“Gracie?” She turned at the worry she could hear in Wade’s voice. “It’s going to be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Smiling, though Gracie was sure it fel a little flat, she said, “I know. After al , you’d be a lousy bodyguard if you did.”
“This is it? This is the market?”
Gracie sat wedged between Wade and Jonas, staring at the
old brick building through the windshield of Wade’s pickup truck. She’d been in there so many times. “God, it looks so normal, so harmless.” She closed her eyes tight, as if by doing so she could make it al just go away.
When she opened them again, nothing had changed, of course. “How could a man capable of running me off the road, breaking into my apartment, and tearing apart my things possibly work with people as kind as Charlie and June? It’s inconceivable.”
Wade wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pul ed her in close to his side. His lips pressed against the top of her head as he growled,
“Don’t try to make sense of it, baby. That’l just drive you crazy.”
“Besides,” Jonas added, “this could be a dead end. Right now, we’re just checking out a lead.”
Gracie looked up at Wade and saw that his face was tight with concern. She glanced over at Jonas and witnessed the same worry in the lines of his forehead and the set of his jaw. The knowledge that both men cared about her, wanted to make this easy on her, warmed Gracie’s heart. She wasn’t alone. She wouldn’t be going in there meeting her nightmare by herself. And for that she felt like the luckiest woman alive.
Gracie unbuckled her seat belt and cupped Wade’s cheeks in her palms, then brought his head down for a light kiss. “Thank you for being here with me,” she whispered. Looking over at Jonas, Gracie smiled. “Both of you.”
“Hey, how come he got a kiss and I didn’t?”
“Find your own woman, Phoenix.” Wade’s low rumble had the ability to curl her toes.
“I tried,” Jonas grumbled, “but you had to go and play the big brother card on me, remember?”
Wade slammed his palm down on the dash at the reminder that Jonas wanted Deanna. “Someone other than my sister, damn it!”
Jonas cursed under his breath.
Gracie snorted. Neither man was seeing the obvious. If Deanna chose to date Jonas, no one would stand in her way. As far as Gracie could see, bul headedness ran in the Harrison family.
She patted Wade’s thigh and tried to steer them back to the nasty task ahead of them. “Let’s get this over with. You two can argue later.”
“There’s no argument,” Wade groused, as he unbuckled his seat belt. “It’s settled. Jonas can save his depravities for someone who’s not my sister.”
Jonas chuckled and opened the truck door. “You just don’t like the idea that she might actual y like my depravities.” He stepped out and closed the door. When his words registered, Wade exploded.
“I swear if he goes anywhere near Deanna, I’l castrate him!”
“Wade?”
“What?” he answered, his gaze never leaving Jonas.
“Deanna is a big girl, and Jonas isn’t that bad from what I can see. Would it be so horrible if they hooked up?”
“Yes.” His gaze glittered with icy menace as he watched Jonas through the windshield.
And that, Gracie supposed, was that.
Wade slung his door open and left the truck, then turned and grabbed her around the waist and helped her down. “Come on. It’s time to see if our friendly neighborhood market is into hiring crazies to stock their canned goods.”
26
The bel s above the door tinkled merrily as Gracie entered the little market. Wade held the door, his body close behind her with Jonas in front.
They were both in military mode. She could see it in the way they had her boxed in. Both men were quiet and watchful. Gracie rol ed her eyes.