“Are you coming? Buchanan will get our bags.”
Logan stood halfway up the stairs to the house, staring back at her. Everything about him appealed to her, and she was determined that by the time she returned home she would know how it felt to be possessed by a man as intensely focused as him.
“Beware, Logan Kincaid,” she murmured, “I’ve got you in my sights.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Logan had gone into life-threatening firefights with nerves as cool as steel, but as Dani followed him up the stairs, his fingers tingled in anticipation, and he thought maybe butterflies had decided to nest in his stomach.
Would she like his home and his family? He didn’t want to acknowledge how important her opinion was to him, tried not to set his hopes too high. Permanency in his life was what he wanted from her, but what if she never wanted more than an affair? Could he give her that and then walk away? Maybe, but could he do it and remain unscathed?
No way.
Regan grabbed his ear and he smiled down at her. He hadn’t spent any time with Maria when she was born because he’d been twelve and finding excuses to stay away from home. Between Lovey Dovey, her johns, and a screaming baby, home was the last place he had wanted to be. It wasn’t until he’d realized his baby sister was neglected and half-starved that he took an interest.
Now, looking at the precious girl in his arms, he wished he could turn back time and appoint himself Maria’s protector from the day she was born. And as long as he was at it, he could wish for a different mother and even a loving dad, or at least the name of his father.
“I’m gonna gobble you up.” He lifted her tummy to his mouth and blew raspberries.
She screamed in delight and pushed her stomach against his mouth. “Wont.”
Obliging her, he blew on her belly as he opened the door. She banged on his head, bouncing up and down. Logan laughed and swung her up in the air, while at the same time noticing Maria and Mrs. Jankowski standing in the middle of the kitchen staring at him as if he’d just stepped off a spaceship from Mars.
“Hello,” he said, reaching behind him and taking Dani’s hand, pulling her next to him. “This is Dani Prescott, and this little imp is her daughter, Regan.”
Mrs. Jankowski eyed him, then Regan and Dani, and he would swear there was a calculated gleam in her eyes. Not surprising, as he’d never brought another woman home with him, and she’d understand the significance of Dani now standing in his kitchen.
She walked up to Dani and hugged her. “Welcome, my dear.”
Dani grinned and gave herself over to Mrs. Jankowski’s motherly embrace. Logan glanced at his sister in time to see her lips thin before she smiled. He recognized that look. What was her problem?
Mrs. Jankowski turned her attention to Regan and charmed her out of his arms. Ignoring the fuss being made over the baby, Maria came and hugged him.
“What’s wrong, brat?” he whispered.
“Nothing. I just missed you, and I’m so glad you’re home.” She took his hand and pulled him a few feet away. “Are you back for good?”
Something was bugging her, and he would find out what when they had some private time. “No, just here for a few days, why?”
Her gaze fell on Dani. “So you’re going back with her?”
“Yes.” The emphasis Maria put on the word “her” gave him his first hint. He’d been the only anchor in his sister’s life, the only thing she could depend on in their house of horrors. She was acting like a territorial cat. He dated now and then, and it had never seemed to bother her. Why now?
Dani came to his side. “Hi, Maria. I’ve looked forward to meeting you. Logan tells me you’re going to study law. I’m impressed.”
“Then you know more about me than I know about you. Logan hasn’t told me anything.”
He was going to strangle his sister. Opening his mouth to apologize for her behavior, Dani stopped him from speaking by putting her hand on his back and pressing her fingers against his spine.
“No problem, anything you want to know, just ask,” she said to Maria. Her gaze swept the room. “You and Logan have a beautiful home, and I’d love it if you’d take me on a tour. If the rest of it is anything like this amazing kitchen, then I’m dying to see it.”
Maria was going to refuse; he could see it in her expression. He narrowed his eyes. Her chest rose in an annoyed sigh. “Sure, why not?” She walked out, not waiting for Dani.
Not trusting Maria to play nice, he started to follow.
Dani shook her head. “No, stay here. Give me a few minutes alone with her.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what her problem is.”
“She’s afraid I’m going to take you away from her.”
“Well, that’s just stupid,” he muttered as Dani left the room to join Maria.
“It’s the way you look at her.”
He’d forgotten Mrs. Jankowski was in the room. “How’s that?” he asked, joining her at the table.
Regan had fallen asleep and Mrs. Jankowski gently rocked the baby. “Like—”
Buchanan entered with their suitcases. “Where you want these, boss?”
Damn, Logan wanted to know how he looked at Dani. “Just put them in the hall, and we’ll sort them out later.”
“Sure, just call me a mule.”
“I like jackass better.”
Buchanan snorted and disappeared. Logan turned back to Mrs. Jankowski. “What did you think of her?”
“From the few minutes I spent with her, she seems nice.” She peered down at Regan. “And this little one is a cutie pie. You’re in love with her, aren’t you?”
“Which one?”
“Both, I imagine.”
“Maybe, but I don’t know if I deserve them.”
“Logan Kincaid, I’m fixing to slap you upside your head. Maybe that’ll put some sense in that mind of yours.”
