by Donna Ball
I knew that level of solicitousness would get old fairly quickly, but for right now I was fine with it. To tell the truth, I could use a little pampering, and he did make great lemonade.
“Thanks, Corny, I’m good for now.” I reached to put the gate in place across the porch steps, but he darted in front of me to do it himself. Like I said, it’s nice to be pampered.
Cisco watched with waving tail as I unclipped Pepper’s leash and she bounced across the porch, waving her toy gaily. When I released Cisco’s leash he dashed after her, nipping at her tail feathers and then whirling into a play bow. She tossed the toy up into the air and he caught it. The next thing I knew they were playing tug like the old friends they were.
“Men,” I murmured with a wry grin, “are so fickle.”
Both Corny and I turned our heads at the sound of tires coming up the driveway. The car was an unfamiliar white sedan, and Corny said, “That must be an early pickup. I’ll take care of it. Honestly, what part of ‘no pickups before five’ do these people not understand?”
He started to move the gate and go down the stairs, clucking his tongue reprovingly at the impudence of the early arrival. But the car did not turn toward the kennel, and as it drew closer, I thought I recognized the driver.
“That looks like a rental car,” I said. “I don’t think it’s a customer. I think …” I squinted my eyes against the sun for a better look, and my breath caught a little. “I think that’s Miles.”
Corny looked at me with lifted eyebrow. “Do we like him?”
The car drew to a stop and the passenger door flew open, discharging a young girl with tangled dark curls wearing a sequined tee shirt depicting the skyline of Rio de Janeiro. I knew that because “Rio de Janeiro” was written in sequined scroll across the top of the shirt. “Hey, Raine!” Melanie called. “We’re home!”
A smile spread slowly over my face as the driver’s door opened and Miles got out. “Yes,” I answered Corny softly. “We do.”
Miles closed the car door and stood there for a moment, looking rumpled and travel-worn in jeans, sunglasses, and a two-day growth of beard, and oh-so-good to me.
Corny glanced at me, then lifted his glasses to peer more closely at Miles. “Good choice,” he murmured appreciatively.
He moved the gate as Melanie raced up the steps and flung herself into my waiting embrace. Nothing had ever felt better than that kid’s hug, ever.
“Hello,” Corny greeted her when she stepped away.
Melanie did a brief double take, returned an uncertain, “Hi.” And before I could introduce them she caught sight of her dog. “Pepper!” she cried joyfully, and ran across the porch to embrace her. The two of them fell into a happy tangle, with Cisco adding to the celebration with a few excited barks. My smile turned into a full-fledged grin.
“I’ll be in the kennel,” Corny said, holding the gate for me, “if you need me.” And, as I went down the steps toward Miles, he added, “Somehow I don’t think you will.”
I stood uncertainly in front of Miles. With his eyes obscured by the sunglasses I couldn’t tell much about his expression at all. I said, “Hey.”
He let a beat or two pass. Then he said, “I had the strangest voice mail as we were landing in Miami. It was from someone who sounded a lot like you, but she was saying things I never thought I’d hear come out of your mouth. So I thought I’d better drive up and make sure you were okay. That you hadn’t been abducted by space aliens or suffered a concussion of some monumental degree, because with you anything is possible.” He looked me up and down and added, “Looks like a good thing I did, too. What did you do to your knee?”
I replied with a shrug. “Just a little tussle with space aliens. Nothing serious. Bruised, not broken.” Then, “You didn’t really drive up from Miami.”
“Atlanta,” he replied, and waited.
I tilted my head a little, trying to discern some hint of his mood behind the glasses. “This person who sounded like me, what did she say?”
“Oh, something outrageous about being in love with me. Can you believe that?”
I nodded slowly. “I can,” I whispered.
I reached up and took off his sunglasses. His eyes were deep and thoughtful and silver gray, waiting patiently for me, as he so often did. I said, “I do love you, Miles, and I love Melanie. The only reason it took me so long to say that is because I was afraid it would hurt too much if I lost you. And maybe I will lose you. Maybe it won’t work out for us. But if it doesn’t, I don’t want it to be because I didn’t try. I’m better when I’m with you, Miles, and I think you’re better with me. Maybe not in every way, but in all the ones that count. And …” I drew a breath, searching those quiet, kind, and patient eyes. “If I’m the reason you’re in a custody battle now, then it’s only right that I should stay and help you fight. If you want me,” I added, with the just the smallest note of uncertainty in my voice.
