A Mutt in Disguise Read Online Free PDF Page A

couldn't be. Her heart beat
a little bit faster, and she grabbed the long counter she stood behind for
support. His amber eyes darkened as he slowly ran his gaze up and down her
body, and Anja forgot to breathe under that silent
assessment. She had to resist the urge to fidget with her hair, and an army of
butterflies seemed to have taken up residence in her lower tummy. This was
ridiculous. She didn't react to any man like that, well not outside of her
dreams, anyway. Even Declan with his all-too-obvious good looks and easy charm
hadn't made her feel lightheaded like this. And this man reduced her to a
simpering version of a Regency heroine with just one glance?
    Too much coffee,
that's what it was. Easy on the caffeine in future and stop gawping at him,
girl.
    "Hi, I'm Anja . So glad you found us. We haven't met before, have
we?"   The words came out far too
breathy, and Mary threw her a surprised look. The stranger didn't seem to
notice the effect he was having on her.
    Thank the Lord for
small mercies.
    The last thing she
needed was to make a spectacle of herself in full view of the rolling camera
crews. Much to her surprise, a news van had turned up for the open day, and
they were going to do a special feature on the shelter on the six o'clock news.
Mary had been beside herself with excitement. The segment would go out tomorrow
night with an appeal for sponsorship, and the reporter had been unobtrusively
filming in the background all day. He trained his camera on Anja and the long line of people waiting for their evening meal. Mindful of the
audience, Anja bit back the smart words bubbling on
her tongue when the stranger in front of her grunted in response to her question
and pointedly stared at her boobs.
    Now that was just
plain rude .
    He leaned closer
and pointed towards the pot of homemade soup with another grunt, and Anja jumped into action. Of course he would be hungry. He
needed food, a shower, and a bed for the night, not to be subjected to her
fevered imaginings.
    "There you
are." She passed him a steaming bowl of chicken soup and a chunk of bread.
He grabbed the bowl of food from her, and she reared back in surprise. A jolt
of electricity shot up her arm at the simple contact of his hand brushing hers.
Heat flooded her cheeks, and her fingers tingled. Their newest arrival seemed
completely unaffected, however. He slurped the soup down, pointedly stared at
her boobs again, and then turned his back on her. He snarled at one of the
overeager reporters approaching the food station, and Mary deftly intercepted
before the man could take offense.
    The newcomer
slumped into a seat, shut his eyes, and promptly started snoring.   Despite his obnoxious behavior Anja couldn't help but get annoyed at the reaction of those
around him. They gave him a wide berth. The smell emanating off him was unpleasant, but everyone had a story, and this man had as much right to be here
as anyone. As soon as the last person in the line had been served, she walked
up to him and shook his arm to rouse him. She was prepared for the jolt this
time, but not for the deep, gravelly voice wrapping itself around her senses.
    "No need to
manhandle me. I move."
    "I wasn't.
The day is winding down, that's all and—"
    "You want me
to fuck off out of here, I get it." He interrupted her and shook her hand
still curled around his surprisingly hard biceps off with an almost feral
growl. Again, Anja was reminded of Mutt, and she
shook her head to clear the fanciful notion away.
    "No, that's
not it at all. The shelter is filled to capacity, but I thought you might want
to take a shower, and I'm sure we can find you something warmer to wear at
least, before you set off again."
    "I don't need
your pity or charity, lady." He growled the words and rose to his full
height.
    "I'm not in
the habit of handing out pity, Mister, and if you don't want charity, then
don't come to a shelter. It's really no skin off my nose whether you want to
freeze to death out