Page 41 of Coming Undone

“Just me, Danny. And I’ve heard that tune a time or two before.” She winked at Jack and edged out from behind the bar. “I’ll excuse myself though, so you don’t need to censor for my sake.”

Danny managed a half-hearted apology, but his soon-to-be sister-in-law breezed toward him and patted his shoulder on the way past.

“No worries. Maybe I’ll go take cover with Stephanie on the female side of the Murphy property.” She continued toward the door, her long blonde hair swinging. A former champion swimmer, she was a beautiful woman. But she didn’t have the quirky smile or the spontaneity that made his eyes seek Stephanie out of any crowd.

Then again, no woman had turned his head the way Stephanie had from the first instant he’d laid eyes on her.

Jack followed Alicia just outside of the room to give her a real kiss that made Danny ache with regret over how thoroughly Stephanie had pushed away.

Keith turned the sound down on the TV as Jack came back in the room.

“What gives?” Jack asked. “You guys looked pretty damn happy to me last night.”

“She thinks I overstepped her personal space by trying to keep her safe. But I know it’s just a b.s. smokescreen for whatever is really going on – trouble committing or something.” Would she think he was invading her privacy by sharing as much with his brothers too?

But he was too confused about his next move not to share. Not to mention, he only had a limited amount of time to figure this out before he shipped out again. He wasn’t normally a big family guy, but right now, he needed all the help he could get to wade through this.

“Is she in danger?” Keith straddled a bar stool, a sleek designer watch flashing on his wrist even though he sported a t-shirt and sweats.

“She wrote a book about her captivity, remember?” His family knew the story well enough. They’d spent plenty of time working to help free her and Christina. “And apparently she’s developed a following of hate-mongers who don’t like the idea that she suggested peaceful communication might be a good balance to the war efforts.”

“A stupid enemy is a dangerous enemy,” Jack muttered. “Has anyone made a direct threat?”

Quickly, Danny related the gist of the emails she’d received, the fact that no one had reported the contents, and the news that she had no security system in place.

“I thought I showed a whole lot of restraint not threatening to string up this ex-boyfriend of hers who hasn’t been doing his job.” Danny had thought about it and held his tongue.

“And that was wise.” Keith clapped him on the back. “Good job on that.”

“You did the right thing in the wrong way.” Jack pulled out a few bottles from under the bar and set them in a row. Whiskey, Scotch, and something unlabeled which Danny happened to know was homemade Russian vodka from an eclectic friend of their father’s.

“Meaning?” Danny pointed to the vodka.

Jack poured three glasses of the potent brew.

“Whether it’s a smokescreen or not, she has to have a say in how things go down when they concern her.” Jack clinked his glass to the others. “I bought Alicia that bed and breakfast she wanted, but was she happy? No way. She was hurt that I’d robbed her of a chance to fulfill that dream of buying it herself. Even though I get that now, I was so freaking sure I was doing the right thing at the time, it never crossed my radar what she would want.”

Keith lifted his glass and, like Jack, gently tapped it against the rest. “I sent out a press release that Josie and I were engaged before I asked her. Not only that, but I did it to solve a p.r. crisis for her that had told me to stay out of.” He shook his head as if to ward off the memory. “I was close to losing her.”

But he hadn’t. Both these guys were happy as hell and living the dream with their women. Meanwhile, he was pretty sure he’d made Stephanie cry although she’d beat a hasty retreat out of the kitchen after she told him she’d been wrong to trust him with her heart.

Damn. It.

“This isn’t like that. I’m talking about her safety. Her physical well-being. Besides, I think she’s just using this as a way to leave because she just doesn’t want me in her life full time.” He didn’t bother clinking glasses. He shot the vodka in one swallow and got up to leave, too edgy and frustrated to sit still.

Behind him, he heard one of his brothers give a low whistle. As he banged out the door, he couldn’t be sure which one of them said, “Some guys learn the hard way, dude.”

His brothers meant well, but their advice about letting Stephanie have some say in how he handled things with her security wasn’t going to solve the fact that she could be in danger.

Again.

And he wasn’t about to let anything happen to her a second time, even if that meant losing her forever.

* * *

When a soft knock came at the door of the gatehouse, Stephanie knew it couldn’t be Danny. He wouldn’t knock, for one thing. And if it he did, it wouldn’t be softly. Still, her heart foolishly picked up speed.

Just because her brain knew that things were going downhill fast for her and Danny didn’t mean her heart had a clue. She felt like she had a hole in her chest, the ache there so deep it went right through her.

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