Retribution by Elizabeth Forrest Read Free Book Online Page A

his damnable brain doing the opposite of his larynx, wheeling in tumultuous thought and emotion.

    "Sorry to be bothering you." She cleared her throat. "This is not about us."

    No, of course, the call wouldn't be… she was too stubborn and he was too proud, and there was no us, anyway, not any more.

    "You need a dog?" Stupid, idiot thing to say, she hated dogs….

    "No, John I don't need a dog." And she spoke in that patronizing tone which he hated, reminding him of how bad it had been between them and why he should not have been surprised when she left. "I called because I ran across something today, and I thought you might be interested. That dog you trained, the golden, the one that bothered you so much… well, the young lady and the dog are going to be at an art benefit auction in Laguna tomorrow night. I've e-mailed you the information and address. That's all. Don't make anything out of this call."

    "I don't intend to."

    "I know you better than that, John." She gave a lilting laugh and hung up, the laugh reminding him of just how good it had been between them once. Laughter and good times and pleasant sex.

    His phone took a few seconds to disconnect, buzzing loudly, setting the kenneled dogs off again, barking in chorus to let him know they heard suspicious sounds. He bellowed, "Shut up!" at them, and they quieted down eventually.

    He did not know if the golden retriever had been the beginning of the end of their relationship, the cause or the symptom, but Julie was right— the assignment had worried at him a lot, gnawing with sharp teeth at the bone, the core, of him. He closed the file drawer slowly, went to the computer and sat down, looking at the screen saver kaleidoscope for a moment before signing on for his mail.

    You don't take a dog like a golden retriever, a dog known for its companionship qualities and temperament, and make a guard dog out of it. It would be like deliberately poisoning its personality, the pearl of its existence. There was a reason certain dogs were used again and again in the business, because they were bred for it, they had the aggressive qualities which could be combined with direction, as well as other qualities. But a golden retriever had never been bred for aggression, controlled or otherwise, and he had accepted the assignment with a ton of misgivings.

    Julie had talked him into it because of the money involved, not to save the kennel which had been foundering despite his disability from the police department, but to fund him into another line of work. For retraining, she'd explained again and again, nagging him to go into computer programming for months… and he had finally taken the assignment because he was desperate for that almighty check. He had not, naturally, used the funds to retrain himself, but that was just another step into the downward spiral of their relationship.

    Those misgivings had been compounded the moment Jagger had been delivered to his compound— a sleek, smaller-boned golden, agile, with bright caramel eyes and a feathery tail, complete with his little vest proclaiming him to be a companion dog. He had known the dog was a family dog, but not that he had already been finely trained.

    John had sworn at the driver. "Jesus Christ, this dog is already trained. What are you people doing?"

    The driver had looked at him impassively, shrugging, "I just brought the dog and the check, sir. You want 'em or not?"

    Flint, the Alsatian, hurled himself at the wire enclosure, barking in mad alpha domination at the golden who merely looked interested, his tail giving that ambiguous wag which people who don't really know dogs think is a sign of friendliness. It was Jagger's way of saying that he wasn't intimidated… yet.

    "You don't take a trained animal like this and reverse it."

    The driver rolled his shoulders again and held the leash out.

    Jagger looked up at John, and his pink tongue lolled forward a bit in a self-confident pant. Rubidoux looked at the