Forever Entangled (14 page)

Ryan put a hand on Braxton’s arm to stop her from answering, but she shook him off. “It’s confidential. I just need to know if that name means anything.”

Kenna gave him a
yeah, right
look. “Look, I’ll find out in under a minute, so why don’t you just tell us.”

Braxton sniffed. “This is an FBI matter, not something civilians can know about.”

Kenna sent a text. “Go ahead and answer if it will satisfy Detective Braxton’s errant curiosity.”

“No, I’ve never heard the name,” Sienna said and glanced at her mom’s phone when it pinged. “You think I’m working with a terrorist?” she screamed as she jumped up from her seat.

“What? How . . .” Braxton sputtered as Kenna rose to her feet.

“You have my daughter wrapped up in your undercover work?” Kenna shouted as she pointed at Ryan.

Ryan shook his head. “No, that’s the thing. Malik was murdered before I came here.”

“How do you know this?” Braxton shouted, and the room erupted in conversation.

Sienna ignored Braxton, as she demanded how they had received confidential information. Her mother had sent a text to Ahmed, Nabi, and Nash. The trio of Rahmi security specialists had more information at the touch of a button than the entire FBI. All three had sent text messages, adding information each time.

“First you accuse me of sleeping with a potential suspect and feeding him inside information, and now you’re accusing me of being part of a terrorist organization with a plot on American soil? Are you insane?” Sienna screamed. She had never been so upset.

“Sweetheart, it’s not like that,” Ryan started as his hands went to his waist in a defensive move.

“Don’t sweetheart me, Ryan Parker. You’re the one who slept with me while thinking I was a terrorist!”

“I knew it!” Miss Lily tittered from the doorway.

“You slept with my daughter and then did this? Someone give me a gun,” Kenna threatened, jumping from her seat. Judge Cooper banged his gavel gleefully.

“Enough!” Ryan yelled. He slammed his hands on the table. “You will listen to me now. Sit!” Sienna had never seen Ryan lose his temper. She immediately sat, as did everyone else, including Detective Braxton.

His hazel eyes flashed gold and green and bore into hers. His square jaw was emphasized as he clenched his teeth together, and his biceps bulged as his hands turned to fists. He had never been sexier, and right now Sienna forgot all about him being an ass.

“One. I never thought you were a terrorist.” He held up his fingers and spoke with a barely contained fury. “Two. I came here to protect you from the person who murdered Malik and likely wants to do the same to you.”

Sienna heard her mother gasp, but she kept quiet.

“Three. It is natural to hate any man trying to make a move on what is mine, which is you. Four. I was wrong for being jealous, and I’m sorry. Five. I’ve learned that somehow, the two cases are related. I just don’t know how.”

Sienna gulped. This was way worse than it had been five minutes ago.

“Now, if you don’t mind, I am going to try to stop a terrorist plot, find a murderer, and keep the woman I love safe.”

Sienna’s eyes grew wide as Ryan stormed from the room with Detective Braxton hurrying speechless after him. He’d given an impassioned speech and then left before they could work things out. Sienna groaned. “That man is infuriating!”

“Eight pack, you say?” her mother asked, sending her a wink. “That can make for a lot of frustration . . . or cause a completely different kind.”

“Eww, Mom,” Sienna groaned as she sat back in her chair. She didn’t hear the conversation about the new terrorist organization striking close to home. She didn’t pay attention to Miss Lily rushing as fast as she could to the café to spread the gossip. And she didn’t pay attention to the fact that Nash had suddenly appeared by the conference center door, waiting to escort her home. What she did notice was that Ryan was gone. He had told her he loved her, he was going to protect her, and then he left her. The question was, did she wait for him to come back to her or did she track him down to tell him she forgave him?

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Ryan pushed open the door to the café and pretended not to notice the silence that greeted him.
Thwack
. Miss Daisy’s wooden spoon cracked over his head. Damn it, that was twice in one day.
Thwack
. Miss Violet followed up with a spatula to the chest.

“That was for acting stupid,” Miss Daisy told him.

“Now, what can we do to help put things to right?” Miss Violet asked.

“A pitcher of your tea at our table sounds like a good start,” Ryan said with a forced smile. He was exhausted. He’d called in every undercover contact he had to try to find out about The Suit. He’d even asked Uncle Cy, a former spy, to see what he could find out.

A little girl with light brown hair and big round eyes, carrying a baby doll, walked up to him. She couldn’t have been more than three or four. She looked him over and her big eyes blinked. Ryan smiled at her to see if he could put a smile on her serious face. She twisted side to side so her skirt swished, and then she pulled back her leg and kicked him in the shin.

“Ow!” Ryan jumped back and glared at the little girl.

“Farrah Butler, where did you learn that?” Ryan’s youngest cousin, seventeen-year-old Cassidy Davies, asked as she joined them.

“From you, Miss Cassidy,” the little girl said as she continued to swish her skirts. “You told me to kick bad men, and he hurt Miss Sienna.”

Ryan let out a breath but then bit back a curse as the little girl kicked the other shin. “Cassidy!”

Cass rolled her eyes. “What do you expect? She’s right. You’re just lucky it wasn’t me kicking you. And you’re darn lucky Carter isn’t here. You know how protective he is of his older sister.”

“Miss Cassidy, can I have dessert now? You said if I ate my dinner I could have dessert,” the little girl named Farrah said, reaching up and taking Cassidy’s hand.

