AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What about being a doctor?”
Lucas shrugged. “I save lives because I can—”
“And you take them for the same reason, don’t you?” dared Sly. “Tell me, Lucas. What reallydidhappen to Mack Turner?”
And there it was. The question that he was sure that, at the very least, Maria had wanted to ask, but never did. Maybe she confessed her suspicions to Sly some time over the years. Maybe the shrewd sheriff saw the dark side of Lucas easier because he hadn’t grown up around him, dazzled by the handsome doctor who took care of Hamlet.
It didn’t matter. He knew the truth, and while Lucas wasn’t about to confess to anything in front of the sheriff and his deputy, he let them draw their own conclusions by saying, “The same thing that can happen to another bastard who thought they could hurt my sister.”
Later, he might regret how cavalier he was being with Sly and Rick. For so long, he’d worn the mask of a charming doctor, a good man, a devoted husband and an overprotective brother. And while the last two were true, the only one who’d ever seen him for who he truly was was a golden-eyed beauty who sat for one of his lectures, and eventually became his bride.
Now? To save his sister, he didn’t care what the other men saw him for. Especially since, one look into Sly’s penny-colored eyes, and Lucas was sure the other man agreed with him entirely.
It was Rick who was presenting a problem.
Lucas didn’t blame him. When he thought about how he would react if he was in Ricky’s shoes, if it wasTessathat Boone wanted… he knew exactly what he would do.
But it wasn’t Tessa, was it?
He could sense the rising tensions between the two men. Both Marines, brother in arms, co-workers, and bosom buddies, the pair of them were seconds away from throwing hands.
Lucas purposely positioned himself between them. Then, looking dead at Rock, he said, “He wants Grace. He says he’ll trade Maria for Grace. I say let’s take him up on his offer.”
“Fuck you, De Angelis,” exploded Rick.
He blinked as the brawny deputy’s chest heaved with the force of his outburst.
He’d expected it, but still. That didn’t mean he would tolerate it.
Pursing his lips, Lucas waited for Rick’s ruddy face to pale slightly as the other man got control of himself.
If he was being honest, he was surprised it had taken this long to push Ricky Hart’s buttons to the point that he lost his temper like that. Unlike Lucas, Rick didn’t ice everyone out who upset him; being a Marine taught him discipline, though the honest deputy didn’t have the same darkness inside of him that drove him to see the bigger picture the same way Lucas did.
“I didn’t say hand her over. But if we dangle her on a hook, making sure he really brought Maria with him…”
“You want Grace to be bait.”
If that’s how he wanted to put it. “If we asked her, what do you think she would say?”
“Tiger would say ‘yes’,” Rick admitted. “Especially if it meant she would be helping to save her best friend.”
That’s right. Grace was Maria’s best friend.
Tessa’s friend, too.
Dial it back, Lucas. Whatever it takes to get Maria…
Moving toward the deputy, he laid his hand on Rick’s shoulder. “I know men like this Boone. He’ll fight down and dirty if he has to, but he won’t expect us to go even lower. He said to bring Grace. Anything after that is on us.”
“I won’t let Su come.”
“Rick—” began Sly.
“I draw the line. Su’s a baby.Mybaby. I don’t give a rat’s ass what that crazy bastard thinks.”
It looked like it pained Sly to make his next comment—but he did anyway.
“You gotta admit… Mathers drugged her. He changed her into a wedding dress. We don’t know what else he did to her before she woke up—”
