“My predecessor started looking into it before she left, and I followed through with the idea. Studies show children’s reading skills really improve when they have a non-judgmental ear.”
Zane’s gaze slid back to Gambler. He might be leaning against the little girl’s legs now. “Maybe you should go get my dog. I might scare that kid.”
He felt Harper’s gaze on him. “You wouldn’t scare a kid.”
“I wouldn’t mean to, but I often seem to anyway.”
Shaking her head, the librarian moved past him and to a stack of books on a nearby table. After selecting a few, she moved toward the kid-Gambler pair. A small blanket was spread on the grass nearby.
Zane followed at a cautious distance, arriving in time to hear Harper say in her soft voice, “Bella, this is Gambler. Would you like to read him a book?”
Zane nearly lost his mind. Yeah, the dog might be having a moment of calm, but any second now his Zen could be broken by bubble wrap or a frog sighting. “Uh…” He put his hand on Harper’s shoulder. “Do you think—”
“I think you should sit down right here, Zane, on the corner of the blanket so you can leave enough room for Bella and her reading partner.”
The kid didn’t say a word, but she did plop onto the blanket and Gambler instantly settled within reaching distance, his head on his front paws, his big browns trained on Bella’s face. Without knowing what else to do, Zane took his own place as directed by the librarian.
And then he just watched. In amazement.
He didn’t know what astounded him more, to see that the tiny kid could read, actually read—she couldn’t be more than four or five, could she?—or that his undisciplined, unpredictable dog remained frozen in place, apparently listening.
It was as if Gambler had found his purpose.
Harper bent to whisper in his ear. “Bella’s new to the program. This is her first time and she seemed very shy upon arrival. We also didn’t have enough dogs to go around today, so this works out well.”
Something involving Gambler was working out well!
Still dumbfounded, as Harper wandered away Zane remained in the shade of that tree and watched magic happen. The child’s hand creeped out and as she read she began to pet the dog’s head and play with his ears. The sight of those little fingers topped with pink glittery polish did something to Zane. Never one for keeping still for long, not since he’d won the battle with asthma anyway, now he found himself staying as motionless as his pet, unwilling to intrude by word or deed into the surprising interlude.
The girl’s sweet small voice washed over him, and he and Gambler listened intently, still unmoving, even as she picked up a second book, and then a third.
Finally, a little bell rang and Zane came back to himself as if from a dream. Harper stood on the patio, all smiles. “Thank you for coming to today’s program, boys and girls,” she said. “If you want to go inside now, there’s punch and cookies in the children’s section and you’ll meet your parents there. The dogs and the bunny will stay outside and be collected by their owners.”
Kids began getting to their feet, including Bella, who stacked up the books she’d read and handed them to Zane. Then, to his bemusement, she kissed the top of Gambler’s head and followed that up by sliding her tiny hand in his.
“Happy to make your acquaintance,” she said, as polite as any mini-adult could be. “I’m Bella.”
“Zane,” he said, more bemused and equally beguiled.
She continued to hold his hand. “Could I read to your dog again someday?”
“He seems to like the way you tell a story,” he answered, nodding.
Her face broke into a smile sure to slay hearts. Zane felt his own take a blow.
Then Harper was strolling toward them, a man at her heels. He didn’t look at the other guy, because he could only see the librarian’s face, the soft expression overcoming it as she took him in, Bella’s hand still in his big paw.
God, the librarian was pretty.
And she wasn’t looking at him like he was a big, loud, rough guy. No, she was looking at him like he was a hero.
Shit.
Still, whatever spell listening to Bella’s voice had cast over him, the shine in Harper’s eyes intensified it. The new calm settled more deeply over him and he felt his usual need to do, to move, ebb further away. He thought he could spend the rest of his life looking into the librarian’s lovely face. His chest began to ache, like someone was prying open his ribs, except the hurt didn’t exactly hurt, it—
“Leopards and spots,” Harper murmured.
Killed. That look in her gray eyes was killing him.
