Beast Untamed: Beasts of Bodmin Moor, Book 3 by Faye Avalon Page A

lingered. He hunkered down, rested his elbows on his thighs and gently encouraged Willa to come to him. “Here, girl. I’m not going to hurt you.”
    He didn’t reach out to her, didn’t click his fingers or make those cooing sounds people tended to do when faced with a reluctant dog. The fact that he’d take the time, have the patience, meant so much to Erin that she couldn’t stop the warmth filling her chest.
    Not taking his eyes from Willa, Nathan asked, “How old?”
    “She’s sixteen months.”
    “What spooked her?”
    The six-million-dollar question, Erin thought, and hoped he wouldn’t press so she wouldn’t have to lie to him. “She’s just a little skittish with strangers.”
    The way Nathan eyed Willa, and the way Willa eyed him back, prompted Erin to wonder if there was some sort of communication going on between them that went far deeper, sounder, than any normal contact between man and dog. It was the strangest feeling and akin to the kind she had at the oddest moments around Nathan. It made her want to relax her defenses a little, to lower that barrier she had constructed around herself. There was something about him that she couldn’t quite put a label on. Did Willa sense it too?
    She let her attention float between man and dog. Nathan’s green gaze had darkened, his expression intense and focused. Her dog was curled tight into her leg and was quivering badly. Erin was about to bend and reassure her, but Nathan stopped her in her tracks.
    “Why don’t you give her a minute?”
    Nathan barely moved, just crouched there on her kitchen floor while he and her dog had a staring match. Willa barked twice, tried to get farther behind Erin. “She’s really scared. Why don’t I put her in the sitting room and—”
    “She’ll be okay. Won’t you, girl?”
    Willa sat bolt upright, as if on alert. She whined a little, glanced up at Erin, and then began moving slowly across the kitchen. Her tail was between her legs, something Erin hated. She’d seen Willa like that too many times to count.
    Seconds later, Willa stood in front of Nathan. Her tail was still down, as was her head, but she looked up at Nathan with doe eyes.
    “Why don’t you hand me some treats?”
    A surprised Erin was already reaching for the biscuit tin. “What are you? Some kind of dog whisperer?”
    Nathan chuckled. “Far from it. Sometimes all it takes is a little patience. There’s a good girl,” he said, offering Willa one of the treats Erin handed him. “Nothing here to be afraid of.”
    Erin knelt beside Nathan, stroking along Willa’s flank. “That’s the fastest I’ve known her to accept someone she doesn’t know. You’re a miracle worker.”
    “She knows I don’t mean her harm. It’s that simple.”
    Well, not entirely, Erin thought. She’s got too much baggage in her short life to trust that easily. But all that really mattered right then was that Willa was now down on her belly enjoying the treats Nathan fed her, interspersed with a stroke and tickle between her ears.
    Erin looked up and met Nathan’s gaze. The man had spent time patiently getting to know her dog when he could so easily have simply ignored Willa. Hadn’t someone once said that you could recognize the heart of a man from the way he treated animals?
    It was enough to persuade Erin that she could take the final step toward short-term intimacy with Nathan, and she let the last of her reservations slip away.
    She wanted him. He wanted her. It was for one night. Her eyes were wide open.
    “You said something about coffee,” Nathan said, still scratching between Willa’s ears. “I’ll need a shot of energy for the drive back to my place.”
    Erin smiled. “I think I can manage that.”
    His eyes gleaming dangerously, he took her hand and pulled her to her feet. Willa showed her displeasure at the withdrawal of her biscuit source by nudging Nathan’s leg.
    “How about your bedtime treat?” Erin said, distracting her dog. “Out you