A Very Merry Christmas: WITH "Do You Hear What I Hear" AND "Bah Humbug, Ba (4 page)

He started to back away again, but the donkey didn’t budge. Hemmed in by a donkey and a doll-face, both of them hazardous to his health.

“Tell me about this pet psychic business.”

“All right.” Oblivious to his internal struggle concerning sexual positions that made him sweat, Marci said, “For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a special ability with animals.”

“An ability, huh?” Ozzie edged out from between the two of them.

“I’m sorry that it makes you uncomfortable. I’m sorrier that you think I’m a flake.”

His head shot up and he looked at her face. She appeared so earnest, and so wounded, that he frowned.

Damn it, he did not want to hurt her. And he had promised Lucius that he wouldn’t.

But she patted his chest as if forgiving him, then went on with her explanation. “It’s okay. Most people think I’m unhinged. Back when you first asked me out, I had hoped you’d be different, but…you’re not.” Her narrow shoulders lifted. “And that’s okay. I understand. I’d have a hard time believing it, too.”

Maybe if she explained, it wouldn’t be as bad as he thought. “What exactly is it that you do, Marci?”

“I know when animals are upset and why. I understand them. I hear their thoughts and fears and worries.”

“Oh-kay.”

“It’s easy, really.” She caught his hand and pressed it beneath her breast, over her lightly bumping heartbeat. “When you bother to listen with your heart. But few people do. They arrogantly go around as if being human makes us supreme.”

Ozzie snatched his hand back, but he still felt burned.

She sighed. “What other creatures feel doesn’t concern most people, or at least not enough to be bothered with it.”

“So…” What the hell was he supposed to say to all that? “The donkey asked for your help?”

“It doesn’t really work like that. Obviously, he’s not a talking donkey.”

Well, thank God for small favors.

“But when I passed the funeral home, I felt his unhappiness.”

“His unhappiness? Huh. Imagine that.”

“Yes. The other animals are content. They like the attention, if not the exposure to the cold. But the donkey was so miserable, and so lonesome, I got a lump in my throat and a pain in my chest. I felt everything he felt and it nearly broke my heart. So I stopped.”

He couldn’t bear to think of her that upset, so he focused on something else she’d said. “Lonesome? But didn’t you just say there were other animals there with him?”

“He wasn’t
alone,
Osbourne, he was
lonely.
There’s a difference.”

His guts cramped. Maybe that was the crux of her problems. “You’re alone,” he pointed out. And then softly, with caution, “Are you lonely?”

For once, she seemed evasive, waving away his question. “I stroked the donkey, petted him, and I opened myself to him—”

“Opened yourself to him?”

Propping her hands on her hips, Marci huffed. “Are you going to repeat everything I say? Because if you are, we should sit down and get comfortable. But if that’s the case, I’m going to take the donkey out first so he can, uh, take his constitutional in the snow instead of on my floors.”

Ozzie sighed. There’d be no help for it. He put his coat back on. “Let’s talk in the truck on the way. Give me the keys. I’ll drive.”

She frowned in disapproval. “Didn’t you just get off work?”

“Yeah, but I’m fine.”

“You haven’t been to bed yet. You must be tired.”

Tired, no. Exasperated, yes. Confused, yes. Horny as hell, yes, yes,
yes
. But he’d manage. “The keys?”

“Fine.” She lifted them off a peg on the wall and handed them over to him. “But don’t make any sudden or jarring turns or anything. I don’t want the donkey to fall down.”

Ozzie ran his hand over his head. He pictured the donkey toppling sideways and had to roll his eyes.

But he didn’t want the donkey to fall down, either.

Marci pulled on a down-filled coat, wrapped a scarf around her neck, put on her hat and mittens, and then she leashed the donkey.

“Don’t be nervous, darling.” She briefly pressed her cheek to the donkey’s head. “I’m taking you home. You’ll see. It’ll be okay.”

And like a contented puppy, the beast followed her out the apartment door and out the building, into the snow, to take his constitutional.

And like the bigger ass, Ozzie trailed along.

As if the foot of snow they’d already gotten wasn’t enough, the sky softened with flurries. As the sun struggled to peek above the horizon, an awful glare reflected off the white landscape.

“We’re in for a two-hour drive.” Ozzie watched as Marci opened the back of the big truck. The bottom half of the door unfolded like a loading hatch. “Will he need water or anything along the way?”

Smiling at him over her shoulder, she said, “No, he’ll be okay. Before I swiped him, I put some hay inside. It’s still there. Generally, donkeys need to eat less than a horse does of the same size. Two hours will be like nothing to him. But it’s very sweet of you to be concerned.”

Ozzie felt like a jerk. “It’s not sweet. It’s just that I don’t want him…suffering.”

“Or unhappy?”

A sharp quip concerning sensitive donkey-feelings tripped to the end of Ozzie’s tongue, but before he could give them voice, the donkey rushed up the ramp and into the truck.

And damn if he didn’t look anxious to be on his way.

Surely, the animal didn’t realize…No, of course he didn’t. Odds were, he’d been trained to get into a truck. Ozzie couldn’t let Marci’s cockeyed perceptions affect him.

Disgruntled, he stepped around her and closed up the truck bed securely. “Come on.” Taking Marci’s arm, he led her to the passenger’s side door. Their feet crunched through frozen snow, wind whistled against them, ice crystals formed on their faces—and Marci kept smiling.

He’d noticed that about her early on, the way she took whatever life threw at her and stayed happy. She had the most optimistic outlook he’d ever known. Maybe because he was such a pessimist, he liked that about her.

The smile was enticement enough, but Ozzie also noticed how it nudged a little dimple in her rosy cheek. Snowflakes clung to her thick lashes and settled on the tip of her cute little nose. Now that she’d gotten her way and the donkey was ready for its journey, she positively glowed with pleasure.

