Healed with a Kiss (Bride Mountain 3)

Had he screwed up with Alexis? Pushing the wheelbarrow down the path to the cottage, he replayed the breakup with an attempt at objectivity. Maybe he’d come across as too pushy. Maybe she thought he was making decisions about their future without consulting her first, though he’d considered a simple invitation to a party as an opening to that important conversation. But maybe he’d gone about it all wrong.

Realizing that there had been little romance—even little emotion—in his airy comments to Alexis about moving forward with their relationship, he grimaced. Had he been too pragmatic? Hell, had he actually started to say they’d probably get married someday with the same casual tone he’d used to tell her about his friend’s going-away party?

Would it make a difference if he told her how much he’d missed her during these past nine days? Would she care if she knew how much it hurt him to think it might really be over for good between them?

Thinking of the good times they shared, all the special moments between them, the way he felt when she was in his arms, he thought perhaps Kinley was right. He’d be a fool not to try at least one more time. And as terrifying as the idea was to him, he was going to have to bare himself to her—emotionally, this time.

Maybe he was just a glutton for punishment, he thought with a grim shake of his head. He could only imagine how he’d react if she shot him down again. He didn’t like to think of himself as a coward, but he had to admit the thought of that potential scene made his gut clench.

He would talk to her tomorrow. Perhaps his sister had been right that he would never forgive himself if he didn’t give it at least one more shot.

He unlocked his gate and pushed the wheelbarrow into the backyard, whistling for Ninja as he entered. Maybe a long walk would clear his head tonight, maybe help him get some rest before making his play tomorrow. If nothing else, it would keep him from spending an extra couple of hours moping alone in his living room.

Dropping the wheelbarrow handles, he brushed off his hands, then looked around for his dog. “Ninja? Let’s go for a walk.”

Odd. Usually the dog was all over him, bouncing around in excitement at the very mention of a walk. It was almost fully dark now and he narrowed his eyes to search the shadows for the black-and-brown dog. “Ninja? Hey, buddy, where are you?”

The silence in the yard made him nervous. He walked every inch of the fenced area, looking behind and beneath the storage shed, under bushes, under the chairs on the small back porch, picturing the dog hurt or sick. There was no sign of him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a wisp of white at the darkest back corner of the yard, but when he whipped his head around he didn’t see anything moving. Still, he moved that way to look. He didn’t find Ninja. What he found was a sizable hole beneath the fence, obviously dug by a dog’s eager paws.

Torn between relief and aggravation, he grimaced. Great. Who knew what havoc the mischievous escapee was causing around the grounds? Kinley was going to strangle them both.

He tugged his phone out of his pocket and called Bonnie. “Just letting you know Ninja’s gotten out of the yard. You might want to let your guests know that he’s harmless before he pops out of a shadow and terrorizes someone.”

“I’ll send Paul out to help you look for him in case he decides to play hide-and-seek with you.”

It wouldn’t be the first time Ninja indulged in the game. “Thanks.”

Leaving the yard, Logan headed toward the fountain, where Ninja usually hung out when he escaped. He whistled again, called the dog’s name, mentioned “walk” and “treats.” And was still met with no response.

Twenty minutes later, he and Paul had to admit that the dog didn’t seem to be on the grounds. It was too dark to search the woods, though Logan walked a few yards down the trail, whistling and calling, before he gave up and returned to the inn.

Having joined the fruitless search, Bonnie looked distressed. “Where could he be? He’s never run off like this before. He always wants to be here with you.”

“I don’t know,” Logan admitted, wishing he had a different answer. “I guess he started exploring and wandered farther than usual. I don’t even know what time he got out. I haven’t seen him since around noon.”

“He’ll come back, won’t he?”

“Sure, he’ll come back. Probably clawing at my door in the middle of the night.”

“I hope so. I hope he’s not hurt somewhere,” Bonnie fretted, wringing her hands in front of her. “I really love that silly dog.”

“He’ll be fine, honey,” Paul assured her, wrapping an arm around his petite wife’s shoulders. Over her head, his eyes met Logan’s, and Logan could tell that Paul, too, was concerned about the dog’s atypical disappearance.

As for himself, he couldn’t deny that his muscles were tense with worry about the dog. Ninja had just wandered up one day from who-knew-where. What if he’d gone walkabout again, even though Logan had thought the dog was happy here?

He didn’t even want to think that his pet could be gone for good, not when he was still reeling from losing Alexis.

* * *

It was late Thursday evening by the time Alexis returned to her house from a family dinner to celebrate her stepfather’s birthday. It had been a particularly exhausting ordeal, with her mother lecturing again on why Alexis should be married and procreating and Alexis doing her best to conceal her emotional turmoil. Suffice it to say, she was glad to be home.

She parked her car and opened the driver’s door, which turned on the dome light above her. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the rearview mirror as she reached for her purse. The face in the glass looked weary, melancholy. A far cry from the strong, independent woman she always considered herself to be.

She had always known falling in love would be a mistake. That she would be hurt. And yet, she thought with a sigh, she was the one who had walked away, not Logan.

She couldn’t help thinking about the things Kinley had said on the phone yesterday. About how Logan was especially grumpy and moody lately. Was he missing her? Had she truly hurt him when she’d sent him away or was he just mad that she hadn’t gone along with his agenda?