by Jean Oram
“You’re silly.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been called that before.”
They found Daphne in the sitting room talking quietly with his mother. The women paused, looking up as he entered the room.
“Saying good things about me, I hope,” Evander said with a grin.
“Always,” Florence replied. She got up from her armchair, looking better than she had in days. Having a houseful of distraction was good for at least one of them. “Look at Daphne, Evander. Isn’t she a delight? How could a man ever say no to her?”
“You’d be surprised,” Daphne replied out of the side of her mouth.
“Could you say no to this lovely face, Evander?” Florence waved a hand over Daphne as though showcasing the woman.
Evander placed a kiss on top of his mother’s head, hoping she didn’t know the full truth of that. The longer he spent with Daphne, the more difficult it was for him to be a solid, stubborn wall of “no.”
Daphne lightly touched his arm and goose bumps rose along his skin like flames spreading through dry grass.
“Ready?” She pressed her fingers to the base of her throat. A sure sign she was worrying.
“You okay? We don’t have to go. Your van is heading into the shop, but we could use picking it up as an excuse to stay.”
“That’s a horrible excuse,” Daphne said, with a laugh that didn’t have her usual house-shaking Richter scale level of energy.
“Tigger will be okay here,” he said. “Brick is tougher than he looks and there’s no way he’ll let anyone near her. He’s just as protective as I am, even though he likes to wear odd colors.” Evander gave her a wink. “I taught him how to defend himself. He’s good. And the house is well secured.”
His mother nodded. “I haven’t nicknamed the place Fort Knox for nothing.”
“Would you feel more secure knowing where Tigger was, and being able to check up on her location?” he asked. Not waiting for more than a flicker of agreement from Daphne, he turned his head and called, “Tigger! Come show your mom your new trinket.”
The girl bounded out from between the couch and curtains. Little eavesdropper. She danced over to her mother, showing off the lacy ponytail clip he’d given her as soon as he’d heard she’d be separated from him for the day.
“Evander gave it to me. Isn’t it pretty?”
Daphne sent him a surprised look.
“Mom and I made it. It connects.” He waved his phone, trying to keep the girl in the dark that her hair clip had a tracking chip in it that connected to his phone so he could keep track of her. Loose lips had sunk more ships than torpedoes, and he didn’t want the girl giving away the one thing that might keep her safe if things went south.
Daphne frowned thoughtfully as she studied her daughter and Evander rushed through goodbyes, hoping Daphne wouldn’t ask about radio signals and brain tumors.
Wishing he had an attached garage or a secret escape tunnel from the house, he locked the front door behind them and headed to the truck. He gave a reporter who looked as though he was about to step onto the property the finger, and opened the door for Daphne, helping her into the truck.
With one last glance at the house, he pulled away down the tree-lined, sun-dappled street. In his rearview mirror, he saw three cars fall in behind him.
Reporters.
If he’d had any time to prepare, he’d have had Tyrone come over to create a diversion. Instead, Evander began going through a few basic maneuvers, such as timing traffic lights in order to run them and lose his followers, and using traffic to create buffers between him and those trying to follow him.
“You’re going the wrong way,” Daphne said.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you wanted to tip off the reporters that we’re going to Toronto? And here I thought it would be smarter to have them think we were heading in the direction of Port Carling.”
“Sorry,” Daphne muttered. “Do your thing.”
By the time they were near the next highway exit, he’d lost the reporters. He circled around Bracebridge, heading out to the highway he really wanted, and crossing his fingers that none of the reporters picked up their trail again.
“I hope this is worth it, Daphne.”
“Me, too.”
Daphne needed a distraction. Lots of them, and the familiar divided highway wasn’t providing any. Having Evander ticked off at her for not telling him about Toronto was draining. His unhappy energy was filling the truck and she discovered she didn’t like him being upset with her. Not at all.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Toronto,” she said. “I thought you were listening, and sometimes it feels as though you know what’s going on more than I do and I just…” The excuses sounded lame. She’d messed up. Plain and simple.
“You need to tell me things.”
“I promise I will from now on. I’m sorry.”
He gave a sharp nod and she could tell he was already moving past it, but didn’t want her to think that it was that easy to be forgiven for something of this magnitude.
“And I don’t think of your house as a bunker, either.”
His lips flickered, almost as though he was amused.
The truth was, she felt safer and more at home with Evander than she would have expected. Living with the de la Fosses was good and the idea of returning to their quiet little house in Port Carling held surprisingly little appeal. But how much longer could Florence take the rambunctious Tigger? How much longer until having her daughter following Evander everywhere wore on him?
There were still a lot of kilometers to go and too much time to think. Daphne had a general idea of what she wanted to say to Mistral, but she needed a distraction so she didn’t turn into a nervous mess who wondered how on earth she’d ever fallen for a man like her ex.
“Have you traveled a lot?” she asked Evander, hoping he was feeling chatty.
“Yes.”
“What was your favorite place?”
“In what way?”
“Um, people?”
“Canada.”
“Does that count?”
