Jennifer had certainly blinded that man to her true nature.

Brodie needed to be more careful. If he didn’t watch it, the ex-SEAL might just find himself targeted, too.

You don’t want to die for her.

Because Brodie didn’t even really know the woman he was protecting. She wasn’t some sweet, lost innocent.

Jennifer Wesley was a cold-blooded killer.

Chapter Two

He had her in his home. Some of the desperate tension that Brodie felt should have eased since they were safe, but it hadn’t. If anything, the tension within him just seemed to be growing worse.

He’d called his friend Shayne Townsend again—Brodie and the Austin police detective had been friends for years. He knew he could count on Shayne and his team to search Jennifer’s hotel for prints and trace evidence.

He and Jennifer were in the main ranch house. A place that he and his twin brother, Davis, had completely renovated. Sometimes, the house seemed to be filled with ghosts.

And other times, the place felt too damn empty.

Jennifer stood in front of the fireplace, gazing around with wide eyes. The woman had pretty much been through hell in the past twenty-four hours, and she probably just wanted to crash.

He cleared his throat. “The guest bedroom is down the hallway, second door on your right.” Brodie didn’t mention that his bedroom was behind the first door on her right. He didn’t want to spook Jennifer any more than necessary. Any more than she already is spooked.

Her dark gaze slid toward the hallway. “Are we the only ones here?”

He tapped a code in the security panel, making sure that the system was set for the night. “My brother Davis is usually here, but he’s working a case in North Carolina right now.” Since he and his brothers had formed McGuire Securities a few years ago, their business had started attracting plenty of attention. At first, their cases had primarily been in Texas, but as their reputation had grown, they’d branched out into the South and along the East Coast.

She took a step toward the hallway, then hesitated. “This is going to sound terrible...” Jennifer glanced back at him. “But I’m starving.”

Realization slammed into him. The woman never got her meal!

“Can I raid your kitchen?” Jennifer asked with a quick smile that made his heart thump in his chest.

He felt like an absolute heel. “I can—I can make you something.” Wait, had he just stuttered like some nervous teen? Hell, he had.

The scent of lavender deepened around him as Jennifer eased closer to him. “I don’t want to put you to any trouble.”

And he had the thought, Jennifer Wesley is trouble with a capital T. He caught her hand and led her to the kitchen. Within his grasp, her fingers were soft and silky. Delicate. His hold tightened on her.

The kitchen was cavernous, courtesy of his twin brother’s addiction to food. Brodie motioned toward the bar and started rummaging in the fridge. There was plenty of stuff in there that he could use to make her a meal.

“Just a sandwich is fine,” Jennifer told him quietly. “After everything that’s happened, I’m not even sure I could handle more than that tonight.”

He got the sandwiches—one for her and one for his growling stomach—ready in record time. Her smile rocked right through him when he offered the plate to her.

The woman had to be used to dining on meals that were one hundred times better than a ham sandwich, but as they sat together and ate cold sandwiches at his bar, she acted as if she were in heaven.

His gaze kept sliding over her as questions rolled through his mind. The police reports from New Orleans were on their way to him, courtesy of some pull that he had, but there were other answers that only Jennifer could give to him.

Questions he needed to ask her.

She finished her sandwich and flashed him a wide smile.

He hated to make that smile dim, but he had to ask...“What secret do you have that a man would be willing to kill for?”

He saw it then, the crack in her mask. Fear flashed in her eyes, and her golden skin paled. “I have no secrets.”

Her lies sounded just like her truths, but her eyes had given her away. “That’s not going to work.”

She rose, backed away. “I should get some sleep.”

He followed her. “If you want me to help you, then you have to be honest with me.” They were back in the den. “What does this guy think he knows about you?”

She didn’t look at him. “I have no idea.”

“Then start by telling me your secrets. The things that you think no one knows. Tell those secrets to me, and I’ll work from there.”

Now she did look back over her shoulder at him.

He read her hesitation too easily.

“I’ll find out,” he told her, voice soft, “sooner or later. It’s what I do.” What she wanted him to do. If Jennifer hadn’t wanted the truth to come to light, then she never should have come to his office.

She shouldn’t have come back to him.

“What, exactly, are you asking?” Jennifer turned toward him. “If I’ve committed some sort of crime? Is that what you think happened here? That I did something—and now this guy is after me?”

He had no clue about what she might have done... That was the problem. “You have a man on your trail who wants to hurt you.” No, kill her. A knife attack, an arson and a hit-and-run... That wasn’t the usual type of stalking case that he heard about. It was one hell of a lot more intense—and deadly. “Do you have a lover that you rejected? A man you turned away who might have—”

“Gone crazy without me?” Jennifer finished as she gave a hard, negative shake of her head. “No, this isn’t some rejected suitor.”

“Are you sure about that? Because people are good at concealing who they really are. Maybe you thought you were with someone safe, but the truth is...beneath his surface, your lover was as dangerous as they came.”

The hardwood floor creaked as she made her way back to him. She stopped, less than a foot away. Close enough to touch. To hold. Her voice was husky and low when she told him, “You’re the most dangerous lover that I’ve had.”

Brodie’s heart started doing a double-time rhythm as he stared down at her.

“As for secrets...” Her voice as a throaty temptation. “You might be my biggest one. The SEAL I seduced on the night I should have died.”

That night was burned in his memory. The desperate raid... Finding her bound and afraid in that dirty room... His job had been to get her to safety while his team provided cover. But the mission had been compromised because they had been given bad intel regarding just how many enemy combatants would be at that location. He’d stolen a Jeep and driven away as gunfire blasted into them.

They’d taken shelter at one of the few safe houses that he knew. And...

“I should have kept my hands off you,” he said. She’d been the victim. She hadn’t needed him to—

Jennifer laughed. “That wouldn’t have worked. Especially since I wanted my hands on you.” Her head tilted to the side. “You didn’t realize it, did you? How close to death I truly was. They’d left the room moments before you arrived so that they could get ready to kill me. They were going for the weapons...and a video camera. They wanted to record my last moments.”

No, she’d been a ransom target—

“I was minutes from death—I knew that. You came in...and changed everything. I wanted to be with you that night because I wanted to celebrate being alive.” A small pause, then that soft voice of hers continued. “And I just wanted you, the way I don’t think I’ve ever wanted another man.”

That confession was like a punch to his stomach. “Be careful.”

Her eyes widened. “Why?”

“Because we’re alone here.” Miles away from anyone else. “And I still want you, more than I’ve wanted anyone.” The chemistry between them was white-hot. One touch—incineration. He knew the risks, and his body had been far too tuned to hers from the moment she’d walked into his office.