“Holly, what—?” he began with bewilderment. Then he heard his mother’s shout of warning and instinctively turned just as Samson reached him. Unprepared for 120 pounds of dog hitting him in the chest, Justin went down like a pin under a bowling ball, his back hitting the ground hard to the sound of Holly’s hysterical shrieks.
“Samson! Cut it out! Dammit Samson!” Worried by the alien, high ululating sounds now coming from Holly, Justin tried to push the amorous dog off of him to get up, but Samson was determined to lick his face. He’d pushed the big black beast away and started to sit up, only to be knocked back as the dog crawled onto his chest to try to get in another lick.
“Yes, hello,” Justin muttered, pushing the dog’s head away again. “What the devil’s wrong with you? You have better manners than this.”
“Octavius! Heel,” his mother barked, and the dog immediately leapt off of Justin and moved to sit beside Matild Bricker.
“Octavius?” Justin asked with surprise, sitting up in the dirt to eye the dog with amazement. The last time he’d seen Octavius was six or seven months ago. The dog had been a fluffy little ball of black fur then. Born half the weight of his littermates, he hadn’t been expected to live, but Justin had been visiting when Octavius’s mother had given birth and he’d nursed the little guy, bottle-feeding him several times a day. By the time he’d left, the dog had doubled in weight and been as happy and exuberant as his brothers and sisters.
“He’s grown a bit,” his mother said dryly, bending to pet the dog, who sat quivering excitedly beside her, his adoring gaze firmly on Justin. “And he’s usually very well behaved for a puppy, but it looks like he remembers you.”
“This is really Octavius?” Justin asked with disbelief as he got to his feet and brushed himself down.
“It is,” his mother assured him with a faint smile. “Eight months old and he weighs more than his father, Samson, now.”
Shaking his head, Justin moved forward to pet the big fellow, smiling with pride at how well the puppy had turned out. It had been worth every bottle-feeding, he decided now.
“Perhaps you should look after your friend,” his mother said solemnly. “I’ll take Octavius to the kennels while she’s here.”
“Oh, but I wanted her to meet the dogs,” Justin protested, glancing back to the car and frowning when he saw Holly’s clenched expression through the car window. Honest to God, she had the same expression Lucian and Leigh’s babies got when they were dropping a particularly hard dirty in their diaper. He wouldn’t have been surprised to hear she was taking a dump on the front seat.
“She’s not taking a dump on your front seat,” his mother assured him on a laugh, and then in more solemn tones said, “But she is terrified, Justin. Why on earth didn’t you call ahead and tell me that she was terrified of dogs? I would have made sure they were all in the kennel before you got here.”
“She’s not terrified of dogs,” he said, turning to his mother with surprise. “She loves them.”
Matild Bricker looked dubious at this claim and then turned back to peer at Holly. After a moment, she shook her head. “I don’t know who told you that girl loves dogs, but they were wrong. She was mauled by a pack of wild dogs at three and has been terrified of them ever since.”
“What?” he squawked with dismay.
His mother nodded, and then turned away, patting her leg. Octavius immediately obeyed the silent order and stood to follow her. But he also glanced back forlornly at Justin as he went, obviously unhappy about leaving him behind.
Mind racing, Justin watched until his mother and Octavius had walked out of sight around the house, and then turned slowly to the car to peer at Holly. Now that Octavius was gone, she looked a touch calmer. Not more than a touch though. She was as white as a sheet and even from where he stood, he could see that she was shaking.
Holly so did not love dogs, he acknowledged grimly. Anders had definitely got that wrong.
Sighing, he opened the driver’s door and slid back behind the steering wheel.
“Close the door. The dog might come back,” Holly said at once.
Justin dutifully closed the door, then turned sideways in his seat to take her hands. “It’s okay, Holly. Octavius would never hurt you. I promise.”
“But he attacked you,” she protested. “He—”
“No, honey, he was just excited to see me,” he assured her. “And I wasn’t ready for all of his weight coming at me at once.”
“But—”
“Look,” he interrupted, holding out his hands and arms and turning them over. “No bite marks or scratches. He just wanted to lick me in greeting, honey.” As she looked him over, he added, “I bottle-fed Octavius as a pup. He apparently recognized me and was happy to see me, that’s all.”
“Oh,” Holly whispered.
Justin remained silent as she obviously tried to gather herself.
After a moment, she seemed almost her normal self again. At least, she stopped shaking and some color had come back to her cheeks when she offered him an embarrassed smile and muttered, “Sorry, I must have sounded like a crazy person.”
“No,” Justin lied. She really had been screaming like a loon. And he didn’t know what the hell that one alien noise she’d been making had been, it had sounded to his ears like half shriek and half mindless twitter. Yeah, she’d definitely sounded crazy. Pushing that thought aside, he cleared his throat and said, “My mother says you were mauled by dogs as a little girl.”
She nodded her head jerkily, concentrating on taking deep breaths now.
“But Anders told me you love dogs.”
That startled her and she turned to him with surprise. “Why would he say that? I told him about being mauled as a kid.”
Justin’s head went back slightly at this news. There was no way the man could have mistaken “I was mauled by dogs as a child,” for “Gosh I love dogs.” His brain ticked that over briefly and then he asked, “What about picnics?”
“What?” she asked with confusion.
“Do you like picnics, but just not on the beach? Or—”
“Actually, I’m not keen on anything to do with nature,” she admitted apologetically. “Eighteen years in a tent made me a definite city girl. I like four walls and a bathroom . . . and tables and chairs and a bed,” she added firmly.
“Right.” Justin nodded slowly. “And flowers?”
“No,” she said with a grimace. “They make me think of death ever since starting at the cemetery.”
“I can see how that could be,” he said grimly. “What about wine? Do you like wine?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Wine is just vinegar with a fancy name.”
“Fish?” he queried.
“Can’t stand it, head on or off,” she admitted, and then added, “Well, unless it’s battered and deep fried. I do like fish-and-chips-type fish. Just can’t stand the rest of it.”
“Right,” Justin said wearily, lifting his hands to massage his temples.
Holly eyed him curiously, and then suddenly asked, “Did Anders say I liked all those things?”
He nodded grimly.
“Wow,” she said with a frown. “I wonder why. I mean I told them all of this stuff that day in the restaurant while you were off on your walk.”
“I know why,” Justin said grimly. He was also pretty sure Decker had been in on the deal as well. The two had been messing with him. Paying him back for the hard time he’d given each of them when they’d met their life mates. The bastards were probably sitting in Canada right now laughing their asses off as they imagined him trying to woo Holly with everything she hated. Payback was indeed a bitch, he thought grimly.
“Why?” Holly asked when he didn’t explain himself.
Rather than answer, Justin opened his door and got out. “Come on. They’ve put the dog in the kennel. It’s safe.”