Love Is a Four-Legged Word Read Free

she felt a twinge of pity for him. It must be difficult having to evict people. He probably hadn’t realized he’d be evicting a bereaved dog as well as a human tenant.
    He watched her intently through narrowed eyes. “So you knew about the will after all.”
    His suspicious tone instantly destroyed any sympathy she had felt for him.Why didn’t he just get to the point and do whatever lawyers did when they evicted people? And dogs.
    “I told you I knew nothing about Walter’s will.” Why would she? This guy was beginning to bug her.
    Tom O’Brien’s words were scored with disbelief. Of the scathing variety. His mouth was set in tight lines. “So, Ms. Cartwright, you’re seriously telling me that you didn’t know Walter Stoddard left his fortune to his dog, Brutus? Because I’m finding it very hard to believe you.”

Two
    Tom O’Brien’s words came from left field. Maddy stared at the big, handsome man taking up so much room in her apartment. “What?” was all she could manage to say through her shock.
    Then she felt a bubble of laughter starting in her throat. It burst into a peal of giggles. “He what?” She giggled again. “His fortune? To Brutus? You’re kidding me.”
    The lawyer’s stone-faced expression told her that he was not.
    “What a hoot! Is there enough for him to go wild and buy a new collar?”
    Still Tom O’Brien didn’t crack a smile. In fact, he looked affronted at her laughter.
    “Brutus could buy himself a diamond-studded dog collar if he wanted to, Ms. Cartwright.” He cleared his throat. “That is, if a dog could, er . . . shop.”
    He looked annoyed at himself for making such a flippant comment. “Walter Stoddard was a very wealthy man.”
    Maddy tried not to laugh again.Tom O’Brien was looking so serious that she felt she couldn’t give in to the grin that was tugging insistently at the corner of her mouth.
    “Are you sure you’ve got the right Walter? This one didn’t have a cent to spare.”
    Of course she’d never inquired into his finances—she wouldn’t have dreamed of doing that—but her elderly landlord had always been very careful with his spending and she’d assumed money was tight.
    Tom O’Brien’s sober brown gaze didn’t falter. Nor did his carefully paced words. “Walter Stoddard was a multimillionaire.”
    “A . . . a millionaire? No way,” she said, shaking her head again, “you’ve got it wrong.”
    Tom O’Brien laughed a short, not-very-nice laugh. “Believe me, Ms. Cartwright,Walter was worth a lot of money.That’s why I’m here.”
    All of a sudden Maddy didn’t want to laugh anymore. And she couldn’t speak.Was this guy for real?
    Tom O’Brien cleared his throat. “Uh, are you all right, Ms. Cartwright?” He reached out a hand to her and then, as if he thought better of it, withdrew it.
    Maddy shook her head slowly from side to side. “I . . .I think I’m in a state of shock. Tell me that again. Walter—a wealthy man?”
    “A multimillionaire,”Tom O’Brien stressed.
    “You’re sure about that?” She was glad she was sitting down.
    “There’s no doubt.”
    Was she going crazy? “But he lived so simply. Frugally even. Why would he have done that if he had lots of money?”
    Tom O’Brien shrugged his broad, soccer-player shoulders. “Beats me. Eccentric, I guess. He only confided in me as his attorney on the condition I kept his financial affairs secret until after he died and his will was read.”
    Maddy’s mind was reeling. She forced herself to sift back through her memories for a clue to Walter’s wealth that she may have missed.
    She thought of her old landlord, remembering his gentle wit, his keen observations, and his kindness. How she’d get cranky with him for spending more on the dog than he did on himself. He’d worn the same shabby old cardigan the entire time she’d known him.
    “Walter asked me to adopt Brutus after . . . after he went. Of course I agreed, though to tell you the truth, I’m