“If you believe that, then you don’t know anything about me.” He took a step closer, drawing so near that the air around her was displaced. There was no touching, but she could feel the warmth of him, the familiar comforts of his strength and solidity. “Anyone—any animal, I mean—can learn how to follow the rules. When it comes to a real winner, what I like is a combination of personality, strength, and resilience.”

“Oh?” Her heart thumped heavily, her stomach settling somewhere between knots and butterflies. He was doing it. He was playing the game. He was meeting her exactly where she needed him to be.

“It’s not an easy combination to find, especially in the more decorative breeds.”

“Who are you calling decorative?” she demanded.

“Not Wheezy, that’s for sure.” He leaned close, his lips not quite touching hers. She could taste the outline of them, sense the quiver as they drew near. “I had a different creature in mind.”

“Tell me more,” she said. “What else do you like?”

“Well, the shape of the head is very important.”

Considering that their mouths were almost brushing, their bodies drawn like magnets toward each other, this was a moment for eloquence and sexual promise—for the eternal language of love. Instead, something perilously like a giggle rose to her lips.

“I like a good set of haunches, too,” he said. She felt the curve of his smile. “Strong and firm—something you can feel pulsing under your hand.”

“This is starting to sound like an awfully tall order.”

“It is,” he said, and this time, all the humor went out of his voice. “About five foot nine, is my guess.”

She stiffened.

“I know you don’t want to hear it, Ruby,” he said. “You want me to be the man who challenges you and pushes you, who looks at you and sees not just a beautiful woman but a force to be reckoned with—and I do. I promise I do.”

“But?”

His hand came up and cupped the side of her face. She didn’t want to lean into it—didn’t want to need him—but she did. She so completely did.

“But I also love you. More than I thought possible—more than all the dog shows and beauty pageants in the world. More than my job and my house and everything else that I’ve come to realize doesn’t matter if I don’t have you to share them with.”

“You gave up your dog show for me,” she said. “I told you not to do that.”

“I didn’t give it up. I recused myself. It’s different.”

“How do you figure?”

He paused. In the long moment that ensued, Ruby’s heart leapt to her throat and stayed there. Spencer’s next words mattered so much more than he knew.