Mastered by Malone (Haven, Texas 6)

“No, I don’t know her. Jesus, Alec, I can want to help her without having an ulterior motive.”

Not in his world. Well, that wasn’t true. That wasn’t the world he’d grown up in. The world he now lived in was very different. When he ventured into Haven, the town closest to the ranch, he was surrounded by people who looked after one another, without any expectation of anything in return. It still baffled him. He found it hard to trust their motivation. This idea that the women of Haven would be protected and watched over at all costs. Tha

t people would turn up to help a neighbor in need without any expectation of payment in return.

His default setting was always to see the bad in people. When you’d lived the way he had, it was hard to see the good.

“Then what?”

“I like Mike, he’s a good guy.”

“So, you’re asking me if I can house some girl with a huge target on her back just because her cousin is your friend?”

Jardin sighed. “He’s found her once. She needs help or she’s dead.”

“That’s a big fucking favor, putting my family in danger to protect a girl we don’t know.” He wasn’t buying it. There had to be more to it. Jardin liked to act like shit didn’t touch him, but he wasn’t that much of a good Samaritan.

Family always came first. Before anyone or anything else.

Family . . . his blood ran cold. “How do you know this detective?”

Jardin’s eyes narrowed. It was the only sign of emotion. But it was enough. “He’s the detective who found Lottie.”

Fucking hell. No wonder Jardin felt like he owed this guy something. Lottie was his only sister. Hell, she was the only Malone female to be born in three generations. She was special. And any one of them would die to protect her. About two years ago, she’d been kidnapped while on holiday. She’d been found, beaten and terrified but alive two days later. They all owed this detective.

Jardin looked him in the eye. “Forget I asked. It wasn’t fair of me. I’ll find some other way to protect her.”

“I’ll do it,” Alec said. He could keep this girl safe. He had no ties to her. As long as whoever brought her here didn’t have a tail on them, there was no reason anyone would come looking for her here.

“Yeah?” Again, there was just a sliver of emotion from the other man. Relief, this time. Tarred with a hint of worry. “You sure?”

“I’ll have to tell them,” he warned Jardin. “They’ll need to be on high alert.” Fuck, it just might be what they needed to keep them focused for a while and out of trouble. Give him a bit of breathing room to get some shit done around there.

Jardin grimaced. “Jesus, do we have to tell them?”

“Don’t you think they’ll notice a woman living in the house? Unless you expect me to keep her locked in her room.” He pretended to consider that. “Not a bad idea. Easiest way to keep her safe.” And out of his hair. Fuck. Why was he agreeing to this? Some strange woman in his house. A woman bringing trouble with her.

“You can’t keep her locked in a room. How do we get them to keep their hands off her?”

“Guess that’s up to her now, isn’t it? My brothers would never force a woman.”

“Of course they wouldn’t. They’d just charm her into bed and then kick her out the next day when she started to bore them. Because they have short attention spans. And then where does that leave her? Stuck here for another two months with no way to get away from them.”

Alec sighed. Why him? “Fine, I’ll make sure they know she’s off limits.”

“Let’s hope they’ll listen. I’m starting to have second thoughts.”

“Jesus, will you stop whining. You brought this up because you know I can keep her safe. I’ll keep them away from her. So, just be grateful.”

“And will they keep her presence here a secret?”

“They know how to keep their mouths shut. They learned that young. Especially when it comes to fucking family shit.”

“You have such a way with words.”

“Hey, we can’t all have degrees from some fancy college, city boy,” Alec said, putting on his best ol’ boy Texas drawl. “We jus’ be poor hillbillies here.”

Jardin ignored his sarcasm. “You sure about this? I know I’m asking you to put yourselves at risk for a stranger.”