by Sylvie Kurtz
“I know.” She moved aside and opened the door all the way. “Come in.”
Queenie sniffed at him and a low growl rumbled through her small body. Bryn smiled and the smile looked good on her. “Better watch out, she bites.”
Gray gave the dog a wide berth and walked into Bryn’s office. The damage there looked like a war zone, everything broken as if someone had taken out their anger against each object in the room. “You don’t have to stay here. I can help you sell the house and get started elsewhere.”
Silver eyes watching him as if she expected him to vanish at any second, she stroked her little dog’s ears. “This is my home. I want to stay.”
Gray righted a toppled chair. “I missed you, you know.”
Bryn blinked at him, then turned away.
Great. He was making all sorts of progress today. He picked up a broken frame that held a five-by-seven of the same photo of him and Bryn he carried in his wallet.
A scraping, shuffling sound came from the hallway. He glanced over his shoulder. Still holding the dog in one arm, Bryn was dragging a garbage can from the kitchen. She stopped and stared at him.
“I still have that picture, too,” Gray said, brushing away the shards of glass. Sixteen-year-old Bryn, playfully jostled with eighteen-year-old Gray to hog the camera. Her head leaned against his shoulder and his hand rested around hers. Both their smiles had enough electricity to fire up a dozen birthday cakes. A few months later their worlds would change. “Abbie caught us true, didn’t she? You and me, we were always fighting for space. But if you look closely, you can also see that we care about each other. If I’d known how things were going to turn out for you, I would’ve dragged you away with me.”
Bryn walked over to him and slowly leaned her head against his shoulder. “I missed you, too.”
Throat working overtime, he risked dismemberment by dog and reached his arm across her shoulder. “Talk to me, Bryn.”
And between a river of tears, she did.
GRAY LIVED ALONE AND LIKED it that way. The tiny piece of real estate was his kingdom. Here he made the rules and there was no one to tell him they were wrong. Here he was who he was and it didn’t matter if he wasn’t good enough or strong enough or anything enough.
But when he walked through the front door of his condo and saw Abbie in the kitchen, her golden smile beaming just for him, he couldn’t imagine why he’d thought living alone was so great. And when she came to him, fit herself into his arms and kissed him, the burden he’d carried all the way home lifted.
“How’s Brynna?” Abbie asked, worry pinching the corners of her eyes.
Forgiveness would take time, but they were working on it. “I’m going to help her rebuild her office.”
“I’m so glad.” Abbie feathered her fingers through his hair so gently, it set off a wave of tenderness. That was happening a lot lately, and getting used to all these feelings inside him would also take time. “How was your meeting at Seekers?”
“I survived.” He pressed his nose to the golden hair she’d had repaired to its original color and inhaled the sweet honey-and-almond scent that was so much her.
“I’m sorry for not trusting you about your own people,” she said, leaning her head against his heart. He sighed with pleasure.
“You weren’t in a state to trust anyone. Not even me.”
“I’m still sorry I put you through all that.”
He kissed her slowly, savoring because there was time, plenty of time.
“I heard from the lawyers today,” she said, breaking away. “The mill will be going back into production. The creditors appointed a new CEO, and we’re working something out. I won’t lose total control of the company, but I won’t be running it either. He’s a good man. He’ll take care of the mill the way Dad would have.”
“You don’t have any qualms about giving up the business or putting up the mansion for sale?”
“None.” She laughed and its song warmed his heart. “It’s such a relief, actually. No more pressure.”
“What about Echo Falls? We could move there if you want.” An hour’s commute from Nashua or an hour’s commute from Echo Falls didn’t really make a difference.
“No. I can work anywhere, and you need to be closer to your office. I’ll go back. I still have connections there. I’ll stay active in the women’s club. And Brynna’s there, so we’ll visit often.” Abbie frowned at him. “You do still have a job, don’t you?”
“Falconer didn’t fire me.”
“That’s good, isn’t it?”
“That’s good.” Being a Seeker was what he was. He was good at it. He couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Still, there was Abbie. Could she really want this pared-down version of her life? “I’ll be stuck doing scut work for a while, but eventually I’ll get to lead another case.”
“I knew he wouldn’t fire you.” Triumph lit her eyes as if she’d just won the lottery.
She didn’t realize what her prize entailed. He wouldn’t lie to her. He wanted her to know what she was signing on for. “You know what that means, don’t you?”
“Of course—you’ll be doing the job you love.”
He shook his head. “It means I could be gone for days, maybe weeks at a time.”
She cocked her head in question.
“You deserve someone who’s home every night.”
She chuckled again, as if he was the silliest fool she’d ever met. “I deserve a husband who’s happy. I deserve a husband who loves his work. I deserve a husband who wants to come home because that’s where he wants to be. You’ll be coming home to me, Gray. That’s what I deserve.”
“Husband?”
She flicked his shoulder playfully. “You didn’t think I’d make it easy for you to disappear on me again. I plan on shackling you as soon as possible. I won’t let you go again.”
“Oh, yeah?” Now that conjured up a whole album full of possibilities he was dying to try. He slid his hands down her arms and took hold of her wrists. “I do have a set of handcuffs. Want to try them out?”
Laughing, she dragged him to the kitchen. “I have something to show you.” Spread on the table were real-estate listings. She picked one out of the pile and handed it to him. Her front teeth skimmed over her bottom lip, and she waited expectantly. “What do you think?”
The picture showed a Victorian-style home complete with a front porch, flowerpots on the steps and a Welcome flag flying. A colorful play set peeked from one end of the house. He grinned at the goofy dog sprawled on the driveway. He’d bet the photographer had done his best to remove the shaggy beast from the picture and had to finally give up. This little house looked like Gray’s idea of heaven. Abbie didn’t need a mansion. She never had. She deserved a home filled with love and color and life. “Where is it?”
“It’s right in Wintergreen,” she said, breathless. “You could jog to work, if you wanted.”
“And let the guys see me sweat?”
“They wouldn’t care.”
No, they wouldn’t. And knowing that gave him a sense of acceptance. “Does it come with the dog?”
She peered at the picture and her mouth curved up at the corners, giving her that angelic look he carried with him in his heart. “We could ask.”
He caught her hips in his hands and moved in close. “Is this what you want, Abbie?”
Her arms looped around his neck, and she pulled his head close to hers. “Look into my eyes, Gray. What do you see?”
His future with Abbie spread before him, and the picture it formed was a dream come true.
“It’s a deal. I’ll take it all, Abbie—you, the house, the dog. Everything.”
ISBN: 978-1-4592-2853-5
EYE OF A HUNTER
Copyright © 2005 by Sylvie Kurtz
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* Flesh and Blood
† The Seekers
Table of Contents
Letter to Reader
About the Author
Books by Sylvie Kurtz
Cast of Characters
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Copyright