Page 3 of Dragon Daddy’s Second Chance (Mysteries of Dragon’s Island #5)

CHAPTER 2

***BLAKE***

A fter thanking Montgomery for letting him captain the boat, Blake threw his duffle onto the dock and climbed out of the boat, wondering if Max was going to meet him. He spotted him a second later, hurrying down the shore with a big smile on his face and decided that his friend looked happier than he’d ever seen him. Hoping that the island would be as good for him, he grabbed his bag and started toward Max, looking forward to catching up.

Just as he reached the shore, he caught a glimpse of the redhead from the boat as she disappeared down a path that led to what looked like a village. “Hey, buddy, it’s been too long,” Max said, smiling at him. “You haven’t changed a bit in all this time.”

“You either,” he said, craning his neck to look around Max, disappointed when he realized the woman was too far away to see her face.

Max backed up a couple of steps and then turned to see what he was looking at before looking back at him, but he wasn’t paying attention to his friend, he was watching the woman walk away, the sway of her hips so familiar it stirred his blood. Forgetting Max was there, he started up the shore toward the little collection of huts, intent on catching up with the woman.

“Hey, you want to wait for me, this is my island after all,” Max said, catching up with him. “What’s with you anyway?”

“I think I see someone I know,” he said. “I have to see if it’s really her.”

Max followed him silently, but he didn’t miss the concerned look on his face, and wanted to assure his friend that he hadn’t lost his mind, but he wasn’t sure that he hadn’t. When they got to the village, he stopped and looked around, but there was no sign of the redhead and disappointment shot through him, a feeling so familiar he just let out a sigh.

“I don’t see her now,” he said, turning back to Max. “But if she’s here, you’d know. Maybe you could look her up or something. Her name is Wren Bennett. Well, it used to be, but I guess she could have gotten married or something.”

The thought that she might have married someone else made him feel a little sick, but it had been almost six years since he’s seen her, just because he couldn’t move on didn’t mean she was stuck in the past as well. Taking a deep breath, he fought the feeling off, and looked over at Max, surprised to see the concern on his face.

“Are you okay?” Max asked. “You look a little…frantic, I’ve never seen you like this before. Who is this woman?”

“I told you, Wren Bennett,” he said, beginning to get impatient. “I just need you to check your records or whatever, I need to know if she’s here.”

Max hesitated for a second, “I’m sorry, Blake, I really wish I could help you,” he finally said. “But those records are confidential. Even if she’s on the island I would be invading her privacy if I told you she was here.”

“So, you won’t help me?” he asked. “This is really important Max, I need to know if it’s her. ”

“I can help you look for her, but I can’t tell you what’s in the records, especially since I don’t know who this woman is,” Max said, shaking his head. “It would be breaking rules I’ve put in place for everyone to follow, maybe if you told me a little more about her it might help.”

“Never mind, it probably wasn’t her anyway,” he said. “I know how you feel about love, you don’t want to hear about it.”

“I may not believe in love, but I can see that this woman messed you up but good,” Max said. “You’re my friend, Blake, that hasn’t changed. I want to hear about it, maybe talking about her will help.”

“I wish it was that simple,” he said, then sighed, “but I suppose you do deserve an explanation for my crazy behavior.”

“You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to,” Max said. “Let’s get some lunch. We can talk while we eat. You’re probably starving.”

Max sent him to find a table while he grabbed the food, then sat down across from him and started eating, giving him some time to gather his thoughts. “I met Wren the summer after we graduated from college when I went over to Ireland to work on the fishing boats,” he said. “Remember how angry you all were at me when I refused to tour Europe with you all?”

“We couldn’t understand why you turned down that trip to wrestle with fish,” Max said, shaking his head. “I think now I understand why you did it, but back then, I just thought you were crazy.”

