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strode to the fence. Holding the dog under his arm, he
gripped the top of the fence and stepped on the cross rail so he could see into
her yard.
    “He’s here. Again.”
    Mackenzie stood on the deck, once again dressed in
expensive-looking workout gear. She frowned when she saw Mr. Smith in his
arms.
    “I didn’t realize—”
    “No kidding.”
    He waited until she’d crossed to the fence before lowering the
dog into her arms.
    “You might want to keep him inside until the fence is secure.
Since he doesn’t seem good at taking no for an answer.”
    She smoothed a hand over her dog’s head. “Sorry?”
    “I just caught him humping Strudel.”
    “Oh.” She had the grace to look embarrassed.
    “Yeah.” He was aware that he sounded like an outraged parent.
Frankly, he felt like one. Strudel was barely eighteen months old. Still a
puppy, really. She wasn’t in the market for the kind of adults-only behavior Mr.
Smith had dished out so enthusiastically.
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize he was out.”
    “You said that.”
    Her eyebrows rose as she picked up on his tone. “I know that
technically he shouldn’t have been on your side of the fence, but they’re only
following their natural instincts. There’s no need to get all prissy about
it.”
    Prissy? Where did she get off
calling him prissy after she’d shut her door in his face not once but twice and
then let her reprobate of a dog run loose to do as he pleased?
    He fixed her with a hard look. “Keep your dog out of my yard,
okay?”
    She set the dachshund on the ground and brushed fur off her
body-hugging top. “It takes two to tango, you know. I bet Mr. Smith didn’t go
where he wasn’t wanted.”
    He opened his mouth to respond, then realized he was one
riposte away from a schoolyard squabble. He released his grip on the fence and
dropped to the ground.
    “Keep an eye on your dog,” he said as he walked away.
    The only response was silence, but he could practically hear
her grinding her teeth. Good. She’d made him grind his teeth more than once in
the past twenty-four hours. Turnabout was fair play.
    Strudel once again shadowed his every move as he patched the
last gap in the fence, taking every opportunity to lick his hand or rub up
against his leg.
    “Don’t go sucking up. You barely know the guy. A little bit of
restraint wouldn’t have gone astray.”
    Strudel eyed him uncomprehendingly and he reached out to
scratch her behind her ear. How could he resist that face?
    Once he’d finished with the fence, he dragged the ladder out of
the shed and inspected the gutters. Sure enough, they were full of leaves and
silt and he worked his way around the house, scooping dead leaves and
who-knew-what-else out from the gutters. It was a disgusting, messy, smelly job,
and by the time he’d reached the front of the house he was well and truly over
it. He glanced at Mackenzie’s house as he cleared out the corner nearest her
property, wondering if she’d heard the storm warning.
    For a few seconds he toyed with the idea of passing on the
information, then he remembered the superior way she’d looked down her nose at
him while blaming Strudel for her dog’s bad behavior. He was all out of favors
where she was concerned.
    Once he’d finished the gutters, he checked the downpipes, then
cleared the drain that ran across the top of the driveway. Both his and
Mackenzie’s properties were on a slight slope, the street being higher than the
house. If there was water runoff coming his way, he wanted to be sure it had
somewhere to go, other than into his house.
    He was putting the ladder away when the heavens opened, rain
sheeting from the sky so intensely it stung when it hit his arms and face.
Strudel at his heels, he bolted for the house. It wasn’t until he was washing
off the dirt beneath a hot shower that he registered that he hadn’t thought
about Edie or Nick once all day.
    A new record.
    Maybe walking away from everything and driving a