by Lois Greiman
“About the price of pickles.” Her sarcastic tone suggested he hadn’t been listening. What else was new? Beer, he’d discovered, did not help his concentration. But it had a profound effect on forgetfulness. “Did you get your brains blown out in Bogotá or something? I asked if you’re doing your exercises for that leg.”
He shrugged.
“’Cause even Feinstein’s not going to want you if you can’t walk.”
“I can walk,” he said and took another sip of his beer. He had learned something rather valuable in the months following his return to Tennessee; he didn’t really like beer.
She scowled at him and sighed heavily. “Don’t go,” she said finally.
He gave her a smile, or what passed for one these days. “I’ll be fine.”
“No, you won’t be fine. Your hand’s not a hundred percent. Your leg’s still healing, and seriously, your mind…”
“I’ll be fine,” he repeated.
“You signed up already, didn’t you?”
He tilted his head back. “Gonna do that tomorrow.”
“And what about Shep? He’s not going with you?”
“No.”
“He know you’re going?”
“Maybe.”
She gritted her teeth. “If I gave a rat’s ass, I’d ask what happened between the two of you.”
He gave her a breathy snort.
Her scowl intensified. “What happened between the two of you?”
“Shouldn’t you be getting home to Zoey?” he asked.
She glared at him. “You don’t have to be such a…” she began but stopped and shaded her eyes with the flat of her hand. “Who’s that?”
He glanced to the left. A white Prius was just pulling into his driveway. “Don’t know.” He didn’t add that he cared even less.
The car slowed. A woman got out. She was slim. Her hair was strawberry blond. And her eyes…
Something sizzled in the core of his being. Something that cared a whole hell of a lot.
“Gabe?” Kelsey said.
He was standing, though he didn’t remember rising. His throat felt tight. Beside his thighs, his hands had curled to fists, as though in self-defense.
“You know her?” his sister asked.
She was coming up the steps. Her hair was pulled into a sassy ponytail that bounced when she walked, as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
It was damned difficult to breathe.
“Durrand.” Her voice was low and breathy.
“Edwards.” He could barely force out the word.
Silence followed, heavy and long.
“You look good,” he said finally. It was the understatement of the century. She looked like sunshine, like home. Like an angel sent from heaven.
“So do you,” she said.
“He looks like shit,” Kelsey countered. “Who are you?”
Eddy widened her eyes, and for a moment, Gabe thought she would step back. The Durrand women were not to be trifled with, but Edwards straightened her back and caught his sister’s eye with a steely gaze. “I’m the person who saved his ass in Colombia,” she said and jerked up her chin a notch. “Who the hell are you?”
“You were in Bogotá?” Kelsey asked and yanked her gaze from one to the other.
“I asked who you were,” Edwards said.
Kelsey may have answered, but Gabe never heard her words. Hope had sparked in the marrow of his bones and burst through his system like a roman candle. And although he knew there were a thousand things he should do, a million things he should say, he didn’t do any of them. Instead, he stepped forward, wrapped Eddy in his arms and kissed her.
There was a moment of hesitation, a lifetime of uncertainty, and then she kissed him back, holding onto him like a life raft in a thunderstorm.
“You should have come after me,” she whispered.
“I’m a fucking idiot,” he agreed and kissed her again. “How’d you find me?”
“Shepherd,” she rasped.
“Dammit! Now I owe him again.”
“Can’t be helped,” she said. “Who’s the woman?”
“If I say she’s my sister will you let her live?”
“That depends. You going to ask me in or what?”
He felt his throat close up but managed to squeeze back the tears. “If you’re deluded enough to want me to.”
“There’s mental illness in my family.”
“Thank God,” he said and lifting her against his chest, carried her into his life.
Discover More By Lois Greiman
Chrissy McMullen Mysteries
Unzipped
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Unscrewed
Unmanned
One Hot Mess
Not One Clue
Uncorked
Unleashed
Unhinged
Hope Springs Novels
Finding Home
Home Fires
Finally Home
Home in the Hills Series
Hearth Stone
Hearth Song
European Historical Romances
The Princess and Her Pirate
The Princess Masquerade
Seducing a Princess
Highland Hawk
The Fraser Bride
The MacGowan Betrothal
The Warrior Bride
Highland Jewel
Highland Flame
Highland Wolf
About the Author
Born on a North Dakota cattle ranch, Lois Greiman graduated from a high school class of sixty students before moving to Minnesota where she professionally trained and showed Arabian Horses for several years. Since that time she's been a high fashion model, a fitness instructor, and a veterinary assistant. But an incurable case of writing fever put a stop to all those occupations. Her Highland novels have received Affaire de Couer's Critic's Choice Award, Romantic Times K.I.S.S. Award, and been nominated for Romance Writer's of America's prestigious Rita. Her titles have appeared on Barnes and Nobles Best Selling Romance list and won her the Midwest Fiction Writer's Rising Star Award.
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