Read Online Once Burned (Task Force Eagle) by Susan Vaughan - Free Book Online

at him, but with teasing in her hazel eyes.
“ Girl? ”
    “ Atta woman doesn’t resonate.” When she started
to object, he added, “No more than atta man . But I stand corrected. Woman. All woman.”
    Color rose in her cheeks and she turned to look out
the passenger window.
    The bravado and longing in her defenses tightened his
chest. He had to admit he wanted the truth almost as much as she did. And she
roused all his protective instincts when he should take a U-turn. No one should
trust him for protection. If the retired investigator had nothing new, maybe he
could persuade Lani to quit. And the harbor’s rock dragon was a living sea
monster.
    The road took them through D Harbor with its antique
Cape Cod and Federal-period houses. Outside the village, private roads led to
houses hidden in stands of spruce, birch, and hackmatack. The verdant fields of
a farm rolled down to the bay. Cattle grazed in one and a woman on a tractor
was mowing the first hay crop in another. When he’d worked as sternman on his
uncle’s lobster boat, he admired those same fields from the water. Good to see
some things hadn’t changed since those days.
    He slanted a glance toward Lani. Getting her talking
might open up other topics. “You said your mom was on a cruise. What about your
dad?”
    “In his office, I suppose.” She hunched a shoulder in
a gesture of nonchalance. “My parents are divorced. They’ve both remarried.”
    A rift with her dad? He wondered, but she didn’t seem
interested in expanding. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
    She turned toward him, her expression softened. “It’s
okay, mostly. But your dad died years ago, when you were just a kid. It must’ve
been hard, losing him like that.”
    The first sympathetic thing she’d said. “Thanks. I
guess you never knew him. The boat was swamped by a freak wave. Neither he nor
his sternman had a chance.”
    “How’s your mom? Is she still in Portland?” She turned
away as if embarrassed to indulge in small talk.
    His fingers tightened on the wheel. “She retired
awhile ago, bought a little house in Bayport. But now she’s at Pine View Rest.”
    “My God, Jake, I’m so sorry. What happened?”
    Her empathetic tone cracked open his defenses about
Grace. Lani’d known her in much better times. “When she started forgetting
things, neither of us—Hank and me—realized what the decline meant. We were
clueless idiots. Gradually she lost it. Stopped seeing her friends. Drove
through traffic lights, wandered the East Road. Got lost in Bayport.”
    “Dementia. Alzheimer’s?”
    “Early onset. And meds for acid reflux weakened her
bones. After she broke her hip in November, my brother took care of things. She
couldn’t really participate in physical therapy so she’s in a wheelchair.”
    “A third reason you’re back in Maine. Her care is up
to you now? Where’s Hank?”
    “He manages a boat yard in Portland. Has a wife and
son. We see each other more now I’m here.”
    She pressed her tongue to her upper lip and then
turned away. Was she thinking about what he’d told her or was he reading too
much into her silence? Lani could have a sharp tongue but when people were
hurting, she was always kind.
    “Before that summer,” she said, “you were majoring in
architecture. The ATF, you joined because of the fire, because of Gail.”
    At her interest, a pleasant buzz curled along his
nape. “No denying it. I changed my major to criminal justice.”
    “Your leg scar, that’s from a serious wound. Has your
injury ended your ATF career?”
    “PT helped. I’m okay. Stiffens up some but the muscle’s
getting better all the time.” Now if only his internal scars could be healed by
physical therapy and stretching.
    After a moment, she said quietly, “I had a lot of
therapy too.”
    The anguish in her voice shook him. “Your burns were
pretty bad.”
    She tucked her bandaged hands beneath her arms. “Severe,
yes, on the side of my face, my back, and