Kyle’s reaction brought home to him how serious things had spiraled out of control. That point was made clear when Rick left the ranch after his conversation with Kyle and noticed the car following him. He knew right away they were Leo’s men and they had been following him all along. It took him almost two hours, but he was finally able to shake the tail and double back to the ranch. He knew even if Leo’s guys searched the ranch it was so dense with forest they would likely never find him.
Rick thought about how to get enough money to not only pay off Leo, but set himself up for a long time. He knew between Dusty and Mikayla there had to be millions available. But he had nothing to offer that would guarantee payment.
If he went public with Mikayla’s secret at this point, Dusty would know it was him. But at the same time, images of the unfortunate Mikey being carried out of the office by Leo’s goons continued to run through his memory. He feared Dusty’s wrath, but Rick felt dying at Leo’s hands in such a brutal way was scarier.
Of the two, Rick had decided, Dusty would be the one he would have to take on. Not just for his refusal to help with his money problems, but Dusty had also cost him the one thing he valued in this world. His family. Or at least that was how he thought of the circus group.
When word had gotten around he was being put out, no one came to him to ask why. They seemed to all just accept if Kyle felt it was necessary to go to such extremes there must be a justifiable reason. So he was not even given the opportunity to explain his side of things. He’d just been cast out.
Of course, he could find another home with another circus, but where was he supposed to find a manager as indulgent as Kyle had been of his little bad habits?
No, Dusty had cost him more than just a financial setback. He’d cost him his family. And for it all, Dusty would pay. If it meant taking down his beautiful Tangie as well, then so be it.
In downtown Miami Leo listened to the report from one of his men. He’d known Rick had no way of paying off the loan, but as he’d said, he liked the guy and wanted to give him a chance. Just in case, he’d put a tail on him and somehow Rick had managed to lose them, but not before he led him back to the Warren Ranch.
It had been an interesting discovery to realize Dr. Warren and Rick were connected. He never would’ve imagined the little weasel had those kinds of friends. But whatever the relationship it was not such he could ask for money from the rich veterinarian.
All morning his men had combed the typical hangouts for someone with Rick’s particular affliction, and so far they had come up with nothing. It was as if the guy had just disappeared.
But now Leo knew he had to find Rick. Letting him get away again would set a bad precedent. It might give some the impression he was getting soft. And in his business all a man had was his reputation.
“Did you check out the ranch?”
“Tried, boss, but this guy came out of the animal hospital and started asking questions. I thought it would be better if we just left.”
Leo nodded. He’d always taught his guys to avoid being noticed if possible and that included creating a scene that would cause people to remember your face.
“Well, he’s got to be around here somewhere. Find him before he tries to leave the city.”
“Will do, boss.” The henchman turned to leave the room and paused. “Um, boss, when we find him…did you want us to bring him alive? I just ask because he’ll probably put up a fight.”
Leo’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t care if you have to bring him to me in pieces—just bring him to me.”
The henchman nodded. “Right, boss.” And then he was out the door, shutting it behind him. Leo sat in the empty office for several long minutes, thinking over different aspects of his life. He thought about all the men he’d killed or had killed over the years and the one time he decided to show a little compassion it came back and bit him in the ass.
“Well, one way or another,” he said aloud, “Rick Morgan will have to die in the next few hours or my word will no longer mean anything.”
Leo was a man whose entire livelihood was founded on his word. When Leo called you a dead man, you were.
Chapter 21
As she sat at her computer writing out the outline for her next seminar, Mikayla couldn’t stop the smile that came to her face at the memory of Dusty.
The past few weeks seemed like idyllic paradise. Despite their conversation in the coffee shop, there had been no pressure from Dusty to go public with her story. They spent their days together either at his ranch or her house and spent their evenings wrapped in each other’s arms.
Without the weight of her secrets holding her down, Mikayla felt like a new woman. It wasn’t until she had nothing to hide that she realized her whole relationship with Dusty had been like living in a minefield. Afraid with every step the world would explode right in front of her.
And the knowing.
Dusty’s knowing was like a deep breath of the freshest air she’d ever breathed. He knew all the secrets of her troubled past and it had not changed even one aspect of their relationship. If anything, it had strengthened it.
Every once in a while he would ask her questions about her childhood or her life working at the Godiva club, but never even an ounce of condemnation in his tone. Just curiosity. He wanted to know her and her love for him grew deeper and deeper with each passing day. Never in a million years would she have imagined she could have a relationship like the one she shared with Dusty.
The dark cloud in her otherwise sunny world was the nagging feeling of standing on the edge of a cliff. It would not go away. No matter how she tried she could not shake the feeling something else was coming. Her new, wonderful life was allotted a certain amount of time to exist, and the clock was running out.
The night Dusty showed up at her house demanding entrance, Mikayla had thought back over the man she’d seen briefly at the circus and realized some part of her must’ve recognized Rick Morgan then. Out of all the people that had been around, he’d been the one who caught her attention.
