Rival Forces (6 page)

Oleg instantly fell silent. Yet his slanted gaze held both humans in focus.

Yard turned back to Kye and folded her arms, waiting. Ball in his court.

Kye had reached down and scooped Lily up, holding her high against his chest to comfort her. He stroked and whispered calmly to his partner. Which gave him an excuse not to look at Yard again. He was pretty certain he'd had a plan when he arrived here an hour ago. Time to calm things down until he could piece it back together.

He glanced up. “What do you know about conditional reinforcers?”

“Why?” He watched her cross her arms over her very nice rack. He knew he shouldn't be thinking about how moments before it'd been pressed nicely against him.

He dragged his gaze away. What was he saying? Something about reinforcers. Right.

“Lily works wilderness and urban SAR most of the year. This winter we tried our hand at SAR at a ski resort. We did avalanche prevention and guest rescue. I noticed behavior in her I need to have—modified.”

He watched Yard's eyes narrow as he babbled. “You've got five seconds or I'm calling the law.”

The
law. Not Law. Kye thought fast. First imperative: Buy time.

“Okay. Let me just get dressed.” Covering up would help. So would a cold shower.

Yardley's gaze flicked to the dog Kye lowered to the floor. Lily really was a pretty little thing, with a white blaze on her chest and the tops of her paws.

Smiling, she slapped a hand against her leg. “Here, girl.”

Lily gave her a bored look then glanced away, as if Yardley hadn't spoken.

Yardley crouched down to make herself smaller and less intimidating, and used her friendliest doggy voice. “Come on, sweetheart. Come, Lily.”

This time Lily refused to look at her. Yardley frowned, surprised that Lily was snubbing her. Dogs loved her. They came up to her unsolicited in parks, in grocery stores, on the street.

She glanced up at Kye, about to ask about his dog's attitude toward strangers. He was tucking his T-shirt into his pants. She did not stare. It was just impossible not to notice how his indrawn breath brought his six-pack into high relief behind the tight fabric. Or how his hand diving into the waistband of his board shorts was far more sexy than it had any right to be. Maybe that was because she'd just been all up-close-and-personal with what lay behind them.

She jerked her gaze away and stood up. Why was he still here after the way she'd behaved?

“McGarren.” She waited until he looked up at her. “Why are you here?”

Instead of answering, he ran a hand through his hair. Distracted? Distressed? No. Determined. She recognized the dogged expression of a man who just wasn't going to back down, or explain himself. Had seen it enough times. On her brother's face.

“Law!” She didn't even need Kye's sudden alertness to confirm it. “You're here because of Law!” One wild guess to figure out the reason why Law had sent someone here. Law didn't trust her.

Fury pushed up through her every other emotion, and it was a crowded field. “Law put you up to this. Don't bother to lie. Tell him for me that I can take care of myself. Now get out of my house.”

“Can't do that.” He shook his head as he bent to offer some love to a very confused Lily, who had taken refuge behind her alpha's legs. “Like it or not, I'm here to keep you company for a few days.”

“Like hell.” She swung away and marched into her bedroom, slammed and locked the door.

She reached for her phone. Oh, right, it wasn't there.

Without thinking twice, she opened the door, walked up to Kye, and held out her hand. “Your phone. I need it.”

“Why?”

“You'll get it back. Undamaged.” When he'd handed it over she said, “Code?”

“Don't go trawling through my messages. And don't delete anything.”

“I wouldn't dream of destroying your porno collection.”

When he'd given the code to her she turned, went back into her bedroom, and locked her door.

Sure enough, Law's number was McGarren's most recent call. She punched the number, not waiting for the word
hello
to be spoken when someone picked up. “Call him off, Law. If you don't I'll never forgive you for this. Never!”

“Yardley?”

The woman's voice startled Yard for a second. “Jori? Put Law on.”

“He's in physical therapy.”

“What?” No one had said anything about therapy to her. Law had lost a leg in Afghanistan and wore a prosthesis. Yard felt the anger drain out of her. “What happened?”

