Chapter 2
TWO
Lachlan pulled a beer from the bucket of ice set up in the bar area off Tripp’s living room and twisted off the cap while he scanned the room. There were about a dozen people here so far. But not the one he’d been hoping to see again.
His brother walked into the far side of the room talking with Rafe, now the sheriff of Skeleton Island. That was still such a wild concept, considering what a hellraiser Rafe had been in his teens when he’d vacationed here with his parents during the summer.
He grabbed two more beers and headed over to meet them.
“Thanks, man, you read my mind,” Grey said as he took one.
“Regretfully, I’m gonna have to pass,” Rafe said. “Still officially on duty.”
“Now?” Lachlan asked in surprise. It was eight o’clock. “Has something else happened?”
Skelly used to be such a quiet place, with a small-town feel and a tight-knit community the island was known for.
The past few months, it had been anything but quiet since buried ammo caches and militia activity had been discovered, then stabbings, arson…
And a couple weeks ago, Blaine and Xanthe had been lucky to survive a floatplane crash into the freezing Strait of Juan de Fuca after someone sabotaged their aircraft.
“More like an ongoing situation,” Rafe said without elaborating as his gaze moved over the partygoers. He stilled suddenly, spotting someone across the room. “Excuse me, fellas. I need to go say hi to someone.”
Lachlan moved in to stand beside Grey with their backs to the wall. His “little” brother was several inches taller than he was. They watched Rafe make a beeline for a curvy woman with bleached-blonde hair wound into thick twists who was talking to Willow.
“Who’s that?” Grey asked.
“I think that’s Willow’s Canadian friend.”
“The archaeologist?”
“Yeah.” She’d helped identify some human bones Willow’s dog found on the beach in August. As far as he knew they were still awaiting forensic analysis on the mainland. Rafe sure seemed happy to see her. “Where’s Beth?” Grey and his girlfriend had been living together almost a year now.
His brother kept his gaze fixed across the room. “Home. Didn’t feel like coming.”
Lachlan nodded and didn’t comment. Beth barely ever came out anymore. He glanced at his brother, trying to get a read on him. Grey looked tired. More subdued than normal, and that was saying something. His brother was the most self-contained person he’d ever known.
“You good?”
“Yeah.” Grey took a sip of his beer.
Okay. Lachlan left it. Even though it seemed like his brother hadn’t been happy in a long time.
Tripp emerged from the kitchen, gave them a big smile as he headed over. He’d smiled more over the past few months than Lachlan had ever seen him do. All thanks to Willow. “Thanks for coming.”
“Wouldn’t miss it, brother,” Lachlan said. “Good turnout already.”
Tripp nodded. “Food’s all set up on the kitchen island if you wanna eat before the others get in there.”
“Don’t have to tell us twice.” He and Grey crossed to the kitchen and took a plate from the end of the island. “Nice spread.” Everything from barbecue beef sliders to pulled chicken tacos and all the fixings, plus trays of appetizers, salads, fresh sourdough bread and butter.
As a bachelor, he appreciated food prepared by someone else. Bonus points if it was also tasty.
“Boys,” Tripp’s dad John said to them, slicing a loaf of bread at the end of the island. Lachlan played golf with him and Tripp once a month or so at the course down the road. “You have to try some of my fresh sourdough. Made it this afternoon.”
“What’s this now? You bake?”
John shrugged. “Just a hobby I picked up. Here. It’s still warm, best time to slather it with butter.” He put a thick slice on each of their plates with a proud smile.
Lachlan got straight to work smothering his in butter. The warm bread soaked it up like a sponge.
“Hey, leave some for the rest of us.” Grey snatched the butter knife from his hand.
Lachlan groaned at the first bite. Chewy, crackly crust, with a bit of tang from the bread and a rich, salty silkiness from the butter. “Oh, man. You better give me another slice before the others get in here.”
“Sure thing. Here.” John gave him another big slice, clearly enjoying the praise. “Grey? What about you?”
“I wouldn’t say no to another piece.”
“Okay, these two are cut off from the sourdough for the rest of the night,” Blaine said, walking up with his own plate so John could serve him a slice.
“John made it himself,” Lachlan said around another bite.
“That right? I didn’t know you baked.” Blaine buttered his piece and took a bite. Made a low rumbling sound and nodded. “Oh yeah.”
John grinned. “Happy to see it’s appreciated.”
The other guests began trickling in, Xanthe in the lead. “I smell fresh bread.” She took a deep, appreciative breath.
“It’s John’s homemade sourdough,” Blaine said.
“Oh, yeah, come to mama.” She grabbed a plate and went straight to John. “Don’t be stingy.”
Lachlan glanced around the far room with sharpened interest, but didn’t see the person he was looking for. “Maddy with you?”
“She drove herself up, but yeah, she’s here somewhere,” Xanthe said, busy buttering her bread.
That was his cue.
“Excuse me.” He left his reserved brother to fend for himself with the others.
The great room was full of people and conversation. He smiled and said hello to everyone he knew on the way by, but his focus was on finding Maddy. He hadn’t seen her since Charlie’s funeral. Couldn’t stop thinking about her.
When he saw her, his heart gave a hard thud.
She was standing off to the side of the room with her back to everyone, looking at framed pictures displayed on Tripp’s mantel. Her shiny brown hair was cut into a chin-length bob that left the nape of her neck bare, and her black knit sweaterdress hugged every inch of her sweet little curves.
“Whatcha looking at?” he asked, stopping behind her.
She spun around, and he saw the quick spasm in her face as she schooled her expression into a polite mask. “Oh, hi. Just some pictures of Tripp when he was in the military.”
Lachlan glanced at them. He’d known Tripp since they were kids and had seen them plenty of times. “Never been here before?”
