could have radioed.”
Daryl’s grin flashed in his bronzed face. “More fun this way. So, Miss Amy, before he kills you dead, sweet thing, do you have a hug for me because now I’m going to have to listen to him complain about what to do with you while we’re working. A hug is downright necessary in that case.”
“Uncle Daryl!” She grinned and launched herself into Daryl’s arms, then turned toward Kimberly.
Drew turned also. He wasn’t sure what he expected to see on Kimberly’s face, but compassion hadn’t made the short list. “Kimberly.”
She looked up and arched a brow that hinted amusement.
“Yes?”
He hauled in a breath and drew Amy forward. “My daughter, Amy Slade.”
Kimberly squatted, and in that formfitting dress and three-inch heels, he was pretty sure squatting was no easy task. And then she smiled right at Amy, and that smile took him a long ways back. Emily might have been the beauty queen of the family, but in Drew’s eyes, Kimberly had always been the beauty. And still was.
“You look just like your dad did when he was your age.”
“For real?” Amy made a cute face and looked up. “No one’s ever told me that before, but then I’ve never met anyone who knew Dad when he was young.”
Kimberly graciously ignored the whys and wherefores of his hometown absence. “Now you have, and I assure you, you’re a chip off the old block, and I’d venture to say that your little adventure today is the kind of thing your dad would have done.”
Amy grasped his hand. “I don’t like being away from Dad for even a little while. Three weeks was way too long, and then I was going to be shipped off to boarding school for the rest of the campaign. If I can’t handle three weeks apart, I can’t even think about months. That would be like the most awful, ever. And I’m not exactly like the other girls at the camp.”
“Rich? Cultured? Well educated?” Drew listed the attributes in a wry voice.
She slanted her father a look that said he was being too generous. “I was going straight to unathletic, boring and pretentious, but we can add rich to the list. Now that doesn’t matter.” She hugged her father’s arm, clearly delighted. “As long as I’m with Dad, everything’s okay.”
“Except it’s not,” Drew reminded her. “I’m working. Daryl’s working. Your grandparents are touring Australia. We have to focus, Amy, and there’s something about a daredevil kid hanging around that splits my attention. The perils of being a single dad,” he added, for Kimberly’s benefit.
“She can ride with us today, can’t she?” Kimberly turned slightly. “And by the way, Daryl?” She reached across Amy to shake Daryl’s hand. “I’m Kimberly.”
“A pleasure, ma’am.”
“You won’t mind?” Drew asked. Shelby’s wedding was a seriously priced six-figure deal, and having a kid ride along wasn’t professional.
“Do you like to talk, Amy?” Kimberly looked down again.
The girl grinned. “Far too much, my dad says.”
“Perfect.” Kimberly moved toward the reception area. “An instant cure for grown-up awkward silence. She’s absolutely welcome to come along.”
“Sweet!” Amy squeezed his hand, grinning, before she hurried ahead to catch up with Kimberly.
This wasn’t sweet, Drew decided. It was uncomfortable and problematic, because as much as he loved his daughter, he was committed to making sure Shelby’s wedding went off without a hitch. International terrorists and domestic unrest didn’t allow a margin of error. His focus needed to be strictly on this upcoming event, but walking in front of him, side by side, were two reasons that wasn’t going to happen, and he wasn’t at all sure what to do about it.
He paused and called the camp to withdraw Amy’s name from their registry and reassured the camp director that he didn’t intend to sue. He put the necessary call to Eve’s parents on hold. Explaining Amy’s actions to them would take more time than he had right now. Their probable indignation over the lost funds would be completely understandable, and the time difference between Grace Haven and Adelaide iced the cake. Best to leave that until later.
He hung up the phone to rejoin the diverse group waiting for him. He’d have decisions to make soon, major ones, but right now strategizing this wedding took precedence. With Amy underfoot and Kimberly’s tightly wound emotions, he wasn’t sure how they were going to manage it, but if something went wrong at this beautiful, heartfelt affair, the guilt would fall on him. He’d left police work because of gut-wrenching guilt. It wasn’t something he wanted to face, ever again.
“This can be immediately scrapped from the list of possible venues,” Drew told Kimberly as she directed him up the sloping drive of the rose-trellis-backed vineyard.
“It’s a beautiful fall wedding venue,” she argued. But from his point of view, she saw the problems immediately.
“Too open, too visible, one exit and entrance.” Drew shook his head.
“It is her wedding day,” Kimberly reminded him softly.
“And my goal is to get her to the honeymoon safely.” His grim look drew worry lines in his forehead. The Drew she remembered didn’t worry about anything, ever. Decisive and sure, he took everything in stride.
This Drew was different. “This is vulnerable. There’s no way we can have the future president of the United States sitting here in the open with so many unprotected vantage points. The Secret Service would have a field day with this, Kimber.” He used the childhood nickname as if they were still old friends. They weren’t. So why did it sound so nice when he said it? That was something Kimberly would examine more closely later. Or not at all.
“If they swoop in and change everything last minute, we’ll have wedding-day chaos. Let’s avoid that, okay?”
A man moved up, out of the vineyard area, and started to approach the car.
Rocky went ballistic in the rear of the SUV. Front paws braced, barking and snarling. Kimberly’s heart and nerves landed somewhere in the area of her feet when the big dog went into his protective maneuvers.
Drew uttered a one-word command in a foreign language. German, maybe?
The dog desisted, but stood at high alert, hackles raised, nose pointed forward, legs apart. He might be quiet, but his posture said he was ready to do whatever proved necessary to get the job done.
“Kimberly, you’ve never seen Rocky in action.” Sympathy laced Amy’s voice. “Are you okay?”
“Fine. Maybe. Somewhat.”
“Sorry.” Drew darted a quick look of apology her way as he steered the SUV down the exit driveway. “I should have explained that Rocky’s trained to react to uninvited guests. My bad. We weren’t scheduled
