Crazy for Her (7 page)

At the mention of her name, the suited man gave her a curious look. Who was he? Relief flooded her when Logan said he was only worried about her reaction to the damage to her car. Needing to touch him, she lightly rested her palm on his shoulder. When he didn’t wince, she let her hand remain there. He had several cuts on his face and arms, but thank God they seemed to be superficial.

“Bloody hell, Logan, I don’t care about the damn car.”

Logan gave a half smile and looked at the other man. “She writes historical romances, thus her liking for words like ‘bloody hell.
’
”

The man grinned. “My wife reads them. Sometimes she reads a paragraph or two out loud. You romance writers sure know your stuff. I’ve had some interesting evenings thanks to you and your like.”

Dani laughed. Logan was okay, and everything in her world was right again. “Dani Prescott,” she said, offering her hand. She liked this man, whoever he was. She guessed him to be nearing forty, possessing alert, watchful eyes and a sense of humor.

“Kevin Langley, Detective, Asheville Police Department.”

“Oh.” Why had a detective responded to a car accident?

Logan rubbed his head. “Sorry. I should’ve introduced you two.”

Dani studied him. He didn’t look good. His face was pale, and his eyes didn’t seem quite in focus. “Shouldn’t you go to the hospital?”

“No reason,” Logan said, and stood, only to sway.

She slipped under his arm to help support him. One thing she had learned from Evan, these blasted SEALs had their pride. As expected, he tried to push away, wanting to prove, she was sure, that he could stand on his own.

“Please, I’m attached to you for my sake,” she said. “You scared the daylights out of me.”

He sagged against her. “All right.”

She turned to the detective. “I won’t be able to sleep tonight worrying about him. You’re a cop; can’t you make him go to the hospital? Jared and I will follow the ambulance and bring him home if they say he’s okay.”

Logan’s protest was miniscule, telling her she was right to insist he get checked out. “Where did they take the Cherokee?” she asked Langley. Logan and the detective shared a look she didn’t much like.

“Show her,” Logan said.

Reluctantly letting go of Logan, she followed the detective to the edge of the drop-off, where down below her Jeep rested nose first in a creek. A massive tree branch dissected the car in half.

“He could have died.” The detective caught her when her knees gave out. He let her slide down the side of his body until her butt planted itself firmly on the ground, and then he sat next to her.

“But he didn’t, Miss Prescott. The branch punctured the airbag, and he thinks his head hit the steering wheel. Seems a black Ford truck came up behind him and pushed him over the edge.”

Oh God. Oh God. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and pressed her forehead against her knees. Because of her, Logan had almost been killed.

“So you have no idea who this character is?”

Dani lifted her head and stared down at her car. Whoever he was, he had meant to kill Logan. “No, but I wish I did. I would kill him myself.”

Langley chuckled. “I didn’t just hear that. Can’t say I blame you for wanting to, but you need to leave catching the perp to the police.”

“Logan’s not going to sit around twiddling his thumbs waiting for you to catch this guy.”

“That doesn’t surprise me, considering who he is.”

“He told you?”

“This morning when I had the gall not to take him as seriously as he thought I should. Don’t get me wrong. I believed him, but your boyfriend thought I should make this my top priority.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“If you say so. Anyway, Kincaid’s got top-secret clearance and knows things that would give me nightmares. Add to that, he’s got access to the kind of toys my department doesn’t even bother dreaming about, they are so far out of reach. So yeah, to some extent, I’m gonna look the other way where your ninja boy’s concerned.”

He glanced down the ravine at her Cherokee. “Whoever this nutcase is, he upped the stakes with this little stunt. But, Miss Dani, if your not-boyfriend so much as puts a scratch on this character except in self-defense, I’ll throw his ass in jail. I’m trusting you to see he toes the line.”

Like she could stop Logan from doing whatever he thought necessary to protect her. Keeping the thought to herself, she put her hand on the detective’s shoulder and levered herself up.

“For now, all I care about is getting him to the hospital. He needs to have a doctor look at that bump on his head.” She brushed off the seat of her jeans and returned to Logan’s side.

Dani sat beside the bed and sipped a cup of coffee. She’d insisted Logan take her bed as there was a comfortable chair in her room where she could keep an eye on him. A vanilla-scented candle burned on the night table, allowing her to see his face. Considering the kind of work he did, a mild concussion was probably nothing to him, but it scared the hell out of her.

She mentally reviewed the things she needed to watch for. Thankfully, there had been no sign of nausea or slurred speech. She chuckled. His speech had been perfectly fine when he’d declared he had no intention of spending the night in the hospital. He’d claimed his head hardly hurt, but knowing Logan, if he would admit that much, then he did have a headache.

“Are you going to sit there and stare at me all night?”

Startled, she spilled hot coffee on her hand. “Ouch!” She set the cup on the table and wiped her hand on the afghan spread over her lap. “You’re awake.”

Sitting on the edge of the bed, she placed her hand on his forehead. No fever, thank God. Was fever a symptom? Crap, she should have gone into nursing. “How do you feel?”

He reached up and turned on the bedside lamp, squinted when the light hit his eyes, and turned it back off. “I’m fine.” The doubt must have shown on her face because he added, “Really.”

“He tried to kill you.” She shuddered at the thought of a world without him in it. She had lost Evan; she could not lose Logan, too.

Pushing himself up against the pillows, he took her hand. “I’m still here, aren’t I?”

His hand, so big and strong, comforted her. He knew things—was trained to vanquish enemies. He would not leave her.

“Logan,” she whispered.

“Mmm?”

“Would you hold me?”

He pulled her to his bare chest. The light dusting of dark hair tickled her nose as she burrowed her face against his skin. He had showered when they arrived home, and he smelled like the bay-rum-scented soap she kept in the guest bath. God, how she missed the feel of strong arms wrapped around her and couldn’t resist snuggling up against his side.

