Read Once Upon a Pet Show (A Redpoint One Romance) for Free Online Page A

people now congregated near the
doorways.
    With the lack of outside interest, the line of
daubpups started to break up. Two of them came over to the feeding
door and demanded attention. Clementine got to her feet and headed
towards the piles of straw. She rooted out the center of a nest and
rearranged until it was just right.
    Penny shook her head, causing her ear tufts to
wave back and forth. A chin-scratch with one hind leg, and she got
up to prance to the back of the enclosure. Soon, she was
rearranging her own nest.
    A few moments later the eyes were closed and
their bodies relaxed.
    Asleep? That fast? And she'd been worried
about them settling down tonight after so much excitement in the
day, starting off with a malfunctioning environmental controller.
Thankfully fixed quickly by Redpoint One maintenance
engineers.
    Which brought to mind something else that had
been on her mind all day. She'd been rather short with both of the
men in her worry over the daubpups. They did come rather fast, and
they did fix the problem. It didn't matter if one of them was in
training. The one called Damien knew what he was doing. Obviously.
She wished she could apologize.
    Neon looked up at her through the front of the
enclosure, the tufts of her ears back against her neck as she
leaned into the scratches Vallory was giving her. Her eyes should
be closed. They usually were when she was enjoying
scratches.
    Instead, Neon was giving her a mischievous
know-it-all expression that Vallory had learned usually meant
trouble.
    "No, it does not mean I think he might have
been cute, in his own way," Vallory said firmly at Neon. "It only
means I feel bad and want to apologize. That's all."
    Neon sniffed at her and tossed her head,
causing the tufts to flop against the back of Vallory's hand. With
another sniff and a chirp, she turned away and headed back to the
grouping of grassy nests.
    "Fine, don't believe me." Vallory closed the
feeding door and glared at Neon as the daubpup went about settling
herself in.
    Definitely not interested. She didn't like
muscled men like that. They usually had attitudes to go with it.
Like the apprentice.
    A small voice reminded her that Damien hadn't
had the same attitude. He'd been polite and straight-forward, and
he got the job done quickly.
    Vallory pushed the hair away from her face,
suddenly feeling flushed. Too much time away from other people. Too
much time with the daubpups and not her own species. That was the
only reason she'd noticed the man. And, really, he just wasn't her
type. Really.
    At the last thought, Vallory looked up to
glare at Neon, sure the daubpup would be staring right back at
her.
    Not this time. All of them appeared to be
asleep. Little colorful mounds in their nests of straw and grass.
Settled in for the night.
    Something she should do herself. The daubpups
didn't need her help tonight like she thought they
might.
    Her knees protested as she climbed to her
feet. Yes, time to take care of herself, and that included finding
the meal she'd missed because of the meeting she'd just come
from.
    With one more check on the daubpups, she
headed for the nearest exit. Not many in the building now. She
would be back in the hotel room in no time, with a quick stop-off
for an indulgence for junk food from one of the small places in the
nearby food court.
    "Vallory Schist?" one of the female security
guards at the door asked as she started to pass through.
    Vallory paused. "Yes?"
    "Ma'am, security would like to speak with you
before you leave for the evening," the guard said, gesturing back
into the building and towards the far end of the
building.
    In the direction of the
pet-napping.
    Vallory felt her skin grow hot. "Why? I wasn't
here when it happened."
    "It will take only a few minutes of your time.
We are interviewing many of the exhibitors. One of you may have
seen something helpful," the guard said.
    "But, I wasn't here," Vallory said, even as
she found herself being guided back inside the