Finding You by Carla Neggers

Author:Carla Neggers [Neggers, Carla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Technology & Engineering, Contemporary, Fire Science, General, Romance, Fiction
ISBN: 0671883208
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2004-02-01T05:00:00+00:00

“How bad are you hit?” J.D. asked when, a few minutes after Cozie departed into the fog, Daniel called him back.

He knew what his friend meant. He thought about Cozie’s luminous eyes and how much he wanted to see them radiating the warmth and passion she was trying so hard to keep at bay. Grabbing hold of her in the snug, intimate loft, he had known he was damned close to sacrificing anything, even the answers to what had happened to him and J.D. over the Gulf of Mexico, just to make love to Cozie Hawthorne. But he couldn’t be that irresponsible. Not to J.D., not to himself. Not to her.

“It’s just a flesh wound,” he lied. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

“Yeah, right.” J.D. was dubious. “Well, fill me in before I konk out. I’ve felt almost human again instead of like some steer being hung from a meat hook and gutted alive.”

Daniel inhaled. “J.D.—”

“Skip it, Danny Boy. I know you’d be in my place if you could.” He chuckled. “Though maybe I wouldn’t trade with you with that Yankee spitfire on your case.”

“She’s protective of her brother.”

“Right.”

Time for a change of subject. “I haven’t had any luck locating him. I checked inns and outdoor-gear stores around town. Nothing. Nobody has hired him. Nobody knows who hired him. Trying to find a Hawthorne in Hawthorne country…” He sighed. “I’ll keep looking.”

“Hell, if that little weasel’s guilty and we were just a goddamned bonus—”

“I know, J.D.”

“Rubs me the wrong way.”

“In the course of the afternoon,” Daniel went on, “I ran into Julia Vanackern. She asked me to meet her for a drink about thirty minutes from now.”

“You didn’t turn her down, did you?” J.D.’s voice, even his intermittent cough, was weakening.

“Nope. I’d best make myself decent. Tell the salvage boys to do what they have to do. Spare no expense.”

“When you’re footing the bill, Danny Boy, I never do. My advice? Cut the bullet out and disinfect the wound with alcohol. Then stay the hell away from Cozie Hawthorne.”

It was good advice. “She can lead me to her brother.”

“Just don’t let her lead you to anything you’ll regret. Keep your head and other vital body parts screwed on straight. I know it’s tough without me there to do it for you.”

Daniel laughed. “Yeah, J.D., it’s real tough. I’d pay money to see you and our Ms. Cozie go toe-to-toe. Look, take care of yourself, and trust me: I’m not going to forget why I’m here.”

Fifteen minutes later, he was in his truck cruising down Hawthorne Orchard Road, and as he passed the white clapboard farmhouse with the black shutters and orange-leafed maple trees, with the pumpkin patch and the bird feeders all barely visible in the fog and the rain, he felt Cozie’s loneliness tugging at him. She wasn’t a kid anymore, growing up on her pretty Vermont road with her brother and sister and parents, with her hard-bitten old aunt and a grandfather who’d lived into his eighties, and God only knew who else.

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