“Bella,” a male voice said.
Both the girl and Zane jerked their heads to the dark-haired man who’d halted just beside the librarian. Damn, if it wasn’t another of his old friends come back to Eagle’s Ridge. And though he was obviously fighting fit, Zane noticed right away that something heavy hung on the SEAL’s broad shoulders.
“Uncle Noah!” Bella flung herself at him.
Noah stood frozen in her embrace, then his hand finally lifted to touch the child’s silky hair. “I wasn’t sure you’d recognize me.”
The little girl stared up at him, her arms still wrapped around his waist. “We look at your picture every night. Mommy and me pray for you to come home safe.”
A pained expression crossed Noah’s face. “That’s sweet of you. I think of you guys too.”
“Are you home to stay?” Bella asked. “Mommy wants you back here with us.”
“Right now I’m here to take you home to your mom. Did you, um, have a fun morning?”
Bella let go of her uncle in order to point at the dog. “I read to Gambler. He belongs to that man. That man is Zane.”
“I know Zane.” Still without a smile, Noah held out his hand. “Z, how are you?”
“I’m good.” Better than my old friend, Zane thought. “When did you get into town?”
“Just today.” He glanced over at his young relative, shadows in his eyes. “Today I’m helping out my cousin Lainey. This is her little girl.”
“Ah,” Zane said. He knew that Lainey was a widow and had been raised like a sister to Noah. Clearly something was up to bring the Navy SEAL back here from his DC digs. “And your cousin needs your help because…”
“Reasons why aren’t great.”
“Can we give you a reprieve from them this evening then?” Zane asked. “Can you get free to meet up at Baldie’s tonight? We’ll have beer and greasy bar food. Share some laughs.”
At Noah’s nod, Zane slid his phone from his pocket. “Ryder’s around. Adam, too. Wyatt as well. I’ll text them right now. Six o’clock.”
“Sounds good.” The other man hauled in a breath and looked over at the little girl as if he wasn’t quite sure what to do with her. “You ready to leave, Bella?”
She agreed, placing her hand into her uncle’s. Zane gathered his dog’s leash. “Gambler and I will walk you two out, if you don’t mind going around the side of the library instead of straight through.”
The pair proceeded to follow his plan, then Zane proved his stupid was still on, full-strength, because as they moved off, he looked back at Harper. She was flitting about the patio straightening up, like some kind of book fairy in that full skirt, little flats, pearl buttons.
Noah glanced that way too, then at Zane. A brief smile twitched the corners of his mouth, and for a moment he looked more like the teen Zane had spent so many hours with in high school detention. “View around Eagle’s Ridge is improving.”
It’s my view, Zane thought.
But he stopped himself from claiming that aloud. Just barely.
Still, he chanced a second last look at her.
A breeze had come up, plastering her skirt to her thighs, delineating the lithe muscles he’d had his hands on the night before. He could feel her smooth, warm skin on his palms even now and couldn’t believe he’d managed not to drag her to his floor, strip her c
ompletely bare, then sample all that proper and tidy and sweet, from the top of her head to her smallest toe.
Lingering, of course, in the hottest, wettest of places. Gorging himself on her scent and on her taste.
Because he really was a beast of sorts, a man with rough edges and with exhaustive appetites.
Appetites that might frighten her. That might overwhelm her.
That might break her.
So he had to figure out a way to keep her safe from all that he wanted from her, because as deep as that went, it wouldn’t be what she needed and he didn’t have anything more than right now and rowdy times to offer.
And everything about the pretty librarian still screamed forever.
Zane looked forward to a night with the guys. Spending time with his old friends and his brother without any distracting women around would remind him of exactly who he was—and what he couldn’t be. Pushing open the door to Baldie’s, a dimly lit roadhouse of a place that had neon beer signs on the walls and an impressive list of craft beers and a just as unimpressive list of call liquors, he breathed in the pleasing scents of spilled brew and a deep fryer at work.
