Tim’s dad barked out a laugh.
When Tim laughed along with his dad, Emily began to giggle.
Chapter One
Eight years later.
He still couldn’t believe it. This was really the end of it, Tim thought bleakly as he strolled along the beach at Dragonfly Pointe. Every dream, every thought about his future had apparently been based on unrealistic expectations, because Lucy Callahan was getting married tomorrow.
And not to him, but to someone else.
As Tim stopped and gazed across the lake toward the edge of the horizon, he didn’t see the beautiful fiery sunset, or the shimmering amber haze it cast upon the water.
Now he needed to seriously consider his life without Lucy in it. There was no way he wanted to stay in Crystal Rock where Lucy would be living with her new husband and stepdaughter.
Tim began to walk further along the beach and was ready to make his way up the trail leading back toward the Dragonfly Pointe Inn, when he heard a faint whimper from what sounded like a wounded animal, echoing from near the edge of the woods.
A moment later, dulcet soothing tones sung out from what was most definitely a feminine voice.
Looking ahead, Tim hesitated while searching the direction from where the singing was coming from.
Uh, oh. Someone was in trouble, he decided moving quickly along the path. He stepped off from the trail and made his way through the denseness of pines and birch, walking down towards the base of the cliff near the rocky edge of the beach.
Tim finally spotted a girl who seemed to be drenched, sitting beside the water on the pebbly sand. It looked like a puppy had been trapped within a plastic garbage bag and left to drown in the lake, and the girl had dragged the bag from the water and disentangled the pup from inside.
The scrawny little pup looked none the worse for wear as he sat in the girl’s lap, licking her face non-stop. The girl sputtered and spat, and finally quit singing to the dog because she didn’t seem to be able to quit giggling.
Tim grinned. The puppy was a mangy little thing with brown and cream colored markings. Tim couldn’t stand it when someone treated an animal this way. It was a good thing there was finally a no-kill animal shelter being established in the town of Crystal Rock, he couldn’t help thinking as he began walking towards the girl and the dog. Jake and Danielle Loughlin’s purchase and restoration of the Dragonfly Pointe Inn had brought along a lot of positive changes in the community these past ten years.
“Is everything okay?” Tim asked, approaching them.
The girl stilled at the sound of his voice.
When she finally turned and glanced at Tim, she seemed to be afraid.
In fact, she looked scared to death, Tim realized and frowned. What was that all about?
But she must have decided Tim wasn’t a threat, because she suddenly began to smile.
Wow, her smile sure lit up her face, Tim thought. Probably about fifteen, she was a pretty little thing with beautiful gray eyes.
And ash brown hair, he supposed. It was kind of hard tell since her hair was wet and plastered to the sides of her face and the top of her head.
She looked awfully familiar though. Had they met somewhere before?
Staring at Tim, she stood up with the pup still in her arms. “I found this guy in the water. Someone was trying to drown him. Why would anyone do something as awful as that?” she demanded to know. Water sprayed through the air when she kicked the garbage bag that the dog had been extracted from with her wet sneaker.
“I know exactly where you’re coming from,” Tim growled. “There’s a no-kill shelter here in town, so there’s no excuse as far as I’m concerned.
Nodding her head firmly in obvious agreement, she hesitated, looking at the pup.
“What?” Tim asked.
“I’m not sure what to do next. I hate walking through the lobby of the hotel like this.” Holding the puppy closer before staring down at her shapeless wet sweatshirt and jean shorts, she rolled her eyes upward. “I was only trying to take a quick jog along the beach before I heard this guy whining, and saw his head popping out from under the water. Luckily the bag wasn’t very well tied up, or he probably would’ve suffocated.”
Tim moved in a little closer. “Are you staying at the Dragonfly Pointe Inn, then?”
She nodded yes, biting down on her lip.
“How about I walk the two of you back? My car’s parked near there anyway. I also happen to know where there’s another entrance, so you’ll be able to sneak inside.” He grinned. “I’m Tim, by the way.”