His foster mother had always been able to read him like an open book. He studied the woman he respected above all others. In her late sixties, she was showing her age, and the few extra pounds she’d put on since coming to live with him and Maria gave her the look of a sweet, gentle grandmother. Nothing could be further from the truth. The woman was tough as nails and ran his household with the precision of a five-star general.
He owed her more than he could ever repay—had tried to get her to retire and enjoy the life he offered. Sitting on her butt and eating chocolates was not for her, she’d declared, and had appointed herself the role of housekeeper and sometimes cook. Logan secretly believed she loved bossing the day maid around.
“I have some questions I need to ask you later,” Logan said.
“And I have some answers for you.”
That, he didn’t doubt. Dani and Maria walked in, Buchanan trailing behind them. Maria held up one of Dani’s books. “You didn’t tell me she writes romance novels.”
Dani leaned close to Maria and whispered in her ear. His sister’s eyes widened. “I don’t believe it. You’re actually reading this?” She turned the book so he could see the cover.
Mrs. Jankowski squinted and read aloud the title. “The Countess Takes a Lover.”
Buchanan laughed, and Logan feared he might be blushing. “What of it? It’s a damn good book.”
Compared to the pleased smile Dani gave him, Logan decided his embarrassment didn’t amount to jack beans. “Don’t you have some place to go, Buchanan?”
His gaze slid to Maria. “No, boss.”
Logan gritted his teeth when Maria inched closer to Romeo. “It’s almost midnight. Go home.”
“Thanks for picking us up, Jake,” Dani said. “It’s great seeing you again. You’ll be around, right?”
“You bet. You coming by the office tomorrow, boss?”
“Yeah, I’m bringing Dani by for a tour.”
B
uchanan gave Dani a hug. “See you tomorrow, then.” He glanced at Maria before leaving.
Logan was at a loss as to how to handle what was an obvious attraction between Maria and Jake. He made a mental note to talk to Dani about it.
Mrs. Jankowski stood and gently placed Regan in Dani’s arms. “Let’s get this baby put to bed. We’ve set up a crib in your room. Is that okay?”
“That’s great,” Dani answered.
“I’m off to bed, too,” Maria said, following them out.
Logan picked up the suitcases and took Dani hers. “Would you like to join me for a glass of wine after you get settled?”
“I’m tempted, but it’s been a long day. I think I’ll shower and call it a night.”
Disappointed, he left her in Mrs. Jankowski’s care and went to his room. After showering and changing into sweats, he made his way to the kitchen to scrounge up something to eat. Not surprisingly, Mrs. Jankowski had anticipated his needs, and he took a seat across from her at the table.
“Thanks,” he said, and dug into the ham and cheese sandwich. “You get Dani settled in?”
She put her cup down. “Yes. Other than telling us you’d be in North Carolina, you were pretty closedmouthed about why. Is she in trouble?”
“Someone’s stalking her.”
Her eyes widened and she put her hand over her heart. “Dear Lord, why? Who?”
“I don’t know yet, but I’m sure as hell going to find out.” He finished the last bite of his sandwich and pushed his plate aside. Getting up, he went to the refrigerator, got a beer, and twisted the cap off.
“You said her last name’s Prescott, so I assume she was your friend Evan’s wife?”
Leaning back against the counter, he nodded. Trust her to get right to the problem.
She looked at him with knowing eyes. “And how long have you been in love with her?”
Yeah, let’s dig right in. He could never lie to her; she always knew when he did. He told her the truth. “Since the first time I saw her.” So she would understand, he told her how he and Evan had met her. “When she looked over at me and gave me that embarrassed smile, something happened to me, but she belongs to Evan.”
“Belonged, past tense.”
“But I was responsible for bringing him home safely, and I failed her. Failed them both.” He brought the bottle to his mouth and took a deep drink.
She raised her eyes to the ceiling. “Lord, please deliver me from stupid men. It was war, Logan, and one sad fact of war is men die. Good ones along with the bad. Did you make a mistake that caused his death?”
“No, but our intel was wrong. We all had a bad feeling about the mission. I should have refused the orders.”
“Sure, and that’s easy to say with hindsight. Every one of you knew and accepted that your next mission might be your last. Think about it this way: if you had refused, you would have been taken off the team and they would have gone in without you, right?”
He nodded.
“Who knows what would have happened then. You might have lost them all.”
Well hell, he’d never thought of it that way. Because he’d carried the guilt of loving Dani for so long, he gave it one last try. “But you taught me not to covet another man’s wife. I tried not to. God, I tried.”
“I’m not going to tell you it was all right to feel that way about her when your friend was alive, but hearts have a way of doing as they please no matter how much we might wish otherwise. The thing is, you never acted on it, and for that, I’m proud of you. Did she love him?”
“Very much, I think. She never gave me any encouragement when Evan was alive.”
“And now?”
“Now I think she’s interested, but I have my mother’s bad blood in me, and I don’t want to hurt her.”
“Logan Kincaid, I really am going to smack you upside the head. You are not in any way like your mother. Maria grew up in the same house, has your mother’s blood in her. Do you fear she’s going to be like Lovey Dovey?”
