Page 49 of Her Fantasy Husband

Once he’d agreed to support her, he’d definitely given his all.

Above and beyond the call of duty.

…

As he walked away, Josh tried to analyze his reluctance to leave her. He hadn’t liked the way that Sean guy had looked at her. He was guessing Sean wanted to be more than just friends.

Never going to happen.

The thought brought him up short. Because really, once the next six months were over, they’d get a quiet divorce, and after that, what Lexi got up to, and with who, was none of his business.

The vet would make her a great partner. He could look after Prudence, the chicken, and all Lexi’s other furry and feathered friends. A match made in heaven. And Josh hated the idea. It made his teeth hurt. Like he said—never going to happen.

He stopped for a moment and looked around. The park had been divided into areas, where different vets had set up trestle tables. Some were doing specific things—one vaccinating, another worming, but there were others more general. He stood and watched as one vet cleaned and bandaged a cut on a mongrel’s leg, then gave it a shot.

The clientele were, as Lexi had said, mainly homeless people. They were easy to spot. His company donated to a charity that helped homeless veterans, not necessarily providing them with a home, but giving them somewhere they could go for help and access to food and doctors. He was quite aware that people who ended up on the streets usually had far bigger problems than having no home. That tended to be a symptom rather than the cause of the problem. Most of the veterans he’d worked with had some level of PTSD and were finding it hard to settle back into life over here, unable to hold down jobs or interact with family and friends. Those issues had to be addressed first.

He stood and watched as a lady vet filed the overgrown teeth on a black and white rat, which then promptly vanished inside a man’s jacket pocket, just its twitching nose showing.

The vet glanced across. “Hi. You’re Lexi’s husband. I recognize you from the description.”

“The description?”

“Well, depending on whether it’s male or female, ‘scary badass,’ or ‘simply stunning.’”

His lips twitched. “I’m Josh.”

“Jasmine.”

He helped her for a while, then moved on. News travelled fast, and his fame was spreading before him. Everyone seemed to know him as Lexi’s husband, and most chatted to him briefly. He could tell from the way they spoke about her that they all liked Lexi, and felt protective of her. He was issued more than one warning that he’d better be good to her.

Yet one more reason this had to end after six months. She deserved someone good for her. Someone great. Someone offering strings. Someone other than him.

Night was falling, the place was almost empty, and the vets were all packing up when a man approached. Tall, skinny, pale face, and gray hair—he had a black dog on a leash, which pressed itself against the man’s leg.

He looked around, then his gaze fixed on Josh, and he came over. “You’re Lexi’s husband?”

Hell, he was famous. He nodded.

“Could you hold my dog for a second?” Without waiting for an answer, he shoved the lead into Josh’s hand and walked quickly away.

What the fuck?

The dog started after the man, whining softly, and Josh crouched down and rubbed his head. He glanced up, searching for the owner, but he’d disappeared. He found Lexi, though. She looked tired but happy as she crossed the grass to where he stood with the dog.

“You got a new friend?” Lexi asked.

“Some guy handed him to me and ran away.”

Lexi crouched down, examined the dog. “Oh no.”

“What is it?”

“It’s Toby. His owner has cancer. I’m guessing for him to leave Toby here, he must be bad.” She stroked the dog’s head, and then took the lead from Josh. “I’ll see if I can get him a place to stay.” The animal whimpered as she led him away, looking back over his shoulder and down the road toward where his owner had vanished.

Lexi came to a halt in front of a woman who was maybe in her fifties, with dark hair streaked with gray, a thin wiry body, and beautiful green eyes. “Can you take him, Martha? He’d better go into quarantine until we’ve checked him out.”

“Of course. Bobby’s new family picked him up today so there’s a kennel free.” She crouched down and petted the dog, who looked back at Josh with accusation in his eyes. What was he supposed to do?

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