After Dusty told her who the blackmailer was, the final piece of her mental puzzle fell into place and she could see the horse trainer sitting at the bar of the club, watching her with those hungry eyes. He’d looked at her the same way the last time she saw him.
She couldn’t help wondering how she’d been so lucky to not have met any former club regulars up to this point. Of course, she had always been careful to put out very little information about herself, but in the Internet age anyone could find out anything. Dusty and Kandi were right about that much. Until her whole story was revealed to the world, she would never be safe. But what they did not understand was that what they thought of as simply the details of her past were, for her, scars as real as if they showed on her flesh.
Announcing her attack to the world would open those wounds and all the ugly puss of that night would ooze back into her life. She loved Kandi and Dusty both, but neither of them understood what they were asking. They wanted her to deal with it.
They really thought it was simple. She would just deal with it and move on. When in fact what she would be doing was opening Pandora’s box, and once it was open she wasn’t certain she could close it again.
Not to mention what the press would do with the story. Before all was said and done she knew she would be painted as a whore. Not only a whore, a whore who had the audacity to try to preach to others about their pasts and their mistakes.
And her fans, what would they think? Dusty seemed to believe they already sensed her struggles, if not the specific details; and they held the strong belief that she had endured and survived something. Dusty believed they would forgive her because they could relate to her.
Mikayla was not so sure. She knew some of her fans looked up to her with an almost heroinelike adoration, and no one wanted to see their heroine humanized. She was supposed to be above reproach, springing from the earth as a fully developed, emotionally stable guide.
Now she sat w
orking out the details for her next seminar and everything that had happened over the past few weeks seemed to be working its way into her thoughts. When she sat down to write it, the guideline had been entitled Finding the Fighter in You. And as she wrote it, the plan had changed so she was considering renaming it Finding the Lover in You. That’s what Dusty had done. He’d helped her find the lover in herself.
The phone rang and she picked it up. “Hello?”
“Hey, what are you doing?”
She smiled. “Working. What are you doing?”
“Feeling pretty good about myself. Have you got a couple of hours to come down here? I want to show you something.”
She glanced at the clock. It was almost noon. “Okay, want me to pick up some lunch on the way?”
“Sounds great. See you in a little while.”
As she hung up the phone, Mikayla wondered what could not wait. Almost an hour later, after stopping at her favorite sub shop for a couple of twelve-footers, Mikayla drove through the gates of the Warren ranch, rounded a corner and took the paved path leading to his house.
Hearing the car approach, Dusty came out on the porch to greet her. He was dressed in his typical blue jeans and plaid shirt and he stopped and braced his weight against the porch rail, waiting for her to turn the car off.
As she stepped out of the car, he smiled and came down the stairs. Without warning, he scooped her up in his arms and hugged her close. “Missed you.”
She laughed. “I just saw you yesterday.”
“I know, almost a whole twenty-four hours.” He kissed her lips, a soft kiss turned passionate. She surrendered her mouth to him, giving him the access he always desired.
He set her on her feet, but he never let go of her as his busy hands began to roam over her body, cupping her round bottom.
She stepped back out of his reach, but the dreamy expression on his face told her it did little to curb his lust.
She held up the bag containing the sandwiches. “Hungry?”
His eyes roamed over her body. “You have no idea.”
She shook her head. “Uh-huh. You did not take me away from my work to drive all the way down here just so you can get some.”
He smiled. “You’ll get some, too, I promise.”
Her mouth twisted in a smirk. “You’re joking, right?”
He shook his head. “No. But you’re right, that is not the reason I wanted you to come down here.” He took the sandwich bag from her, turned and headed into the house. “Follow me.”
Dusty opened the door and let her go ahead of him, and then he led the way through the house, dropping the sandwich bag on the counter and heading out into the backyard. Athos, Porthos, Aramis and Angel played, chasing balls being thrown out by Sam.
Sam gave a brief welcoming wave to the couple before returning his attention to the dogs clambering for the ball he was holding.
“Angel!” Mikayla called to her dog.
Angel heard the call, but continued to follow the ball with the other dogs. Mikayla was crushed by her indifference.
“She barely noticed me.”
Dusty put his arm around her shoulders, sensing her sadness. “Believe it or not, it’s a good thing.”
“It doesn’t feel like a good thing.”
“I know, but it’s for her own good and yours, as well.”
She looked up at Dusty with hurt eyes. “I brought her to you to be taught obedience, not to turn her against me.”
He laughed. “No one has turned her against you. She’s just discovered she likes being a dog, and being with other dogs.” He kissed her forehead. “Trust me, when you take her home she will give you all the attention she has to offer. But for right now she’s just being a dog—which is good.” He took her hand and tugged until she sat down beside him on the stair.
Once they were seated, Dusty took both her hands in his. “For too long, Mikayla, Angel’s been in guardian mode. She needs to be allowed to be just a dog. Can you understand?”
She frowned. “You’re like a broken record. You said this before.”
“It’s the truth and the reason she couldn’t be trained before now. Because no matter what the setting was, if you were there she automatically assigned herself the alpha dog, your guardian and protector. And there is only ever one alpha.”
