Cherry Adair - T-flac 06 (7 page)

He laughed. "That's just how I feel. It's damn bright out here."

Tall and lanky with thick brown hair and a crooked smile, Matt was good-looking, but best of all he was a hard worker. Luckily for all of them he'd wanted to stay in Montana to be near his mom. Matt's skills as a vet were an asset to Lily's and her father's practice. Even though there wasn't really always enough work to warrant three vets in such close proximity.

Still, her dad was crazy about Matt, and Lily was delighted to have a brother. Just because the child in her resented his closeness with her father didn't mean the adult in her didn't welcome him as a brother.

Plus, Matt had been a godsend at the ranch when Sean was so sick. Lily would always appreciate the way he'd stepped in to help her.

"Where are your sunglasses?" she asked.

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He felt the bridge of his nose, grimaced and pulled dark glasses out of his pocket. Shoving them on, he nearly sighed at the relief from the glare of sunlight bouncing off snow. "Now if you could just get the roar of the crowd to turn down a couple of hundred decibels…"

"Mother Nature will help you with complete silence in a couple of hours," Lily told him, unconsciously scanning the mushers for a familiar dark head. She should probably apologize for losing her cool like that—or not, she thought, irritated at herself. Take control, Lily Marie, she told herself sternly. Just take freaking control of your life. If I want to get flaming mad, I'm totally allowed to do so.

There. Proactive. She felt better already.

In the narrowing corridor of onlookers, her dogs lunged and danced in their traces, crazed with excitement. They were all eager to take off, to do what they did best. Lily felt the same urgency, the same frantic pull tearing at her to get started.

Her heart raced with excitement, her fingers flexed on the handlebars.
Let's go
.

"One more thing," a smoky voice said. Lily whipped her head around to find Derek standing beside her sled again. Oh, for God's sake! Couldn't he take a hint? Her heart sped up a little. Damn it. "Not again."

His deep blue eyes twinkled. "Miss me?"

"No."

"Hey, Matt," Derek shouted in greeting, still looking at Lily. He dug something small out of his pocket and handed it to her in a tangle of thin black wires. His hand was tanned. And huge, well shaped and masculine. A hand, Lily thought bleakly, that was probably capable of exerting tremendous pain or giving a woman exquisite pleasure.

Lily had caught a glimpse of the man behind the lighthearted flirt last year when Derek's sister and husband had visited. Lily had walked into the barn to find Derek stretched out in the hay with his two nieces as they observed a cat and her newborn kittens. She'd stood in the shadows and watched them, as a lump formed in her throat.

Her first thought had been a sickening envy at the sight of the two little blond girls with their sweet giggles cuddled up to the long, hard body of their uncle, whom they worshipped. The sight of their tiny coveralls and cute little cowboy boots made her heart twist.

She'd never have children. At the time she'd been trapped by Sean's illness into a loveless, sexless sham of a marriage.

Derek had reached out absently and tugged at the littlest one's ponytail. The child had given a war whoop and thrown herself onto her uncle's back. Sophisticated Derek Wright had rolled about in the straw, heedless of his black cashmere sweater and designer boots, his enormous hands gentle as he tickled and cuddled the little girls.

He'd been so gentle, so sweet with the kids, it had made Lily's heart yearn and ache.

Another time, she'd heard the frost in his voice as he'd implacably told off a hired hand who'd treated one of the horses roughly. The man had been drunk and belligerent and Derek had him packed up and
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fired without raising his voice. The expression on Derek's face had chilled Lily to the bone. She'd never seen anything as unforgiving or cold.

Would the real Derek Wright please stand up? Lily thought dryly. The glimpse she'd had of him with the children had made her want to know more. She'd driven back home as fast as possible, all the while giving herself a firm mental kick in the pants.

She kept her hands stuffed in her pockets. "No thank you."

"You don't even know what I'm giving you."

"Neither do I want to. Go away."

Lily watched him untangle the wires with an amazingly delicate touch.

"This," he told her, snagging the front of her jacket with one large hand to keep her in place, "is a lip mic.

I want you to wear it from tomorrow until the end of the race."

"Well, damn, and I thought a smart guy like you would know girls prefer jewelry to electronics," Lily said sweetly. Damn it. He was too close. His breath smelled of the coffee he'd drunk, his skin smelled of soap and his hands—what the hell were his hands doing?

"Cut it out! Don't take off my ha—Damn it, it's freezing! Hey! Don't stick that thing in my hair." Lily slapped his hand away. "I'm not wearing it." That's all she needed, Derek in her ear as she was trying to find peace. She yanked the small headset free and stuffed it back in his warm hand. "Thanks for the thoughtful gift, but I don't take presents from people I don't like."

