Rival Forces

by D. D. Ayres

  “Kye McGarren.”

  “May I see some ID?”

  “Not unless you have a warrant.”

  Yard pressed her lips together as the testosterone cloud bloomed between the two men. She could look after herself. Always had. “I have things to do. State your business, Agent Glaser.”

  The agent gave her a small smile. “Can you tell me the last time you saw or heard from Dr. David Gunnar?”

  Yardley’s heart jumped. Oleg begin to whine, breathing through his mouth as he stared up at her. Emotion down the leash was working on him. Without realizing it, she had tightened her grip, and Oleg could sense the pressure building inside her. She let the leash out, certain now that something bad had happened to David. Why didn’t he just spit it out and put her out of her misery?

  “Why are you asking?”

  The agent shrugged. “You made inquiries into Dr. Gunnar’s whereabouts a few weeks ago with the Department of Justice. I’d like to know why. How well do you know him?”

  Yardley made her expression bland and jutted out a hip to force a relaxed pose she did not feel. “We’re acquaintances.”

  Blondie smirked. “No more than that?”

  Kye reached forward and laid a possessive hand on her waist, fingers closing hard on that feminine curve, effectively startling Yardley into silence. “She knows him. Asked and answered. A friend goes missing, the other friend tries to find out why. Isn’t that right, sugar?”

  Sugar? Yardley tried to keep the astonishment out of her voice. “That’s right.”

  Agent Glaser’s gaze flicked to Kye’s hand then up his face. “Did you locate him, Ms. Summers?”

  “Locate?” Yardley’s pulse stuttered. “I was told by the FBI he’d left the country.” Her gaze flicked beyond to the man by the car. “Has something happened? Do you know something more a-about him?” Damn. She didn’t expect that beat of emotion.

  A muscle jumped in Agent Glaser’s cheek. “Have you seen or heard from Dr. Gunnar in the past few days, ma’am?”

  “I think I just answered that question.”

  Beneath Kye’s touch Yard was stiff with anger and, knowing her, about to do or say something that wouldn’t go down well. Kye slid his hand around to her front, spreading his fingers across her abs to draw her back against his body. “Go ahead, Yard. Tell them.”

  “No, Agent. I haven’t heard a word.”

  “You’re sure?”

  Yardley brushed away Kye’s touch and stepped forward. “Unless you’re here to tell me exactly where Dr. Gunnar is or that something has happened to him, I’m not answering any more questions.”

  “We have no further information to share on Dr. Gunnar. If you do hear anything, we’d appreciate it if you’d be in touch.” He handed her a card.

  Yardley watched the two men reenter their car and drive away. Behind her she could hear Kye playing with Lily while Oleg sat at perfect attention at her feet.

  Finally, she turned to Kye. He stopped playing with Lily and offered her a smile that really shouldn’t do what it was doing to her insides, softening and melting her anxiety about David. So she heaped it all into her voice to push those feelings of thankfulness toward him away. “What do you think you were doing, provoking that agent?”

  “Glaser? Force of habit.” He returned to petting Lily. “My work brings us into occasional contact with the feds. When that happens, they often try to muscle their way into my business. They take but they don’t share. I’ve become pretty territorial. Didn’t want you to get pushed around.”

  Her dark brows drew together at his admission that he was trying to protect her. “What kind of business are you in, exactly?”

  Kye glanced up at her tone and broke into laughter at the look on her face. “Not whatever you’re thinking.” He pulled a card from his pocket and handed it to her.

  Yard looked at it. “You own BARKS?”

  “Heard of us, huh?”

  Yardley gazed at the card again. Yeah, she’d heard of them. BARKS was a big fucking deal. Known worldwide for their skill and toughness. Why didn’t she know about Kye’s place in it? “You really own the business?”

  “Yeah. Along with my partner, Oliver Kelly. He’s an Aussie. Big strapping guy. Hairiest legs you ever saw. Knees like cannonballs. Loves the media. Me, not so much.”

  He stood up and squared off before her, folding his arms over his massive chest. “You really thought I was a ski bum? Had never amounted to anything?”

