Operation Soldier Next Door

The woman glanced at them, then at Cutter. Her expression changed, in obvious recognition of some combination of them and their dog. Hayley smiled briefly in return. She and Quinn ran with the dog through the neighborhood regularly, and this was the woman with the amazing vegetable garden who always waved at them as they went by. The woman nodded and went back to watching her neighbor with concern.

“You should sit down,” she told him.

His brow furrowed again. The woman got there quickly. She pointed at her own ears with a questioning look. He shook his head again, wincing. The movement made him sway slightly.

Cutter whined, nudging at the man’s hand. He looked down, smiled, and stroked the dog’s head again. Cutter dropped to the grass and rolled over, clearly asking for a belly rub. Hayley drew back in surprise since Cutter rarely surrendered his dignity so quickly, not even to them, and certainly not in situations like this. She glanced at Quinn and saw he was just as startled.

But the man bent to comply, marking him as knowledgeable about canine body language. A second later he rather abruptly sat down beside the dog, as if he’d had little choice in the matter.

The woman’s mouth quirked up at one corner. “Well, that’s one way to get him to sit down.”

“Ears. Balance. I think he might need medics to check him out,” Quinn said.

“I asked for them, too,” she said. “The house has been empty since Mr. McLaughlin died, but I saw a motorcycle arrive last night and lights on, so I figured somebody must be here.”

“Good thinking,” Hayley said.

“I’m Lacy Steele, by the way,” the woman said.

“Quinn and Hayley Foxworth,” Hayley said. “We live around the corner.”

The woman nodded, clearly thinking anything more by way of introduction could wait, then crouched beside the man, who was giving Cutter the requested rub.

“Let me know if your ears are—”

She stopped mid-sentence as the man looked up quickly. A flicker of relief crossed his face.

“Better?” she asked, smiling.

“Some,” he said. “Still ringing, but I can hear you enough to make it out.”

“Good,” she said. She turned the flashlight on the phone back on and aimed it at his left ear, then moved to his right. “No bleeding there,” she announced.

“Thanks, doc,” he said, rather wryly.

The woman stared at him for a moment, as if she wasn’t sure how to take that. The man said nothing more to her, just leaned over and ruffled the fur between Cutter’s ears.

“Thanks, buddy,” he said softly. For a moment his hand lingered on the dog’s head, gently, as if in thanks. Or benediction.

Cutter’s body language changed instantly. He rolled to an upright position, head cocked back. For a long moment he stared at the man. Straight into his eyes. And then he got up, turned to face Hayley and Quinn. Sat.

And gave them The Look.

“Uh-oh,” Quinn whispered.

“Indeed,” Hayley answered in a tone just as quiet. “Seems there might be something else going on here.”

“I wish I knew how he does that.”

Hayley glanced at her husband, giving him a loving smile. He’d long ago surrendered to the fact that Cutter did do it, and only now and then idly wondered how.

And there was no question about it here. Their new neighbor had a problem, something beyond his immediate situation. And Cutter’s instincts told him it was something Foxworthy, as Liam jokingly put it.

“I get the feeling,” Hayley said, “he’s going to be a prickly one.”

“As long as he’s not a—”

“Hush,” Hayley said, cutting off the awful pun she knew was coming.

She was surprised at how energized she felt. It had been a quiet few weeks, with nothing much happening since they’d returned from California, where her prodigal brother, Walker, was busily setting up Foxworth Southwest with help from her best friend, Amy.

While she’d relished the extra time spent with Quinn, she had been getting a little antsy. And she knew if she was, Quinn was triply so. He’d kept busy, planning, training, teaching, not to mention clawing at the old case of the mole who had once betrayed them, but she knew he was more than ready for an immediate challenge.

“Looks like we’ve got one,” she said softly.

Because Cutter was never wrong.

Chapter 2 (#uc2168f76-7182-5e51-bd47-473b1730e57c)

The chaos had ebbed, the firefighters had assured them the danger had passed and Lacy Steele’s heart had slowed to a near-normal pace after the adrenaline-induced rush of her rude awakening.

The explosion appeared to have originated in a lean-to shed on the north side of the house. The shed and whatever was in it, they said, had likely directed the force inward as much as outward. The shed was destroyed—the only things left were some shattered boards hanging at all angles. The blast had left a gaping opening at least eight feet wide in the house itself, including the roof. She knew the master bedroom was right there, and thought her neighbor was lucky to have escaped as lightly as he apparently had.

“I’d say welcome to the neighborhood, but I’m not sure it’s appropriate right now. You must be Tate McLaughlin. I’m Lacy Steele,” she said, holding out a hand to the new neighbor she hadn’t yet formally met. That he was wearing only boxers made the gesture a bit silly, she supposed, but she made it, anyway. It helped her to not gape at him; even in the dark, it was clear he was a tall, nicely put-together man with the kind of lean build she liked. What she could see of his somewhat angular face matched, and she wondered what he would look like in full light.

“I’ll bet,” he muttered, not even glancing at her, focused completely on the firefighters going over the house looking for any lingering embers or problems.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m an oxymoron.” She was used to jokes about her name, and they hadn’t bothered her in a long time.

“Not the word I was thinking.”

She didn’t ask what was. And she forgave him ignoring her proffered hand, figuring he had enough on his mind that she shouldn’t consider it rude. In fact, it was probably silly of her to do such an ordinary thing under the circumstances.

“There didn’t seem to be much of a fire, really,” she said.

“More boom than burn,” agreed the man who’d introduced himself as Quinn Foxworth, his wife as Hayley and their rather remarkable dog as Cutter.

To her new neighbor’s credit, he didn’t respond to Quinn’s comment any more than he had to hers. So it wasn’t personal. And she guessed if it had been her house that had had a gaping hole blown in it, she wouldn’t be much more talkative herself.

Quinn walked over to talk to the fire official who had arrived some minutes after the initial response, leaving her with the man she’d heard so much about. His name, she knew, had come from his grandmother. It had been her maiden name. But in everything else, he was pure McLaughlin, his grandfather had said, usually with a laugh.

“I really liked your grandfather,” she said to him. “We used to eat dinner together some nights. He’d do the meat, and I’d provide the veggies.” She waved a hand toward her garden, where she spent most of her time when she wasn’t at her computer station for her self-created job as an online reading tutor for kids. “I loved hearing his stories about his time in the war.”

He looked at her at last. And although there was nothing in his expression to make her uncomfortable, she was suddenly aware she’d come running over here wearing only the summer shorts and T-shirt she slept in.

Of course, she’d been aware from the beginning that he was out here in much less. Aware in a way that was just the tiniest bit unsettling. It wasn’t just that he had the lean, rangy build she preferred and a nice backside, it was the sleek-looking skin. So much skin...

“He didn’t talk about that much,” he finally said.