done so, and Boyo had immediately singled out the little female runt. She has had her shots, but she doesn’t have a name. She is a gift for Dani-and her right to name. Inside the other package Dani will find food and supplies to get started. Also, there’s a booklet with information about the breed.
Tell Dani she doesn’t need to fear so long as the pup is with her. As you know, the pup will grow-not quite as tall as Boyo but tall enough. She will be loving, loyal and willing to give her own life for her mistress…as you know from experience. Love, Tanner
Tears were running down Bri’s cheeks by the time she finished his letter. Oh, how she loved this kind, compassionate, wonderful, sexy, beautiful and at times arrogant man.
Wiping her eyes with her fingers, Bri grabbed her purse, picked up the carrier and shipping bag and dashed out of the apartment.
Ten minutes later, she burst into her parents’ home. Her mother was coming down the stairs, surprise obvious in her expression. “Bri, what’s your hurry?”
“Dani,” she answered. “Where’s Dani?”
“Out by the pool, but-What do you have there?” she called after Bri as she headed for the sliding door leading to the patio and pool area.
“Come, come,” Bri called back, excitement singing on her voice. “Come see.”
At Bri’s hurried approach, Dani looked as puzzled as their mother. “Bri, what-” That was as far as she got.
“Look,” Bri said, holding the carrier out to her. “This is for you.”
“For me? But…Oh, my heavens! Bri, it’s a puppy.”
“I know.” Bri laughed. “It’s your puppy.” As Dani began fiddling with the latch on the door of the carrier, Bri quickly added, “Wait. Before you take her out, I have this for you.” She handed over the letter.
Dani began to read aloud. It wasn’t long before she was blinking against a sting of tears. It didn’t matter, because both Bri and their mother were also misty-eyed.
“Oh, Bri, what a thoughtful gift. Tanner sounds like a wonderful man.”
“He is…” Bri’s throat was so tight she could hardly get the words out. “Now you can take her out. And don’t forget-you must find a name for her.”
Dani carefully drew the dog from the carrier. “Oh, she’s beautiful!” She cradled the wiggly ball of fur close to her, laughing when the puppy tried to shower every inch of her face with kisses.
Laughing with sheer delight for the first time since her shattering ordeal, Dani looked up at Bri and their mother. “I don’t have to think about naming her,” she said, laughing and crying at the same time. “Just look at her. What else could I name her but Beauty.”
“Perfect.” Bri laughed. “Now hand her over and let me get some of those kisses.”
Bri stayed at her parents’ for dinner. Over an impeccable meal, with Dani at her side, she explained what she planned to do.
There were some arguments that her plan was hasty and there was more than a little concern from her parents. Though she didn’t say a word, Dani smiled and gave her sister a thumbs-up.
In the end, of course, Bri held firm. Early the next morning she stashed all her packed stuff in the trunk and backseat of her car and headed west.
Bri was going on a manhunt of her own.
It was late afternoon when Bri pulled her car into Durango after what seemed like forever on the road. Before signing in at the Strater Hotel, as she had done previously, she pulled into the first parking space she came across, dug her cell phone from her cavernous handbag and dialed Tanner’s apartment number. To her surprise, he answered on the second ring.
“Wolfe.”
Relief at knowing he was back safe washed through her. “Hello, Wolfe, how are you?”
“Brianna!” Could that be the sound of happiness she detected in his voice? “You got my message?”
Her brows wrinkled. “What message?”
“I called not ten minutes after I got home yesterday and I left a message on your answering machine.”
Bri groaned. She had checked her home phone for messages every day except yesterday and today. “No, I didn’t get it. I, er, I’m not at home, Tanner.”
“Where are you, then?” His tone now held a definite edge. Where the heck did he suspect she might be, and with whom?
“I’m right here in Durango, just a short distance from your apartment.”
He was silent for a moment. “Then get the hell here now. You hear me?”
She smiled. “Yes, Tanner, I hear you. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“You’d better be.”
Her smile widened into a grin. He’d actually growled at her, like the animal whose name he bore.
Bri took only two things with her from the car. She was holding one of them in each hand when she rang his doorbell. It swung open at once, and she burst out laughing at the sight that met her eyes.
Tanner stood with one shoulder propped against the door frame, his long, shiny hair draping his shoulders. In one hand he held a bag of dark chocolate-purple-wrapped Hershey’s Kisses. In the other he held the glittery gold cloth strips of the sandals she had worn the day he’d picked her up.
“Hi.” He grinned at her astonished expression and stepped back, allowing her to enter.
“Where did you find them?” she asked. “I’ve been tearing my closet apart looking for them.”
“They were stuffed under the front seat of the SUV.” He laughed. “If you’ll recall, you tossed them in the back when you put on your boots.”
“Thank you for finding them. They’re one of my favorite pairs.”
“Mine, too.” He eyed her hands. “And what have you got there?” He inclined his head, indicating the folded material she held in one hand and the large, round, old-fashioned hatbox in the other.
Bri was so busy drinking in the sight of him she had forgotten the items she held. “This, I believe, is yours.” She handed over the folded material, which he couldn’t help but recognize as his own hankie he had given her on their last night of the hunt.
“And this,” she said, handing the box to him, “is a present from me to you.”
He looked puzzled. “A present for me? Why would you buy me a ladies’ hatbox from a bygone day?”
She gave him a look and an impatient sigh. “Open the box and look for yourself, Tanner.”
Dumping the sandals, the bag of candy and his snow-white, neatly pressed hankie into her arms, he took the box and set it on the sofa. He untied the frayed laces holding the lid on and gave her a wary look.
“Nothing’s going to jump out at me?”
“Oh, good grief, Tanner!” Bri shook her head. “You’re a big, tough hunter. Open the silly box.”
Laughing, he lifted the lid. His laughter gave way to an expression of wonder. Slowly, carefully, he lifted the buff-colored Stetson from the box. “Brianna…Why?”
“That one doesn’t have a bullet hole in it.” She gave him a teasing grin. “I bought myself one exactly like it.”
“You’re something,” he said, plopping the hat on his head before pulling her into his arms and thanking her with a scorching kiss.
They broke apart for one reason-to breathe. When Tanner lowered his head to her once more, Bri raised a trembling hand to his chest to hold him back.
She drew a deep breath. “Tanner, wait. We’ve got to talk.”
“We can talk later.” He moved forward, backing her against the wall. “But first we’ve got more important things to do.”
“No.” She shook her head, bringing her other hand up to keep him a few inches from her. “No, Tanner. I didn’t come here for sex.” She gave a half laugh, qualifying her statement with, “At least not only for sex.”
His eyes narrowed. “Okay, what do you want?”
“You.”
“But you just said-”
“All of you, dammit!” She glared into those glittering eyes. “I want to be your partner…in every aspect of your life. In marriage, in work-and I do mean in the hunt-and, yes, sex.”
Arching a brow, Tanner took on that austere statue-of-a-saint expression.
She arched a brow right back at him, although she couldn’t match him for austerity. “And don’t give me that
