‘I can tell the gender by the way you’re holding him.’ She tried not to laugh. ‘But, if this is just a show and tell about your new pet then I haven’t got the time.’ Or the inclination.
She had to keep telling herself she didn’t have any inclination towards Alex Norton. Except anger. Was that an inclination? There had been many times, particularly in the first few months after he’d dumped her by phone, that her inclination had been to force-feed him the engagement ring he’d so beautifully proposed to her with. That was, if she’d been able to find him.
Alex shook his head. ‘He’s not mine. He just followed me home, snuck into my house and ate my shoes.’
‘All very lovely, I’m sure. And you want me to...?’
‘Take him.’ With the kind of smile that had once melted her heart, and now did absolutely nothing to her at all—at all—he handed the puppy out towards her. ‘He doesn’t belong to me.’
‘Nor me.’ Shrugging, she looked at the cute little dog who had a silky coat and bright eyes that were adoringly fixed on the man she’d once looked at like that. But he was distracting. They both were, and she had to deal with Meg. ‘He looks perfectly fine. Healthy and alert.’
‘He is.’ Alex craned his neck away from the puppy’s tongue and grimaced. ‘Too alert.’
‘Alert is a good thing, Alex.’
‘I need to find his owner.’
‘Of course you do, and I’m sure they’ll be very grateful.’
‘Has anyone reported a missing puppy to you or anyone here?’
She quickly flicked through the notices in the large clinic diary on the desk. ‘No, not in the last few days. A white rabbit, rather unoriginally named Bugsy, is currently AWOL, as is a Siamese cat called Marg, but no dogs.’
She threw him what she hoped was an über-efficient and over-officious smile that she knew would definitely not reach her eyes or exude any warmth or encouragement for them to stay. Whimpering came from the treatment room. Meg.
Damn. ‘Look, I have to go. Meg needs me and I need some answers.’ And not just about what was ailing the dog. ‘You know where the door is. Goodnight, Alex and friend.’
BUT HE DIDN’T LEAVE. He just stood there open-mouthed, shaking his head and cradling the dog to his chest as if protecting it from her. Great, and now she was Cruella de Vil.
‘Beth? Really? You can’t just send us out into the snow.’
‘Yes, I can. That’s exactly what I’m doing. You live a five-minute drive away, Alex. You are not going to die of cold just going back to your house in a fancy-pants Mazda cabriolet.’ And, okay...yes, she was far too aware of Alex’s life and his penchant for red cars that zoomed too quickly down the winding Lake District country roads.
‘But...what about this little one?’ He held the dog towards her and looked at her almost as dolefully as the dog did.
Steeling her heart against them both, she peered closer. Maybe she’d missed something. ‘Is he sick?’
‘No. He’s a handful.’
It was just a ruse. He’d come here to dump the poor pooch on her, but she was in no position to take on a puppy. ‘Do you have a fire or central heating at your house so the two of you can be warm until you find his owner?’
Alex’s hopeful smile faded. ‘Of course.’
‘Right. And you’re a grown man and a medical professional to boot. You’ll manage.’ She couldn’t hold back the sigh. ‘This is not an emergency, Alex. I am not needed here.’
‘Yes, this is an emergency, Beth. I don’t want a dog. I don’t know how to look after them. I don’t have the time. I need to give him back to his owner. Think of the poor little girl who is missing her puppy so close to Christmas.’
He was standing under a swathe of the cheap tinsel they’d strung across the clinic ceiling in an effort to be festive. His eyes locked onto hers and for a minute she was thrown back to a Christmas years ago when they’d come back from their separate universities for the holidays and they’d decorated his bedroom and made love for hours. Then he’d made her a crown out of gold tinsel, kissed her hard, told her she was the queen of his heart and asked her to marry him.
And she’d been the happiest woman on earth for a whole year, until he’d unceremoniously knocked her off that throne and broken her heart with a single phone call. Then had gone travelling...without her. In breaking up with her he’d not only cut her off from him, but from his parents and sister too...the extended family she’d always craved. Because, of course, when she’d come back home in the holidays and he wasn’t around she’d questioned them about why he’d disappeared from contact. They’d rallied behind their beloved boy. With a gentle sadness in their eyes, admittedly, but they’d rallied.
We’re so sorry, but it’s what he wants. We’re sorry, Beth.
For breaking her heart?
He could deal with the dog on his own. ‘Feel free to find the owner and be the hero of the hour. Why do I need to be involved?’
He shrugged. ‘Because I don’t know what to do next.’
‘Have you developed an allergy to phones or something?’ She shook her head. ‘Call the rescue centre.’
‘I did. No one’s reported a missing dog and they’re full so they can’t take this little one. No room at the inn, right?’
She rolled her eyes at the very bad Christmas pun. ‘The animal pound in Kendal?’
‘Same. Full, no missing reports filed.’
‘The police? Here—’ Raising her eyebrows, she thrust the surgery’s laminated card of emergency numbers towards him. ‘Call the local station.’
He took the card but shook his head. ‘You know, you’re not being very helpful.’
Say what? He had a nerve. ‘Alex, I am always helpful in times of need. This is not one of them. I’m in the middle of something very important. I have to go to Meg—’
‘But you know about dogs.’
‘I know about sick ones.’ That was a little disingenuous. She knew a lot about animals in general, she just didn’t feel a need to abandon her sick dog to help Alex.
He shrugged. ‘I don’t know anything at all. He’s not mine and he needs to go to his rightful owners. He hasn’t got a collar so it’s not just a case of picking up a phone. Maybe he has a microchip? Or what if he hasn’t? What if he hasn’t got anyone?’ He almost—almost—looked genuinely concerned. ‘What do we do then?’
‘We? Oh, no. That is not going to happen.’ She was not going to get embroiled in this.
‘Me,’ he corrected. ‘What do I do with a lost puppy? I’m working all weekend. I haven’t got time for this. Oh.’ Alex’s mouth crumpled as a stream of liquid left the dog and hit the counter, splashing Alex’s jeans en route. ‘He keeps doing that.’
‘At least we know his urinary system is in good nick.’ It was getting late and she needed to check the blood results and generally tend to Meg but she also had a duty of care to the puppy too. Or, at the very least, she needed to make sure it was safe and cared for, and that the person responsible for it had an inkling of how to keep a dog alive. ‘Look, if you can give me an hour or so to get Meg sorted then I’ll be able to concentrate on this little one. Why don’t you go home and bring him back later?’
‘I’d