by Unknown
Over two hours later, after they had finished eating, they all sat in the family room while Henry played a game and Jessie dozed in Mike’s arms. All through dinner the men had reminisced about good times. While most events they discussed had been comical, Isabella knew they were avoiding the scary and painful memories.
Mike stood. “We enjoy the wonderful company, I think it’s time that Jonah, Boone and I have a chat with Colin. So if y’all will excuse us, we’ll adjourn to the library.”
With jokes about happy to be rid of the men, the four friends left. At the door Colin glanced over his shoulder to meet Isabella’s gaze. Taking a deep breath, he turned and followed Mike to the library.
As soon as all four men entered the room, Mike closed the door. Colin looked at titles of books on the shelves, seeing many familiar ones, having buried himself in books and reading a lot of the time when he had been recuperating from his wounds.
They sat and Mike gazed expectantly at him. “Okay, Colin, level with us. What’s up and what kind of danger are we in?”
Colin spent the next thirty minutes covering the time since the blast during the aborted mission until the current moment. When he finished, he looked somberly at his friends.
“I hope none of you is in any danger. I had also hoped seeing you might trigger my memory, but so far, it hasn’t. That doesn’t mean it won’t.”
“So you’re leaving here to go to some remote spot and stay in isolation?” Boone asked with a frown.
“Don’t tell me it’s no way to live. I’ve heard that enough from your sister. I can slip out of here in the dark and be far away before dawn. You guys, just take care of yourselves and be aware there may be danger.”
“I have a better idea,” Mike said and all turned to him. “Stay here. Let’s see if your presence draws our enemy to Texas. There are four—”
“No way!” Colin exclaimed. “I won’t deliberately put y’all in danger.”
“We may be in a lot of danger anyway whether you go and we never see you again or if you remain in Texas. Just listen, Colin,” Mike urged. “You may draw your enemy here. None of us will be absolutely safe until he’s caught, so let’s flush him out. If we do, you won’t have to turn into a hermit and never see any of us again or any of us ever see you.”
“Yeah, that’s a hell of a lot better,” Jonah said.
“I agree,” Boone added quickly. “I’m all for drawing him into the open.”
“No damn way!” Colin snapped, standing and glaring at his friends. “You have a baby,” he said to Mike. “You have Henry and another one on the way,” he reminded Jonah. “Erin is expecting. No, no and double-damn no! I’m not putting little babies and kids into any extra jeopardy.”
“Calm down. You can stay with Izzie,” Boone suggested.
“And put her in danger?” Colin snapped, jamming his hands into his pockets.
Mike and Boone laughed. “Look at you!” Boone exclaimed. “Izzie isn’t afraid, and she can take care of herself. She’ll agree with our plan to use you as bait.”
“Izzie’ll protect you,” Mike said with laughter in his voice.
“You won’t have to be scared of a thing with her around,” Boone added quickly, his eyes twinkling with amusement that Colin couldn’t share.
“Y’all are hopeless! Listen, she can protect herself fairly well, but you know and I know that this is someone deadly and in earnest. And if I hadn’t minded hurting a woman, you also know that I would have won the fight with Isabella.”
“Well, you did a damn poor job of protecting yourself,” Boone teased. “Why didn’t you just draw your gun and stop her before she made hamburger of you?”
Colin glared at Boone. “You guys get on out of here.”
“Why didn’t you draw your gun?” Mike asked, studying Colin as he slapped his knee and guffawed. “She got your pistol, didn’t she?”
“Go to hell, Mike,” Colin said, shaking his head while Mike and Boone laughed. Sitting down again, Colin looked at Jonah, who was staring solemnly at him. “You’re not laughing with them. You think I should go, don’t you?”
“Not at all,” Jonah answered quietly and the laughter died. “I think Mike’s right. You should stay. Hopefully, we can entice our enemy to Texas and end this. I’m just thinking about the danger. In all fairness to Isabella, I think we should get her in here and ask her. She may not want him to be with her,” Jonah said to the others.
