Free Diamond in the Ruff (Matchmaking Mamas Book 13) by Marie Ferrarella Page A

to get carried away. “Although I have to admit that you don’t look like the type who would take a stick to a dog.”
    Lily shivered at the very thought of someone actually beating their pet. Why would anyone get a pet if they had no patience? Every relationship, whether strictly involving humans, or extending to pets, required a large dose of patience unless it happened to be unfolding on the big screen in the guise of a popular studio’s full-length cartoon feature.
    “Also,” he continued as they made their way to a more open section of the park, “regarding housebreaking—there will be occasional setbacks,” he warned her. “I don’t recommend dragging Jonny back and sticking his nose into what just came out his other end while sternly denouncing him, saying, ‘No, no!’ Best-case scenario,” Christopher explained patiently, “all that teaches him is to do it somewhere a little more out of the way so he won’t get reprimanded for it.”
    “And worst-case scenario?” she asked, curious what he thought that was since what he’d just described
was
worst-case scenario as far as she was concerned.
    Christopher laughed softly. “Your puppy just might find he has a taste for it. I’ve heard of more than one dog who believed in recycling his or her own waste products.” He stopped walking, taking a closer look at Lily’s face. “You look a little pale,” he noted. “Are you all right?”
    She put her hand over her stomach, as if that would keep her hastily consumed breakfast from rising up in her throat and purging itself from her stomach. Opening her door to this puppy had consequently left her open to more things than she’d ever dreamed of, no pun intended she added silently.
    “I just didn’t realize all the things that were involved in taking in a stray—even temporarily. The only dogs I ever knew were up on a movie screen,” she confessed. Admittedly it had been a very antiseptic way of obtaining her knowledge. “They didn’t smell, didn’t go to the bathroom and had an IQ just a tad lower than Einstein’s.” She smiled ruefully as she elaborated a little more, realizing while she was at it that she was underscoring her naïveté. “The kind that when their owner said, ‘I need a screw driver’ would wait until he specified whether it was a flathead or Phillips head that he wanted.”
    Christopher grinned. He liked that she could laugh at herself. The fact that Lily had a sense of humor was a very good sign, as far as he was concerned.
    “In the real world, if you don’t bathe them, dogs smell, and they don’t do long division in their heads.” And then he went on to list just a few of the positive reasons to own a dog. “But they
do
respond to the sound of your voice, are highly trainable and will come to an understanding with you, given the time and the training—coupled with a lot of patience. Always remember, anything worth doing is worth doing well. You let a dog into your life, remember to show him that while you love him, you’re the one in charge, and you will never regret it.”
    Christopher paused for a moment. He caught himself looking into her eyes and thinking how easily he could get lost in them if he wasn’t careful.
    Taking a breath, he told himself that he needed to get down to business before she got the wrong idea about him and why he was here.
    “Now then, are you ready to get started?” he asked Lily.
    “Ready,” she answered with a smart nod, eager to begin.
    “All right,” he said, stooping down to the dog’s level again to remove the leash he’d given her. He replaced it with a long line, a leash that was three times as long as the initial one. Getting back up to his feet, Christopher told her, “The first thing we want to teach Jonny here is to come when you call.”
    She watched as he slowly backed up, away from Jonathan. “Um, how about housebreaking?” she asked hesitantly.
    She would have thought that would be the very first thing the dog