Animal Magnetism Read online

  “You, too,” she whispered, but he was already gone.

  Brady walked through the chilly morning air, shadowed by Twinkles. It wasn’t a month yet, but probably he should call Tony and at least get himself back in the queue to fly. Getting the hell out of Dodge ASAP would be a good thing.

  Too bad he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He wasn’t ready to go.

  It was as simple and terrifying as that.

  “Arf.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” He’d taken off on Lilah like a bat out of hell, and now all he could see was her face as he’d left. There hadn’t been disappointment or irritation. She hadn’t been offended the way any number of women in his past would have been when he did his usual vanishing routine. Lilah didn’t get upset or withdraw. There’d been only those two words, her softly spoken “So go.” And yet in them he’d heard all the damage, all the hurt, she felt.

  She was prepared to watch him walk away.

  God, he was an ass. He turned around so suddenly he tripped over Twinkles.

  “Arf.”

  “We’re going back. I don’t know why, so don’t ask me.” Brady wasn’t afraid of much. He doubted there was a boogey man left on earth that could scare him. And yet one woman from the middle of nowhere with heartbreaking eyes and the most courageous heart he’d ever known absolutely terrified him.

  As he once again entered the clearing between the cabin and the kennels, Adam was just getting out of his truck, juggling two steaming drinks and a big bag of food from New Moon, the health food store in town.

  “What are you doing here at this time of morning?” Adam wanted to know.

  Brady shrugged. He’d asked himself that a hundred times in as many seconds. He still didn’t know. “She doesn’t like health food.”

  “Are you just getting here?” Adam asked. “Or just leaving?”

  “Both.”

  Adam’s eyes went to slits. “I usually offer the choice of death or dismemberment to people who mess with her.”

  Brady sighed, and Adam stared at him for a long moment, then slowly shook his head. “You poor bastard. You’re as fucked up over her as all the others, aren’t you?”

  “I’m not—”

  Adam arched a brow, and Brady closed his eyes.

  He was.

  He was totally and completely fucked up over her. Which settled it. He did not need to go back inside that cabin. Nothing good would come of him going back in there except muddying up the waters with more of his crazy-ass, confused emotions. Without a word to Adam, he turned around and began walking away.

  “Was it the threat of death or dismemberment?” Adam wanted to know.

  The truth was, he’d welcome either.

  Six hours later, Dell had finished his business and Brady had the Bell 47 aimed back at Sunshine. The trip had gone well, rendering Belle Haven a new contract handling the vet care for a 250,000-acre ranch in the Idaho Falls area.

  “This trip alone was worth having the chopper,” Dell said as they headed into Sunshine.

  Brady shrugged. “Anyone can fly you after I’m gone. Hell, you can hire a pilot right out of Smitty’s if you want.”

  “Rather have you.”

  “You might want to check with Adam on that,” Brady said dryly.

  “Why, because he found you coming out of the woods suspiciously near Lilah’s cabin at the crack of dawn looking like you’d had a long night?” Dell shrugged. “He’s always a bitch when he’s not getting any.”

  “What are we, sixteen?”

  “If we were, then he would have threatened you with death or dismemberment. Which one did you pick, by the way? I always pick death.”

  “And yet here you still are.”

  Dell grinned. “Yeah. He’s all bark and no bite. Probably you should just stick around and keep us in line.”

  “Stick around?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. You don’t know those two words in that particular order. They mean stay. Unpack. Whatever you want to call it.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  Brady stared at him. “Because.”

  “I realize you’re allergic to permanent,” Dell said. “But so’s Adam, and he makes it work. He travels everywhere all over the country all the time training and delivering the search and rescue dogs, but he always comes back. That’s the trick. You could do the same.”

  “I could train dogs?” Brady asked.

  “Travel, smart-ass. Go back and forth.” Dell paused. “Be a partner.”

  “I don’t work well with others.”

  Dell laughed. “Well, no shit. And here I thought your sunny disposition would be such an asset.”

  Brady let out a breath. “I’ll think about it.”

  “You do that. I’m thinking if you turn us down, I’ll hire a female pilot instead, maybe one who wears a short, tight uniform and greets me with ‘How can I serve you, sir?’”

  Four days later, Lilah was near the outskirts of the county, on the edges of a ranch about to rescue a raccoon mama and her cubs. It had to be close to a hundred degrees outside and she was hot, tired, and filthy. Despite the unseasonably warm day, she was dressed for work in Carhartts and a long-sleeved T-shirt meant to protect her arms. She was tired because she hadn’t slept much. Midterms were over, at least for now, but it hadn’t been studying that had kept her up the past few nights.

  It had been Brady.

  Or the lack of Brady.

  As for the filthy part . . . well, that was part of her job. She’d been sent here by Dell, who’d talked to the rancher who owned the land and was mad as hell about the raccoons who were constantly stealing the fresh eggs from the hen coops.

  Lilah understood the problem. Raccoons were messy and mischievous, and they made pests of themselves on small ranches like this. Certainly it was easier to shoot them, but she hated the thought. She and Dell had a friend in Lewiston who had three thousand open acres. The woman had previously taken in various wild critters and didn’t mind doing so again.

  Lilah had a pile of humane cages in her Jeep ready to go, and with the hope in mind that the raccoons would be fond of the canned cat food she’d brought as bait, she got out of the Jeep and headed to the front door.

  No one answered.

  Knowing that she had permission via Dell from the ranch owner to try and solve his problem, she walked around to the barn, which was opened from two sides. Standing in the first opened doorway, able to see clear through to the other opened door, she caught sight of a man out on a horse in a neighboring field.

  Probably the ranch owner.

  Not wanting him to think she was trespassing, she waved a hand and called out to him, but the sun was in his eyes and he clearly couldn’t see her. Plus, she knew he was older and couldn’t hear well. She turned back to the barn and went still as she caught sight of movement in the rafters.

  The resident raccoons. One big masked head appeared, and then three little matching ones perfectly lined up beside their mama.

  Her cell phone rang. “How’s it going out there?” Dell asked.

  “Working on it,” she said.

  “Yeah, well be careful. Newberry’s pretty determined to shoot the shit out of them. I guess they got into his kitchen yesterday and completely destroyed the place. Remind him that I sent you, that he said it was okay for you to remove the raccoons if you can. He’s an older guy and can be mean as a snake. Part of the reason I called you about this in the first place is because his neighbors are threatening to call the authorities on him for using whatever moves as target practice.”

  “He’s out in his field right now but I’ll flag him down before I leave.” She disconnected and went to the Jeep for two of the cages. Using a ladder she found against the far barn wall, she climbed to the top of the rafters and then precariously balanced there as she came face-to-face with the big mama herself.

  Who showed her teeth.

  Lilah ignored her and set the traps. This took a few minutes because she ha