• 44 •

RetuRning tides

v

Reese tossed her hat onto the dashboard and settled behind the wheel with a satisfied sigh. She’d actually managed to reduce the stack of paperwork on her desk by several inches. Even more importantly, she’d convinced the town council to allocate emergency funds so she could approve overtime for her officers and schedule the work that had to be done. And after several strategic phone calls to collect on a few favors, she’d gotten the official go-ahead to hire Carter Wayne. Not bad for a day’s work, even if she did have a headache. As soon as she was home with Tory, that would be history.

Her phone rang as she turned left onto Bradford, and she muttered a curse under her breath. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d barely been out of the station house before she had to turn around and go back.

When she glanced at the readout, she relaxed and pressed On.

“Hi, love,” Reese said. “You need me to—”

“Reese! Someone’s in the house!”

“Get out of there, Tory,” Reese snapped, jamming her foot down on the accelerator as she hit the lights and siren.

“I…oh God…”

“Tory? Tory!” Reese’s vision went completely blank. The road disappeared. The sky turned black—blacker than a starless night. The black of an endless void. Pain slashed through her chest and she cried out. She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t breathe.

“No,” she shouted, sucking in a huge breath. The road ahead shot into focus as the cruiser rocketed over the narrow, two-lane road.

She jerked the mic off the dashboard and shouted for backup. Then she dropped it, leaving it to dangle by its curling black cord, as she unholstered her weapon. Twisting the wheel viciously with one hand, she careened into her driveway and slammed to a halt.

It couldn’t have taken more than a minute for her to get home, but sometimes a minute could change a lifetime. Tory lay face down on the ground a few feet from the stairs. Time stopped for Reese. The world ground to a halt. Life as she knew it hovered on a precipice.

“Tory!” Reese tumbled from the car, racing forward, her weapon raised, her eyes scanning the area by instinct. Nothing moved. She anticipated the flare of incendiary devices and the smell of burning flesh,

• 45 •

RAdCLY fFe

braced herself for the hail of bullets, waited stoically for the agonizing pain. Nothing came. She dropped to her knees on the crushed-shell driveway, her weapon falling uselessly to the ground. “Tory. God, Tory.”

For the first time in her life, Reese was paralyzed. In the midst of battle, with death all around her, she’d acted. Instinct, a lifetime of training, had won out over fear and suffering and horror. She’d protected, she’d defended, she’d saved lives at the risk of her own.

Now she couldn’t move. She heard a car screech into the driveway behind her, dimly registered radio static and voices shouting. She couldn’t move.

Tory moaned, rolled onto her side, and reached for her. “Reese.”

The earth shifted back onto its axis. Reese’s mind cleared as if someone had changed the channel on a television set. Sights, sounds, smells became suddenly razor sharp. She touched Tory’s cheek. She was warm. Alive.

“Lie still, love. You’ve got blood on your forehead.” Never taking her eyes from Tory’s face, Reese shouted, “We need an ambulance.”

“No, we don’t,” Tory said, her throat dry and her voice scratchy.

“It’s my leg. I fell down the stairs. God damn it.”

Tory tried to sit up and Reese gently pressed down on her shoulder.

“No. Stay there until the EMTs can check you out.”

“Reese,” Tory said urgently. “There was someone in the house.

Upstairs.”

“Did he touch you?” Reese’s guts twisted when she asked the question.

“No. No, I think he ran away, but I’m not sure.”

Reese looked up and met Allie Tremont’s wide eyes. Bobby Strope, a part-time officer who worked the swing shift, stood behind her, red-faced and breathing hard. “Tremont. Take Strope and clear the house.”

“Yes ma’am,” Allie said crisply. She motioned to Strope and headed up the walk to the side door, her weapon out in front of her. She looked rock steady.

The EMT vehicle angled off the side of the road at the head of the driveway and two techs raced toward them, each carrying a red equipment box.

“I’m all right,” Tory told them as they knelt on either side of her.

• 46 •

RetuRning tides

She recognized the sandy-haired man. “Dave, I’m okay. I just…it was stupid. I fell.”

“We’ll just take a look at you, Doc,” Dave said affably while expertly wrapping a blood pressure cuff around her upper left arm.

“You meet my new mate, Flynn Edwards?”

A blonde with cornsilk gold hair and eyes as blue as the July sky grinned down at her as she grasped Tory’s wrist and took her pulse. “Dr.

King. Good to meet you.”

“BP’s one-forty over eighty-two,” Dave said.

