He turned to his sister, his brows drawing together. “Jo—”
“Buster?” Lilly asked, alarmed. She shot to her feet, her hand going to her chest. “What happened?”
Jojo flung out an arm. “We don’t really know,” she said, talking fast. “He was there, and then he wasn’t.”
“The staff has experience with situations like this,” Lilly said, searching for the nearest employee. “Earlier this week it was a boa constrictor.” At Jojo’s startled expression, she added, “Stuffed.”
“Well. I’m going to get them on the job right away,” Jojo said. “But you…”
“Jojo,” Alec growled.
“Me, what?” Lilly asked, thinking of the adorable dog, so trusting and warm. Proof that Miranda Thatcher’s grief had abated and she had taken a chance on love again. “What can I do? Just ask.”
“No, Jo,” Alec said, his gaze on his sister.
“She wants to help,” Jojo protested.
“I want to help,” Lilly echoed, appealing to the man. Then she turned back to his sister. “Where have you searched?”
“We could use somebody checking out the beach,” Jojo said without a blink.
Lilly felt a clutch at her chest. “Would he have gotten that far?” Could a puppy that age swim?
“Don’t know.” Jojo shrugged. “But if you and Alec could head there…”
“Of course,” Lilly said, and shoved her suitcases closer to the rental desk. Then she turned and began fast-walking from the lobby.
Alec grabbed her elbow and steered her in a different direction. “Sugar, the ocean’s this way,” he said.
As they passed through the pool area, Lilly grabbed one of the double-wide, luxurious beach towels stacked on a cart. “If he’s wet,” she said, her voice tight with growing anxiety. “We’ll get him nice and dry.”
Without a word, Alec took the terrycloth from her and tucked it beneath his arm. Lilly hurried her pace, tripping on an unseen bump in the winding path.
With a smothered curse, Alec caught her hand, steadied her. “Stay close,” he said, keeping hold of her fingers.
She understood why. Fog had settled over the resort, sifting through the feathery fronds of the palms trees and leaving dew behind on every surface. As she hurried, a wet philodendron leaf slapped her calf and sprinkled droplets onto her shoe.
The resort’s rock-studded asphalt path led them to the beach, but she only knew they’d reached it because of the change of surface beneath her soles, the mist was that thick. Alec paused and she looked left, right, and then in front of her, trying to discern anything in the blanket of gray.
“How will we find him?” she asked Alec, the moisture-laden air smothering her voice’s volume down to a hush. “Buster!” she yelled, without waiting for an answer. “Buster!”
The man at her side muttered another curse, then squeezed her hand. “Go back, Lilly. Follow the path to the resort. I’ll…finish up here.”
“No.” She thought of the adorable baby canine, possibly wandering around lost in the sand. Or maybe he would react to fear like she had as a child, and find some place to go to ground. Slipping free of Alec’s grasp, she ran a few steps forward and turned in a circle, trying to figure out where to start.
“Buster!” She began jogging while calling out the pup’s name, distress stealing her breath. “Buster!”
She thought she heard Alec shouting for her, but there was a buzzing whine in her head. The lack of any sort of landmark—her hand nearly disappeared when she stretched her arm to its full length—befuddled her senses, but she pressed on, ignoring everything but the absolute need to find the dog.
No creature should feel abandoned. No creature should be so alone.
Miranda Thatcher couldn’t lose the chance she’d taken on love again.
Warm tears slipped down Lilly’s cold face and she dashed at the useless things. “Buster! Buster!”
The fog muffled the roar of the surf too, but she tried to pay attention to it, remembering Alec telling her to keep the ocean on her right…or was it her left? The soft sand gave way to the flatter, harder stuff, but that made it easier to run and she increased her speed, the wet surface sucking at her shoes.
In the near distance, she made out something dark, the size of a sleeping puppy. She sprinted for it, only to discover a moldering hunk of kelp. Disappointed, she refocused her gaze, and saw another possibility. This dark thing was moving, and she leaped in its direction, only to realize too late that she’d jumped into the low spread of the surf, and it was only more seaweed, moving with the tide.
Up to her ankles in ocean, she began wading out again. But in doing so, she executed the cardinal sin of any beach-going Californian, she turned her back on the Pacific. Out of nowhere, a wave caught her from behind. Lilly stumbled, tried righting herself, but then fell into the water on her hands and knees. The following wave rushed in before she could stand, and she was slapped in the face by a stinging dollop of seawater.
Sputtering, she managed to get to her feet, but then Alec was there, and he was lifting her, carrying her back to drier land. “Enough,” he said roughly. “Enough.”
He wrapped her in the towel he carried, even as she struggled to get free of it. “I’m all right.” Urgency clawed at her. One small creature must be saved. “We have to find the dog, understand? We have to find the dog.”
Alec held her more tightly in his arms. “Buster’s fine, Lilly. He was never missing.”
Her spine shot straight and she stared up at him. “What?”
“Jojo made up that story. She made up the story to delay your departure.”
Inside their terry cocoon, her arms flailed. “What?” she screeched, hitting out at Alec, though she had little leverage to do any harm. She’d been genuinely worried about the dog. Terrified, actually. “I thought Buster was in danger.”
“I know. And I let you think so.”
Fighting to get free, she continued striking