He smiled at her, his eyes teasing. “Of course it does.”
“How so?”
“Look at how much land we have, how diverse we are. I was stationed out in a small farming town in Alberta for a while. The people were very down-to-earth. You could tell they’d been through tough times and they depended on each other. Nobody was an outsider or a stranger. They still pulled over to help if someone had an accident or their car broke down. They looked you in the eye and called you on your crap. I liked it.”
Daphne smiled at the idea of Evander in the middle of a bunch of tell-it-like-it-is farmers. “It sounds nice.” Real. Honest. Very different from the online world she’d come to avoid. It seemed as though her friends and acquaintances presented only their edited, polished, super-mom side, leaving her feeling poorly about her own life and failures. She knew their lives had ups and downs, just like hers, but it still got to her, seeing only the shiny moments.
It was either that or drama created around small things that they’d blown out of proportion. And if there was one thing that bugged Daphne, it was when people competed to see who was having the worst life or the crappiest day.
“Think a town like that would have room for a hippie like me?” she joked.
“It’s like Northern Ontario in some ways,” Evander continued, ignoring her question. “Although there’s maybe more laughing and booze up north.”
“There always is. Got to stay warm, right?” This conversation wasn’t distracting her. Not nearly enough. Especially the way he was smiling now. It looked good on him, and all she could think about was how those lips had felt against hers this morning in the kitchen. “Why did you keep pushing me away? Upstairs. When I first arrived.”
Well, that wasn’t supposed to come out.
Evander’s eyebrows lifted and his chest expanded as though holding in a breath. Finally, giving her a quick
glance, he said, “I’ve been hired to protect you. If I get involved it will compromise my ability to stay focused and retain a clear mind. I have to be square, not distracted. And you are definitely a distraction.”
She liked the idea of being able to distract a man like Evander. He was impenetrable in so many ways, but being able to dig into that armor and get underneath was more than flattering. It was empowering in a way she hadn’t expected.
“And I know, too, with this stuff going on, emotions can get out of whack.” His voice was lower now, his head tipped to check his blind spot as he changed lanes. “I’d hate to let things get to a point where you’d regret it later.”
“Right. Because I obviously don’t know my way around birth control.” She’d been down this road before with the one man she’d seen since Mistral, back when Tigger was two. Just because Daphne had a child out of wedlock did not mean she didn’t understand what sex led to if one wasn’t careful.
“Sorry?” Evander looked uncomfortable, maybe even as if he was contemplating jumping out of the moving vehicle.
“Baby out of wedlock.”
“Oh.”
It seemed as though he didn’t believe she was a man trap. That was good. However, that begged the question of what he did believe she was.
“I don’t recommend condoms,” she added. “They aren’t particularly reliable.”
He smiled at her tone.
“So your sisters all fell in love recently?” he probed, his curiosity palpable.
“Yeah.” She gave a wistful sigh. “All three in the past six weeks.”
How had destiny brought all three of them boyfriends in such a short period of time? Especially when they didn’t believe in the legend? And what about her? Was destiny going to pass her over? She had only a week before the tax deadline. What if they lost the island? Would she remain single forever? Had Mistral been her one Nymph Island love match?
“Are you hoping Mistral will ask you back?” Evander’s question popped out as though he’d been reading her mind, and she could tell he wanted to take it back.
“I would like him to take an interest in Tigger, that’s all,” she said honestly.
“He’s only met her this summer?”
Everyone assumed she’d walked away, head held high, and never looked back. But in reality she’d tried seeing him in Toronto once when Tigger was six months old. She’d been tired, broke, and desperate for child support. His father had turned her away, not recognizing her or Tigger as anything more than a bother on their front step.
“I send him photos of her. Letters. Drawings.”
“Did he reply?”
“Not until this summer.”
She turned to Evander, whose expression had turned dark. “Do you think it’s a game? His sudden interest? My sisters think… Do you think he really wants to be her father? Truly?” Her heart squeezed, waiting for his reply.
She felt as though she knew Mistral and the position he was trapped in, unable to lead his own life. But at the same time, she wasn’t sure if her own hopes and wishes were clouding her vision of what was really happening. She wanted to be positive and expect the best, but she knew she had to be realistic, too.
She thought of Mistral trying to play with Tigger at the picnic before Tristen had punched him. Had that all been an act? Because Evander was taking more of an interest in Tigger than Mistral was. Sure, the bodyguard was stuck with her, but he was still being the man she wished Mistral would be, and that wasn’t part of the job description.
“It could be a ploy,” Evander admitted. “He’s a shrewd businessman.”
It just seemed so out of character for the young man she had fallen for all those years ago. She wasn’t sure who he was now, but it still didn’t fit. People didn’t change that much in such a short period of time, did they?
“He’s successful, isn’t he?” Evander added.
“You know, just because he has money doesn’t make him special.”
“You can say that again.” There was a glimmer of a smile playing at Evander’s lips.
“He used to be a decent man. He had potential to change the world. Still does.”
“I’m sure.”
