“Of course not. But I’m sure the AKC would love to hear about how you use dog-show extortion to trap women into dating you.”

For the longest moment, Ruby was afraid she’d pushed too far. It was obvious that this Spencer guy was used to getting his way—and even more obvious that he felt no remorse at breaking the rules to do it—but she’d stopped using her physical charms to win pageant judges’ approval years ago.

Ten years ago, in fact. And she wasn’t about to change that now.

With a good-natured laugh, Spencer threw his hands up in the air. “Fine. You win. I can’t resist a gorgeous woman making threats. Welcome, both of you, to the West Coast Canine Classic.”

The poodle owner let out a long, relieved sigh, but Ruby wasn’t buying it. “Don’t you need to look over our applications first?”

“Caleb!” A sharp male voice interrupted before the man could answer. “What are you doing here?”

Ruby turned to find herself facing another version of Spencer. A literal version of Spencer that made her swivel her head in a double take. Instead of facing one finely sculpted paragon of masculinity with eyelashes painted by the hands of a master, she was facing two of them. The newcomer was built just as powerfully as the first, but he was dressed more formally in a button-down shirt and well-pressed slacks. He wore his dark hair neater and cropped closer to the head, and his movements were more rigidly controlled, but they were otherwise as identical as, well, twins.

“Spencer!” Spencer said—only…wait. That couldn’t be right. “Just the man to help us out of this fix.”

The newcomer strode forward, his mouth set in a firm line. “Caleb, I don’t know what you’re doing or how you got here, but you need to get home.” He glanced at a clock on the wall and added, “Now.”

“Don’t worry,” the man said. “I have a half hour until the next bus comes, so I thought I’d pop in and see how things are going.”

By this time, the poodle owner looked as perplexed as Ruby felt. “I’m sorry…” She glanced back and forth between the two men. “Which one of you should I turn the application in to? Muffin and I are anxious to get everything squared away.”

Muffin didn’t look the least bit anxious, but Wheezy was starting to show serious signs of something. He strained and pulled in an attempt to get closer to the newcomer, a low whine escaping his lips. In all the time Ruby had known this dog, she’d only ever seen him this animated about pork products.

“To neither of us, I’m afraid,” the newcomer said. He stabbed a finger at the wall. “The entry cutoff was at ten. You missed it.”