The problem was Quinn’s, not Cutter’s. How was he going to explain to a dog that absent genuine abuse, Foxworth never interfered in marital or parent-child situations? But family matter or not, when a boy this young talked about going away, it deserved some intervention. Just not the full force of the Foxworth organization.
On that thought, the dog let out a small sound, a soft but emphatic woof. Then he turned his attention back to the boy. Quinn felt decidedly shrugged off. Cutter had directed “Fix it,” and fix it he meant.
“You know,” Hayley was saying to the still silent boy, “Cutter’s pretty smart. He’s not a Bloodhound, but I’ll bet he could find your house without you even telling him where it is.”
Damn, she was good, Quinn thought. She had the boy’s attention now, and she’d managed to focus it on an idea most kids his age would find irresistible. She’d be a great mom.
For an instant his stomach went into free fall. They weren’t even married yet and he was thinking about kids? When not so long ago he would have sworn that would never happen, that he would never, ever bring kids into a world so screwed up by the people supposedly running it? But a baby, with Hayley? Their child?
Right, he muttered inwardly. Just dealing with this kid’s got you going sideways. You’d be great with one of your own.
“Could he?” the boy asked, stroking the dog’s head. “Really?”
“Shall we see?”
She glanced at Quinn. He gave her a half shrug. He’d been working with the dog on commands, if you could call it working when the animal seemed to learn everything on the first try. Once he’d come to trust the dog, once they had all accepted him as part of the team, he’d realized it would be best if everybody knew and used the same commands. He’d thought about using a different language, as military and police K-9s did to insure the dog obeyed only their orders, but since Cutter tended to completely ignore anyone he didn’t know and trust telling him what to do, it seemed unnecessary.
“We can try,” Quinn said. “Just remember Foxworth doesn’t do domestic.”
Hayley flashed him the smile that never failed to send a shiver down his spine. “It’s not me, it’s him you have to convince,” she said, nodding toward Cutter. She didn’t add, “And good luck with that,” but it was in her tone anyway.
“Great,” he muttered. He’d never met a more stubborn creature than that dog, and that included himself and even Rafe. “Let’s go, then.”
The boy looked at him somewhat warily. Quinn softened his voice. “Shall we see if he can do it?”
The boy still didn’t speak, but slid off the swing.
“Cutter,” Quinn said in an entirely different tone, one of command. The dog’s head snapped around, those intense eyes fastened on him. Quinn pointed at the boy.
“Backtrack,” he ordered.
The dog glanced from Quinn to the boy, then back. And then he whirled on his hindquarters and trotted off toward the tall trees. Quinn watched the boy watch the dog, saw the child’s eyes widen when Cutter stopped at the edge of the forest, beside a tall hemlock with a long branch dragging downward, and looked back over his shoulder at them.
“That’s my secret path! He does know!”
He took off after the dog at a run.
Quinn and Hayley followed. At least this, Quinn thought, should be quick. Return the kid home, and then they themselves could go home. And he could get back to his thoughts of luring Hayley back to bed for a leisurely afternoon of enjoying the miracle of them together.
He tried to ignore the little voice in his head reminding him that with Cutter, nothing was ever that simple.
Chapter 2
Alyssa Kiley paced because she couldn’t be still. Panic was edging its way upward from some low, gut-deep place she hadn’t heard from in a long time. Her fingers tightened on the phone she held as she resisted the urge to call the police, the fire department and anyone else she could think of. Drew was on his way. He’d fix all this. He always did. Despite the arguments, despite his sometimes presumptuous manner, he always did.
And her common sense told her he was right, Luke had been missing less than an hour. But she’d checked every place in the house, with some nightmare memory of a murdered child found in her own basement. She’d checked every neighbor on their short, narrow street, and no one had seen him. She’d called his best friend Dylan’s house, even knowing they were out of town for the weekend, just in case they’d changed their plans.
She wouldn’t be so anxious if it hadn’t been for that weird feeling she’d been having lately. It was silly to think someone had been watching her. When she’d mentioned it to Drew he’d naturally wanted details she couldn’t provide, because she’d never actually seen anyone. But even his assurances didn’t make that crawly feeling at the back of her neck go away.
Now she was wondering if what she’d been feeling was some sort of precognition, a foreshadowing of disaster.
She stared at the stand of trees across the road from the house. Normally, she loved looking at them—tall, strong evergreens, softened by the misty rain. But today that forest had never seemed bigger, or more endless. Even knowing that was silly—that they hadn’t changed—didn’t help. There was nothing normal about this morning.
It had been a while—quite a while—since she and Drew had argued like they had this morning. But it was Doug’s birthday, and that was always a rough day. How did you deal with a man who would just as soon ignore the fact that his younger brother had ever existed?
Luke must have heard them. They were usually careful to avoid that, but this morning it had flared up too quickly. She’d been on edge, knowing what day it was, and all it had taken was one exasperated glance from Drew to set her off.