The burning candle cast flickering shadows on the ceiling and over his face. Set on low, the soft swish of the ceiling fan and the beat of his heart beneath her ear were the only sounds in the room. If he weren’t injured, she would have tried to seduce him. Since that wasn’t going to happen and she was too keyed up to sleep, she wanted to talk. Would he tell her about his life if she asked?

“Is your mother still alive?” The silence stretched and she thought he wasn’t going to answer. Then the hand at her back started to move, slowly caressing her as he began to talk.

“No, she died three years ago, and I may sound like a coldhearted bastard for saying this, but it was a relief.”

“Why?”

His hand stilled and his chest rose as he sighed. He obviously didn’t like talking about his mother, but Dani hoped he would continue. She also wanted him to keep rubbing her back. His hand started moving again. “That feels good,” she said.

“Are you sure you want to hear this? It’s not a pretty story.”

She lifted her head and looked at him. “Please.”

He held her gaze for a moment and then pressed her head back down on his chest. “My mother was the town drunk. Not satisfied with only one title, she also claimed the distinction of being the town whore. It’s a toss-up as to which she did best.

“She brought home men who smelled so bad I had to scrub the stench from the walls after they left. She brought home men so drunk they passed out and fell on their face before they could get between her legs. Those were my favorites because I could just drag them outside and dump them on the street. The worst were the ones I had to protect Maria from.”

The marvelous Maria? “Who’s Maria?”

“My sister.”

“Oh.” The degree of happiness she felt at this news surprised her. Thinking that she had been jealous of his sister, she bit down on her bottom lip to keep from smiling. God, the adjectives she had assigned the poor girl. Dani sat up and tucked her legs under her. “Tell me about your sister.”

“I don’t usually talk about her. Not because I’m ashamed of her, but because she’s special. There was no one on my SEAL team I wanted fantasizing about her. If they knew about her, they would want to see a photo. Once they did, they would’ve drooled on it, and I would’ve had to kill them.” He grinned, but she was sure he was dead serious.

“Would you show me her picture sometime?”

“Go in my room and get my wallet off the dresser.”

Dani scrambled off the bed, grabbed his wallet, and returned, handing it to him. He opened it, removed a photo, and then turned on the lamp. The girl staring back at Dani was drop-dead gorgeous. Long dark hair fell over her shoulders and down her back. Her eyes were almond shaped, her cheekbones high, and her full lips parted in a beautiful smile. But it was her black eyes sparkling with humor and mischief that told Dani she would like this girl.

“I see why you didn’t want to show this picture to the guys. They would’ve driven you crazy wanting to meet her.”

“Buchanan and Turner have met her. It was impossible to keep her a secret once they came to work for me, but I made sure they knew the danger of thinking of her as more than my sister.”

“How old is she?”

He took the picture and looked at it, his eyes turning soft and loving. “Just turned nineteen. She’s a sophomore at Florida State.”

“So, it’s just you and Maria?” She wanted to hear more about the two of them. From what he’d said, they hadn’t had an easy life.

“Yeah. I have no idea who my father is or Maria’s. They were probably Navy men since Lovey Dovey mostly worked the bars surrounding the naval air station. When I was fifteen, there came a day when there was no milk in the house for Maria. A baby needs milk, so I tried to steal some at the convenience store near my house. I got caught by the owner. It was the luckiest day of my life. Mrs. Jankowski grabbed my hand and marched me home to discuss my sticky fingers with my parents. She took about thirty seconds to assess the situation before appointing herself my and Maria’s guardian angel.”

“What happened then?”

He chuckled. “She gave me a choice of going to jail or coming to work for her. Not knowing a fifteen-year-old would likely be turned over to social services and not sent to jail, I chose her. She kept Maria supplied with milk, put me to work in her store, and taught me the meaning of honor.”

Fascinated, she asked, “So, you adopted her as the mother you wished you had?”

A fond smile curved his lips. “Something like that. She was a taskmaster, giving no quarter. As soon as school was over, I had to go home, get Maria, and bring her to the store. Mrs. Jankowski set up a little play area in her office for Maria, and as soon as we arrived, I sat at her desk to do my homework. Once it was done, she looked it over, and if it met with her approval, I was put to work. I swept floors, carried out trash, stocked shelves.

“At first I hated her. No one had ever made me do my homework before, but about two months into my captivity, miraculous things began to happen. Science started to get interesting, turned out I had a knack for math and languages, and geography was fascinating. My grades went from failing to average to above average to the day when I got my report card and stared in amazement at all the A’s.”

“Mrs. Jankowski sounds like an incredible woman. Is she still alive? I’d like to meet her someday.”

He smiled and Dani studied the man who had made something of himself in spite of all the strikes against him. Tears burned her eyes. What a sad, lost little boy he must have been before his savior rescued him and his sister. And then to discover his talents, grasping onto learning everything he could from his studies as a means to escape his environment. He had transformed himself from a throwaway kid to her Renaissance man. Oh God, he wasn’t hers, she didn’t want him to be, but she could easily fall for him.

That scared her.

He wasn’t a sweet, lovable bear-of-a-man like Evan. He was hard and unyielding—arrogant. There was nothing sweet about him. But, merciful heavens, she wanted him. He made her pulse race and her body want. It was lust, that was all. Lust could be assuaged.

His hand came up to cradle her face. “Someday, perhaps,” he said as his thumb slid gently across her bottom lip.

Someday what? Lord, the man had the ability to steal her wits. Hypnotized by the desire she saw in his gaze, she lowered her mouth to his. His eyes darkened as his arm wrapped around her back, pulling her hard against him.