“You have a secret,” she said lightly. There was something in the turn of the conversation that was tickling his funny bone. He was keeping something under his hat. Something beyond him thinking Mistral wasn’t special because of his money and success. If she didn’t know any better she’d think Evander had money or some sort of hidden success.
“We all have secrets.”
“Are you carrying a gun today?”
He gave her a look of disbelief. “That’s not a secret.”
She let out a sigh. “Well, don’t bring them into the meeting. In fact, you can stay outside.”
“I don’t think—”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” She held up a hand. “I meant outside the room with his latest trigger-happy buddy. You guys can see who has the fastest draw in central Canada while we get down to brass tacks.”
He gave her a grudging nod and took a sip of the massive coffee he’d picked up in Barrie when they’d stopped for gas. If she drank that much she’d be peeing all day. That and be as hyper as Tigger on sugar. She supposed on the coffee-cup-to-body-size equivalent scale his extra large was like her drinking her small. Big coffee for a big guy.
“Mistral is following in his father’s footsteps because he doesn’t know any better,” she said, wanting to talk it out with someone who might understand, or at least be an impartial, analytical party. “He doesn’t know how to free himself. He thinks being like his father will win him love and pride. But it never will. His dad will never be able to provide what Mistral needs. Everyone deserves love, especially from their parents. It can be so heartbreaking to not have it, and its absence changes a person.” She pressed her palm against Evander’s warm forearm, thinking about her daughter and the lack of a father figure. It had to be affecting her, just as it had affected Daphne not having a father during her teen years. “Don’t you think so?”
He met her gaze, his eyes warm and safe. “I do.”
“Mistral needs a lot of love.”
“Is that why you’re giving him the benefit of the doubt? Why you’re trying to talk sense into him?”
“If you don’t believe in the good of every person, what’s there to believe in?”
“You haven’t been to war.” His grip tightened on the wheel and Daphne wondered what all he’d seen with those dark eyes of his. The way they shuttered over emotions, keeping his true self hidden away.
As an experiment, she lightly kissed her fingertips, knowing he saw it in his peripheral vision, then gently placed them against his temple, stretching to do so.
He flinched, jerked the wheel, then straightened the truck again. When he glanced at her, surprise was the dominant emotion on his face. Ha! He couldn’t shutter everything away.
“Why’d you do that?” he asked softly. The vehicle had slowed, he’d been so taken off guard, and he picked up speed again.
She smiled. She could get to him. Love fixed everything. Maybe even Evander.
Evander waited outside the skyscraper’s meeting room. He didn’t like the idea of Daphne in there alone with Mistral, even though he was just outside the door. Mistral was a man caught between two worlds, and based on what Evander had seen in his life, that made a man unpredictable. It didn’t help that Daphne thought she could fix the guy.
Opening his tracking app, Evander checked on Tigger. Still at home. While he trusted his brother to watch out for the girl, he knew that if Mistral and others knew Daphne was here, they could try to do something behind their backs. Not likely, but knowing Tigger was exposed, despite security measures, left Evander anxious to head back to Bracebridge.
He texted his brother. Anything unusual?
His brother texted back, Yeah, this kid’s energy levels.
Did you give her sugar? Daphne says it makes the kid wacky.
O
h. Oops.
Evander shook his head and pocketed his phone, then erred on the side of caution and pulled it out to text, Don’t go outside. Stay in the house. Keep the alarm on.
Feeling better, he studied Mistral’s new bodyguard. He seemed familiar and Evander placed him as an acquaintance from his army days. Again, if Daphne had given him more time he could have found out who the new guy was and done a background check.
Smiling, the new man extended his hand for a shake. “Evander, right?”
“Yeah. Sorry, I can place you in the army or navy—no, army—but not your name.”
“Leif McClain.” They shook hands. The man looked him in the eye, his grip not too firm, but authoritative enough that Evander took a liking to him. “Good to be forgotten, since I never made it out of boot camp. You had to throw me over that stupid wall every single time.”
“Ah. Sorry. I threw a lot of people over if it makes you feel better.”
“I wasn’t cut out for the army, as I still hadn’t hit my growth spurt.” He patted his biceps. “How’d you do?”
“Navy. JTF 2.”
The man’s eyebrows rose in appreciation. “Medals?”
“A few.”
Mistral was trying to surround himself with honest, levelheaded men, judging by the personable bodyguard. However, Leif really needed to shut up so Evander could keep an ear out for trouble beyond the closed door.
He had a vision of Mistral trying to badger Daphne, and he turned to the door to check in on her. If he’d had more time to prepare, he could have bugged Daphne so he could listen to their conversation via an earpiece. The quiet mumble of voices on the other side grew louder, but as his hand touched the doorknob, Mistral’s man lightly tapped his arm and shook his head.
Evander ignored him and opened the door. It was his job to keep Daphne safe, not listen to the lackey hired by the man voted most likely to hurt her.
Quickly taking in the situation, Evander caught Daphne’s gaze. She seemed distraught and he was to her side in a moment. “Everything okay?” He kept his eyes on her, knowing Mistral would try to smooth things over.