Page 9 of A Miracle for the Confident Cowboy

Her mouth fell open slightly and he glanced down at it.

Nodding to her, he muttered, “Might want to close that. You don’t want to catch any flies.”

Sophie snapped her mouth shut and folded her arms. She continued to stare at him with disdain. The longer she did that, the harder it became to keep his cool. He hadn’t done anythingwrong—well, except offend her by disregarding her career and her love of dogs. Oh, and for some reason, being from England.

“Is there something else you want to say?” He gave her a firm stare.

She shook her head. “You need to stay out of my way,” she snapped.

He nearly told her that was saying something, but he held his tongue. She was just as fiery and dangerous as he remembered.

It bordered on being intoxicating.

Her eyes shifted to what he was doing and without asking, she picked up a sheet of paper he’d been working off. The dogs being boarded varied from eight pounds to over a hundred. Food would be served based on their weight.

Sophie immediately got to work pouring amounts into bowls. He didn’t know how she’d figured out where he was at on the list, but she did.

Intelligent.

Efficient.

Sophie continued to show that she was a valuable asset in a place like this one. They worked in silence feeding the dogs, then they got the dogs outside in their penned yard before they started cleaning out the kennels. He didn’t know where Debra was placed, but that didn’t really matter. He only had eyes for one person.

He entered the first kennel and picked up what he could with a poop scoop then retrieved a hose. One by one he cleaned out thekennels on his side of the room. When he was nearly done, he slowed to watch Sophie as she did the same on her side.

The whole time they had been working together, she’d refused to look at him. It must have been difficult to fight such an instinct—a fact he nearly pointed out, but again, he stopped himself.

He finished with his stalls first and brought the dogs in one at a time. Sophie followed suit. When she was about to go out to retrieve her next dog, he called out to her. “You might want me to?—”

She shot him a deathly glare and he snapped his mouth shut.

If she wanted to bring in their biggest dog all on her own, that was up to her. The great Dane was one of the most energetic dogs they had in the shelter. He didn’t like being penned up and the second he got within a few feet of his kennel, he was going to fight her.

Sophie might be a dog person, but she wouldn’t be any match for her next pup.

At first, everything seemed normal. The dog trotted happily at Sophie’s side, nearly half her size. But the second the door to the room closed, his ears perked up. His eyes grew wide and he started tugging on the leash.

To Sophie’s credit, she held onto that leash firmly—it wasn’t enough. The dog yanked and pulled until Sophie lost her footing on the slick cement floor.

Down, she went, a yelp escaping her throat. The Dane tugged her, dragged her, and kept her off balance as he ran laps up and down the aisles.

Not once did Sophie call out for help. Duke stopped, resting his forearms on the broom he had in hand as his eyes followed her movements. He really should help. Then again, he didn’t need any more of her wrath. An amused smile still tugged at his lips.

Sophie finally found her footing. She braced herself by spreading her legs out farther. She wrapped the leash around her fist and tugged, all the while speaking calmly to the dog. Her hair was a mess, wet in spots and in a frazzled, messy halo around her head.

Duke didn’t know how she did it exactly, but she got the dog back into his kennel. Sophie removed the leash, shut the door with a triumphant sound then her whole body stiffened when her eyes landed on the informational paper posted to the outside of the kennel.

Her dark eyes shot to meet Duke’s and her frown deepened. “Of course,” she seethed.

He didn’t move from his location, nor did the smile fall from his face.

She jabbed her finger at the paper in the laminated packet attached to the door. “I can totally see the resemblance.”

Duke lifted a brow. He knew exactly what she was referring to without looking. The Dane’s name was Duke. He chuckled as he shook his head and got back to work. He doubted she’d last more than one day. After an experience like that one, she’d have to be crazy to choose to come back.

Whistling to himself, he let his thoughts linger on her longer than usual. Besides her beauty and her spit-fire attitude, she had a few other things going for her. She was charitable. The woman had shown up at a shelter to volunteer. Bad people simply didn’t do that. She had a heart of gold as far as he was concerned.

And boy, did she have determination.

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