Fierce Shadows: Shadows Landing #4

by Kathleen Brooks

  “Over here,” he murmured as they made their way down the hall past the restrooms and then finally to a door with the name Dr. George Vella printed across the frosted door.

  Dare didn’t knock as he opened it for Harper. Inside, the waiting room was empty, but there were voices coming from down a hall to the left of the registration desk. “Hello?” Dare called out. Not waiting for an answer, he walked down the hall and entered the exam room where the voices were coming from.

  “Ah, it’s your heroes,” Dr. Vella said with a smile to the two girls who were now in material exam robes and hooked up to an IV that had a mostly empty bag of fluids attached to it.

  “Oh my gosh, like, thank you both so much,” one of the girls cried and held out her hand. Harper walked in and took it with a smile.

  “I’m glad you’re okay. We were worried.”

  “Just over-imbibed,” Dr. Vella said patronizingly. “I think they’ve learned their lesson.”

  “We’re just, like, so thankful,” the other girl said.

  “Yes,” Dr. Vella said, turning to them. “It’s very lucky that you two were there. Are you guests? We’d like to comp a night’s stay to say thank you.”

  Dare heard the suspicion in his voice. It wasn’t obvious and he doubted Harper heard it. He had to tread carefully so his identity was never questioned.

  “It’s actually a funny story,” Harper said with a laugh. Dare wanted to stop her from saying anything, but she was already talking. “My great-aunt set us up on a blind date.”

  The girls laughed and then looked at him with a predatory gleam. Dare took a step closer to Harper. “I always strive to be memorable,” Dare said with a wink to Harper.

  “Oh, this was definitely memorable. But enough for a second date?” Harper shrugged and the girls giggled.

  “We’re honored you chose the Palms as your first date. I’ll make sure you get a free dinner for your second date. What name should I tell them to put it under?” Dr. Vella asked as he looked right at Dare.

  “Darrell Young,” Dare said quickly. “That’s very nice of you, Dr. Vella.”

  His respect for Harper grew when she didn’t react to his name change. Darrell was his cover name, and he had the background to be hired at the resort, which was his ultimate goal.

  “Wow, that’s really nice of you,” Harper said to Dr. Vella. “Now if Darrell can convince me of a second date.”

  “He can take me instead,” one of the girls said with a giggle.

  Harper laughed and Dare saw Dr. Vella relax. His smile was genuine now, not feigned, as he turned to pick up the phone and call the front desk. He spoke to someone for a minute and then turned back to Dare and Harper.

  “A voucher for your complimentary dinner is at the front desk under his name, should you find Darrell worthy. And you are?” he paused, holding out his hand to Harper.

  “Harper,” she said, shaking his hand easily.

  “Ladies,” Dare said, drawing the attention away from Harper. He didn’t want her involved in his case at all. “I’m very glad you’re doing well. Thank you for making me look good on my blind date. Now we’ll see how I do on my own.” He winked at them as they giggled again.

  “Challenge accepted,” Harper shot back with a grin.

  Dare and Harper said their goodbyes before stopping by the front desk and picking up their voucher. They walked silently toward the parking lot. Dare followed Harper’s lead as she walked toward what he assumed was her car.

  Harper unlocked the door, tossed in her wet boots, jacket, and purse. Then she turned back to him. She leaned back against the car and Dare rested a hand on the open door. “I did have a nice time tonight,” he told her.

  “Cut the shit, Dare. What’s really going on?”

  Dare blinked as innocently as he could. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  Harper rolled her eyes and Dare couldn’t keep from smiling. “You’re cute when you do that.”

  “No one has ever called me cute,” Harper said as if she didn’t believe him.

  “Their loss. The eye roll was cute, but you’re beautiful.”

  Harper looked momentarily surprised and then she shook her head. “Stop trying to distract me. What is going on at this resort that you’re investigating?”

  “Who said I was investigating the resort? I’m just here on a blind date.”

  “Sure thing, Darrell Young.” Harper rolled her eyes again and Dare took a step closer to her. He looked down at her, and when she looked up at him he brushed a now dry, wild strand of hair away from her face.