His lips twitched. "At least clip it to your collar. Here, see? You don't even have to turn it on if you don't want to. Just for emergencies. Please? For me?"

"Take it, sis. It's a good idea."

Lily shot a glare at her stepbrother. "
Et tu, Brute
?" She spun around to Derek when Matt gave her a sheepish smile. "I like silence just fine. Having you yakking away in my ear for a thousand miles will drive me nuts."

"I asked nicely."

"Yeah. Which makes me suspicious as hell."

"Come on, Lily. Do I have to say it?"

"Say what?"

"I'd feel a hell of a lot safer knowing you were nearby if I have any problems with the dogs."

She gave him a suspicious look. He appeared sincere. And was still considered a novice… "Okay," she said, against her better judgment. "Show me how it works and I'll keep it in my poc—"

"Clipped to your collar. Here." His hand brushed her throat, causing Lily to shiver from the soles of her feet to her hair follicles. He clipped the small mic to her collar, then handed her back her gray and white
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fur hat. She tugged it on, glaring at his back as he strolled off into the crowd.

"Wow. That was some intense interaction," Matt said, giving her a curious look. "What was that about?"

Snagging her attention away from happy homicidal thoughts, Lily shrugged. "Just a Derekism."

"Ever wonder what it would've been like," Matt asked, "if you'd chosen Derek instead of Sean?"

"No." She'd made her bed all those years ago. And if she
had
thought about it—occasionally, briefly,
fleetingly
—it was always with relief she
hadn't
continued seeing Derek. Sure, Sean hadn't been perfect—not by a long shot. But Derek wasn't without issues, either. Just different issues.

"He's far too rich for my blood, for one thing," Lily told him.

"I thought all women believe you couldn't be too thin or too rich. Nothing wrong with being loaded."

"Not that kind of rich," Lily said. "Rich as in too much dark chocolate in one sitting, rich as in one too many wool blankets on a cool night, rich as in—"

Matt wiggled his eyebrows and gave her a teasing eye roll.

Well, hell's bells. She wasn't about to tell her brother Derek was too darn hot to handle without an asbestos shield.

"I always thought you were a little in love with him."

"What? No way. That wasn't love. It was pure irritation. The man would flirt with a
rock
if it had eyelashes and boobs."

"Hey! I've dated women like that."

Lily grinned. "You have not." If Matt dated it was rare. There weren't that many single women in Munroe. "Why don't you start a practice somewhere like Seattle, or Boise? Somewhere where there are women?"

"Happy as a pig right where I am. But thank you for trying." He touched her nose. "Scared?"

"Only a fool wouldn't be," Lily told him absently. "Believe me, I have a healthy respect for wild animals."

"I was talking about Derek."

She grinned. "So was I."

"He's the most
unwild
man I know."

"Have you ever looked into his eyes when he wants something?"

"Um, no." Matt's lips twitched. "But I do know," he said seriously, "if I was ever in a crunch he'd be the guy I'd want at my back."

She gave her brother a startled look. Yes, Derek could look frighteningly menacing at times. But it was

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an illusion. "You must be kidding me. He's almost as unreliable as…"

"Sean?"

"Yes."

"Wrong."

"How can you say that knowing as well as I do that when he's needed, he's off on some exotic vacation?"

"Not every time. And when he's not there he has excellent people in place who
are
. Ash, Sam, Joe."

Lily scowled. "He owns the damn ranch.
He
should be there."

The noise level was suddenly so high she could barely hear herself, and she realized their voices had been getting louder to top the crowd. "Hold that thought," she shouted, then made a hand gesture to indicate she was focusing on the race.

She didn't want to
see
Derek, or
talk
about him or
think
about him for the next week or so.

"Fourteen," the announcer yelled before beginning yet another countdown. Every two minutes another team advanced to the line, dogs straining against their handlers, the mushers riding the break. The crowd went nuts, screaming and shouting encouragement, clapping their gloved hands and narrowing the dog-run corridor as they pressed in for a closer look.

"Settle down, kids," Lily yelled at her impatient team, her breath crystallizing as she made one last check.

Anticipation reared its head and roared through her body like a freight train run amok. She was as eager as the dogs to get moving. "Almost our turn."

Four

His heart raced with expectation, even though it would be days before he dared do what he'd been instructed to do. It'd been a while since he'd killed anyone. Still, once you got past the whole moral thing, killing someone was nothing more than an especially interesting exercise. And killing a woman, particularly
this
woman, held a certain morbid appeal. Not that he had much choice. It was kill Lily Munroe or be disposed of himself. And there was no doubt in his mind at all which of them was going to win that contest.

It had to look accidental—which shouldn't be difficult at all. But there was nothing saying he couldn't have a little fun first.

Derek had broken down the initial three legs for his first day on the trail. An hour and a half to get to
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