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And they’re soldiers. Nothing wrong with their vision.
Mark turned to face the two men marching toward them, careful to keep Amy hidden behind him. He kept his gaze on the brothers as he tugged his T-shirt over his head and handed it back to Amy.
With Luke and T.J. only a few feet away, Mark widened his stance, bracing for a hit. He stood a few inches taller than the brothers, but it would still be two against one. And Mark didn’t plan to fight back. Shit, if he’d caught a man touching Amy, he’d do the same. But for different reasons.
Barking, high-pitched and fierce, diverted his attention from the approaching men. He glanced sideways, watching as Rosie raced in front of him. She stopped short of clamping her jaw around Luke’s or T.J.’s ankles, but refused to let them closer. Foxtrot and Charlie followed, ready to join in the fun. The Benton brothers halted, both knowing better than to challenge the pups.
Amy issued a sharp command, but the puppies ignored her. Bending down, Mark quickly gathered Rosie into his arms.
“Calm down, girl,” he said. Luke stared at him as if debating whether he was trying to use the puppy as a shield. Once Mark felt the dog relax, he set her down at his feet. “Stay.”
Arms crossed in front of his chest, he stood to face the brothers.
“Mind telling me what that was?” Luke demanded. His carefree, smiling veneer had vanished, replaced with a cold, hard glare. The threat of a fist to the jaw alive and present in his tone.
“It looks like someone has a hard time keeping her clothes on around Mark,” T.J. added, sliding his hands into his pockets.
“None of your business.” Amy moved to Mark’s side, his T-shirt hanging down to her thighs.
Luke and T.J. ignored her, focusing on Mark.
“When you said there were guys in town getting ideas that Amy might be available,” T.J. said mildly, “you failed to mention you were one of them.”
“I didn’t want to be.” Mark didn’t owe these men an explanation, but they needed to understand that what had happened here was mutual. “But—”
“I am available,” Amy cut in, taking a step toward her angry brothers-in-law.
“Not to him you’re not.” Luke’s gaze never shifted away from Mark as he raised a finger and pointed at his chest. “I can’t believe you. He was your best friend. And here you are, like a mutt searching for scraps.”
Fury rushed to the surface. Mark raised his fist. Amy was not a scrap. The beautiful, brave woman standing beside him was not something to be set aside and discarded. First, Darren had acted as if the gift of having her in his life, loving him, wasn’t worth damn near everything. And now Luke Benton stood before him suggesting that she was someone else’s leftovers. Mark couldn’t fight a dead man, but his brother?
Oh, hell, yeah.
“No, Mark.” Amy wrapped her hands around his biceps. “Don’t. Please. If that is what they see when they look at you, they’re blind.”
“Amy, it’s okay. I know who I am,” Mark said. He was still the outsider, the kid with less than everyone else. But these past few days with Amy had shown him that being the “mutt” wasn’t so bad.
“But does she?” T.J. challenged. Unlike his brother, the youngest Benton didn’t sound hell-bent on proving that Amy still belonged to Darren. There was honest-to-God concern in his voice. “You’re leaving, man.”
Those words hit home. Mark lowered his hand, gently trying to shake off Amy’s hold, knowing he didn’t want her close. Not for this.
“You can let go,” he said tersely.
“Mark,” she said. “This doesn’t concern them.”
But he shook free from her hold. He stepped over Rosie, stopping within arm’s reach of the brothers. He deserved to get the shit kicked out of him because when it came down to it, he wasn’t any better than his friend. He’d never hur
t Amy the way Darren had. He would never ask for her trust while he put himself in harm’s way and then use the distance as an excuse to mess around behind her back. No, he was too damn afraid to commit to her in the first place.
He’d told himself over and over it was because he didn’t want to leave someone behind if he lost his life doing his job. But coming home, taking a long hard look at the child he’d been and the man he’d become, he realized he’d offered excuses, same as Darren. He’d told himself it was better for everyone if he breezed in and out of her life—better if he stuck to her rules.
But if another man did that to Amy? He’d start throwing punches. Some rules were meant to be broken.
“Go ahead, Luke,” he said. “Take a hit.”
18
“ARE YOU CRAZY?” Amy rushed in front of Mark. If the Benton brothers wanted to take a swing, they had to get through her first.