Behind Baldie’s bar no blender could be found, but you could order greasy chow from the kitchen guaranteed to forestall a morning-after hangover. The cheese fries were a locally known cure for the common cold.
As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, he noted that he was the first of his party to arrive. It made sense he was early, because he was that eager to kick back and just be Zane—uncomplicated in his tastes and his lifestyle. A man who operated a business and didn’t get into other people’s. A guy who’d talk all night about the team’s chances for a play-off berth but didn’t want to talk about anything deeper. Certainly not about anybody’s feelings.
He strode inside, looking for a couple of tables to pull together, and saw his father seated at the bar. His posture, curved over his beer so low that his nose nearly dipped into the skim of foam at the top, didn’t appear to be the pose of a man relaxing with a brew on a Saturday night.
Zane hesitated a second, then crossed to him on a sigh, taking the stool beside the older man. “Hey, Dad.”
Sam looked over. “Son.”
“I’ve got the dog in the family. And I happen to know he’s at home, perfectly fine, presumably gnawing on the nylon bone I just bought him, or more likely, one of my shoes. So it can’t be that.”
His father’s brows drew together. “Come again?”
“My dog’s in good health, Dad, not run over, like your expression might lead other people to believe.”
A half-smile lifted the corners of his dad’s lips. Sam Tucker was a good-looking man, everyone said so, with his salt and pepper hair and chiseled features. But that smile didn’t make it to his blue eyes tonight. “I’m fine.”
Zane glanced around, first checking out the score of the game on the overhead TV. Nothing to be sad about there. The TV on the left wall showed a beer commercial that included several busty ladies, again not something to dampen his dad’s mood. Then he looked to his right, and spied a lone woman at one of the tables.
Oh.
“Brenda’s here,” he said.
Sam slid his eyes in that direction and his face once more settled into a frown. “I saw her.”
“Maybe you should join forces,” Zane suggested. “You’re not usually a drinking-alone kind of man.”
“I don’t know what I am,” Sam muttered. “And I certainly don’t know who Brenda is any longer.”
Great. Zane cleared his throat. “Maybe you should, I don’t know, go over there, get to know her again.”
“I’m supposed to already know her!” Sam said, his voice heated. “I’ve known her longer than you’ve been alive!”
Zane winced. “Maybe you’re a little unbalanced because of the news about Mom—”
“This has nothing to do with your mother,” his father ground out. “Absolutely zilch.”
Holding up both hands, Zane slid off his stool and onto his feet. “Okay, okay.”
“I’m here to meet Pete,” Sam continued. “But I saw Brenda, stopped to ask if she would like some company.”
“Okay.”
“She said no. She said she’s meeting someone.”
From the sour expression on his father’s face, Zane assumed his dad thought she was meeting a man—one of those online daters most likely.
Sam’s eyes narrowed. “And she said it in a very, very kind tone of voice.”
“That witch,” Zane said mildly.
“She’s not been kind to me lately,” Sam muttered, his gaze returning to his beer. “We do better when we’re not talking.”
Not going to touch that one, Zane thought. “Okay, well, Dad, I’ve got my own group to meet—”
“What the heck is going on?” Sam demanded. “Your sister finds a man, your brother finds a woman, Brenda’s dating. Why can’t things be like they used to be?”
Zane could sympathize, of course. “I know how you feel.” The bar’s door opened and Noah walked in. Zane lifted a hand, started in his direction, then leaned back toward Sam.
“If it makes it any better, Dad, I’m planning on being your crusty ol’ bachelor son until the day I die. Ready and somewhat willing to spoon feed you and Grandpa Max porridge and strained peas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
At his father’s reluctant chuckle, Zane left him to his beer and low mood.
He waved Noah to a table and put in for a pitcher of beer and some of those cheese fries with the server who bopped up. She was a cute thing, with dark hair cut short as a boy’s but Zane’s old friend glowered at her retreating form.
“How old do you think she is?” Noah asked.
“Uh, twenty-two? Twenty-three?”
