Operation Blind Date (14 page)

Chapter 23

“I
t’s not your fault, Laney.”

Hayley’s tone was reassuring, but Laney wasn’t in the mood to be reassured. Although she had to admit, sitting here in the sun on the patio outside Foxworth’s back door was relaxing. Not enough to stop her wondering what Hayley was up to by asking her to join her out here for a light lunch, but still, relaxing.

“I feel like it is,” she said. “I should know more about the guy, I should have listened better. Been more aware. But I just floated along in my safe, quiet life, not paying much attention to anything outside my own little world.”

“We all do, until something—or someone—comes along to shake us out of that. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. Sometimes both.”

“Both?”

“My mother’s death shook me, badly. But then Quinn came along.”

“And kidnapped you?”

Hayley looked startled, but then grinned. “Teague’s been talking.”

She thought she kept her expression even, but something flickered in Hayley’s eyes that told her she hadn’t quite been successful. She’d wondered, by the way the woman had looked at them both during the assessment meeting this morning, if she suspected something. Now she was almost certain.

“He said I should ask you about it.”

“It’s a long story, involving the proverbial black helicopter,” Hayley said, and gave her what she said was the digest version of what had happened after a midnight trek with Cutter.

“And now you’re engaged,” she said, shaking her head in wonder at the tale.

“We’d be married already if Quinn had his way.”

“It’s obvious he’s crazy about you.”

“And I’m crazy about him. But a girl needs time to prepare, right?”

“Not to mention enjoy being engaged,” Laney said.

“Exactly.”

“Especially when she gets to show off a man like Quinn.”

“That, too,” Hayley agreed with a laugh. “He is pretty impressive.”

Laney hesitated to ask what was really on her mind. But she remembered the way Hayley had looked at them so consideringly and figured she wouldn’t be giving anything away the very perceptive woman hadn’t already guessed.

“After all that drama,” she said at last, “how were you sure it wasn’t just...all that drama?”

“How did I know it was real, and not just the circumstances?” Hayley asked.

“Exactly,” Laney said, relieved she wouldn’t have to explain further.

“Quinn,” she said simply. “He’s been doing this for a while, and he’s helped a lot of people, including women. Some very attractive women. But nothing ever happened between them.”

Laney drew back slightly. “Until you.”

Hayley nodded. “So even if I didn’t trust my own judgment, I trusted his. He knew the difference, knew it was real.” Her mouth quirked. “And the fact that he wasn’t thrilled about it at first helped. It’s a lot easier to believe when you see them fighting it.”

Fighting it. As Teague had last night.

As if she’d heard the thought, Hayley said softly, “Teague’s a good man. A very good man.”

Laney stared at the can of soda she held, watching a drop of condensation track down the side, wondering inanely what law of physics determined the path it took. Anything but look at Hayley.

“Yes,” she finally said, “he is.”

She hoped Hayley would leave it at that, but in her way she was as tenacious as Cutter.

“He’s been through some true hell in his life,” Hayley said. “And I won’t say he doesn’t carry scars from it, because he does. I think that’s why he jokes so much, as a sort of camouflage.”

Laney’s brow furrowed. Hayley had mentioned that once, some time ago, that Teague was the most cheerful guy she knew. The one who lightens the mood with quips and teasing. She’d heard him do that a few times, when they’d been with Hayley or Quinn or Tyler, or even with a couple of people when they’d been at the airport. But rarely when it had been just them.

“He doesn’t do that with you?” Hayley asked. “Interesting.”

The woman was really too perceptive for comfort, Laney thought. “Not often. He’s being professional, I guess.” Like he had been last night, belatedly.

“He always is,” Hayley answered. “At the core he’s unchangeable. He’s good, solid, honest, strong and above all honorable.”

Laney’s mouth tightened and her eyes stung. She blinked a couple of times, thinking how humiliated she’d be if she who rarely cried started now. With some effort, she managed a light tone.

“Was that an assessment, or an endorsement?”

“Yes,” Hayley said simply.

She sighed. That’s what she got, she supposed, for all that sailing along on the surface, enjoying her easy, peaceful life without much thought about it. The stress of starting her business had been the toughest thing she’d ever had to deal with, and she looked at it as more of a challenge than anything. But she should have known there would be a price...that no one got through life unscathed.

It seemed the bill for that peace had come due.

* * *

Teague found Quinn in the warehouse that served them as storage and also as a hangar for the helicopter. His boss was standing next to the gleaming black craft, studying something intently. He was looking at the bullet hole, Teague realized.

