Hidden Heart

by Amy Lane

  Damien nodded, his eyes red-rimmed and bright. “I know,” he said hoarsely. “I know.”

  But Spencer was doing the numbers in his head just like Damien was. It usually took Preston forty-five minutes to get to the hangar because the road wound a bit, and he would be driving fast, so it would probably take him half an hour. Spencer and Elsie had made it in ten minutes, but that meant nothing.

  Preston was the love of Damien’s life, and he was Glen Echo’s brother and Oscar and Belinda’s best friend since high school. However long it took him to get there, it was going to be forever in dog years because Preston was so important to all of them.

  “He had Preacher with him,” Spencer said as logically as he could. “He’ll get here safely because he wouldn’t risk Preacher.”

  Damien allowed a smile to sneak through. “How is it that you have Colonel with you?” he asked. Spencer and Oscar had put the other giant dogs on leads and staked them in the shade near the hangar, making sure they had water to drink too. Colonel followed at Spencer’s heels, clinging so tightly that Spencer had almost tripped more than once. He didn’t yell, though—the poor dog was worried and sad, and Spencer had shown up and saved him from the worry and the sad. Spencer wasn’t going to yell and take that away.

  “He opened the passenger door to the truck and jumped into my arms,” Spencer told him, and while he wasn’t sure why that made Damien chuckle weakly, he thought that this sound was possibly better than the bleak anxiety he’d seen a few moments ago, so he went with it. “Do we have any people food?” he asked. “Are there supplies in the hangar? I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starving. I think we need food.”

  He didn’t wait for an answer to his question—he spun on his heel and headed for the hangar, Colonel still his shadow. He knew there was peanut butter, jelly, and loaves of bread in the hangar because Glen Echo stocked things right. There was also a bag of apples, and Spencer came out ten minutes later with a bread bag full of sandwiches and another bag full of apples, and he pressed food into everybody’s hands. People ate fitfully—and more than one bite of sandwich got fed to a dog—but when he gathered with the lot of them in the shade of the hangar, he saw that Glen and Damien had pulled out camp chairs so they were all able to sit for a moment. The dogs had calmed down in the shade with water. All they had to do now was watch.

  They saw the plume of dust first, and for a heart-stopping moment they thought it was smoke. But then Colonel started to bay happily, and the other dogs did too, and Spencer imagined that inside the cab of the truck that appeared shortly thereafter, Preacher was giving his own version of the hallelujah chorus.

  The truck skidded to a stop by Belinda’s minivan and Oscar’s truck, and everybody sprang up, opening the big crates and helping the dogs out so they could carry the crates to the shady side of the hangar.

  Almost everybody was doing that.

  Damien and Preston were hugging each other. Not kissing, because that’s not what they did in public, but hugging each other, hard, and Damien was murmuring calming nothings into Preston’s ear.

  Spencer couldn’t watch them do that for long. It hurt. The only person on the planet who would miss him if he disappeared into a cloud of smoke was Elsie.

  Who was passing by him, one medium-sized crate in each hand. “You know,” she said, “that may have been the stupidest thing we ever did—but I’m not sorry we did it.”

  Spencer winked at her. “Wasn’t the stupidest thing we ever did….” And then he let her fill in the blank with all of the stupid things they’d done between them.

  “Oh, thank God,” she said. “I was worried about us for a minute.”

  He laughed softly and went to work, trying hard—so hard—not to think about what they’d do with all of Preston’s dogs if the ranch was destroyed.

  THEY wouldn’t have been able to rebuild the houses so quickly if Cash hadn’t helped. He’d made Preston’s dog shelter and training facility a cause célèbre on the pop-music circuit. Within a month he and his band had helped raise millions of dollars to go toward the food and housing of the dogs, and the food and housing of the dog owners too.

  They’d converted one of the unused hangars into a dog kennel for a while—it had cost them a fortune to keep it cooled so the dogs didn’t get sick, but Glen insisted. And then they had needed to hire contractors to build the old ranch house and the newly refurbished mother-in-law cottage, both from scratch.

  Oscar and Belinda and Preston and Damien had lived in two single-wide mobile homes until the houses were rebuilt. Spencer wasn’t sure how Preston and Damien had dealt with the lack of space, but by the time they were ready to move in again, Belinda was pregnant once more, so that couldn’t have been too bad a thing, he figured.

