Page 83 of Two Hearts' Christmas Homecoming

“But you can tell me about why you wanted such a big house? Dad mentioned you had an aviary built.”

Kinley laughed. “Since it’s a small town, I guess that everyone still knows more about me than I know about them. Dad had a thing for birds. We had a parrot named Lafayette who passed away a couple of years after Dad and Mom did. He was pretty old and very sweet, but I could swear he died of grief. I was really attached to him, especially since both Dad and Mom had been, and it kind of broke my heart when he passed away too. Anyway, I got thinking about what I wanted in a forever home. I inherited quite a bit of money from my parents because Dad and Mom were always workaholics and I was an only child. If I was going to take on the job as the full-time permanent vet in charge of the facility here, I decided I wanted to have the capability to care for animals at home if I needed to. Your Dad and Mom warned me about the weather, and I knew we would continue having interns feeding, watering and walking the animals, but if I’m on call, I don’t want to necessarily be stuck here at the shelter all night and sleeping on one of the couches. I would rather be in the comfort of my own home where I can stay rested at the same time. I’m sure this program is going to keep me very busy, so I decided to have an extra heated space attached to the garage which could serve as an office in case of an emergency.”

“That’s an excellent idea. Dad used to get called in here all the time before we had the extra help and interns we have now.” Rose looked thoughtful. “We do need more than just a break room here at the shelter. We have a lot of kids and teenagers working here part time and it’s fine for them, but the more full-time people Dad hires, the more he needs to be thinking about his vision of the future. He pretty much comes and goes as he pleases, and you do all the scheduling not to mention hiring and firing.”

“I had to tell him that I think we needed an extra training space too, like an additional arena maybe at the back of the property away from the shelter. It’s important to keep the warriors training program separate from the program for kids and adults with disabilities to avoid confusion for the service animals. Training with them could end up being entirely different.”

“That’s something I never even thought of, although I’m sure that Dad has, since he was deployed to Afghanistan with his own service animal. At least we own all the surrounding space.” Rose grimaced. “We’ll have to go back into fund raising mode though if we need to add another facility.”

“That sounds like a plan. Maybe we can get something started before the Christmas charity event,” Kinley said, still staring at the massive dog. “Has anyone besides your dad tried handling this guy yet, Rose?”

Rose scrunched her nose. “I don’t think so. But Dad seemed to think he was pretty tame.”

Kinley heaved a sigh. “He’s so thin. I wonder if someone couldn’t afford to keep him because he’s so big. He looks to be part boxer. It’s going to be hard to get him adopted just for that reason alone.”

Rose nodded her agreement as she began scooping out food. “I was just thinking the same thing.”

“Let’s see if I can handle you, Buster, after Rose gives you dinner. I think I’ll take him for a walk around the arena and see how he behaves.”

“Okay. I’ll go ahead and feed him first,” Rose murmured, giving Kinley a smile.

Two Hearts Unbroken

Two Hearts Wounded Warrior Romance Book 6

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4

Prologue

Iraq, 2015

Sarah awoke sluggishly, gasping as intense pain ripped through her body from head to toe.

Wherewas she? What had happened?

With her vision hazy, she closed her eyes trying to regroup.

That’s right—there’d been an explosion while she’d been traveling in the supply truck with Russ, Brian and Tack.

But where was the rest of her team?

Feeling a sudden burning sensation searing through one knee, Sarah’s eyes sprang open and she took a closer look at her leg.

She couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. Beneath the ankle, her foot was a mangled mess, bare bones exposed and covered with blood.

But that wasn’t the horror of it all, she was beginning to realize, yanking at the heavy metal cuffs wrapped around her wrists.

She was chained by hooks cemented into the stone wall she was leaning against.

Glancing around, she could see she was in a cavern that had apparently been turned into a makeshift dungeon for whichever terrorist group was holding her hostage.

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