His arms tightened around her. “Love ya too.”
Harper stayed there in his arms maybe longer than was necessary. She imagined if there really were ghosts, her parents would be wrapping their arms around them now, proud of how they made their way out of tragedy.
When she began to back away, Brody stiffened. “Isn’t that—”
A loud bark cut him off as Harper spun around, fully recognizing that bark. She squinted, discovering chocolate ears flopping in the wind. “Oh my God.” Her heart leapt into her throat, and she charged forward.
On the sidewalk, she dropped to her knees, and Houdini lurched into her arms, his chest heaving. “Brody. Water. Quick.”
She heard Brody take off toward the house and stared at the puppy, his tongue wagging. “Why are you here?” She glanced down the sidewalk, expecting to see Chase walking toward her.
The sidewalk was empty.
“Here,” said Brody, dropping down next to her, placing a bowl of water onto the concrete.
“Thank you. Oh my God.” She placed Houdini down in front of the bowl. He went straight for the water, slurping it up quickly. “I don’t understand why he’s here.”
Brody rose. “Maybe it has something to do with that.”
She followed Brody’s gaze. Up ahead, in the middle of the road, Chase and Darryl were atop horses, one a dappled gray, and the other, Chase’s horse, Mac, with a bloodhound leading the way. A long leash ran from his collar to Darryl’s hand. The dog had his nose to the ground, walking briskly. While confusion swirled in Harper’s mind, her heart skipped a beat, her belly filling with butterflies at Chase’s focused stare.
The bloodhound pulled harder against the leash, then stopped and barked.
Darryl hopped off his horse, grabbed the dog, and yelled something in a foreign language. The dog silenced and lay down, only to jump up a second later and walk alongside Darryl as if he was out for a stroll.
After his drink, Houdini climbed back onto Harper’s lap. She gathered him in her arms then rose, unable to look away from Chase. It was not too often she saw Chase atop his horse. Damn, this man was a sweet-loving, fine-looking cowboy.
“Interesting day you’re having,” Brody said when Chase reached their driveway.
“You could say that.” Chase smirked.
Harper glanced from one to the other, a few times over. There wasn’t one iota of tension between them. Brody hadn’t told her he had smoothed things over with Chase when he delivered the news about Joel, but clearly, they had come to some kind of understanding.
Good. Her instincts were spot-on about Brody bringing the news about Joel. She figured once they realized what true betrayal looked like, they would get over themselves. She smiled, glad she was right. At the same time, her smile couldn’t possibly last long. “I’m so confused,” she piped up. “What happened?”
Chase rested his hands on the horn of his western saddle. “Darryl dropped by to
let us know they caught the dumpster guy.”
She felt her eyes widen. “You did?” she asked Darryl.
“We did.” He nodded. “And it’s a good thing I came by too, since apparently Houdini is an escape artist.”
Harper laughed, kissing the pup’s head while he still panted. “Well, his name is Houdini, after all.” To Chase, she asked, “He got out of the house?”
“Totally my fault.” Chase frowned. “I left the back door open when I was showering, and he chewed through the screen.”
Inappropriate images of Chase naked and wet flashed through her mind.
They must have shown on her face since his eyes did that intense thing they did when he became aroused. “When Tyson”—he gestured at the bloodhound—“started to track him down through the field, we hurried to the ranch to grab some horses.”
“Seriously, he ran all this way to me?” Harper lifted Houdini, staring into those adorable eyes. “How did he know how to get here?”
“Probably from whenever I drove you home.”
Harper blinked. “But that’s crazy.”
Darryl said, “You’d be surprised what dogs can do with scent alone. I’m amazed by Tyson daily.”