“Pulse is eighty-eight. Nice and strong,” Flynn reported. She flipped open her tackle box and pulled out a clean pair of gloves. After extracting a four-by-four gauze pad, she soaked it with saline and dabbed Tory’s forehead. “This is just a scratch. Probably from one of the shells when you fell.”

“I’ll put some antibiotic ointment on it later.” Tory gripped Reese’s arm and pulled herself upright. “Listen, you two. I’m okay. Let me sign your release so you can get back to doing serious work.”

Dave eased back on his heels. “Would you mind if I took a look at your leg, Doc?”

“If you take the splint off, it will swell,” Reese said sharply. She shifted positions, slid her arms behind Tory’s shoulders and under her knees, and pushed upright, cradling Tory against her chest. “She needs to be in bed before we take it off. I’ll see to it as soon as the house is clear.”

Dave and Flynn exchanged a look.

“I’m fine, really,” Tory said gently, stroking Reese’s cheek.

“Sweetheart, I’m fine.”

Flynn put her head down and began busily storing her equipment.

Dave cleared his throat and said, “I’ll get the paperwork.”

“All clear, Sheriff,” Allie called as she exited the house, holstering her weapon. Her lips parted in surprise when she took in Reese standing with Tory in her arms, and then her expression went carefully blank. “I sent Strope out to check the perimeter. You’ll need to document whether anything is missing…after you get Dr. King squared away, that is. If it’s okay with you, I’ll dust for prints too.”

“Thank you, Officer,” Reese said, settled and calm now that Tory’s heart beat close to hers. “Once you’re done here, canvass the surrounding houses. Check with any owners who are home to see if

• 47 •

RAdCLY fFe

they’ve had any problems with vandals. Look for any signs of forced entry in any houses that are empty.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Fill me in when you’re done, Tremont.”

Allie saluted. “Yes ma’am.”

Reese smiled briefly. “Well done, Tremont.”

v

“She didn’t sign the release form,” Dave muttered.

“Give it to me,” Allie said, holding out her hand as she watched Reese climb the stairs as effortlessly as if she weren’t carrying a hundred and thirty pounds of woman in her arms. No wonder everyone thought she was hot. She was hot.

“Impressive,” a husky female voice said beside her.

“Understatement,” Allie murmured. She glanced at Flynn and laughed. “How are you doing?”

“Busy, but getting settled.” Flynn flipped a shock of blond hair off her forehead with long, slender fingers. “You?”

“About to get a lot busier.”

“Yeah.” Flynn glanced toward the house. “What do you think?

Vandalism?”

Allie shrugged. “Maybe. Looting has been a problem, what with so many places standing empty. There’s also a lot of new faces in town.

Disaster always draws a crowd.”

“Yeah, I saw that after nine-eleven.”

“You were there?”

Flynn colored and glanced away. “I volunteered with a…uh, group of people. Got there just a couple days after. It was…it was bad.”

“I believe it. How long were you there?”

“Two months.”

Allie was impressed. “That’s pretty amazing.”

“Not so much. No big deal.” Clearly embarrassed, Flynn looked over her shoulder where Dave waited by the truck. “Listen, I’ve got to get back to work.”

“Me too,” Allie said.

“So how about we get together for drinks some night. Tonight, maybe,” Flynn said quickly.

• 48 •

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Allie hesitated, and for no good reason at all, flashed on Ash standing naked in a room on Bradford. “I’ve got a couple more hours of work here at least. But yeah, later. Later would be good.”

“I’ll call you,” Flynn said, backing away, her eyes sparkling.

“Tonight?”

“Tonight.” Allie called out her cell number. “Can you remember that?”

Flynn patted her chest. “Already etched on my heart.”

Laughing, Allie shook her head and watched Flynn climb into the truck. It felt good to laugh. It felt a lot better than crying.

• 49 •

• 50 •

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chapteR five

My cane is right over there,” Tory said, pointing toward the counter. “You can put me down, sweetheart. I can walk with that.” “No,” Reese said gruffly. She couldn’t put her down. She was afraid, afraid in some animal part of her being to relinquish her protective hold on her mate while there was still the slightest possibility of danger.

Struggling not to let her fear bleed over to her lover, she started toward the stairs. “We should see to your leg. I’ll take you to the bedroom.”

“Stop. Wait a minute.” When Reese kept walking, Tory grasped a fistful of Reese’s starched uniform shirt and tugged on it to get her attention. “Reese. Look at me.”