Verwandte Artikel zu Gone to the Dogs

Gone to the Dogs - Softcover

Carmichael, Emily

 
9780553586336: Gone to the Dogs
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0553586335 ISBN 13: 9780553586336
Verlag: Bantam Books, 2004

Inhaltsangabe

Reincarnated into the body of an obese corgi named Miss Piggy, one-time bombshell Lydia Keane continues to serve penance by bringing lonely hearts together, but she becomes suspicious when her clueless owner, Nell Jordan, suddenly comes into some money and promptly falls for a handsome, sexy photographer. Original.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Emily Carmichael is the award-winning author of over twenty novels and novellas, both historical and contemporary. She lives in Arizona with her husband and a houseful of dogs, and is currently at work on the next Hearts of Gold novel.

Aus dem Klappentext

Miss Piggy, everyone's favorite vamp-turned-mutt, is back for another matchmaking adventure! Shipped off to Arizona to work as a pet therapy dog, Piggy now lives with Nell Jordan, a freelance journalist living a hand-to-mouth existence writing human interest stories and volunteering for her pet therapy group, "Hearts of Gold." When one of the most curmudgeonly patients on their visiting route dies, Nell is shocked to learn that he's left $12 million...to Piggy! Miss Piggy's all-too-human-spirit is thrilled by her nouveau riche status, but foiled by her doggy exterior and by the presence of Dan Travis, Nell's new boyfriend. Piggy's convinced that Dan's only after Nell's er, Piggy's money, and is determined to break them up. But Dan has secrets bigger than that, and as he falls harder and harder for Nell, they threaten to blow up in his face.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

chapter 1



NELL JORDAN was used to people bursting into tears when they saw her, but this particular woman rivaled the floodgates at Hoover Dam. But of course, the woman's overflowing eyes fastened not on Nell in her clean white tennies, Wal-Mart khakis, and green polo shirt, but on Piggy in her freshly brushed reddish-brown fur, pointy ears, liquid-brown eyes, and the green doggie vest that announced she was a registered therapy dog.

An older gent across the room from the weeper nudged his wife. "Look, Ethel! It's a dog! Right here in the surgery waiting room! Don't that beat all?"

"My word! Isn't he cute?" Ethel made a clucking noise to get Piggy's attention, and others seated in the uncomfortable waiting room chairs also made bids to be noticed, but Piggy focused on the woman sitting in the corner--the one suffering the waterworks.

A younger version of the distraught woman--a daughter, Nell speculated--tried to comfort her. "Mom, it's okay."

But Piggy knew better what the woman needed. The corgi paddled forward on abbreviated legs, stuck a wet nose beneath the woman's hand, and settled firmly against her leg.

Soft comments from a rapt audience:

"Oh, isn't that just darling!"

"Don't that beat all!"

"What a good dog!"

"What'd they do, cut her legs off at the knee?"

Everyone in the room had the courtesy to stare at the dog, not at the woman making such an emotional scene. People waiting for a loved one in surgery or waiting for their own turn under the knife knew about tears, and they didn't begrudge the distressed woman her release.

"Her name is Piggy," Nell said.

"Piggy," the tearful one quavered, and didn't take her eyes from the dog. Piggy sighed in contentment as the woman found just the right spot behind one of her big ears. "You're a wonderful little dog, Piggy." The tears eased a bit as she dabbed at her face with a handkerchief. "A wonderful dog. I just . . . just, well, you know, there's something about a dog." She sighed and bit her lip, then said in a quiet, broken voice, "Since my mother's accident two days ago I haven't been able to cry. It stayed inside me and just burned and hurt, you know? But I couldn't cry. Until I saw the dog. There's just something about a dog." She shook her head. "And now I can't stop crying. But it almost feels good. I'm sorry to be such a blubberer."

"Not a problem." Nell gave her a warm smile. "It doesn't bother Piggy a bit."

The daughter gave her mother's hand a comforting squeeze. "Gran's going to be just fine, Mom. I know she is." Then she smiled up at Nell. "Is she a guide dog or something?"

"Piggy's a therapy dog who visits here at the hospital."

"Do you take her into patient rooms?" someone across the waiting room asked.

"We go everywhere but obstetrics." Nell smiled. "They don't need our help in there."

