She watched Courtney’s gaze flicker over the two as Ian watched in amusement.

Courtney’s lips pressed together as the waiter placed the water before her and Ian ordered wine. As he retreated, she leaned closer to Jaci and hissed, “Whose idea was Carlyle’s?”

Jaci pointed to Cam with a subtle shift of her finger.

“Remind me to make you pay for this.” Courtney glared at him.

“Undercurrents, undercurrents.” Jaci smiled. “What the hell is going on?”

“The bastard dared to threaten Sebastian and Ian,” Courtney huffed, ignoring Ian’s warning look. “Chase should have told you. I am certain Ian informed him of it.”

Her accent was thicker and her eyes glittered with ire.

“Sometimes they neglect to tell me things,” Jaci told her calmly. “I’ll discuss that with them later.”

Courtney smiled at that, the gleam in her eyes turning to one of immense satisfaction as she glanced at the twins. “I gather they haven’t exactly met the wrong side of your shoe, as of yet?”

Jaci only smiled, carefully keeping her gaze from turning to Chase and Cam as the waiter returned with the wine.

She stewed over their obvious machinations. The pure arrogance in bringing her here just pissed her the hell off and, she admitted, deeply worried her. Cam had been willing to let the subject of the Robertses slide earlier, just as she had wanted him to. Needed him to. And Richard had destroyed that.

Threatening Sebastian wasn’t a good idea, and it was obvious he had pissed off the wrong woman when he made Courtney angry. Jaci knew Courtney. The fiery temperament could turn brutally cold and vengeful.

It was Cam and Chase who worried her now. They were . . . stealthy. Dangerous. She could see it and feel it in them now, where she hadn’t earlier in the evening. She hadn’t been looking for it. Cam especially had a way of hiding his anger when he needed to. It made him more dangerous, and she had a feeling it could make him more merciless.

Just what she needed, Cam in a merciless mood while Richard and Annalee were in the same room.

She sipped at her wine as they waited on the meal, chatting with Courtney and Ian, and doing her best to ignore Cam and Chase. It was hard, because both of them insisted on flirting with her.

After the meal was finished, the dance floor on the other side of the room darkened and the haunting strains of the band whispered around them.

Chase leaned close. “Dance with me?” he asked.

She sniffed at the thought. She had no desire to dance with either of them. She wanted out of here as quickly as possible, before years of planning were destroyed.

She had known what she had to do to declaw the Robertses, and it was just her misfortune that Cam and Chase had to be right here in Virginia at the same time. She could have used just a few weeks advance notice, she thought furiously.

“You can dance with me or you can dance with Cam,” he said then. “And we both know how Cam gets when he has questions, don’t we sweetheart? You’ll fare a hell of a lot better with me.”

She stared back at him mutinously, only to have him grip her hand and pull her from the table. Short of causing a public scene, she had no choice but to follow behind him.

“This is called force,” she pointed out, careful to keep her voice low, as he pulled her against his chest and gripped her hand in his.

He grunted at the accusation. “It’s called the better part of valor,” he argued. “Cam’s getting tenser by the moment. Better to give him something to focus on for a while, other than Richard Roberts.”

And he was focused on her. She could feel his eyes stroking over her, and when she caught a glimpse of them, it was to see his expression flicker with a subtle sensuality. He had no problem seeing her in his brother’s arms, that was a certainty. And it turned her on. Turned her on enough that she let her body relax, let herself give in to him.

She felt his erection pressing against the soft silk covering her lower stomach.

They moved around the floor and she glanced over at Cam. He stared back at her, shadows moving around him, intensifying the hunger in his eyes.

“He watches you like a wolf watches his mate,” Chase murmured in her ear. “He always has, Jaci. Since you were sixteen years old and he dragged your ass out of that first party. Do you know, each time his leave was up he would make me swear to watch after you?”

She shook her head. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from Cam’s. She didn’t want to. Right here, she could feel Chase’s hard body against hers, his arousal heating the air around her, and Cam’s need reaching out to them.

As Cam watched, the music changed. The soft, slow tune became faster, almost Latin, a sexual mix of music filling the air.

And he knew what was coming. His teeth clenched, his body tensed as Chase pulled Jaci into his arms and swung her into a sensual, hip-rubbing rhythm. A simple routine, but sexual, sexy. He turned her to him, turned her against him. Her hips swung, brushed Chase’s and Cam felt his dick harden in his pants.

Chase loved dancing to the Latin beats, and Cam knew Jaci loved to dance. Her expression became sensually distant. Her gaze stayed locked with his whenever possible, her body moved and she teased. She teased Chase. And she was teasing him.

Jaci felt the blood pounding in her veins as Chase’s hands slid down her sides then up. His fingertips brushed the rounded curves of her breasts, then slid to her hips, turned her, caught her. He pulled her to one side, to the other, her lower stomach brushing his erection with each swing of her hips as he lifted her arms with his, turned her again, brought her back to his chest and she made certain she teased.

She rubbed her ass against him, watched Cam, and let him see, know her pleasure. With each look, with each move of her hips she gave him a sensual view into the pleasures they shared, letting him see her pleasure, letting him experience it.

His gaze never left hers; his expression never wavered in its sensual, sexual demand.

