“Logan —”

“I can’t take care of a teenager.”

“Logan —”

“No, Grace, you don’t understand.” He swallowed hard, and I found myself struck dumb by the fear in him. All this time I thought Logan MacLeod feared nothing, was intimidated by no one, was somehow untouchable. It was unnerving to see him vulnerable. I didn’t like it. For some absurd reason, it made me want to fix his situation. Which was probably why I was in this position. He glanced away, running a hand over his short hair. “A few years ago, aye, maybe I could have done this. But I’m not that man anymore.”

That’s when I think I understood.

Logan MacLeod had been in prison. So who was he before that? And how much had it really changed him?

“It must have been difficult,” I said. “Being punished, treated like a criminal for merely protecting your family.”

His eyes hardened. “Don’t. Don’t you do that. Don’t you do what she’s doing.” He pointed to the wall that adjoined my flat. “Don’t glorify the situation.”

He wanted my bad opinion? Well, that didn’t make sense. I remembered how he jumped down my throat when we first met, and I knew now that he thought I was aware of his time in prison. Back then he misunderstood and he was pissed off at me for judging him and thinking badly of him. Now he wanted me to think badly of him?

Confused, I shrugged. “I guess I really don’t know what the situation was. But I do know what Maia’s situation is, and I’m fairly certain she’s your daughter, Logan. She deserves better than what she’s got. Right now better is you.”

He squeezed his eyes closed and kind of collapsed on his armchair. After taking a minute, he looked up at me. “I could call my parents and ask them to take her in.”

“No, you bloody will not!”

I jumped, startled as Shannon stormed into the sitting room, her eyes sparking with anger. My eyes rounded slightly at the sight of the man following her into the room. I almost blushed, he was that good-looking. No one should be that good-looking. Although much like Logan in the scruffy, tattooed department, his masculine beauty was bordering on perfection. He was the kind of man I usually got tongue-tied around. He gave me a nod of acknowledgment before settling behind a very unamused Shannon. He put his hands on her shoulders and squeezed lightly, silently offering her support.

“Shannon, what the hell?” Logan said.

“If you didn’t want me here, you shouldn’t have called me to tell me about your long-lost daughter.”

I shot Logan a questioning look.

He sighed. “When I stopped for petrol, I phoned her.”

Shannon’s eyes softened when our gazes met. “Hi, Grace. Thanks for being here. This” – she patted the arm of the supermodel behind her – “is my fiancé, Cole.”

“Nice to meet you.” He held out his hand and I noted the leather bracelets and aviator watch he was wearing, along with the chunky silver ring on his middle finger. He was that guy. Cool, tattooed, can-pull-off-man-jewelry guy. I tried not to blush and failed as I shook his hand.

“Nice to meet you too.” I smiled shyly and turned quickly back to Logan.

His eyes were narrowed on me.

“Back to what you just said,” Shannon snapped, dragging her brother ’s intimidating gaze off me to her. “Like hell are you sending your own kid to our parents. You’d do a much better job yourself and you know it.”

Logan got to his feet. “Since when are you anti-parents again? First you ask me to walk you down the aisle; now you think I’m better parenting material than them? I thought we were over this.”

“Over this?” Shannon whispered, and something in her voice, in her eyes, made me tense. Cole heard it too and pulled her back against him protectively. “They abandoned me when I needed them the most. They blamed me for what happened. I may play nice to keep this family together, but I will never forget what they did. And neither should you. Is that really what you want for your own daughter, Logan?”

Suddenly I found myself finding kinship with another MacLeod girl in less than twenty-four hours. I didn’t know the details, but I was smart. I could put it together. It sounded like their parents blamed her for her own assault, for whatever asinine reason. But I’d been there. I got it.

I wanted to reach out a hand and tell her so.

Luckily for Shannon, she had the gorgeous Cole at her back, and the fierceness in his eyes as he held her told me he would take down anyone who tried to hurt her. I felt an ache in my chest and realized sadly that it was envy. I slapped my conscience for the unjust feeling. If anyone deserved happiness with a good man, it was someone who had gone through what she had.

“I’m not saying they’re perfect,” Logan said, appeasement in his tone. “But they did raise us. I’m not ready for this, sweetheart. I’m just trying to get my life back together. I’m not set up to be a dad to a teenage girl.”

“Then you need to get ready,” Shannon advised, her chin jutting out stubbornly.

Logan scowled. “That’s easy for you to fucking say.”

“Hey.” Cole’s voice held warning, as did his eyes.

Logan wasn’t fazed. “Don’t ‘hey’ me. You both waltz in here and it’s obvious you’ve got grand plans for me as a dad, but I’m trying to tell you I can’t do it.”

“Who are you?” Shannon jerked away from Cole to get in her brother ’s face. “Because I don’t recognize this guy.”

“Don’t come into my house and start,” Logan warned softly. “You’ve known about this five seconds and you’ve clearly not given it proper thought.”

Shannon didn’t even flinch as her brother towered over her, all bristling and angry. I was so impressed by her. “I know what you told me on the phone. I know that there’s a ninety-nine-point-nine-percent chance that this girl is yours, that she looks like me, that she’s my niece, and that we’ve missed out on being there for her for fifteen years. I know she’s been stuck living with a junkie of a mother, and I know there’s a possibility that she’s been through hell.” She touched his arm, pleading.

“She deserves a chance. You both do. And we deserve a chance to have a say in where she stays. She’s my family too.”

Logan jerked away. “You’re not even listening to me.”

“Logan —”

Before I could stop myself, I stepped in, cutting her off. “There’s a greater issue here.”

All three of them stared at me as if I had all the answers. I tried not to turn red with embarrassment under such expectation. “The greater issue for Maia is being with her father.” I locked eyes with a resistant Logan. “Maia chose you, Logan. If you abandon her when she needs you… Believe me” – I blinked back tears, remembering my own abandonment – “she’ll never get over the rejection.”

The room was still as my words sank in, and while I was unsure of Shannon’s and Cole’s thoughts, I felt like I knew where Logan’s had gone. The questions in his eyes.

He was wondering if I’d been abandoned.

And it was almost like he cared.

I was confused by the overwhelming sense of connection that passed between us. For a moment it was like we were the only two people in the room.

Shannon cleared her throat, and I shrugged off Logan’s intense scrutiny as he turned to his sister.

She nodded at him. Logan glanced over at Cole. He nodded too. “You know she’s right.”

Logan took a deep breath. “Right. Well, looks like a lifestyle change is in order.” He looked around his sitting room. “I’ll need to do something with this place, turn the second room into an actual bedroom. And fuck… I’ll need to talk to Braden. I can’t work those hours anymore.”

“You know he’ll do anything he can to help you out,” Cole assured him.

“I know.” Logan looked at me. “I also know you offered to let Maia stay with you until I have the paternity and the legal stuff sorted out, but you don’t have to do that. I get that we were all caught up in the moment, but it’s too much to ask.”