Causing Havoc (37 page)

"Meaning?"

"Meaning she doesn't just think it. She is in love with him."

Dropping into his seat, Dean complained, "Here it comes."

Eve frowned at his sarcasm, but she didn't hold back. "I doubt Cam could love a man capable of

what you're suggesting."

"I knew it." Now visibly irate, Dean scooped a heaping pile of potato salad on her plate and set it down in front of her.

Eve eyed the mound of food—enough for two grown men—and shook her head. "You knew what?"

"That you'd take a woman's perspective on this."

"That might be because I'm a woman. But you realize I can say the reverse, that you're taking a

man's perspective on it."

"Which is?"

"You don't like Roger, you don't want your sister to marry him, so he has to be the vil ain in this

scenario."

Dean finished chewing a big bite of chicken, swal owed, took a drink, and then pointed his fork at

her. "Actual y I'm taking the logical perspective. People rarely do things without motives."

"Everything that's happened to you isn't necessarily related."

"I don't believe in coincidence. Not three in a row."

Eve stopped to regroup and rethink her strategy.

"I see the wheels turning," Dean pointed out. "But I'l warn you now that I'm not easy to manipulate."

She waved that away. "Could we compromise?"

"In what way?"

"Let's give it just a few days. If nothing else happens, you'l tel Cam about your suspicions. You'l trust her enough to also be logical and to know a good man from a bad one." She smiled sweetly.

"After al , she had you pegged from the get-go."

To Eve's way of thinking, Dean pondered her suggestion far too long. She was just about to throw

her chicken bone at him when he conceded.

"Al right. I've got someone checking into Roger's background, and until I hear from him, I don't want to jump the gun anyway."

Eve sat back and gave him a blank stare. "I hope you're joking."

"Not even a little. But there's another reason, too. I'd already decided that you know the girls better than I do."

"Girls?" she teased, raising one brow as if affronted.

"Women. Sisters." He shook his head. "Cam and Jacki. I'm getting to know them, but I feel like I'm missing a lot of the pieces. I figure between hanging out at the house to do the rest of the repairs and

talking with you, I'l have a better idea of how to handle them."

"Handle them?"

Dean eyed her as he dug into a second piece of chicken. "You keep repeating things I say."

"Only the stupid things."

"Are you going to eat or not?"

She looked down at the smal dent she'd made in the food he'd put on her plate. "I have eaten. I'm

just not a glutton. There's no way I can consume al this in one sitting."

"Sorry about that. Finish up with what you do want, and I'l show you some moves."

"You sure you feel up to it?"

"Definitely." Sensual promise glittered in his brown eyes. "Got any preferences?"

Without hesitation, Eve said, "I want to learn how to do an arm lock, rear naked choke, and the

Kimura."

That slow grin appeared again. "You have been watching fights, haven't you?"

"And learning a lot. Once you've taught me a few things, I plan to give that brother of mine the

surprise of his life."

The phone rang while Dean was stil laughing. As Eve excused herself to answer it, she thought how

nice it was to see Dean like this, teasing and relaxed. His laughter made her smile from the inside

out.

Her smile died as soon as she heard Cam's upset voice.

After talking to her a few minutes, Eve offered to drive to her house. They had consoled each other

many times, and no man, not even a wel -meaning brother, would change that.

But Cam knew that Eve was with Dean, and she insisted that she only wanted to go to bed.

Eve returned to Dean with a frown.

"Anything wrong?"

Probably too many things to count. "You aren't going to like it."

"Let me hear it anyway."

Rather than drag out the inevitable, Eve propped an elbow on the table and explained what she

knew. "Roger asked Cam to marry him. Again. Cam refused. Again. This time Roger didn't take it that

wel ."

Half out of his seat, Dean asked, "What did that bastard do?"

"Not what you're thinking. He didn't yel at Cam or harass her. He left. Just walked away." And Eve couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. "Cam said he looked brokenhearted."

