“Damn straight. I’m not blind.”

Unbelievable. Trace straightened. “Jackson—”

Jackson laughed at him. “Look, Trace, I get the whole big-brother routine, I really do. But you know I’m not an idiot. I’m well aware of what Alani went through and I wouldn’t do anything to pressure her.”

“You have her on hold? Right now?”

“Yup.”

“She’s willingly talking with you?”

“If she didn’t want to, she’d hang up, right?”

Interesting. Far as Trace knew, Alani wouldn’t look at any guy, but she was putting up with Jackson? Grudgingly, he said, “Fine. But Jackson, if she tells you to back off—”

“I’ll back off. Now give it a rest, will you? I don’t like to keep a lady waiting.” He disconnected the call.

Not quite sure how he felt about all that, Trace dropped the cell phone on the seat between them. He stared straight ahead, his thoughts jumbled.

“So. Jackson and your sister, huh?”

He could hear Priss’s smile even before he looked at her. How she could smile right now, he had no idea. He shrugged. “Maybe.”

“I told you so, didn’t I?”

Teasing, too? Trace reached for her hand, and found her fingers to be icy cold. The day was warm, so he knew she wasn’t as indifferent as she tried to pretend. He decided to divert her. “What’d you do with your toys?”

“Toys?”

He nodded toward her purse. “That cell phone stun gun, the barbed key chain.”

“Oh, those.” She peeked at him. “I figured you wouldn’t be fooled.”

“You still have them?”

She put her head back against the seat. “Since I didn’t get a chance to use them…yeah.”

“I’ll take them off your hands.”

“Why?”

Because he didn’t want her to keep reminders of the day.

And he didn’t want her playing around with dangerous gag weapons.

If she needed protection, he’d damn well protect her. But it wasn’t the time to lay all that on her.

“Better to have them destroyed than to run the risk of someone later finding them, and maybe tying you to the scene.”

Her hand squeezed his, and she said faintly, “And the deaths.”

Trace kissed her knuckles. “Exactly.”

She nodded agreement. “So…Alani.” She turned toward him again. “You two are close?”

“Very. We always were, but especially after my parents died. She’s eight years younger than me, so I’ve been sort of a stand-in parent as well as a brother.”

“Eight years younger, so that makes her…?”

“She recently turned twenty-three.” Too damn young for Jackson. Unless…unless Jackson was the one she wanted.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Priss told him. “But she’s not much younger than me. Definitely not a child.”

“No.” Losing both her parents had forced her to grow up quick. “She’s been throwing herself into her work. After what happened, with the abduction I mean, I wanted her to take some time off, but she said that she needed to stay busy.”

“That’s what I’d do.”

No. Priss would go after the one responsible. Trace had to give thanks that Alani had the good sense to leave the destruction of bad guys to him.

“She’s an interior decorator or something, right?”

“Yes.” Trace brushed his thumb over Priss’s knuckles. Other than Dare, he hadn’t talked with anyone about Alani. But talking to Priss felt right. “I backed her financially and helped her get set up, so she owns her own design business. She can set her own hours, but instead of taking it easy, she puts in fifty-hour weeks or more.”

That amused Priss. “So even though you’re rich, and even though you’ve probably done your best to spoil her, she still has a great work ethic.”

Pride swelled inside him. “I tried to give her every advantage, yeah. But she’s still grounded.” Still very sweet and unspoiled.

Like Priss. She’d never had anyone to spoil her, but that would change now. Her mother’s fear had handicapped her upbringing, depriving her of so much. Trace had the means to give her a taste of everything she’d missed, and then some.

He was due a little time off. Unless Dare or Jackson needed him, he’d be free to dedicate plenty of attention to Priss. That decision was as much for him as it was for her. Even in the middle of chaos, he wanted her. Maybe with enough alone time, he’d finally be able to blunt the sharp edge of need.

But probably not. And truthfully, he was starting to enjoy the way she made him feel.

AFTER DROPPING HER OFF to “visit with Molly and Dare” earlier that day, Trace had left her. He hadn’t specified where he was going, or when he’d be back, but he’d already been gone for hours.

Dare was working in the yard, and Molly got a phone call from her agent, so Priss decided to swim in the lake. Chris and Matt were already down there, and the animals—including Liger—had joined them. With the sun so bright and the sky so blue, a swim just might cool her temper.

It wasn’t that she needed Trace’s constant attention, but she resented the secrecy surrounding his absence today.

For two months now, they’d spent the better part of each day together. Trace woke her with kisses, held her while she slept, and between those times he alternately made love to her and treated her to one adventure after another.