  He also assumed Preston and Damien would have been having all the sex they could have when they weren’t working, because he was pretty sure that’s what they did anyway. How would he know? He hadn’t even had time for a hookup since the fires. He’d been working his ass off on Preston’s ranch, trying to get things back to normal.

  Which was why he was surprised when—the day after moving day, when the two single-wide mobile homes were made vacant and returned to the rental company from whence they’d come—Preston had him come out of the dog kennels to take a look at a double-wide that was being backed in, a piece at a time, to a far corner of the property.

  “What in the hell is that for?” Spencer asked grumpily. He’d slept on Oscar and Belinda’s couch the night before. It was a new couch, and not quite broken in, and the only reason he didn’t hate it was that Colonel had slept on it with him. Colonel may not have been a good hookup, but he was good company.

  “You,” Preston said, no bullshit.

  Spencer gaped. “But… but… I live in the city, with Glen!”

  “And six months out of the year, Cash is there, and you look like shit because you can’t sleep,” Preston said.

  “That’s not true,” Spencer argued. “I look like shit now, because I can’t get laid—”

  Preston turned his no-bullshit blue eyes on Spencer’s face, and Spencer stopped talking because that’s the dynamic that had evolved since Spencer had started working at Gecko Inc. “You’re lying. You’re telling bullshit and lying,” he said, like Spencer might not have known that. “You are lonely. You need Colonel, but you can’t keep Colonel in that apartment. And you don’t need guys to hook up with. You need a guy to love. So shut up and help Glen move you in.”

  “Help Glen—”

  “You’ve been helping me all week. It’s your week off, Spencer. Glen and Damien grabbed your stuff today. Once the home is hooked up, you’re living there. You and Damien can commute in the same helicopter. It will be very special and like a television movie. I think Cash is having furniture delivered tomorrow. This way, you always have a home with us.”

  And with that, Preston turned away and started ordering the guys driving the giant scary flatbeds that carried Spencer’s new home on them.

  Spencer watched in awe for a few moments and then called Elsie and laid out the sitch. To his surprise, he heard her voice quaver, almost in the same way it had when they’d been fighting the Black Hawk to land in the middle of a raging property fire so they could rescue some dogs.

  “Oh, baby,” she said. “Look at you. You’ve got a home.”

  Spencer’s breath caught. He looked around, biting his lip. The dog kennels were much the same—clean and dusty at once—and the training field had been faithfully watered and seeded so it was green. The surrounding forests were still charred, although the winter rains had started some grass growing around the skeletons of the trees. Spencer had purchased over 100 trees from a local nursery. Their next project, while the rains were still heavy, was going to be to replant some of the ones that had been destroyed.

  This place wasn’t perfect. It had been hurt and was still bleeding. But there were people here who cared about him. And dogs. Elsie had been living with Josh for three yea
rs—they were happy. He didn’t think he could have that kind of happiness. He’d been kicked out of his parents’ house at eighteen, but they’d disowned him in their hearts long before that. It hadn’t mattered. He’d made himself not care.

  But looking around at the homestead that had been razed to the ground and was rising up through hard work and love, he found himself caring very much.

  “Well,” he said, working hard to keep his own voice under control so he didn’t gush like Elsie. “Colonel’s happy here. Can’t leave Colonel.”

  Elsie was hitting dog-whistle pitches as she explained the situation to Josh, and Spencer took the opportunity to sink to his haunches again and hug his dog.

  Colonel licked his face, once, twice, a third time, and then waited patiently until Spencer could talk again.

  “What’re you doing?” Elsie asked over the phone.

  “Gonna go check out my home,” he said. And with that, he started striding across the yard toward the double-wide. He figured he’d let Preston yell at the guys to do their job a bit—that was always entertaining. Then he’d go help with the dog crap, because that was probably part of the price of admission.

  Which was fine. He and Colonel could do that fine.

  Apparently it was all part of being in the family.

  Award winning author AMY LANE lives in a crumbling crapmansion with a couple of teenagers, a passel of furbabies, and a bemused spouse. She has too damned much yarn, a penchant for action-adventure movies, and a need to know that somewhere in all the pain is a story of Wuv, Twu Wuv, which she continues to believe in to this day! She writes contemporary romance, paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and romantic suspense, teaches the occasional writing class, and likes to pretend her very simple life is as exciting as the lives of the people who live in her head. She’ll also tell you that sacrifices, large and small, are worth the urge to write.