  “I was right. You are so cute when you roll your eyes.”

  “Fine,” Harper said with a sigh. “Don’t tell me. I’ll just find out on my own.”

  “See, you’re adorable,” Dare said, taking a step back because if he didn’t he would have kissed her right then and there and that wouldn’t do. Harper would think he was trying to distract her. When he kissed Harper, he wanted her to know it was because he wanted her. And just like that, Dare knew he wasn’t going to let her go. Not yet. “I don’t know how our second date could ever compete with this, but I’ll give it my best shot.”

  “What makes you think I’ll agree to a second date?” Harper asked.

  “Because you’re too curious to see what will happen,” Dare said with confidence as he closed the distance between them. He loved that she held her ground and looked up at him as if she accepted the challenge. Dare stopped so close to her, he could have kissed her if he just angled his head. He saw her eyes drop to his mouth, then her tongue darted out to lick her lips. “Drive safe, Harper. I’ll call you to set up our next date.”

  Harper’s eyes rose back to his and a saucy grin broke out on her face. “We’ll just have to see, won’t we? Thanks for an unusual blind date. I can’t say it was the worst I’ve ever had.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.” Dare winked at her, stepped back, and waited as she got into her car. He closed her door and watched as she drove away.

  Unusual date was right. And darned if he didn’t want to call Marcy and thank her. Harper had caught and held his attention unlike anyone before. There was something about her that made him want to unravel all her secrets, just so long as she didn’t unravel his.

  Harper drove away and right before she was out of sight, she looked back. Dare was standing where she’d been parked, watching her drive away. It was a good thing he didn’t follow her. She needed space to process what had just happened. This date was supposed to be just a drink and done. She was never supposed to have fun. She was never supposed to be beyond attracted to him. She was never supposed to feel a connection or to want more.

  Harper caught the ferry right before it left the dock. She parked her car, got out, and walked to the railing. She leaned against it and looked back at the island. They were well on their way when she saw the single headlight of a motorcycle driving toward the dock. The bike stopped and a man kicked the stand before he got off. He didn’t remove his helmet, but Harper knew it was Dare.

  Harper took a deep breath and watched as Dare faded from sight. She heard people talking around her but she kept to herself as she watched the waves and thought about the night.

  On the surface, Dare was everything she wanted for one night. But there was more to him. Somehow he managed to get Harper to talk about herself and her life growing up. He’d shared his own stories and she felt as if she got to know him, even when he didn’t tell her why he was there. Instead of being angry about it, she admired the way he worked. She had seen the way Dr. Vella was prying for information. He’d been suspicious of them, but Dare had somehow made himself and her seem completely nonthreatening. Harper had found the whole incident exciting. It had been a challenge and Dare had been her partner the whole time. He never pushed her off or treated her as if she were somehow less.

  Harper knew the second she put her mouth to the girl’s and blew that the girl wasn’t drunk. As a bartender, Harper had a lot of experience with drunk
en people. She knew how they looked, how they acted, and how they smelled. The girl she’d rescued was not inebriated. She’d watched her and her friend flirt with Brody. They weren’t stumbling, they weren’t slurring, and they weren’t red-eyed. They were still coherent and that meant only one thing: there was something very wrong going on at Palm Meadows Resort and she was determined to find out what it was. If that meant she saw Dare some more, well, that wouldn’t be the worst thing. In fact, Harper found herself looking forward to it. Next time when he stepped close to her and brushed a strand of hair from her cheek, maybe he’d kiss her.

  5

  “How did it go?” Tinsley asked, with a wiggle of her eyebrows as if they were still teenagers, the next night when she came into the bar.

  Harper was busy filling drink orders as little, soft-spoken Tinsley had Harper’s rowdy regulars move down the bar to allow her to take a seat right in front of the draft beer taps. That way Harper couldn’t escape her.