That earned a laugh.

"Show them your trick, Piggy." Nell waggled an index finger at the dog.

Piggy gave Nell a disgusted look, but she lifted her stubby front leg in the semblance of a wave. The trick earned her a round of applause and a few chortles, then another ovation when she caught the tiny treat that Nell tossed her way.

"She's a mercenary little soul," Nell explained. "Works for food."

"Don't we all?" said a youngish man in worn cowboy boots and a battered Stetson.

Everyone wanted Piggy's attention, reaching out to touch her and tell her what an extraordinary dog she was. Piggy took the attention with queenly condescension while occasionally darting beneath a chair to grab a cracker crumb or peanut that the housekeeping staff had missed. People in the waiting room often munched on vending machine food, and sometimes they weren't too neat about it. The occasional leavings made the surgery waiting room Piggy's favorite stop in the hospital. Nell had supposedly trained her not to take anything off the floor during their visits, but Piggy had become expert at darting after crumbs when Nell wasn't watching.

"She's a hungry little dude," the guy in the Stetson commented.

"You're right, but she's supposed to be on a diet."

"You mean, she's not supposed to look like a basketball with legs?"

Piggy halted her crumb search long enough to glare at him, but the opening of a door distracted her. From the inner surgery sanctum a nurse wheeled out a teenage girl with a huge bandage on her arm. "Hi there, Piggy," the nurse said in a cheery voice.

Nearly all the staff knew Piggy's name. Few knew Nell's. But that was fine with Nell. Piggy did most of the work during their visits, anyway.

"Hey, dog!" The teenager dropped her good arm beside the chair and wriggled her fingers. Piggy condescended to let her scratch an ear. "I didn't know they let dogs in the hospital."

The nurse laughed. "Only because Piggy's a very special dog. And there's a few other special creatures we let visit."

"Like Dr. Tolliver?"

"Don't let Dr. Tolliver hear you call him a creature." The girl's mother had gathered up the afghan she'd been knitting and joined them. "Not after he fixed you up like new." She gave the nurse an anxious look.

"Good as new," the nurse confirmed. "The doctor will talk to you while I wheel Tiffany out to the entrance. I'll stay with her until you bring up your car."

"Wait!" Tiffany objected as the nurse pushed the wheelchair toward the door. "I have to say 'bye to . . . what's the dog's name?"

"Piggy," Nell supplied.

"Piggy! Oh, man! She looks like one, too. 'Bye, Piggy! 'Bye, Piggy!"

Piggy huffed out an indignant snort as the waiting room door closed behind the girl.

"She's sensitive about her figure," Nell explained with a grin.

Most of the waiting room chuckled, including the woman who had wept so on Piggy's entrance.

"Never seen such a thing," one man observed with a snort. "Next thing you know, they'll be bringing in a whole petting zoo."



OKAY. THIS requires a bit of clarification. Me, Piggy, a therapy dog. I can almost hear you laughing. Just don't get carried away with that snorting and snickering, people, because it's not that funny. I'll admit I'm hardly the type to bring comfort to the sick and distressed. I'm a heartbreaker, not a heart-warmer. At least, Lydia Keane was a heartbreaker, and proud of it. Piggy, on the other hand . . .

Well, let's just say I had trouble ignoring all those dog instincts that came with the fat furry body. Dogs genuinely like people. It's one of their greatest weaknesses. They're born chumps. A friendly word or a pat on the head sends their little canine hearts into somersaults of joy, and they're only too eager to repay the attention by cuddling, kissing, and generally making themselves look foolish.

Of course, as Lydia Keane I did a bit of cuddling and kissing in my time, but Lydia required more foreplay than a pat on the head.

But back to the point. The longer I stayed in the dog suit, the more I found my nature changing to incorporate Dog. Stanley no doubt thought the change was a positive one. He would. In the beginning, losing my sharp edge bothered me. Not to mention the total embarrassment of occasionally getting an urge to sniff dog butts or pounce on anything that resembles a ball. But by the time I arrived in Arizona, I had come to accept my fate with good grace, or what passed for good grace with me. Lydia...

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Verlag
Bantam Books
Erscheinungsdatum
2004
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0553586335
ISBN 13 
9780553586336
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
400
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