“He's fine. A minor setback. I would have called but you know how your brother is. He never admits he's got any problems, ever.”

“That's true.” Even more reason she was glad Law had Jori in his life. She was good for him.

“Can I help? I know Law called someone to keep an eye on you. I don't know what all this is about, but if the guy isn't working out I can relay the message.”

“No. It's okay.” Yardley swore soundlessly for having to tell that lie. “Only Law should have warned me.”

“Men, right? And yet we don't want to live without them.”

Yardley didn't reply to that. Jori was the second woman in twenty-four hours whose voice had gone all soft with emotion when she talked about her man. Had hers done that when she'd mentioned David Gunnar to Georgie last night? She doubted it.

“Tell my brother I don't need a babysitter. Unless he's heard something about Dr. Gunnar that I should know.”

“Don't know anything about that, Yard. I did overhear him say something about the FBI but he clammed up when I asked. Maybe the guy he sent can tell you.”

Yardley slipped the phone into her pocket and glanced back at her closed door. Her biggest problem stood on the other side. How was she going to get rid of McGarren? No, first she needed to know what Law had told him about David. She'd bet it was some version of how she'd been kicked to the curb by a boyfriend and couldn't accept his silence for “see ya” and had called the FBI.

Yard chewed her lip. Was McGarren here to keep her from making a greater fool of herself? Or continuing her search?

Her mind went back to their kiss. She was sure it was just a show of force. That's all it could be. No matter how good it felt. The kiss had caught her unprepared. The sheer pleasure of it was both familiar and unique. Even he seemed a bit surprised by his own arousal. Well, that was his problem. She wouldn't be caught off guard again.

The phone in her pocket vibrated. She pulled it out to see a text from Law about her. “I don't think so.” She stuck it back in her pocket, where she intended for it to stay. There'd been way too much conversation about her private life already. Now she needed some answers.

She walked into the living room, not sure what she was going to say. If she succeeded in uprooting McGarren, he would report that to Law, and Law wouldn't be happy. Yet if McGarren stayed, what would she do with him? Neither prospect had her jumping for joy.
If
he stayed, there needed to be ground rules.

Except it seemed the choice was already made. McGarren was gone.

She glanced around. Not in the kitchen. She doubted he would have gotten past Oleg, who was stretched out like a sheepskin rug before the doggy gate. And the door to the half bath was open. Surely he hadn't had the audacity to go upstairs to one of her guest bedrooms?

From the corner of her eye she caught a tail wag. As she turned her head Lily hopped up on the back of her sofa and gave her a series of high-pitched yips. A bronze arm reached up and swept the dog back down out of sight. Yardley waited a few seconds and then heard distinctly the sounds of soft, deep snoring. Kye had stretched out on her sofa and fallen asleep.

She backpedaled before she could change her mind. She was sweaty from her jog. And shivering from the cold seeping through her damp running clothing, though she hadn't realized it until now. She needed a shower. Then she'd decide what to do.

But first she ducked into the kitchen to grab that long-awaited cup of coffee.

As she took a sip, she glanced out back through the window above her sink. The sun had risen, promising a final nice day before rain rolled in.

Up on the ridge behind her property ran a narrow track, nothing like a road. It was sometimes used by utility trucks seeking to repair a line or cable or pipe. Most of the time, she wouldn't have noticed it. But the trees were January-bare. Up there, just opposite her window, a law enforcement cruiser was parked. Beside it stood an officer in uniform using a pair of binoculars. Unless she was mistaken, he was staring straight at her.

“What the hell?”

She put down her cup and went to the back door. By the time she opened it, the officer had climbed back into his vehicle and was moving away.

Even though the leaves were gone, the stockade of sapling tree trunks prevented her from identifying the emblem painted on the cruiser's passenger door. It didn't seem to be local.

 

CHAPTER SIX

Kye jerked awake as the front door closed softly. Three giant steps and he was at the door, face pressed to the single pane of glass in it. Yard was walking away, a leash in hand. Oleg was at the end of it. Even as he watched she veered off to the left toward the training fields.

