Dragon Warrior (Midnight Bay) by Janet Chapman Page A

male who walks in the door—regardless of age ; I didn’t need them to see me kissing their new pet project.”
    When they both only laughed harder, Maddy gave them one final glare and stormed limping toward the door. She suddenly stopped with her hand on the knob and looked back. “Oh, okay, dammit! You’re still invited to dinner tonight.”
    Trace nodded. “Thanks, Peeps. William and I will be there at six sharp.”
    Maddy’s chin dropped nearly down to her chest.
    “I hope your brother will be home this evening,” William added, “as I am quite looking forward to meeting Rick.”
    Maddy snapped her mouth shut then opened it again, but she couldn’t seem to so much as squeak. Her shoulders slumping in defeat, she turned around and quietly limped inside.

Chapter Five

    W illiam felt the evening was going quite well, considering the people crowded around Patricia Lane’s dinner table ranged in ages from nine years old to twelve hundred. Little Sarah, though, appeared more interested in the various conversations going on than in eating; Trace and Maddy were too busy catching up with each other to realize they weren’t the only people at the table; Rick was more interested in his food than in talking to anyone; and Maddy’s mother, Patricia, seemed quite interested in William—particularly regarding his interest in her daughter.
    William could have bowed down to Trace for tricking Maddy into inviting him to dinner, right after he hugged him for daring the lass to kiss her boyfriend .
    Kenzie had informed William that Maddy’s cousin was stopping by to visit her, so he’d had a good idea whose arms he’d found wrapped around her down by the river. But knowing the best way to size up a man was to threaten him, William had approached them rather aggressively. And not liking the idea of anyone’s arms around Maddy but his own, cousin or nay, the threat had for the most part been real.
    Which Trace Huntsman had immediately realized.
    As for sizing up his reaction, William had immediately decided he liked Trace. He’d been impressed not only by the man countering his threat by offering one of his own, but Trace had in turn sized up William by reading Maddy’s reaction.
    William knew right then he was dealing with a fellow warrior, as well as with a man who was equally determined to find out who had slapped her.
    “Mabel told me you were in the military with Kenzie,” Patricia Lane said to William. “Were the two of you in the same unit or something, and that’s what brought you to Midnight Bay? I’ve heard fighting together forms a strong bond between men.”
    “Yes, we’re fellow warriors,” William said, smiling at the older though more reserved version of Maddy. “We’ve even been known to occasionally fight on the same side.”
    That stopped Maddy and Trace’s conversation, making Maddy frown and Trace look thoughtful.
    “I’m not going to summer rec tomorrow,” Sarah said, once again injecting a comment at a lull in the conversation that had absolutely nothing to do with anything.
    “But you have to go to rec,” Maddy told her. “Gram’s going to Mrs. Bishop’s house to bake pies tomorrow, and you can’t stay home alone.”
    The young girl lifted her chin. “Rick sleeps until noon and then watches TV when he gets up, so I won’t be alone. And I have to stay home because I’m going to be really sick tomorrow when I wake up.”
    Maddy felt Sarah’s forehead as she eyed her daughter curiously. “You don’t have a temperature or look sick. I predict you’ll be just fine tomorrow morning,” she declared with a tender smile.
    Sarah leaned away to glare at her. “That’s the problem with having a mother who’s a nurse—you think you know everything!” the girl cried, sliding back her chair and running out of the room.
    “Let her go, Mom,” Maddy said over the sound of footsteps stomping up the stairs when she saw her mother push back her own chair. “I’ll talk with her at