Was it just his imagination, or did she seem startled when he mentioned his name?
“I’m, ah...Em,” she finally answered.
“Nice to meet you, Em.” Tim smiled. “So. What do you want to do with this guy?” he asked, reaching out and letting the pup sniff his fingers.
Em grimaced. “I’m not sure.” She was staring rather longingly at the mutt in her arms. “I’m only here for the weekend, for a wedding. Did you say there was a shelter where I might be able to take him?”
Tim nodded his head up and down slowly, scratching the scrawny pup behind the ears. The dog was becoming friskier, even though a glance as his ribcage was enough for Tim to recognize he’d most likely been neglected and mistreated and was probably starving. “I suppose I could bring him into the shelter for you. I know the people who run the place.”
Holding the puppy closer when he began to squirm, Em closed her eyes and sighed. “Okay,” she finally answered.
Tim looked upward at the sky. “We’d better get a move on. It’ll be dark soon. Ready?”
Em nodded slowly as she turned and began walking towards the Dragonfly Pointe Beach.
“Hold on,” Tim said, pointing at the shoreline. “We don’t need to backtrack towards Dragonfly Pointe. There’s a path I usually take that runs beside the lake. It’ll lead us directly to the inn. It’s kind of narrow and grown over, but it’ll be quicker.”
Turning back, she hesitated. “Alright,” she finally answered, and followed the trail behind Tim as he began making his way in the opposite direction.
Tim kept looking back over his shoulder, and when he noticed she was shivering, he stopped. Unzipping and pulling his arms out from his hooded sweatshirt, he wrapped it around her and the squirming dog.
She cleared her throat, looking into Tim’s eyes. “Uh, thank you.”
The last remains of the fiery sunset intensified, highlighting the stunning features of her beautiful face. Tim was a little taken aback staring into her eyes. They were such a unique shade of gray, nearly lavender, he realized. He wasn’t sure what to say for a moment, and he was never usually at a loss for words.
Strange, he thought shaking his head a little dazedly. Why would he have trouble talking to a teenage girl?
With a start, he finally answered, “Um, you’re welcome. You two looked cold,” he said, turning around and continuing to lead the way.
When they reached the landing at the end of the trail, there was a long row of steps running down to the boat dock along with another set of steps leading up towards the inn. Tim turned and wrapped an arm around Em’s shoulders, guiding her from the steep incline onto the staircase.
He heard her breathe in a sigh of relief. “I wouldn’t advise walking this way at night.” Tim motioned at a wider pebbled pathway higher above the bank. “The trail over there is well lit and has some pretty landscaping along with seating for you to view the lake. It’ll lead you to the beach too.”
She gave him a smile. “Thank you. Yeah—I have walked that way a time or two, but I’ve been hiking along the road since we arrived because there were so many people using the trail.”
Tim smiled back. “You’re welcome.” He looked down at the pup. “Are you ready to give him up yet?”
Em grimaced. “Nah, not really.”
“I promise he’ll be taken care of,” Tim reassured firmly, reaching for the dog.
Holding the puppy nea
r her face, she nuzzled him gently and let him attack her face with his tongue one last time before she sighed, finally handing him over to Tim. “I’m counting on that,” she answered huskily.
Tim had a feeling that as soon as he and the pup were out of sight, Em was going to cry.
“We’re getting closer to the entrance I was talking about.” Pointing toward the opposite end of the inn, he reached for her hand. “C’mon.”
At that moment, Tim thought there was a certain familiarity about the situation that he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
That was it, he suddenly realized, turning and studying Em. It couldn’t be. Could it? This wasn’t the same girl who’d been wandering around Dragonfly Pointe at Christmas time about seven or eight years ago? Tim had been captain of the hockey team in junior high, and the games had always been played at the Dragonfly Pointe Bay outdoor rink.
One night, he’d been bundling up to go home after a game when he’d noticed a little girl sitting in the stands by herself. She’d been looking rather lost. Turns out she’d run away after having some kind of argument with her mother and had ended up at the hockey game.
