Operation Reunion. Justine Davis
alone any longer, Kayla. You have—”
She broke off as Cutter’s head came up suddenly. His eyes had been closed as Kayla petted him—in fact, he’d seemed to be snoozing as she stroked her fingers over his soft fur—but something had clearly brought him to alert. She’d heard nothing, but her ears weren’t as keen as a dog’s. As Kayla glanced around, she saw nothing different than it had been moments ago. There had been a few people coming and going while they’d been here, and the dog hadn’t reacted at all.
She would have written it off to unfamiliar dog behavior if not for two things; Hayley never finished her sentence, and Quinn immediately stood up. And suddenly he was no longer the friendly man with the nice smile, but someone altogether different, alert, ready and capable. He glanced around much as she had, but then he looked at the dog, watching, waiting, as if for some signal.
Cutter’s head moved sharply in what looked, impossibly, like a nod.
“What have you got, boy?” Quinn’s voice was low, and Kayla heard something in it that hadn’t been there before, some edge that made her think Quinn could be a very dangerous man. The dog made an answering sound she couldn’t quite describe. Hayley stayed silent, her gaze flicking from man to dog and back, waiting.
The only thing Kayla was sure of was that this, or something like it, had happened often enough that none of the three found it unusual.
She shifted to look around again, wondering what had set the dog off. He seemed to have settled on a direction now, looking out toward the street. And then, unexpectedly, his tail began to wag just slightly. She looked that way and saw nothing amiss—an older couple walking arm in arm, a kid on a skateboard, a man crossing the street from the post office parking lot, a car—
Her gaze shot back to the man. A man heading quickly toward them. The way he moved, with that easy grace and long stride, the way he held his head, the gleam of the morning sun on dark hair….
Dane.
Her pulse kicked up, as it always did at the sight of him. But how had the dog known, of all the people around this morning, that this was the one? And what was he doing here anyway?
Hope leaped in her, but she quashed it; Dane hadn’t been angry when they’d parted, or she would have nurtured that hope that he would, as he always had before, get over it. He’d been quietly weary in a way that told her as nothing else could that he was done.
“It’s not that I don’t admire your loyalty,” he’d said. “I do. I just could have used a little more of it myself.”
She shivered at the memory of the words and of her own freezing reaction when she’d realized, for the first time, he’d used the past tense.
“You know him?” Quinn’s voice broke through the awful memory, and that edge in it shook her back to the present.
“Yes,” she whispered. She couldn’t think of another thing to say that would explain who this man was to her. There were no words that were adequate. But as she looked at Quinn, then Hayley, she realized she didn’t have to.
They knew.
Chapter 3
“Who he hell are you?”
Dane stared at the man standing between him and Kayla. The guy looked tough, solid and ready for anything. Just about matched his own mood, Dane thought. Which made no sense; who Kayla hung out with wasn’t his business anymore. Not that that had stopped him from bolting over here when he’d spotted her with two strangers.
“He’s my fiancé.” Dane’s gaze snapped to the woman who had been sitting beside Kayla. It was further evidence of his mood that he hadn’t really focused on her before; she was lovely, and if her words hadn’t completely disarmed him, her smile might have. “I’m Hayley Cole, and this is Quinn Foxworth. Behave, both of you.”
Dane wasn’t sure if she meant him and Quinn or Quinn and the dog. The dog who was looking at him in the oddest way. Not in the love-filled, melt-your-heart kind of way Lilah always had, but with an intensity that spoke of a clever brain behind those amber-flecked dark eyes.
“And you, I gather, are Dane.”
The man’s voice was steady, with no particular inflection, but Dane couldn’t help thinking this was a man who would react quickly and effectively if necessary.
It hit him somewhat belatedly that this stranger had known who he was. And the only way that could be was that Kayla had told him.
His gaze shifted quickly to the woman who had been part of his life for so long. Had she really told these strangers about him? Maybe even how he’d walked out on her, telling her wrenching story, making anybody who hadn’t lived it with her over the past ten years wonder what kind of heartless bastard left a woman whose life had been torn apart like that?
A sense of betrayal filled him, and he took a step back. But it turned out to be only a half-step; somehow the dog had gotten in his way and he had to stop.
“I thought you were through with me,” Kayla said. Her voice was quiet, unemotional. And that sparked a new feeling in him, one that was almost anger. She didn’t even think they were worth fighting for?
That he didn’t want to fight with her, that he never had, was something he cast aside just now. He focused on the fact that she sounded so calm. As if she’d processed that it really was over. And instead of crying over it, or getting angry at him, she was…accepting?
“So that’s it?” he said sharply, ignoring the three unknown onlookers. “You just quit on us?”
“You’re the one who left.” She gestured with the note. “And he’s still out there, Dane.”
“Yeah. And I’m here. I’ve done nothing but support you and love you and help you for ten years, while that spoiled, manipulative brother of yours plays with you, taunts you, but is too big of a coward to come back and deal with the mess he left you with.”
“Dane! He’s not—”
He held up his hands; he really had had enough.
“He always skated by on his looks. He used you, took for granted that you’d always worship your big brother.” Dane grimaced. “And I guess he was right about that.”
His anger faded as once more the reality hit him in the face. This time she was silent when he took a breath. And he realized he had no right to stay upset at her for talking about them—and him—to strangers when he’d just dumped a pile of dirty laundry in front of them. To their credit, they’d said nothing, but they hadn’t left them alone either.
“I tried, Kayla. I really tried.” He heard his own voice, realized he sounded as tired as he felt after that last burst of pained rage and resentment. “But I can’t play second fiddle to your fixation any longer. I won’t. The woman I…loved is buried beneath this obsession and I can’t find her anymore. You’re on your own.”
“That’s just it,” Kayla said, showing a spark of spirit now. “I’m not on my own anymore.”
She waved toward the couple standing a couple of feet away in a gesture that seemed to include the dog.
“They’re going to help find Chad.”
Suspicion bit as hard and deep as that dog probably could if motivated. Ignoring the jab of pain at the reminder that, although she’d given up on them, she obviously wasn’t about to give up on her obsession, Dane spun on his heel to stare at the trio. On the surface they looked harmless enough—handsome guy, beautiful woman, nice-looking dog. Quite the picture they presented.
He didn’t believe it for a minute. And he hadn’t forgotten his first impression of the man as someone not to take lightly.
“Are they?” he said, focusing on the man introduced as Quinn. “And just how much do they want you to pay for this ‘help’?”