“I wanted to do something worthwhile for a change,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “I was struggling with what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I didn’t think working for my dad’s company was the direction I wanted to take. I thought working with my hands might make things a bit clearer, and for a while, a few weeks anyway, I thought I had it figured out.”

He paused, remembering the moment he’d realized that he was in love with Wren, then let out a long sigh, hating the way just thinking about her filled him with warmth. “Wren was the daughter of the captain I signed on with. She was only eighteen, but the moment I saw her, I knew deep down that she was the one for me.”

Max paused with a bite halfway to his mouth when he stopped speaking, then set it back down and studied him for a second. “I wasn’t going to say anything if that’s why you stopped talking,” he said. “I don’t believe in love at first sight, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t feel something.”

“It was love, Max, the kind of love that lasts a lifetime. Trust me, I know, it’s been almost six years, and I still haven’t gotten over her,” he said. “It’s hard to understand if you haven’t felt it, so I understand if you’re skeptical. Honestly, until it happened to me, I didn’t really believe in love either.”

“What happened?” Max asked. “I take it there was no happily ever after.”

He shook his head. “I’m not sure what happened. One minute we were planning our lives together; I was going to work with her father while she went to nursing school, then we’d get married and start a life together,” he said. “I was just about to propose when she broke things off and disappeared. No one would tell me where she went, not her father, not her mother. I begged and pleaded but nothing I said made any difference. I finally went home, taking my broken heart with me. After that, I really didn’t care what happened to me, so I gave into my parents and started working for my dad. They’ve been trying to marry me off for years, but Wren is the only woman I want.”

Max sat back in his chair, then shook his head. “Six years is a long time to be hung up on someone,” he finally said. “I guess we’d better try to find out if she’s really on the island.”

***Wren***

Wren stood at the bedroom window of the cabin she was sharing with Susan, looking out into the trees, but she wasn’t seeing the birds that filled the branches or the ocean that rolled onto the beach in the distance. She was thinking about Blake, wondering why after all this time, the sight of a man who looked a little like him could completely destroy her.

Deep down she knew that the choice she’d made all those years ago had been the right one. It never would have worked between them, they came from different worlds. Too much had separated them, and she firmly believed that Blake had known it as well; it was the only explanation for his hiding his wealthy family and privileged background. Feeling the anger rising over her other feelings, she indulged it, preferring the emotion to the pain of her broken heart and missing him, but it didn’t last long, and the ache in her heart was soon back.

“What are you doing in here staring out the window?” Susan asked. “There’s a beach just waiting for us out there. Get changed and let’s go, I don’t want to waste a minute of our time here.”

She turned to face her friend, forcing herself to smile. “Sorry, I got distracted, I’ve never stayed in a cabin that sits up in the trees,” she said. “Have you seen all the birds out there?”

Susan studied her for a second. “You’re lying,” she finally said with a sigh. “You’re thinking about Blake again, aren’t you?”

“I’m sorry, I just can’t help it,” she said, sitting down on the bed. “I don’t want to feel like this, I want to forget him. I want to move on with my life…”

“Then get changed, and let’s head down to the beach,” Susan said. “I bet there are some single men on the island. Maybe if you just tried talking to one of them it would help. There are lots of other fish in the sea.”

She looked over at Susan, who had a silly smile on her face, and groaned. “If that was a joke, it was a terrible one,” she said, then laughed. “Okay, maybe it wasn’t terrible, but come on, fish in the sea?”

“But it made you laugh, so it was worth it,” Susan said, grinning at her. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving, let’s pick up something to eat in the village and take it with us. I saw a sandwich shop, I bet they could pack us a picnic.”

At the mention of food her stomach began to growl. “It has been a long time since we ate,” she said. “A picnic on the beach sounds great, then we can swim it off.”

“Not me, I’m going to sleep it off,” Susan said. “We’ve been up since before dawn. I don’t know how you have the energy to swim, but the walk down there will be about as much as I can handle.”

