Dragon Warrior (Midnight Bay)

by Janet Chapman

  “It matters not how she feels about you now; she’s involved whether ye wish her to be or not.” Kenzie started walking again. “So it looks as if you’ll have to use that arrogant Irish charm of yours, my friend, if ye wish to remain close enough to your woman to keep her safe.”

  Maddy sat on a stool in Eve’s store, trying not to drop crumbs on the floor as she slathered the miniature loaf of banana bread she’d stolen off the table with butter. “So you honestly don’t think all the stuff that’s been happening around here lately isn’t it bit strange?” she asked Eve. “I mean, really, you had to rebuild your home into a virtual fortress because of all the weird storms that keep hitting the bay. And that was no moose we saw that night; that was the same creature that ate that bear and those kayakers said they saw in Dragon Cove. And now there’s a rumor about a mermaid going around. Oh, and let’s not forget the pack of coyotes that chased us last night,” she said, giving an involuntary shiver.

  “So they’re no longer wolves the size of ponies?” Eve asked.

  Maddy gave her a sheepish grin. “I’ve decided I had a lot more to drink last night than I realized. So to block out my . . . um . . . lovemaking debacle, I instead built the coyote thing up to mythic proportions.” She shrugged. “It’s the best explanation I can come up with, considering I broke the front and back windows out of William’s brand-new truck by hitting two of the poor animals.”

  “Did you tell anyone about last night?” Eve asked, perusing the baskets for something to snatch for herself.

  “Are you kidding?” Maddy snorted. “My cousin mistook a harbor seal or porpoise for a woman, and now the entire town is saying Trace Huntsman saw a mermaid.” She widened her eyes in mock horror. “Dragons and mermaids in Midnight Bay, oh, my!” she whispered, breaking into laughter.

  Eve snatched a cinnamon roll out of one of the baskets, unwrapping it as she walked over and sat down behind the counter. “Personally, I think it’s mass hysteria,” Eve said. “You know, like when we were walking down that dark road and heard a noise, and suddenly every tree looked like the bogeyman. Well, somebody saw what they decided was a dragon, and suddenly we have all sorts of mythological creatures running around. Add a couple of freak storms into that mix, and Midnight Bay has become the new Twilight Zone.” She broke off a piece of the gooey roll but stopped with it halfway to her mouth and smiled at Maddy. “And that, my friend, is how legends are born, which conveniently ups the tourist trade, which in turn ups our incomes. I’m sorry Trace got stuck being the brunt of the latest rumor, but tell him if it’s any consolation, every store owner in town thinks he’s a hero,” she finished, popping the piece of roll in her mouth then immediately licking her fingers.

  “Yeah, well, I know it’s all a bunch of malarkey, but I didn’t imagine those coyotes stalking us last night, and that’s why I’m not taking any chances. At least not until the game warden hunts them down and shoots them.”

  “What do you mean, not taking any chances?” Eve asked around another bite of roll. She stopped chewing. “Exactly what is that gleam in your eye all about?”

  Maddy nudged her purse on the floor with her foot. “I dug out my forty-caliber Glock, and I intend to carry it everywhere from now on.”

  Eve swallowed, her eyes having gone huge. “You have a gun in your purse? An honest-to-God handgun?”

  “Well, my dad’s 30–30 rifle sure as hell won’t fit in there.”

  “But Maddy, you can’t run around with a gun in your purse!”

  “I have a permit that says I can.”

  “You do? You actually got a permit to carry a concealed weapon? When? You just saw the . . . coyotes last night.”

  “Oh, I’ve had a permit since I was twenty-one.” She shrugged. “And for some silly reason, I’ve kept renewing it ever since I got it.”

  “But why did you get it in the first place?” Eve gasped. “You divorced Billy when you were twenty-one! But I thought the two of you parted on good terms. Did he threaten you or something?” she ended in a whisper.

  “Billy? Of course not! He’s the one who bought me the gun.” Maddy smiled at her friend’s confusion and decided she might as well add to it. “It was a divorce gift from Billy. He bought me the gun, went to the firearms safety class with me, and then helped me get my permit.”

