This one, hell, he didn’t want to move. He wanted to stay right here; he intended to stay right there.

Dragging the comforter from the other side of the bed to pull over them, he tucked his head against the top of hers, his fingers burying in the wealth of silky hair now splaying out behind her.

Those curls were like living silk. Springy, so damned soft it was only rivaled by the feel of her flesh, and warm. Just as she was. And he refused to allow himself to consider how dangerous she was to his control, to the lock-down he’d placed on his emotions. He couldn’t let himself consider what the result of this night could do to his soul if he wasn’t diligent enough, careful enough to ensure Zoey’s protection.

He felt his lips quirk as she moved, coming closer to him, flowing against him until she was close enough that not so much as a breath could slip between them.

He liked that. He liked it too much, he knew, and when it came time to move, to separate himself from her, would he be able to do it?

He would have to.

He couldn’t stay.

He couldn’t keep her.

That last thought as he slipped into sleep had his chest clenching in regret.

He had a feeling, if he wasn’t careful, nothing would matter more than keeping her. That holding her forever could easily become his only thought, his only desire.

And both their downfall.

SIX

Zoey Mackay stood at the edge of the water as the small waves lapped at the bank, mere inches from her bare feet. With her legs bent, her arms wrapped around them, her chin resting atop her knees, she watched as the sun began to descend along the top of the mountains surrounding her brother, Dawg’s, home.

She could hear the voices behind her, many raised in laughter as the Mackay family, relations and friends, came together. The family reunion grew every year. And it seemed to last longer every year as well.

Dawg’s sprawling backyard was filled. Tables laid out with every food imaginable, the smell of hot dogs grilling, the sound of children playing in the pool rather than romping in the shallow water close to the bank, echoed around her.

The pool was safer for the kids, Dawg had remarked.

Not to mention a hell of a lot cleaner.

It was the usual sounds of the Mackay yearly get-together, and once again, Zoey found herself on the outside looking in.

She’d been on the outside looking in since they’d arrived in Somerset. Never quite comfortable. Never quite certain when her past would catch up with her, when it would destroy her life and hurt everyone she loved.

She’d tried, she thought. She’d tried to fix it, but the price had been far too high. She couldn’t fix one betrayal by creating another, could she? She couldn’t betray her brother, her cousins. Her sisters. That was the price of freedom, and realizing that she couldn’t pay that price was destroying her.

“Hey, munchkin. What are you doing out here by yourself?” The question came as bare feet stepped up beside her, the ragged edge of a pair of men’s jeans brushing against the sand.

“Nothing. Just watching the sun set.” She moved to get up.

“Please don’t, Zoey.” Dawg touched her shoulder as he moved to sit next to her, his larger body dwarfing hers. “Here, have a beer.”

He extended the chilled bottle as Zoey turned to him warily.

“Thank you.” Accepting the bottle, she turned back to the lake and took a sip before sitting it on the sand next to the nearly full beer her cousin Natches had given her earlier. That bottle was sitting next to the soft drink Rowdy had brought her.

What was up with all the drinks anyway?

“You know,” he sighed, long minutes later, “when you and your sisters first arrived at the marina, I had a second I wished Chandler was still breathing so I could kill him myself. Especially when I saw you. All that wariness and fear in your eyes . . .”

“Do we really need to go over this, Dawg?” She sighed. “We’re here, we’re safe. It’s over.”

That usually managed to get him to back off. At least for a few months.

“Yes we do, little girl, and by God, this time you can give me the courtesy of looking at me while I’m talking to you,” he ordered, his tone lowering, darkening, causing her to jerk around and stare at him in surprise.

This was not the gentle giant she was used to. Dawg never spoke sharply to his sisters. Ever.

“What did I do?” She frowned back at him.

Dawg wiped his hand over his face before staring back at her, the firm, commanding look giving way to a loving exasperation that always made her feel as though she had no chance of measuring up.

“You didn’t come to me,” he answered then, and for a second she saw a flash of pain in his eyes. “Even your sisters come to me when they need me. But when it was important, you didn’t do that, Zoey.”

God, no. He couldn’t know. There was no way he knew.

She jumped to her feet, aware that he was moving just as quickly. So quickly that as she moved to rush past him, he still managed to get to his feet and catch her by her arm. Gently.

“Let me go.” Pushing the words past clenched teeth as she refused to look at him, Zoey fought back the anger, the betrayal she’d kept a handle on for a year now.

“Why didn’t you come to me, Zoey?” he questioned her, the command in his tone once again. “Why didn’t you tell me what was going on instead of hating us . . .”

“Is that what you think?” Jerking away, she turned on him, anger still a force that raged through her with such strength she had no idea how to contain it sometimes. “Do you think I hated you, that I blamed you somehow?”

Confusion flickered across his expression. “I would have helped . . .”

She laughed, a broken, bitter sound that caused her brother to flinch. “What would you have done, Dawg? What do you think you could have done?”

“Zoey, what have we done to you?” He gentled then. Reaching out, he pushed back a heavy fall of curls that trailed down the side of her face, until he could meet her gaze fully. “What have we done, baby sister, to make you think we’d not protect you?”

She trembled at the question. She couldn’t stop the tears that filled her eyes or those that overflowed to run down her cheeks.

“I love all of you,” she tried to reassure him. “You haven’t done anything. Nothing is your fault.”

“Why not tell him what you did, Zoey?”

Dawg jerked around, dragging her behind him as his big body blocked hers from the sight of the man stepping from the tree line.

Elegant. So handsome he made her heart break every time she saw him. The one man she’d prayed she could avoid just a little while longer.

The day of reckoning was here, though. She couldn’t hide from it any longer. She couldn’t fight it any longer.

He may have betrayed her. He may have lied to her in the worst possible way, but it was her fault. She had no one else to blame.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered at Dawg’s back, laying her forehead against him as a sob tore through her. “I’m so sorry, Dawg.”

“Doogan, what the fuck are you doing here?” The sound of his voice was savage, like a predator determined to protect its offspring.

“Ask your sister, Dawg.” Doogan’s voice was quiet, intent. “Ask her why I’m here.”

“Dawg, do we have a problem?” Natches asked the question.