  “No, of course not. You were great with dogs. It’s just that—”

  “You hoped I’d fail at everything I did because I failed you.” There. He’d put it out there, the reason they were circling warily around each other twelve years after a past that should have been behind them. But wasn’t.

  “I need to find something. We’ll do this later.” She stared at him, daring him to say more.

  He shrugged. “It’ll keep.”

  She turned and walked away, Oleg trotting along meekly in obedience. Even a dog knew that when a woman was pissed, it was better to not make waves.

  Kye stood a moment longer staring at the back of the woman he’d been sent to protect. She was still a pain in the neck. Her attire and parade-ground voice hadn’t changed. But there was something in her posture, a slight rounding of her shoulders when she turned away, that made him pause. She was more than tired. She looked like the weight of the world was balanced on her shoulders. Was this the reason Law had asked him to come? To do some heavy lifting for his sister’s sake?

  She wasn’t happy to see him. Hell, he wasn’t happy to be here. Not when all he could think about was the kiss they’d shared. And that wasn’t about to happen again. It wouldn’t be smart. Or helpful. Or lead to anything. He couldn’t allow that, not if his aching dick and balls turned blue with frustration. He wouldn’t screw her and leave again. And since he couldn’t stay, he wouldn’t touch her again. For both their sakes.

  But damn!

  He thought for a moment about the litter of toller puppies he’d left in the care of Sheila Maxwell. Sheila wasn’t his partner or anything like that. They worked together, had sex when the mood struck them both at the same time. The fact that that mood hadn’t struck in months wasn’t an issue between them. But now, looking at Yardley, he was thinking an evening in the company of a friendly woman would be a very good idea. Much better than the one he was wrestling with.

  His dick twitched. Maybe he was only 60 percent dick these days. That was still a majority. Yet his little head no longer did the majority of his thinking. He was sent to do a job. Stick with Yard and keep her out of trouble. Piece of cake. Not.

  He caught up with her just as she started the Jeep’s engine. “Wait up.”

  She didn’t, of course. She threw the Jeep in reverse and stepped on the gas, hard.

  As gravel spewed from the back wheels, she braked and Kye saw his chance. With Lily in one hand, he yanked open the door of the moving vehicle with the other and jumped in, glad he was wearing combat boots because she cut him no slack as she swung the Jeep around.

  “Where are we going?”

  She didn’t spare him a glance, but he caught the up-curve of her mouth. “I need to find my phone.” The Jeep shot through the open gates and took a hard left onto the road.

  A few minutes later they had parked on the side of the road and were on foot in the twiggy remains of underbrush.

  “And you lost your phone in the brush how?” Kye hacked impatiently at the dry grass with a felled branch.

  “I have a temper. Okay?”

  “No argument there.”

  Lily, who’d been joyfully traipsing through the winter scrub while her doggy companion had been left in a crate in the Jeep, suddenly barked and leaped, pawing furiously at a patch of damp leaves until she could pluck something from the ground. Then she pranced over and nudged Kye’s thigh.

  Kye smiled. “Found your phone.”

  Yardley snatched and looked at it. Her expression drooped. “Batter
y’s dead.”

  Kye handed Lily a few treats. “Want to tell me what’s going on?”

  “No.” She pocketed the phone and headed back toward the Jeep.

  Kye trooped after her. “Let me rephrase. Tell me what’s going on before I throttle you.”

  Yard took a deep breath and turned around to face him. “I want to hire you.”

  “I’m already engaged, in a manner of speaking.”

  “No, you’re doing Law a favor. I want to pay you so you owe your allegiance to me. That means you can’t contact Law about me or with anything you learn about me.”

  Kye crossed his arms, feeling a trap opening beneath him. “What do I have to do?”

  “I don’t know yet.” She turned and continued toward her Jeep.

  “Hold up, Ms. Long, Leggy, and Inscrutable.” He bent down to pick up Lily and slung her around his shoulders. “You need to tell me what’s going on.”

  No.” She hopped in her Jeep and turned on the ignition. She glanced at him. “You coming?”

