Free Her Special Charm by Marie Ferrarella Page B

his way of asking why her friends didn’t fill the void. Seeing as how he had a pet himself, she figured he knew the answer to that.
    â€œNothing quite takes the place of a pet that loves you no matter what. Wouldn’t you do anything for your dog…” She stopped, realizing that he’d never told her the animal’s name. “What is his name, anyway?”
    He wondered if the woman ever stopped prying. And why he kept answering her questions. “Stanley.”
    She pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. It struck her as an unusual name for a dog. She wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d told her that the dog’s namewas Dog or something common, like King or Rex. Stanley, however, came under the heading of highly unusual.
    â€œWhy did you name him Stanley?”
    He found himself wanting to trace her smile with the tip of his finger. The thought, the urge, came out of nowhere. He banished it back to the same region.
    â€œI didn’t,” he answered curtly. “He came with that name.”
    He didn’t go on to say that Eli had given the dog to him when the guard dog he kept at the deli had had her first litter. He didn’t talk much about Eli. The subject was far too personal. And he’d already told this woman far more than he normally would have told anyone.
    The sooner she left, the better.

Chapter Six
    â€œY ou don’t have to do that.”
    They’d finished eating, but instead of taking her leave the way he thought she would, Constance had picked up their plates from the counter and slid off the stool.
    She was going to wash them, he could tell by the look in her eyes. Where did she get off, making herself comfortable in his life?
    To underscore his protest, James reached for the plates she was holding.
    â€œYes, I do.”
    Her voice was soft, but firm. Was her body the same way? The thought came out of nowhere, shaking himup. He didn’t give a damn if she was hard, soft or in-between. He just wanted her out of here.
    Sidestepping him, she went toward the sink. “If I don’t, you’re not going to have a single thing to eat off of tomorrow morning.”
    â€œI don’t eat in the morning.”
    After opening the cabinet door beneath the sink, she denuded each plate of the scraps that were left. He didn’t care for the way she nodded her head, as if she were privy to something about him that he wasn’t. “Starting the day on an empty stomach could be why you see the world in shades of gray.”
    The condition of his stomach had nothing to do with the way he saw the world. He’d arrived at his view a long time ago. “There’s a hell of a lot more reason for it than that.”
    Constance rinsed off the first dish and looked at him. “I’m willing to listen if you feel like talking.”
    There was compassion in her eyes and a manner about her that could have induced a clam to open and yield up its pearl. But he had decades of keeping his own counsel and he wasn’t about to begin spilling his innermost feelings to a stranger—even if he could, which he didn’t think was possible. You walk a certain way all of your life, you don’t know how else to walk.
    â€œLady, the last thing in the world I want to do is talk about it.”
    â€œMaybe you’d feel better.”
    He’d been as polite as he was prepared to be.“What would make me feel better is not having my space invaded.”
    After rinsing off the second dish, she held out her hand out for the dish that Stanley had used. It was still on the floor. “Not invading, just visiting.”
    â€œSame difference.” Biting off another curse, he picked up the plate and handed it to her.
    Because there was nothing else left, Constance used a little of the hand soap and applied it to the dish, rubbing it in with her fingers. Stanley had licked the plate so clean, there was nothing to remove except for