As Chase turned her again, twined her arms around his neck, the music shifted once more, slower, a whisper of sex and a throb of lust. She moved against him, forward, backward. When she stared into his eyes, she saw Cam’s. As she buried her hands in his soft black hair, it was Cam’s. She touched Cam, and she desired this too sexy, too dark brother of his.

“You know what we’re doing?” His lips quirked as he watched her. “Cam’s going to be insane for you, Jaci.”

“That’s what we’re doing,” she admitted, staring over his shoulder, seeing Cam’s shadowed face, his eyes, bright, lit with wicked hunger.

“Not the way to gain what you’re looking for.” Her lashes fluttered as his lips touched her neck. Pleasure was a cascade of color behind her closed lashes, it was an ache, a need, it was the thought of one man and his touch, and the knowledge that another man could spur her pleasure as well.

When she looked at Cam again, it was to see him moving, striding to them, his expression dark, forbidding, laced with lust and with need.

Chase stepped back, gave her a mocking grin, and Cam took her in his arms. His hands gripped her hips as the beat of the music grew slower, even more sensual. It was like making love in public. It was like touching and being touched, finally having a part of him, just to herself.

He stared into her eyes, he held her to him, and they swayed, rocking to the music, and Jaci felt herself coming alive for him.

“I love you, Cam.”

His expression tightened, his eyes darkened. “I love you, Jaci.” He pulled her closer, tucking her head to his chest, holding her, moving with her. “I love you.”23

23

Once they returned to the table, Jaci and Courtney escaped to the ladies’ room. She wasn’t unaware of the fact that Cam followed behind them until they entered the inner sanctum. He was watching her, protecting her. He was blowing all her plans to hell, and she knew it.

Making use of the facilities, Jaci and Courtney repaired makeup, waited, and watched until one of the few lulls in occupation in the room came.

“What the hell is going on, Courtney?” Jaci hissed as the last woman pushed through the heavy oak door.

“I don’t know, Ian won’t tell me everything.” She grimaced. “All I know is that Chase called, and then Ian retreated to his office without me. He refuses to tell me what was said, but he’s very concerned. I assume it has something to do with those detestable Robertses.”

Courtney leaned her hip against the counter. The radiant, deep red, silk-and-lace dress she wore complemented her dark skin and long hair. She looked as wicked and wild as she was, until Jaci looked into her eyes again.

“Jaci, something’s not right with this whole situation,” Courtney whispered. “Whatever you’re doing, you can’t do it alone. Cam simply isn’t going to allow it.”

She didn’t have a choice but to do it alone.

Shaking her head, she checked her appearance once again, smoothed her hands down the little black dress she wore, and thought of the man waiting outside for her.

“They were acting strange after Chase arrived at the house,” she admitted. “I thought they were getting ready to fight again.”

“They always fight.” Courtney waved that away with a flick of her fingers. “Chase always pushes Cam for answers and Cam always pisses him off by refusing. This is normal, from what Ian says. But there’s something added now, Jaci. Especially tonight. Cam’s attitude makes me remember the stories Ian told me, that Chase related to him, of when Cam was in the military. He was merciless. He has that look in his eyes tonight.”

Yes he did. Along with the hunger was the sheer anger that she had glimpsed only once or twice, and twice was enough. It was savage, and always directed toward the Robertses’ table.

He couldn’t have found out the truth of that night. The Robertses and their primping, sluttish secretary certainly wasn’t telling, and she knew Moriah would never tell. There was no one else who knew, no other avenues for Cam and Chase to learn the truth. And if they did know, they wouldn’t be watching her like junkyard dogs, they would have already taken the Robertses apart.

“Dammit, Courtney, I need to know what’s going on!” she whispered fiercely. “I have my own plans, my own way of dealing with this. But I have to do it right.”

“Good luck,” Courtney said, with a moue of irritation. “Those men, once they band together, they tell me nothing. And Ian is the worst. He is worse than the clam. Refuses to open his mouth and tell me things I wish to know.”

Jaci almost laughed at that—almost, because right now, Ian’s silence was making it harder to take care of things herself. She needed to know what Cam could know.

“If you hear anything, will you let me know?” Jaci asked her.

“Of course, no matter Ian’s wishes,” Courtney agreed. “But heed me well, my friend, he’ll say nothing.”

“But anything I tell you is fair game?” Jaci sighed.

Courtney bit her lip in indecision, then breathed out roughly. “Your pain would upset me greatly, Jaci. Because of this, I would share whatever you told me with Ian. And we both know, if it’s bad enough, he will tell Cam and Chase, no matter my wishes. They are men.” She shrugged as though that explained everything. “And he believes this situation is dangerous to you. You are a friend, but even more, you are like family, because of Cam. Ian feels it is his duty to be protective.”

“Being men is not a good enough excuse.”

As the words slipped past her lips the door opened and several women filed in, laughing, chatting about the food and the band.

Biting off a curse, Jaci checked her makeup quickly, then she and Courtney moved back into the wide hall.

Cam, Chase, and Ian. All three waited stoically, their expressions as patient as only men who were waiting on women could be.

“Now, why would men who have so much in common to discuss wait for two women outside the ladies’ room?” Courtney smiled at her husband, shaking her head in exasperation. “You are being bad with these boys, Ian.”