Page 47 of Mountain Rescue
“That dog is head over heels for you,” she said. “She’s going to be crushed when you leave.”
He glanced down at Bella. Unlike most dogs that strained at the end of their leash when out for a walk, she stayed right next to him. “Jack will find her a good home with someone who needs a dog like her.” He was trying hard not to get attached to her, but that wasn’t working so well.
“You could take her home with you. She’d probably love living on a ranch.”
If he went home. And where had that thought come from? Of course he was going home. To do what, he had no idea. He supposed he’d end up working for Phoenix, although that didn’t thrill him.
His brother’s hired hands kept the stalls clean and the horses groomed and fed. Phoenix did not allow anyone else to work with his horses. Not even Dallas. No matter that Dallas was pretty damn good with horses himself.
“Deep in thought over there.”
“Just thinking about some stuff.” He pushed the uncertainty about his future aside. He’d deal with that when he got home. While he had a sexy wildcat in his life, he’d enjoy the time he had with her.
“What kind of stuff?”
“About our wedding night.” He waggled his eyebrows, cartoon style. “And you wearing those hot little shorts.”
She punched his arm. “You’re ridiculous.”
“So you keep saying.” Bella’s ears perked up, and for the first time since starting on their run, she left his side. Curious about what she was up to, he followed her to the edge of the trail. Bella went down a small path that obviously wasn’t used much. She stared ahead, her ears still standing at attention, then she looked back at him and whined.
“She wants us to follow her,” Rachel said, coming to stand next to him.
“Looks like.” He wasn’t sure what the dog was leading them to, and he was glad he had the gun Jack had lent him strapped on under his shirt. “Stay close to me.”
“You don’t think she hears a bear or mountain lion, do you? Do they have mountain lions in North Carolina?” she whispered.
“Good question,” he whispered back.
Chapter Fourteen
The path was too small to walk next to Dallas, so Rachel stayed right behind him. She didn’t think Bella would lead them into danger, but they didn’t really know the dog all that well and what she might do.
She put her hand on his waist, hoping to feel that gun strapped there that she hadn’t been so happy about and let out a sigh of relief that he was wearing it. He chuckled, and she knew he remembered when she’d asked if having a gun on him was necessary. She pinched him, and he glanced back at her with way too much amusement in his eyes.
Because of her job, she’d met every kind of man out there, and not a one of them had anything on Dallas. Not in her eyes, anyway. It hit her then, and she groaned.I’m in so much trouble with this man.
“What?” he said, making her wonder if she’d said that aloud.
“Nothing. Nothing at all.” They were still whispering, afraid the bear or mountain lion might hear them...if a killer animal was what Bella was leading them to. The trees were growing thicker, cutting out the sunlight, and it was getting spookier with each step forward.
She was reminded of a horror movie she’d stunt doubled in, where a bunch of teenagers decided to play a game in the woods where an evil ghost supposedly lived. The only problem, in the movie, the ghost turned out to be real.
“Evil ghosts aren’t real,” she muttered. She was pretty sure that was true.
“You say something?”
“Nope.” She hooked her fingers into the back of his sweats. Now that she was thinking about evil spirits, she was nervous, which was pretty stupid. There was no such thing as ghosts. Still, she wasn’t chancing getting separated from him. “Maybe we should go back to the trail.”
“We will in a minute. I’m curious what has Bella’s attention.”
She leaned around him to look at the dog. Bella was at the end of the leash, pulling Dallas along. Her ears were still up, and now she was making a whining noise. That made Rachel feel a little better. If there was danger, she’d be growling, right?
They came to a downed tree, and Bella jumped over it, then disappeared around a boulder that seemed to suddenly appear. Dallas stepped over the tree, and Rachel followed, hearing a mewling sound.
“What was that?” she asked.
“Don’t know.” He walked around the boulder, then stopped. “What have you found, Bella?”