Mikayla glanced over her shoulder to where her dog was playing, and began to see her for the first time. She was always playful, but Dusty was right, she had a sort of bully thing going on that Mikayla had never understood.
“Mikayla, if you ever hope to have anything like a normal home with her, you are going to have to establish yourself as the alpha of your pack.”
“What pack? It’s just the two of us.”
He made a gesture to dismiss the statement. “Anything more than one is a pack.”
He nodded toward the group of dogs, now fighting over the ball. At the moment, Porthos had it and was running away, little Aramis yapped up a storm, cutting through his legs and tripping him, which allowed Angel to attempt to steal the ball. Athos came out of nowhere and started tugging on it, as well. The two dogs were making such a loud, growling noise Mikayla became concerned.
“Is that okay? It sounds like they are fighting.”
He watched the dogs. “They’re fine. It’s all in good fun.”
Mikayla and Dusty sat watching the dogs get a workout as Sam put them through run after run, and it was obvious the dogs were loving every bit of it.
After a while, Mikayla said, “I thought you said you prefer to train Angel alone.”
“That was before I saw her with these dogs. With the dogs at the kennel, she’d assumed the role of alpha, but that entailed leading a revolt and escaping under the fence every day. For some reason, with my dogs it’s different. Even though she thinks she’s the alpha, they work together like a team.” He gestured to the dogs. “As you can see.”
He glanced at her. “I wanted you to see she is as you said, very smart, and extremely stubborn, but she is trainable.”
Mikayla, still reeling from Angel’s lack of interest, wanted to take her dog home. “It’s been almost eight weeks. Can I take her home soon?”
He nodded. “Just give me a couple more days with her.”
Sam put the toys up and the dogs followed him to the toy bin before they realized their afternoon exercise was over. Sam came over to the stairs and rested against the railing.
“Hey, Mikayla. How are you?”
“Fine. You’re doing a great job with Angel, Sam. I just want to thank you.”
Sam smiled. “No thanks needed, just doing my job.” He looked at Dusty. “If you don’t need anything else, I’m going to head back down to the kennel.”
“All right, see you later.” Dusty stood and offered his head to Mikayla. “Wanna eat?”
“Yeah, I haven’t eaten all day and I’m hungry as a bear.”
As he led the way back into the kitchen, Dusty asked. “Why haven’t you eaten all day?”
She shrugged. “When I get caught up in a project time flies.”
“What project?”
“I’m working on a new seminar.”
He grabbed two cans of soda from the refrigerator and together they sat down at the table. “Really? What’s it about?” Dusty asked, tearing open his sandwich.
She looked at him. “No offense, but I don’t like to discuss my work while it’s in progress.”
He frowned, slightly hurt. “And after I just shared my work in progress with you?”
She bit her lip. “Sorry.”
“No biggie,” he said, biting into his sandwich. After a while, the noises coming from the backyard got quiet and Dusty realized the dogs had taken off to explore some other part of their domain. “It just means it will be more interesting when I see you give the presentation.”
Mikayla ate her sandwich, practically cooing with pleasure. “I swear this shop makes the best sandwiches in the world!”
“It is good,” Dusty agreed,
taking another bite of his own.
Once she was halfway finished, Mikayla mostly just picked at the sandwich as other thoughts ran through her mind. “Dusty?”
“Hmm?” Dusty answered on the last little bit of his sandwich and pushed the plate aside.
“You never said anything more about Rick.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well…you never said what happened when you confronted him.”
Dusty looked at her. “I told you, Rick won’t be a problem anymore.”
Her eyes widened. “Okay, waaayyy too cryptic. What do you mean, he won’t be a problem anymore?”
“Just that.” He opened his soda and took a drink. “I made sure he understood if he tried his little stunt again, it would be the last thing he did.”
She watched him for a few seconds. “He believed you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Dusty looked into her eyes. “He has reason to.”
For the first time since she’d met Dusty, Mikayla looked into his eyes and saw nothing resembling compassion. There was a hardness, a coldness she had not known existed.
“Oh,” was all she could manage. She wanted to forget that look. The man she’d just glimpsed was not the Dusty she loved.
She glanced toward the back door. “Where is he now?”
Dusty shrugged. “I don’t know.”
She turned back to Dusty. “You kicked him out—didn’t you?”
He frowned at her. “Of course. What was I supposed to do? He was trying to blackmail you, remember?”
“But the circus is his home, Dusty.”
He tilted his head to the side as if studying some strange creature. “The man was threatening to destroy your whole life and you feel bad because he lost his temporary home?”
She toyed with her sandwich some more. “You’re right. You’re right. Why should I care?”
“Exactly.”
A tense silence settled over the pair, until Dusty spoke. “Look, you don’t know Rick like I do. He was bad news. In case you were wondering, the reason he was blackmailing you was to get money to pay off his gambling debts. He owed a lot of money to some real bad dudes. I told him to get off my property not just because of what he was trying to do to you, but for my father, as well. Imagine if those people showed up here looking to collect their money?”
Miami Attraction Page 15