  “How did what go?” Gator asked. Gator was a mountain of a man who was somewhere between the ages of thirty and forty-five. While Harper had known him all of her twenty-nine years, she’d only known him as Gator. That might even be his real name. If it was, it was apt as Gator’s job was to remove alligators that got too friendly with the citizens of Shadows Landing and decided to swim in their pools or, as had happened more than once, walk into their kitchens.

  “Nothing,” Harper responded as she placed his beer in front of him.

  “Harper had a date last night,” Tinsley told him. Harper shot her cousin the middle finger and Tinsley just smiled sweetly back at her.

  “Wait for me! I want to hear all about your date.” Harper groaned as Edie hurried across the room toward her. She’d yelled it loud enough that everyone in the bar heard it.

  “Date? What date?” Turtle asked. Turtle was Gator’s cousin. However, he was the complete opposite. Where Gator was massive, Turtle was shorter than Harper and probably weighed twenty pounds less than she did. Yet his clothes looked like they belonged to Gator and no, he did not fill them out.

  “You went on a date? Are you open to another?” asked a man with a deep Southern drawl. “I could take you on a history date around town.”

  Harper smiled at Skeeter. He was her age, and like everyone else in town, she’d known him her whole life. He was a good ol’ country boy with messy, longish hair and a wrinkled flannel shirt. Underneath it was a hunting knife. For that matter, most of the men in here were armed in some way or the other.

  “Thanks, Skeeter, but this was a one-time thing. My great-aunt set me up.”

  “That’s a shame. I’ve been thinking I’d make a real good boyfriend.”

  Harper handed him a beer. “You would be a great boyfriend. You know, I heard that Mary Jane broke up with her boyfriend.”

  “Really?” Skeeter asked. Tinsley nodded and Skeeter chugged his beer. “Well, I suddenly have a hankering for something to eat down at the diner.”

  Gator and Turtle cheered on Skeeter as he headed to the diner to ask out the waitress. As soon as the door closed, all eyes turned back to Harper and she sighed. The distraction was only temporary.

  “So, tell us all about him,” Tinsley pressed.

  Harper gave them a rundown of the evening, leaving out her suspicion that he was investigating the resort.

  “Does that mean he’s a Texas A&M fan?” Gator asked as he repositioned his South Carolina Gamecocks baseball cap after finding out Dare was from Texas.

  “Don’t get your overalls in a bunch,” Turtle said with a roll of his eyes. “We all know you think they shouldn’t be in our football conference, but maybe he’s a Texas fan.”

  “Sorry, Gator. I didn’t learn about his favorite football team,” Harper joked.

  “It’s like you didn’t get to know him at all,” Gator grumbled as he got up and sulked away.

  Turtle smiled at her as he stood. “I think he sounds good for you. You should go on a second date with him if you didn’t scare him off.”

  Harper glared at him as Turtle followed Gator over to the dartboard. “Scare him off? Please. I’m not scary.”

  “You’re a little scary. But from what you told us, it doesn’t sound as if this Dare scares easily. Are you going to say yes to a second date?” Tinsley asked.

  “I don’t know. He probably won’t call me.”

  Tinsley didn’t press the second date further, but Edie wasn’t ready to drop the subject. “But why is he in Charleston? Is it temporary or was he permanently moved here? And isn’t it weird that you saved two girls and he didn’t identify himself as ATF?”

  Harper paused. She was conflicted. Normally she handled things herself but for once she found herself wanting to talk out her feelings. Tarnation, look at what this man was doing to her. Second dates and talking about feelings? What was next? Pink nail polish and giggling?

  “What aren’t you telling us?” Tinsley asked as she and Edie leaned forward so no one could overhear them.

  “You’re definitely hiding something,” Edie said.

  Harper leaned toward them and dropped her voice. “You swear not to say anything?”

  “Swear,” Edie and Tinsley said. Tinsley even crossed her heart with her finger while Edie pretended to zip her lips closed.

  “He wouldn’t tell me why he was here but I think he’s investigating the resort. Tinsley, do you still have Kale Mueez’s phone number? Maybe you could ask him to look into Dare for me.”

  Tinsley’s mouth dropped open as her eyes went wide. “Why would I have Kale’s phone number? He lives in Keeneston or Washington or someplace. He’s not our cousin or anything.”

