by Cynthia Eden
He’d never forget the terror he’d felt when he raced through the woods. Davis had been so confident that she’d snuck away on her own, but he’d known, he’d known, that she hadn’t left him. Not to the fire.
And he’d been so afraid that he wouldn’t be able to find her.
You won’t take her from me. He didn’t know who that sicko was out there, but the man had made a deadly mistake.
Brodie wasn’t going to let the guy attack his friends or his family. No matter what he had to do, Brodie would take the man down.
His gaze slid over Jennifer’s face. I’ll stop him, and then you’ll be safe...
She’d come back to him, and Brodie had no intention of letting her go again.
* * *
“JENNIFER.” HE SAID her name softly because he didn’t want to scare her. The back of his hand slid down the silk of her arm. “I need you to wake up for me.”
Her lashes fluttered as her head turned toward him. “Was...dreaming about you again.” Her eyes met his. He got lost in the darkness of her stare.
“What’s my name?” he asked her because that was supposed to be part of the drill the doctor had given him.
She smiled at him then, even as she stretched, catlike and sexy, in his bed. “Brodie.”
His name was a husky whisper on her lips.
“You’re Brodie, and I’m Jennifer.” A slight pause, then, “And I’m not delusional. I’m not seeing double. I’m totally fine.”
Had he ever told her that she was the sexiest woman he’d ever seen?
“Brodie?” Her smile slipped. “What’s wrong?”
“You never would have come back...if you hadn’t been in danger.”
Her lashes flickered. “What do you mean?”
“I wouldn’t have seen you again.” He had to kiss her. He leaned forward. Pressed a kiss to her full lips. “And that would have been a damn shame.”
A rap sounded at his door. “Brodie?” Davis called. “We need to talk.”
Davis had the worst timing in the world. The absolute worst. One day, he’d have to find a way of paying the guy back for all that crappy timing.
“I put fresh clothes in the bathroom for you,” he said as he stared down at Jennifer “Get dressed and come out whenever you’re ready.” Before he could move away, her hand swept out and her fingers circled around his wrist.
“Brodie?” Davis called again.
“I’m coming.” He’d locked the door, so Davis wasn’t about to just barge in—even though his brother had a habit of butting in where he didn’t always belong.
Brodie glanced down at Jennifer’s hand. Her fingers looked so delicate around his bigger, darker wrist.
“Thank you,” she told him. “For the clothes, for saving my life—for everything.”
He shook his head. “I don’t want gratitude from you.”
“Then what do you want?”
He stared down at her.
When he heard her quick inhale, Brodie knew that she’d seen the desire in his eyes. Good. He’d wanted her to know exactly how he felt and to know what he needed from her. “Everything.” As he’d held her in his arms as she slept, Brodie had realized he wouldn’t settle for anything less.
Her fingers slipped away from him.
“And that’s what I’ll take,” he promised her, then he left her there, in his bed.
* * *
BRODIE AND DAVIS walked toward the bluff. It was a beautiful spot, an oasis right in the middle of nowhere... Or at least, that’s what Brodie’s father had said about the place. The family had originally bought the land so long ago because of the lake—because of the bluff. Because of the beauty they could see there and the hope for their futures.
Their great-grandparents had been immigrants from Ireland. Desperate, looking for a fresh start, they’d come to the United States.
They’d found a new home. A new life. The land there had belonged to his family for over a hundred years.
The memories are good and bad here. His father’s words drifted through his mind. Words that his father had said months before his death. This place shapes us. It’s not just dirt and water. It’s our lives. Our home.
Brodie hadn’t been able to let go of that home.
“You’re treading into some dangerous water with her,” Davis said as he looked out at the lake.
“I’m not afraid of rough water.” Since when did a SEAL fear that?
“Maybe you should be afraid. The fire in those stables...That was a damn near thing. Mark could have died. You could have died—”
“He didn’t. None of us did.” While Davis was staring at the lake, Brodie was staring at his brother’s profile. “He almost took her away from me.”
Davis glanced at him.
“If I hadn’t heard her scream...” He shook his head. Davis had been so sure that she’d run off on her own, but Brodie’s gut had told him otherwise. “I don’t know what I would have done.”
Davis stepped toward him. “You’re not saying—”
“I never forgot her. I couldn’t. Six years... Hell, I should have put her in my past. But she kept staying in my head. I’d catch myself wondering what she was doing. Who she was with.” He’d hated the flashes of jealousy. “Then she walked right through my door. She came back to me.”
A frustrated snarl slipped from his brother. “She’s tied up with our parents’ death!”
“She didn’t kill them—you know that.”
“She could have led the killers right to them! She—”
“Jennifer is a victim.”
Davis shook his head. “By her own admission, the woman is a trained agent. Her livelihood was lies. Lies. How can you believe anything she says? Anything she does?”
He just stared back at Davis. When it came to Jennifer, Brodie wouldn’t back down, not even for his twin.
“This isn’t like you.” Davis regarded him with a puzzled expression. “You don’t get involved with women this way. You hook up. You move on. You—”
“You ever wonder why I moved on so much?”
