For the Love of Nick

by Jill Shalvis

  “Yes I did.” Donald leaned down and roughed up the top of the dog’s head, while Sadie glared at him. “But that was before.”

  “Before?”

  Donald looked at Nick, then back to Danielle. “Where’s Ted?”

  “I don’t know,” she answered politely, then gestured to the man at her side. “This is Nick Cooper.” She watched the two shake hands, sizing each other up. “What did you mean before?”

  “I don’t want to get in the middle.”

  “The middle?”

  “Between you and Ted.”

  “There is no middle,” Danielle said carefully. “This is about Sadie. And me.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “Donald, just tell me. Yes or no. Are you interested in working with Sadie?”

  “Let’s talk in here,” he said, and ushered them into his large, still mostly packed office, holding the door open for them. But as Sadie crossed the threshold, he stopped her. “People only,” he said pleasantly, reaching for her leash, smiling at Danielle. “She’ll be perfectly comfortable out here with Linda, my receptionist.”

  Before either Danielle or Nick could reply, he’d shut the door, leaving them in the office. Alone.

  Danielle bit her lip and looked at the door. “No, that’s not right. Something’s off.”

  “I’ll say,” Nick said, reaching for the handle. “We keep Sadie with us, at all times.”

  But Sadie wasn’t at the reception desk, and neither was Donald.

  They were hurrying down a hallway as he punched numbers on his cell phone.

  Nick whistled sharply, and unbelievably, Sadie halted in her tracks, craning her neck to look at him.

  As her leash tightened, Donald jerked to a stop, the cell phone tumbling from his fingers, bouncing on the tile floor.

  His smile was utterly forced, but before he could say a word, Nick scooped up the cell phone. With a look of thorough disgust, he turned to Danielle. “Take a wild guess.”

  “Same number Emma was calling?”

  “Bingo.” Nick grabbed Sadie’s leash and handed it to Danielle. “Here’s your prize. One dog, free for life. Or until she kills you, whichever comes first.”

  THE PHONE RANG and Ted held it tight, certain it was the call. The one that would bring Danielle back to him.

  “I didn’t want to get in the middle of this,” came Donald’s voice. “How did I get in the damn middle, Ted?”

  “Money. It changed your mind quick enough. Now what’s up?”

  “She’s with a Nick Cooper. I realize you wanted to know, but I feel funny telling you. As if I’m spying on Danielle.”

  Yeah, yeah.

  “They had the dog with them,” Donald continued reluctantly. “Look, Ted, I—”

  “Thank you,” Ted said politely and hung up. Fury blinded him.

  She’d left him, she’d really left him.

  But it would be okay. He knew where Danielle would go next. She’d want the records only Sadie’s breeder could give her. The records that would possibly clear her.

  Still, the cold rage ignited, flamed. She wouldn’t need clearing if she’d only come back. To him. He was tired of losing things. His house. His wealth.

  Respect.

  And with that thought, he pitched the phone across the room.

  DANIELLE AND NICK DROVE back to the hotel in grim silence. Nick’s hands gripped the wheel with force, his expression edgy and dangerous.

  No doubt, Danielle figured, he felt good and stuck with her.

  What was she going to do? The only thing she knew was dogs, and while she was the best of the best of dog handlers, it didn’t matter. Even if she was somehow cleared of theft, the damage had been done. No one in their right mind would hire her now.

  And how she’d managed to wrap up the most amazing, most gorgeous, most sexy man in the world in this mess with her was beyond her. She’d barged into his life, let him help her, protect her. Take care of her.

  So much for self-sufficiency.

  That was going to change.

  “I’m turning myself in,” she said quietly as he pulled into the hotel and shut off the engine.

  “Over my dead body,” he said, so gently, so kindly, it didn’t sink in at first.

  “It’s my decision, Nick. This can’t go on.”

