Free Diamond Dust by Vivian Arend

unexpected.
    Frank met her three steps from their table. “You were insane.”
    He didn’t sound pissed off, he sounded impressed.
    Caroline gestured him back to his chair. “Half the idiots involved in the rumble were Takhini. I knew I could get them to smarten up pretty quickly, which you couldn’t. Thanks for wanting to help, though.”
    Justin held her chair. “I don’t know if I should congratulate you or see if you’re running a fever.”
    “Oh, just an average day in Whitehorse. Could I have another glass of wine, please?”
    There was a bottle at her elbow before she finished speaking. The owner, gratitude on his face. “Caroline. I have to name something else for you, don’t I?”
    “Dan, you need to stop serving such good food. Look at what you caused—they were fighting at the tables for the leftovers.”
    Dan winked. “I’m sure. Well, whatever magic you pulled, I appreciate your help, as always. Dinner is on the house.”
    Caroline accepted the full glass from Justin and drank deeply, working hard to get back the relaxed and distracted sensation she’d had going. Now, where was she?
    Right, flirting with Tyler.
    Only when she turned to smile at him, he didn’t return it. His expression seemed locked between admiration and horror. She lowered her glass and examined him closer.
    He had a death grip on the edge of the table.
    “Something wrong?”
    Tyler cleared his throat. “You do that often? Wade without blinking into a situation that could end in death?”
    Her last straw broke. She didn’t need a lecture. Not from him, not from anybody. “Why yes, I do. It’s like this addiction I have. You’re not truly living until you’re one paw swing from a painful demise, you know what I mean?”
    She reached for her glass only to find she was airborne, her belly firmly planted in Tyler’s shoulder as he lifted her into the air.
    “What are you doing?” She couldn’t see a thing, her head dangling toward the floor, legs locked in his grasp.
    Tyler stomped toward the door.
    Caroline snorted in disbelief. What the hell was going on?
    “Is there a problem?” The owner’s voice.
    Caroline planted her hands on Tyler’s ass and twisted in an attempt to solve this situation as well, but the big bear who’d snatched her up had found his diplomacy. Sort of. He turned on the charm with her still suspended over his shoulder.
    “Dan, thank you for everything. Caroline’s a touch overwrought after the showdown at okay corral a moment ago. We’re going to sit by the river for a while to calm down. Thank you for dinner. Please, allow my man to take care of any additional charges you have to repair things from the fight.”
    “Why, thank you.” Tyler was moving again, but there was Dan, bent at the waist to dip his head to her level as she was carried past. “Caroline, always good to see you.”
    She wasn’t about to call for help like some victimized heroine to announce she was being kidnapped. Not after she’d faced down a volatile fight. “Night, Dan. Wonderful as always.”
    The simple response—the only one she could make without turning this into a major situation—struck her as hilarious, and giggles set in hard. She folded her arms and rested her head on Tyler’s strong back as he conveyed her across the road and into the park.
    A set of fancy dress shoes and one beat-up pair of runners, both extra large, followed them.
    Caroline got herself under control enough to speak. “Justin, does your boss do this all the time?”
    “Not typically.”
    “Ty’s gone out of his flipping mind,” Frank suggested. “What the hell is wrong with you, bro?”
    Tyler lowered her to a bench then shook his finger in her face. “You, stay.”
    Caroline had to be partly drunk. She curled her legs under her and made a face at him. “Woof.”
    His expression didn’t break. He turned to Frank. “Thank you for joining us for dinner. It’s been great touching base, and we’ll get together again in the