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Envy pricked Tenaya as she took in Bridger’s smile, the crinkles fanning out from his eyes evidence of his joy. She tamped the feeling down, genuinely happy to help. But witnessing Jane and Bridger’s growing family only underscored the family she might never have herself.
Days had passed since she agreed to lay low here while Graham and his team put out feelers in the intelligence community about Victor. Time dragged as she awaited updates, doubts nagging.
In an attempt to learn more, she had spent hours scouring the internet for information on her stalker and his Red Hand connections. The sanitized details on Wikipedia alone were enough to chill her blood. These people were utterly ruthless, trafficking in drugs, weapons, and human lives without a shred of conscience. The depth of depravity Victor was capable of made her shudder. To say nothing of that poor woman’s murder.
Going up against the Russian mob was insanity. She should disappear. But each time she broached it with Graham, he refused to even discuss it.
Sighing, Tenaya tidied the pages into a neat stack, the scratch of paper soothing. She understood Jane’s anxiety well. One tiny hiccup could derail months of effort. But the couple obviously had a very competent lawyer. She couldn’t have written up the reports any better.
Dust motes danced in the sunlight streaming through the window. “You’ve dotted every i,” she assured Jane. “The judge will approve it, no question.”
Jane’s smile wobbled. “I pray so. Kellen’s been through enough uncertainty.”
Bridger wrapped an arm around his fiancée, pride in his eyes. “Once it’s official, nothing will tear this family apart.”
His words made Tenaya’s throat tighten with longing. Desperate to redirect the conversation, she said, “Most of my cases are wealthy couples battling over assets.”
Those meat and potatoes cases made her billable hours pile up, but they brought little satisfaction, except for the knowledge that she’d bested some of the finest legal minds in the country. She had to admit, the thrill dimmed a little with each passing year. What she treasured were the cases that really meant something. Usually those involved sweet, clueless wives whose soon-to-be exes tried their hardest to hide every penny from their spouse, and their own children. “The adoption process is far more meaningful,” she confessed.
“Relocating might not be so bad,” Jane teased. “Family law experts are few and far between out here. We were lucky Rosalie had room in her schedule for us. Most people have to make do with attorneys who spend most of their time working on property law.”
“Or slip and fall cases,” Bridger added.
The diamond engagement ring on Jane’s hand sparkled in the sun as she winced. “No kidding. We need lawyers like you out here.”
Tenaya’s smile felt brittle. Rural legal aid wasn’t on her radar. “Not exactly my skillset.”
“Not a huge fan of cowboy chic, huh?” Jane teased.
Tenaya’s chuckle held a hint of sadness. The light words had evoked a pang of homesickness. She missed her mom’s voice, her familiar rituals.
Tai strode past the open archway, features set in an unwelcoming frown. Jane waved him over, but he shook his head, disappearing toward the back with barely a mumbled excuse about making a security sweep.
Irritation flickered through Tenaya. His snub emphasized her outsider status. Though Jane and Bridger and the rest of the team, with the clear exception of Tai, were going out of their way to make her feel welcome, she longed for the familiar bustle of the city. She was tired of dealing with Tai’s high walls, and her father’s continual efforts to strike up a relationship they’d never had.
“I don’t think I’m on Tai’s Christmas card list,” she said wryly.
“You’d never know it from his motormouth, but he needs time to warm up to folks.” Sympathy crinkled Jane’s eyes. “His humor is a protective shell. The more he likes you, the farther away he shoves you. Makes not one ounce of sense.”
Bridger made a wry noise. “It does to him. He’s like a bonbon in reverse—hard center wrapped in a thin, gooey coating.”
Jane elbowed him in reproach. “Not helping.”
“He’s not wrong,” Tenaya pointed out.
One more thing marking her an outsider. She had no use for more stoic, hyper-macho men like Tai and her father in her life. The thought crystallized her feelings——she didn’t belong here.
Glancing at the sheaf of completed adoption forms, satisfaction trickled through Tenaya’s sadness. Securing Kellen’s adoption righted a small corner of the universe’s balance sheet. She could cling to that good deed, whatever her own uncertain future held.
Right now, all she wanted was to get back to her real life in LA. To people and places familiar, where she wasn’t forced to rely on warriors like Tai. If he wanted to avoid her the rest of her time here, that was more than fine with her.
11
Tai slammed the back door open so hard the screen hit the siding. He should be happy Tenaya agreed to look over those adoption papers for Jane and Bridger. But somehow, seeing her sitting there at the table, like she belonged in their world rubbed him the wrong way.
He shouldn’t be in a bad mood about her trying to help his friends. But somehow he was. He didn’t want City Girl clogging up his life and his town.
As he strode toward the gym behind the main house, he chided himself. This wasn’t about him. The woman was being stalked by a psychotic killer. She had every right to be prickly and on edge.