  Pulling out the keys, he turned to her, his eyes shockingly full of protectiveness, belying that easygoing, almost lazy voice. “You’re right,” he said. “It can’t go on. Do you have a plan?”

  “Not yet,” she admitted, hating that she didn’t. “But I can—”

  “We can. Whatever it is, we can.”

  Her heart stuttered. She wasn’t ready to accept a “we,” but having him there at her side had made her feel safe, secure. Two things sorely missing in her life. “You have your own life to get back to. You can’t keep doing this with me forever.”

  “No one can do this forever.”

  “Nick—”

  “I’m not going to walk away, Danielle. Not until you’re okay. Don’t ask me to.”

  “I have to.”

  His eyes were dark. “Is that what you want?”

  “I’m sure we both want that.”

  “Don’t speak for me,” he said with his first hint of temper. “I’m asking you. Is that what you really want?”

  “Yes,” she whispered, then covered her eyes. “Yes. God.” She looked at him again. He’d been so quick to mask his surprise and hurt, she wasn’t sure she’d even seen it. “It’s for the best, Nick, for you to go back to your life.”

  “I never did like what was best for me,” he said, and just like that something inside her warmed. “You realize Ted knows you’re here, in the area.”

  “Yes.” She was trying not to panic, not to look over her shoulder at every little sound.

  “Let’s check out of the hotel, then find another place to go while we figure out what to do.”

  “That’s a lot of ‘we’ stuff.”

  “Yeah.” His eyes dared her to say more, and suddenly, she didn’t want to.

  What she did want no longer shocked her. “Actually,” she said with a catch in her voice, “there are some pretty good uses for the word ‘we.”’

  His brow raised, and he sent her that slow, sure, sexy smile that never failed to melt her as his strong, warm arms came around her. “Such as…?” His mouth nuzzled her ear, and light-headed already, she tipped her head to the side to give him more room.

  “Such as this,” she practically purred. “This is good ‘we’ stuff.”

  “Mmm.” His fingers danced up her ribs. “So the ‘we’ is working for you?”

  “At the moment…” Good Lord, his mouth. “Only because I like the way you kiss,” she warned breathlessly.

  Against her skin, he grinned. “I can live with that.”

  “Just so you know…” She broke off with a moan as he’d found a spot on her collarbone that made her writhe. “Soon as I’m done letting you kiss me, I’m done with the ‘we.”’

  Laughing, he pulled her even closer. “Give it your best shot, sweetheart. Give it your best shot.”

  “SO WHAT’S THE PLAN? Drive as far as the tank will take us?”

  Nick smiled as he drove. “You’re a planner. I didn’t know that about you.”

  “You don’t know a lot about me.” Danielle smiled back at him from the passenger seat of his truck, though he knew her well enough now to see past the dazzling beauty to the nerves shimmering beneath.

  What was it about her that made him want to soothe? Protect? He put a hand on her knee, needing the contact in a way that no longer surprised him. “Which reminds me, I’d like to know more about you.”

  “Other than I’m a wanted woman?”

  Her quip didn’t fool him. She was scared and unsettled and it infuriated him that her life had come to this. “What have you been doing since high school?” he asked, thinking to distract her. Hell, if she opened up to him in the process, so much the better. �
�Other than handling dogs, that is. College? Travel? What?”

  “No college.” She looked out the window. “No money for that, and my grades weren’t the greatest. I had a hard time keeping up with school-work, with working odd jobs at night.”

  He’d known that money had been tight and cursed himself for bringing up bad memories. “I’m surprised you stuck around.”

  She lifted a shoulder. “I’ve traveled. As a dog handler for the rich and bored, I’ve taken dogs all over the country to show them, and it’s been fun.”

  “Been?”

  She shot him a sad smile that stabbed right into his heart. “I’m not going to ever be a handler again, not after this.”

  “Is there something else that would make you as happy?”

  She studied the countryside whipping past them. “I’ll probably take any job for now, just because I’ve grown fond of eating.”