“You’re right,” Mike said. “Boone, get your sister in here.”
“I can answer for her—”
“No, you can’t,” Colin insisted, crossing the room and yanking open the door to the hall.
The moment he was gone Jonah crossed the room in long strides and closed the door. “I don’t think she’ll want him.”
“She’s not going to be afraid,” Boone said. “But Izzie is full of life. She may not want to put up with Colin’s gloom. He’s pretty down right now, although she’s a sucker for lost kittens and stray dogs.”
“Look again,” Jonah remarked dryly. “She’s your sister and you probably can’t see anything, but sparks fly every time they look at each other.”
Boone’s eyebrows arched. “Izzie? I don’t think so.”
While the men talked, Colin strode down the hall to the family room and paused in the doorway. Isabella and the other women were laughing at something Jessie was doing. His heart clenched at the sight of Isabella. Her joy was infectious.
“Isabella, will you please join us for a few minutes?”
She stood and Colin forced himself to turn away instead of watching her and waiting to walk with her. In long strides, he went back to the library. When he entered the room, everyone turned to look quizzically at him.
“She’s coming,” he said, turning to see her enter the room.
All the men came to their feet and Isabella waved her hand. “Oh, please,” she said, entering and closing the door. She crossed the room to sit across from Colin while the men sat.
“Izzie, we’re trying to talk Colin into staying here,” Boone said. “There are four of us to deal with the killer who may be after him.”
“Sounds reasonable to me,” Isabella replied, looking at Colin who looked too dangerous for many to want to tangle with him. A glacial chill glazed his gray eyes and made her wonder why they wanted her opinion.
“He won’t stay with any of us because of the babies involved,” Boone continued to explain.
“So you volunteered me,” she said, unable to keep from laughing because she knew her brother well. “Of course, he can live at the guest house with me,” she answered with a lightness she didn’t feel. Instead panic threatened while she avoided looking at Colin.
“I told you she wouldn’t be afraid,” Boone said to Colin.
“Not so damn fast,” Colin snapped. “Isabella, if I’m with you, I may bring trouble to your house and most likely, it’ll put you at risk.”
“I’ll have all of you here, and we’ll reside on Boone’s ranch,” she replied, knowing that is what the men were thinking. “It’s an intelligent solution,” she said, realizing it was an excellent ploy to tempt the killer into a situation where all four men could deal with him. But there was little wisdom in what she was doing.
The risk would be enormous to her heart. She had been with Colin only hours, not yet a full twenty-four, and the tension increased by the minute between them and…they had already kissed.
She looked into solemn gray eyes and wondered if he was thinking the same thing. She doubted it. The combustible chemistry probably meant little to him because he was still grieving over his ex-fiancée.
“It’s all right for you to live in Boone’s guest house,” she said to Colin.
He clamped his jaw shut, looked at each one of them in turn and shook his head. “I don’t like it. I didn’t come to bring trouble—I came to try to help, not complicate things further.”
“We wouldn’t tell you to stay if we didn’t want you,” Jonah reassured hi
m. “I don’t think any of us would be afraid to have you with us. You must have a single killer after you, not a group. With our training, we should be able to not only cope with the danger, but hopefully catch him if he comes to Texas. You need to stop running.”
Colin raked his fingers through his hair. “Thanks. I’ll stay, but I’m protesting because I’ve got a gut feeling that danger isn’t far behind me.”
“We’ll be ready,” Mike vowed. “If we can catch the person responsible for that blast, it’s worth the risk.”
“You-all have families now,” Colin reminded them grimly. “It’s not like it was.”
“We’ll be careful,” Jonah replied, looking at each person in the room. “We all agree that you should remain in Texas and maybe we can catch the killer. Leave the room, Colin, and we’ll take a vote—and we’ll include our wives and Izzie. If it’s not unanimous to keep you with us, we’ll tell you and you can go…. Izzie, would you get the wives? Colin can entertain the kids.”