He couldn’t help himself. He bent and pressed a soft, gentle kiss to her cold lips. He could feel that smile of hers, and it fed something in his soul.

And that scared him.

He drew back and frowned at her.

Puzzled, she asked, “What?”

“Nothing.” Catching her around the waist, Ozzie hoisted her up into her seat, then, without thinking about it, he fastened her seatbelt. With her gaze glued to his face, Marci kept that crooked, endearing smile in place the entire time.

Their eyes met, and Ozzie couldn’t look away.

Would she wear that sweet smile while coming? Or would she clench her teeth and groan and…

When he realized he still loomed over her for no good reason at all, he cursed and stepped away, then slammed her door. On his way to his own seat, he lectured himself on the impropriety of lusting after a woman not based in reality. He knew the consequences and he knew, if he was smart, he’d satisfy his lust with a staid, no-nonsense woman.

Problem was, he’d never wanted another woman the way he wanted Marci.

He climbed into his own seat and Marci said, “That was a nice kiss.”

“Forget about it.”

“I don’t think so. I think I’ll cherish it, and remember it always.”

“Oh, for the love of—”

“You’re sure you’re okay to drive?”

A safer topic. He grasped it like a lifeline. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve worked fourteen hours straight and still gotten myself home.”

“Fourteen hours?”

Ignoring the sexy, totally kooky broad beside him, Ozzie started the truck and eased it from the apartment parking lot out onto the road. “Sometimes standoffs take a hell of a long time. You don’t just up and leave in the middle of it.”

“I’d never be able to do that. I was up most of the night staking out the funeral home so I could sneak off with the donkey without anyone knowing.”

Ozzie refused to ask, but that didn’t stop her.

“I parked the rental truck in the empty grocery lot and walked down that way, then hid in the bushes. It was so cold and I got so sleepy, and my feet and behind were wet from sitting in the snow.”

Do. Not. Ask.

“It wasn’t until this morning that the road quieted down enough for me to slip away with the donkey. I was so cold and stiff, and tired, I could barely move. I’d planned to sleep in this morning, then you showed up. But at least by then I’d showered and thawed out all my body parts.”

He couldn’t think about her thawing. “What would you have done with him if I hadn’t showed up?”

Marci shrugged. “I was going to try some sleuthing on my own, but I realize now that I probably wouldn’t have gotten very far with that.” She pulled off her hat and put it in her lap, then, staring down at her hands, said, “I’m glad you did show up. Thank you.” And with that, she turned on the static-riddled radio and found a station playing Christmas music.

Ozzie was glad he’d shown up, too. What if someone in her apartment building had called about the noise, and Marci had gotten arrested? Worse, what if someone had found her on that dark, cold road and…

That thought was so disturbing, he cut it short. Holidays or not, there were still bums and creeps hanging on every street corner.

Out of the blue, taking Ozzie by surprise, Marci said, “I’m used to ridicule and disbelief, you know.”

He did a double take. “What?”

“Everyone thinks what you think. That’s why I don’t let many people know about my gift. In fact, I moved here to hide it. I don’t tell anyone now, and when I help an animal, I do it anonymously, to avoid some of the mockery.” She turned to look out the window. “When I was younger, I used to talk about it. But I quickly learned that it’s not a good thing to admit being different. I got called names by the meanest people, and the others just kept their distance.”

The way he’d kept his distance.

What kind of childhood must she have had? Hell, what kind of adulthood was she having? He knew for a fact that she didn’t date much, and other than her sister, she didn’t seem close to anyone.

To give himself a moment to think, Ozzie adjusted the heater and defroster. Being SWAT required that he know how to deal with all types of people and their problems. He didn’t consider Marci delusional, just fanciful. She wasn’t a risk, except to his sanity. But she definitely had some ideas that needed special care.

When he said nothing, she sighed. “Bethany is really protective toward me. She loves animals as much as I do, but she doesn’t share my intuition. When I tell her something about animals, what they feel and need, she believes me a hundred percent, and she’ll do whatever she can to help. But it’s harder for her than it is for me.”

Never before had Marci conversed so casually with him. Their few attempts at dating had focused on the sexual chemistry between them, not on feelings. He enjoyed seeing Marci this way: relaxed, open, trusting.

Trusting?
Well, yeah.

Giving it some thought, Ozzie supposed he had to consider her actions based in trust. Hadn’t she just said that she didn’t tell many people about her…gift?

But she’d told him.

And then he’d done the expected and avoided her. Stupid ass.

Okay, so he now knew enough about women to know not to get overly involved with the…unique ones. But that didn’t mean he had to steer clear of Marci altogether. He didn’t have to shun her.

He just wouldn’t entangle himself with her romantically. He’d keep things casual. Sexual, maybe, but casual all the same.

It amazed him, but Ozzie wanted to learn more about her and her strange predilections toward animals. “Since you and Bethany look identical, it’s surprising that she doesn’t share your gift.”

Resting her head back on the seat, Marci closed her eyes. “Lucius has always been able to tell us apart.”

Oh, ho. That sounded like a challenge. “And you think I can’t?”

She opened her eyes again and surveyed him. “But you just said we look identical.”

“Outwardly, sure. But you smile differently. You walk differently and laugh at different things. You’re usually off in your own little world, while Bethany is always on the attack.”

That had her laughing. “No, she is not. Well, except maybe with Lucius, before they got things ironed out.” Then, more quietly, “Or when she’s defending me.”

And that probably explained why Bethany didn’t seem to like him. From jump, she’d been prickly with him, always watching him as if she expected him to sprout horns. Or maybe…hurt her sister’s feelings.