Tim remembered that he and his dad had dropped her off at one of the nicer homes in the residential area, on the opposite end of Dragonfly Pointe. Her aunt had answered the door looking mightily relieved.
There’d been something unusual about that situation, come to the think of it. That’s right—the girl had been…
Suddenly disconcerted, Tim took a long hard look at the girl who was walking silently beside him. Wasn’t she too young to be her? Plus, right now, she resembled a wet mop rather than a famous country singer. Besides, if she was the same girl he’d met before, she’d be staying with her aunt instead of at the inn.
Wouldn’t she?
An Excerpt From
In Flight
(A Tales of The Dragonfly Novel 2)
Romantic Suspense By Tamara Ferguson
Pinnacle Book Achievement Award Winner
National Indie Excellence Awards Romance Finalist
Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards WINNER
Tales of the Dragonfly
In Tandem
AMAZON
Tales of the Dragonfly
In Flight
AMAZON
CHAPTER ONE
Saturday, June 4, 1988
The golden orb of the descending sun spun out radiant iridescent beams of light, firing the sky ablaze atop the tranquil sparkling waters of Crystal Rock Lake.
Sam Danielson and Penny Wentworth strolled leisurely under the very arbor where Jake Loughlin and Danielle Reardon had been married earlier that day. Framed by the backdrop of the picturesque Dragonfly Pointe Inn, they both stood mesmerized as they gazed at the glorious sunset from their perch above the steep rocky shore.
Under the dense shade of the towering white pines, the waterfall spilling wistfully into the lake nearby sounded peaceful and comforting, and added to the enchantment of their surroundings. Providing ambiance for wedding festivities, sparkling miniature lights shimmered overhead and around the inviting wrapped porch of the inn. With glowing radiance fading into dusk, at that moment, the atmosphere surrounding the inn exuded a mysteriously magical quality.
Still somewhat nervous, pulling her sunglasses from her purse and quickly sliding them over her eyes, Penny snuck a peek at the chiseled profile of the handsome man standing beside her. Once finished with his task of ushering guests in and out of their seats, before and after the wedding, Sam had escorted Penny through the reception line to congratulate Jake and Danielle, the new owners of the Dragonfly Pointe Inn. Despite nine months of chaos and construction on Dragonfly Pointe, they’d managed to pull off an impressive wedding ceremony and celebration.
Although Sam had remained by her side throughout the entire day, this was actually the first chance they’d had to be alone.
Penny sighed. Regrettably, she was pretty sure that’d been Danielle’s idea for Sam to keep her company today.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Turning away from the glorious sunset with his mouth tipped up into an appreciative smile, Sam was obviously focusing his eyes on her.
She nodded her agreement rather numbly.
Unreal. To be here with Sam.
The obsession of every single one of her teenage fantasies.
Amazingly, up until she’d met Sam, Penny’s heart had remained relatively intact. With her family transplanted from state to state because of her father’s calling as a minister, she’d been especially depressed when she’d been forced to relocate from Minnesota to Crystal Rock, only a few months shy of her eighth grade graduation.
“Remember the first time we met?”
His voice sent shivers down her spine. Startled to realize that Sam’s thoughts must’ve been echoing hers, she laughed softly. “You almost ran me down.”
While babysitting for a young couple the summer she’d arrived in town, Penny had been maneuvering the little girl’s stroller along the sidewalk. Sam had been driving his turquoise-blue Comet rather recklessly down the usually deserted, dead-end street. Fortunately, he’d been able to pull his car to a screeching halt before turning into his driveway.
Sam grimaced. “I loved driving that car. Every time I had a chance to crank up the speed, I would. But I was damned lucky that I was able to stop just in time that day. I could’ve killed the two of you.”
Sam had rushed from his car to apologize, most definitely stunned by his own negligence. Suddenly, his voice had cut off into a stammer when he’d glanced up from the baby at her. After a long quiet moment, Sam had finally smiled, gazing deeply into her eyes.
