Jennifer Crusie Bundle (21 page)

“Right.” Zack got in the car, deliberately not looking at the dog. It was just a dog. Big deal.

Anthony started the engine, and Zack turned to the door to get his seat belt.

And there was the dog, sitting exactly where he'd left him. Staring at him.

Oh, hell.

“Wait a minute,” he said, and Anthony stopped.

“What?”

Zack opened the car door. “You coming?” he said to the dog.

“You're kidding,” Anthony said.

The dog just sat there, looking at him.

“Well, come on,” Zack said, and the dog stood and walked slowly toward the car.

“Get in,” Zack said. “We don't have all day.” And the dog climbed in carefully, favoring its back leg, and curled up at Zack's feet.

“I don't believe this,” Anthony said.

“Just drive to Lucy's.” When Anthony didn't move, Zack glared at him. “Listen, I have no choice. If I left this dog, she'd never speak to me again.”

“She'd never know.”

“You don't know Lucy.” Zack suddenly grinned down at the dog, and it thumped its tail. “Besides, this is a great dog.”

Anthony stared at the dog and Zack with equal incredulity. Then he started the car and drove to Lucy's.

W
hen Zack and Anthony came in the back door, Lucy was startled. She dropped a spoon back into the cake batter she was stirring and wiped her hands on a dish towel. “You're back early. What happened? What's wrong?”

Tina appeared in the doorway from the dining room and made a face when she saw Zack.

“Nothing,” Zack said, his hands in his pockets. “We found the money. But we found something else, too.” He steped to one side.

Behind him was the most pathetic-looking dog Lucy had ever seen.

“You poor baby.” She sank to her knees on the bare wood floor and held out her hand.

The dog limped over to her instantly, and Lucy began to scratch it gently behind the ears, trying not to cry.

Zack had brought her a dog. Nobody in her life had ever brought her a dog. They rolled their eyes when they found out she had three, and they acted as if she were crazy, and they made jokes about her zoo. But Zack had brought her a dog. A wonderful dog that obviously needed her. And him.

She looked up at him. “Where did you find him? He must be starving. Tina, get me the biscuits. The poor baby. Where did he come from?”

Zack snagged the biscuit box off the counter and crouched down beside her. “Actually, he's full of hamburger. He was in Overlook, but he's a nice dog.”

“He's a beautiful dog,” Lucy crooned as Zack fed him a biscuit.

“That's the ugliest dog I've ever seen,” Tina said from the doorway.

Anthony met her eyes. “Thank God. I was starting to feel guilty, because I wouldn't have touched it with a cattle prod.”

Zack and Lucy ignored them.

“All he needs is a bath and some food,” Zack said. “I'll give him a bath tonight. We'll take him to the vet tomorrow if that limp doesn't go away.”

“He's precious,” Lucy said, and the dog sighed and lay down beside her with his head on her knee.

“And he's not that much bigger than Heisenberg and Maxwell,” Zack said. “He won't be much trouble.”

“He won't be any trouble,” Lucy said. “But he's going to be a lot bigger than Heisenburg and Maxwell. Look at his feet.”

The dog had feet as big as saucers.

“He's only half-grown,” Lucy said. “That's probably why whoever had him dumped him in Overlook. He wasn't a puppy anymore, so they didn't want him.” She scratched the dog behind the ears again. “I think people like that should be shot.”

“Well, he's ours now,” Zack said, trying not to sound pleased. “Just what we needed, another dog.”

“We have room,” Lucy said.

Tina and Anthony exchanged glances.

“We'll have to think of a name,” Zack said, and Lucy said, “You get to name this one.”

“Okay,” Zack said, and patted the dog's hip. “Pete.”

“Pete?” Lucy stopped scratching. “Pete?”

“I had a dog named Pete when I was a kid,” Zack said defensively. “It's a real dog's name. Not like…well, some I could mention.”

“I didn't know you'd had a dog.” Lucy smiled at him suddenly. “Okay, Pete it is.” She scratched the dog behind the ears again. “Hey, Pete.”

Pete drifted off to sleep, his head on Lucy's knee.

