Page 31 of Queen of Diamonds
“I love it. I have a good eye for what sells, and that’s not something you can really teach. It would be perfect if the owner’s son would keep his hands to himself.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she knew she shouldn’t have let that slip. Three pairs of eyes went stone-cold, giving her a glimpse of how dangerous these men could be.
“But I can handle him,” she hurried to add.
“You shouldn’t have to.” Nate exchanged some kind of silent message with his brothers, then said, “What’s his name?”
“None of your business.” The last thing she needed was three FBI agents meddling in her life. Even so, warmth spread through her that they wanted to protect her. She wasn’t alone anymore.
Alex snorted. “Nice try, little sister. It will take us less than ten minutes to get a name.”
She met Nate’s gaze straight on. “I’m sure he’s right, but don’t. It’s my life and my problem to deal with.” For good measure she shifted her gaze to Court and Alex to include them.
“On one condition,” Nate said. “The day it goes beyond what you can handle, you tell one of us.”
Court nodded. “The thing you have to remember, Kinsey, is men like that don’t take no for an answer. Better you tell us when it starts making you uneasy than to let it go too far and we have to kill him.”
She choked on the water she was swallowing. “You’re kidding, right?” Of course they were. They were federal agents and couldn’t just go around killing people. Could they?
“Probably,” Alex said, grinning at her.
Although Nate wasn’t smiling, there was amusement in his eyes, and she realized they were messing with her. She was going to have to get used to their odd sense of humor. How did they see her? Was she more or less than what they’d expected or hoped for? She wasn’t comfortable enough to ask, but she realized that it did matter. She wanted them to like her.
There was something else she wanted to know that had been on her mind since she’d met them. She’d wanted to ask last night but decided it might be an uncomfortable discussion to have in front of their wives. They might not like the question, but she needed to know. She hesitated, though, not sure how to ask.
“If there’s something you want to know, just ask,” Nate said.
She blinked. Was she that easy to read?
Alex chuckled. “He’s omniscient. You might as well get used to it.”
“Now that’s scary.” She didn’t like to think anyone could read her mind.
“Tell me about it,” Alex said. “He spoiled all my fun growing up. He knew the mischief I was about to get into before I did.”
Nate smirked. “Still do.”
“Truth.” Alex glanced at her. “Back to what you want to ask but are afraid to.”
The waiter arrived with their lunch, giving her time to get her thoughts together. Her brothers were sharing an extra-large pizza that smelled delicious. She took a bite of her Greek salad, trying to ignore the tantalizing aroma of cheese and pepperoni.
Without asking, Nate put a slice onto a plate and slid it over to her. “You know you want it.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Get out of my head, big brother.” Both Court and Alex laughed, and she grinned at them. “Is that how to handle him? Just dig my feet in and don’t let him steamroll right over me?”
“Good luck with that,” Court said. “It never worked for us.” He glanced at Alex, getting a nod. “But quit stalling, little sister. What’s on your mind?”
She really liked how they kept calling her their sister. Yes, she did have a question, and what did she have to lose? She’d already figured out if they didn’t want to answer, they wouldn’t. “I get that you didn’t know about me until recently, but why didn’t you try to find my mother… our mother once you were adults?”
All three of her brothers sat back in their chairs while Court and Alex looked to Nate to answer. Was it that hard of a question?
Nate dropped the last half of his slice of pizza onto his plate as if her question had destroyed his appetite. He looked sad—they all did—and she wished she could snatch her question back. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to answer.”
“You deserve to know,” Nate said. He met her gaze straight on. “I’m not making excuses, but we were just boys, conditioned by our father not to question anything he said. We each had a part of the puzzle of why our mother left us, but to protect each other from what weassumedwas the truth, we didn’t share what we knew until recently. That is my one regret. If we had, we would have realized much sooner that she had a precious life to protect. You.” He dropped his napkin on the table. “I need to get back to the office for a meeting.” He looked at Court and then Alex. “Make sure she gets safely back to work.”
Confused, Kinsey watched him walk away.
“He’ll never forgive himself for believing the worst of our mother,” Alex softly said. “We all should have known better.”
Court pushed his plate away. “Alex was too young to understand anything, so the blame mostly goes to Nate and me. I thought she was pregnant with another man’s baby because of a fight I overheard. Our bastard of a father accused her of being a whore. He beat her in an attempt to make her miscarry. At first she denied his accusations, but then in an effort to get him to stop, she admitted he wasn’t the father. It wasn’t until recently that I understood she was only telling him what he wanted to hear.”