And time had stood still.
Along with the beat of her heart.
Just like that, she’d fallen for Sam.
Sure, he was great-looking. At eighteen, Sam was tall and beautifully built with broad shoulders and narrow hips. His job as head lifeguard at the Dragonfly Pointe Beach had left his handsome face deeply tanned; accentuating the crinkles at the corners of his eyes when he’d smiled.
And she’d melted, gazing into those eyes, the color of creamy dark chocolate.
Penny had spent the entire summer babysitting newborn, Sophia Barelli, whose home just happened to be immediately across the street from the Danielson’s.
So it was pretty hard not to be aware of Sam.
While other kids his age were either enjoying summer on the lake or cruising around the countryside, barely escaping trouble, Sam was handling the maintenance and upkeep of their home for his mother. Apparently, around five years earlier, Sam’s father had tragically passed away.
After hanging out that summer with a few new friends at the Dragonfly Pointe Beach, Penny had instantly recognized that Sam was not only well-liked, but tremendously respected. As the head lifeguard, he’d been wholly attentive to his job.
She’d had such a crush on him.
And then, that August, tragedy had struck Crystal Rock. A six-year old girl was brutally assaulted and murdered at Dragonfly Pointe. An ongoing investigation was initiated, and business at the Dragonfly Inn began to decline. It’d only been three short months since Penny and her family had arrived in town.
Penny cleared her throat. “That ended up being an awful summer.”
Sam frowned, and slanted her a side glance. “That’s for sure—in more ways than one. The Dragonfly Inn fell into a decline, and Crystal Rock practically turned into a ghost town after that little girl’s murder.”
Despite the upheaval in the community, one week later, school had still begun. Penny hadn’t been sure what to expect when she’d entered Crystal Rock High that fall as a freshman. Although, as a senior, Sam had been much older than her, building up foolish hopes, Penny had obviously misinterpreted his interest in her over the summer.
She’d been so sure he’d been hitting on her.
And in one single day, she’d suddenly realized her romantic expectations had been totally misguided. Penny had been hea
rtbroken when she’d noticed Diane Malloy, a popular senior and cheerleader, all over Sam.
But, surprisingly, even though he’d remained slightly distant during that first week of school, Sam had continued to single Penny out. So it’d been difficult setting aside her fantasies.
Until the following weekend, that is, Sunday night at dusk. Penny and her mother were cleaning out the cabins from the previous week’s summer camp activities, at the deserted Crystal Rock Campgrounds. With a large trash bag in hand, Penny had been circling the picnic area and scoping out the beach, searching for missed debris.
They hadn’t noticed her. Obviously unaware of the vehicles belonging to the clean-up crew that were parked in the recreational center parking lot, Sam and Diane were half-naked on the tiny isolated beach, a longstanding make-out place for local teenagers.
Stupidly, the discovery of Sam’s extra-curricular activities hadn’t completely discouraged her, though. After all, Penny had found out that Sam had no steady girlfriend.
It’d taken another glimpse of Sam, in action again, with a different female at the same beach only a few weeks later.
Almost twenty-three years ago, berating herself at her own stupidity, she’d finally accepted the obvious. With every girl at school throwing herself at him, why would Sam have been interested in her, a short, skinny freshman?
Apparently more mature than his peers, in public, Sam had appeared polite, yet remained isolated.
He’d definitely hidden a dark side.
What was it about Sam that’d made her forget her strict and proper upbringing? As a teenager, she should’ve been shocked when she’d found him, twice, on the verge of having sex with two different women. But, instead, she’d been jealous.
As well as confused. Had she only just imagined Sam’s interest? It’d been an enormous effort attempting to subdue her disappointment and heartache.
And who had she been fooling? Even if Sam had been the type of guy her father had approved of, her father, being obsessively overprotective, would never have actually let her go out with him. Even at eighteen, when she’d eventually acquired a steady boyfriend, she’d snuck around with Jason rather than risk her father’s disapproval.
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