Miles drew me gently into a long and slow embrace, resting his chin atop my hair, just holding me. “I want you,” he said simply.
I thought I could have stood there forever, content and at peace for the first time in what felt like years. Then Melanie called from the porch, “Hey, Raine! You didn’t see my earrings!”
I smiled and stepped away from Miles. He smiled back. “It’s good to be home, sweetheart,” he said.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “It’s good to have you home.”
“Raine!” Melanie called impatiently.
Miles slipped his arm around my waist as we walked back to the house. “Anything interesting happen while I was gone?” he asked.
“Not much.” I leaned my head against his shoulder. “I hired a new guy for the kennel.”
“Good for you.”
“I placed a rescue dog,” I added, in the interest of full disclosure. “And Cisco and I went on a search.”
“Did you?” He glanced down at me with interest. “You’ll have to tell me all about it.”
And I would, someday. But right now Melanie was waiting, and I had more important things to do
~*~
The Raine Stockton Dog Mystery Series
Books in Order
SMOKY MOUNTAIN TRACKS
A child has been kidnapped and abandoned in the mountain wilderness. Her only hope is Raine Stockton and her young, untried tracking dog Cisco...
RAPID FIRE
Raine and Cisco are brought in by the FBI to track a terrorist …a terrorist who just happens to be Raine’s old boyfriend.
GUN SHY
Raine rescues a traumatized service dog, and soon begins to suspect he is the only witness to a murder.
BONE YARD
Cisco digs up human remains in Raine’s back yard, and mayhem ensues. Could this be evidence of a serial killer, a long-unsolved mass murder, or something even more sinister… and closer to home?
SILENT NIGHT
It’s Christmastime in Hansonville, N.C., and Raine and Cisco are on the trail of a missing teenager. But when a newborn is abandoned in the manger of the town's living nativity and Raine walks in on what appears to be the scene of a murder, the holidays take a very dark turn for everyone concerned.
THE DEAD SEASON
Raine and Cisco take a job leading a wilderness hike for troubled teenagers, and soon find themselves trapped on a mountainside in a blizzard… with a killer.
ALL THAT GLITTERS: A Holiday Short Story e book
Raine looks back on how she and Cisco met and solved their first crime in this Christmas Cozy short story. Sold separately as an e-book or bundled with the print edition of HIGH IN TRIAL.
HIGH IN TRIAL
A carefree weekend turns deadly when Raine and Cisco travel to the South Carolina low country for an agility competition
DOUBLE DOG DARE
A luxury Caribbean vacation sounds like just the ticket for over-worked, over-stressed Raine Stockton and her happy go lucky canine companion Cisco. But even in paradise trouble finds them, and when someone she loves
is threatened Raine must use every resource at her command to track down a killer before it’s too late.
HOME OF THE BRAVE
There’s a new dog in town, and Raine and Cisco find themselves unexpectedly upstaged by a flashy K-9 addition to the sheriff’s department. But when things go terribly wrong at a mountain camp for kids and dogs over the Fourth of July weekend, Raine and Cisco need all the help they can get to save themselves, and those they love.
Don’t miss the first book in the powerful new Dogleg Island Mystery Series
FLASH
Almost two years ago the sleepy little community of Dogleg Island was the scene of one of the most brutal crimes in Florida history. The only eye witnesses were a border collie puppy and a police officer. Since that time Flash has grown from a puppy into a vital part of the Dogleg Island Police Department, and has lived happily with the two people who rescued him on that horrible night: Deputy Sheriff Ryan Grady and Police Chief Aggie Malone.
Now the trial of the century is about to begin. The defendant, accused of slaughtering his parents in their beach home, maintains his innocence. Aggie and Ryan, the top witnesses for the prosecution, are convinced he is lying. But only Flash knows the truth.
And with another murder to solve, a tangle of conflicting evidence to sort out, and a brutal storm on the way, the truth may come too late... for all of them.
Spine-chilling suspense by Donna Ball
SHATTERED
A missing child, a desperate call for help in the middle of the night… is this a cruel hoax, or the work of a maniacal serial killer who is poised to strike again?