“No.” She cleared her throat, rubbed her palms on the sides of her thighs as she went back to studying the pictures rather than looking at him.
Lachlan didn’t know what to make of her.
She’d been uncomfortable with him since he’d taken her back to his houseboat after she’d had too much to drink the night they’d rescued Xanthe and Blaine from a remote island up the strait. She’d insisted on coming on the boat with him, Grey, and Allistair.
Nothing had happened between them when he’d brought her home, but she was still embarrassed about it for some reason. He wanted that to stop. Because he definitely wanted something to happen between them. And he’d start with getting to know her better.
“I’m glad you came. Haven’t seen you around lately,” was all he said.
“No, I’ve been busy.”
“With what?”
“Work.”
“What kind of work?”
She lifted a shoulder. At this point, she must have had the photos memorized, but she kept looking at them anyway. “Some things for Blaine, and trying to solve the mystery of the orca strandings at Cedar Point.”
Interesting. “Find anything yet?”
“Still digging. But there’s a particular working theory I’m looking into.”
“And what’s that?”
She paused for a moment. “I don’t really want to say until I know more.”
Wow, she really sucked at making conversation. Unless it was just talking with him she objected to. “Okay. Anything else you want to talk about instead? Because I’m running out of ideas to get a conversation going.”
She sighed. “It’s not you,” she said, still avoiding looking at him. “I’m socially awkward.”
He grinned, charmed by her honesty. It was endearing and made him even more curious about her. Xanthe hadn’t said much about her, and he didn’t want to tip his hand by asking. “So you’re saying I shouldn’t take it personally.”
“Exactly.” The hint of a smile tugged at her mouth.
And now all he wanted was for her to turn around and smile for real. Just for him.
“Okay. So we’re good on the whole nothing happened between us that night thing?”
She finally turned to him, frowned a little. “Are you socially awkward too?”
A startled laugh escaped him. “Not usually.” Maybe he was a bit rusty where women were concerned though. It had been a while.
“You sure?”
“Mostly. Why, what’s Xanthe said about me?”
Dimples flashed in her fair cheeks with the hint of a grin. Now he wanted to see them for real too. “Nothing.”
“Nothing at all?”
“I mean nothing much. But she definitely hasn’t said anything bad.”
“Good to know. I’ll give her a bonus later.” There. That was almost a grin. He’d keep working until he got a real one. “If she likes me, I can’t be all that bad, right?”
Maddy searched his eyes for a moment, seeming to consider that. And he didn’t miss the trace of wariness in her deep blue stare. “Maybe. And you did risk your life to go rescue her and Blaine.”
“So did you.”
She waved that away with a disparaging sound. “I wasn’t the one in danger. I stayed on the boat the entire time.”
“In gale-force winds and high seas. Most people wouldn’t go out in those conditions.” Let alone a civilian woman unused to being on the water. She had guts.
“Blaine’s my best friend, and he and Xanthe were in danger. I had to go.”
He nodded, wondering about the first part with Blaine. What was the story there? He’d bet it was interesting. “And you did. But like I told you before, you have nothing to be embarrassed about anything that happened that night.”
She raised her perfectly arched eyebrows. “No? Even though I can’t remember anything I said after leaving the pub, and then I apparently stripped naked while you were still in the room?”
He waved his hands in front of him. “I wasn’t in the room, I swear. We can just drop that whole thing for good.”
She nodded. “Probably wise.”
“How did you meet Blaine, anyway?”
Her gaze slid past him, scanning the room. Looking for an escape excuse? “Through work.”
“In the US, or overseas?”
“Overseas.”
She wasn’t giving him much at all. “Did you serve in his unit?”
“Sort of. I was brought on as an IT contractor.”
“Ah.” He waited a few beats for her to lob a question his way.
She didn’t say anything for several seconds, then cleared her throat. “How do you know Tripp and Willow?”
“Tripp and I grew up together here, and I met Willow when she visited her grandma on vacation. Rafe too. We all go way back.”
Maddy nodded. Another long pause followed before she picked up the thread again. “Were you… Did you serve in the military?”
“Coast Guard.”
“Right. Makes sense.” Her gaze stopped on something or someone across the room.
He looked over his shoulder to see Grey coming their way.
There was no way to subtly wave him off without Maddy noticing, but he had just greased the wheels enough to get the conversation going and was reluctant to share her yet. “You remember my brother, Grey?”
“Oh. I didn’t realize you were brothers. Hi,” she said to him. “I’m Maddy.”
Grey smiled and held out a hand to shake with her, balancing his loaded plate on the other. “Hi. Guess we were never officially introduced that night.”
“No. You were both pretty busy keeping the boat upright in the water.”
“Nah, those boats are tougher than they look. And we had a good outcome. Except for Charlie, of course.”
“Yes, except for him.” She cleared her throat again in the heavy pause that followed. “Well, nice to meet you. I’m going to get some food.”
Lachlan resisted the urge to stall her and watched her go. “She’s still on edge around me.” When Grey didn’t say anything, Lachlan glanced at him.
His brother lifted his black eyebrows in silent question, amusement lurking in his crystal blue eyes.
“What?”
“Just so you’re aware, you’re not being even a little bit subtle.” Grey grinned and forked up a bite of baked beans. There was a piece of buttered sourdough next to it.
“Did John give you another piece?”
Grey shrugged. “He likes me.”
“He likes me more. We’re golf buddies.” He strode off to get his own piece in the kitchen. Because he was hungry. Not because he didn’t feel like being interrogated by his brother.
Okay, so he wasn’t being subtle about his interest in Maddy. But he wasn’t ready to quit trying to capture her interest.