Marlo’s stomach gave a small flip as Adam walked toward the office. She hadn’t seen him for a few days and during that time she’d deconstructed their dinner together, tried to recall every conversation, each nuance and gesture. She had so little dating practice she couldn’t tell if he was being nice, or if he was feeling that same chaotic fascination that she did.

At the door, they had shared that kiss. More of that would have been nice. In fact, she didn’t have to think too much to recall that it had been better than nice. Not a steaming hot, open-mouth, thrusting-tongue kiss, like the ones in books, but careful, gentle, unthreatening. Maybe that’s what a polite, fatherly kiss was. Having never had one, she had nothing to judge by.

But it had been on the lips.

The office door opened. Oh, crap, here he is. She kept her eyes on the computer screen as he entered the office, pretending she was deep into the article she was reading. “Hey,” she threw out, all casual.

“Hey there. Any coffee going?”

When he brushed her arm as he passed it singed like a branding iron and she jumped. That overactive startle reflex still needed some work. She stayed focused on the computer monitor. Using the mouse to scroll down the screen she found her hands were dancing independently like a hyperactive kid.

“So, coffee?”

“Sure, yeah.” God, what had happened to her? She’d turned into an idiot. She pushed her chair back and stood. “I’ll fix it.”

“Are you sure? You’re not going to go breaking any crockery again, are you?”

Had he noticed her shaking hands? Probably. Cops noticed everything. She sat back down. “Okay, you do it. Mine is black, no sugar.” He could make the coffee, and she could take a moment to whip her hormones back into line.

Once settled with their coffees, Marlo asked about Richmond. Adam scratched at a small spot of dirt on his jeans and when satisfied he looked up. “There were a lot of dead dogs out there. It makes me more concerned about Justice because after what he’s been through, I’m surprised he doesn’t want to rip each one of us to shreds. Do you think he’s safe? I mean, how does an animal come through that and not harbor some sort of grudge?”

Marlo touched his arm. The spontaneity of the move surprised her. Touch was a large part of working with the dogs, yet she couldn’t recall a time she’d made the same gesture to a person. That signal of consolation could easily be misread. “I think revenge is more a human emotion. The dogs live for the day.”

“Those dogs went through hell.”

“And you’ve seen it.” As he moved, the muscle of his arm rippled beneath her palm. She snatched her hand away. What was she doing? “Sorry.”

He frowned slightly. “Don’t be sorry.”

“No, I mean sorry you had to see that…in Richmond.”

“Ah. Unfortunately, I’m used to sights like that.” He replaced his empty coffee mug on the desk. “Before we become too maudlin, tell me about the videoing you want me to do.”

Saved by a clear plan and a job to do. “I’m still trying to get Justice to take food from me. We’re so close but not there yet, so there has to be something he’s trying to tell me that I’m not seeing. If you can video what’s going on I can study it and see what cues I’m missing. Basically, I’ll be the food dispenser and you can be the cameraman.”

Adam picked up the camera and sighted her through the viewfinder. “Hitchcock at your service.”

They hadn’t been working for long before they had to finish. Justice tired quickly. He was still a long way off building any mental or physical stamina. The mental work they were asking of him burned him out way quicker than a session with a ball or a tug-toy. They returned to the office to watch the footage on the computer. In the large enclosure Marlo lay on the ground, completely still with her arms outstretched. She held pieces of cooked chicken in her hand. Although she was careful not to make any eye contact or movement if Justice looked like approaching, he would creep up only to scatter when he got within a few feet of her. At one time he was merely inches from her hand, then her shirt flapped in the breeze and Justice turned tail and hurried to the far corner of the yard.

Marlo stopped the video. “Even when I impersonate a corpse he’s spooked.”

“And such a good-looking corpse, too,” Adam joked. “Do you think there might be some clues in some of the other Justice videos you have? What I’m thinking is that we might see a situation where you’ve had a breakthrough. If we understand why something works we can repeat it.”

“Let me get the discs.”

Marlo put the first DVD into her computer. “This is unedited, I’m afraid, but I should be able to whiz through the irrelevant stuff.” On the screen Justice lay flattened on the ground. “Oh, well, at least he doesn’t behave like a pancake so much now?”

Adam agreed. “Even though you feel a bit stuck at the moment, I think you’re going to be surprised by the progress you’ve made.”

They kept working their way through the DVDs. “I’m not seeing much here. The only thing I’m getting is sympathy for the people who are landed with the task of viewing all those hours of security footage after a crime. My vision’s starting to blur; shall we continue this another time?”

Adam shook his head. “Wait. I think I’m starting to see something. Put in the next disc.”

Marlo inserted the next disc into the computer. It must have been a hot day because in the video, she wore a short pair of cut-offs and a bikini top. Grabbing the mouse, she paused the video. “Whoa-ho, not this one.”

Just as quickly, Adam leaned across her and hit enter on the computer keyboard to restart the video. “Not so fast, young lady.”

Marlo knocked his arm aside and once again got to the pause button. “No, stop.”

“Why? Marlo, you’re blushing.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “There’s a wardrobe malfunction a couple of minutes in. I asked Lulah to cut it, but it doesn’t look as though she has.”