  “But why?” Eve repeated.

  Maddy shrugged again. “I didn’t move back home until my dad died. I rented a house halfway between here and Oak Harbor when we got divorced, and Billy said he didn’t like the idea of my living alone with a three-year-old kid, so the least he could do was make sure I could protect myself.”

  “But what about Sarah? Maddy, you can’t run around with a loaded gun in your purse. You have a child who could get hold of it.”

  “Have you ever tried to work the action on a forty-caliber Glock?”

  “I don’t even know what a Glock is!”

  “It’s what they call a Tupperware gun, because half of it is made from ballistic plastic so it won’t be so heavy—though when it’s full of bullets it’s not exactly light. But I have all I can do to jack a shell in the chamber myself, so Sarah certainly couldn’t. And it’s really only sort-of loaded. In fact, that’s why Billy didn’t want me to have a revolver; because you just have to pull the trigger on most of those.”

  Eve’s gaze dropped to Maddy’s purse before slowly rising back to her. “You honest to God are walking around with a gun?”

  “Drunk or not, something attacked us last night, and I don’t intend to ever find myself in that kind of helpless situation again. Instead of falling asleep last night, every time I closed my eyes, all I could see were huge, pointy fangs and glowing red eyes, and all I could think of were vampires and werewolves.” Maddy suddenly had a thought and jumped up off the stool, brushing the crumbs from her hands. “I should use the rest of my lunch break to go to the library and see if silver bullets kill werewolves like they do vampires.” She straightened from picking up her purse and canted her head. “I wonder if gun stores even sell silver bullets.”

  “Madeline Kimble! Will you get serious,” Eve hissed, walking around the counter and snatching her purse from her. Her arm dropped, nearly dropping the purse on the floor. “My God, it weighs a ton!” She spread the flaps to peek inside. “Where is it? I don’t see any gun.”

  Maddy took the purse from her, held it by the strap, and pulled down a hidden zipper between the two compartments. “Billy also bought me the purse when he bought the gun; see, it’s a holster purse. It has a secret padded compartment in the middle, and you access it from the outside.”

  Eve was gaping at her again but then suddenly pulled Maddy’s hand away and reached inside the compartment herself. She stilled, and looked at Maddy. “You’re sure it’s not loaded?”

  “There are bullets in the magazine but not in the chamber. What, you think I want to shoot myself in the hip if I bump into anything? Not that it would go off; it also has a safety.” She looked toward the front door and then nodded at Eve. “Go ahead, pull it out. I know you’re not afraid of firearms; you hunted with your dad all the time.”

  “I carried the binoculars, and he carried the rifle,” she said, even as her hand emerged holding the pistol. “Holy shit, Maddy, this is a small cannon.”

  “Billy said just showing it to anyone bothering me would probably be enough to make them run like hell, because most guys won’t stick around very long when they see a woman with a gun in her hand. But if that doesn’t work, I just have to fire at the ground, and they’ll skedaddle.”

  “When was the last time you shot it? Don’t you have to practice regularly?”

  “After we went home this morning, I dug it out of our gun safe, dropped Sarah off at rec, then drove to Pinkham’s gravel pit before work.” She grinned broadly. “And I blew three beer cans to smithereens from fifty feet away.”

  Eve slid the gun back into the compartment with a grin. “You know what? I say good for you. I like the idea of knowing you can
take care of yourself.”

  “And my daughter and Mom and even my residents. What if those coyotes really are rabid, and they show up on the River Run grounds when people in wheelchairs and using walkers are outside? We’d never get everyone inside in time.”

  “Are you going to tell your boss about the gun?”

  “Heck, no—Doris would have a coronary. I’m legal, and as far as I’m concerned, only you and I have to know I’m carrying it. I especially don’t want Mom finding out.”

  “What about William? Are you at least going to tell him?”

  “What for?”

  Eve arched a brow. “You don’t think it’s only fair to warn a man that the woman he’s dating is armed?”

  “If we were dating, then . . . maybe I’d tell him.”

  “You and William are no longer dating? After he blew your socks—I mean your stockings off three times last night? Um, does he know you’re not dating?”