  Website: www.greenshill.com

  Blog: www.writerslane.blogspot.com

  Email: amylane@greenshill.com

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/amy.lane.167

  Twitter: @amymaclane

  By Amy Lane

  DREAMSPUN DESIRES

  THE MANNIES

  The Virgin Manny

  Manny Get Your Guy

  Stand by Your Manny

  A Fool and His Manny

  SEARCH AND RESCUE

  Warm Heart

  Silent Heart

  Safe Heart

  Hidden Heart

  DREAMSPUN BEYOND

  HEDGE WITCHES LONELY HEARTS CLUB

  Shortbread and Shadows

  Portals and Puppy Dogs

  Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS

  www.dreamspinnerpress.com

  Now Available

  Warm Heart

  By Amy Lane

  Search and Rescue: Book One

  Survive the adventure. Live to love.

  Following a family emergency, snowboarder Tevyn Moore and financier Mallory Armstrong leave Donner Pass in a blizzard… and barely survive the helicopter crash that follows. Stranded with few supplies and no shelter, Tevyn and Mallory—and their injured pilot—are forced to rely on each other.

  The mountain leaves no room for evasion, and Tevyn and Mal must confront the feelings that have been brewing between them for the past five years. Mallory has seen Tevyn through injury and victory. Can Tevyn see that Mallory’s love is real?

  Mallory’s job is risk assessment. Tevyn’s job is full-on risk. But to stay alive, Mallory needs to take some gambles and Tevyn needs to have faith in someone besides himself. Can the bond they discover on the mountain see them to rescue and beyond?

  Now Available

  Silent Heart

  By Amy Lane

  Search and Rescue: Book Two

  Dog wrangler Preston Echo has been in love with his brother’s best friend, copilot, and business partner since high school—and Damien Ward knew it. As Preston grew into a stunning, hard-willed man, Damien began to dream of Preston too.

  Then Damien almost died in a helicopter crash. While his physical wounds are slowly healing, the blows to his self-confidence and goodwill are almost worse. His body is broken and he’s afraid to fly—how can Preston love him now?

  When Preston’s brother goes on a search-and-rescue mission and disappears in an earthquake zone in Mexico, Preston and Damien are thrown together in an effort to find him and bring him back. Preston’s merciless honesty—and relentless passion—may leverage Damien into his bed, but can Damien overcome his fears to allow himself to stay there?

  Now Available

  Safe Heart

  By Amy Lane

  Search and Rescue: Book Three

  Five months ago boy-band lead singer Cash Harper left Glen Echo in a hospital in Jalisco… and broke his heart.

  Glen’s heart is the only home Cash has ever known. He’s spent the past five months trying to find his friend Brielle and make sense of his own instincts. Now he’s ready to be a real partner and lover to Glen—but first they have to finish their original mission.

  Glen is ready for Cash to walk through his door needing help, but he is absolutely determined not to let him back into his heart. Men don’t run. Cash did. End of story.

  Rescuing Brielle will take the full talents of Glen’s search and rescue company, and that means Cash needs to re-earn the team’s trust. Between Bond-villain traps, snakes that shouldn’t be there, and bad guys with guns, they all have plenty to negotiate. If Cash can prove he can stay the course and that he deserves Glen’s faith, they might survive this op whole and ready to love.

  Love Romance?

  Don’t Miss Dreamspun Desires!

  Where the men are hot, the romance is rockin’,

  and there’s always a happy ever after!

  Find all our titles Here at Dreamspinner Press.

  Like Romance with a Touch of Magic?

  Escape to Dreamspun Beyond!

  Contemporary love stories with a paranormal twist

  to make your breath catch and your imagination soar.

  Find more Here at Dreamspinner Press.

  Published by

  DREAMSPINNER PRESS

  5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA

  www.dreamspinnerpress.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Hidden Heart

  © 2021 Amy Lane

  Cover Art

  © 2021 L.C. Chase

  http://www.lcchase.com

  Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.

  All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.

  Paperback ISBN: 978-1-64405-932-6

  Digital ISBN: 978-1-64405-931-9

  Digital eBook published August 2021

  v. 1.0

  Printed in the United States of America

 

 

 
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