The rest of the damage incurred the night they’d ended up kidnapping Hayley had been repaired, parts patched or replaced. But this hole, in a harmless place that had no effect on flight, Quinn had opted to keep. Usually looking at it made him smile. Every time they piled into the thing, Teague could count on a moment when Quinn would glance at it and his mouth would curve slightly, and his eyes would warm.

Teague would tease him about it. And inwardly marvel at how at-ease he felt with his boss. At what a wonder it was to him still, to work for a man he not only respected and admired, but liked. One who was solid, steady and even and always had his back.

One who would take the teasing with a smile that spoke volumes of the strength of his relationship with Hayley. And Teague believed it; nothing could shake those two apart.

Yes, he knew how Quinn felt. What he didn’t know was how it felt to feel that way.

An image of Laney, half-naked on the floor, wanting him, offering herself, shot through his mind. That was just sex, he told himself. It had been a while, she was a beautiful woman, inside and out, she’d been willing; it was only to be expected. Natural. Nature. Trying to take its course.

And he wasn’t sure if he’d done the right thing by stopping, or just been a stupid fool not to take what he’d wanted, wanted so much it had nearly killed him to pull away.

“Teague? You all right?”

“Yes.”
No.
“I’m fine.”
I’m insane.
“What next?”
Find a cure?

He was very much afraid there was no cure, except the one he couldn’t, wouldn’t take.

“Ty’s still working on tracking Edward. If he’s out there and moving, there has to be a trail.”

Teague forced himself to get his head back in the game. “And if he’s not, if he’s gone to ground, with Amber,” he began.

“Then we really have our work cut out for us.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Stick with Laney. There’s always a chance she might remember something that could be key, something she doesn’t realize could be important.”

And there it was. The order he’d been dreading. And the time to ask to be taken off this one. All he had to do was say it. Simple.
Sir, you should send somebody else. I’m too—

Too what? Stupid? Too slow to wake up? Too in lust?

No, he’d just suggest someone else. Send Liam, who was due back tonight from the tech seminar Foxworth had sent him to to help keep his skills sharp. Liam’s family had raised dogs; he and Laney would get along great.

Or Rafe. Now, that would be something. Laney would bemuse the taciturn, solitary Rafe. The man had little faith left in mankind in general. Laney’s sweetness and loyalty would not only win him over, but probably do him a lot of good.

That was the solution, he thought. He opened his mouth to make the suggestion.

“I think...”

The words wouldn’t come. And Quinn spoke before he could force them out.

“Take some food. Or take her to lunch. Hayley’s worried she’s not eating enough.”

Great. Now he was under orders to take her out.

“Problem, Johnson?”

The use of his last name warned him, told him he was acting too oddly, that he was getting very close to tripping Quinn’s radar, and if that happened, there’d be no way out of explaining every last damned detail of why he wanted off this case. Not a prospect he savored.

“No, sir. Sorry. Just...thinking.” His mouth twisted ruefully. “Probably too much.”

“Get on it, then.”

“Yes, sir.”

And with those two words, acknowledgment and promise in one, he was committed. Not for anything would he let this man down. The escape hatch was closed, and he’d done it to himself.

* * *

Hayley watched as Quinn threw the ball for Cutter. It warmed her as always to watch them together. He made time for a session almost every day he wasn’t actively out on a case, something she appreciated, as the dog got twice as much exercise from his long throws than her own efforts. She could throw hard, but he had long down pat.

And a Cutter who didn’t get enough exercise was a Cutter who’d burn off that astonishing energy some other way.

“Fun?” she asked the dog as the game finally came to an end, Cutter signaling he’d had enough by bringing the ball back and dropping it beside his water bowl before taking a long, noisy drink. His tail wagged at her words, but the drinking continued.

“He especially liked the part when it hit that muddy spot and he got to wade in knee-deep to get it,” Quinn said wryly as he rinsed off his hands at the outdoor spigot.

“Might have to take him to Laney again,” Hayley said.

“She might like the distraction.”

“Yes. And she hasn’t been as focused on her business as she would be if it weren’t for Amber.”

Quinn smiled, put his arms around her. “First her eating, then her needing distraction and now her business. You worry too much.”

“I like her.”

“And that’s all it takes for you, isn’t it?”

“Look who’s talking. Besides, Cutter started this, not me.”

He laughed. “Yes, he did.”

“So,” she said, “how deep do you think Teague is?”

