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Callie put Kyle in a difficult situation. Their relationship was so complicated that he often lay awake at night, trying to figure out what should happen now that they’d slept together. “I’m wondering where your clothes are.”
    Levi jerked his head in Callie’s direction. “Ask your friend.”
    “They were torn and bloody!” Obviously rattled by what had already been said, Callie could hardly find her voice. “I’m washing them.”
    Kyle grinned as if he’d been joking the whole time. “Right. Of course. Then it’s a good thing that robe fits as well as it does.”
    A muscle flexed in Levi’s cheek. “I’m not after your woman, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
    His blatant honesty took Kyle off guard. “She’s not my woman. But I care about her. I want to be clear on that.” He also wanted to put McCloud on notice that she wasn’t as defenseless as it might seem, even though she was keeping Rifle outside in deference to what her guest had been through.
    “All I want is my bike.” At that point, Levi turned to Callie. “Did you find it?”
    When she shot him a dirty look, Kyle knew she wasn’t pleased with how he’d handled the situation.
    “No. Sorry to say I didn’t,” she told Levi. “We’ll have to call the police, see if they impounded it.”
    “But you brought my backpack.”
    She stepped out of the way so he could get to the tattered canvas pack Kyle had set inside the front door. “Yes. It was at the house closest to where you said you were attacked. But it’s filthy. I think the dogs took out their residual anger on what you left behind.”
    While bending to pick up his belongings, McCloud glanced at them from beneath the hank of blond hair hanging in his eyes and Kyle was again struck by the fact that this was not your typical vagrant. He was too handsome, too young—and he seemed very capable.
    Kyle could only hope he wasn’t capable of violence.
    “I thought it had to be a neighbor’s dogs,” Levi said. “I couldn’t have walked too far from where it happened.”
    “Those dogs don’t belong to my neighbor, exactly,” Callie said. “They belong to whoever is temporarily staying in that house. Godfrey told me two guys are renting it. He said they have pit bulls.”
    “That explains a lot—about size and strength.”
    “You certainly weren’t dealing with poodles,” she said.
    The way she seemed to be pandering to him bothered Kyle.
    “Did you see them?” Levi asked her.
    “I didn’t. But I discovered some bloody paw prints. That’s what tipped me off.”
    There was blood on the bag, too. Kyle had ascertained that much when he carried it in. “Did you injure either of the dogs?” he asked.
    Levi shrugged. “I tried. It was me or them.” He unzipped his pack and pulled out a pair of jeans and a
T-shirt. “Good news, Mr. Houseman.” He held them up. “I can get out of your girlfriend’s robe.”
    “I’m not his girlfriend.” Callie’s words reiterated what Kyle had already said, but Levi ignored them. When he turned, presumably to go change, she stopped him. “Why put those clothes on over your stitches? You’ll just get ointment on them, and that stuff won’t come out easily. You need to eat and go back to bed. You can dress later.”
    He gave her a pointed look. “Thank you, but I’ll decide what I need to do,” he said, and disappeared into the bedroom.
    As soon as he was gone, Kyle guessed he was going to get harangued by Callie, so he went on the offensive. “That was rude what he just said to you.”
    Grabbing his arm, she dragged him into the kitchen. “What he said? You started it!” she whispered. “You were all but banging on your chest.”
    Kyle lowered his voice. “Maybe I could’ve been friendlier. But you’re being friendly enough for both of us. That man has issues, Callie.”
    “Most vagrants do!” she responded. “That’s why they don’t have homes, why they aren’t with their families!”
    “Exactly! So