On TV, Call cleared his throat. “Jesse McCall’s private life is private. Right now, we’re focused on the upcoming album and his current tour—”

“Did Ms. Edgington leave him? Did she end the engagement?”

“No comment. We’re adding a second show in Atlanta. Tickets will go on sale this Saturday. These are the kinds of things fans should be focused on.”

“Jesse indicated a wedding this fall. Will that still happen?”

“Nothing has been decided yet except that the new album will be out then and he’ll be in full support of it,” Call snapped.

Oh, he was pissed. Anything that focused media attention away from Jesse’s music and too much on his personal life would not please Cal.

Then the announcer returned, asking in the most lurid voice possible what the truth was and asking viewers to stay tuned while they got to the bottom of it.

Kimber sat back. How had she missed all this? Because she’d been busy making decisions and starting her plans, not watching TV for the last two days.

She shook her head. What a mess! God, she needed some fresh air. And for all of this to die down.

Flipping the TV off, Kimber got up off the sofa, grabbed her phone, and headed toward her dad’s office.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m putting a stop to this crap with Jesse.”

She marched down the hall and plopped herself in her dad’s office chair, booted up the computer, and waited. At the log-in prompt, she typed the password. At the desktop, she opened a web browser and signed into her email account.

Then she began typing. A few minutes and a few quizzical stares from her dad later, she asked, “What do you think of this:

“Mr. McCall and I have chosen to end our engagement, as we’re both focused on our respective careers and other matters. I’m still a great fan and a great friend, and I wish him all the best in future endeavors. At this time, I’m asking for privacy while I pursue this next phase of my life.”

“That sounds good,” her father praised. “Who are you sending it to?” Kimber hesitated. Good question. What was the fastest way for this news to both reach Deke and Luc, while giving the reporters enough so they’d eventually go away?

Suddenly, she smiled. “The world.”

It took nearly an hour, but she drudged up e-mails to every major news outlet she could think of. Then pressed Send.

Two hours later, Kimber sat out on the back patio, enjoying the sunset, despite the summer heat, when her phone rang for the umpteenth time, finally displaying the name and number she’d been hoping to see.

“Luc?”

“Sweetheart, is that really your statement on the news, the one about the engagement being over?”

So he had seen it. And he sounded damn hopeful, too. She smiled. “Yeah.” The question was, had Deke seen it?

“When did you decide to break it off?”

She sent him an ironic laugh. “The night he announced to the world we were getting married without asking me first.”

“He never asked you?”

“We’d talked about it in the past, so he assumed… I called you yesterday to tell you my plans.”

“I hate that I missed your call. I had to take a quick trip.” At the mention of his trip, he sounded…distracted. No, upset. Hmm, something.

“Everything all right?”

“Yes,” Luc finally said after hesitating. “Just something in Louisiana… I—It’s no big… It’s not important. What’s more important is you breaking the engagement.

Tell me, did you call me because you want to come back here, to be with us?” Kimber bit her lip and steeled herself to hear the worst. Luc would welcome her, but Deke…

“Yeah. I was hoping to tell you first.” Her stomach jumped, coiled into unrelenting knots. Sitting here worrying wasn’t going to solve anything. “And that you’d tell Deke and get his reaction.”

“Deke heard the news about your engagement when I did.” Luc hesitated again, this time for longer. “He was furious. He thought you’d said yes to Jesse. Slept with him. Were in love with him.” If he was furious, that meant he still cared, right? “What do you think his reaction will be when he finds out none of that is true?”

“None of it? You weren’t in love with Jesse?”

“I thought I was, before you two. I realize now it was every bit the schoolgirl crush that Deke accused me of having.”

“You didn’t have sex with Jesse?”

“No. No real interest on either part, to be honest. Him because he wanted to keep me a ‘good girl’ so I could save him from his depraved life, and me because…he wasn’t the man on my mind. I didn’t want him.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” Luc’s happiness vibrated across the phone. “You don’t know what a relief that is. What a relief that will be to Deke.”

“Do you think so?”

“Yes. Not that he’ll admit it.” Kimber heard the irony in Luc’s voice.

“Do you think he’ll welcome me back?” Kimber stood and paced across the front porch. She couldn’t just sit and wait for this answer. Too much of her future was riding on it.

“He won’t be able to say no. I think he’s regretted forcing you out the door a thousand times”—Luc paused—“He’s afraid.”

“That he’ll be emotionally vulnerable to me?” Kimber held her breath, waiting for an answer. She didn’t want Deke to feel threatened. But until she figured out exactly what was stopping him from exploring their relationship, she was going to have to go on the offense.

“That’s part of it.” Luc sighed. “Look, Deke’s shutting off the shower now, so I can’t talk long. But he knows that if you come back, he’s going to want to make love to you—in every way.”

“I hope so.”

“Yes, but it’s complicated. Deke isn’t going to be whole until he tells you his story.

It has to come from him.”

“I understand.” Kimber hated it, but she would respect it.

“Will you be back with us tomorrow?” Luc’s voice told her that he wanted her there that quickly.

As she sat under the setting Texas sun, it was stunning to think that shortly after the sun rose tomorrow, she could be back with Deke and Luc, in their arms and in their lives…if Deke would have her.

“I’d love that. I hope that—”

Kimber never finished the sentence. A massive explosion boomed like thunder directly behind her. The force of it threw her down onto the planks of the old wraparound porch, scraping her palms and knees. The phone skittered out of her hand. Heat, as strong as a thousand suns, lashed her back. The ground shook beneath her.