He drew back slightly to look down at her. “What?”

“Teague. With Laney. How far do you think it’s gone?”

He frowned. “I’d be able to answer that better if I knew what you were talking about.”

She sighed. “Come on, you can’t tell me you didn’t feel that snap, crackle and pop between them this morning.”

His gaze narrowed. “What are you saying?”

“And Cutter. He didn’t push that picture of Amber to you or me, he pushed it at Teague.”

Quinn opened his mouth as if to speak, but then stopped, a thoughtful expression crossing his face.

“What?” Hayley asked.

“He did seem...a little odd today. When I told him to stick with Laney, keep prodding her memory.”

Hayley smiled. “And there you have it.”

“You’re saying he, she, that they’re— What are you saying?”

Hayley’s answer was to crouch beside Cutter, who had finished his water intake and come to sit at their feet.

“Is that it, boy? Is this about more than Amber in trouble?”

The dog’s tail started wagging madly, and he gave her a quick lick on the chin. Then he made that sound they’d come to know, a low, happy, half bark, half
whuffing
noise.

“That’s his ‘you finally figured it out’ sound, isn’t it?” Quinn asked, sounding a bit rueful.

“Yep. Besides, with Cutter, isn’t it always more than it seems?”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Quinn said, pulling her up and back into his arms.

“He was right about us,” Hayley said.

“That he was.”

“He—”

She never finished the sentence. Didn’t even try. Quinn was kissing her, and nothing else mattered.

Chapter 24

“Y
ou should eat.”

“I did.”

“Not enough,” Teague said.

“Somebody appoint you my mother?” Laney asked, knowing she sounded like a cranky child but somehow unable to stop it.

Her plate sat still half-full, even though the salmon she’d ordered was delicious. She just wasn’t hungry, even though Teague had somehow known her favorite local restaurant and given her little choice about coming with him. Even though sitting out on the restaurant patio in the summer sun usually fired her appetite for the fresh, locally caught fish that could well have come off one of the boats she could see at the dock from here.

“Yes,” he answered. “Hayley.”

That took the wind out of her annoyed sails. “Hayley?” That explained the restaurant choice, she guessed. She and Hayley had discussed it once when she’d brought in Cutter.

“She’s worried about you. Thinks you’re not eating enough.”

“So that’s why you showed up and insisted we come here.”

He’d been under orders. She should have known. No way he would have done this on his own, not after last night.

He’d told her she’d be glad, later, that they’d stopped. She still wasn’t. But she was embarrassed. She’d had time, too much time, to think about what had happened. And what hadn’t. Most of all, how ready she’d been to have sex with a man she barely knew.

But the whiny part of her insisted she knew the important things. She might not know his favorite food, or color, or sport, but she knew the important things. She knew his character, didn’t she? Because if he hadn’t been who she knew he was, he wouldn’t have stopped in the first place. He would have taken advantage of the situation and they would have ended up in her bed.

And she still wasn’t convinced she didn’t regret that they hadn’t.

“Where do you live?”

He seemed startled at the question out of the blue. She didn’t explain. Somehow saying “I feel like I should at least know where the guy I was ready to jump last night lives” didn’t seem right or wise.

“Over on Puget View Drive,” he said after a moment. “I rent a guest house. Used to live in an apartment, but the noise got to me.”

“Alone?”

She hadn’t meant to say it, but once she had she wasn’t sorry. His fingers, in the midst of tracing the curved handle of the spoon beside his own plate—he’d ordered the same thing she had, but he’d managed to finish most of it—stilled. His eyes came up, his gaze locked with hers.

“Is that really what you think of me?”

She sighed. “No.”

It wasn’t what she thought of him. And she realized belatedly she’d already known the answer to the question. If he’d had someone at home, last night never would have happened. He wouldn’t. Teague Johnson just wouldn’t. That honor thing again.

“Then why did you ask?”

She wasn’t sure herself. Maybe she wished it had been something that simple. That clear-cut. Something that would keep that barrier between them, nice and solid. Something other than just doing it—or rather, not doing it—for her sake, because he thought she’d regret it later. Because that just made her want him more.

“I guess,” she said slowly, “it’s hard for me to believe the real reason you stopped.”

“You are damn near irresistible.”

She gaped at him. Then heat flooded her face and she knew her cheeks must be glowing. “No, I didn’t mean that, I never thought that!”

“Teasing, Laney,” he said with a wry smile.

Did that mean he didn’t think she was irresistible?

