To set the scene: Dylan Maguire, in his first assignment with the CIA, interrogated recently captured Brenda Carnegie. But when she escaped again, his assignment changed to finding her and bringing her back in. At the same time, Vicki Boyd has been looking for the sister she was separated from after their parents' airplane accident - Brenda Ann Boyd.
Imagine Dylan's surprise when this happens:
“Vicki!” Dylan said as Vicki grabbed him from behind and gave him a bear hug. “Where ‘ave you been all afternoon? I’ve been quite concerned.”
He started to turn around, but she held him in place.
“I have a surprise,” Vicki said.
“You found your sister?”
“Yes. And she’s here.”
“Well, let me go, Woman,” he laughed, “so’s I can meet ‘er.”
She dropped her arms from around him. As he turned around, she stood between him and her sister but over her head, he caught the crown of a cowboy hat beside the back door.
As she stepped to the side, a wide grin on her face, he studied the figure beside the back door. Her eyes were obscured by the hat’s long, curved bill. But as he peered at her chin and her jawline, a feeling began in the pit of his stomach and worked upwards, freezing the words on his lips that he’d expected to say.
The woman stepped forward and with a jaunty sweep of the cowboy hat, removed it from her head, allowing masses of wavy copper hair to spill across her shoulders. It reached almost to her waist and was so voluminous that he wondered how she’d managed to fit it all beneath the hat.
As she stepped forward, his eyes went to the butterfly bandage on her forehead. A slow, sly smile swept across her face and as she neared him, he found himself staring into the same amber eyes shared by her sister.
She placed her hand around his neck and rose onto her toes to kiss him lightly on the cheek, her lips lingering along his cheekbone. “So you’re Dylan Maguire,” she said in a confident, husky voice, “and she’s ‘Bennie’ and Vicki’s ‘Woman.’ I just can’t wait to hear what sweet little pet name you dream up for me.”
Dylan’s eyes met hers as he slowly reached for her hand and removed it from his neck. “Vicki, Darlin’,” he said, “may I have a word with you, Dear?”
“Sure,” Vicki said. She remained facing him with a wide grin on her face.
“In private?” he added.
