Boxed Set: Intercepted by Love (The Complete Collection): Books One - Book Six

by Rachelle Ayala

  Cade had already heard from her side of the conversation and was putting a leash on Red. Grabbing her hand, he led her from his apartment.

  Chapter 10

  Cade dug flashlights out of the toolbox in the back of his SUV and handed one to Andie. They were parked outside the vet clinic. Two other pet owners had already arrived, and Dr. Menon was showing them the area where they boarded the dogs.

  “You see here?” the vet said as Andie and Cade approached. “Wire clippers. Someone cut the chain link fence to get to the inside deadbolt release.”

  “But why?” one of the other owners wrung his hands. “How many dogs were taken?”

  “Five are missing, all retrievers,” Dr. Menon replied. “I suspect they were going for the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever left here for boarding. I’ve contacted the owner who’s still en route from his vacation.”

  “But my dog’s just an ordinary golden retriever,” a woman said. “Why would they take her?”

  “Mine’s not one of those either,” Andie agreed.

  “The Duck Tolling Retriever is worth two thousand dollars. I’m betting the thugs hired to do the job didn’t know exactly what they looked like so they stole all the dogs that are similar. Yours is a retriever collie mix, which means she looks similar.”

  “What are we going to do?” Andie asked. “Did you call the police?”

  “I did,” the vet said. “What I’m more worried about is once the thieves realize the other four dogs are not the one they were after, they’d dispose of them.”

  “No, it can’t be.” The woman choked back a scream, and the man next to her stomped his feet, shaking his jowls.

  “Maybe they’ll just let them go,” Andie said. “Maybe they’re out there somewhere. We have to find them.”

  “That’s true,” Cade said, reaching out and tugging Andie into his arms. “My dog can help. Let him sniff the pens of the missing dogs.”

  “Is he trained for search and rescue?” the vet asked.

  “No, but Gollie’s his girlfriend, and I know he’ll want her back.”

  “Oh, the one in heat. Got it. Your mother brought her in right before the clinic closed, so I haven’t had time to examine her yet. Come this way.”

  The vet led Cade, Red, and Andie to Gollie’s pen. He allowed Red to sniff around, then led him outside. His nose busy, he trotted over the snow, picking up a trail to the edge of the parking lot. Unfortunately, he started circling and circling before stopping.

  “That’s probably where they got her into the truck.” Cade pointed to the large tire tracks.

  “I’m calling the media and offering a reward,” Dr. Menon said. “We’ll find the dogs, but I’m afraid there’s not much we can do tonight.”

  Tears trailed down Andie’s cheeks, and she swiped them with her scarf. “It’s snowing and cold. She could be dumped at the side of the road somewhere out there.”

  “She has a thick fur coat. Maybe she found shelter or someone took her in.” Cade tried to comfort her, but knew his words rang hollow. Beside him, Red whined and his head drooped. “If it makes you feel better, we can drive around some and look for her.”

  # # #

  Andie squeezed her eyes and peered out the foggy windshield while Cade drove. Everything looked the same, miles and miles of trees and shrubs covered with snow and an occasional field surrounded by fences.

  “Is there anywhere she could have run to if she got away?” Cade asked. “Where was she living before?”

  “In a converted barn serving as a rescue, Fran’s Haven. Can we drop by there and look?” Andie put her hand on Cade’s knee and squeezed. He’d been so good to her, driving her around looking for her dog. “It’s on the way back to town.”

  “Sounds good,” Cade agreed. He followed her directions, and they wound their way to an old, dilapidated farm. The lights were dark and no one answered the door.

  “They might not be up,” Cade said. He waved his flashlight over the driveway. “No sign of tire tracks and paw prints. Why don’t you call in the morning and put them on alert?”

  “You’re right. It’s late and we should head home.”

  “The reward should help, right?” Cade patted her hand as he helped her back into the SUV. “I can throw in more money. Figure it this way, once the thief realizes Gollie’s not the expensive dog, he can make money by pretending he found her and claim the reward.”