Colin held the door for her as they left the room.
Walking down the hall together, she could sense the tension in him. “I don’t like this,” he repeated.
“I agree with them and I suspect this vote will be unanimous. But if it isn’t, then they’ll tell you. You know you can count on each one of them to level with you.”
He nodded, but a muscle worked in his jaw and his eyes were flintlike.
In minutes she returned to the library with the wives. As soon as everyone was seated, Mike explained the situation and told about Jonah’s idea of a vote. She saw the look that Jonah and Kate exchanged and knew that their separation had been over Kate’s dislike of Special Forces. She wondered if Kate would object to Colin remaining in Texas.
“Okay,” Mike said. “Any questions before we vote?”
“I want to know if it is absolutely all right with Isabella for Colin to stay,” Savannah said. “Isabella may be at the most risk of all.”
“It’s fine with me,” Isabella replied. “I’ll vote for him to remain here. We’ll be on Boone and Erin’s ranch and I think I’ll be safe.”
Savannah nodded and looked at Mike.
“Any other questions?” Mike asked. Everyone remained silent. “All right. How many think Colin should live at the Double T ranch?”
To Isabella’s surprise, every hand in the room went up. Kate was as quick to vote yes as Jonah, but then Isabella recalled hearing about the incident when Kate and Henry had been kidnapped and Kate had pulverized the kidnapper. Her actions had led directly to his capture.
A foreboding gripped Isabella because she suspected her life was going to change. She wasn’t frightened for her life—it was her heart that was at risk.
“That settles it,” Jonah said. “Colin stays. You ladies better rescue him from Henry and Jessie. I don’t think Colin knows much about little kids.”
The women left the room and Isabella was the first to enter the family room where Colin sat rocking Jessie while Henry leaned on his knee and looked at a book Colin held open.
Colin glanced up and arched his eyebrow. “What’s the verdict?”
“You’re going to live at the ranch with me,” she said. “It was unanimous.”
When he closed his eyes as if in pain, she wondered what was running through his thoughts. Henry asked him a question that she couldn’t hear. Colin bent his head over the book to tell Henry about the story.
Kate entered and crossed the room. “I can take Jessie and I can read to Henry.”
“I’ll finish this story,” Colin said, glancing beyond Kate at Isabella. “Tell them I’ll be there in a minute, please.”
She nodded and left, still with a mixture of feelings churning in her. But beneath all the wariness and dread was a strong current of excitement. Colin was remaining in Texas. He was going to live at her house!
She thrust her head into the library. “He’s reading to Henry. He said to tell you that he’ll join you in a few minutes.”
“Come in, Izzie,” Boone said. “This concerns you, so you better be in on our plans. And you better start carrying a pistol in your purse. How long since your last target practice?”
“Last month,” she replied and Boone nodded. “Better brush up. I don’t think you should work late at your studio in Stallion Pass unless you have someone with you and all the shops around you are open. Make sure your alarm button works. Also, call me—or any of us—at the least suspicious thing.”
She nodded, already knowing what to do, but knowing Boone would feel better if he could go over the precautions with her.
Soon Colin joined them, closing the door behind him.
“It was a unanimous vote,” Mike said. “You stay in Texas.”
“So I heard,” Colin replied with a note of resignation in his voice. “Y’all are crazy, but I yield to the majority. Now, I hope everyone will be extra vigilant because we may be stirring up a storm of trouble.”
Mike nodded. “Let’s plan what we do if our enemy does make it to Texas. Also, should we let the military and the agency know you’re here?”
Colin stared at his hands, then looked up. “I’ll let Adam Kowalski know first because I report to him. I’ll see how he wants to handle it. I stay in touch with him. He’ll want to let the Agency know because that’s where our man works. We just can’t discern which agent it is. This should flush him into the open, but he’ll be dangerous. So far, he’s been clever enough to avoid not only capture, but also detection.”
While the men made plans and developed codes, Isabella sat quietly.
