Page 23 of Between Love and Honor

THE DISHWASHER ENDED up taking Ben closer to fifteen minutes to fix. He was wiping his hands on a towel when his sister ambushed him.

“Tell me that isn’t Quinn Darby at your table?”

Rather than answer, he snagged a crab puff from the tray of a passing waiter and popped it in his mouth. With a shrug of his shoulders, he headed back toward the dining room.

“What is she doing here after all these years?” Rebecca called after him.

“No idea. But when I find out, I’ll be sure and let you know.”

She followed him to the deck. “Don’t you dare let her break your heart again.”

Her plea had him stopping in his tracks and turning to face his older sister. Only two years separated them, but since the death of their father nearly twenty years ago, Rebecca had been as much of a mother to him as their actual mom. It seemed she wasn’t ready to relinquish the role despite the fact he had reached the ripe-old-age of thirty-one.

He brushed a kiss over her forehead. “So many women concerned over the safety of my heart. I’m a very lucky man.”

“Must you be such an obtuse ass?”

“Hey, this obtuse ass just fixed your dishwasher. Again.

You’re welcome, by the way.”

She pulled him in for a hug. “Thank you. For always being there for me. I’m so glad you settled into a career where the greatest injury you can suffer is carpal tunnel. I have enough stress worrying about Rich every day.”

He gave her a reassuring pat on the back. Sometimes what his family didn’t know couldn’t hurt them. “You can take me off your list of people to worry about, then. I can take care of myself.”

Wearing an expression full of doubt, she released him.

“I’ll be the judge of that.” The bartender waved her down.

“Go back to your friends and enjoy Milo’s fabulous food.”

“Rebecca,” he called after her. His sister glanced back over her shoulder. “I love you, too.”

She replied with a smile before shooing him away and heading in the direction of the bar. Ben weaved through the maze of diners, arriving at the table he’d left fifteen minutes earlier to find Christine and her partner on Josslyn’s detail making their way through a plate of beef Wellington while Adam was feeding oysters to his fiancée.

It was the absence of one of their party that had the back of his neck tingling, however.

“Where’s Quinn?”

Adam looked past him. “She’s not with you?”

The tingling felt like a full -fledge vise grip now. “No. I left her here.” He glared at Adam. “With you.”

“Whoa there, Bennett, if you intended for me to keep tabs on her, you should have given me a damn heads-up,” Adam snapped as he shot to his feet.

Josslyn jumped between them. “Boys! She said she was going to freshen up.”

“When was that exactly?”

The four exchanged uneasy looks. “Right after you left,” Josslyn finally answered. “Agent Groesch checked out the ladies’ room a few minutes ago, but she wasn’t there.”

Ben swore violently.

“We assumed she was with you, though,” Josslyn continued. “I figured I’d made her uncomfortable with the pressure to photograph our wedding somehow and she didn’t want to be left alone with us.”

“She wasn’t with me,” he said.

Anger squeezed his chest. How could he have been so stupid? She’d been playing him.

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