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One thing was for damned sure: if she’d had second thoughts about how her brother or even Jed would act if one of them were to go with her, then she had her answer now.
They’d act just as they were: like two Neanderthals with nothing better to do than beat their chests and roar out their aggressions.
Not what she needed this week.
Oh, God, she didn’t need it this week.
The week she was going to find the dreams she’d worked for all her life.
* * *
She was slipping out, making her way across the darkness of the porch, two traveling bags in hand.
Jedediah lowered his head for a second before lifting his gaze and forcing himself to watch her make her way from the inn. Curling his fingers into fists, he held back the urge to follow her. To stop her.
If he stopped her, he’d be no better than her brother or her cousins. They were doing all the wrong things for all the right reasons, but that didn’t make it bearable for the impulsive, bright, beautiful little star they were smothering.
Crossing his arms over his chest, he leaned against the heavily leafed tree he hid beneath and just watched her. There was no need to follow her. She wasn’t headed to a party, a friend’s house for a night out, or even one of the local bars.
He’d known that when he’d talked to her on the phone as he’d watched her through the closed-circuit wireless camera that had been installed in the bedroom when her sister occupied it. It hadn’t been removed when Eve had moved out.
As he had watched her pack he had known she was heading out of town.
With a friend? Most likely a lover, he thought wearily, wondering at the sense of possessiveness tightening his gut.
Hell, he’d waited too long to secure her to him, left it too late. He’d sensed that as he watched her packing earlier.
He was always careful when checking on her. He never interfered, never looked in on her when there was a chance of embarrassing her if she found out he was watching.
Sometimes, he just wanted to see her. See her relaxed, sleeping, or amused. Sometimes, he just wanted to make certain she was safe, nothing more. He’d seen her packing, though, and he’d been unable to resist calling her, hoping she’d confide in him. Hoping that talking to him, remembering the pleasure they’d shared, would change her mind if she was heading out to stay with a lover.
It hadn’t.
She disappeared around the side of the house.
Lowering his head, he stayed in place. He didn’t dare move, even under the pretense of returning to his own room. Because he knew he wouldn’t make it there.
Hell, no, he’d end up following her, and he’d make her hate him when he couldn’t help himself and persuaded her to stay. Persuaded her in a way that would ensure her pleasure—and her hatred.
Fuck, it was hard letting her go.
Rubbing at the ache in his chest, frowning at the tightness there, he wondered at the feeling he’d identified years before as a premonition, a warning of danger.
Who or what could be in danger?
Maybe it was better that Piper was leaving for a few days after all. Her sister had nearly died the year before because she was too close to his partner, Brogan Campbell.
God help anyone who dared to threaten Piper Mackay. He would kill. Perhaps not for the first time, though it would definitely be the first time he’d killed over a woman.
She was worth killing for.
She was worth dying for.
The brilliance that was Piper Mackay couldn’t be contained. She was wild and free, bright and burning, and there were already too many men determined to tame that fire. To lock it in. To take the freedom she fought so valiantly for.
He refused to become one of them.
Jed forced himself to move, to walk slowly and easily across the stretch of lawn that led to the inn and the suite he had taken next to Piper’s.
