“What the hell are you wearing?” Tally asked as he struggled against her.
It was Alex’s guess that Tally wasn’t used to the muscle his sister had developed in the last weeks, so he was unprepared when she slipped her ankle about his foot and pulled. Tally hit the ground hard, but as he fell, he held Cay in a way that kept her from being injured.
“I’m going to tell Mother that you were cursing and Alex made me into a boy.”
Tally looked up from the ground at Alex; Cay was on top of him. “Is this the man that kidnapped you and put you in mortal danger?” When he started to get up, Alex braced himself.
Cay put all her weight on Tally’s left arm, and it looked like she was going to break it. “Who! Who, you idiot!”
Tally stopped struggling and looked at her in consternation. “What?”
“It’s ‘who’ not ‘that.’ Alex is the bastard who stole me and took me into the wilds of the Florida jungle. I can see that you haven’t been studying while I was away.”
“I was traipsing all over the country looking for you, so how was I to read anything?” He twisted his arm out from under her and tried to get up, but Cay threw her body over the top of his.
“You touch him and I’ll make you into a girl,” Cay said as she pushed him down.
Out of the shadows came another young man, one Alex had not seen inside. He had dark blond hair, very serious eyes, and he was handsome, but in a calm way, very unlike Tally’s fiery good looks. In an instant, Alex knew who he was, and for a moment the two of them stood there in the dim light and stared at each other. They’d been corresponding since they were children and they knew more about each other than anyone else did. They had confided things in their letters that they had never told another person.
“No one is castrating anyone,” Nate said calmly as he put his body in front of Alex and looked down at his brother and sister wrestling on the ground.
Cay didn’t hesitate as she got off of Tally and threw her arms around Nate. There was no wrestling, no falling to the ground, and no raucous remarks, just a quiet embrace.
“You’re all right?” Nate asked. “Not hurt in any way?”
“Not at all,” Cay said, standing on tiptoe, her arms around her brother’s neck.
“Did you learn anything on your journey?”
“Everything. And more than that, I drew pictures of it all.”
Nate’s eyebrows rose. “Did you? Where are they?”
“Jamie Armitage has them.”
“What?” Tally asked as he got up from the ground and dusted himself off. “An Armitage is involved in all this?”
“He calls himself Mr. Grady, and he led the trek.”
“How many of there were you?” Nate asked. “And where did you go? Down the St. Johns? What wildlife did you encounter? What—?”
Cay kissed Nate’s cheek. “I think you should talk to Alex about all that. He studied the books and knows the names of everything. I’m going to give the drawings to Uncle T.C. and let him identify the plants.”
“And I guess this is Alex?” Tally asked, still looking as though he’d like to hit him.
“Yes.” Cay moved away from her brothers to stand near Alex. It was all she could do not to slip her hand into his, but she thought that would be too much for Tally to handle. With his hotheaded temper, touching Alex might make Tally start hitting. “Alex and I—”
She broke off when she saw Tally look to his right, down the side of the building, and draw in his breath. Cay looked at Nate, and he gave a brief nod. She didn’t see that he gave another look to Alex.
“He’s here?” Cay asked in a whisper.
“Who’s here?” Alex asked, speaking for the first time in minutes. Only Nate saw the way Alex stepped closer to Cay, as though to protect her from whatever, whomever, Tally was looking at.
But when Cay looked at Alex and shook her head, he stepped back. Nate noted that it had been a silent communication between them, saying that she was safe and he didn’t need to protect her.
Slowly, Cay walked around the side of the building, Alex close behind her. Walking toward them was a big man, as tall as Alex, but with several more pounds on him, and from the way he moved, it was all muscle. Alex instantly knew he was the brother Cay talked about so often: Adam. From what Alex had gathered, her eldest brother was a stern and formidable character, and Alex braced himself. He didn’t care if Adam was her brother or not, if he said even one unkind word to her, if he started to bawl her out, Alex was going to take him on. After all Cay had been through, no one, not even a brother, had the right to hurt her in any way.
Alex watched as Cay stood still and her brother stopped several feet away from them. Alex looked to see if she was so still because she was afraid of him, but he couldn’t read her expression. Alex’s hands made into fists. He might lose a fight with the man, but he’d die protecting her.