  Nick contemplated that while his gut clenched. He wasn’t rich, but he’d never worried about things like having a roof over his head or food in his belly. He’d grown up with few worries and supportive parents who’d seen to it he had the confidence and skills to get through life on his own.

  Danielle had the skills, she’d been on her own for far longer than he probably knew or really understood. But how many people had ever believed in her? Encouraged her?

  “When I find a permanent place to settle down,” she said, “I’d like to save up, go to school.” She glanced at him for his reaction. As if maybe she expected him to discourage her. “I’m going to become a veterinarian.”

  It wasn’t hard to smile at that. “You’d make a great vet.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Oh, yeah. You’ve got the right stuff.” His grin widened. “And a great bedside manner.”

  She grinned back, looking relieved, and with far less nerves than before. “I think I’d make a great vet, too. You could get yourself a dog, you know, and then come see me once in a while for checkups.”

  Well, if that didn’t bring reality crashing back, he didn’t know what did. Soon enough—and if she had her way it would be today—they would part ways.

  He’d go back to the job he was no longer certain he wanted, and she would make a new life for herself.

  A new life quite far away. Their paths might not cross for another fifteen years.

  He didn’t like the way his stomach dropped at that thought. “I’m not big on dogs.” He glanced at Sadie in the rearview mirror, and oddly enough, felt a twinge at not seeing her again, either.

  Oh boy, he was going soft. “When I’m working, I’m on the road. I couldn’t have a pet.” He felt her studying him intently and wondered what she saw when she looked at him like that. Turning his head he met her gaze. “What?”

  “Do you miss your job?”

  “Of course,” he said automatically, but even as the words left his mouth, they didn’t feel right. “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I’ve been on the go for so long I’ve forgotten what it was like to slow down and smell the roses.”

  “You haven’t slowed down since I walked in your door.”

  “True.” He laughed. “But even this pace is practically resting compared to how it is when I’m working. To be honest, this relaxing thing, it’s…nice.”

  “What would you do if you weren’t racing across the globe for the next story?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Are we having a midlife crisis, Nick?”

  “Bite your tongue. I’m not ready for middle age. Besides, I still have two weeks left on vacation to think about it.”

  “I’m not taking up the rest of your two weeks. Maybe the rest of today…”

  “Cooper’s Corner,” he said suddenly. “It’s where I want to take you.”

  “Where?”

  “It’s a couple of hours north of here, not too far. I have a couple of cousins there. They’re getting ready to open a bed-and-breakfast.”

  She frowned. “I was thinking a lot farther away than that.”

  Yeah, he knew that, but he didn’t like the thought of her far away, possibly in another state, completely on her own with no one to turn to.

  She bit her lip and considered. “But I do want to go see the woman I got Sadie from. She lives north, too.”

  “Okay, so we stay in Cooper’s Corner while you do that.”

  “And then I’ll go.”

  And then, from there, she’d go. God, how was he supposed to let her go? “Danielle…” He glanced over before taking his gaze back to the road. “My cousin Maureen, you’ll meet her. She used to be a cop.”

  She stiffened. “Nick—”

  “She’s good, Danielle.”

  “No. No cops. Promise you won’t tell her.”

  “Danielle—”

  “Promise, Nick.”

  “Fine. I won’t tell her until I have to.”

  “You won’t have to.”

  A muscle in his jaw ticked. He’d never had such an obviously stress-related problem before.

  Soon he’d be back to the job. Traveling. Hard news.

  And no facial tics.

  So why wasn’t he happy?

  12

  COOPER’S CORNER WAS nestled in the heart of the rolling hills of the North Berkshires. Just as Nick promised, it was a picturesque rural village, classic New England in character. One main street, lined with tiny, historic shops, mom-and-pop stores and an ice-cream parlor on the corner.

  “Mayberry, USA,” Danielle said with a smile as they drove through.

