After the final rocket had burst in the night sky, Dani closed her balcony doors and wandered back into her home. Unlike Rose, who had always wanted a house or Tyler, who could sleep anywhere as long as there was space close by for her art, Dani liked her wide open loft.
The old brick building had once been a warehouse used for storage. Even so, Dani saw the potential and bought it despite her parent's warnings. It was too big, they reasoned. Why would she want to live in such a cold, unwelcoming space? To Dani, the moment she had walked in, it had been home.
The first thing she did was start work on her photography studio. It was where she would spend the majority of her time. Looking back, Dani could pinpoint the exact moment she had known photography would be her profession, and even more—her passion.
For her tenth birthday, her paternal grandmother had given Dani a Canon camera that had been up in the woman's attic for years. Basic and simple to use, Dani had instantly fallen in love with capturing any image that caught her fancy.
Luckily, Grandma had supplied her with plenty of film because most of Dani's early pictures had been pretty bad. She would pick an innocuous item, a dandelion for instance, and shoot it from every possible angle. While educational, it hadn't been very practical. Her father's patience had a fairly long fuse, but even he lost it around the time he saw the subject matter Dani chose for her pictures. He refused to pay to have rolls of film developed just so they could sit around and look at artistic pictures of weeds. But look at how beautiful she made it, her had mother argued. Her father would not be swayed.
Not to be deterred, Dani became more judicious in her picture taking. Her father had agreed to pay for developing two rolls a week so she learned to make every shot count. As a result, she got better at knowing how to set up a shot and what angle would look good before she ever committed it to film. Even after she got a job and bought her first digital camera, Dani refused to waste her time on any inferior subject matter.
Everything she learned as a novice she later put to use as a professional. It didn't take her long to earn a reputation as a world class photographer. Dani knew how to get in, get the picture, and get out again without putting herself, or anyone else, at unnecessary risk. On top of that, her pictures were always of the highest quality. Her last assignment in the Middle East had earned her a Pulitzer. It had also been the job that had tipped the scales toward slowing down and moving home.
It had started out like most of her jobs. Dani didn't work for any one organization. She liked being a freelance photographer. One week she might be in Afghanistan, the next on the French Riviera. It was exactly the lifestyle she had always envisioned. She didn't have a permanent base of operations. It was all, have camera, will travel. She loved what she did and knew she was fortunate to be in such high demand.
Unlike some of her counterparts, Dani had never been able to see the destruction and walk away with just the pictures in her cameras. The images of blown up buildings and dead children burned themselves into her brain. They weren't just images. She couldn't click one button, send the pictures to her publisher, and forget about it. Dani carried them around like her own personal—and gruesome—photo album.
Dani's assignment should have been an easy one. The magazine wanted shots of a village rebuilding after decades of unrest and the lovely spring morning had provided her with the perfect backdrop to get her shots. Small children played by the huts, women hung out the wash. It was all very routine. Dani knew enough of the local dialect to strike up a conversation with a woman and her two young daughters. Things were getting better, they told her. Life was slowly getting back to normal.
Dani spent the morning taking pictures and talking to as many villagers as she could. That night when she was back in her hotel reviewing her work, she felt a ray of hope that was rare when she was in this part of the world. By the next morning, all that hope had been shot to hell—along with the little village.
Sometime just before dawn a truckload full of rebels had gone on a rampage. From what Dani could gather there hadn't been any political or personal reasons involved. One of her colleagues, Wallace Offerman, called it their way of letting off steam. He had said it in such an offhand, matter of fact way, Dani had almost been sick.
They had returned to the village and it had been all Dani could do not to dissolve into a puddle of grief. She did a damn good job of holding back the tears, but when she saw the carnage, the bodies of the women and children who had been so alive and happy less than twenty-four hours earlier, she lost it. Needing an outlet, she had turned on her blasé colleague and punched him in the mouth.
