at the cemetery,” Milek added.
Maybe her brothers hadn’t sobered up yet. “Why?” she asked. “Why would they try to kill their own brother and risking hurting their mother, too?” The Payne family had already suffered too much loss, and that loss had brought them closer together, had made them more protective of each other. Not murderous.
“I can think of quite a few reasons,” Milek murmured with a resentful glare in Logan’s direction.
“They weren’t trying to kill him,” Garek explained to her. “They were trying to kill you.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Maybe they actually think your crazy engagement story is the truth and they’re trying to stop the wedding,” Garek said.
Even though it had been Mrs. Payne’s idea, nobody in Logan’s family knew about their fake engagement. And given Logan’s opposition to it, they probably never would.
Garek continued, “But seriously, the Payne family would only act on the boss’s orders.”
“And Logan Payne is the boss,” Milek added.
Maybe he was boss of Payne Protection, but Penny Payne was the boss of her family. And she would never allow any of her kids to hurt her. She knew how much Stacy had already been hurt. And so did her brothers.
They were only trying to protect her. And maybe they had reason to.
She really only had Logan’s word that there had been other attempts on his life—attempts that hadn’t involved her nearly getting shot or blown up, as well. She turned toward where he’d been standing with the ATF agents, but he was no longer there.
Then a strong arm curled around her shoulders and pulled her tight to his side. She didn’t mistake him for one of her brothers this time. She recognized his touch now. Her body recognized it as her pulse quickened. But that might not have been with attraction; that might have only been with fear. She couldn’t, and shouldn’t, trust him. Because, as her brothers had pointed out, his feelings for her couldn’t have changed. He still hated her.
But then why did he hold her so closely, nearly molding her body against his? Just to mess with her? Did he realize how much his nearness affected her?
“Payne, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Garek asked as he glared at Logan with hatred darkening his gray eyes.
She couldn’t trust her brothers, either—because Logan might be telling the truth about the attempts on his life and he might be right about who was behind them.
Instead of ignoring Garek’s impudent question, Logan—equally as impudent—replied, “I’m taking my fiancée home.”
She barely managed to contain her shock. He’d been adamant that his mother’s plan would never work, so why was he playing along now? Or was he only playing—just amusing himself by aggravating her brothers?
Garek tensed and bristled like Cujo when he saw a cat or a small dog or a squirrel. His upper lip curled, he barked back, “She is home.”
With the stairwell blown off the side of the building, it didn’t look much like home. But she could still access her second-story apartment through the inside stairwell.
“The ATF agents haven’t cleared the building yet,” Logan said. “Nobody’s going to be allowed inside until they make sure it’s safe.”
“I—I should stay,” she said, hoping to defuse the tense situation between Logan and her brothers, “while they do that.”
“But even if the ATF agents declare your place safe,” Logan said, “you’re not.”
She shivered.
“You would know,” Milek bitterly muttered.
Logan nodded as if in agreement with her brother. Apparently, he hadn’t picked up on the deeper meaning. “Neither of us is safe until we catch the person trying to kill us.”
Was that why he was acting like her fiancé? Had he decided to use their fake engagement to try to find their would-be killers?
“Us?” Garek snarled the word. “You and Stacy are not an ‘us.’” And her brother reached for her, clasping her arm to pull her from Logan’s grasp.
Cujo growled in protest, echoing the sound Logan had made low in his throat. His arm tightened around her shoulders, holding her against his side. And the dog stepped in front of him to protect them both from men he had never accepted as alpha males or friends.
“That damn dog likes you?” Milek asked, amused. “That dog doesn’t like anybody but Stacy.”
“That’s not true...” But it absolutely was or at least had been.
Logan reached his free hand down and patted the dog’s head. “It’s obviously not true,” he said. “But then not much of what you guys say is true.”
“You self-righteous hypocrite!” Garek stepped closer, but the dog growled louder and bared his teeth completely. So the man stepped back.
“He’s not,” Stacy defended Logan. She believed that Logan thought he’d been doing the right thing, that he’d been getting justice for his father.
“This is ridiculous,” Garek said. “I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you but it sure isn’t love.”
Milek studied them through narrowed eyes as if he was beginning to have some doubts that their engagement was fake. Maybe he’d remembered accusing her of having a crush on Logan during their father’s trial. “Garek, you’re not exactly an expert on love since you’ve never been in it.”
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