“Izzie has all our cell numbers,” Boone said to Colin. “You can get them from her.”
Finally she left them, knowing they would continue to plan, but she felt she was no longer needed. When Isabella entered the family room, Erin glanced up.
“They’re still at it?”
“They’ll probably plan for another hour,” Isabella said.
“If you want to come live at our house at any time, you’re welcome to,” Erin said. “Or if you want to send Colin to stay with us, I won’t mind.”
“I’ll be okay,” Isabella said. “But thanks,” she said, grateful once again that Erin had entered Boone’s life. He had settled more than Isabella had ever thought would be possible and she already loved Erin and considered her a wonderful person. It amazed Isabella to think of Boone as a daddy, and she was thrilled for him. Her playboy brother had finally grown up and seemed devoted to his wife.
Henry had fallen asleep, curled on the sofa with his head in Kate’s lap. Savannah had long ago put Jessie to bed. The women talked for another hour before the men finally showed up and everyone began to gather their things to go.
When they were leaving, Mike walked Isabella and Colin to the car. He leaned down to the open window to speak to Colin.
“Don’t hesitate to call if you need me. Either of you,” he told them softly.
“Don’t worry,” Colin replied. “You know I’m still not happy about this arrangement.”
“This is the only way to catch our killer,” Mike replied, and then stepped back, standing in the darkness as the two of them drove away.
“If I bring trouble to any of you, I’ll never forgive myself. This wasn’t why I came to Texas.” Colin still sounded unhappy.
“Colin, the vote was unanimous. Even Kate. Her hand went up as quickly as anyone’s. No one hesitated or had reservations.”
“Oh, hell,” he exclaimed as if overwhelmed.
As they sped toward Boone and Erin’s ranch, Colin turned away to look out the window at the darkness.
“My brother is calling an alarm company tomorrow to get new alarms installed,” Isabella said.
“I don’t know whether to become your bodyguard or to stay the hell away from you,” Colin said tightly.
“I don’t mind you being around, and I don’t require a bodyguard,” she assured him.
“You don’t know what you’re going to need. We’re dealing with someone who’s dang
erous and diabolical. A person who’s been operating as a double agent for years and getting away with it. That takes a lot of brains and guts.”
“There are four of you—when the time comes, I think you’ll be more than an adequate match.”
Colin gritted his teeth. He hated the thought of bringing danger to his friends and their families, but Mike had made it clear that if Colin moved on, the friends would try to ferret out the double agent without him, which could be a lot worse.
Colin gazed into the darkness and felt as if he were rushing to disaster. Adding to his worries was Isabella. Yesterday he wouldn’t have thought that would matter other than for concern about her safety, but now, after their kiss, it was a monumental problem. He had known her only twenty-four hours and she already had him tied in knots. How would he manage to keep his hands to himself when they would be living under the same roof?
He turned to watch her as she drove. The bright lights from the dash highlighted her features. Her lashes fluttered and he wondered if she was aware he was studying her. He reached out to take her braid in his hand.
“Mike will be over to see us tomorrow. He’s going to personally oversee the safety for everyone’s place, including the guest house where you and I will be.”
“So you think that will protect us?” she asked with a smile. “How long did it take you to get into Mike’s house—Mr. Security himself. He’s the one who’s in that business.”
“All right. So it was an antiquated alarm system. Neither he nor Savannah thought they needed anything elaborate. It’s a gated community in a small town where the crime rate is low.”
“The only flaw with that argument is the past. Anything could come out of any of your pasts and that’s the problem now—danger has crawled out of your earlier life.”
“A new alarm system will be better than nothing. Are you being argumentative to get me riled up or just cussed ornery?”
She smiled again. “I suppose just cussed ornery. I wasn’t trying to rile you up.”
“I like it when you smile,” he said, tracing his fingers down her cheek.
“I smile often enough. Far more than you, Colin. I don’t think I’ve heard a laugh from you yet.”
