An alien feeling not unlike jealousy whipped through him.
At that moment Shay looked back at the cabin and noticed him watching her. She sat up, her smiles dissolving into a mask of dislike as she wrapped her arms protectively about Bogart's neck.
Annoyed, James turned away. He didn't like the feelings she'd stirred up in him. Even less did he like the fact he had noticed how her breasts jiggled beneath her hoodie, reminding him how he knew that she wasn't wearing a bra.
How long since I've gotten laid?
James rubbed a hand down his face. He was exhausted. Not thinking right. Whatever was running through his mind and body was nothing more than the result of fatigue and casual lust. He needed lots of hot coffee. His stomach growled, reminding him that some eggs and pancakes and maybe a thick slice of ham wouldn't be unwelcome, either.
Surprisingly, Shay came in right behind him with Bogart at her side, ears alert with interest and his tongue lolling from his mouth in satisfied fatigue. He came up to James and bumped his leg with his big head, which James immediately patted.
A little winded and even more disheveled than before, Shay ignored James as she walked over to the deputy who had just finished his radio conversation. "So what happens now?"
The deputy's gaze shifted between the parties before him. "I suppose you can produce some paperwork with proof of ownership, Officer Cannon?"
James nodded. "I have it in my truck. It's parked at a gas station about two miles from here. I can bring it by your office."
Shay swung around on him. "He wasn't chipped. We checked at the shelter. If this is your dog, and a service animal, why isn't he chipped?"
Rather than answer directly, James made a gesture with his hand. Instantly Bogart went prone and then rolled over.
James knelt and reached for one of Bogart's hind legs and pulled it wide as his fingers delved into the fine fringe of golden pelt at the base of his partner's belly. There, just inside the hairline, were a series of tattooed numbers.
Shay glanced away. She knew about the tattoo but-dammit!
James looked up at the lawman bending over his shoulder. "Bogart was chipped in Germany. U.S. scanners can't read them. That's why I had my driver's license number tattooed backward here. You can compare them if you want."
The deputy straightened up. "I'm satisfied, Mr. Cannon. But there are formalities. So let's go get your paperwork."
"Wait just a minute." Shay stepped forward. "I don't care what kind of proof he has. He can't just come in here and take my dog."
The deputy sighed like a man who was accustomed to dealing with the public at its most illogical. "Now, Shay, you understand what happened and know what's right. He's got proof of ownership."
"But Prince was abandoned!" Shay heard the rising anxiety in her voice but she couldn't stop it. She turned to James. "I own him by right of-of salvage."
James looked up at her. Doesn't she know when a fight is over?
Forcing himself to remain detached, he rose to his feet. Yet he couldn't block the effect her golden gaze had on him. Though he doubted he'd ever see her again, he knew he'd be a long time forgetting the righteous fury in her oh-so-expressive gaze.
"You're right, Ms. Appleton. I owe you my thanks. You saved Bogart's life."
"You're damn right I did." Shay blinked back the very idea of tears, horrified that he might notice the telltale gleam. "And his name is Prince."
Deputy Ward laid a hand on her shoulder. "The fact is, this man can prove the dog's his. I'm sorry but that's the way it is."
James watched Shay chew the inside of her lip. He knew she was trying hard not to defend her position again. Despite the fact that he was sympathetic to her point of view, it wouldn't alter the outcome. Bogart was his partner. They belonged together.
Still, that chewing got to him, on several levels, not the least of which was the feeling stirring in his pants. Standing there with her skewed ponytail and tousled bangs, she looked like an abandoned creature herself.
James turned away from the raw emotion in her face, as much to protect his peace of mind as her feelings.
Shay backed up against the wall as the lawman from Charlotte took her Prince by the collar and snapped on a leash he had produced from his pocket. She crossed her arms to rub the goose bumps that had arisen. She was an adult. She'd learned much too early how very unfair the world could be. She'd learned to expect less than most people from life. Yet …
Until this moment, somewhere deep inside her had lived the ridiculous hope that Prince really belonged to her, that it was all a misunderstanding and that, at the end of the day, he would be curled up against her as she slept. Now she could no longer deny it. Prince belonged to someone else.
The unfairness of it all overwhelmed her good sense, rising as a stinging heat up through her legs and thighs into her stomach and then up into her chest and neck and face. She couldn't breathe. The only action inside her was the hard hammering of her heart. As the sensation ebbed away, taking her hope and leaving behind a great sense of loss and impotence, fury once again flared up within her.
"I want to press charges against this man, for trespassing."
CHAPTER FOUR
Shay swung around on the deputy. "I want him arrested! I can demand that."
Deputy Ward sighed the sigh of a man who sometimes hated his job. "You can. But I wouldn't advise it."
"Why? Because he's a police officer?"
Deputy Ward tucked in his chin. "That's not the issue."
"He admitted to you he broke in. You're my witness."
The deputy looked even more uncomfortable. "Can I speak with you a moment? In private."
James looked around. "Do I smell coffee?" Without being invited, he headed toward a doorway through which a range top could be seen. Bogart followed obediently on the leash.
The deputy hitched up his pants before he began speaking in a low voice. "I know you're fond of the dog but you don't want to do this, Ms. Appleton."
Shay breathed through her nose before replying. "All I want is my dog. I'll drop the charges if I can keep Prince."
"Uh-huh. But that's not how it's going to go down. And I got to warn you that attempting to take a law enforcement officer to court will be a sorry business. You've got a history of … let's just call it unreliable behavior."
"You mean because of what happened when I was a child?"
The deputy shifted from one foot to the other but there was sympathy in his gaze. "We've known you a long time, Shay. The sheriff and your mama were close friends. Did all he could for you two." His gaze strayed away. "But we haven't seen you in, what, three years? And last time you were here you reported seeing individuals on your property. That all turned out to be nothing."
The heat of indignation flared so hotly Shay could scarcely draw breath. "So you think I'm either a liar or a nutcase?"
His gaze came back to her, his expression apologetic. "What I'm saying, Ms. Appleton, is you've got a history of being high-strung. Your mother, God rest her soul, did her best to protect you back then. But you've got an established pattern of erratic behavior. Heck, I almost didn't rush over this morning on account of that. A good lawyer, if he did a little digging … " He lowered his voice. "Now you don't want that."
The word "digging" stopped Shay's next argument even as it was forming. Heart hammering in rage, she looked away.
"All done?" James stepped out beyond the wall that had shielded him, no coffee cup in sight. As much as he craved that cup of coffee, he'd opted for information about Shay Appleton instead.
The pair broke apart like conspirators caught in the act. Shay turned an ugly glare on him, as if she had guessed he was spying on her.
The deputy stepped up, as if to once again shield Shay. "All done. Ms. Appleton isn't pressing charges."
Half in shadow behind the officer, Shay didn't respond, yet James could feel the hostility radiating off her.
He wanted to ask a dozen questions about what he'd just overheard. Then common sense nudged him, hard. Do you have time to dick around, waiting for answers that probably won't come and wouldn't mean anything to you if they did? No, he did not. Time to go home.
"If we're done here, I'd like to get on with the formalities, Deputy, so I can head back to Charlotte."
Shay moved to stand between him and the door and folded her arms, defiance in her cocked hip. "Are you really going to take my dog?"