Page 30 of Serve ’N’ Protect

Ghost whined, stretching and allowing her to scratch him under his chin. “I love having a dog around again. We haven’t had one in the family for years. I’ll miss Ghost when you leave. Hugh and I were—” Her face took on a pained expression.

Again with this Hugh guy.

“What I meant to say,” she continued, recovering quickly, “was that I’d planned to get a dog last year after Christmas but ditched the idea after the accident. I wouldn’t have been able to care for one. Not alone, anyway.”

So she and Hugh were going to get a dog together. Markus looked around the room again, searching for evidence that a man had ever lived here. The room wasn’t exactly feminine, but he didn’t see the typical guy-in-residence signs. The TV on the wall was fairly small. To start with, he’d have cleared off enough wall space for an enormous flat-screen. Maybe a big leather recliner.

A phone rang. Cassidy twisted her neck to look behind her. “I think that’s mine.”

“Ghost, phone.” Markus pointed.

Ghost crawled off the sofa and trotted into the kitchen. He rose on his hind legs, setting his front paws on the counter and tilting his head to the side to grab Cassidy’s still-ringing phone in his mouth.

Cassidy clapped her hands. “Bravo. Can he climb ladders, too?” As Ghost presented her with her phone, she took it from him, wiping off the slobber with her sleeve. “It took forever to hang all these ornaments and getting up on a ladder was tough.” She met Markus’s gaze, grinning. “But you already know that, don’t you?”

He arched a brow. “Funny.”

Cassidy finished wiping the phone dry and looked at the screen. Her smile instantly vanished. The look on her face went from one of shock first, then to neutrality, before ending with borderline anger.

“Problem?” he asked.

“Not if I don’t answer it.” She smacked the phone facedown on the table then patted the sofa.

Ghost happily complied, his tail wagging furiously as he leaped up and resettled next to her as if he were a child. A rather large, furry, ninety-pound child.

He nodded to the phone. “Was that another family member?”

“No,” was all she said, averting her gaze.

Subject closed. That he understood better than anyone. He wasn’t much of a talker to begin with, and certain topics were 100 percent verboten. Like Steven. Just thinking about the bastard again was enough to get his blood boiling.

“Where’s your medical file?” he asked, and when she started to get up, he stopped her. “Just tell me where. I’ll get it.”

“It’s in that thick folder on the floor marked taxes.” She pointed to a corner of the living room. Markus retrieved the box and brought it to her. “I had so many medical bills last year that I have enough to warrant deductions on my tax return. First time that’s ever happened.”

As she searched through the folder, Markus picked up the small red box on the table, thinking it must be a tiny Christmas ornament she’d forgotten to hang. He flipped open the lid and—

“No, don’t!” She lunged for the box.

—realized his mistake. This was no ornament box. Overhead light twinkled on the diamond engagement ring. Hugh wasn’t just any guy. He was her fiancé—the key word in that phrase being was, gathering from her reaction just now and every time she’d inadvertently said his name.

Cassidy hung her head. “So now you know.”

“Sorry.” Markus snapped the lid closed. He was a shithead of the highest order. “I thought it was an ornament.”

“Yeah, well…” Her shoulders slumped and she sighed, the mournful sound tugging at his heart, a feeling he was unaccustomed to. “It was a bad breakup. He—” She rolled her lips inward and blinked rapidly. “He left me, and he did it when I needed him most.”

Oh, man. Did the dude really leave her when she was still in the hospital? If so, that was downright cold.

The doorbell rang. Ghost jumped off the sofa, barking as he ran to the door.

Markus bolted to his feet, wincing as the quick movement tugged at his sutures. “Stay there,” he ordered Cassidy.

“It’s probably just one of my brothers or sisters,” Cassidy insisted. “Or one of my friends. I haven’t talked to any of them since I started working again. Whoever it is, don’t shoot them,” she added with a hint of sarcasm.

Ignoring the barb, Markus went to the window and pulled aside the curtain just enough to see who was outside. Ghost didn’t react this way to everyday visitors. A black Dodge Ram pickup was parked at the curb. A man with blond hair and wearing a workman’s coat stood on the porch, tapping a cell phone against the side of his leg. The doorbell chimed again, followed by pounding so hard the door shook.

“Cassidy, open the door!” the man shouted.