  “Just don’t let the locals hear you say that,” Nick warned, giving her a return smile that made her insides turn to mush. “They think they’re originals.”

  Character and charm abounded in the town. The shady old streets were lined with wide, heavy trees that looked as though they’d been there for generations. The sidewalks were rough and bumpy from the gnarled roots of the trees and the antique store-fronts were all painted with once bright colors long since faded from exposure. The sun gave everything a glow, and for a moment, Danielle’s breath caught as she felt that glow reach all the way to the depths of her soul.

  She felt peaceful here. Safe.

  But that was silly, she knew nothing about this town, nothing about the people, nothing at all except she wasn’t nearly far enough away from her humble beginnings to suit her.

  They drove through Cooper’s Corner and up a hill, turning into a long, curved driveway where a hanging wood sign beckoned them to Twin Oaks Bed-and-Breakfast.

  “This is it,” Nick said, taking the last corner.

  Ahead lay the inn; a renovated farmhouse, huge and sprawling, surrounded by a magnificent green, hilly setting overlooking the sleepy village below. Danielle just looked at it, her heart in her throat. This was a place to get connected, get grounded. Recharge her batteries. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered, feeling silly for being so moved.

  “My great-uncle, Warren Cooper, built it in 1875. Quite a legacy, these 160 acres.”

  They’d decided to leave Sadie in the truck until the introductions were over. Getting out, Nick shook his head in wonder, staring up at the house. “I can’t believe all they’ve done to it since I last saw it. It’s amazing. You should have seen how rundown the property was just six months ago.”

  “It’s…” Comfy, was all she could think.

  “Yeah.” He slipped his hand in hers, just as the front door opened. A woman came out, shading her eyes with her hand to see them better.

  Danielle’s heart pounded, her pulse raced. This was it. The beginning of the end. From here she’d go see Laura Lyn, Sadie’s breeder, and then it would be over.

  Nick would leave.

  She’d told herself she’d wanted him to, but she’d lied. Watching him walk away was going to be the most difficult thing she’d ever done.

  “Nick!” The woman cried, and, laughing aloud, she ran down the steps and threw herself at him. She was in her early thirties, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, and covered in dried paint
of various colors. “Tell me you brought news of civilization, real civilization.”

  “I told you after a week in the boondocks you’d go crazy,” Nick said, hugging her. “But admit it, you love it here.”

  She pulled back and grinned. “I love it here.”

  “So you’re good?”

  “I’m better than good.” She nodded politely at Danielle. “Hello.”

  “Maureen,” Nick said, reaching to pull Danielle closer. “This is Danielle. My…”

  When he didn’t finish, Danielle looked at him.

  He was looking at her with an unreadable expression that suddenly scared her. Was he going to tell Maureen the truth after he’d promised he wouldn’t? No, she didn’t really believe that, not for a second, but she did believe there was something wrong because he was looking at her as if he was really, really sorry, and she didn’t understand.

  “She’s my fiancée,” Nick said, and Danielle gasped.

  He simply grinned as if her reaction was perfectly normal. “She’s still not used to hearing it, though. We’re here in the Berkshires to surprise her relatives.”

  With a squeal, Maureen hugged him tight again. Over his cousin’s head, Nick looked right at Danielle, who was so shocked a light breeze could have knocked her on her butt.

  “Fiancée?” she mouthed.

  “I know I didn’t call ahead,” Nick said to Maureen, eyes locked on Danielle. “We know you’re not really quite ready for guests and we’ve got a big dog, but we were hoping—”

  “Of course you can stay here.” She pulled back to kiss him full on the mouth. “I’ll just go get a room ready! It’s still a bit of a mess inside, painting and such, and there are no services yet—”

  “No problem,” Nick assured her. “We don’t need much.”

  “Oh, Nick! This is so exciting! I can’t wait to tell everyone—”

  “About that,” Nick said quickly, grabbing her before she could run off. “We’re sort of hoping to keep it a secret, just for a little bit longer.”