Chapter 4

      But this evening came first. He wanted to get through it in a manner that could only help his future career here. In a way that would hopefully impress Amber.

      That resulted in Evan surprising himself. Tonight, he was the one to start conversations.

      It almost appeared as if Amber and he had traded personalities. She wouldn’t look at him as she ate her salad. She didn’t seem interested in talking to him.

      Not at first. Not until he stopped attempting banalities, like how good his food was and how nice the crowded restaurant was with its homey decor, its tables filled with talkative patrons...and that police presence in the far corner.

      Not until he jumped into a subject he knew would be difficult, but would at least grab her interest.

      “So tell me.” To keep himself going, he picked up another wheat roll from the basket in the center of the table and started to butter it. “How did your father get into dog training? Knowing that will help me figure out the best way to follow in his footsteps—or paw prints, so to speak.”

      She actually looked up from watching the fork she twisted in her salad greens and shot him a brief smile. “So to speak,” she repeated, “or so to bark?” Her tone was lighter now, and he felt damn good about it as her expression grew pensive. “Interesting enough, there are a lot of similarities, I think, between your background and my dad’s. He was career military, though. He stayed in the army for twenty years, so that defined my early life, too. I’m not sure how or when he became a K-9 handler, but he did.”

      A look he couldn’t interpret passed over her face, but it seemed awfully sad. He wanted to reach out and hold her hand but didn’t. “Hey, he had to have been one smart, amazing, wonderful soldier, like all K-9 handlers,” he said instead, hoping his joke would cheer her a bit.

      “Of course.” She shot him a look that suggested she was irritated, yet somehow appreciative of his attempted humor.

      “Okay, continue,” he said. “Tell me more.”

      “Well, when he got out, he decided to come to this area, near where he grew up in San Luis Obispo, but that’s a larger town than Chance. With my mother’s okay, he bought this ranch, which was vacant then, to train dogs here. Away from most people, except for us and minimal contact with others. I wonder now that I’ve met you...well, maybe he had some form of PTSD, too. His decisions after his military retirement may have been before PTSD was as recognized as it is now. Or maybe I’m wrong. But he seemed to have decided he’d spent enough time surrounded by people.”

      “Yeah, I can identify with that.” He looked her straight in the face for a few seconds. Then he decided he needed some water and glanced toward his glass as he grabbed it. “So you lived with them at the ranch for...well, how long?”

      “I was in my late teens when we moved here. I went off to college at San Diego State after about a year, though I always came back for holidays and the summer. But when I graduated with my business degree I stayed in San Diego and got a job with the home office of a big retail manufacturer—Ever Fitting.”

      Evan had definitely heard of Ever Fitting. In fact, everyone who ever wore jeans and casual clothes probably had.

      “Impressive. Do you think you’ll go back there?” He didn’t want to ask if she had quit or been fired or anything like that.

      “I have a K-9 ranch to run now.” He couldn’t tell from her tone if she was unhappy or thrilled with the idea. He hoped it was the latter, but in any event how happy she was with this area might wind up depending on him.

      That kind of pressure wasn’t what he was after. But working well with dogs and their training was. He could handle it. He would handle it.

      For now, he needed to keep this conversation going. “So how did your dad start his training classes here?”

      For the next few minutes, he listened as Amber, a pensive smile on her face, described their move here from her father’s last military assignment, which had been in Fort Leonard Wood, in Missouri, not far from St. Louis.

      “I’m not sure how he found the ranch property, but my dad was always very goal-directed. He knew what he wanted to do and the general area where he wanted to do it.”

      When they moved to the ranch, Corbin had apparently also found ways of getting word out about his K-9 training background and the kinds of classes he intended to begin, such as teaching others, in small classes or one-on-one, and how to train dogs, including their own pets. Plus, he’d contacted breeders of German shepherds and Belgian Malinois to acquire his first puppies to teach as potential police K-9s.

      “For them, he went to a bunch of breeders who already had pups available and chose three at a time that he thought would have the best potential of being wonderful K-9s. All three were eventually acquired by smaller police units when they were older and trained. Their new handlers would come to the ranch for training, too, and to decide which to choose. My dad always acknowledged this was a small ranch in a remote location, but said it was definitely worth visiting by anyone with, or wanting, a dog.”

      “Your father sounds like one smart and determined man,” Evan responded, then wished he hadn’t. His comment apparently reminded her of what had happened, not that it was likely to be far from her consciousness.

      “Yes,” she said simply, “he was.” Her voice was gravelly and when he glanced at her he saw tears in her eyes.

      Damn whoever had killed the man! Evan had already imagined trying to solve the crime while working for this lovely woman who was his boss. Now he was determined to dedicate himself to investigating in his spare time.

      When he wasn’t busy training the dogs and handlers Amber had hired him to teach.

      * * *

      She hadn’t intended to do anything at this dinner besides answer Evan’s questions about how his new position should start and evolve. But after their conversation with Kara, Amber had let her emotions run away with her.

      Especially now.

      “Okay,” she said, gathering all shreds of bravery within her that she could find, “enough of this. Here’s what I want to do tomorrow. The first class you’ll teach will be in the afternoon. In the morning, I want us to go out on the lawn with Bear so you can run him through what he knows as a demonstration and a lesson to me on how you’ll be instructing those and other students. Does that work for you?”

      She was amused that Evan not only glanced toward her, but also met her gaze, appearing surprised she’d gotten her guts back, or at least that’s what she figured.

      “It sure does,” he responded.

      They