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And Raeg had caught the warning in her gaze. Disrespecting him would come with a price he might not want to pay. But it would hurt her. Pissing her off was okay, it always had been, but hurting her was another story.
Cal rocked silently for a moment as Falcon put a little swing in the seat he was sitting in. What the hell was up with that? The two of them were just rocking and enjoying the motion like there was nothing better in the world. He glanced at his brother, seeing the warning in his eyes and the disapproval on his expression.
What had he done to upset his far-too-playful brother this time?
“She’d listen to ya more if ya actually put some sweet in your voice,” the father grunted, surprising Raeg at the advice. “Though to be honest”—the other man glanced between him and Falcon—“maybe it’s a good thing ya don’t.”
Summer’s was no man’s fool, Raeg thought with sudden insight. The fact that her father was seeing something none of them wanted him to see wasn’t lost on Raeg.
“I’m actually very sweet to Summer, sir,” Falcon assured Summer’s father, his expression holding its typical grin as he obviously tried to distract Cal. “You may ask her. I worship at her very tiny feet every chance she gives me.”
Raeg closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. His brother … One of these days that penchant for drama would get both of them in trouble.
“I can tell you let her think you’re wrapped right around her delicate little pinky,” Summer’s father grunted, giving Falcon a doubtful look. “Boy, I have a feeling you’re a menace.”
Raeg actually had to hold back an amused snort. No truer words had ever been spoken.
Falcon looked up at the chains that attached his seat to the ceiling. ?
??This is secure, is it not?” he asked, obviously determined to ignore the observation.
Cal narrowed his eyes on Falcon, rubbed the side of his nose with his thumb, and shook his head, almost hiding the tug of a grin at his lips. He continued to watch Falcon until pale blue eyes met darker blue a bit warily.
“You’re the one, the reason that girl was in Moscow, I understand?” Cal stated. The expression on his face was anything but approving. “Tell me what happened, boy. Caleb swears he doesn’t know, but that boy lies for his sisters every chance he gets. Let’s see if you can be honest with me.”
Raeg almost laughed at the thought. “He lies for her as well, Mr. Calhoun,” he informed Summer’s father. “Probably more often than Caleb does.”
Falcon lied to his brother all the time where Summer was concerned, Raeg mused. They fought over that often.
“I do not lie for her,” Falcon assured both of them, enjoying that swing a little too much as far as Raeg was concerned. “I simply refuse to tell you what is none of your business.” He turned to Summer’s father. “But you are her father, sir, and so I am at your disposal. Ask what you will.”
“What the hell happened would be a good place to start,” the older man demanded. “How the hell did my little girl end up with a bullet in her shoulder and some damned Russian psychopath hunting her?”
Amazingly enough, Falcon answered him. Thankfully, he did so briefly without his usual flare for the dramatic when it came to a story. Dragovich had bought stolen American secrets and he and his team, Gia and Summer, had been hired to recover them. As Summer was slipping from the office, Dragovich burst in, obviously warned at the last minute of the recovery. He shot, Summer jumped into the SUV, and Falcon raced to a safe house outside of town where the bullet had been removed by a surgeon Raeg and Davis Allen knew in the area.
The bullet hadn’t gone straight through.
Yes, there was quite a bit of bleeding.
And yes, she had developed an infection but at no time had Falcon thought she would die—a bald-faced lie, Raeg knew.
Raeg and Davis Allen had been leaving the airport to fly to Russia and get them back to the States before Summer’s fever killed her. It had broken and begun lowering just as they’d been packing the vehicle with needed weapons and supplies for the ride to a nearby military base.
The pain and anger that flashed in her father’s face surprised Raeg, as did the other man’s desperately clenched fists resting beside his body, pressed into the cushion beneath him.
“As she said, she meets with the plastic surgeon soon and he is certain there will be no sign of the scar once he is finished,” Falcon reiterated. “My agency is covering the cost of the procedure as it occurred while she was on a job.”
Summer’s father was quiet for long, tense moments. Finally, Raeg saw his fists unclench as the other man took a slow, deep breath.
“Feel guilty as hell over it though, don’t ya, boy?” he asked, clearing his throat.
“I still have nightmares,” Falcon stated simply.
Cal nodded slowly before a brooding look filled his gaze and he looked between them, obviously not in the least worried about upsetting his daughter with his questions. Raeg wondered why he was still worried about the answers he might give …
“Think I haven’t checked the two of you out since you came here looking for Summer?” he grunted. “I know quite a bit about your wild ways in DC. Once I knew what to ask, Davis Allen wasn’t about to lie to me. Why am I sensing both of you think you can play those games and claim my baby girl while you’re protecting her? You think that’s going to work here?”
Falcon stopped the swing, his blue eyes icy, his expression not nearly so open and friendly now. “You may ask me anything about Summer but that, sir. Let’s not hurt her with questions that will cause the three of us to become out of sorts.”