  “True, but you don’t have to put up any money.”

  Cade switched on the overhead light and took out his phone. “I want to. Let me leave a message with Dr. Menon.”

  While he texted the vet, Andie couldn’t help admiring his strong profile. He was so kind and generous, and he loved dogs. Any man who’d spend hours searching for a dog was a hero in her book.

  Cade looked up from his phone and their eyes met.

  “I don’t know how to thank you,” Andie said, suddenly feeling shy. How long had she known Cade? And why did it feel as if she’d always known him?

  He tugged her into his arms and held her, his hands massaging circles on her back. “You don’t have to thank me. It’s hard to believe, but before I met you, I didn’t have anyone to care about other than Red. I didn’t have any real friends, just people who hung around because they wanted something from me.”

  “What about family?”

  He held her tighter and hefted a long, deep breath into her hair. “Didn’t have any. I was one of those babies no one wanted to adopt. It was foster home after foster home until I started playing ball. Then my coach took me in, but he was only interested in me winning games for the team. He used me and I used him to get a scholarship.”

  So, he had been an athlete. Figured he’d kept his physique from habit. She leaned back and lifted her gaze to his face. “What happened? Did you go to college?”

  “Yeah, I did.” His nerves felt on end, jittery and unsettled. Why was he exposing himself when he’d finally found peace away from the hangers-on, his party friends, his agent, and media attention?

  Her fingers brushed over his growing beard and she caressed his jaw. “I can’t believe no one wanted to adopt you.”

  “I had fetal alcohol syndrome, learning disabilities. I was born with a cleft palate.”

  A cleft palate? Andie narrowed her eyes and studied his upper lip. The scar was obscured by his facial hair. No wonder he wore a beard, although many guys did during the winter to keep their face warm.

  “Cade, those things don’t define you.” She stroked his fuzzy cheek. “They’re part of you, but not all of you. You’ve overcome a lot and you have a big heart. That’s the most important.” She pressed her hand on his chest, right over his Flash tattoo.

  “So, my heart’s the most important to you?”

  “Yes, even more than your brain. I’m pretty bright, and my father’s brilliant, but my mother has the best heart. She cares for little animals and people who can’t give anything back to her. She would have adopted you. So would I.”

  “Why? I needed special classes and expensive surgeries.”

  Andie traced her finger over his upper lip, careful not to linger on the cleft indentation. “Someone gave you those things, didn’t they? And even though they didn’t adopt you, they still cared.”

  “I’d never thought of it that way.” He felt the prickling of tears in his eyes. “I always saw myself as unwanted, without anyone. I never thanked the donors who paid for me, or the foster parents who raised me. I guess I was too busy resenting them for not adopting me.”

  “It’s all a matter of perspective, isn’t it? Half empty or half full. Hero or villain, winner or loser, loved or abandoned. David was one of the most depraved sinners. He murdered his friend to take his wife, but God saw him as a man after his own heart. He had a warm and tender heart.”

  A lump formed deep in Cade’s throat, and his heart clenched tight with a feeling he’d never known—one that ached him to the core, yet filled him with warmth and wanting something more than a Super Bo
wl ring or an MVP award.

  “I too, want that heart.” He clasped her hand, the one on his chest. “I want you to show me how to be a man like David.”

  “You already are. You just don’t believe it.” She leaned her forehead against his, and this time, when they kissed, it was pure, and sweet, and different.

  His emotions shifted, expanding and filling him with comfort and power, beating to the drum of victory.

  I’m a winner. I’m a hero. I’m loved.

  Chapter 11

  Andie kissed her father’s clammy forehead and combed his thinning hair over his bald spot. Taking a warm washcloth, she dabbed at his face. His eyes remained closed, and he held his head still, as if she weren’t present.

  “I get why you want to shut us out,” she said. “I truly do. You probably hate it when people talk about you like you’re not there.”

  His eyelids flickered, and his lips tightened on the one side of his face he could still control.

  Andie caressed his cheek into a smile. “But you’re still my Daddy. Mom and I need you.”

