Page 6 of Your Carriage Awaits in Crumbleton
A little snuffling squeak came from beneath the blanket, and the edge of the faded patchwork bobbed up and down for a couple of nerve-racking seconds. Then a large, wet nose appeared, twitching in her direction.
Michelle raised an eyebrow. Okay… nothing with a nosethatcute could be remotely scary, could it?
One more little toss of the blanket revealed a large, glossy head, and Michelle found herself eye-to-sleepy-eye with a black labrador.
‘Elvis?’ she said, her heart instantly melting.
The dog blinked at her, clearly surprised to find a complete stranger sitting next to him. Not surprised enough to bother to sit up properly, though. He opened his mouth in a wide, smiling yawn and started to pant.
‘Nice to meet you too,’ chuckled Michelle. She thought about introducing herself properly by holding out her hand for him to sniff but decided against it. He might look like a big softy, but for all she knew, he could be the Dalton Garage guard dog!
‘Or not,’ she laughed, as thebig, scary guard dogsomehow managed to shuffle his bulk towards her without dislodging the blanket and dropped his head right into her lap.
Michelle laid her hand very carefully on the top of Elvis’s heavy head, and the blanket next to her thumped a couple of times. Clearly, there was one very happy, waggy tail under there somewhere!
She smiled down at the already snoozing dog, feeling some of the tension seeping from her shoulders.
‘Okay… what on earth?!’
Danny had just opened the driver’s side door and come to an abrupt halt. Clearly, the sight of his guard dog cuddled up on her lap had taken him by surprise.
Michelle couldn’t help but grin at him. ‘Erm… I hope you don’t mind, I think I’ve made friends with your dog!’
‘Mind?’ laughed Danny, quickly unfreezing and hurriedly hopping up behind the wheel. He slammed the door and shook a cascade of raindrops from his dark hair. ‘It’s brilliant. I’m just surprised he’s taken to you so quickly, that’s all.’
‘Why, because I’m a Singer?’ she muttered, doing her best not to stare at the way his soaked grey tee-shirt was clinging to him.
Danny chuckled easily. ‘No. Because he’s a rescue. He’s usually a bit nervous of strangers. I mean… not nasty or anything, just a bit of a wimp.’
‘Maybe the blanket won me brownie points,’ said Michelle, gently stroking Elvis’s silky ears and earning herself a blissed-out sigh.
‘You might be right,’ laughed Danny, turning the key and setting the tow truck rumbling. ‘But don’t think you’re ever getting that blanket back—you’ve made an offering to The Hound. It’s his blanket now!’
Michelle grinned. ‘He’s welcome to it.’
CHAPTER 3
DANNY
Michelle Singer was sitting right next to him!
Danny cleared his throat, doing his best to play it cool as he reached for the gear stick. The problem was, he didn’t feel remotely cool. He felt like a drowned rat who’d just won the lottery and couldn’t quite believe his luck.
Michelle Singer. In his truck.
This was the girl he’d harboured a gigantic crush on right the way through secondary school. The girl who’d been completely off-limits thanks to the ridiculous grudge that existed between their fathers. The girl who’d disappeared from Crumbleton to her shiny new life with that flashy boyfriend of hers before Danny could build up the courage to do anything about his feelings… like actually speak to her!
Now, here she was, sitting in his passenger seat with Elvis draped across her lap like they’d been friends for years.
Danny eased the truck forward, hyper-aware of every little detail about her—from the way her long fingers danced across Elvis’s ears to the way her damp hair was starting to curl around her face.
He sucked in a deep breath, trying to get a grip. It didn’t help in the slightest as he caught a faint hint of her cinnamon scent.
Pull it together, you muppet!
Danny cast a quick glance behind them to check that Michelle’s heap of rust was still secure on the back of the truck. It had been a bit touch-and-go there for a moment. The poor little car was in such a state that there hadn’t been much solid metal left to attach the chains to. For one horrible second, he’d been convinced the winch might just pull the whole front end clean off.
That would really impress her, wouldn’t it? Destroying what was left of her car before he’d even got it back to the garage!