  Maddy slung the strap onto her shoulder, only to wince when the heavy purse slammed her hip. “If he can’t figure out that last night wasn’t exactly a woman’s idea of a fun time, then maybe he really did fly in from another planet.”

  Maddy looked her friend directly in her eyes. “What’s going on, Eve? How come William seemed to know that the shadow he saw wasn’t just some dog? And how come Kenzie didn’t even question him when William told him to go get Mom and Sarah? And they spoke in some language I’ve never heard before. Who are these two mystery men who just showed up in Midnight Bay, one soon after the other? You know I love Kenzie and that I’m really happy for you, but honestly, Eve, your husband is more than a little bit old-fashioned. I know we tease each other about him being your knight in shining leather, but Kenzie is . . . he’s . . . there’s something . . .” She sighed. “All this strange stuff started happening right around the time he moved to town. And last night, I think William scared me more than the coyotes did; he was so controlled and . . . focused. And as I stared at your storm shutters trying to fall asleep, the only thing I kept thinking about was how much he reminded me of Trace.” Maddy touched Eve’s shoulder. “Will you please tell me who Kenzie and William really are and what’s going on? I know you know, because you wouldn’t be acting so calm about last night if you didn’t.”

  Eve got such a pained look in her eyes that Maddy’s chest started to hurt.

  “I-I can’t tell you,” Eve whispered, giving her a wrenchingly sad smile as she reached out and took Maddy’s hand, and held it between hers. “I love you like a sister, but please don’t ask me to break my word to my husband. I can tell you this much, though: William and Kenzie are noble, caring, capable men, and I would trust either of them with my life—and with the life of my child. And so can you, Maddy. No matter what happens in the coming days, please, please, trust William.”

  Maddy pulled her hand away to hug herself. “Okay, now you’re freaking me out. What’s going to happen in the coming days?”

  Maddy jumped when the bell over the door suddenly tinkled, and Eve pulled her toward the counter when a customer walked in. “That’s something you’ll have to ask William,” she said softly. “But until he tells you what’s going on, you’re just going to have to trust him. And you can trust Kenzie, too. And me,” she finished, plastering a smile on her face when the customer approached them.

  “I-I’ll see you later,” Maddy said, more than a little confused as she turned away. Feeling as if her very best friend in the whole world had just punched her in the stomach, she quietly walked out the door.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Is there a reason you two ladies are moping around my station?” Maddy asked Lois and Charlotte when Charlotte sighed for the fourth time in as many minutes. “If your faces get any longer, you’re going to trip over them.”

  “Elbridge told William that he knew a good place to have his truck windows replaced over in Oak Harbor, and they left over three hours ago,” Lois said.

  “And they took Hiram with them,” Charlotte added. “And it’s a four-door pickup, so there wasn’t any reason we couldn’t have gone, too.”

  “You just know Hiram’s going to suggest they stop at the Dairy Queen for a hot fudge sundae,” Lois muttered. “It’s been ages since I’ve had soft-serve ice cream.”

  “And the sprinkles they serve here are nothing but colored wax,” Charlotte added. “The Dairy Queen has good sprinkles.”

  Maddy felt her own face grow long. “William was here?” she asked.

  Not that she wanted to see him or anything. She was just surprised that he hadn’t even bothered to come say hello. He should have at least checked to see how she was doing today; the last time she’d seen him, he’d been running into the shadows carrying a sword. “Wait, how did William get here?” she asked.

  “He drove his truck,” Lois said, her tone implying that was a silly question. “The windshield was smashed, but you could still see out it.”

  “He drove himself here? Alone?”

  “Of course, alone,” Lois said, again implying Maddy was crazy for even asking. “The man might have money, but he’s not so uppity that he’d have a chauffeur drive him around.”

  “He said the windows got smashed when he hit an animal last night on your way back from Oak Harbor,” Charlotte said, frowning at her. “His being new to the area, you should have warned him that deer are a major road hazard at night.”