  He shook his head and tried to turn away. His one good arm rose, gripping the rail of the bed.

  “I found some new information about King David. Would you like to hear? I think he really loved the Princess Michal.”

  Her father’s hand relaxed, and he opened his eyes with a spark of interest. He was always the one who had told her stories about ancient people like they were alive and sitting around the coffee table having a chat.

  “You don’t believe me, do you?” Andie said in a teasing voice while catching his eye. “I have concrete evidence.”

  She’d draw the story out longer, now that she’d made headway. “As you know, in ancient Israel, there was a tradition that the older daughter should be married before the younger. You also know that King Saul offered his elder daughter, Merab, to David, but at the last minute, Merab was wed to another man. My theory is that David had something to do with Adriel marrying Merab.”

  Her father’s eyebrows raised. Yes! She was getting a response.

  “Did you know that Adriel’s father was Barzillai, a trusted friend of David’s? What do you bet David asked his buddy to set up Michal’s older sister with his son so he could have a shot at the younger daughter, Michal?”

  Andie’s father nodded, and his eyes opened wider.

  “This is something I came up with that’s original,” she said, with a hint of pride.

  Andie had searched and searched through the literature and the many romances written about Michal and David, as well as the scandal sheets and books written to slander David, but no one had ever made this connection.

  “So, you have it there. David, the master politician, engineered the removal of Michal’s sister, while making it look like Saul had slighted him, because face it, Saul was a king who wanted to be popular. Why would he snub a hero like David? A guy who won the princess’s hand by defeating Goliath?”

  A slight shoulder shrug and smile from her father were reward enough.

  Andie leaned down and kissed her father’s cheek. “Tomorrow I’ll tell you why David doubled the number of Philistine foreskins to win Michal’s hand.”

  Her father made a face, somewhere between amusement and disgust.

  “Don’t squinch your face, Daddy. What would you ask a man to bring you for my hand?”

  A choked guffaw burst from her father’s throat and his shoulders shook. He was laughing.

  “Don’t laugh. I met a guy, so this is a serious question.” Andie put on a stern face and crossed her arms.

  Her father shook his head and chuckled, his working hand grabbing her arm, shaking it.

  “You want to know all about him, I bet, but you’ll have to wait till you meet him. Do you want to meet him?”

  “Yeh …yeeuh.”

  “You’re speaking.” Andie’s mother surged from the doorway.

  Andie startled and stepped aside. She hadn’t known her mother was listening. Now she was going to get the third degree.

  Last night when had Cade dropped her back home, Mom had been waiting up. She’d received the grim news about Gollie, and rather than invite Cade in, she’d dismissed him without thanking him for helping with the search. Andie couldn’t fault her, of course. She was dead tired from caring for Dad and worrying about the dog.

  With Mom fawning over her father and fluffing his pillow, Andie figured she should go for a walk and try to find Gollie. It was a Saturday morning so she didn’t need to be at work.

  “Andie?” her mother called out. “Can you ask Cade over for dinner? I didn’t thank him proper for looking for Gollie, and I think your father wants to meet him.”

  Andie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “I was just joking about asking for my hand. Mom, Dad, please don’t embarrass me. We’ve been on one date, and he doesn’t want any strings.”

  “We still want to be neighborly. When did he move here and what does he do?” Mom stepped to Andie’s side and shut the bedroom door. “Besides, if you weren’t serious about him, why did you tell your dad?”

  Heat and chills flushed and fought over her face. Andie shrugged and pulled on her coat.

  “It was only one date. I was just humoring Dad. You know I can’t leave you guys. We’re a family together, the three of us, and now that Dad’s sick, we have to stick together. This guy, Cade, he travels around and I’m just getting to know him while he’s here.”

  “You like him, I can tell. There’s nothing wrong with that. If you were to find someone, we’d let you go.”

  Andie gave her mom a kiss. “Now’s not a good time. I’m going to go look for Gollie.”

