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Rhylan stepped into the room, his thumbs hooking into the pockets of his jeans, lean, muscular shoulders shifting beneath the dark gray silk shirt he wore.
“Marcel was a bit of a wild card who we were unaware was lurking in the dark,” Rhylan said, moving one hand to close the door behind him before lifting the other to prop both on his tapered, muscular hips.
Staring down at Marcel Genoa, he shook his head wearily. “We’ve been looking for him since the attack on Ms. Mackay.”
“You could have informed us,” Timothy snapped, his gaze swinging to Piper. “It’s not as though she was forthcoming with the information.”
Piper refused to flush.
“Perhaps, Tim, if I’d been allowed an opinion or a choice in the past year where my security was concerned, then maybe I would have been forthcoming with the information.”
“She’s not going to stop blaming us,” Dawg muttered behind her. “Let it go, Tim.”
Letting it go was the best choice her male family members could have made.
Rhylan chuckled at the response, his gaze moving to Jed’s. “Good luck, Agent Booker. You may need it if you continue dealing with Mackays.”
“I rather doubt it.” The confidence in Jed’s voice had Rhylan inclining his head with a grin.
“What’s going on, Rhylan?” Tim asked.
“Why the hell do all of you seem to know this man far better than a few days’ stay would warrant?” Piper asked. Wasn’t it just like Dawg and their cousins, along with Tim, to know it all while leaving everyone else in the dark?
She was fucking sick of being left in the dark.
“Piper. There’s information you can’t have, and there will be times your questions will not be answered.”
Tim lifted his gaze to Jed as Piper felt her chest tighten in pain. She was the one who had carried the bruises, who could have died. Who deserved this information more than she? “Take her to her mother; she’s waiting in the hall. We’ll figure this out—”
“No.”
Piper had never been so happy to hear that rough, growling refusal come from Jed’s throat as she stared back at Tim in recrimination.
Tim grimaced, his face appearing more lined, his expression more concerned than ever.
“You know the delicacy of this information—”
“Drop it, Cranston.” Rhylan breathed out roughly as he gave his head a hard shake. “He’s right. She’s the one who’s been in danger, not the rest of you.” He turned to her again. “I’m sorry, Ms. Mackay; you were caught in a web of deceit that had nothing to do with you, other than the fact that you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and ended up with belongings we were unaware were in that car. The jewels you inadvertently ended up with are the belongings of a particularly sadistic Russian mobster. They’ll be returned to him, so we can then track where they end up and what they’re being used to pay for.” He turned to Tim. “If you’ll gather the jewels together for me, I have the paperwork you need.”
Timothy’s lips thinned as the situation was explained to her. “That’s information that could get her killed, Rhylan.”
“Only if she tells anyone what she knows,” Rhylan objected. “And I think she’s proven she knows how to keep her mouth shut.”
No, he was wrong; she didn’t need to hear this particular argument.
Jed had tensed to a breaking point, and Dawg, Rowdy, and Natches looked as though they were facing the gallows at the thought of her hearing whatever information this man had to give.
“Mom’s waiting for me.” Turning to Jed, she felt the tension slowly easing from his body. “I’ll be in the kitchen.”
“I’ll be there soon.”
His head lowered, and his lips touched hers with a gentleness that filled her soul with a warmth that went far beyond arousal, need, or hunger. It filled her with a knowledge she hadn’t understood until now.
As Jed released her she moved quickly to Dawg, threw her arms around him, and immediately felt him enfold her in his arms.
“I understand,” she whispered in his ear quickly. “I never understood how you feared for our safety until now, Dawg.”
“Understood what, sweetie?” How could she have ever thought it was just arrogance and male superiority that caused him to hover over her and her sisters so closely?
