“You’re attacking a man holding a baby? Why are you on me anyway? I just nailed Rod for you since you’re still too scared of him to do it yourself.”
Rio’s shoulders relaxed as he watched his brothers’ inter actions. He knew they fought. He’d heard about some of their disagreements. But it all came back to this—the camaraderie among brothers.
And they had extended that to him. Sure, he knew rescuing Tori and Max had fueled their motivation for helping out the other night, but they hadn’t hesitated for one second. Once Rio had given them the direction of Alexi’s truck, they’d known immediately where he had headed…and they’d known how to get there.
Rio had formulated the rescue plan and they had listened. They hadn’t tried to tell him to remain behind, even though his presence on the trek could’ve endangered them all. They’d respected the fact that Rio had to be the one to save Tori and Max. They’d respected him.
He nuzzled Tori’s ear. “Are they always like this?”
She curved her hand around his neck. “Yeah, you’ll get used to it if you stick around.”
He ran a finger along the crease between her brows. They hadn’t discussed the future. Max had been too sleepy to remember much of anything. They’d convinced him that his father had come around to say goodbye because he was ill and had to go away to get better. The CIA had taken custody of Alexi’s two thugs, and they’d notified the State Department of the Prince of Glazkova’s death.
Glazkova would fly his body home and give him a royal funeral with honors. Alexi’s cousin would take over the reins of the little country. Rio hoped he didn’t have the same criminal intent as the rest of the royal family because Glazkova’s throne would belong to Maksim Zherkov one of these days.
Rio’s gaze tracked around the room. A family…a big family with roots. It’s all he’d ever dreamed of as a kid. Then he glanced into Tori’s green eyes, clouded with questions and uncertainties.
“You will get used to it, won’t you?”
He bent down and kissed her mouth. “Right now, I just want to get used to you.”
She smiled beneath his lips and weaved her fingers through his hair to pull him closer. Brothers were handy, but he found all he’d ever dreamed of in Tori’s kiss.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7635-6
A SILVERHILL CHRISTMAS
Copyright © 2010 by Carol Ericson
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