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“Should I swoon now too? You know, go for the complete damsel-being-rescued-by-the-knight act?”
    A surprised laugh burst from him. “Thanks, no.”
    “That’s good. I suck at playing the helpless female anyway,” she said, chuckling. She pulled away, then turned to face him.
    “Oh dear, you are covered. I’m really sorry.”
    Dev glanced at his mud-encrusted suit and forced a grin. “It could be worse. I just need a shower.” Dev checked his watch. “Except, damn, I can’t check into my hotel until three.”
    “Don’t worry about it. You can shower with me.”
    Ah, yeah.
Now there’s a welcome any man could appreciate. His thoughts must have shown on his face because Shelley turned apple red.
    “No! Oh God. I didn’t mean
with
me. I meant at my place.” Shelley blushed from her forehead to the collar of her tight top. “Oh my God. I can’t believe I said that. Ha! Freudian slip, much? No really, I uh, meant you can come over to my place and use my shower after I’m done. Or before. You can use it before me. Either way is fine.”
    And that was one Freudian slip he could seriously get into.
    Given the way she was blushing and rambling, Dev accepted with no small amount of regret that it probably was just a slip of the tongue.
    “That would be great, Shells. I wouldn’t mind an opportunity to de-funk.”
    Her lips curled into a grin. “You know, no one has called me that in years.
Shells
.”
    “Really? You signed your e-mail that way.”
    “I did?”
    “Yeah. I suppose I could call you Dr. Shells, but that just sounds too formal.” He winked at her, relieved that some of his earlier awkwardness had disappeared. “I could call you Shelley, if you—”
    “Shells is great,” she said quickly. “Really great. You’re uh, great. To . . . to come to Elkridge and help me with my problem. Mystery! The missing animals.”
    Despite the smudge of dirt on her cheek and the sludge on their clothes, a sexual awareness zinged through the air. Riveting and echoing. Time suspended until a strong wind whipped through the street, chilling Dev’s legs.
    “Like Hercules here?”
    “What?” She blinked twice, then shook her head. “No, he’s not missing. He’s just trying to go on a walkabout.” And the dog gave a mighty pull on his leash that damn near toppled Shelley again.
    “Mind if I take the dog?” He slid his hand down her arm to take the leash from her. The touch sent another sizzle of awareness, this time straight to his groin.
    “Sure.” She stared at him another moment, her eyes hazy as if she too couldn’t deny that pulse of heat beating between them. She blinked and her expression shifted to something distant but still friendly. Shelley gestured toward the beast. “Hercules is a great dog for most people. Loving and gentle. But puppies like Herc crave a bit of freedom from time to time.”
    “I’m glad to see your
issue
with man’s best friend has been resolved.” Dev slipped the leash off her arm. Immediately the animal sat down, his big tail thumping the cobblestone street. “Your gift of communicating with animals now extends to dogs? Or do you still call your gift a ‘crift’?”
    “My cursed gift.” Her cheeks pinkened. “No, I don’t call it a crift anymore. God, I can’t believe you remember all that.”
    “Kind of hard to forget your Dolittle gift, especially after I watched you talk your roommate’s cat out of that tree.” Dev rubbed the top of the dog’s head. “But then you couldn’t go into Cam’s house if his dog was there. I seem to recall Troian chasing you back into the car after a party our junior year.”
    “Yeah, not my fondest memory.” She shook her head but grinned. “Nothing’s really changed in the animal kingdom. Except for Herc here, every canine I’ve met since I turned seventeen freaks out on me.” She glanced at the big puppy and shrugged. “I’m not sure why Hercules is different. Maybe because I helped deliver him by cesarean