Page 26 of Operation Protector
She thought again of what Drew Kiley had said, about his idea that saved one of her favorite places. “Why would someone who can do what you do want to become a paper pusher?”
He blinked. And again his mouth opened as if he were going to speak, then closed again as if there were no words to be found. She wished he’d stop doing that. Not just because she didn’t like the idea of him being too wary to talk to her, but because darn it, it made her keep looking at his mouth. And that was something she was not used to even thinking about.
But something in the way he was looking at her, something in those blue eyes, made her add, “Paper pushers who deal with other people’s products or property are a dime a dozen. People like you who can build or make those things, now, they’re worth something. A lot, because it seems like we have fewer of them all the time.”
She saw him swallow as if his throat was tight. He looked away then, but she heard a low, rough-sounding, “Thank you.”
A phone across the room rang, and when she looked over, Quinn was pulling his phone out yet again. She wondered what it must be like to run an operation with as many threads and connections as Foxworth obviously had. He listened for a moment, then said, “Thanks. Nice to know.”
She felt a little nervous suddenly, because when he’d said that he’d been looking at her. And when he slid the phone back into his pocket he came toward them.
“Seems you two have a connection,” he said, looking from her to Colby.
She shot a glance at the man sitting on the stool beside her, just in time to catch him doing the same to her. For a moment the only kind of connection she could think of was the one she’d been pondering before, when she’d caught herself watching his mouth a little too much.
Had she been that obvious? True, she was out of practice, focusing entirely on her work now, and building her business. But—
Quinn looked at her. “The name Doug Rockford ring a bell?”
“Yes,” she said.
At that, Colby gave her a startled look. “You know Sarge?” he asked.
She nodded. “I designed the interior of his new building at the veterans’ camp.”
Colby was smiling when he said, “I built it.”
“And both of you did it for nothing,” Quinn said.
“I love it,” Hayley said, beaming as she came up beside her husband, “when we’re proven so thoroughly right about our people.”
Quinn grinned at his wife. “You mean when he is,” he said, nodding at Cutter, who was lounging near the fireplace.
“That, too,” she answered cheerfully. Ali saw Hayley realize both she and Colby were looking from her to the dog and back, and she laughed. “You’ll get used to it. We had to. Because he’s never been wrong. Confused once, but never wrong.”
“Confused?” Ali asked.
“That was the first time he met my brother,” Hayley said, still smiling, “whom I was very angry with at the time. So Cutter was a bit torn.”
Ali found herself smiling again. And thinking about what the woman had said about “our people.” As if, once they’d decided to help you, you were family. She glanced at Colby. He could use that kind of support. And so could adorable little Gracie. And helping them help him was making her feel better than she had in a very long time. Since Josh’s death, in fact.
“Now,” Hayley said briskly, “we need to work on timing and details. Colby, it’s clear your daughter is a very smart young lady, but—and we need the most honest answer you can give—how good is she at keeping a secret?”
He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She could almost sense him turning from the lighter topic of Cutter’s apparent skills back to the matter at hand. She wondered brieflyif the Foxworths had lightened things up for those moments intentionally. She wouldn’t be surprised; they were obviously very good at what they did.
“She can do it, as long as she understands why,” Colby said, sounding cautious. Then, in a more depressed tone he admitted, “But if she gets mad enough, sometimes she’ll blurt something out before she thinks.”
“Why, you’d think she was human!” Ali put all she could of mock astonishment into her voice. Colby’s gaze flashed to her, and one corner of his mouth twitched.
“Can’t picture you getting that mad,” he said.
A chill went through her at the words. “Oh, I can,” she said, and now her voice was grimly level. “Unfortunately uselessly.”
He tilted his head slightly, clearly wondering, but Hayley called them back to the current situation and Ali silently thanked her for it.
“If you think she’d let it out that Ali’s helping,” she began.
“She just needs to understand,” Colby said. “How important it is not to tell her mother…anything. Then she’ll keep it secret forever if necessary.”