And now her son was missing. Guilt stabbed through her. This wasn’t all Drew’s fault, she could have, should have, held it in until Luke was out of earshot. But Drew had a way of—
A noise from across the street, followed quickly by the sight of a dog bounding out of the trees startled her out of her useless musing. God, she was standing around wasting time treading old, tired ground, while Luke was gone.
To her surprise the dog, a large animal with a black head and shoulders shifting to brown over his back and tail, headed straight for her. He didn’t seem at all threatening, but she watched him warily. It was a strange dog, after all.
The animal came to an abrupt halt two feet in front of her. And unexpectedly sat, his ears up, his gaze fastened on her. She felt strangely pinned, as if she couldn’t move if she’d wanted to. But the dog was sitting so politely she didn’t feel the need.
She knew he wasn’t from anywhere on the street; there were only two dogs who lived here and they were both the little powder-puff kind of things that seemed as if they’d break if you just looked at them funny.
The dog cocked his head at an angle and made a low, odd sound. If he’d been human, she would have said it held a note of reassurance. But of course he was a dog, so that was silly.
And then he looked over his shoulders, back to where he’d come bursting out of the trees. To where someone else was coming. She could hear the noise of branches pushed aside, rubbing on each other. For an instant she wondered if the dog had in fact been fleeing something bigger and more threatening than he, no matter that something about him made her think he wouldn’t be afraid of much. But bears weren’t unheard of around here, and—
Her son came through the trees at a dead run.
“Luke!”
She ran for him, sweeping him up before he could say a word. Just the other day she’d been thinking how big he was getting, but now he felt like the slightest of weights, so glad was she to have him back in her arms.
“He knew the way, Mom! I didn’t even show him, but he followed the exact way I came.”
It took her a moment to real
ize he meant the dog. And a moment more to realize they weren’t alone. Two adults had come along the same path through the trees. A man and a woman, the man carrying what looked like Luke’s little backpack, the one Drew had bought him for their hikes and fishing trips. They must be the dog’s people, she thought in the moment she spared them before turning back to her son.
“You were at the park?”
He nodded. She felt a twinge of relief; that would have been her next stop, so she would have found him. Somehow that made her feel better. But it wasn’t enough to quell the overwhelming relief and the flood of wobbliness after being so frightened.
She wanted to be angry at Luke, to scare him into never, ever doing anything like this again, but she was too glad he was back and safe. She compromised, hugging him fiercely while saying, “Don’t you ever do that again. I almost called the police I was so worried.”
“Hard, isn’t it?”
Alyssa looked up as the woman spoke. The newcomer was a little taller than she was, maybe about five-five, her hair was a rich shade of auburn touched with gold, a shade that Alyssa guessed had to be natural, it had so many layers. Her eyes were lovely, a green that matched the surroundings and reminded her of Drew’s. And right now they were warm with empathy.
“They scare you to death so you’re angry, but you want to smother them with love at the same time because you’re so glad they’re all right.”
Alyssa smiled at the apt description. “You have kids?”
“Not yet,” she said, and flicked a glance at the man beside her. “But I remember my mother wearing the same expression.”
Alyssa stole a look at the man herself; he’d be enough to have any woman thinking about forever. She’d noticed the engagement ring on the woman’s left hand, and suppressed a little sigh. It must be wonderful to have done it the normal way, fallen in love, planning a life from the beginning. She looked upon her own plain, gold wedding band as a symbol of everything she’d done wrong as a stupid, naive girl.
“I’m Hayley Cole,” the woman said. “This is my fiancé, Quinn Foxworth.”
“I’m Alyssa Kiley,” she said, not willing to release Luke enough to shake hands. Neither one of the people before her seemed to take offense. “Thank you for bringing him home.”
“And this,” Hayley added with a gesture toward the dog, “is Cutter. It’s him you really have to thank, he found Luke and brought us here.”
Alyssa was loath to let go of Luke, but the boy was starting to squirm, his gaze fastened on the dog. Reluctantly she let him wiggle down. To her surprise when the dog moved, instead of going straight to Luke he came to her, and sat at her feet. She looked down at him, a little startled by the intense, steady gaze. She felt drawn, and leaned over to put a hand on the dog’s silky head.
“Well, thank you, Cutter,” she said, not sure what else to do.
The dog lowered his head in what for all the world looked like a nod of acknowledgment. As she stroked his fur, she felt oddly soothed, calmed, as if she’d finally accepted that Luke was truly all right.
“What an...interesting dog,” she murmured.
“You don’t know the half of it,” Quinn Foxworth said, his tone wry. Alyssa looked up at him, and saw nothing but bemusement and appreciation there. Except when he looked at Hayley, and she saw a loving warmth she’d never seen in a man’s eyes before.
Certainly never in her husband’s. At least, not directed at her.
As if her thought had conjured him, a vehicle turned the corner, fast enough to make the tires squeal a little in protest. Hayley and Quinn looked, but Alyssa didn’t, she knew who it was. And his mood probably wouldn’t be any better now than it had been this morning. Worse, in fact, now that she’d called him home from work for what turned out to be nothing.
She glanced at Luke, who was on his knees beside the dog, hugging him fiercely. She thought about sending him inside, but before she could decide, the dark blue pickup stopped in the driveway with a final bark from the tires and it was too late.