Wallace hit his knees, mouth bleeding. The other two men in their group stared at her in shock. Meanwhile, Dani took her pictures, got in the jeep, and called Rose and Tyler the moment she was back in the United States.
She'd never regretted her decision. In Harper Falls, Dani could take her time, pick and chose her assignments and never feel the constant pressure to be on the move. Best of all, she would never have to add another image of a dead child to the ones that already periodically invaded her dreams.
She had been fortunate that money wasn't a worry. The reason for her financial independence wasn't because of her salary, though she made a very nice income. No, Dani had acquired her tidy nest egg because a wealthy man had taken a liking to her and given her some very profitable stock tips. His only condition? If anyone asked, she wasn't to deny that they had been lovers.
Some women might have thought that an odd request—Dani had not only been fine with it, but she understood the motivation. Robert Plank loved the idea of everyone thinking that an eighty-year-old man had a twenty-three-year-old lover. No one but the two of them knew that their relationship was completely platonic. Bobby thought the gossip was hilarious, and so had Dani. They had laughed about it often—how when they were at dinner people would stare and whisper. How the paparazzi would follow them back to his huge Beverley Hills mansion and park outside the gate until Dani left—usually not until the next morning.
No, Dani understood that after a lifetime of hard work, grasping ex-wives, and ungrateful children, Bobby enjoyed the company of a woman who only wanted one thing—the pleasure of his company.
They had met at the Venice Film Festival. Dani had been covering the event, Bobby had been trying to enjoy it. He had his yacht, and a dozen or so hangers-on and he had been bored to tears. Dani had still been new enough at her job that she would occasionally find herself gaping when she should have been capturing it all for posterity. Even so, she raised her camera often, and the results were exactly what her bosses at the magazine wanted. It turned out to be a win-win for everyone. Her employer got glossy pictures of glamorous people, and Dani rubbed elbows, if only peripherally, with the rich and famous.
To look at her, a stranger might have thought Dani would be a pushover. Delicate in appearance; she was anything but. With her long, blonde hair and classically beautiful features, people often underestimated how bull-doggedly determined she could be. As a result, she more often than not had to prove herself every time she was on a hard news assignment. But her colleagues soon found out Dani Wilde was a force to be reckoned with. Her brother had always teased that she was a two hundred pound man trapped inside the body of a fairy princess. That wasn't true. Even though Dani had grown up the quintessential tomboy—scraped knees and bruises in varying shades of blue being her norm—she could be as girly as the next woman. She had just been lucky enough to have parents who believed in letting their children be themselves. And Rose and Tyler as best friends.
Between the three of them someone always had an adventure up her sleeve, and the other two were more than willing participants. Tyler's mother had tried, unsuccessfully, to temper her daughter's wild ways. Dani's mom, God bless her, would send her daughter out into the world every day with a call to be brave, be fearless, and to always watch out for the underdog.
It was that last call to action that cost Dani a very expensive camera. And it
brought her into contact for the first time with one of the greatest men it would ever be her honor to know.
Like every other morning since she had arrived in Venice, Dani would rush to get the early risers at breakfast—though there were never very many of those—then rush to catch the brunch crowd. There were premiers and gala events. For a small town girl, it was all very exciting and a bit overwhelming. But Dani didn't let herself be pushed around by the other photographers. It was a shove or be shoved business, and she had never been a pushover for anyone. Being slender and nimble hadn't hurt, either. She could slip in between bulkier bodies with little difficulty. Give her a sliver of light and before you knew it, Dani was at the front of the crowd.
She was just about to make her move when she noticed a strikingly good-looking man in his late twenties giving a local boy a hard time. From where she stood it had been impossible to tell what the argument was about, but she couldn’t have cared less. She saw a man who outweighed the boy by at least a hundred pounds. She saw that man grab the boy and shake him hard enough to rattle the boy's teeth and potentially pull his arm out of its socket. And then? Dani saw red.
