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“No worries. Maybe I’ll go take cover with Stephanie on the female side of the Murphy property.” She continued toward the door, her long blond hair swinging. A former champion swimmer, she was a beautiful woman. But she didn’t have the quirky smile or the spontaneity that made his eyes seek out Stephanie in any crowd.
Then again, no woman had turned his head the way Stephanie had from the first instant he’d laid eyes on her.
Jack followed Alicia just outside of the room to give her a real kiss that made Danny ache with regret over how thoroughly Stephanie had pushed him away.
Keith turned the sound down on the TV as Jack came back into the room.
“What gives?” Jack asked. “You guys looked pretty damn happy to me last night.”
“She thinks I overstepped her boundaries by trying to keep her safe. But I know it’s just a B.S. smoke screen for whatever is really going on—trouble committing or something.” Would she think he was invading her privacy by sharing as much with his brothers, too?
But he was too confused about his next move not to share. Not to mention, he only had a limited amount of time to figure this out before he shipped out again. He wasn’t normally a big family guy, but right now, he needed all the help he could get.
“Is she in danger?” Keith straddled a bar stool, a sleek designer watch flashing on his wrist even though he sported a T-shirt and sweats.
“She wrote a book about her captivity, remember?” His family knew the story well enough. They’d spent plenty of time working to help free her and Christina. “And apparently she’s developed a following of hate-mongers who don’t like the idea that she suggested peaceful communication might be a good balance to the war efforts.”
“A stupid enemy is a dangerous enemy,” Jack muttered. “Has anyone made a direct threat?”
Quickly, Danny related the gist of the emails she’d received, the fact that no one had reported the contents, and the news that she had no security system in place.
“I thought I showed a whole lot of restraint not threatening to string up this ex-boyfriend of hers who hasn’t been doing his job.” Danny had thought about it and held his tongue.
“And that was wise.” Keith clapped him on the back. “Good job on that.”
“You did the right thing in the wrong way.” Jack pulled out a few bottles from under the bar and set them in a row. Whiskey, scotch and something unlabeled, which Danny happened to know was homemade Russian vodka from an eccentric friend of their father’s.
“Meaning...?” Danny pointed to the vodka.
Jack poured three glasses of the potent brew.
“Whether it’s a smoke screen or not, she has to have a say in how things go down when they concern her.” Jack clinked his glass to the others. “I bought Alicia that bed-and-breakfast she wanted, but was she happy? No way. She was hurt that I’d robbed her of a chance to fulfill her dream of buying it herself. Even though I get that now, I was so freaking sure I was doing the right thing at the time, it never crossed my radar what she would want.”
Keith lifted his glass and, like Jack, gently tapped it against the rest. “I sent out a press release that Josie and I were engaged before I asked her. Not only that, but I did it to solve a PR crisis for her that she had told me to stay out of.” He shook his head as if to ward off the memory. “I was close to losing her.”
But he hadn’t. Both these guys were happy as hell and living the dream with their women. Meanwhile, he was pretty sure he’d made Stephanie cry, although she’d beat a hasty retreat out of the kitchen after she told him she’d been wrong to trust him with her heart.
Damn. It.
“This isn’t like that. I’m talking about her safety. Her physical well-being. Besides, I think she’s just using this as a way to leave because she just doesn’t want me in her life full-time.” He didn’t bother clinking glasses. He shot the vodka in one swallow and got up to leave, too edgy and frustrated to sit still.
Behind him, he heard one of his brothers give a low whistle. As he banged out the door, he couldn’t be sure which one of them said, “Some guys learn the hard way, dude.”
His brothers meant well, but their advice about letting Stephanie have some say in how he handled things with her security wasn’t going to solve the fact that she could be in danger.
Again.
And he wasn’t about to let anything happen to her a second time, even if that meant losing her forever.
* * *
WHEN A SOFT KNOCK came at the gatehouse door, Stephanie knew it couldn’t be Danny. He wouldn’t knock, for one thing. And if he did, it wouldn’t be softly. Still, her heart foolishly picked up speed.