  She’d called Fran and asked her to be on the lookout for Gollie, but unfortunately, no one had seen her in the neighborhood. Andie couldn’t sit around and do nothing.

  “Sure, I hope you find her, but don’t hold out on us about Cade. We want to meet him. Your dad might have had a stroke, but he’s still your father, and he doesn’t want to be left out.”

  # # #

  The weights clinked on the weight stand as Cade hefted the three hundred pound barbell from his chest. His entire body ached, but he had to keep in shape. Even though his shoulder bothered him, the remnants of an injury two years ago, he had to power through and be ready for conditioning camp.

  The late night with Andie and talking about himself had left him numb and drained. He hadn’t spoken about his foster parents to anyone, not his agent, or any of the people he met after going pro.

  Nobody had cared, and nobody admired weaklings.

  Hooking his feet on the sit-up board, Cade twisted and turned, and squeezed his abdominals at a punishing pace. Red lay at his side, his eyes following Cade’s motion up and down the board.

  “You think I do this for fun, do you?” Cade wiped sweat from his brow and fanned his damp tank top. “This body’s all I got, and football is all I have besides you, buddy.”

  Even as he said that, his heart ached for more, and he couldn’t stop thinking about Andie. She’d liked him for his good heart. She saw him as a friend, and in her eyes, he was the good guy. Now that they had this friendship, he wasn’t about to let his lust and sexual desire ruin it. She was never going to be one of his hookups or women he handed gift baskets to. She was better. She was his first friend.

  “Come on, boy. Let’s go for a run.” Cade pulled on sweatpants and a hoodie, and checked the temperature before donning his knit cap and running shoes. He grabbed a leash and buckled it on Red’s collar.

  The two of them bounded down the icy steps and slid across the sidewalk. Snow was actually fun for a California boy. Cade couldn’t help packing a snowball and drilling it into the side of a tree trunk.

  College Town was dead on a Saturday morning, and no one was at the bar. Plastic cups littered the sidewalk with an occasional bottle thrown among them.

  Cade and Red took off going up hill toward the campus. The university was surrounded by natural beauty, although right now, t
he trees were spindly sentinels devoid of leaves, and snow covered the landscape. The lake on campus was iced over, but droplets of water trickled down the partially frozen side of a cliff.

  Cade worked up a sweat running up a slippery street. Somehow, he found himself going by Andie’s house. Should he stop and look in on her? Or would that be too stalkerish?

  Her mother hadn’t been very welcoming when he’d dropped her off. Of course, everyone was worried about the dog, and it was very late.

  Hopefully the reward money would help, but maybe he should be looking for her too. He flipped his phone from his pocket and called the vet for an update.

  “Nothing yet,” Dr. Menon said. “I have an alert at the pound and sent their descriptions and pictures. Your reward money is very generous. Did you want it applied only to Gollie?”

  “No, all the dogs. They mean a lot to their owners. Also, I’m handling any of the fees for Gollie.”

  “Sure thing, except I haven’t examined her yet. From the way the male dogs responded to her, I’d say she was definitely in heat. That’s why I isolated her.”

  “Cade?” Andie’s voice appeared behind him as Red barked a greeting. “Hey.”

  “Hey, Dr. Menon. I gotta go. Let me know as soon as you hear anything.”

  They said goodbye, and Cade turned his attention to Andie. She was a wondrous sight to get his pulse hopping and blood flowing. Her hair gleamed scarlet and bright in the wintry sun, and her white ski jacket made her pink cheeks glow in contrast.

  “You out for a walk?” he stammered, finding his tongue thick and his throat stiff. His traitorous heart skipped like a puppy inside his chest and butterflies or bats beat their wings deeper down.

  What the hell was going on? He was Cade Prescott, professional football player. He’d handled press conferences, meet and greets, cocktail parties, and female reporters in the locker room countless times.

  But this was Andie, and suddenly he felt two feet tall and shy. He’d told her too much last night. He’d made himself weak and vulnerable. Women didn’t like that. They wanted a guy who never blinked. One who knew his game and played too cool to choke.