Page 38 of Just One Look

The tired old joke between the twins had them both chuckling. Maybe it wasn’t that old or that tired.

“I mean it.” She stepped back. “If you two work out, I couldn’t be happier. You hurt her and I’ll slowly break every bone in your… “Uh-oh.” Emily slowly maneuvered around him, her gaze focused toward the French doors. “You-know-who appears to have Liz cornered.”

“What?” He’d never liked Courtney, but after the other day when she was so rude and insulting to Liz, he not only deplored her, he didn’t trust her as far as he could throw an elephant. Following the direction of Emily’s gaze, he located the two women just in time to see Liz stumble and right herself. Narrowing his gaze, he zeroed in on Courtney’s face. “That…”

“Now, now.” Emily patted him on the arm. “Your grandmother has bionic ears.”

Shoving his sleeves up his arms, he began his march across the ballroom, muttering to himself, “I have never struck a woman in my life, but they say there’s a first time for everything.”

Emily scurried up behind him and grabbed his arm just as Courtney face planted. “See? Sis has this under control.”

Stopping in place, Devlin pressed his lips together and held back a laugh. “They do say karma’s a bitch. At least now I won’t have to slug her.”

“There you go, saved by the… “Oh hell.”

“Oh hell, what?” Devlin spun around again, his gaze landing on what Emily had seen. Her arms around Liz, Courtney had yanked Liz’s legs out from under her and now the two women were rolling around on the ground like a couple of troublemakers at the schoolyard. “I’m going to kill her.”

“Oh, no you don’t.” Emily grabbed his arm hard. “This is going to be fun.”

“Fun? Have you lost your mind?” Panic was beginning to make itself at home in the pit of his stomach. “I need to go rescue her.”

“Why would you want to rescue Courtney? She deserves everything she has coming.”

“Not Courtney. Liz.” Her name may have come out a little louder than he’d wanted it to, but Emily had a tight hold on him and he needed to breakaway and save Liz.

The way Emily kicked her head back and laughed—hard—Devlin considered maybe she’d hit her head or something and he hadn’t noticed. Only a mad woman would stop him from protecting her sister. “Believe me when I tell you, Liz most definitely does not need saving.”

He turned to see where the two women had been rolling around on the floor, and debated if Emily would kill him for shoving her out of his way. Legs and boots were flying up, then down, arms were flailing and just as he was about to drag Emily across the floor if he had to, Liz popped up, grabbed Courtney by the wrist and a second later, Courtney was flat on her back.

“See?” Emily straightened her shoulders, a proud grin on her face.

Another moment, and Liz straddled Courtney, a tight grip on either wrist, she had the woman pinned to the ground, and rather than break it up, a crowd had gathered around the cat fight.

“What is wrong with everyone?” While he couldn’t have cared less what happened to Courtney, he didn’t trust her not to pull a sneaky move and actually hurt Liz. He couldn’t stand the thought of Liz getting injured. “Come on.” He waved Emily on. If she followed him or not it was up to her, but he was not letting this fight continue.

“I’m telling you,” Emily scrambled to keep up with his large and hurried strides, “Liz is a second-degree brown belt. She doesn’t need anyone’s help.”

Devlin looked back over his shoulder at Emily. “She’s a what?”

“You heard me.”

The two stuttered to a stop by the pair on the floor. Both women were perfectly still, glaring at each other.

“Need some help?” he asked.

Liz shook her head. “I’m not letting go until this Botox overdosed bimbo promises to behave like a good little girl.”

“There she goes stirring things up even more.” Emily rolled her eyes skyward and sighed. “Absolutely no filter.”

Trying fruitlessly to pull her arms away, Courtney actually growled at Liz.

“See, what did I tell you?” Emily crossed her arms and winked at her sister.

Flat on her back, Courtney looked at Emily then turned her attention to Liz. Her eyes bulged with surprise before a deep frown settled in and she skewered all three of them with an icy glare. “What the heck?”

Chapter Sixteen

Ever since taking a tumble with the barracuda, all Liz had been waiting for was for the party to end and to sink into a soft comfortable chair. Battling it out with another person had been much easier when she was sixteen and there were mats on the floor.

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