub out for me?”

“Oh, I’m in no hurry. Nothing there for me but sitcoms and leftovers.” Shelly buzzed around her with fluttery hands to take Bub’s leash. When she and Bub walked away, Sarah ran her hand through her hair. Helping Shelly recover from a divorce was not one of her skills.

Right now she had her hands full helping dogs and cats. She’d add encouraging lonely people after she conquered that. Though she was learning more and more about being lonely and discouraged every day.

Sarah jammed her shoulder against the door to the shelter’s office and winced when the warped wood squeaked. “Something else to add to the list of things that need attention.”

First, the shoes. They had to go.

“Don’t knock over the piles.” Sarah scooted between the files on the floor and on the desk to drop down onto the ragged office chair held together with tape and goodwill. Her gusty sigh as the shoes came off could probably be heard miles away.

But the minute she caught her breath, all she could think of was Will’s face and Cece’s cash. “What a morning.” She dug around in the suitcase behind the desk and dragged out her favorite jeans.

At one point they’d been pretty stylish. Now they were comfortable.

Once everything she was wearing was washable, she scooted back around the piles, rolled her shoulders to ease some of the tension and jumped into Shelly’s whirlwind. Two hours later they had all the dogs walked, every animal had been fed and Shelly was on her way home to fall apart in private. Bub was snoring loudly from the couch when she sat down and pulled out the cash Cece had handed her. “Electricity or groceries. Which should it be?”

The image of her father sitting on a sunny beach somewhere, a cold drink in his hand, floated through her brain. The haze of jealous bitterness followed before she could stop it.

As soon as possible, she’d head off for a restorative spa day and then book a flight to St. Barts.

But what sort of life would she have living on stolen money?

Her old, normal life was a dream.

Reality was being covered in dog hair and worse while trying to decide whether she wanted to eat or see.

People like Will Barnes sneered at her.

And her friends had disappeared like the money.

“Bub, you’ll never leave, will you?” She ran her hand over his side and ignored his annoyed kick.

“Two choices, Sarah. You can either sit here and have a pity party. Or see if you can come up with the stuff Will wants and prove him wrong.” Pity party was an attractive option, but she’d spent a lot of time at that particular one-woman show lately.

Sarah brushed the hair off her pants and maneuvered back to the desk.

She was fully capable of starting even if she couldn’t do it all on her own.

CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_b92b15a2-b379-5e25-811a-b4ac48e44cb1)

WILL PULLED UP in front of the dilapidated building and parked in the gravel lot. A worn sign said Paws for Love out front. “This is not quite as...fancy as I expected Sarah would demand.”

His passenger had absolutely nothing to say.

He should be getting used to that. Chloe’s bored expression made him think of his stepsister. Which was crazy, as they didn’t share a single drop of blood.

“It’s an animal shelter,” Chloe drawled. “No doubt it’ll be educational.”

Sarcasm. She and Jen spoke the same language, too. When he slanted a watch-your-tone look at his daughter, she held both hands up. “It’s Saturday. We could be doing something fun.”

Will couldn’t argue with that.

He studied the building through the windshield. The place was tired, needed to be landscaped and given a new paint job at the least. Even to his amateur eye, the roof was sorely in need of replacement.

Instead of exaggerating the shelter’s needs, Sarah might have been downplaying them. Could he walk away and get the petty revenge he wanted when it was clear this place and the animals it saved needed real help?

Could he play with the puppies and not pull out a checkbook?

“All right. Fifteen minutes, twenty tops. Then we’ll do something fun. You can pick.” Will opened his door and slid out. Chloe hopped out, as if this might have been the promise she’d been waiting for.

“Good. The lake. We’re going. We’ll swim.” She pointed a finger. “No phone calls.”

“We could rent a boat. Pick up lunch.” He saluted her to acknowledge the excellent plan. “You should be in charge every day.”

She held up her hand for a high five, something she’d picked up on the soccer field. He smacked her hand, grabbed it and pulled her close for a squirmy hug.

“Twenty minutes...and go.” Squaring his shoulders, Will walked over to the door, held it open and stepped inside right behind Chloe. “Hello? Anybody here?” The place was unexpected on the inside, too. Clean, if ragged, with a nice pine scent.

Bub ambled around the corner first, followed by Sarah. “Sorry, we were out back cleaning up the yard now that the animals are inside.”

The surprises kept coming. Instead of ridiculously expensive clothes and seriously hot shoes, she was wearing denim and cotton and the kind of black boots he imagined farmers wore to milk the cows. Even in weekend casual jeans and a polo, he was overdressed for this tour.

Sarah fidgeted with her ponytail, waiting for him to say something, but he was stumped. Then he realized she was wearing no makeup, no lipstick, no nothing. The only hint of the seductress was in the red nails that tapped on the scratched linoleum counter.

“Introduce me to the rest of the committee?” Sarah pointed to Chloe, who’d stopped as close to the door as she could.