Chapter 3

Emily stood in the middle of the Carver Center’s main room on the second floor, making one last check before she went downstairs to wait for Max. About twenty-five kids were packed into the space, lounging on the mismatched couches and chairs, bending over puzzles and board games, or concentrating on projects in the art corner. She’d already looked in on the third floor, with its computers, desks, and study rooms, where another fifteen children were doing homework or cramming for exams.

The room’s usual decor was supplemented by strings of colored lights draped around the windows, wreaths hung on the doors, and a Christmas tree standing in one corner, adorned with ornaments created by the kids. She hoped the festive additions would put Max in a generous mood.

She had called the kids together earlier to explain that they were having an important visitor and asked them to keep things neater than usual today. The children were doing a pretty good job, although Jackson thought he was hiding the fact that he had smuggled in a candy bar. Food was supposed to be confined to the first floor, where the kitchen and dining room were located.

Emily sighed and walked over to hold out her hand.

Jackson straightened up on the couch where he had been slumped listening to something on his phone. He pulled out one earbud. “What?”

“The candy. You can pick it up from Powell at the front desk on the way out.”

Jackson rolled his eyes but fished the half-eaten chocolate bar out of his sweatshirt pocket and handed it over. “Sorry, Ms. Emily.”

“If you bring it in here again, I’ll hand it over to Nurse. She loves chocolate.”

The boy snorted. “She say . . . says my teeth will rot and fall out if I don’t quit eating so much of it. But she eats more than I do, and her teeth are all still there.”

Emily laughed and rewrapped the bar before sticking it in her blazer pocket.

As she started down the stairs to check on the dining room and kitchen, the front door flew open and Diego dashed in, holding something in his arms. Powell, the security guard, jumped up and started around his desk before he stopped with a chuckle. “Diego, what are you doing running in here like that? I nearly tackled you.”

The boy didn’t stop, heading straight for Emily. He held out the bundle in his arms, choking on a sob. “He got hit by a car. Some bad kids was being mean to him, and when I stopped them, he ran into the street. Can we take him to the vet?” His voice was tight with anguish.

Emily hurried down the last two steps to look at what Diego carried. A small black dog, its eyes closed, its head encrusted with blood and dirt, lay wrapped in the boy’s sweatshirt while Diego shivered in his shirtsleeves from the deep freeze outside.

Diego looked at her as he cradled the dog in his thick, muscular arms. The arms his father wanted him to use for intimidation of delinquent customers, while Diego wanted to use them to hold and protect every small creature he encountered. She saw the clash of hope and uncertainty in his brown eyes. He’d been let down—and worse—by so many of the adults in his life. She wasn’t about to add to the list.

“Let me think,” she said. The vet was too far away to carry an injured dog on foot, and everyone at the center either walked or took public transportation to work, so she would have to get a taxi. Which wasn’t so easy in this area.

And what about her appointment with Max? He had made time in his hectic CEO’s schedule to come here. If he liked what he saw, his support could help more than just one boy and one stray dog. She closed her eyes for a brief moment as she made her decision, knowing it might jeopardize the whole K-9 Angelz project. “You stay here. I’ll grab my coat and purse and tell Nurse I’m leaving.”

Diego nodded. Emily was about to head back up the stairs when the front door swung open again.

Max strode through it, his charcoal overcoat flapping open to reveal a dark blue suit and red tie. He looked even more intimidating than he had the day before in his office, maybe because he was frowning.

Inspiration struck her in a blinding flash. She could solve two problems at once and give him a vivid illustration of why K-9 Angelz was so vital to the kids. “Max, it’s so great to see you. Did you drive here?”

He came to a halt, the tenor of his frown changing from irritation to surprise. “Yes. Why?”

“Because we need to take an injured dog to the vet, and we need a car to do it.” She put her arm around Diego’s massive shoulders. “Diego rescued him from being tortured by some kids, but the poor dog ran into the street to escape and got hit by a car.”

Max surveyed the large boy and the small dog, his expression impassive. His gaze flicked to Emily before he turned back toward the door, saying over his shoulder, “Come with me.”

Emily realized she hadn’t been breathing when she sucked in a gulp of oxygen and gave Diego a quick squeeze before releasing him. He started forward while she debated going for her coat.

