Kara Lennox - One Stubborn Texan

“Are you always this effective dealing with your mama?” Bert asked.

THE TRIP HOME was miserable. In her haze of despair, Sydney had forgotten to check her purse, and her tiny bottle of Vera Wang perfume got confiscated at security. No doubt that mean-faced witch of a security guard now smelled terrific.

The flight was delayed-it seemed the airline industry still hadn’t fully recovered from the erratic weather patterns that had brought airports all over the country to a standstill. The plane, once it finally got in the air, was full of screaming toddlers. Worse, the man sitting next to Sydney was some kind of germophobe who obviously thought her intermittent sniffling meant she had a terrible cold. He tried to crawl out the window every time she pulled a tissue from her purse.

The taxi line at LaGuardia was twenty people deep, so when Sydney finally, finally made it home to her apartment, she was so exhausted all she wanted to do was sleep for a week. Her ankle was throbbing again. Seemed she would be stuck with that little souvenir of her trip to Texas for a long time to come.

She couldn’t afford to hibernate. She had hundreds of e-mails to cull-and an anxious father to deal with. With dread weighing heavy on her, she called him at home. And when he didn’t answer, she tried the office, though at four in the afternoon she doubted he would be there.

He surprised her by answering, sounding far more upbeat than he had in weeks.

“Dad?”

“Sweetheart! How is my champion heir-finder?”

Uh-oh. “What have you heard?”

“Only that my smart and talented daughter located the Oberlin heir when no one else could, not even her smart and talented old man. Why didn’t you tell me you were onto this? I could have helped you out, not that you needed any help. I’m so proud, I’ve had to sew the buttons back on my shirt three times.”

This was going to be way harder than she’d thought. Because as proud as he was of her now, that was as disappointed as he was going to be when he found out she blew it. No million-dollar commission. With her luck, some other heir-finder would harass Russ until he signed a contract just to get rid of them.

“Dad, you don’t have the whole story,” she said quickly. “I think some of what you’ve heard might be premature. I’ll meet you at the office and we can talk about it there, okay?”

“Okay, but then we’re going out to dinner to celebrate. Someplace expensive-I’m tired of pinching pennies.”

Sydney didn’t worry about changing clothes for a fancy dinner. It would never happen, once she confessed everything to Lowell. She threw on a pair of jeans, a Mets sweatshirt and a ratty pair of running shoes. Her hair was a disaster, so she pulled it back into a ponytail. When she inspected herself in the mirror, she decided she looked ill.

Maybe Lowell would feel sorry for her.

Consistent with her recent spate of luck, she couldn’t get a cab, so despite the sore ankle she hoofed it to the office building that housed Baines & Baines. It was only a few blocks away.

The office building that housed Baines & Baines had retail space on the street level. One of the stores was a pet shop. Normally Sydney passed it without a second glance. But today, something in the window caught her attention.

It was Nero. Or rather, a puppy version of Nero. As she gazed in the window, the bloodhound puppy jumped to its big, clumsy feet and pressed its wet nose against the glass, wagging its long tail as if it had just spotted a long-lost friend.

Russ was right about one thing. She didn’t really dislike dogs, she was afraid of them. But this puppy with the huge feet and liquid brown eyes plucked at her heartstrings. In Linhart, she hadn’t wanted to admit it, but Russ’s devotion to the old dog had been part of his appeal.

A sign in the window announced that the price on the dog had been reduced, probably because it was getting too big and eating the pet shop out of any hope for a profit.

On impulse, Sydney walked into the store and buttonholed an employee. “I want to look at that bloodhound in the window, please.”

The young man smiled. “She’s a charmer, isn’t she?” He went to the window to retrieve the pooch while Sydney just stood there, wondering if she was losing her mind.

“Her name’s Blossom. Of course, you can change it.” The moment the employee set the dog on the floor, it galumphed over to Sydney and began sniffing her shoe, just as Nero had.

Sydney sat down on the floor and the puppy was all over her, sniffing and licking, grabbing the hem of her sweatshirt and tugging, grabbing her shoelaces in her sharp little teeth.

“She’s fifteen weeks and getting too big for the shop. If we don’t sell her soon…” He let his voice trail off meaningfully. “She’s a full-blooded bloodhound but she doesn’t have any papers, so the owner’s willing to let her go cheap.”

Sydney reached into her purse and withdrew her credit card. “Ring her up. And throw in a bag of food.”

“Um, you’ll need some other stuff, too,” the eager employee said, probably spotting a sucker when he saw one. “Do you have a carrier? Collar and leash? You’ll want to get a tag, too, in case she gets lost.”

Sydney had the dog in her arms and was pressing her face into the soft brown fur. The puppy even smelled a little bit like Nero. She never thought she would like the smell of dog.

“Just the food for now-and a collar and leash,” she amended, because Blossom would have to be walked. “Gather up all the other stuff I’ll need and I’ll be back tomorrow to get it, okay?”

“Sure,” the young man said. “You won’t be sorry. Blossom’s an awesome dog.”

Minutes later, Sydney was the proud owner of an unregistered bloodhound that would have to be walked several times a day. She lived in a building that didn’t allow pets. This was going to be interesting.

The security guard at her father’s building looked askance as she entered with the dog in her arms, but she’d given him a nice Christmas gift, so he was inclined to look the other way. She took the elevator to the fourth floor and braced for what was likely to be a very unpleasant conversation.

The offices of Baines & Baines were small and humble, only a couple of rooms. Theirs wasn’t the kind of business that got a lot of foot traffic, so there was no need for anything fancy.

Lowell sat at one of the two desks in the front office he used to share with Shirley. It appeared he’d tidied up the place while Sydney was gone, which was a small miracle. He hadn’t so much as opened a file drawer in months.

He turned to her with a big dirt-eating grin. “There’s my star-Holy cow, what have you got there?”

“Um, a dog?”

“I thought you were afraid of dogs.”

“I’m not a dog person,” she corrected him. “This is a puppy, though.”

“Yeah, but it’ll grow into a dog. Where’d it come from?”

“I just bought her. It’s all part of my new campaign.”

“You mean, like advertising?” Lowell asked, obviously confused. “Hey, having a bloodhound as our logo could work. Maybe we could do a TV commercial! We’ll have the money to do more promotion now.”

“Um, yeah. Dad, we need to talk.” She set Blossom on the floor and opened the bag of food. She hadn’t purchased any food bowls, so she put some kibble in an empty coffee cup and set it on the floor. The puppy promptly tipped the mug over, spilling food everywhere, and started snuffling it up.

“You don’t look like a woman who just earned herself a million dollars.”

“Like I said on the phone, you don’t quite have all the facts.” She walked over to the other desk, swiveled the chair around and sat, weary to the bone. “I did find the Oberlin heir. It was a complete accident and I wasn’t sure I was right, so I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to get your hopes up.”