“What?” Davis appeared lost.
“They weren’t her.”
Davis squeezed his eyes shut. “No. Do not tell me this stuff. Do not.”
“I’m not moving on this time.”
“Hell.” The word was both dismayed and resigned.
But Brodie wasn’t done yet. “Whatever happens, whatever we find out...I want you to back me up. I want you...I want you to protect her.” In case something happens and I can’t...
Davis turned away and went back to staring at that water. “Don’t I always back you up? Hell, I joined the Navy, I became a SEAL, just because you needed someone to watch your back.”
Surprise pushed through Brodie. “But...but I thought you—”
“You’re my kid brother,” Davis muttered. “What else was I supposed to do?”
Davis was older by all of five minutes.
“Protecting my family—that’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. But it’s the one thing I just can’t seem to get right.”
Brodie strode forward. He caught Davis’s shoulder and swung him around so that they faced off.
“I don’t trust her,” Davis said flatly. “She’s not the innocent you think. She’s not—”
“The first time I saw her, Jennifer was tied to a chair in a dirty, dark room. Her wrists were bleeding. Her face was bruised. The men who had her...they had left for just a few moments, and I knew that I didn’t have long to get her out of there.”
A furrow appeared between Davis’s brows. “Why are you telling me this?”
“I made my way to her. She whispered one thing to me. Just one thing.”
Davis waited.
“She told me to leave because there wasn’t time to free her. To go because she didn’t want anyone dying for her.” He shook his head. “Bleeding and beaten, and she was still trying to protect me.”
Maybe that was when it had happened. When the ice around his hear
t had cracked and she’d first slipped inside.
“The alarm sounded before I got her clear of that place. My men had to engage the enemy, and I had to run like hell with her.” He could still hear the thunder of gunfire. The screams. But none of those screams had come from Jennifer. “She didn’t make a sound, not the whole time we were escaping. She didn’t have on shoes, her clothes were torn...and she ran for miles with me without saying a single word.” His mouth hitched as he remembered. “And when the enemy almost got a shot at me, she was the one to shove me out of the way. I was there to save her, but she...she saved me.”
Davis rocked back on his heels. “She had your back.”
Yes, she had. “Now I’ve got hers,” he said simply.
Davis looked away.
“I made love with her when we were safe. I... Damn, I knew better. Knew that one move could have cost me my career and a hell of a lot more, but nothing could have kept me from her then.” He waited for Davis to glance back at him. When he did, Brodie finished, “And nothing will keep me from her now.”
Nothing...no one.
After a moment, Davis nodded. “I understand.”
Davis always had understood him.
“Whatever happens,” Davis told him quietly, “she’ll be protected.”
Good. That was what he’d needed to hear—
“Brodie?”
He glanced over at the soft call and saw Jennifer walking toward them, her steps slow, uncertain. She’d dressed in a pair of his sister’s jeans, a loose shirt and a pair of brown boots. Jennifer had removed the bandage near her forehead, and he could see the bruising from her attack. She hesitated as her gaze darted between him and Davis. “Is...everything all right?”
He nodded. Brodie thought everything was perfectly clear to Davis now. “I want to head over to the Montgomery ranch and see if anyone saw anything before the fire.”
“I want to come,” she said quickly.
Like he would have left her behind. That wasn’t an option for him any longer. The memory of her scream would haunt him forever. Until they caught that fire-happy SOB, Brodie intended to stay as close to her as possible. “Then let’s go.” He walked forward. Took her arm.
“Jennifer.”
She glanced over at Davis’s call. So did Brodie.
“Watch his back,” Davis told her.
She inclined her head toward him. Her hair slid over her shoulders. “Always.”
* * *
JENNIFER DIDN’T KNOW who he was. After all she’d done to wreck his life, the woman had truly forgotten him. Walked away, never glanced back and gone on to destroy other lives.
He could barely contain his fury. He’d been right in front of her, touching her, hurting her.
And she still hadn’t known who he was.
Sure, he’d changed in the years. He wasn’t the polished millionaire any longer. He didn’t wear three-piece suits and go to the gym four times a week. He didn’t drive fancy cars or dine at the best restaurants.
He hunted. He killed.
She’d taken that other world away, turning him into someone who lived in the shadows. Someone who’d fought for his very food, his survival. Someone who’d lost everything...someone with nothing to lose.
Before she died, Jennifer would scream his name. She would know exactly who she faced in those final moments. She’d beg forgiveness. He would make certain of it.
I will not be forgotten.
Perhaps it was time to involve the other player in this game a bit more. The man had been in the background so far, slowly setting up Jennifer... But, yes, now it was time for him to earn his money.
Time for him to deliver Jennifer on a silver platter.
Put a knife in her back, and let her see how that betrayal feels...
He lifted up the phone and called the man who’d been hiding in Austin, the man who’d first led him to Jennifer.
* * *
THE REMAINS OF the Montgomery stables were a charred black mess. Jennifer slammed the door of the SUV and stared at the solemn sight, her body trembling.
She’d taken off the bandage on her head. The bump had gone down, and now there was just bruising along her hairline. She still had the bandage on her shoulder, and every time she thought of that knife...