  * * *

  “What do you suppose they were doing?” Agent Glaser lowered his Steiner MM30 8x30mm military binoculars, a memento from his years in the marines.

  “Searching for something?” FBI agent Jackson couldn’t help it. The younger man Glaser was so intense that he forgot sometimes to think in basic human terms.

  “Looked like they recovered a cell phone.”

  Jackson nodded. “I’d purely love to know why she threw it away there, and then decided she needed it back.”

  “Something to do with Dr. Gunnar?”

  “Everything to do with Dr. Gunnar, is my guess.”

  Witnesses fled the witness security program more frequently than the public knew. Over time that ache to “get back to real life” could overwhelm even the instinct for self-preservation. But they’d thought the doc was sturdier than that. If only because Dr. Gunnar had brought this case to the feds.

  For more than two years a federal task force that included the FDA’s Criminal Investigations Unit, the DEA, and the World Health Organization had been investigating counterfeit prescription drugs entering the United States. Working overseas, Dr. Gunnar had put the pieces together for them, could name sources, drugs, and companies. Every one of those sources would like nothing better than to see the doc disappear. Without him, the case could collapse. Which is why they’d tucked him safely away. His doing a runner didn’t make sense. Unless he was running to instead of from someone.

  What they’d discovered by spying on the pair was that Yardley Summers probably knew more than she was saying. And that the McGarren fellow was more than he seemed.

  “We’ll keep watch, from a distance, for a few days. Or until Dr. Gunnar’s been located.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Yardley and Kye drove back to the house in silence. But it wasn’t empty of emotion. Yardley turned every which way the conversation she’d had with the federal agent, looking for unspoken clues in his manner, his tone, his refusal to tell her much.

  What she did know: The FBI and the DEA were looking for David Gunnar. Nothing else explained their visit. And they thought she might be his contact.

  Her heartbeat quickened as she pulled into the driveway. She had only one mission in mind, to plug in her phone and find out if David Gunnar had been in touch.

  There was a reason David had stopped texting. A reason with federal implications. Though it should have frightened her, the thought very selfishly made her feel better. She hadn’t been ghosted. Something big had kept him from her.

  She glanced sideways at Kye, feeling guilty for no reason she could put a finger on. One quick kiss didn’t negate a relationship of more than a year’s standing. She wasn’t a teenager, about to blow things out of proportion. So what if it felt nice? But Kye couldn’t be around when she read David’s messages, if he’d sent anything.

  David needs me. She’d stopped hoping just when he needed her to most believe in him. Screw what anyone else thought!

  She stepped hard on the brake. “Make yourself scarce for a while. I need some privacy.” She didn’t wait for Kye to agree but jumped out, grabbed Oleg’s leash, and headed for the house.

  “Feed Lily?”

  She paused on the porch and turned. Kye released Lily, who shot straight toward Yardley. “Her food’s in my backpack. She needs water, too.”

  Yardley nodded and opened her door, letting both animals through. She did not need to feel bad about leaving Kye in the cold on the driveway. But she did. Damn. He was getting to her without even trying.

  She went like a tornado through the drawers of her kitchen utility drawer, impatience turning to giddiness when she found the white charger cord at the back.

  Oleg and Lily had followed her into the kitchen. Oleg still wore a muzzle but he didn’t seem overly concerned about the fact that Lily was wandering freely through his territory. He seemed to think he could still get at whatever was producing those wonderful smells in the garbage.

  “Pfft!” Both dogs stopped nosing the can to look up at her. “Sorry, guys. You’ll have to wait a second. I’m busy here.”

  She reached over and stuck the plug into the socket, then attached her phone. Nothing. She groaned in frustration. It was going to take at least a few minutes before the phone would be charged enough to be active.

  Fine. She had other business to take care of.

  She refreshed the water of both dogs and then carefully removed Oleg’s muzzle. “Play nice or it’s back in the crate.”

  The two dogs eyed each other in sidelong glances but made no provocative moves as they lapped thirstily at their individual bowls.

