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 Do you know what we are? Any semblance of friendliness slipped away from her manner.
 Yes, ma am. The smile he held in reserve was gone now.
 Do you think you can live with that? Keep our secret?
 Yes, ma am. He felt like a bug pinned on a board. Or a sheep surrounded by wolves, which was a
better metaphor. The bug was already dead. The sheep had time to contemplate getting ripped to shreds.
 Can you keep her safe?
 I ll do my best.
 Your best wasn t good enough last night, from what I hear. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears
and Mr. Moreau growled, low and menacing. Conn swallowed.  She s not indestructible. She can be hurt.
 Yes, ma am. I know and I d do everything in my power to stop it. His words were a vow. Never
again would Blair shed blood on his behalf. Not if he could do anything about it.
 You re setting out to fix it now?
 Yes, ma am.
 And once this is taken care of, what do you plan to do with my daughter?
 I& I&  Well, this was embarrassing. He hadn t thought so far ahead yet. Keep her safe. Keep her
close. What did that lead to?
 You don t sound too clear. Do you have plans for my daughter? He felt the larger weight of Mr.
Moreau behind him. The man was no giant, but he cast a big shadow.
 I& 
Blair chose that moment to come out of the bedroom, dressed in jeans again, but dark and slim. Her
form-fitting black T-shirt showed off the deceptively subtle muscles in her arms. Black boots laced halfway
up her shins, and with her hair loose and flowing in waves over her shoulders, she looked sexy and slightly
sinister. Powerful.
Conn had known all along her occasional submissiveness was a game for both of them, but it wasn t
until this moment that he truly realized she could have knocked him on his ass any time she chose. It was
stirring and slightly humbling. In any case, he was proud to be the one to whom she chose to submit when
she felt like it.
He stood when she came into the room.
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Sela Carsen
 Mom, have you been bothering him?
 Of course not, honey. Maddox tells me you were hurt last night.
 It was no big deal. I wish Debra hadn t hiked all the way out there, though. Is she all right?
 She s fine. A little achy today, but no contractions.
 Thank goodness.
Mrs. Moreau rose to her feet she was compactly built, but he decided right then that he wouldn t be
the one to cross her and Blair bent to hug her.
 You take care of whoever hurt you, then hurry back. Your young man hasn t answered all my
questions yet.
 Mom!
 I m just doing my job, said Mrs. Moreau.  And your father is doing some truly inspired looming.
He felt like a kid picking up a date while Dad cleaned his rifle in the living room. Blair took his hand
and led him out, and he let her.
 Your parents are kind of scary, he said once they were in the car.
 You think?
 I started out practicing criminal law. I know from scary.
She smiled. He was not comforted.
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Chapter Eight
They pulled up in front of the Cotesworth Construction offices and sat for a moment. When Conn
turned the engine off, the silence was deafening.
 We have absolutely no proof he was at the house last night, he said.
 We have some, but very little that would stand up in court. Anyway, proof would only matter if, say,
we wanted to bring him up on charges. Is that where you re going with this?
His jaw turned to stone.  Jail isn t going to accomplish what I want.
 What do you want, Conn? That was the key question here, and she was surprised at how much she
wanted to hear his answer.
 Aside from you?
She smiled. So far, so good.
 Yes, aside from me.
 I want& I want to not be the whipping boy anymore. I want to not be hated because my mother made
a bad decision. But I know I don t have any control over what other people think. His hands were wrapped
tightly around the steering wheel and she ached for him. She couldn t imagine being an outcast in her own
family.
 So since I can t get those things, I ll settle for them leaving me the hell alone. When I was a kid, I
tried to please them. When I came back, I tried to ignore them. Now, I want them to stay away. They don t
want the house. They just don t want me to have it. I can t believe they went so far as to try to have me
killed. I guess it s time to show them who s the big dog here.
 Woof.
He grinned and the lines around his eyes crinkled appealingly, but then he got very serious.  You.
You don t go in there. You stay here where it s safe.
 You must not be as bright as I think you are. Unless he carries a nail gun in a shoulder holster, I m
perfectly safe.
His brows were drawn together and she leaned forward to kiss the little line bisecting his forehead.
 How about this? I ll follow your lead. If you want to play it close to the vest, I can do that.
 And if I don t?
 Then he ll wish he carried a spare pair of tighty whities with him.
Finally, the smile he d been holding in came out.
Sela Carsen
He held the door open for her as they entered the office. A blonde woman looked up at them and
stared blankly. Her desk was decorated with photos and memorabilia of her past as second runner-up in the
Miss Lower Richland County pageant. Blair wondered if she d put it on her resume.
 We re here to see Aubrey, said Conn with a professional smile. Bimbo smiled back and preened for [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]