I can’t let him get close to me again.
His voice replayed through her mind again and again, so familiar but—
I can’t place him.
If only it had been lighter, if the stars had been shining, if the moon had been out and she’d been able to see her attacker.
“At least the horses are safe.” A man with tousled blond hair and tired eyes walked toward them.
“Mark.” Brodie met him, slapped the guy on the shoulder. “So damn sorry this happened.”
Mark glanced at the stables. “We’ll rebuild.”
Jennifer edged closer to the men.
“The fire spread so fast. The flames were racing into the sky before I knew what was happening.” Mark’s shoulders rolled back as he exhaled on a long sigh. “And Davis...he was still here when the fire marshal came out. Your brother told the guy it was arson.” His brows rose. “Arson? When he first said that, I couldn’t understand why somebody would want to torch my stables.”
Because the man who did this was trying to get to me.
Brodie glanced at Jennifer; then he told Mark, “We think the fire was a trap. The man who set it...he wanted to lure Jennifer and me over here. He wanted us vulnerable.”
“Jennifer.” Mark said her name as if tasting it. Then he looked toward her, shaking his head. “Sorry, ma’am, we didn’t meet before, did we? Not in the middle of that nightmare.” He gave her a firm nod. “I’m Mark. Mark Montgomery.” He offered his hand.
Her fingers wrapped around his. It felt so wrong to be shaking his hand as if they were friends or going to be friends. He’d just lost his stables because of her. “He’s hunting me,” Jennifer said as she held on to his hand. “And you were hurt because of that.”
Mark glanced at Brodie, but he didn’t free her hand. Anger hardened his jaw. “All right... So then I guess my first question is what can I do to help find this jerk?”
Surprise rippled through her.
“This isn’t your fight,” Brodie said as he pulled Jennifer away from Mark and back to his side. “I’ll find the guy. I’ll stop him.”
But Mark shook his head. He was close to Brodie’s height, with shoulders that were nearly as wide and an expression just as fierce as Brodie’s. “He made it my fight.” His voice had a harsh intensity. “My men could have died. I could have died. You think I’m just going to turn the other cheek after that? You know that’s not who I am.”
“My brothers and I are after him...”
Mark focused on Jennifer once more. “Why did he want to draw you out?”
“Because he wants to hurt me.” She forced herself to speak without emotion. “Torture me slowly, then eventually kill me.”
Mark swore.
“And that’s not happening,” Brodie snarled.
She rather hoped it didn’t. “I didn’t mean to bring my storm to your door,” Jennifer told Mark.
“Lots of storms have been at my door.” His reply was soft. “And I’m still standing.”
“If you want to help us,” Brodie said, “then tell us what you saw before the fire. Let us talk to your ranch hands. We need to know if they caught sight of the man who did this.”
“You can talk to them all, but it won’t do you any good. I’ve questioned them. The cops were down here—they talked to them all, too. None of us saw anything but the fire. The fire...then, later, you, carrying your girl out in your arms.”
Jennifer glanced over at Brodie. She didn’t remember him carrying her out. She’d lost some time from the night before, time she wasn’t sure if she’d ever get back, thanks to that blow to the head.
“Search the land. Talk to everyone.” Mark waved his hand. “And I’ll search with you.”
She hadn’t gotten close to anyone.
Actually, the person who knew her best...that person was Brodie. Did he even realize that?
“There’s something else you should know,” Brodie said slowly to Mark. “We think that the guy we’re after may have a link to my parents’ death.”
Mark stiffened. “Was he the one who killed them? Who went after Ava?” And suddenly his voice was shaking with fury, a fury that blazed in his eyes.
“We don’t know...yet.” Brodie seemed to be very careful with his words as he added, “He has answers we want.”
“Then those are the answers we’ll get.” Mark motioned toward the land again. “Let’s start searching.”
* * *
“IS...IS AVA in danger?”
They’d been searching the ranch for more than two hours when Mark finally asked that question. Jennifer was a few feet away, talking with two of the ranch hands. Mark’s voice had been pitched so low that Brodie knew she hadn’t overheard him.
Mark never liked for anyone to hear him talk about Ava. The guy actually thought he was hiding his feelings pretty well. He was wrong. Brodie knew exactly how his friend felt about Ava.
One day, there’s going to be trouble.
Mark was his friend, but Ava...Ava was his baby sister.
“She’s safe,” Brodie said. “I called her before we left the ranch. She’s finishing up her classes at the university then—”
“Is she coming home?”
Brodie shook his head. “You know this isn’t home to her any longer.”
Mark was silent a bit too long. Then he cleared his throat and said, “So Ava has started a new life.” He nodded quickly. “That’s good. She...she should be happy. Safe.” His gaze turned distant. “When she came to me that night, I couldn’t make her stop shaking. No matter what I said or what I did, I couldn’t ease her terror.”
Brodie started to speak but then stopped.
“What?” Mark demanded.
He shook his head.
“If it’s about Ava, you tell me.” Mark was suddenly right in his path. “If she’s—”