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Rain’s jaw dropped. Her face crumpled. Huge tears splashed over the rims of her eyes and trickled down her face just like those weeks and months following their parents’ deaths.
Dove leaped forward, arms outstretched. Her sister threw herself at her, head buried on Dove’s shoulder as she wept. “He’s…dead?” she hiccuped.
Over Rain’s shoulder, she shot a glare at Quaide.
He spread his hands in the universal what-did-I-do man gesture.
She cradled Rain’s head against her shoulder, both caring and annoyed at the same time. “Listen to me, Rain. We don’t know what power Dom had over you, but the man was manipulative and he probably profiled you for your naivete and innocence. I don’t really understand why you’re crying over a guy like that.”
She sniffled loudly. “He didn’t really want me dead. If he did, I wouldn’t be alive. He told me he couldn’t ever give me up!”
Patting her back like a baby, she tried not to think about shaking her hard enough to knock some sense into her. “It’s all right. He’s at peace now? Yes, that’s it. He’s at peace.” She didn’t know if she convinced her sister of anything when she was lying through her teeth.
Quaide blinked at her in disbelief.
Dove snapped her fingers. “Get her some tissues—now!”
“Christ! Okay, fine.” He spun and walked out. The sound of his boots was muffled by the thick, ugly carpet.
She smoothed Rain’s hair.
Her sister squelched a sob. “He’s not all bad. Hewasn’tall bad, I mean,” she corrected herself in a broken voice. “He was trying to turn his life around. He would go to church every Sunday.”
Church? That wasn’t the normal drug dealer behavior, was it? He possibly felt penitence for the sin of hooking people on his street drugs, but still…weird.
Rain’s shoulders shook. “Dom loved me. Of course I’m broken up over the fact that he’s…dead!”
At that moment, Quaide returned with a box of tissues. He held it out to Dove, and she glared at him again as she yanked three from the box. She handed them to Rain, who crushed the wad to her nose.
Quaide plastered himself against the wall at the far side of the tiny room as though tears were cooties, and her sister—probably Dove too—would infect him.
“Did you bring the boots with you or do I need to send somebody to Boulder for them?” he asked.
Rain lifted her head. “Why do you need my boots? Are you going to destroy them? Do you have any idea how much those cost? They’re authentic cowgirl boots, not some cheap knockoffs!”
More tears rolled down her sister’s face.
Dove controlled her sigh. “You’re going to give Sentry the boots, Rain. We’ll get you a new pair on the way there.”
Quaide was shaking his head. “No stops on the route.”
Rain issued a broken sniffle. Dove glared again.
He glared right back. Okay, maybe she deserved his frustration. After all, she was the reason why Rain was such a flighty woman to begin with. But he wasn’t invested in the same way that she was.
With a shake of her head, Dove closed her eyes as if searching the inner lids for patience. How could he know how naïve—how sensitive—Rain was? If only he knew how many nights Rain spent crying her eyes out over what happened to their parents.
But he didn’t know, and that was because of their stupid rule about not sharing their personal lives. Shefeltclose to Quaide and yet, what did shereallyknow about him? What did he know about her? Very little.
Rain lustily blew her nose, and Dove smoothed a hand over her back. “It’s all right now, Rain. You’re safe. We’re leaving for the ranch as soon as the team gives the word.”
Quaide had opened his eyes and was shaking his head, once more contradicting what she said.
Narrowing her eyes at him again, she attempted to convey just how much she disagreed with his highhanded abuse of authority. No stops along the way even with a bodyguard, and telling her that she was not going to the Wynton Ranch with her sister? Not happening.
“Here, Rain. Come sit down. Try to calm yourself.” Dove led her the few steps to the bed and her sister sank onto the mattress.
When she passed her a few more tissues, she thought of ways to prove to Quaide that her sister wasn’t going to make it without her. Rain had been on her own and look what happened—she got herself tied to a string of crimes and a target on her back.
