Free His Devious Angel by Mimi Barbour

blocks before catching the poufy-haired little bugger, he knew he needed to listen.
    The fact that Johnny-come-lately witnessed his disgrace didn't help, either. By the time Liam got back to where Sadie had the dogs properly behaving as they all waited for his return, he was hot under the collar and felt pretty damn foolish. To see the devil glinting from the angel's eyes didn't help the situation whatsoever.
    "Why don't you go hug a cloud?"
    "And miss all the fun? Not likely!"
    "Liam, are you now ready to take some advice?"
    "I'm all ears!" Go figure. Six dogs could be so hard to handle? He looked at the well-behaved monsters now arranged around Sadie, who sat like a queen on the park bench with her roll of plastic doggie bags on her lap, and he motioned his surrender.
    "Okay, first you'll have to pick up the poop that Nicky and Reverend left just over by the trees. Here's the bags." She unrolled two smallish bags and held them out.
    He wasn't sure if he'd heard her properly. Did she just ask him to pick up dog shit in a baggy?
    "Cor. The stuff won't bite you. Blokes pick up dog droppings all the time."
    "Not this bloke."
    "So you're going to make Sadie do it when she can barely walk, never mind bend over?"
    Liam stomped over to her and whipped the bags from her hands. "Where are they?"
    She pointed.  He purposely didn't look her in the eye, because if she was enjoying this moment, which he had no doubt she was, being a nice guy, he didn't want to spoil it for her. Plus, he knew the squeamishness he felt in his gut had to be splashed across his mug. He wasn't enough of an actor to hide it.
    A damn good thing the litter can stood only a few feet away.
    Holding the bags out at arm’s length would have drawn a bit more attention than he wanted if he'd had to go any farther.
    "Give over, ya toff. Don't be daft. It's a natural function."
    "Be quiet! I did it, didn’t I? When I was a kid I wasn't allowed to have a dog. So this is all new to me."
    The angel’s attitude instantly underwent a change. "I know, Liam. You did good, my man." So saying, Johnny disappeared and left a rush of gladness behind that dissolved all the anxiety insideLiam. Left him feeling strangely happy.
    He went back to Sadie. She was speaking softly to the dogs, which were rapt with attention, all six pairs of eyes glazed with adoration.  In his mind, they were walking a strange assortment of mutts. And he guessed he shouldn’t think of these expensive, groomed-to-their-eyeballs, manicured babies as mutts, but in his mind that’s exactly what they were.
    Stunned at how people could spend the amount of money it took to not only buy the animals but maintain their perfect styling, he studied each one.
    Peppi, his personal favorite, the mutt who’d shown gumption by getting away when he had the chance, was a reddish-gold ball of fluff whose little black, beady eyes seemed to see everything. At the same time his tongue lolled to the side and his open mouth curved upwards in a distinctly cheeky way.
    Lying next to him was a gorgeous white Samoyed called Samantha who had a similar laughing expression and a large plumed tail that never stopped waving.
    Then came Giorgio, a standard white Poodle, who had to be dragged along, as walking didn’t appeal to him much. According to Sadie, he’d won Best of Breed in many shows and was the particularly spoilt baby of a wealthy heiress.
     Next to him a German Shepherd called Nicky displayed leadership qualities by marshalling the others back into position with a nip or a bark, then looked angelic when Sadie called him on his tactics. He was a strong son-of-a-gun who’d almost torn Liam’s arm from the socket during a few tussles.
    Lying next to him, totally bored and showing it, was the ugliest of the happy little group, Reverend, a wrinkled mass of fawn-colored skin whose eyes disappeared periodically.  According to Sadie, Shar-Pei dogs were a relatively new breed, intelligent and loving.  Maybe so, but dragging