Dean snorted at that.

"A few hours later, she got a handwritten message from him." Eve understood Dean's reaction,

because not that long ago, she had despised Roger, too. He always came across so pushy, so

control ing—a total mismatch for Cam.

But through Cam, Eve was beginning to see Roger differently. If Cam loved him, and she did, then

he couldn't be al bad.

"The note said he was taking a few days off and would get in touch with her when he returned.

Cam's a little frantic, and feeling guilty for not explaining herself to him. She doesn't know where he

went, and he's not answering her cal s."

Dean stood and went to the window to stare out at the darkness. "When was this?"

He looked so lost in thought. Eve came up to lean against him. 'About an hour before someone shot

at you." He said nothing, his thoughts contained inwardly. Eve nudged him. "What are you thinking?"

With an ease of familiarity, Dean's arm slipped around her shoulders, and she fit herself against his

side. "That this sudden trip of his is a cover-up. That he must be planning something more." He final y looked at her. "I just don't know what. Or why. And until I do, I'm not going to rest easy."

WITH Roger gone missing, the next three days went by without incident. Stil Dean couldn't stop

worrying, and he made a point of spending time with Cam and Jacki. They worked on the house

together, shared lunch, and went swimming. In terms of strengthening their relationship, each day felt

more like a year. In no time at al , he had memories of his sisters, some newly built, and some shared

from their animated stories of growing up with crazy Lorna as a guardian.

Cam told tal tales on Jacki, making her most recent antics sound harrowing and nerve-wracking—

which was probably how Cam had viewed them, being she was the motherly sort.

For her part, Jacki mimicked Cam, giving the impression of a schoolmarm or a staid librarian.

Neither woman took offense; instead they laughed at each other. They were open and honest with

their affection, confident in the love they shared. Dean both envied their closeness and relished it.

When he left himself unguarded, he felt a part of it.

If Cam hadn't been so out of sorts, her usual good spirits gone missing, their time together would

have been perfect. Not that Cam complained or pouted. Her pride would never al ow her to do that.

But Dean noted that her smiles weren't as bright, and they never reached her eyes. He wanted to

talk to her about Roger and his suspicious absence, but damn it. he didn't know how, not without

upsetting her more.

Cam wasn't the only sister causing him concern. The other worry had to do with Jacki—more

specifical y how Gregor watched her every move with a look that al men recognized. Dean hated to

admit it, but he'd become a stereotypical big brother after al , and it hadn't taken al that much to get

him there. His resolve to remain unattached had been no match for his sisters' warm, infectious

charms.

Al his life. Dean had prided himself on knowing his own mind. He accepted who he was and what he

wanted. He faced his weaknesses and understood his strengths.

But around Jacki and Cam, he didn't know his own mind. What he thought he wanted changed each

day that he spent with them. His future, once neatly laid out, no longer appeared so appealing. He

liked being with Jacki and Cam, but he hated the way it weakened him.

Spending his evenings with Eve helped. He'd taught her several moves, and sometimes when they

grappled, she surprised him. Not that she came close to getting the better of him, not even for a split

second, but she had good speed, and she remembered every little detail.

When Eve lost, as she always did, she got even by alternately teasing Dean for his growing

preoccupation with his sisters and urging him to get even more involved. Her attitude made the

upheaval less startling and more natural.

If Eve had her way, he'd move back to Harmony and live under the same roof with his sisters,

discussing with them everything from their monthlies to bra sizes to the latest fashions.

Eve claimed that siblings should be able to share everything and to count on each other no matter

what.

Because she had that relationship with her brother, Dean trusted her knowledge on the subject. But

that didn't make the reality of strengthening iron bonds any easier, when he'd always considered

himself a free man.

"When wil you fight again?" Sitting on the floor, her back against the wal , Cam watched as Dean repaired the ceiling in Lorna's room. Her idle chitchat should have been a nuisance. With other

women—women who were not of the sisterly sort—he'd had little interest in learning al about them.