“You know how I get around the water,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “I didn’t realize how much I missed it. The ocean feels like home, I never should have left it.”

“Well, you can always come back,” Susan said, then hesitated. “Wren, your parents want to see you. They know that they messed up, they want to make it up to you and be there for you now.”

The memory of the night her parents kicked her out of the house surfaced in her mind. She still remembered every ugly word they’d said to her, remembered the pain and humiliation of having her clothes thrown across the front yard. It was impossible to forget her father screaming at her from the front porch as she stuffed everything into her car or erase the feeling of devastation when she realized that the two people who should have loved her no matter what were turning their backs on her when she needed them the most.

“That’s not going to happen,” she said, shaking her head. “We’ve been over this a million times. You know how I feel, so let’s not bring it up again.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Susan said. “I’m just being selfish. I want you back home, Wren. Dublin is so far away, I worry about you all the time alone in that big city.”

“I’m not alone, Susan,” she said. “I have friends and neighbors, people who truly care about me. I wish we could see each other more often, but I have bills to pay and responsibilities that I can’t ignore.”

“I miss you,” Susan said. “But we’re not supposed to be worrying about real life right now, we’re on vacation. Let’s go get some food and hit the beach.”

After climbing down the ladder that suspended the cabin up in the trees and protected it from being washed away during a hurricane, they took the path to the village. “This is so amazing,” Susan said when they stepped off the path. “It looks just like what you’d think a tropical village should look like. I feel like I’ve stepped onto a movie set.”

Smiling at her friend’s enthusiasm, she looked around at the huts forming a circle around a grouping of tables under a big canopy, unconsciously scanning the faces for Blake. When she realized what she was doing, she looked over at her friend, hoping she hadn’t noticed, but Susan was already on the move, heading directly for the sandwich hut and their lunch.

She was a few steps behind her when the back of a man’s head caught her attention. Her heart began to pound as she stared at him, and she had to take a deep breath when a wave of dizziness hit her. Thinking that her worst fear was coming true, she studied the man, too panicked to move, sure that it was Blake, and telling herself that she needed to get out of there.

“I have to go,” she finally said, grabbing Susan’s arm. “I have to get out of here.”

“Hey, hold on,” Susan said, following her gaze. “It’s not him, Wren, calm down.”

“It is him,” she said. “I’m not imagining things, he’s the right height, his hair is the right color…”

Her words died away when the man turned to face them, and their eyes met. Relief flooded her when she realized it wasn’t Blake, but she kept staring at the man. She finally managed to tear her eyes away, feeling a blush rising on her cheeks, and then, to her horror, the man started toward them. The people in line behind them blocked her exit and she was forced to stand there as the man closed the distance between them, a confused look on his face.

“Do I know you?” he asked. “You look really familiar.”

“No, I don’t think so,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m sorry I was staring, you look a little bit like someone I used to know.”

“Oh, that’s okay, I’m Sam, by the way,” he said, sticking out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

She shook his hand. “Wren,” she said. “Have you been on the island long?”

“I just got here this morning,” he said. “It’s an amazing place. My brother and I just closed a big business deal. This was our treat for busting our butts for months, two weeks in paradise.”

“I hope you enjoy your stay,” she said. “Sorry again for staring.”

“No worries,” he said, smiling at her. “I’m not going to complain when a pretty woman looks at me, I just wish you’d been looking for a different reason. Maybe we could meet for coffee sometime. ”

“Oh, I don’t know…I’m here with my friend…” she stammered, not used to men flirting with her. “I wouldn’t want to leave her alone.”

“I’ll be fine,” Susan interrupted. “She’ll meet you tomorrow morning at nine.”

“Great,” Sam said, grinning at her. “I’ll see you then.”

He was gone before she could say anything. “Susan, I don’t want to meet him for coffee,” she said, giving her friend a dirty look. “You go after him and tell him I’m not going.”

Susan just shook her head. “Too late, he’s gone.”