Adam grinned. “It sounds like my sort of video,” he teased. He hit the enter key and in one swift move trapped Marlo’s wrists to stop her from pausing the video again. In doing so, he saw her eyes spark with fear. His stomach knotted. Oh, shit. This isn’t some game, she’s actually scared.

He released her and immediately stepped away as she stopped the video. He noticed her hand shake as she removed the disc. Placing it inside the case, she gathered up the rest of the discs and returned them to the cabinet. “I think we’ve seen enough.” Her voice was brittle. At the sink she poured herself a glass of water, took a sip then placed it on the bench.

Adam gave her a moment to settle before he went to her. When he gently placed his hands on her shoulders she stiffened beneath his grasp. “Marlo, I’m so sorry. I was kidding around and I’ve frightened you.”

“I’m okay.” She tried to shrug from his grasp.

“You’re not. Your hands are shaking, and you’re so tense you could shatter. You have no idea how sorry I am. I would never intentionally do anything to hurt you or frighten you.” He started to rub her shoulders gently. “Relax,” he whispered into her hair. Her back was to him and as his fingers clasped her he worked his thumbs in small, firm circles until some of the tension gave way. He maneuvered her to a chair. “Sit there. I’ll fetch your water.”

He handed it to her, and Marlo studied the inside of the glass.

“Look at me.”

She glanced up. Her eyes were red, her cheeks faintly wet.

“Come on, tell me what happened there.”

“It’s me. I’m sorry, I’m okay now.”

“Can we talk about it?”

“Nothing happened.”

“A reaction like that and you want me to believe nothing happened.” If she’d been angry or annoyed at his disrespect he would apologize and drop it. But he had seen her fear.

Marlo went back to staring into her glass of water.

“Have you got a fish in there?” he asked gently and felt a small pulse of relief as she tried to stop the smile. “Come on, let me help you.”

“Why should I?”

“Because I behaved like an ass.”

“And helping me will make you feel better about that?”

That’s what he wanted to see. There was strength in her defiance. It pleased him she was able to come back and fight for herself after appearing so scared. “No, not at all. No matter what, I still behaved badly. But I want to know what frightened you.”

“You restrained me and you think I should be okay with that?”

Such an intense response. Had there been a bad experience being restrained in her past? It’s unlikely that right now she’d feel she could trust him enough to confide. His training made him want to pursue this and help her but perhaps he should drop it. “Marlo, I apologize. I was messing around and I overstepped the mark.”

She was biting her bottom lip as if considering something. Finally, she released it with a deep sigh and her shoulders cast off inches of tension. “You overwhelmed me. I was frightened…it still scares me now to admit it.”

“Well, I’m really sorry. I was way out of line and it won’t happen again.”

It wouldn’t happen again. That should have been a relief so the gnawing disappointment she felt bothered her. When his hands had so effortlessly trapped her wrists there had been a fleeting thrill before panic swamped her. She couldn’t explain to him what the panic was about. She scarcely understood it herself.

“Forget it.” She flashed her own apologetic smile because now she was feeling as if she’d completely overreacted. Let’s get back to safe ground. “Adam, you hinted you might be getting some sort of clue about Justice.”

“Oh, yeah, I saw something. Obviously I’m no expert, but it seemed to me that when Justice had another dog around, he would sort of mirror what that dog did in its interactions with you. He watched first, then he would copy. Maybe if you bring another dog in to hand-feed, Justice might take a cue from that and feel comfortable about taking food from you.”

She couldn’t believe it. Adam might have found the key to access Justice’s locked up psyche. It seemed that he had watched the video with as much intent as she had, which surprised her. Most people couldn’t stick with many minutes of unedited footage of dogs who are often doing not very much at all.

She suppressed the shiver of discomfort at the thought of the episode with the final video. “Nice work, Sherlock.” She grinned. “I like what you’re thinking. It could be that Justice has had so little socialization with people that he doesn’t know how to interact properly. He knows he’s a dog so even though he’s had little socialization with dogs, he’s okay with aligning himself with them. Following the lead of another dog might be what works for him. Not only that, once it comes to food we have the additional help of a dog’s instinctive resource-guarding behavior. If you have one piece of food and two dogs, both are going to be keen to get it.”

Adam gave her a quick wink. “Elementary, my dear Watson.”

“Come on, let’s test your theory.” She checked her watch as she started to clear her desk. “It’s nearly six. We can take Justice up to the house and work with him and Fala. She’ll be good because she’s very calm and focused, plus Justice gets along well with her. After that, I can…” What was she saying? He wasn’t staff and he probably had things to do tonight. Her cheeks heated as she glanced at him. His dark eyes were fixed on her and she saw the muscles beneath them tense before he smiled in a most disarming manner.

She returned to stacking the papers on her desk. “I’m sorry, you’re probably busy.”

“No, really, I’d love to help. It’s the least I can do.”

She imagined this desire to help was because he was feeling guilty. Well, she’d take the offer for the possibility of a breakthrough with Justice. “That’s kind, thank you. I can fix you some dinner afterwards if you like?”

“That’s even better. Let’s go.”