“Take my jacket, Ms. Emily,” Powell said, holding out a bulky, flannel-lined brown garment with a security patch sewn on the arm.

“I appreciate it,” she said, thrusting her arms into the too-large coat and heading for the door.

She didn’t have her purse, but Dr. Quillen knew her from caring for Windy, so the bill wouldn’t be an issue. Except for having to pay it. She grimaced as she thought of the only spare money she had, a small reserve she’d scraped together to buy a new laptop to replace her old one, which had crashed four times in the last two weeks.

As she hurried out the door, the frigid wind slapped her cheeks and blew open Powell’s jacket. But what made her gasp was the gleaming black limousine pulled up at the curb. Max and Diego had just made it to the bottom of the steps, when a chauffeur leaped out to swing open the back door.

“We have a medical emergency, an injured dog.” Max nodded toward Diego and his burden.

“Yes, sir,” the chauffeur said. “Where are we headed?”

Max swung around with his slashing eyebrows raised as Emily reached the limo.

“The South Harlem Veterinary Clinic,” she said before reeling off the address.

Diego had already ducked into the elegant car. Max held out his hand to help Emily in, his dark gaze giving away nothing. She braced herself before she touched him, but the warmth and strength of his grip still sent a thrill racing up her arm. As she settled onto the smooth leather seat beside Diego, Max released her hand and bent to enter the car, his sculpted face and broad shoulders briefly looming over her. When the heavy wool of his overcoat slid over the back of her hand as he brushed past her, she jerked at the contact.

She needed to get her reactions under control.

The door slammed shut, and in the next minute, the car glided forward.

Max had pivoted and dropped into a corner of the seat facing her, stretching out his long legs diagonally. Emily couldn’t stop her gaze from skimming down the entire length of fine wool laid over hard muscle.

“Thank you for letting us use your car, Mr. Varela,” Diego said, jerking her attention back.

“You know who I am?” Max sounded startled.

“Yes, sir. Ms. Emily told us you be . . . were coming.”

Emily pulled herself together, thanking her lucky stars for Diego’s good manners. “I apologize for the unexpected detour, Max. I hope you will still have time to visit our facility.”

He glanced down at the wafer-thin gold watch on his wrist. “I’ll make time.”

Relief rushed through her. She hadn’t ruined the center’s chances . . . yet.

A long, high-pitched whimper issued from the bundle Diego held so carefully. “That sounded bad,” the boy said. “Could you look at him, Ms. Emily?”

Although she didn’t know much about canine anatomy, she scooted closer to Diego. “You keep holding him,” she said. “I don’t want to move him any more than necessary, since he may have internal injuries.”

Easing Diego’s sweatshirt away from the dog’s head and body, she winced at the blood-matted hair around several gashes on his neck and back. There were raw patches on the little creature’s sides, and one of his back legs was bent at an unnatural angle. Something white and blotched with blood protruded through the skin. Emily sucked in a breath when she realized it was a bone. But the dog’s side continued to rise and fall.

She folded the soft fabric back around the animal. “Diego, I don’t want to give you false hope. He’s not in good shape. However, that doesn’t mean that Dr. Quillen can’t help him. We’ll just have to see what she says.”

“Those shi . . . kids was treating him bad.” Diego curled his torso around the dog as though to protect him. “Why do people hurt animals who never did nothing to them?”

There was no good answer to that.

“It makes them feel powerful.” Max’s deep voice surprised her. She’d almost forgotten he was in the car. No, that wasn’t true. Strength and heat radiated from him, permeating the air of the enclosed space, so that she could feel his presence rippling over her skin. She just hadn’t expected him to involve himself with Diego.

The dark velvet of his voice wrapped itself around her as he continued. “Hurting something or someone weaker than they are is the way some people make themselves feel strong. Of course, it only proves how contemptible they are.”

Emily shook off his spell just enough to throw him a look of gratitude. He met her gaze but gave no indication of what he was thinking.

“Three guys against one little dog don’t . . . doesn’t make them look strong,” Diego said.

“No,” Max said. “The truly strong protect those who are weaker.”

Emily wanted to cheer as hope began to unfurl in her chest. She couldn’t have asked for a better representative for the center or her project than Diego.

Max shifted his attention to her, and she felt it like a spotlight. “The veterinarian is someone you use for your own dog?”