She nearly groaned aloud at her own contrary, mouse-in-a-maze thoughts, darting, dodging, from one idiocy to another.

“Sorry. I just meant I don’t know many men who would have stopped for that reason. Which I suppose says as much about the caliber of men I’ve encountered before as it does about you,” she ended rather glumly.

Teague’s brow furrowed for a moment. Then he picked up that spoon he’d been toying with. “I think,” he said tentatively, “if I dug deep enough with this, I might find a compliment in there.”

That one made her lower her gaze, but honesty made her say, “Yes. You would.”

“Didn’t see that on the menu, or I would have ordered it up sooner.”

Her gaze shot to his face. He was smiling, nice, warm, friendly.

He was joking with her. Teasing.

Hayley’s words came back to her again...
always with a quip, the one who lightens the mood.

More importantly, Hayley’s words from this morning echoed in her head.
He doesn’t do that with you? Interesting.

But now he was doing it. Because now she was no different than anybody else? Because he’d mentally put her back into the category of merely a job, an assignment?

And again her insides twisted, knotted. And no amount of chastising herself for being an idiot seemed to make any difference.

“If you’re not going to eat, tell me again about that day you and Amber met Edward.”

Oh, yes, she was right back in the pure business category.

The instant the thought formed she hated herself for it. He was trying to help find Amber, and shouldn’t that be her focus, too? Here she was stewing over the fact that a man had nearly made love to her but stopped, for praiseworthy reasons, when her best friend was still out there somewhere, maybe in trouble, maybe serious trouble.

With a serious inward shake, she shoved her own concerns down, telling herself bitingly that she could whine later, in private.

“I don’t know what I can say that I haven’t already.”

“Maybe nothing. But maybe something. Close your eyes. Walk through it in your head.”

Like the detective had done with the kid who had Amber’s phone, she thought. It had worked with him, so why not? Besides, she liked the closing her eyes part. Looking at him sitting across the too-small table from her was unsettling.

When she did, when the distraction of his face, the strong jaw, the clear blue eyes, was gone, somehow all she could think of was his bare chest, how he’d looked, what his skin had felt like, stretched over taut muscle.

Where on earth had all her self-discipline gone? She knew she had it, and had the history of long, hard hours working to get her business started and keep it going to prove it. She just couldn’t seem to find it at the moment.

“What day was it?” he prompted, and she barely managed not to open her eyes just to look at him.

She tilted her head back, let the sun warm her. Soon it would be gone and the long, wet winter that was the price they paid for such glorious days as this would set in.

“Saturday,” she said. “I had gone down and walked on the ferry to Seattle, and Amber picked me up on the other side.”

“What were you wearing?”

She did flick her eyes open then. This question was new, and as far as she could see, irrelevant. “Me?”

“Close your eyes,” he said again. “Going through the small details you do remember might trigger others.”

“Oh.”

That made sense, she supposed, although she’d tried so hard to remember every little thing that she couldn’t imagine anything else would be lurking in some corner of her mind that she’d missed.

“Khaki-colored jeans,” she said. “Red sleeveless blouse. Tan shoes, the comfortable ones. I wanted to wear sandals, because the weather was great, but we were going shopping, so I didn’t want to walk that much in them.”

“What was Amber wearing?”

She’d given them that in great detail more than once, but she didn’t point that out. She’d been foolish enough already this afternoon. This was professional Teague, and she was going to act accordingly from here on.

“Blue. Her best color. Dark blue shorts, lighter blue knit top. She did wear sandals. She’d just had a pedicure and wanted to show it off.”

“Where did you go?”

“To brunch, first. Her favorite place, right near the waterfront. Her plan was to eat a lot, then walk it off.”

“Shopping for what?”

“Nothing in particular.”

“Just...shopping?”

At his tone, again her eyes opened. She could do this, too, she thought. “You’re such a guy,” she teased. “I’ll bet you only go to a store for something specific, find it, buy it and get out.”

“Well...yes. If you don’t need something, what’s the point of going?”

“What if you don’t know you need something until you see it?”

He blinked. “But if you didn’t see it, you wouldn’t know you needed it, so in effect you don’t need it.”

She managed a genuine smile at that one. And repeated his own words back to him. “That made sense to me. Should I worry?”

After a split second a grin spread across his face. “Touché,” he said. “Now where were we?”

“Shopping.”

“Where?”

“At the mall near Amber’s place. And close to where I used to work.”

“Walk me through it. Everything, don’t worry about if it’s relevant or boring or seemingly meaningless. Tell me.”