Leaving her spot, Dani swooped in like an avenging angel—at least that's how Bobby would later describe her. A slender five foot seven inches tall young woman, flowing white gold hair and flashing emerald eyes, she'd had one goal in mind—rescue the underdog.
It hadn't taken much of an effort on her part. The bully had been so startled by her shout, not to mention the surprise of having one hundred and twenty pounds of outraged female bearing down on him that he let the boy go immediately. The boy scampered off without a backward glance. Unfortunately, the man's friends had found the situation highly entertaining, and their laughter didn't help his already bruised ego. Before Dani had known what was happening, he had snatched her camera and thrown it into the canal.
If Dani had had her way, the idiot would have soon followed. However, a chuckling man, who bore a striking resemblance to Santa Clause, stopped her just before she sent the bully crashing backward. Dani was so outraged at losing a very expensive piece of equipment, one that she was still paying for, that she rounded on Santa, ready to give him the tongue lashing of a lifetime.
Robert Plank knew how to defuse any situation. Years of running a multi-billion dollar corporation had given him amazing people skills. Before Dani knew what was happening, she was having dinner on her first yacht and Bobby had replaced her camera with an even better model. Her protests had fallen on deaf ears. It had been a member of his party who was responsible for her loss; it was up to him to make restitution. He won the argument. In fact, Dani could count on one hand the number of times she ever talked him out of something when his mind was made up. At times, it was extremely frustrating, but she had grown up with Tyler Jones as one of her best friends—Dani was used to stubborn.
She was never sure just how it had happened, but from that moment on she had been in Bobby's inner circle. To be honest, it was a pretty amazing place to be. Semi-retired, he spent most of his time traveling and acquiring acolytes. Oh, he knew their devotion would have evaporated quickly if he hadn't supplied them with such a lavish lifestyle, but rather than be offended, he'd found them amusing—his own personal court jesters.
His relationship with Dani was different. She didn't want anything. After he had replaced her camera, she refused all his gifts. She didn't want to be flown to Paris or receive expensive jewelry. She liked Bobby for himself and that was something new for him.
Bobby did insist on helping her with her investments. Or rather her non-investments. He had been horrified when he'd found out that all she did with her money was put in the bank. From that moment on Bobby had become her personal financial advisor. They had started out small. Dani wasn't comfortable going all in. With that in mind, Bobby had helped her grow a middle of the road bank account into a very healthy investment portfolio.
She still visited him several times a year, and Bobby had come to Harper Falls last Christmas to spend a few days. He and her father had hit it off immediately, and her mother had made him promise to come back any time he wanted. He was expected in the fall for the town's centennial celebration.
Dani sighed. That time with Bobby had been a godsend. Even though a year had passed, she had still been heartsick over Alex Fleming, and Bobby had given her a much-needed boost to her spirits. That was the time she really began to move on. Before she had been living her life constantly expecting Alex to come back. It hadn't mattered that there had been no promises made or broken. She had known that when he went, the likelihood of her ever seeing him again was minuscule. But the heart wants what the heart wants, and hers had still wanted Alex.
Five years should have been enough time. One glance at a man she had only known for two laugh—and sex—filled weeks should not have sent her into such a tailspin. But it had been the unexpectedness of it all. Why now? Why here? Was it Lila? They obviously knew one and other.
A knock at the door pulled Dani from her dark thoughts. Glancing at the clock she saw that it was just after midnight. Not exactly the time for visitors to drop by unannounced.
She walked across the room and glanced through the peephole. With a resigned shrug, she opened the door and stood aside.
"Come on in, I've been expecting you."
CHAPTER TWO
DANI POURED THREE glasses of wine.
She had known that Tyler and Rose would show up eventually though deep down she'd hoped for a reprieve—at least until later in the morning. It was late, or early, depending on how you looked at it. She felt raw. These two women were her best friends; their presence was always welcome. But right now all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and try to forget yesterday had ever happened. One look at their determined faces and Dani knew that wasn't happening.