“I
COULD HAVE FIXED YOU
up with somebody rich who'd bring you diamonds,” Tina said. Zack and Anthony were gone again, the dogs had been introduced to their new brother with a minimum of snarling, and Lucy was stirring her cake batter again. “But you want a guy who's never going to make six figures and who brings you flea-bitten dogs.”

“Yes,” Lucy said.

“You're hopeless,” Tina said.

W
HEN
Z
ACK CAME HOME
at six, he walked Tina out to her car.

“There's something I've been wanting to ask you from the beginning,” Zack said as she got in her sleek red two-seater.

Tina looked at him impatiently.

“Why did you put those locks on Lucy's house?”

Tina shrugged and started the car. “I didn't want Bradley taking anything out. It was her house.”

“Bull,” Zack said. “I don't believe it.”

Tina started to say something nasty and then stopped and cut the engine. “Get in the car.”

Zack went around to the passenger side and got in, sinking down into the butter-soft black leather seat.

“Give,” he said.

Tina took a deep breath and turned to face him. “I'm afraid of Bradley.”

“What?” Whatever Zack had been expecting, it wasn't this. “I didn't think you were afraid of anything.”

“I'm not afraid for me.” Tina drew back, annoyed. “I'm afraid for Lucy.”

“What did he do?” Zack said, murder in his voice.

“Nothing,” Tina snapped back. “If he'd ever done anything, I'd have had him arrested and executed. This is why I didn't want to say anything. He never did anything. Get out of the car.”

“No,” Zack slouched lower in the seat from stubbornness. “You don't have to prove anything to me. If all you've got is a feeling about him, that's fine. Just tell me. I need to know.”

Tina frowned at him.

“I need everything I can get on this,” Zack said. “I'm afraid for her, too.”

“It's hard to explain.” Tina stared across the steering wheel at the empty street. “It was the way he looked at her. Like she was the most precious woman in the world and he owned her. It used to scare the hell out of me.” She turned to face Zack. “He hated me. But it wasn't because of what I said or did. It was because Lucy loved me. He hated that. He wanted her all to himself. And he hated the dogs, too. Anything that Lucy loved, he was jealous of. He scared the hell out of me.”

Zack tried to stay calm. “Did he ever lose his temper? Hit her?”

Tina flushed, and Zack remembered too late that she'd been married to a man who had. Before he could apologize and get himself in deeper, Tina went on.

“No. He treated her like…a queen. He didn't know her, not the real Lucy.” She stopped and then tried again. “When you first meet Lucy, she's very quiet and polite because she's shy.”

“The first time I met her, she beat me up in an alley.”

Tina smiled suddenly and Zack was amazed. It was Lucy's smile, and Tina was an entirely different person with it. “Well, then you know the real Lucy.” Tina's smile faded. “Bradley didn't. He thought he was marrying this…I don't know, this quiet, proper, wife kind of person. I think she tried to tell him that she wasn't, but he didn't want to see anything that wasn't what he wanted. And he was awful when she wasn't what he wanted. She told me that he wouldn't speak to her when she was wearing jeans. He just pretended that she wasn't there if she wasn't wearing what he wanted.”

Zack clenched his jaw. “I really hate Bradley.”

Tina nodded. “I know. It's the only thing you and I have in common.”

“Why did she stay with him?”

“She's not a quitter. And he wasn't beating her or cheating on her or even yelling at her. He never yelled. So she just moved upstairs and they lived this very polite fiction. I honestly think Bradley may have preferred it that way. Making love to Lucy was probably too emotional for him.”

“Bradley is an idiot.”

“No,” Tina said. “Bradley is scary as hell, but he's not an idiot. That's another reason why I hated him so much. I didn't think he would ever be dumb enough to do something that would make Lucy divorce him.”

“Ah,” Zack said. “I begin to see the light.”

Tina clenched the steering wheel as she remembered. “When Lucy called me, crying, that day, I wanted to kill Bradley, but I was also really grateful. Because he'd finally done something wrong. I bribed a locksmith to get there in minutes because I knew he'd be back, and I was afraid she'd let him in and listen to him.” She turned to look Zack in the eye. “Lucy is very fair. I'm not.”

