The Billionaire's Island Bride (South Shore Billionaires 3)

Marvin sat there looking up at them, an anxious look in his eyes.

Brooklyn took the opportunity to step back and clear her head from the seductive haze that was Cole. “Well, hello, sleepyhead.” Marvin had curled up in front of the fire and snoozed most of the evening. “I suppose you need to go outside.”

Cole took the crystal glasses from her hands. “I’ll deal with these. You take him outside. Or if you want, we can go out together. It’s not as bad as it was, but it’s still a storm and it’s pitch-black outside.”

“My things are by the front door,” she said, patting her leg for Marvin to follow. “But I wouldn’t say no to the company.”

Brooklyn headed to the front door, but instead of his usual trot, Marvin plodded along behind her. “You can’t still be sleepy,” she chided him, reaching for her raincoat. “You’ve been a lazybones all night.”

He looked up at her and whined again. Maybe it was the storm, she reasoned. Marvin wasn’t himself, but they were in a strange house with the remnants of a hurricane blustering outside.

“What’s wrong?” Cole joined her a moment later, shrugging on a jacket.

“Marvin’s slow. And whining a bit. Hopefully he’s not scared.”

Cole handed her a flashlight. “Here. We should have a light.”

Together they opened the door and went outside. Marvin hesitated in the doorway, but then went down the few steps to the path and found a nearby bush to pee on. He started to trot away, so Brooklyn and Cole followed, the flashlight beam illuminating the rain that seemed to be falling sideways in the brisk wind.

But it was definitely not as bad as earlier. The worst was probably over now.

Marvin hunched over and Brooklyn followed with a poop bag; she wasn’t about to leave his mess on Cole’s lawn. But when she went to him, she saw him straining with very little progress. And then when he did have success, there was blood.

Her heart froze a little. His uncharacteristic lethargy, the whining, the blood...something was wrong with Marvin. And they were stuck on this island with no power, and no way off. Even if the storm eased, the sea was too wild for either of their boats.

“Cole?” She called through the wind, and he ran over to her right away. Had her voice sounded as panicked as she felt? “There’s something wrong with Marvin. There’s blood, and...” Her throat closed over.

Cole took the flashlight. Marvin was whining, loud enough they could hear him over the wind, and tears of fear stung her eyes. “Marv, what is it, huh? You not feeling good, buddy?”

“Let’s get him inside.”

She nodded, and they urged the dog to follow them back to the house. She toweled him off carefully, trying to stay calm. “There you go, sweetie. All dry.” She looked at Cole. “Let’s see if he’ll drink.”

They went back into the kitchen, and then Brooklyn realized that Marvin hadn’t eaten the kibble she’d put out at supper time. She’d had a fine time, eating and drinking and laughing and kissing Cole...and her best friend had been getting sick.

“He didn’t eat,” she whispered.

The dog sniffed the bowl of food, looked at the water and turned away.

“Okay,” Cole said, taking her hands. “Who’s your vet?”

“Dr. Thorpe in Liverpool. But he’s unlikely to have power...”

“Does he have a cell number?”

She nodded. “He gave it to me once when Marvin was a puppy and we had an emergency. I think it’s still in my phone...”

Cole squeezed her fingers. “Okay. I know it’s late, but call him. See if he has power.”

Tears slipped down her cheeks. “Even if he does, we can’t get off the island. Not with the swell being what it is.”

“First things first. You call. I’m going to check into some things.” He paused and kissed her forehead. “Marvin’s going to be okay, Brooklyn.”

She sniffed and pulled her hands away. “Okay. I’m going to look for the number.”

Cole slipped away and went to another room, and Brooklyn retrieved her phone. With shaking fingers, she scrolled through her contacts until she found Dr. Thorpe’s number. He didn’t answer for the first four rings, but on the fifth he picked up, and she let out a breath, determined not to cry or panic.

As they were talking, Marvin started to throw up. There was only bile, which she relayed to the vet as calmly as she could, as well as Marvin’s other symptoms. With a promise to call him back with any updates or an estimated time of arrival, she clicked off the call, started crying again and went searching for something to clean up after Marvin.