NIGHT FLIGHT
She’s an innocent woman who knows too much. Now she’s fleeing through the night without a weapon and without a phone, and her only hope for survival is a cop who’s willing to risk his badge—and his life—to save her.
SANCTUARY
They came to the peaceful, untouched mountain wilderness of Eastern Tennessee seeking an escape from the madness of modern life. But when they built their luxury homes in the heart of virgin forest they did not realize that something was there before them… something ancient and horrible; something that will make them believe that monsters are real.
EXPOSURE
Everyone has secrets, but when talk show host Jessamine Cray’s stalker begins to use her past to terrorize her, no one is safe … not her family, her friends, her coworkers, and especially not Jess herself.
RENEGADE by Donna Boyd
Enter a world of dark mystery and intense passion, where human destiny is controlled by a species of powerful, exotic creatures. Once they ruled the Tundra, now they rule Wall Street. Once they fought with teeth and claws, now they fight with wealth and power. And only one man can stop them… if he dares.
Also by Donna Ball
The Ladybug Farm series by Donna Ball
For every woman who ever had a dream… or a friend
A Year on Ladybug Farm
At Home on Ladybug Farm
Love Letters from Ladybug Farm
Christmas on Ladybug Farm
Recipes from Ladybug Farm
Vintage Ladybug Farm
A Wedding on Ladybug Farm
The Hummingbird House
The Kincaids by Donna Ball and Shannon Harper
Raging Rivers
Katherine Carlyle and Byrd Kincaid, fugitives and reluctant heroes, begin a journey west and launch a dynasty that will forge a nation.
Prairie Thunder
Legendary trailblazer Boothe Carlyle leads a wagon train west, where young Kitty Kincaid will rediscover her heritage and finally earn the proud warrior name she was given at her Shawnee mother’s breast.
Westward Winds
Peril and promise await the children of Katherine and Byrd Kincaid in the high mountains and brutal plains of the American frontier they have worked so hard to tame.
Mountain Fury
The California Gold Rush brings turbulence and hope to the lives of the children of Byrd and Katherine Kincaid, and will forever alter the destiny of the wild land they love.
Romance Revisited by Donna Ball
MATCHMAKER, MATCHMAKER
He was a cowboy looking for a wife. She was a lady specializing in brides. They were made for each other... They just didn't know it yet.
A MAN AROUND THE HOUSE
He was the answer to a busy working woman's dreams. But was he too good to be true?
FOR KEEPS
He's an animal trainer who lives by one rule: never get attached. She's a social worker who knows all too well the price of getting involved. It may take an entire menagerie to bring them together, but eventually they both must learn that sometimes it's for keeps.
STEALING SAVANNAH
He was a reformed jewel thief now turned security expert and her job depended on his expertise. But could he be trusted not to steal the most valuable jewel of all-- her heart?
UNDER COVER
She's working on the biggest case of her life, and her cover has already been blown-- by the very man she's investigating. Now they must work together to solve an even bigger mystery-- their future together.
THE STORMRIDERS
They were thunder and lightning when they were married, and their divorce has been no less turbulent. But trapped together during a deadly blizzard with the lives of an entire community depending on them, they discover what's really important, and that some storms are worth riding out.
INTERLUDE
Sometimes a chance encounter is over in a moment, and sometimes it can last a lifetime.
CAST ADRIFT
She was a marine biologist on short deadline to find a very important dolphin, with no time to waste on romance. He was a sailor who knew there could only be one captain on his ship-- himself. But two weeks at sea together could change everything...
ABOUT THE AUTHOR….
Donna Ball is the author of over a hundred novels under several different pseudonyms in a variety of genres that include romance, mystery, suspense, paranormal, western adventure, historical and women’s fiction. Recent popular series include the Ladybug Farm series, The Hummingbird House series, The Dogleg Island Mystery series, and the Raine Stockton Dog Mystery series. Donna is an avid dog lover and her dogs have won numerous titles for agility, obedience and canine musical freestyle. She lives in a restored Victorian Barn in the heart of the Blue Ridge mountains with a variety of four-footed companions. You can contact her at http://www.donnaball.net.