“Yes, Dr. Quillen runs a clinic that provides low-cost medical services for all kinds of animals. She’s amazing. I’ve never seen her turn any creature away, even a rat someone brought in.”

“She’s highly skilled?”

“She was number one in her class at Iowa State University,” Emily said. She knew Max was questioning why a veterinarian who would be in demand anywhere would choose this locale. Which meant that he cared whether Diego’s stray lived or died. “But I only know that because I did a search on the Internet. She doesn’t boast about it.”

“Shouldn’t she be treating cows and pigs, then?” he asked, his tone wry.

“We don’t have a lot of those in Harlem.”

“Mrs. Duke used to have a goat,” Diego volunteered. “But he died.”

Max snorted. “Not a ringing endorsement of Dr. Quillen.”

“The goat was really old,” Diego said.

“Ah.” The corner of Max’s mouth twitched. “I suppose we can’t expect Dr. Quillen to have discovered the fountain of youth.”

The limo slowed, and the chauffeur’s voice came through the intercom. “We’re at the clinic, but there’s nowhere to pull over. I’ll have to stop in the street and let you out.”

“No problem,” Max said, already sliding across the seat to push open the door beside Diego. “Let me get out first, and I’ll help you so the dog isn’t jostled too much.”

Diego exited the car without evoking another whimper from the injured dog. As Emily scooted to the door, Max bent and offered his hand again. She wished she didn’t have to touch him, because she knew it would send another wave of distracting sensation skittering through her. But it would be rude not to lay her hand against that broad palm and feel the power of his grip when he closed his fingers around hers.

This time it felt as though an electric current surged through her. Without thinking, she looked up at his face and found him staring at her with that same arrested expression he’d worn in his office.

Could the electricity have shot up his arm, too?

Emily put her feet on the ground and allowed him to pull her upright. He dropped her hand as soon as she was standing, so she must have been imagining things.

Max glanced toward Diego, who was ahead of them on the sidewalk, before he lowered his voice. “That dog is hanging on to life by a thread. I hope like hell your vet is a miracle worker, or your kid is going to be crushed.”

“Diego is tougher than you think. He has to be,” Emily murmured back. She hurried between two parked cars. “I’ll get the door.”

The clinic was in a storefront with plate-glass windows covered by metal grilles. Emily sighed as she saw how crowded the waiting area was. The clinic was always busy because Dr. Quillen was well respected and her prices were flexible, depending on the client’s ability to pay.

Emily hated to make these people with their ailing pets sit here even longer, but Max exhibited no such qualms. He ushered Diego through the door and straight to the receptionist’s desk, looking neither right nor left. “We have a seriously injured dog here. He was first tortured and then hit by a car.”

Carla’s head jerked up, and Emily waited for the no-nonsense receptionist to snap back at Max, as she often did when pet owners got too pushy. However, after Carla eyed Max for a split second, she nodded and hit the intercom call button. “I’ll get a tech right away.”

A young woman in electric-blue scrubs appeared almost immediately and cast an inquiring gaze over the three of them. “Is it your dog?”

“It’s a stray,” Emily said. “But Diego here rescued him.”

The tech smiled at the boy. “Good work!” She looked at Emily and Max. “There’s not really room for all of us.”

“I’ll come with him.” Emily looked up at Max, his height making her tilt her head back.

“Go ahead,” Max said, his voice tight with some sort of tension. “I’ll wait.” He glanced around the room that seethed with animals and people. “Outside.”

She nodded and followed the vet tech and Diego down a corridor floored with cracked gray linoleum but painted a soft green and hung with posters of adorable baby animals.

They turned into a small room where most of the space was taken up by a stainless-steel examination table with a spongy blue cushion padding the top. Diego laid his bundle on the table, and the tech peeled back the sweatshirt. The little dog whined and opened his eyes for a moment.

“Easy, little guy,” the tech said as she scanned his external injuries. When she saw the jutting bone, she frowned. “I’ll get Doc.”

Emily stepped closer to the table as a fist of fear clutched at her chest. The dog lay on his side, his breathing shallow and rapid. He had a square head and nose, long floppy ears, and the gangly legs of a dog just past puppyhood. His ribs showed clearly through his matted black coat. Emily winced at the number of wounds on his small body and averted her eyes when she got to the exposed bone. Diego had said the kids had done mean things to the pup. Her anger flared at the wanton cruelty.

