Page 37 of Hero Unbound

If she decided to tell him.

But yeah, that stuck in his craw a little because he really did want to know what caused that haunted look in those green eyes way too often.

Lincoln reached behind him and slapped him on the back of the head. “You’ll know if you’re meant to know?What kind of Morpheus-meets-hot-yoga bullshit is that?”

Theo chuckled. “You know what I mean.”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine. I don’t necessarily agree with you, but I respect you enough to let you handle this the way you see fit. But are you going to go over there and talk to her, at least? Rather than drool from over here like you have been for the past two hours?”

Eva spun around on the dance floor, stumbling just a little bit, and laughing. The four women had expanded their group to include a few more local ladies. A couple of men had tried to get Eva to dance with them, but she’d kept her smile on her face and pointed back to the women, letting them down gently.

“No, she’s having fun. Laughing and carrying on.” And it looked so damned good on her. “I’m just going to watch like a good little stalker.”

“I don’t think she would mind if you went over there. Even I’ve caught her glancing over at you a few times.”

“Nah. I don’t want to be a buzzkill. God knows I’m not the funnest.” And she deserved to have fun. Something told Theo Eva Dempsey hadn’t had much fun in the past few years.

Lincoln grinned. “I think you’re the funnest. And the goodest-looking.”

“In that case, maybe you and I should date.”

“Maybe we should. Maybe—” Lincoln broke off, looking over at the far end of the bar. “You okay over here by yourself? I need to go deal with something.”

Theo followed his friend’s gaze, surprised to see him looking at a woman by herself at the end of the bar. She was looking back at Lincoln.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Are you sure you’re not the one needing backup?”

“No. At least, not right now. I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”

Lincoln was beelining toward the woman, ignoring the people—both men and women—who tried to engage his attention on the way.

Lincoln was not only truly thegoodest-looking, he was damned near a celebrity, not that he either knew or cared about either. But his popularity was one of the reasons he stayed up in his own house so much. Every time he came into town, people wanted his attention. Wanted his picture. Ladies wanted to go home with him.

But evidently not this lady. When she saw Lincoln’s approach, she deliberately stood up and walked away.

Theo chuckled at that. No wonder Lincoln was interested.

He turned his gaze back to Eva and her group. Something was going on. Becky looked upset and had rushed off the dance floor, Ella following her. A man had seen his chance in whatever had broken up the gaggle of women and had stepped in to try to get Eva to dance with him.

She still had a smile on her face, but Theo could tell this one wasn’t real. Hell, this was the smile he saw on her face most of the time when he saw her. After a couple of hours of seeing a real smile, he found the fake one no longer sat right with him.

He was out of the booth and walking toward them before he could finish the thought.

“No, I definitely don’t need another drink,” Eva was saying to the man as Theo got within hearing range. “I think I’m done drinking for tonight.”

“Even better,” the man responded. “Why don’t I give you a ride home?”

“No thank you. Not tonight.” Her smile was slipping further.

“Oh, come on. No need to be that way. I’m a friendly guy. I can—”

Theo didn’t hesitate. He muscled his way right between Eva and the man. Her green eyes got bigger as he stepped into her personal space and cut Friendly Guy completely out. “Dance with me.”

“I—” She looked over his shoulder then nodded. “Yes.”

Theo slipped one arm around her waist and pulled her against him.

“Hey!” Friendly Guy whined. “I was talking to her.”

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