Kate didn’t notice the siren because she felt a slight twitch of muscles beneath her fingertips and suddenly Max opened his eyes. you are!” she said joyously. quiet,” she warned quickly, pressing him down with both hands when he made a feeble effort to roll onto his stomach. is on the way,” she promised him. Without looking up, she asked Mitchell, sort of help is coming?”
Her question was almost drowned out by a vehicle roaring up the driveway and screeching to a halt in front of the hotel.
sort of help,” Mitchell replied, standing up.
Kate leaned forward and looked around his legs; then she looked up at him in laughing disbelief and unabashed admiration. called anambulance ?”
She would have said more, but Mitchell was already striding off toward the ambulance and the dazed dog was getting agitated, thrashing around in a feeble effort to roll to his feet. Soothing Max with her voice and hands, she watched two men jump out of the ambulance while a dark green car came racing up the driveway and lurched to a stop behind them. The car was still rocking when the driver flung open his door and got out, carrying a large black bag.
He was a physician, Kate knew at once, but her delight was doused by her fear that the doctor and ambulance drivers would all get back in their vehicles and leave as soon as Mitchell told them who their patient really was. Tensely, she watched Mitchell gesture toward the dog she was holding down.
Kate held her breath.
The doctor turned and started walking toward her. The ambulance drivers rushed to the back of their van and pulled out a stretcher.
Amazement and optimism soared through Kate, and she whispered to the dog, think we’re in very good hands, Max.” She was positive of it when the physician crouched down beside her, looked at the nervous, wary dog and opened his black bag. local vet is on vacation, but I phoned a veterinarian friend of mine in St. Maarten before I left, and I brought along some things he recommended. Now then,” he said calmly, usually like me. Let’s hope this one does, too, because I don’t want to sedate him just yet. Head injuries,” he continued as he slowly reached out toward the dog, be—”
A low, throaty snarl began in the dog’s throat and his lips curled back over white fangs.
The physician yanked his hand back. animals often attack anyone who comes too close,” he informed Kate; then he reached toward the dog again, this time cautiously, inches at a time. this fellow is willing to let you touch him, so he ought to let me do it. He’s actually a little afraid of me . . . and all that snarling is really just . . . a bluff.”
, I don’t think it—” Kate’s warning was drowned out by the physician’s yelp of pain.
Chapter Seven
THEdog is going to be fine,” the physician told Kate and Mitchell as he looked around for his black bag.
The ambulance drivers had left earlier, after settling the dog on the floor near the coffee table in the main room. ’ll sleep through the night, assuming I gave him the right dosage. Tomorrow, you should take him over to St. Maarten and let a vet there have a look at him and take some X-rays of his skull and shoulder.”
can’t thank you enough,” Kate said sincerely, I’m terribly sorry about your arm.”
bite isn’t extremely deep, but it is rather painful,” he replied stiffly while collecting bandages and antiseptic from the table near the terrace doors. of course now there’s the question of rabies to consider.”
Kate stifled a smile that was part anxiety and part mortification. did say that whoever you spoke to at the hospital just now told you there hasn’t been a case of rabies reported on the island in years?”
. However, it’s imperative that you keep that animal with you until you leave. After that, I’ll take care of him. I wish you would let me take him with me now.”
want to look after him myself while I’m here,” Kate said. She had a feeling the physician would prefer to euthanize Max to find out immediately if he had rabies, rather than wait out a ten-day quarantine period to see if Max developed symptoms.
he shows any symptoms of rabies while he’s with you, I need to know about it immediately so that I can be treated. Agreed?”
,” Kate said, and nodded for emphasis.
you understand clearly what those symptoms are?”
wrote them down right here,” Kate said, holding up the tablet.
this dog were to disappear before ten days from now,” the doctor lectured, would have to undergo treatment for rabies, whether he actually has rabies or not.”
Mitchell had heard enough about this highly unlikely eventuality that didn’t need to be addressed unless it became an unlikely reality. The dog had been so weak and disoriented that his bite had barely broken the physician’s skin, but the man had howled in pain and bandaged his arm as if a major artery had been severed. understand perfectly,” Mitchell said smoothly, and ushered the physician to the door. ’ll keep him on a leash when he goes outside,” he added, and swept the door open.
In the doorway, the doctor hesitated, and turned back around. youhave a leash?”
’ll get one in the morning.”
The man still balked. ’ll do itfirst thing in the morning?”
the crack of dawn,” Mitchell averred, and putting his hand lightly on the other man’s elbow, he turned him around and propelled him unceremoniously out the door.
Kate watched that maneuver from the other side of the room, amused and impressed by Mitchell’s blasé sangfroid and his swift efficiency in times of stress. In the few hours she’d known him, she’d criticized him soundly—and unjustly—for the Bloody Mary; dumped a drink on his shirt; reneged on the nice dinner she owed him; and involved him instead in a dramatic canine-rescue effort. He’d handled all of that imperturbably—and very, very graciously. An hour ago she’d imagined he might be a murderer; now she regarded him as a friend and ally.
Kate’s cordial feelings for him were evident in her warm smile as she said, still owe you dinner. I could call room service and we could eat out on the terrace, if you like.” Since Evan planned to arrive the next evening, Kate suggested the only other alternative she could offer. would you rather forget about dinner and let me pay for your shirt instead?” She wondered if Mitchell would notice she’d limited him to only those two choices, but his reaction was so nonchalant that she decided he either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
here will be fine,” Mitchell replied. owe me a meal,” he added mildly, I always collect on debts that are owed to me.” She was obviously expecting a boyfriend to arrive the next day, he realized, or else she’d have offered an explanation for not being able to have dinner with him some other night.