  “No,” Harper agreed. “He’s not our cousin. He’s our cousin’s wife’s brother and he happens to be a hacking genius. So call him and ask him to look into Dare for me.”

  “I don’t have his number. Why would I?” Tinsley protested.

  “Because we all saw you dancing together at Ridge and Savannah’s wedding.” Edie wiggled her eyebrows at Tinsley and Tinsley stuck her tongue out at her.

  “It’s not like that. I’m focusing on my art. I’m leaving for Paris soon. And before you bug me about it, yes, I admit he’s very attractive. But he’s too much for me.”

  “What does that even mean?” Harper asked as she mixed up a Cosmo for Tinsley.

  “He’s too outgoing, too spontaneous, and too flashy. It all adds up to him trying to cover something up, and I don’t want a man who isn’t truthful with me.”

  “So you won’t be with a man like that, but I’m supposed to be with Dare when he’s clearly not telling me something?” Harper asked as she handed the drink to Tinsley.

  “Yeah, but you’re strong enough to handle that. I’m not as secure in myself as you are,” Tinsley admitted.

  Harper felt bad. Her little cousin was the nicest person on earth and it was true that she’d been taken advantage of sometimes because of her kindness. But any man would be lucky to earn Tinsley’s love. Good Lord, just look at her. Now she was thinking of love. Love. Damn Dare.

  “You should be sure of yourself. You’re beyond talented, Tins. You’re the best artist I’ve ever seen. Fine, don’t date Kale. But just give me his number,” Harper said, letting Tinsley’s insecurity drop. Harper had her say and she knew talking about it made Tinsley uncomfortable.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t have it,” Tinsley admitted.

  “Aww, thwarted,” Edie teased.

  “That’s okay. I’ll find out before our next date,” Harper said with determination. She would get to the bottom of this mystery. When she looked up, Edie and Tinsley were smiling at her. “What?”

  “So, there will be a second date,” Tinsley said with a victorious smile.

  Thwarted again.

  Dare looked up from his computer as his boss, Alec Horn, walked up to the desk Dare was using. “Aren’t you here a little late?” Alec asked as he sat in the chair on the other side of the desk.

  Alec Horn was in his
early sixties. His dark brown hair had become mostly gray and he had a dad bod. Not that he wasn’t in shape. More that he’d been married almost forty years and his wife always cooked his favorite meals.

  “I’m looking over the social media accounts of the girls I pulled from the pool,” Dare said. They’d posted about their incident saying they didn’t think they’d drunk that much, but the drinks must have been strong because they passed out. Thanks to two bystanders on their first date, they’d been saved. The girls praised Harper and Dare without naming them and praised Dr. Vella and the hotel for taking such great care of them.

  “I have to admit, I never thought I’d get along with the FBI as well as we have,” Alec said, drawing Dare’s attention away from the girls’ posts.

  “I agree. Agent Castle has been easy to work with. I keep waiting for him to take the case away from me.”

  Alec shook his head, indicating the case was safe for now. “Check your email. Castle got that detective to get the security footage from the girl he found in the ocean. Castle’s staying in touch with the detective in order to funnel info to us.”

  Dare hurried to pull up the email and clicked on the secure link to watch the video footage. He saw Allie Crisp leave the lobby and the video feed then picked back up when she arrived at the nightclub bar. There was no footage of her entering from either door, so she must have come in from the beach. She talked to the bartender and Dare watched as he shook his head, refusing to serve her. Allie left the nightclub heading toward the pool and then nothing.

  “Where’s the rest of it?” Dare asked.

  “To protect guests’ privacy, there are only cameras in indoor public areas. That’s why the nightclub only has a camera on the bar, but not the dance floor. Nothing on the walkways or at the pool area either,” Alec said with a frustrated sigh. “Have you found out anything yet? Castle mentioned you having a date at the resort when you saved the two girls. I guess that aided with your cover, huh?” Alec smirked and Dare wanted to roll his eyes. He didn’t want to get Harper involved any further.