He turned slowly now, his interest piqued against his better judgment.

“Any so-called agreement you had with Cliff left the farm when he did. So...bye.”

Her heart-shaped face went pale, her brown eyes wide with alarm. Zayne frowned. He didn’t mind pissing her off, but he didn’t like whatever this was. It looked too much like fear. Then he remembered who he was talking to. Andrea Wentworth had never shown fear in her life, as far as he knew.

Her looks had hardly changed at all. Long, straight red hair falling just past her shoulders. Trim and pretty, with nothing out of place. He’d always thought she’d looked like a porcelain doll, and she still did. Then he remembered dolls didn’t have souls.

“I’m busy, Andrea.”

“Zayne...please.” Her need sounded genuine. Not his problem.

“Go away.”

“Are you still mad about high school?” Anger sharpened her words again. “My God, aren’t we both supposed to be grown-ups by now?” She moved around the car and stalked toward him, her blood clearly boiling. Color was rising on her cheeks. “The least you could do is listen.”

The passenger door opened behind her. A small child hopped out of the back seat. The boy was making a beeline for the big red barn, yelling about seeing the doggy.

“Wait... Hudson! No!”

Oh, triple shit.

He ran after the kid and heard Andrea give a small cry of alarm before she followed.

Duke, the bullmastiff, was snoozing in the shade near the barn doors, unaware of the three humans rushing his way. Duke didn’t like surprises. And Zayne had no idea what the giant dog thought of children. He was fine with his nephew, Anthony, but Luke and Whitney’s child was a baby. Zayne called out for the boy to stop, but it was too late. Duke looked up, blinked and jumped to his feet faster than any hundred-and-seventy-pound dog should be able to move. The boy slid to a halt when he realized he was basically eye to eye with a dog that outweighed him three times over.

“Duke, sit!” Zayne shouted the sharp command.

The dog’s butt hit the ground, but his eyes were on the child in front of him. His massive head moved forward, and Duke took one big slobbering lick up the side of his face with enough force to set the boy back on his heels. The kid started laughing.

“Good dog,” Zayne gasped as he reached them. It hadn’t been a long run, but it had been a fast one—uphill—and his left leg was already telling him it had been a bad idea. He patted the dog’s head and couldn’t help smiling at the goofy look he got in return. “Thank you for not eating the tiny human.”