With one ear straining for the sounds of a car engine coming to life, in case he was wrong about her intentions, he snatched his backpack from the floor. He pulled out a pair of jeans. After extracting his tactical boots and a thick pair of socks, he quickly pulled them on. No engine. She wasn't driving away. In the distance he heard her calling to the dog and his barks in answer. She must have let him off the leash.

He hadn't fallen completely asleep. He just hadn't alerted Yard to that fact when she'd come out of her room the first time. After the tense encounter that ended in the total surprise of that very passionate kiss, he'd thought they needed a break. He certainly did.

Of course, he was curious as hell about what the Battise siblings were saying, but he didn't want to risk being caught with his ear pressed to her bedroom door if she suddenly opened it. It was informative to hear her shouts wind down into mumbles. Whatever Law had said must have mollified her. He doubted even Law had enough authority with his sister to cower her. More like they'd settled for détente, no winners, no losers. At least she hadn't come back through the door to try to throw him out, again. A few minutes later, he'd heard the faint rush of the shower.

Kye rubbed a hand over his face. His peace of mind had lasted as long as it took for him to realize that Yard was naked on the other side of her bedroom door. All the pent-up lust that her kiss had ignited came roaring back to life. For ten solid minutes all he could think about was Yard, naked beneath a sluice of warm water. He had a very good imagination. It filled in her once coltish form with the ripeness of maturity. Curves and hollows he'd once explored with eagerness were augmented in his mind. Sweeter, more lush, more enticing. It was one of the longest, sweatiest ten minutes of his life. Pure torture that had Lily adjusting and readjusting herself on his lap. Finally Lily had abandoned his body for the more reliably smooth surface of the floor. All because of a woman he wasn't certain he even liked anymore. But when a man's dick was in charge, reason left the building.

Shaking his head at his insanity, he looked down at Lily, who was looking up at him with what seemed a detached, even disapproving expression. “Don't look at me like that. I stayed on this side of the door. I get points for that.”

Ignoring him, Lily turned and walked over to the far side of the room. All the females in his life were giving him attitude.

After a careful examination of her surroundings, Lily stuck her head in to sniff at something on the floor of Oleg's empty cage.

“Yeah. You must be hungry.” He dug in his backpack and pulled out a handful of dog food. “Lily. Catch.”

Lily barked high and happy, leaping to catch piece after piece of dog food nuggets. Everything with Lily was a game, even eating.

“More later.” Kye filled a pocket of his cargoes with the rest. He glanced toward the kitchen. Oleg, the reason he hadn't helped himself to coffee before, was of course out with his handler.

Smiling, he headed for the kitchen. If he hurried he could grab a coffee and a shower, and maybe something for breakfast. His stomach grumbled in agreement. And maybe he'd check in with Law himself.

He reached for his phone but his pocket was empty. Yard had it. He glanced at her bedroom door but decided against checking to see if she'd left his phone lying in the open. He had sisters. One thing a brother learned early was to never cross a woman's doorway without permission, even to retrieve his own gear.

Priorities. Coffee. Something to eat. Find Yard. Get phone.

The sun had climbed the eastern ridge of the mountains, flooding the property with light, by the time two of those priorities were accomplished. Remembering the January chill, he grabbed a hoodie from his pack, wrapped Lily's leash around his waist, and picked up his car keys. Just in case.

Ahead of his footsteps across the lawn, the grass glittered with diamond-bright crystals of frost. The sharp wind trying to invade every exposed area of his body, including his nostrils, annoyed him. He was damn tired of the cold. He was supposed to be where it was warm and sandy. The things he did in the name of friendship.

Once he entered the training area, Kye jogged his way toward the training structure where he could hear Yard giving voice commands. Lily kept pace, clearly enjoying the freedom. She'd tolerated the long plane ride and then two hours in the rental without a complaint. But being a toller, she needed lots of exercise to be happy. Otherwise, things got chewed or eaten, or occasionally disappeared altogether. Like his underwear. So far, nothing alarming had ever come out of her rear end. But he suspected it would, sooner or later.