The Pride of Jared MacKade (The MacKade Brothers 2)

She wasn't quite so thin as she'd been those last months before he was finally able to collar Joe, Devin thought. Though she still looked as though one careless shout would topple her. A man had to be careful with her. The shadows had faded from under her eyes, but the eyes were still haunted.

He worried about her, and wondered. When the car was gone, he tucked his thoughts away and strolled over to Jared. "Your lady doesn't like me."

Jared gave the bat a last swing. "She doesn't like your badge."

"Like I said—she doesn't like me."

Jared looked toward the porch, where Savannah stood watching them, and felt his heart beat off rhythm. "She's had a rough road."

"I don't doubt it." He'd seen a few miles of it in her eyes. "She what you want, bro?"

"Looks that way."

"Well, then." Devin rubbed his chin in his thoughtful way, still holding Savannah's cool gaze. It would take a hell of a lot more than a shout to topple that one, he mused. "I have to say your taste in women has improved mightily since your timely divorce."

Surprised, Jared leaned on the bat. "I thought you liked Barbara."

Devin snorted out a laugh. "Yeah, right."

"You never said different."

"You never asked me." Devin picked up the ball from the grass, tossed it high, made a one handed catch that would have had Bryan cheering. "I like this one."

Bemused, Jared shook his head. "You just said you didn't."

"I said she didn't like me." Devin's grin was sly and slow. "I find that very attractive in a woman."

Jared had him in a headlock in a blink. Experienced in such matters, Devin overbalanced and sent them both rumbling to the ground.

With the faintest of frowns, Savannah watched them wrestle—much as Bryan and Connor were prone to do. Behind her, Rafe and Regan stepped out of the house.

"Well, hell, they got started without me."

"We're going." Regan took a firm grip on Rafe's arm. "You promised to take me to dinner."

"But, darling..."

"You can fight with them tomorrow. Bye, Savannah."

"Mm-hmm..."

At Rafe's shout, Devin rolled aside and rose, narrowly avoiding the hand that snaked out to trip him. After brushing off his jeans, he jogged down to join Rafe and Regan. He sent one quick salute to Savannah and disappeared into the woods.

"What was that?"

A bit winded, Jared climbed onto the porch. He winced a little and rubbed his ribs. "He got me a couple of good ones."

"Were you playing or fighting?"

"What's the difference?"

She had to laugh. "What were you playing and or fighting about?"

"You. Got anything cold?"

"Me?" She was in the house behind him like a shot. "What do you mean?"

"He said..." Jared let the words trail off, sighed lustily over the icy beer he'd snagged from the refrigerator, popped it open, then drank deeply. "He said he found you attractive, so I had to pound on him a little."