“And we’re happy to do it.” Lisa hugged the shih tzu tight. “After all, we’re here FOR…” She paused and her eyes grew wide. With a shriek, she tossed Ewok from her lap onto the coffee table.
“Cut! Cue the commercial!” The command came through Ben’s earphones a second after he’d already stopped filming.
Tansy made a grab for Ewok, but the spooked dog dashed across the large coffee table, knocking over the poinsettia and spilling dirt everywhere. Jumping out of her chair, Lisa gestured to the dark stain on her silk skirt. “The little bastard peed on me!”
God, it was hard not to laugh, but Ben loved his job, so he controlled the impulse. Still, Lisa had deserved it. Tansy had tried to save her, but she hadn’t listened.
“Ewok!” Tansy dashed after the tiny dog, darting through a maze of camera trolleys and cables.
Ben took off his headset so he could help. By pure coincidence the little bundle of fur ran past him. He made a grab and connected with a warm body. Holding Ewok against his chest, he tried to calm the frightened dog.
“Thank you.” Tansy stood in front of him, her blue eyes no longer laughing. “Sometimes he gets over-excited and lets loose. I think that’s the cocker spaniel in him. Wookie’s usually a steadying influence, but with all the people, and the lights, and the noise…”
And the idiot woman squeezing the breath out of him. But Ben was too much of a professional to say that about a colleague. “Bringing them in together was a brilliant idea, though.” He handed Ewok to her. “I hope you find a home for them.”
“So do I.” She stroked the quivering dog with a gentle touch. He whined and reached up to lick her face again. “It’s okay, Ewok. You’re fine now. We’ll go get Wookie and you’ll feel better.”
“Adopting them out as a pair is the right thing to do,” Ben said. “Stick to your guns on that.”
“Don’t worry. I intend to.” She glanced up and her gaze held his. “You’re an animal lover, I can tell.” She didn’t voice her next thought, but it was there in her eyes. Would he take the dogs?
He pretended he hadn’t understood her silent question. He did love animals…from a distance. So many people took on pets with a breezy nonchalance, as if loving creatures with a short lifespan was an easy choice that had no consequences. He knew from experience that wasn’t true. He wasn’t about to explain all that to her, though, so he said nothing.
She blinked as if confused by his silence. “In any event, thanks for capturing Ewok. It’s not good for him to race around in a panic.”
“It’s not good for any of us to race around in a panic.” He smiled because looking at her made him want to do that. He swore she had flecks of sunshine in those blue eyes of hers. In Tacoma, where it rained a lot, sunshine in any form was a valuable commodity.
“Guess not.” She continued to gaze at him intently. “Have we met before? You look so familiar.”
“We haven’t met. I would have remembered.”
“On the air in five!” called the director.
Ben replaced his headset. “Sorry. Gotta go. Weather’s next.”
“Right. Thanks again.” She hurried away, taking the sunshine with her.
Ben concentrated on filming the weather report and did his best to forget about Tansy Dexter. He preferred his relationships light and breezy—easy come, easy go. And his instincts told him Tansy would expect much more than that.
Judging from the passionate way she spoke up for the animals, her emotions ran deep, deeper than he cared to go. He was glad that people like Tansy existed in the world, but he couldn’t follow her chosen path, and she would never understand his decision not to adopt.
She was the kind of woman who would get past his defenses, demand that he drop his guard and become vulnerable again.
There was no way he would risk that.
TANSY’S SUBURBAN HAD been retrofitted for hauling animals. After she and Rose loaded Wookie and Ewok into the back, they hurried around to the front of the vehicle and climbed in, their breath fogging the air. Tansy dug out the keys and coaxed the balky engine to life before switching the heater to high. The cold rain tapping on the windshield could easily turn to snow by nightfall.
Rose rubbed her hands together and held them against her wind-reddened cheeks. “That was interesting.”
“It wasn’t Ewok’s fault.” Tansy’s anger resurfaced as she left the station’s parking lot. “I had to be nice, especially since Paul’s running promos from now until Christmas, but I could have throttled that woman.”
“She almost throttled Ewok,” Rose said. “Good thing she didn’t pursue the idea of adopting these two.”
“Yeah, that would have been awkward. You and I know she’d only have been doing it as a publicity stunt, but Paul might not have seen it that way. He’s a nice guy, and I’d rather not lose his goodwill by refusing to give his publicity-crazed anchorwoman Ewok and Wookie.”
“Speaking of nice guys, that cameraman was helpful.”
“He was.” Tansy’s pulse beat a little faster thinking about his sexy brown eyes.
“And gorgeous.”
Tansy glanced over at Rose and grinned. “You noticed that, did you?”
“I may be old enough to be his grandmother, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate tall, dark and handsome when I see it. If I’m not mistaken, you two shared a moment.”
Tansy’s cheeks warmed. She hoped she hadn’t looked quite as dazzled as she’d felt. “I was trying to mentally place him.”
“Don’t blame you. Was he on a beach towel in the sand or on a bearskin rug in front of the fire?”
“Rose!” Tansy laughed, bringing an excited bark from Ewok. “I was trying to figure out why he looks so familiar. I swear we’ve met before.”
“Did you tell him so?”
“I did, but apparently we haven’t met. He said he would have remembered.” Sexual heat curled through her as she thought about the low, intimate way he’d said it.
“Whew!” Rose fanned herself. “A guy who knows how to deliver his lines. And he wasn’t wearing a ring. I checked. What’s his name?”
“Don’t know.”
“Why on earth not?”
“Didn’t think to ask.”
Rose slapped her forehead. “You meet a hero type who rescues precious little Ewok, a man who says he would have remembered if you’d met before, and you neglect to get his name?”
“I’m out of practice with that kind of thing.” Though now Tansy wished she had a name to attach to the first man in ages to arouse her dormant libido.
“I know you’re out of practice. I’ve volunteered at the shelter for almost two years, and I don’t think you’ve had so much as a date, let alone a romance. I figured you were either too busy or very picky.”
“I’m both.”
Rose nodded. “I realize your work brings you joy, and there’s nothing wrong with being picky. But FYI, you and that cameraman were giving off sparks.” She pulled a phone out of her small messenger bag. “I’m going to call the station and find out his name.”
“No!” Then her panic