“I’m thinking you should handle this one,” Hayley said quietly to Quinn. “He doesn’t look happy.”
“Drew never looks happy,” Alyssa said. Only when she heard the words spoken did she realize how sad they really were.
She tried to imagine how the man who erupted from the vehicle must look to them. Certainly a million times more intimidating than her annoyingly fragile looks. Drew was tall, lean, and after years of hard work looked as powerful as he was. There wasn’t a touch of softness about him, except perhaps in the unexpectedly vivid green eyes. Where Doug had had a refined face, a soft, sweet smile and a ready, carefree laugh, his brother’s jaw was strong, his face uncompromisingly masculine, his smile rare and his laugh almost nonexistent. She thought she remembered, years ago, that he had smiled, even laughed, as readily as anyone. But it had been so long she wasn’t sure anymore.
He quickly gave the newcomers—including Cutter—a suspicious once-over. But the moment his gaze came to rest on Luke, some of the tension visibly drained out of him. He truly did love her son, Alyssa thought. She couldn’t deny that. She’d always known it. It was, after all, why she was here.
Drew crouched beside the boy. “You’re all right?” he said. Luke looked up at him, his mouth tight as he nodded.
Drew let out a breath as if he’d been holding it. They were a contrast, Drew’s dark hair glistened with rain, while Luke’s even damper hair was a darker shade of his father’s dirty blonde.
Luke looked up then. “Am I in trouble? For running away?”
Something pained flashed in Drew’s eyes. “If you’re in trouble for anything, it’s for how you scared your mother. And me.”
Luke’s eyes widened. “You? You’re never scared.”
“I love you, buddy. That gives you the power to scare me.”
“Oh.”
Drew straightened up, gave Luke a moment to think about that before he went on. “Something you want to say to your mother?”
It was more suggestion than question, and Luke didn’t miss it. With a heavy sigh the child released his hold on Cutter’s fur and straightened. He turned and looked up at her. “I’m sorry, Mom.”
She didn’t know whether to hug him again or order him to his room and lock him up until he was twenty-one. Or thirty.
“How did you sneak out so quietly?” she asked instead. Luke usually made enough noise to cover for a battle invasion.
“I waited until you were in the bathroom. You had your purse and makeup and stuff, so...”
Alyssa felt color creep up her cheeks and barely managed not to look at Hayley and Quinn. That made it sound like she was a woman who cared more for her appearance than taking care of her child, when in fact she’d gone in there because she knew she was going to start crying again, and she didn’t want Luke to see that. His witnessing the latest argument was bad enough.
“I didn’t mean to make you mad,” Luke said.
“You didn’t. You scared me, too.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Promise me you’ll never do that again.”
The boy studied the well-muddied sneakers that had been nearly new when he’d put them on this morning. “I promise.” He looked up. “Could I play with the dog a little?”
Alyssa glanced at Hayley. “He’s welcome to for a few minutes,” the woman said. “But we won’t take up residence, I assure you.”
Alyssa smiled. She could like this woman.
Luke looked at Drew. For an instant Alyssa wondered if he’d withhold the threat to punish the boy. But even as she thought it she discarded it as unfair. Drew was stern, perhaps, stricter than she, but he wasn’t mean.
“For a few minutes,” he said.
Luke darted off with Cutter at his heels. As they went the dog looked back over his shoulder at his pe
ople, and Alyssa had the oddest feeling the glance was making them uncomfortable. Even the impressive Quinn, who was reminding her more of Drew with every silent moment.
“He certainly messed up those new shoes,” Alyssa said, her adrenaline-fueled relief finally ebbing and leaving her a bit shaky.
“He’s a boy,” Drew said. “It’ll happen.”
Drew had never worried much about that, either, at least, not like she did. He didn’t like waste, but he didn’t consider normal boy wear and tear on things waste. She’d been afraid of the cost of things when they’d first settled in here, he could be so intimidating, but it had been clear from the beginning that Luke was his soft spot.
“I’m a little confused,” Quinn said, looking at Drew. It was the first time he’d spoken in some time, and as Drew turned to look at the man Alyssa could see the assessing going on. It always happened with Drew, that quiet appraisal. She would have put it down to some primal male thing, except that he did it with women too, in a non-sexual way. It was one of the many, many ways he differed from Doug, who had taken pride in never judging anyone.
Of course, in the end he’d paid the ultimate price for that lack of judgment.
“Luke said his mom is his mom, and called you his dad, but said you’re really his uncle,” Quinn said.
“None of our business, honey,” Hayley said softly.
“If it’s true, no. But if Luke ran away because something more than a family spat is going on, then—”
“Oh, no,” Alyssa exclaimed. “No, you mustn’t think that! Drew would never, ever hurt Luke.”
“It’s all right, Lyss.”
Drew had apparently drawn his conclusion about Quinn Foxworth because he nodded in approval. And he met Quinn’s gaze head on.
“I appreciate your concern. Alyssa and I are married, but Luke is my nephew, technically.”
“And you’re raising him.”
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