Free The Nine Lives of Christmas by Sheila Roberts Page A

needed to connect with another living being. In fact, people needed that a lot more than cats. Most of them didn’t seem designed to function well alone. Zach could say all he wanted to the contrary, but he was no exception. He needed a female in his life.
    Not the cougar, obviously. But Merilee would be perfect, for Zach (and Ambrose). If he could bring Merilee and Zach together it would more than pay them back for their kindness to him in past lives. It would also guarantee all three of them a wonderful life now. Yes, that was the answer, which meant Ambrose needed to get Zach back to the Pet Palace.
    But how? He hunkered down to think.

SIX
    How to get two humans together? It wasn’t as if Ambrose could sit Zach down for a talk, tell him, “Look, pal, you need this female. She’d be good to you.” And he couldn’t exactly hop in a car and drive over to Pet Palace, wherever that was, and fetch Merilee back home to Zach.
    Ambrose spent the time Zach was away at work giving this problem some serious thought (in between naps, of course). He finally concluded some naughty kitty behavior might send Zach running to her for advice. Then it would just be a simple matter of letting nature take its course. After careful assessment of the situation he decided that clawing a piece of furniture was his best bet. Anyway, he needed to sharpen his claws and Zach hadn’t provided him with any other tool. Well, other than the upstairs carpet, but it would take too long for Zach to discover that spot.
    Ambrose chose an old chair Zach kept on one side of the fireplace. He knew better than to attack the leather couch.
    It was morning, and Zach was on the couch, putting on what he called his running shoes when Ambrose made his move. He stood on his hind legs and went at it with both claws. Aaah, that felt good.
    “Hey!”
    The sharpness in Zach’s voice about startled the fur off Ambrose and he sprang away from the chair and ran to the far end of the room.
    “Yeah, you’d better cut it out,” growled Zach. “That was Gram’s and it’s lucky for you I hadn’t gotten around to getting it re-covered.” He bent over to assess the damage and frowned.
    Oh, come on. It’s not that bad. I barely got started .
    He straightened and pointed a finger to where Ambrose crouched, peeking around the corner of the couch. “Touch my leather couch and you’re dead.”
    Well, duh .
    *   *   *
    Zach had many things to consider as he did his morning run, like what to work on next now that the kitchen was done, when would be the right time to put the house on the market, and … what he’d been smoking when he decided to exchange a hot woman for a mangy orange cat.
    Saying good-bye to Blair had been a good thing, he reminded himself. The woman was hot, all right, but hot things burned. Anyway, he couldn’t really afford her. He was better off on his own.
    But the cat? Zach shook his head as he jogged across Spruce on his way back to Lavender Lane where his Victorian sat, a plain cousin in the midst of houses dressed to the nines for the holidays. Why had he taken in the cat? More to the point, why was he keeping him? He hadn’t intended to, that was for sure. But somehow, in spite of this morning’s assault on his grandmother’s chair, Zach liked having the little guy around. He was good company.
    Good company. There was the bottom line. Zach liked the company. Something about living in that Victorian made him aware of the downside of his choice to live alone. Oh, he had people in his life: his fellow firefighters, his pals, the Steps. But they swirled around him, much like twigs and leaves moving down a river past a stone stuck deep in the riverbed. Old Tom was different. He had settled in and exercised squatter’s rights, and that was okay by Zach. Blair had known instinctively what he was just realizing. He had no intention of getting rid of the cat.
    Which meant they had to find some way for Tom to get his kicks other than by