we’ll hardly ever see him around here again.” The thought was so painful it physically hurt her stomach.
“Yeah, that’s what he told us.”
Jade’s gaze flew to Sam. “Told you what?”
He shrugged, a handsome lug of good intentions and impeccable character that she felt absolutely no zip, no zing for—not the way Ty kept her emotions all riled up.
“Ty’s working on his Plan.”
“Plan?”
Sam shrugged. “His life goal. Short list. One, settle some good friends of his—bosom buddies—in BC to tempt the local population of females.”
Jade felt her back stiffen. “Go on.”
“Two, see his dear friends happily married, with babies, to stifle Robert Donovan’s evil plan to turn BC into a concrete wasteland—a project already under way with Donovan in the process of bidding out parcels he owns to various government contractors.”
“Let me guess. You and Frog and Squint are the bait for Ty’s grand vision.”
“And Justin.” Sam grinned. “Justin was first, but he took so long to get down to business that Ty began to worry. So he brought the three of us along.”
Alarm bells rang inside Jade. “Well, wasn’t that thoughtful of Ty. And three?” she asked sweetly.
“Three is to clear his father’s name. The murder that was never solved was pinned on his father’s incompetence, and that’s something Ty also lays at Donovan’s door. He’s convinced Donovan had a plan to oust his father as sheriff and bankroll the election of his handpicked pawn of Satan, as Ty puts it.” Sam reached for her hand again, going back to the place where they’d been before Ty had butted into their booth.
But they couldn’t go back, because once Ty had leaned up against her side, invading her space and her every sense, she’d felt herself slipping. And now that she was hearing of the perfidy of his Plan—who did he think he was, anyway, bringing in men to charm the ladies, as if the BC women were simply a herd of goats—she was really annoyed.
“Fourth, and finally,” Sam continued, “the last part of The Plan is for Ty to make it into BUD/S, get his Trident and spend the rest of his days, as long as he can, in every far-flung locale of the world, chasing bad guys. Setting his brothers free.” Sam looked thoughtful. “In another life, I do believe Ty would make the perfect assassin. He likes the loner lifestyle. Says he’s most at peace when he’s alone. Probably because he’s adopted, is his theory.”
Jade was stunned. She pulled her hand from Sam’s, took another sip of her water to calm her racing thoughts. “That doesn’t make sense. Ty was never alone. He was part of our family.”
“But that’s not how my brother feels. In his mind,” Sam said, pointing to his own head. “Ty says he’s alone. Got no family, got no one. Says it suits him fine. He was born alone, plans to die alone.”
“Is that so.” Jade hopped to her feet. “Well, I have something to say to Mr. Loner Spurlock about that. If you’ll excuse me, Sam.”
Ty Spurlock had another think coming if he thought his Plan was going to work on her. It wasn’t—and he wasn’t going to zip out of BC under cover of night and leave without her telling his majesty what a nonsensical dumb-ass he was.
This is one lady Ty’s going to find it’s impossible to bait.
“Hello, Ty,” Jade said, astonishing him because she’d arrived at his booth with something on her mind, judging by the compelling grip she had on his sleeve. “Could I speak to you privately for a moment? Outside?”
Ty glanced at Squint and Frog. “Fellows, I’m being called to duty.”
They raised mugs of root beer to Jade. “When duty calls, a gentleman always answers,” Frog said.
“If there was a gentleman around,” Jade replied, and Ty thought he heard a bit of an edge in the darling little lady’s voice. He followed her outside into the bright sunlight, having no choice, really, because she’d let go of him only once he’d left his booth.
Following her was no hardship, since he got to surreptitiously watch that sweet, heart-shaped fanny of hers move ahead of him in a determined locomotion of female-on-a-mission.
Sam must have dropped the ball somehow and upset his conquest. Ty couldn’t remember seeing Jade so steamed before, the results of her temper obvious by the lack of a smile on her face and the light frown pulling her brows together. Poor Sam. Nice guy, but a bit too beta male—gentle, sweet, bearlike—for a heart-stopper like Jade.
It was known that women went for the alpha male, the bad boy in boots, which was something Justin Morant, Squint Mathison and sometimes Frog had in abundance. Okay, maybe not Frog; he was pretty beta as beta males went, somehow mellowing after life in the navy. Ty had worried about bringing Sam Barr along for The Plan, fearing he was too easygoing and nice and free-spirited—almost hippielike in his approach to life—then figured maybe BC had a librarian or a kindergarten teacher who might be looking for a plainspoken, existential bear of a man who wouldn’t raise her blood pressure.
“Ty Spurlock,” Jade said, stopping so fast in the middle of the pavement that he had to reach out and grab her to keep from knocking her down, “who do you think you are?”
He registered soft female and sweet perfume in his arms before he reluctantly released Jade. “What do you mean?”
“I know all about your stupid Plan. And it really is stupid!”
He grinned. “Sam has a big mouth.”
“And you have a big head!”
Ty laughed. “Aw, Red. Don’t worry.” He tugged her back into his arms for a hug disguised as brotherly, but which was just an excuse for him to hold her again. “I didn’t leave you out. There are plenty of men to go around.” He hesitated, lost for a moment in the scent of peachy shampoo, and the feel of soft curves wriggling against him, before he started to give her a good, brotherly knuckle-rubbing on her scalp. Then his hand suddenly arrested as he realized the knuckle-rub wasn’t as satisfying as he’d thought it would be.
Holy crap, she felt good. And sexy as hell.
Jade kicked his ankle, a smart blow he felt even through his jeans and boots. He released her, surprised. “What was that for?”
“You think you’re so smart.”
“Look, Jade. There aren’t enough men in this town, you know that. The ladies outnumber us four to one or something. Or ten to one. I’m just trying to do the right thing.”
She gazed at him, and he could see disgust heavy in her eyes. “I don’t want you doing the right thing for me. Your right thing. Leave me out of The Plan.”
He shrugged. “Sweetcake, if you don’t like the goods, don’t buy them. But it looked like you might like Sam a little bit, from where