She closed her eyes again. It did help. She brought up the day she’d thought so much about.

“It was crowded. We had to park way out. We heard a dog in a parked car, and I was worried because it was so warm. But Amber spotted it, and there was a girl in the car with it, I guess waiting for someone. She had all the windows all the way down, and a door open while she was giving the dog water, so it was okay. It was a pug. Cute.”

“Keep going,” he said when she paused.

“There were Girl Scouts at the door, selling flavored popcorn. We bought a bag to share, just because the kids were so cute, so earnest in their pitch, and so excited about the camp they were raising the money for.”

This had to be boring him to tears, Laney figured; he’d been there every time she’d gone through this, but she kept going.

“It was nice to get inside, where it was air-conditioned. Amber loves malls. She always has.”

“But not you?”

“I went to hang with her,” she said. “And that was where she wanted to go. I didn’t mind. Sometimes we went for hikes like I wanted, and I know she didn’t like that, but she went because it was my turn to choose.”

“Good friends.”

“Yes. The best.”

Tears threatened again. She had to open her eyes to blink them back. Decided not to mention it, not to call attention to the fact that she was crying again, although he could hardly miss it.

“Go ahead,” he said, gently.

Back in her mind again, she went through it all, every stop she could remember, the two purchases Amber had made: makeup and a pair of sparkly, dangly earrings. Walking down toward the shoe store at the far end of the mall, where Amber had her eye on a pair of stiletto heels that made Laney’s feet hurt just looking at them.

And coming out of the big, anchor department store had been a familiar face. Edward. He’d been talking to someone a little behind him and then spotted Amber. As many men did, he stopped in his tracks. Then he’d seen and recognized her, and if Laney thought that some of his smile was for the fact that she could introduce him to Amber, she kept it to herself, then and now.

The chatting up, the tentative flirtation, all took place there in the relative safety of a public place full of people. Nothing untoward was said, in fact, she’d watched the exchange with some amusement; men tended to get a bit silly around Amber. Even Edward’s friend was rolling his eyes a bit. But in the end Edward played it smart; instead of asking for Amber’s number he gave her his, and asked her to call him. Anytime. Anywhere. Please.

She shifted in her chair. This was where it got uncomfortable, and it didn’t matter that she’d been through it a few times before.

“He left. Amber asked me about him. I told her what I knew.” She took a breath to steady herself. “I said he seemed nice enough, from what I’d seen. She asked if she should call him. I said sure, why not. We finished our shopping. She took me back to the ferry, I came home. That’s it.”

She opened her eyes, aware she’d hurried through that, but it was the most painful part, and she’d had to say it so many times. And each time it etched her guilt more deeply.

“And she called him.”

“Yes. She told me she was going to. And she seemed quite happy about it when they agreed to go to dinner.”

“And she called you that day.”

“Yes. She was fussing about what to wear. Normal Amber. I told her it didn’t matter, she’d be gorgeous in anything. She kept fussing. Our usual routine.”

“And that was—”

“Yes.” She couldn’t bear to hear him say it. “The last time I spoke to her.”

It hit her hard, the realization that that laughing, teasing conversation might well be the last she ever had with Amber. She didn’t realize she was shivering, even in the sun, until Teague put a hand over hers. The warmth steadied her, just as that new awareness, that electric charge tingled along her nerves.

“We’ll find her,” he said.

“I know.” She believed that. Foxworth would not quit until they did.

She just wished she could go back to believing they’d find her alive.

“Walk with me.”

Laney looked across at him, feeling a little drained.

“You need the distraction,” he said. “After that.”

She hesitated. But he was still holding her hand, and if she didn’t walk with him he might let go. And at this moment in time that seemed like the worst thing that could happen. So she rose, and they started to walk along the peaceful, picturesque waterfront.

She didn’t pull her hand free, although she considered it. But right now she felt as if he were her anchor, the only thing keeping her from, as he’d once said, going airborne.

You’re my anchor, Laney. Without you to keep me centered, remind me of who I am, I’d be lost.

Amber’s oft spoken words came back to her with a poignancy that struck hard.

“What?” Teague asked.

Most women would kill for a man this observant, Laney thought ruefully. And here she was wishing that, for once, he wouldn’t notice every little change in her expression.

Or wishing it wasn’t because he was a trained pro at it. Something she’d do well to remember. Especially when he was holding her hand and her body was all too aware of the fact.

“Just something Amber used to say.”