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I was surprised as I turned to him and saw the genuine expression on his face. “You’ve actually seen my specials?” I asked.
I was far from famous. I was simply a recognizable face for people who were into global current events and watched cable news. My show had amassed a decent following over the years, but I wasn’tthatfamiliar to the general population. Being the dumped girlfriend of Bradley Warner had probably given me more notoriety thanDeadline America.
He let out an exasperated breath as he pierced me with those beautiful gray eyes. “Of course I’ve seen them. What you do is riveting, even though it’s a little unnerving to see you in some of those locations. If that bastard didn’t love you for the intelligent, compassionate woman you are, he didn’t fucking deserve you.”
“He wasn’t the right guy,” I confessed softly. “I doubt any man will ever adore me the way Cooper loves Torie. Or the way any of the Montgomery brothers worship the women they love.”
I’d met Cooper Montgomery’s two older brothers, Hudson and Jax, at the reception. Maybe I didn’t know them well, but it was obvious that they were both wholeheartedly committed to the women in their lives.
Chase grinned. “The Montgomerys are definitely intense, but I can’t say that I’mnothappy that Cooper Montgomery ended up falling in love with my little sister. He’d die before he’d let anything or anyone hurt her.”
I smiled back at him. “I doubt he’ll ever be a cheater. I don’t think he sees any other woman but Torie.”
Maybe Ishouldbe cynical after my own experience with a cheater, but I wasn’t. Not when I looked at Torie and Cooper together. It was obvious they had something special that I’d certainly never experienced in my own love life. But just because I’d never encountered it, that didn’t mean a love like that didn’t exist.
“Good thing for him that he doesn’t see any woman but my little sister,” Chase answered gruffly. “I doubt Wyatt and I could have stomached giving her away to a guy who wasn’t completely devoted to her. Torie has suffered enough.”
I immediately wanted to remind him that it was Torie’s choice who she married. I also wanted to point out the fact that he and Wyatt hadn’tliterallygiven her away. However, for once in my life, I didn’t want to argue with Chase.
I knew what he meant when he said that Torie had suffered enough. I’d personally watched what she’d gone through, and seeing her with Cooper now made me want to weep with happiness.
And I very rarely cried over anything, especially not over something that made me…happy.
I’d seen the agonized looks on both of the Durand brothers’ faces when Torie was critically injured and fighting for her life after her kidnapping. I couldn’t blame them for feeling somewhat protective, really. I felt that way myself sometimes.
There had always been so much love between the Durand siblings that it was almost palpable.
Sure, the three of them razzed each other constantly, but what close siblings didn’t tease each other?
Wyatt and Chase had always been Torie’s protectors for as long as I could remember. If they felt even more protective after what had happened to her, who was I to criticize?
My guess was that Chasehadbecome even more protective of his sister after her near-death experience in the Amazon.
While I had no blood siblings myself, I completely understood Wyatt and Chase’s fear right after and beyond Torie’s kidnapping. I’d been completely out of my mind with worry about her, too. She was more like a sister to me than a best friend.
“She’s happy now,” I reminded him softly as I viewed the concerned look on his face.
Chase released a long breath and ran a hand over his face like he was trying to make those horrific memories disappear. “She is,” he agreed. “I think I was so damn upset by what those bastards had done to her that it’s hard to remember it’s over sometimes and that she is a grown woman who is perfectly capable of running her own life.”
I knew that. I also knew he and Wyatt blamed themselves for not watching out for their younger sister now that both of their parents were gone, which was completely absurd. Torie was my age and a thoroughly independent female. There was no possible way Chase and Wyatt could have predicted what had happened to Torie in the Amazon. She was supposed to be on a vacation, and unless Chase and Wyatt were psychics, there had been absolutely no reason for concern.
“She looked so beautiful and so incredibly happy today, Chase. It’s over,” I said firmly, hating the way he still seemed to blame himself for the freak incident. “Let the past be the past. Torie’s definitely not wallowing in anything except her present bliss.”
It was past time for the Durand brothers to stop blaming themselves for Torie’s nightmare experience.
She was well, healthy, and ecstatic with her new husband.
The tension slowly faded from his expression as he answered, “You’re right. It is over. It’s just not so easy to forget, I guess.”
I nodded. “I know. But she’s fine and starting a whole new exciting chapter of her life, Chase.”
A shiver ran down my spine as he eyed me from head to toe. “What about you, Vanna?” he asked. “Where are you headed next? Are you coming home for a while?”
I laughed, hoping to lighten the mood. “Since I’m currently homeless after selling my mom’s house, I’m going to spend a few days here in Vegas before I move on to my next assignment. I’ll buy myself a condo or rent something in San Diego, eventually. I haven’t had enough time there yet to seriously look.”
It had been ten years since my mother had died in a bush plane accident while collecting samples for scientific research in Alaska. It had always been just the two of us, and I’d been devastated when I’d lost her so unexpectedly. We’d been really close, so it had taken me an entire decade to let go of the home I’d grown up in after Mom had died. Even though the place had never really worked for my globetrotting lifestyle.
“It’s not like you have a lack of places to stay in San Diego,” Chase answered. “Cooper has a ridiculously huge place on the water in La Jolla.”