“Good for you,” Zack said, looking at Tina with unqualified approval. “You know, I like you.”

“It won't last,” Tina said. “I'm a bitch. Ask Bradley. You should have heard the things I threatened that man with when he showed up at the door. I think I seriously told him I'd have him killed. Not just as a figure of speech. The real thing. I threw everything I had at him, shrieking.”

Zack's smile broadened. “I really like you. Thank God you were there.”

“He's not going to just go away, you know.” Tina looked very sober. “He's not going to give up. He's almost…obsessed with her. This government bond thing may be keeping him busy right now, but he'll be back for her.”

Zack spread his hands. “Hey, I'm here. I'm not leaving her.”

“Well, that's another thing.” Tina darted a glance at him. “He's going to be furious about you. I'd watch your back very carefully if I were you. Bradley's too proper to ever do anything actually illegal in the normal course of things. But if he lost his temper for once, I think he could be homicidal. And the person he'd kill would not be Lucy.”

“I'll remember that.” Zack grinned at her. “I didn't know you cared.”

Tina shook her head. “I'm not joking.”

“Listen, people try to kill me all the time. It never happens. I'm Superman.”

Tina rolled her eyes to the heavens. “Oh, terrific. Listen, I don't give a damn who you are. Right now, you're the only thing standing between my sister and that…that…”

“Rat,” Zack supplied.

“No,” Tina said. “That homicidal loon who wants her back. You be careful. We need you.”

“Relax. I'll be careful.” Zack hesitated, and then plunged on. “Listen, as long as we're being honest here, I should probably warn you. You're not going to like this, but I'm going to marry your sister. She hasn't said yes, but she will.”

Tina sighed. “I know. I'm past that. You're not my choice, but you're Lucy's. She won't admit it yet, but you are.”

Zack relaxed. “Well, that's a load off my mind. I want you on my side. You'd make one bitch of an enemy.”

“And don't you forget it,” Tina said, narrowing her eyes. “If you ever hurt my sister, I'll cut your liver out. Now get out of my car. I've got things to do.”

Zack opened his car door and then, on an impulse, leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “You're not that tough,” he said and then slid out of the car before she could retaliate.

“W
HAT IN THE WORLD
were you talking to Tina about?” Lucy asked when he found her in the kitchen, pulling cupcakes out of the oven.

“I was asking for your hand in marriage.” Zack opened the refrigerator. “She said sure. What's for dinner?”

Lucy froze, the cupcake pan in one gloved hand. “She said sure?”

“She knows quality when she sees it. We've got steak? When did we get steak?”

Lucy put the pan down and slid another unbaked one in the oven. “Tina brought it,” she said, easing the oven door shut. “And her cook made stuffed potatoes, too.”

“You know, I like your sister a lot.” Zack took the steaks out and started opening cupboards, looking for a pan.

Lucy's mouth dropped open. “You do? You really like Tina?”

“Oh, yeah. She's great.”

Lucy looked at him closely to see if he was being sarcastic.

He wasn't.

“What kind of pan do you cook steaks in?” he asked, his head in one of the bottom cupboards.

Lucy gave up and went to find the broiler.

O
N
F
RIDAY MORNING
, Anthony came by with bad news. He stood in the living room and watched Zack mediate a truce among the dogs, and then he dropped his bomb.

“We've made the paper, but we're not on the front page. Another plant closing, more graft at city hall, and storm warnings for a major snowfall headed this way, but not us. We're on page two. The guy at the paper said he could have done better it we'd actually caught somebody, but just the bonds alone weren't very interesting.”

Zack stood and left the dogs to stare suspiciously at each other. “Oh, come on, we've had two bombs here.”

Anthony shook his head. “I tried that. Both already reported. Yesterday's news.”

“Hell,
they
made the front page.”

“Yes, well, if there'd been a bomb in the box, this would have, too.”

Zack sank down onto a chair arm. “So all we can hope for is that John Bradley will read the paper all the way through. Great.” He looked up at Anthony. “We're screwed.”

“Possibly,” Anthony said. “Maybe John Bradley reads his papers cover to cover. But just in case he doesn't, do not take your eyes off Lucy.”