But with Cam he savored the easy camaraderie growing between them.

For the most part, Lorna had stayed out of Dean's way. Today she kept close, constantly peering

into her bedroom where he worked with an expectant scowl. She probably hoped to catch him

pilfering through her jewelry or searching her closet. Dean knew she would leap at any opportunity to

validate her low opinion of him.

At Cam's question, Lorna lingered, watching him and waiting to see what he'd say.

"Simon wants to set something up. A special promotional program. I don't know that much about it

yet, but I think it'd be like a reality series or something." Dean applied compound mud over the

repaired holes in the ceiling. When it dried, he'd sand it smooth and then paint it to match the rest of

the room.

"A reality series about you?"

He shrugged without taking his attention from his task. "Given what Simon told me, I'm guessing that

cameras would fol ow me around while I trained for six weeks or so and then record the fight the night

of the tournament."

Lorna came further into the room, her expression and tone hopeful. "When is this fight? Does this

mean you'l be leaving us soon?"

"I haven't decided yet." Dean enjoyed disappointing her. "But even if I did go, I'd stil come back.

Didn't the girls tel you?"

Cam cleared her throat. "When would Simon orchestrate this special program?"

Her attempt to change the subject fel flat. So Cam hadn"t mentioned his plans to Lorna? He wasn't

surprised, knowing how Lorna would react.

Lorna snapped to attention. "Young lady, have you kept something important from me?" Her tone

and appearance seemed more panicked than angry. "What has this meddling interloper done now?"

Knowing he was the interloper. Dean stepped in to spare Cam from defending him or taking the heat

of Lorna's temper. "I've decided to move back here for good."

The old gal's jaw nearly hit the floor. "What?" she screeched in a shril voice. And then with more strength, she shouted, "No!"

Actual y Dean hadn't made any such decision at al . It wasn't like him to bluff, but he couldn't resist

the prime opportunity to gig Lorna.

Unfortunately Cam didn't know it was a bluff, and she shot to her feet in excitement. "You're

serious!"

Dean would have regretted the impetuous statement, but Cam hadn't sounded so elated since

Roger split and that made his bluff an actuality.

He wasn't about to disappoint Cam.

"Yeah." Stepping down from the ladder, Dean smiled at her reaction. "Why not?"

She launched herself at him, crying, laughing. "Dean, that's wonderful! I can't believe Eve didn't tel me."

His arms went around her as if he'd been hugging her his whole life. "That might be because I

haven't told Eve yet."

Final y pul ing herself together, Lorna narrowed her eyes and curled her lip with hatred. "And just why would you tel that girl anything at al ? She's not family. She's nobody. She—"

Stil holding onto Dean, Cam said, "Because he's in love with her."

This time, Dean's jaw dropped. Hearing Cam blurt out a deeply hidden thought like that sucked al the

air from his lungs.

Cam just poked him in the side and continued grinning. "Oh, come on, Dean. Did you think I wouldn't

notice something that noticeable?"

The same arguments he'd given himself now spil ed out to Cam. "I haven't known her long enough to

be in love with her. And you haven't known me long enough to make that type of assessment on my

feelings. Far as you know, I could behave the same with every woman."

A dimple showed in her cheek. "Is that so?"

The automatic "yes" died on Dean's tongue. From the onset, his determination to have Eve had

helped blunt the transition back into his hometown, his past, and his sisters' lives. He hadn't just

wanted Eve, he'd craved her.

That hadn't changed. It didn't matter if he was with her or away from her. The desire remained,

always.

And why not? Eve was attractive, she wanted him, too, and she had character traits that would draw

any man.

Frowning, Dean thought of Tiffany, the groupie in his room when he'd first awakened from his last

fight. A beautiful woman. Cheerful. Sexy. More than wil ing. Tiffany even shared a love of his sport.