Never. He wouldn’t allow it. “No, of course not.”
“Then stop talking stupid. Find whoever’s stalking our Dani, put an end to it, and then marry the girl.”
Thankfully, he hadn’t taken a swallow of beer or he would’ve spewed it. “You make it sound so easy.”
“I have faith in you.” She stood and picked up his plate, carrying it to the sink. “You can wash this. I’m off to bed.”
“One day, you’re going to accept the fact that the dishwasher does actually clean the dishes,” he said, opening the door and putting the plate in it.
On an impulse, he hugged her. “Thank you, Mrs. Jankowski.”
“For what?”
“For everything.” For saving him and Maria, for always being there for them, for being so wise. She wasn’t a demonstrative woman and she gave his back an awkward pat, but he could see the pleasure in her eyes.
At the doorway, she stopped and asked him one last question. “If Evan knew he was going to die, who would you say he would want to take care of his wife and child?”
Remembering Evan’s last words, Logan’s eyes burned. “Me.”
“And if you were the one married to her and you knew you were going to die, would you want her to spend the rest of her life alone?”
“No.”
“Then if you could pick who she would fall in love with after you, who would it be?”
“Evan.”
She nodded in obvious satisfaction and left.
Logan took his beer and walked out to the back deck. The moon would be full in a few nights and it reflected across the sea in ribbons of shimmering light. The gulf was calm, and he listened to the gentle lapping of the waves as he thought about their conversation.
He’d known Mrs. Jankowski would help him put everything in perspective. If wanting to develop a relationship with Dani had been wrong, she would have set him straight on that, too. More than anything, her last question had vanquished his guilt.
In everyday life, in his missions, he never had a problem with knowing right from wrong. It was only in relationships—and then his love for Dani—that he didn’t trust himself to get it right. He blamed his mother for that. He’d always feared he would use women the way she used men, and almost had once.
The only way he’d known how to keep that from happening was not to be intimate with them. He’d done his share of kissing and a little fondling, but every time he had come close to breaking his vow, he had ended the relationship.
Funny how it had never occurred to him to think Maria would turn out like their mother. If he hadn’t fallen into whoring his way through life by now, the odds were high it wasn’t going to happen.
Mrs. Jankowski’s words had sunk in, and as he stared out over the ocean, he accepted the truth that he didn’t have it in him to be like Lovey Dovey. He gave a humorless chuckle. Too bad he hadn’t understood that years ago, because he wouldn’t be a thirty-year-old virgin. Yet he didn’t regret Dani would be his first. At least, he fervently hoped so.
He still wasn’t sure he was good enough for her. She was a princess and he was trailer trash. His lips curved in a smile. Mrs. Jankowski would box his ears for thinking that way. “You have nothing to be ashamed of. Just look at what you’ve done with your life,” she would say.
Logan turned and stared at the house he had bought two years earlier. He’d long dreamed of having a beautiful home on the gulf, one where he could walk out his back door and feel the sand warm on his bare feet or stand under the night moon and feel the breeze on his face.
Except for necessities and what he gave Mrs. Jankowski and Maria, he had saved every penny of his Navy pay. When he left the military after twelve years, he’d had enough for the down payment. The first thing he did was start looking for a house.
The minute he walked in the door, he knew i
t was the one. It was the one time in his life he’d been selfish. Because he didn’t want Maria, whose taste ran to craftsman style, or Mrs. Jankowski, who preferred traditional, to try and influence his decision, he hadn’t told them he’d bought a house until the final papers were signed. It was his house and he wanted a contemporary with clean lines and no clutter. As different from his past life as possible.
Looking up, he admired the tall windows reaching from the ground floor to the second. In daylight, the views from inside were spectacular, and sometimes he stood in a room overlooking the ocean and pinched himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.
What had Dani thought of it? Maybe his ego needed to show her what he’d made of himself, because he had wanted to be the one to take her on a tour, wanted to watch her face, to hear her comments.
Did she like it enough to consider living in it? She was a writer and could live anywhere, whereas his company was in Pensacola, and as much as he loved the mountains, he didn’t think he could bear giving up his ocean.
Getting ahead of yourself, here, Kincaid. She’s given no indication she wants your ring on her finger. He finished the last of his beer, warm now, and went inside. Tomorrow, he would take her on a tour of K2.
Unable to sleep, Logan got out his copy of The Countess Takes a Lover and turned to the page he’d marked. A few chapters later, he stopped reading and stared out the French doors, for once not noticing the view. In the book, the heroine, Elena, wanted to be courted.
Did Dani? Was that a clue to winning her heart? Didn’t a writer, especially one who wrote romance, put their own desires into their stories, consciously or even unconsciously? Wouldn’t her hero act in a way Dani would want a man in her life to?
Believing he had stumbled on a way to learn her fantasies, he went back to reading, mentally noting all the things Jonathan did to make Elena fall in love with him. Because of his lack of experience with women, he could use all the help he could get. He stayed up half the night, and when he finished the book, fell asleep to ideas forming in his mind.
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