  Lois scrunched up her face, adding a few more wrinkles. “How come you didn’t tell us about hitting the deer, so we’d know at least something interesting happened on your date?” She made a tsking sound. “I still can’t believe you didn’t have the good sense to grab the boy by the cheeks and kiss him good night.”

  “You expected me to kiss him?”

  “Well, of course,” Lois said, this time her tone implying Maddy was an idiot. “You asked him out; it was up to you to take the initiative. You young women can’t have it both ways, you know. If you want equality, that means you have to be equally willing to chance getting your feelings hurt.”

  “Excuse me?” Maddy asked, intrigued by Lois’s thinking even if she couldn’t quite follow it.

  “Don’t you know that men have been taking chances of being rebuffed by women ever since we lived in caves?” Lois asked, her tone back to implying Maddy should have known that. “Haven’t you ever felt a young man’s damp palms on your face the first time he kissed you? That’s because he was sweating bullets, afraid you were going to rebuff him.”

  “Or knee him in the groin,” Charlotte added with a snicker.

  Maddy blinked from one woman to the other. Either she was punch-drunk again from sheer fatigue, or she was an idiot for feeling hurt that William had been here and hadn’t come to see her.

  Not that she wanted to see him or anything.

  At least not until she could decide how she felt about last night.

  “We’re really disappointed in you, Maddy,” Lois said, her face growing long again. “We thought you had the courage to put the moves on a sexy, handsome man who eagerly accepted your invitation to go out.”

  Oh, what the hell, Maddy decided. It looked as if all three of them needed a little pick-me-up. Giving them a sly grin, she leaned over the counter. “Okay, then, ladies—what if I told you the truck windows got smashed because I was practically sitting on William’s lap and had my tongue halfway down his throat when that deer suddenly jumped out in front of us?”

  Both women gasped so hard they nearly fell over, and Charlotte grabbed the counter when her knees obviously went weak.

  “No!” Lois cried, her eyes growing huge. “Madeline Kimble, you didn’t!” She slapped the counter, making Charlotte flinch. “You did! You attacked the devil in the front seat of his own damn truck!”

  “Shhh,” Maddy said, looking up and down the hall and then toward the sitting room. “This is just between the three of us, understand? I especially don’t want the men to hear about it. Hiram already thinks I’m a loose woman for asking William out.” Sh
e brushed down the front of her scrubs and shot the ladies a conspirator’s smile. “A girl has to protect her reputation, you know.”

  “We promise, we won’t say a word,” Charlotte whispered, also looking up and down the hall before leaning closer. “So? How was it?”

  “Yeah,” Lois echoed. “I bet that big boy can kiss the socks right off a girl.”

  Maddy felt her cheeks prickle and wondered what in hell had possessed her to make up such an outrageous lie. She stifled a snort. A Long Island Iced Tea hangover is what, coupled with too little sleep. “I can’t really say how good a kisser William is,” she told them. “We were just getting started when we hit that . . . animal. And for the record, I wasn’t wearing socks, I was wearing sandals.”

  “And your pretty red lace pushup bra?” Charlotte asked. “You know, the one you had Janice order from Victoria’s Secret last year, along with a matching pair of panties?” She leaned closer again. “And your scandalously short denim skirt; did you wear it, too, and that pretty yellow peasant blouse you can slip off your shoulder?”

  Good Lord, did everyone think she was a slut?

  Maddy sighed, realizing that she did have a tendency to dress like one sometimes.

  “Earth to Maddy,” Lois said, waving her hand in front of Maddy’s face. “If you weren’t going to stop by last night, you were at least supposed to bring in a picture this morning, to show us how you looked.”

  “You should always take a picture the night of your first date,” Charlotte told her, “so you’ll have it to look back on after forty years of marriage.”

  Maddy laughed. “That would mean I’d have enough pictures to fill an entire album, I’ve been on so many first dates.” She shook her head. “I just haven’t been on a whole lot of second dates.”

  “That’s because you’re too picky,” Lois chided. “You keep waiting for Prince Charming to come sweep you off your feet and carry you away to his castle to live happily ever after.”

  “I am not picky, I’m discerning. And when was the last time you saw Prince Charming walking down Main Street in Midnight Bay?”