Rival Forces Read Online Free

back?”
    â€œFirst thing Monday morning.”
    â€œThat leaves you alone tomorrow and Sunday.” Georgiana reached for her phone. “I’ll ask Brad to come out here when he gets off in the morning.”
    â€œNo. Don’t!” Yardley wrapped her fingers around her friend’s phone to prevent her from texting. “I won’t be responsible for ruining your getaway. I’ll call the sheriff in the morning. Okay?”
    Georgie glanced at the front door. “It’s not safe to be alone. Promise me Oleg will sleep in your room from now on.”
    â€œDone deal.” Yardley felt suddenly teary for no good reason she could think of. Then she did something totally out of character. She reached out and hugged her friend, hard. “Thank you for caring. Now can I open my real gift?”
    *   *   *
    It was nearly eight a.m. but the sun had yet to climb the dark summit of hills to the east. At the moment the frigid gray sky was clear of the thunderstorms that were predicted to precede even colder weather by nightfall.
    Yardley adjusted the headband covering her ears to shut out the wind swooping down the shoulders of the nearby mountains. The pink crocheted headband was part of her Christmas gift from Georgie. Otherwise she wouldn’t have been seen dead in it. She suspected it was a gag gift because the box had also contained another gift, a beautiful sterling-silver heart necklace with a paw pendant.
    She and Oleg had been for a brisk jog. They were still getting to know each other. But now, in the deep shadows on the side of the road, she felt the nagging fatigue of too much champagne and too little sleep. She paused and reached for the cell phone in her pocket.
    Her heartbeat quickened as she stared at the blank screen. Only one person had the number. For the past three months, six days, and innumerable miserable hours, she’d carried it with her, as if it were as necessary to her heartbeat as a pacemaker.
    She squeezed the phone until the pressure equaled the tightness around her heart. She hadn’t expected to fall for David. Hadn’t wanted a real entanglement. That’s why she’d been so slow to recognize what was happening.
    The last time they’d met, in late September, he’d been moody, worried even. He wouldn’t say why. But as they were parting at the airport in Antigua, he’d suddenly asked her about the future. Their future. Did she think they could have one? If so, would she be willing to drop everything and just come with him on a moment’s notice? No questions asked.
    Coward. She stared at the empty screen as if it had voiced that accusation.
    She’d choked. Too afraid to say yes to anything bordering on commitment, she’d told him she needed to think about it. So he’d nodded, kissed her a little too hard, and then boarded his flight. She hadn’t heard a word from him since.
    Opposing emotions Ping-Ponged through her thoughts. For three months she’d worried that something bad was keeping David from her. She’d even called her half brother Law to get his advice, which was embarrassing to think about now. At this point, she realized that kind of worry had no basis in fact. Maybe the truth was that her fear of him being in trouble was easier to accept than the fact that she’d ruined her chances with David because she couldn’t commit.
    She felt something splash her cheek. Crap. She pushed the offending moisture away with the heel of her hand. She never cried. Ever. Certainly not over a man who had dumped her without so much as a good-bye. Her father would be ashamed of her.
    That thought pushed even Dr. David Gunnar from her mind.
    Being the daughter of the late Bronson Battise, one of the most famous trainers of military and police K-9s in the United States, had its perks. And drawbacks. The biggest one being that she’d been born female. Battise didn’t think women were equal