These Healing Hills by Ann H. Gabhart

Author:Ann H. Gabhart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Romance;Love stories;Christian fiction;FIC042030;FIC042040;FIC027200
ISBN: 9781441219787
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2017-07-05T04:00:00+00:00

23

The pup wiggled all over and tried to lick her face. That made Francine laugh. The dog beside Ben surprised him by easing closer to the woman to lean against her leg. The other pup, left alone in the truck, began whining. Ben could sympathize. He was feeling a little left out too.

He wanted to be like the collie and step closer. Brush shoulders with Francine. Her laughter lit up her face and made her eyes sparkle like creek water chasing through the sunshine. He kept smiling too like some kind of idiot, but he didn’t try to wipe the smile off his face. It felt too good.

She must have heard the other pup whine, because she pushed the pup she was holding into Ben’s hands and opened the truck door to scoop up the other puppy.

“Aww, poor little thing is scared to death.” She rubbed the puppy’s ears. “I bet he’s never been away from his mother.”

The pup in his hands was going crazy trying to get back to Francine, so he put him back in the truck. “You’ve had your turn,” he told him. He ignored the pup’s wails as he looked back at Francine stroking the runt pup and wished for a turn of his own.

It could be he’d made a mistake bringing her the dog. He wanted her to have the dog, but he should have let Woody bring it. This woman was messing with his heart’s equilibrium like no female he’d ever met. Some things were best avoided. Like poison sumac.

But he was here now and nothing for it but to clamp down on his feelings and play out the scene. “That was the runt of the litter, but I’m thinking that’s the one Sadie will want. She has a soft place for little things.”

Francine held the pup up to her face and the pup licked her nose. “Goodness, I’ve never had such a face washing.”

The dog at her feet lifted a paw to touch her leg as if to keep her from forgetting about him. Ben restrained the impulse to reach across and do the same by touching her arm. He’d come to give her a dog. Nothing else. Especially not his heart. He needed to stop thinking of her as Francine with the eyes that made his knees weak. She was Nurse Howard and that was all.

She leaned down to pat the collie’s head.

“Be careful. He might snap at the pup,” Ben warned.

But the dog just nosed the pup and then pushed past it to nuzzle Francine’s arm.

“Oh, he’s too good a dog for that.” She straightened up after ruffling the collie’s ears and handed the pup back to Ben. “Thank you for bringing them by for me to see, but did you need anything else? Is your arm bothering you?”

“I’m not in need of your nursing services.” At least that much was true. “It’s this dog.” He nodded toward the collie. “He needs a home. His owner was threatening to get rid of him once and for all.

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