  Satisfied for the moment that there’d be no doggy Armageddon in her kitchen, she headed back into the living room, grabbing up Kye’s gear as she went. The last thing she wanted to do was explain to him what was going on. When she had collected it all, she grabbed a piece of paper from her printer tray and scrawled across it with a marker.

  You can stay at bunkhouse. It’s open. Key to frig is in the Ladies in the spark plug dispenser.

  Grabbing up everything, she headed for the front door. When she looked for Kye, she discovered he was closing the main gates, probably to keep any more unannounced callers from simply driving in. He was protecting her. The knowledge felt strangely comforting, and disconcerting. She wasn’t accustomed to anyone taking care of her. As she watched, his tall, long-legged, hard-shouldered silhouette turned to stroll back up her long drive. The sight was striking. He was striking.

  “Damn.” Every time she glanced at him she felt it all again. The sudden heat as their lips met earlier. The heavy assault of heat, tongue, and expertly wielded pressure that was his mouth. Her fingers tingled as if remembering the hard heat of his bare chest.

  So McGarren could kiss. So what? She’d known that twelve years ago. Maybe he was better at it now. That didn’t mean anything.

  She blinked, feeling hot and shivery, but it only made her work more quickly. She needed Kye out of the way while she got in touch with David. Only then would she know what to do next. She placed his things in one of the handmade rockers that lined the porch, attached her note, then went back inside and double-locked the door.

  She went into her kitchen and checked the phone: still not enough power to turn it on. She poured the last of the hours-old coffee into her mug and stuck it in the microwave. But every cell of her body seemed to be in overdrive. Strangely, it wasn’t about David, but Kye.

  She pulled the fatigue cap from her head and flicked her ponytail over her shoulder. It wasn’t like her to get caught up in sexual sensation. She wasn’t one of those women who could while away hours recalling her lover’s every look, every sigh. But the sensations kept on coming, overwhelming her desire to think of anything else. This time it was the pressure of Kye’s hips locked into hers, her height making the fit perfect as her lower belly absorbed the rigid length of his arousal.

  Desire hit her like a German shepherd running flat-out.
Only there was no protective bite suit around her emotions. For a moment she stood in her kitchen, not moving, but imagining everything. Her arms moving up to encircle Kye’s neck. Her fingers sliding into the silky short hair at his nape. She’d been a few heartbeats from surrendering her anger to the sensations of the moment.

  Yardley firmed her mouth against a sigh. She wasn’t one of those women who had to have a man. But McGarren had made her want—bad—in just a kiss. It had been an eye-opener for him, too.

  She had seen how he’d looked at her after they separated. That simple surprise had quickly turned into a knowing gaze she couldn’t argue with. She had responded. His heavy-lidded eyes and lazy smile said Let me do you with such confidence.

  But then he’d backed up, averting his gaze and saying something about the need to be careful around each other.

  She glanced up uncomfortably when she heard McGarren’s footsteps on her porch. Why did that irritate her? Why did everything about him make her want to convert thoughts into actions, actions that brought her into physical contact with him? It struck her that maybe it wasn’t only lust, but guilt fueling her contrary feelings toward McGarren.

  He hadn’t pushed himself on her. In fact, she’d provoked him beyond reasonable need. And in the end, he’d done the honorable thing by backing off without being asked. She had been wrong. She was avoiding him because she didn’t want to face those facts.

  Not one to hide from a tough truth, Yardley took a breath and marched over to unlock the door and face Kye.

  She stepped out just as he slung the backpack over his shoulder. He paused, several feet away, but he didn’t speak. His expression was closed off. If he was angry, he was handling it. If he was thinking hard thoughts about her, they didn’t show through the dark depths of the candid gaze holding hers. The only thing about him that betrayed any emotion was the tautness of the bronze skin riding his cheekbones. And the tight grip of the hand holding his backpack on his shoulder. He was waiting. Nothing more, nothing less.

  She understood. He didn’t need to say anything. Her conscience was doing his job for him. It told her she had behaved badly, leaving him outside. She was wrong. No excuses.