"You know I love you both, but why aren't you off doing wonderfully dirty things with your men?"
Rose pushed her dark brown hair back from her face. It was a good face. Strong, with even features. She had a beauty that had taken her a while to grow into, but she had long ago left behind the skinny nine-year-old who had come to Harper Falls scared, and unsure. At twenty-seven, Rose O'Brian took a back seat to no one. She was strong, confident and glowed as only a woman in love could.
"Jack can stand to go a few hours without. Lord knows, he's gone longer."
All three women laughed when Rose referenced the celibacy bet that had brought Jack Winston and her together. As strange as the whole thing had been, it had actually given them the chance to get to know each other. Instead of jumping into bed for a one-night stand, the bet had made them take it slow. They'd certainly had their share of bumpy moments—including a stabbing. In the end, Jack had given Rose his heart, and to her surprise, Rose had given hers right back—though it had taken a lot of persuasion from Jack.
"And you?"
Tyler merely shrugged. Her ever-changing gray eyes held a bit of regret. "We are only at the dating stage. Kyle is fun and interesting, but I doubt it will go any further. Besides, he's in love with a woman in Seattle. He just needs to suck it up and tell her how he feels."
Tyler's eyes grew wide when she realized she had just opened herself up to questions about her own unresolved feelings for Drew Harper. Not wanting to open that kettle of fish, Tyler rushed on to the reason she and Rose were there.
"What happened this afternoon?
"Nothing. I had a headache and wanted to get away from the crowd and heat."
"You want to try?" Tyler asked Rose.
Shaking her head, Dani sat back and waited for the next wave of questions. She knew how it worked. How many times in the past few months had she and Tyler double-teamed Rose trying to get her to admit there was something more between her and Jack than just sex? Now her friends were coming at her with the same strategy. And it was an effective one. Dani knew she could evade, stall, and even fight back until they left her alone. She also knew that it would just be delaying the inevitable.
"I saw Alex at the picnic."
"Right," Rose said with a nod. "Jack's old friend from high school."
Dani watched as Tyler and Rose exchanged confused looks.
"Alex." She emphasized the name and then waited for her friends to process it.
"Oh, my God," Rose exclaimed a few seconds later.
Not far behind, Tyler cried out, "Dani, honey. Not the Alex?"
The Alex. Dani laid her head back and closed her eyes. Though she'd had years to get over him, there was no more denying the truth. She was still hung up on Alex Fleming.
PORTUGAL—FIVE YEARS EARLIER
For the first time in her twenty-two years on Mother Earth, Dani Wilde was free. Free of her loving but sometimes overprotective family, free of small-town expectations, and free to be as crazy and carefree as she wanted.
Being a newly minted college graduate helped. She no longer had to worry about class loads and finals. She had a job. A grown-up, deadlines to meet, weekly paycheck job. To celebrate she was going to get a haircut.
Not exactly earth shattering. Women got their hair cut all the time. But for Dani it was a momentous occasion. She couldn't remember a time when her hair hadn't been long. Her mother had been so thrilled that her daughter had inherited the famous Olafson golden-white hair. It didn't often happen, but a bit of her Scandanavian ancestors DNA had managed to slip through, and the maternal side of her family had found it a cause for over the top celebration. Pictures were exchanged, hours were spent on the phone. If her father hadn't put his foot down, an entire website would have been devoted to her golden locks.
Dani had always been grateful that she'd been too young to remember the early hoopla. It was bad enough that everyone had practically held their breath to see if her hair would darken as she got older. Finally on her tenth birthday, when Grandma Ava had officially declared her hair to be the real deal, Dani had been able to get away from the constant attention. She had wanted to scream that it was only hair. The fact that it made her look like something out of a fairy tale was not a plus. Not as far as Dani was concerned.
If Tomorrow Never Comes (Harper Falls Book 2) Page 2