“Bella’s going to be twenty-two someday. But before that it’s going to be years and years of pink ribbons and glitter pens and making sure some horny boy doesn’t get in her head and mess with her chances to be the Secretary-General of the United Nations or the CEO of her own Fortune 500 company, or, best yet, the doctor who finds the final cure for cancer.”
“Okay.”
“She’s really smart, Zane.” His friend forked his hand through his hair. “Whip smart. That can’t go to waste.”
“Of course not,” he murmured. And he’d seen for himself the little girl’s accelerated reading skills.
Conversation halted as the beer and the cheese fries were delivered. Neither seemed to improve his old friend’s temperament. Zane took a long swallow of beer then found he couldn’t stand the strained look on Noah’s face any longer.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Lainey, man, she’s like a sister to me.”
“I know.” Zane swallowed more beer.
“And she’s really got no one else in the world but me.” Noah pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.
“Okay.”
His friend hauled in a deep breath. “She’s been diagnosed with cancer. The prognosis isn’t good. It isn’t good at all.”
“Shit.” Zane thought of cute little Bella, already fatherless. “I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do?”
“Noah shook his head. “I’m thinking about coming back. Returning to Eagle’s Ridge for good.”
“What the hell?” A new voice pushed into the discussion. Wyatt Chandler clapped Noah on the shoulder and then dropped into the chair beside him. “Did I just hear that? You’re leaving your team?”
Noah bent his head, studied his beer. “There comes a time.”
Wyatt’s face closed down. “Yeah. Can’t argue with that.”
Then Noah shared with their other friend the situation he was facing. “Damn,” Wyatt said, and poured himself a beer from the pitcher and nearly downed the thing in one glug. “So you’re getting out.”
“There comes a time,” Noah repeated.
Hell, what it was time for, was to get this party started, Zane thought, looking at his two glum buddies. Had
n’t he promised they’d share some laughs?
Life could kick you in the teeth, that was sure, but tonight was supposed to be about letting go and having fun. For himself, Zane wanted to recall who he was before people in his family started going moon-eyed. Before his dog knocked over the local librarian and one look at her had knocked Zane off-kilter.
His attention turned from his friends as the door of Baldie’s opened again. A couple of men entered together, but neither part of their expected group.
Zane glanced at his buddies. “What’ll you bet my brother’s the last of us to arrive and he’ll have his cell to his ear, still talking to his woman when he walks in?”
Noah’s gaze shot to Zane’s. “Adam’s got a woman?”
“He’s whipped and wrapped.”
For the first time, the other man’s mouth stretched into a familiar grin that brought back old memories, old fun. “Last man in, phone to his ear, his woman on the other end, you say?”
“Ten bucks if I’m wrong.”
Noah frowned. “You know I don’t like to bet money.”
Zane thought of the other man’s prowess with everything mechanical and automotive. “Change my oil then, if I’m right.”
“Done.” They slapped palms on it.
Ten minutes later, the mood at the table had elevated. Ryder arrived, and then finally Adam, his phone to his ear as predicted. Zane snatched the device from his brother before he could sit down and said into it, “Jane?” His suspicions confirmed, he grinned. “It’s Jane.”
Noah shook his head. “Whipped and wrapped, who would have thought it?”
General, good-natured bull-shitting ensued after that. Then they talked about Wyatt’s grandmother and Noah’s new plan to return home—including the why of it.
That sobered the group again, but the SEAL was cheered when Adam mentioned that a local business, Nuts and Bolts Auto Repair, was for sale. It had been around for decades and serviced everything from farm trucks to Mercedes. The trusted shop could make a man a good living. Noah nodded, looking lighter by the minute.
Next they placed a call to Jack Carter, another member of their detention “club,” and a former Marine. Now living in Seattle, Jack hadn’t been back to town in who knew how long. He’d been expected to return for Founders’ Day in March and had been a no show. Now his fellow detention detainees decided he needed to get some shit for being so out of touch.
Zane (7 Brides for 7 Soldiers Book 3) Page 9