She whirled around in time to see the house burst into a fireball.

“Dad!”

CHAPTER 12

Just under two hours later, Kimber paced the cold hospital waiting room, chewing on a ragged fingernail. God, her insides jumped and shivered so badly, she was about to come out of her skin. She shot another worried glance toward the operating room, where they’d taken her dad.

No one had emerged yet to tell her whether her father was going to live or… No, she wouldn’t think that. Deep breath. Hang tough. Pray.

Good advice, but she kept reliving that terrible moment. One minute she’d been sitting on the porch talking to Luc, the next, her father’s house had exploded with him inside. The fire had been everywhere, she realized in retrospect. That fact hadn’t really occurred to her when she’d run in and found him unconscious, about to be consumed by encroaching flames. Upon finding the doorknob too hot to handle, she’d saved time by simply knocking his chair through the glass door to the backyard and dragging him out.

The firemen who’d responded to the emergency had told her that her dad would never have survived if she hadn’t thought fast and saved him from the growing inferno. But he was injured pretty badly. What if she hadn’t done enough to save him?

Kimber glanced at a long row of empty chairs in the waiting room perched on brownish indoor/outdoor carpet and surrounded by dusty silk plants. No, she couldn’t sit, couldn’t stop moving. Couldn’t stop worrying.

Damn, what had caused that explosion?

Behind her, the automatic doors whooshed open. Absently, she turned.

Luc charged in. Looking harried and worried, he scanned the room and sighed with relief when his frantic gaze landed on her. Crushingly glad to see him, tears stung her eyes as he darted toward her, then enveloped her in warm, strong arms.

With her chin tucked against his shoulder, she inhaled, breathing in comfort, feeling a blessed moment of joy. Then she opened her eyes.

Deke!

He stood behind Luc, blue eyes so dark with concern, their expression damn near resembled panic. His stare delved into her, needing reassurance that she was alive yet offering support all at once. Her stare collided with his, and Kimber felt the impact reverberate inside her, tightening around her stomach and squeezing until she could hardly breathe.

He’d come. He’d put everything between them aside and come to her. Tears spilled over, onto sooty cheeks. Watching her, Deke grimaced as the tears fell, as if seeing her upset was physically painful. She reached out a hand to him. He grabbed it in a fierce grip, then he used it to pull her out of Luc’s embrace and into his.

She crashed against his iron-solid chest, and he hooked a strong arm around her waist. They stood close, body to body. The comforting beats of his heart melted her, and she threw her arms around him, until not even the tiniest bit of air came between them. His solid strength enveloped her, just like his scent, earth and rain and all male.

“Kitten,” he muttered into her hair in a concern-rough voice that rasped across her senses.

Lifting her chin, Luc caught her gaze and diverted her attention from his cousin.

“Are you okay?”

Deke stepped back and watched her face with undivided attention.

She nodded. “I’m fine. My dad—”

Kimber couldn’t finish the sentence without falling apart. A fresh batch of tears splashed onto her cheeks, scalding and painful. A sob wrenched up from her gut.

She tried to be strong. Tried hard. But the reality of this situation made her dissolve into tears. Deke enveloped her against the warm breadth of his chest again. Luc stroked her hair and whispered assurances.

“Shh.” Both men soothed her, and she didn’t know exactly who spoke. But it didn’t matter. With them here, she finally began to believe things might be all right.

“I’m so glad you came. Thank you.”

“We wouldn’t be anywhere else,” Luc murmured, then kissed the top of her head.

Deke dragged her to a chair and sat her on his lap. Luc sat beside him. They both looked at her with such tenderness. Joy lightened her burden for a moment, and her heart twisted with something bittersweet. More tears tracked down her face, and Luc wiped them away with his thumb. Deke’s arms tightened around her.

“What happened?” he prompted.

The interrogation. She knew how these military men operated. They wanted answers, needed to assess the situation. Then they’d act accordingly. She wouldn’t get any more emotional responses out of him until he knew what he was dealing with and if everyone was safe. She had to get her head together and answer him.

Kimber drew in a shaky breath. “I don’t know. A-an explosion of some sort…” She hedged, but she wanted answers, damn it! What had happened? And where the hell were the doctors with the news about her father’s condition?

With a soft palm rubbing up and down her back, Deke soothed her. “After Luc heard the explosion on the phone and you didn’t answer anymore, we hauled ass to your dad’s house. One of the firefighters on the scene was an old army buddy of mine. He said you went into the house and got your dad out?” She nodded.

“Oh my God,” Luc muttered. “The place had to have been engulfed in flames.”

“I had to do it.”

“I know.” Deke’s gravel voice softened, caressed her. “We’re just glad you made it out in one piece. How’s your dad?”

“He-he’s in surgery. They haven’t said anything yet. I don’t know…”

“When did you last eat?” Luc asked.

Who could recall? God, the thought of food revolted her.

“I’m not hungry.”

Luc frowned. “Soda? Coffee?”

Kimber just shook her head. Not now. She couldn’t take anything on her tumbling, topsy-turvy stomach.

Deke grabbed her face in his hands, snagging her attention again. “Where are your brothers?”

Frowning, she swallowed. Damn, her throat hurt. Inhaling smoke had turned her insides raw, like she’d been drinking turpentine. Her lungs ached, but her pain was minor compared to what her dad was suffering. The doctors had already treated and released her.