No White Knight

He’s talking to Blake intently, Holt gesturing with his hands in jerks that catch my eye.

His hands are big but graceful, like they’re made for hard work—sculpting raw granite and marble into works of gorgeous art or wrenching metal into fine filigree sculptures.

Maybe he doesn’t do anything that fancy, but there’s a style I’ve noticed on the sites he’s built, this detail and craftsmanship that turns something rugged into something as elegant yet strong as the hands that made it.

And Holt’s such a hand talker, always gesturing to make his point. It’s a second language adding another dimension to his words.

While he’s talking to Blake, he’s glancing at me.

Intently. Deeply. And it’s not those hot, wicked gazes he gives off when we’re working around the ranch, either, but it doesn’t mean there’s no heat in it.

Here, it’s more like warmth.

Heat and warmth may seem pretty close, but let me tell you…

When a man’s looking at you like he’s reaching deep down to caress your trembling heart and watch you sigh with all the gut-clenching feeling of it?

There’s a hell of a big difference.

I gotta look away before I embarrass myself.

Ducking my head, I run my fingers through my hair.

Felicity cracks another knowing grin.

“He’s not my—well, okay, so what if he is?” I huff at her. “So damn what?”

“Girl, men don’t look at women that way unless they’re thinking about staying.” Fel leans against my truck, watching me curiously, then glances past me at Holt. “Never realized how much he looked like Blake until now. For half brothers, they aren’t much alike on the surface, but there’s something in their expressions.” She smiles slowly. “That’s exactly how Blake looked at Peace, y’know—right before he married her.”

Ahh!

I make a choked sound, and I swear the air temperature goes up some fifty degrees.

Suddenly, I’m boiling.

“Felicity Randall, don’t you dare put thoughts like that out in the wild. We’re just fooling around. Nothing crazy.”

Ha ha, right. I’m such a bad liar.

“Are you?” she asks mildly. “Then why are you blushing like a beet?”

“Because you’re being ridiculous,” I spit.

And because Holt already said I’ve got his heart, and I want to believe him so bad, but I’m scared to admit that to anyone else when they’ll just look at me with pity for being another dumb little girl falling for his wicked ways.

They’ll just look at me like I’m a fool.

For falling in love with him.

Ugh. I can’t think about this right now while we’re standing outside Fel’s livelihood in shambles and one big, threatening, MIA asshole still breathing down our necks.

So I just give her a little shove, and she pushes me back, grinning.

Seriously.

I still don’t know how she’s smiling after the night she’s had.

“You need a ride home?” I ask. “You’re not too shaky to drive, are you?”

“I’m fine,” she promises. “You worry too much, Libby.”

“You’re my friend. I’m gonna worry.” I bite my lip. “Listen, just in case, how about I follow you home in the truck? Never know, they might double back. Or if it was personal, they might’ve hit your house, too.”

There’s the weirdness passing over her again.

It’s like, whenever I say certain things, she’s remembering stuff she doesn’t want to.

Sometimes I wonder what happened to Felicity when she left town.

Ever since she came back, she’s been different.

All those nasty rumors that she was sleeping around with Dennis Bress for money before he passed, and then the close calls with her cousin and an untimely end only added fuel to the fire.

I can’t put my finger on it since I didn’t know her too well before then, but she changed somehow.

And I wonder if this break-in is my crap raining on her parade…or her old chickens coming home to roost?

She only shakes her head, smiling. “No need. I’m fine. But if it’d make you feel better, okay.”

“It would.” I squeeze her arm for a second, then pull away. “Be right back.”

Holt smiles when he sees me coming, leaning in to murmur something to his brother before stepping away.

“Felicity okay?” he asks as I draw closer.

“She’s taking it pretty well, considering. I’d be ready to commit a freaking homicide.” I smile tiredly. “But I’m gonna shadow her home just in case. Make sure she’s safe and locked down tight. You wanna come?”

Holt glances over his shoulder at Blake, running a hand through his thick black hair and ruffling it up. “I’m gonna stay here with Blake and see what I can suss out. He’ll give me a ride back. Don’t worry about me.”

“Okay,” I say—before letting out a startled sound as he hooks an arm around my waist.

Holt gets me with that easy strength every time, the way he just casually pulls me in like I don’t weigh more than a feather, pressing me against his tall, firm body, letting me feel every hard edge of his frame…and there’s a lot of hardness to go around.