She met Diego’s worried gaze and smiled reassuringly. “The doctor will know how to help him.”

The door swung open, and Dr. Jessica Quillen strode in, wearing a white lab coat over bright pink scrubs. Her brown hair was wound into an untidy bun that always seemed about to unravel, and she had the softest, kindest gray eyes Emily had ever seen. The doctor gave Emily her usual serene, unruffled smile but went directly to the dog on the table.

“Poor fellow, he looks like he’s had a rough time of it.” She ran her fingers lightly over the dog’s head and body. “We have an open fracture here,” she said, inspecting his broken back leg. “We’ll need to take an X-ray to see what else might be injured. And we’ll get him on fluids right away.”

“Is he going to live?” Diego asked, his dark eyes clouded with concern.

The vet’s face softened. “I’m not sure yet, but I’ll do my best. You were smart to bring him to me right away.” She slid her hands under the sweatshirt the dog lay on. “Is this your sweatshirt?” she asked Diego as she lifted the little creature in her arms.

He nodded.

“You were kind to wrap your friend here in it. I’ll get it back to you.” She turned toward Emily. “Carla has your cell-phone number, so we’ll call as soon as we have news.”

“Can’t we wait?” Diego asked after the doctor walked out the door.

His caring made tears well up in Emily’s eyes. “It will take some time to figure out what to do for the dog, and they need the chairs in the waiting area for people whose pets haven’t been seen yet.”

Diego looked down at the empty examination table. “They won’t do noth . . . anything to him without calling first, will they? I mean, like—” His voice hitched, and he swallowed hard.

Emily wanted to wrap her arms around Diego, but instead she said gently but with confidence, “They would only put him to sleep if they thought he was in terrible pain, and you would want them to ease that.”

Diego nodded. “But he only whimpered once.”

“Trust Dr. Quillen to do everything she can for him. She’s a really good vet.”

The boy wiped the back of his hand across his eyes and nodded again.

“Let’s find Mr. Varela and go back to the center. And, Diego, thank you for showing him what a great person you are.”

Diego gave her a level look that was old beyond his years. “I can’t see an animal hurting and not try to help it. At least me being so big is good for that.”

He’d once told her that he wished he wasn’t so tall and broad shouldered, because it meant his father wanted him to scare people. Which had led to Diego’s refusal and exile from his home, such as it was.

“Maybe that’s why you’re so big, so you can be a protector. Like a knight in the old days.” Emily waved toward the door to get him moving.

“Sir Diego.” His lips curved up in a tiny smile as he started walking. “Got a ring to it.”

As they entered the reception area, Emily sent Diego outside while she stopped at the front desk. “Would you send me the bill at home?” she leaned in to ask Carla in a low voice.

Carla gave her a strange, knowing smile. “Consider it taken care of, honey.”

Puzzled by the woman’s response, Emily started to clarify, but the door swung open, letting in a blast of the December chill. “Emily, the car is waiting.” Max’s voice carried across the room, causing all heads to turn.

She tugged her borrowed jacket around her and hurried to the door. “Sorry.”

“No need to be.” He braced the door open with his arm high so she could pass under it. Her shoulder brushed against his chest, and she caught the clean scent of starch and warm male. A shudder of longing ran through her, and her body softened and swayed toward him before she forced herself to move forward onto the grimy sidewalk.

The limo was double-parked, so Max put his hand on the small of her back to guide her between two cars. She could swear she felt the heat of his palm through the thick layers of Powell’s jacket, but that was impossible. Her imagination kept running away with her.

Max held the car door for her as she ducked away from the distraction of his touch.

The sight of Diego’s face dispelled her reaction to Max. The boy was fighting back tears as he said, “It’s my fault that dog got hurt. He was afraid of people until I started to make friends with him. I made him think he could trust people, so he let those kids get near him.”

Emily’s heart twisted so hard she nearly whimpered like the puppy. “You can’t blame yourself for other people’s cruelty. Showing the puppy friendship brought happiness into his life, happiness he might not have known before.”

“Happiness ain’t worth getting killed for,” Diego said, staring out the window.

“It’s worth fighting for.” The rumble of Max’s voice pulled her attention back to him. She found his dark gaze fastened on her. “Don’t you agree?”