“Sure, hon.” Ryan looked at his younger cousin and smiled. She was the best babysitter in Keeneston—even if she taught little girls to kick men in the shins.

“It was nice to meet you, Miss Farrah,” Ryan called out as they walked back to their table. The little girl turned, blinked her big eyes, and stuck out her tongue at him.

This was the story of his life. His head fell back, and he closed his eyes while Zain and Gabe Ali Rahman laughed at him. The twins looked a little different now that they were older. But it was only small things. Zain was half an inch taller than Gabe. Gabe had slightly darker brown eyes. While they both played the field, Gabe seemed to enjoy it while Zain tolerated it.

They got a lot of attention as heirs to the crown of Rahmi. Their uncle was the current King of Rahmi and his son was next in line. But after that it was their father, Mo, and then Zain followed by Gabe. When Zain had turned eighteen, his uncle, having only one child, publically decreed the line of succession in the event his son didn’t have a son of his own. As the back-up heir to the Rahmi crown, Zain had been cowed by the duties of an heir while Gabe had gotten off a little lighter.

“You sure have a way with women. No wonder you need our help,” Gabe teased as Ryan took a seat at the table.

“There’s only one woman I care about, but I couldn’t get near her house tonight. It’s full of her friends.”

Zain’s lips quirked. “Aren’t they your cousins?”

“They’re traitors,” Ryan said, slumping in his chair. “I’ve screwed up royally.”

“If what the Rose sisters say is true, which it usually is, then yeah, you need to crawl on hands and knees,” Gabe said, quieting down as Poppy came over to their table with some food and drinks.

“Thanks, Poppy.” Ryan smiled and popped a fried pimento cheese ball into his mouth.

“I wouldn’t thank me yet. I only did this for these handsome devils. You’re a different story.” Poppy huffed before spinning and heading back to the kitchen.

Zain leaned forward. “Did you really tell Sienna you loved her? I mean, we all knew it for years, but I thought you’d never have the balls to tell her. Never mind you said it in front of a roomful of people.”

Ryan drank the whole glass of special iced tea before answering. It had just popped out, and he had immediately turned and had run. The only person who had seemed truly surprised by his public announcement, other than himself, was Sienna. Sure, he had told her loved her in private, but that was completely different from declaring it in front of her mother and everyone else. Surprisingly, no one else had blinked an eye. Instead they all looked like they were about to say
finally
, as Zain just did.

But now he understood the reason for the deep instincts of protection he felt for Sienna. He loved her. It felt good and right to say it out loud. The trouble was he couldn’t say it to her again. She wasn’t even talking to him now.

“I love her so much, and I screwed this up. How can I win her back?”

“Right now I think it’s more about survival than winning,” Gabe teased.

“Well, there’s the traditional path,” Zain said, taking a bite of food. “Flowers, chocolate, and jewelry.”

“I’ve sent all three. They should be delivered tonight.”

“Nah, I think it’s got to be more personal than that. Stop thinking so diplomatically,” Gabe told his brother. “It needs to be from the heart. You have to do what all men dread more than death.”

“What’s that?” Ryan asked nervously.

Zain and Gabe looked at each other and some unspoken twin communication went on before they looked back at Ryan. “You need to share your feelings,” they said together.

Sienna held up her wine glass for Sophie to fill. Magically, as if knowing she was needed, Sophie had shown up at her house along with her cousins Layne, Piper, Reagan, and Riley. Sydney was still in New York City for meetings, or she would have been at this impromptu pity party as well.

Sophie topped off her glass and passed the bottle to Layne. “I can’t believe Ryan would do that,” Soph said for the third time in a row.

Sophie and Ryan were just as close as brother and sister. They had been born minutes apart on Christmas. The whole town had been there, and it was quite the story. Sophie was the oldest of Annie and Cade’s three kids. She had always been the one Sienna looked up to the most. She had a quiet confidence Sienna envied. But after college, Sophie kind of disappeared. She came back to town sporadically but said she was busy with the biometrics firm she worked for.

“Men,” Layne Davies said with an eye roll. “You should see the ones I do physical therapy with. The bigger the man, the bigger the baby.
Oh, that hurts
!” Layne mimicked, and they all laughed.

“Tell me about it.” Piper Davies grinned. She was Dylan’s older sister, and that alone earned her a medal in Sienna’s book. Jace and Cassidy, Piper’s other siblings, were too sweet to even count. They never caused problems. Dylan was an entirely different matter. “In the lab I work at, the men think women are the emotional ones. But they’re the ones who always throw hissy fits when they don’t get the results they think they should be getting.”

The twins, Reagan and Riley, rolled their eyes. Their parents, Cy and Gemma, had raised them with the same philosophy the rest of the Davies family believed: girls could do anything they wanted.

“And they can’t stand it if they’re not the best at everything.” Riley pulled her long red hair into a ponytail and took a shot of bourbon.

“It’s not our fault we are better riders,” Reagan stated, shoving her red hair behind her ear.

“Better shots.” Riley ticked off on her finger.

“Better medics.” Reagan held up another finger.

The twins both shrugged. “Well, just better,” they said together and all the women laughed.

“Cheers to that!” Sienna toasted with her wine glass. “What we need is a male point of view. Nash?” Sienna asked the armed man dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt who was trying to shrink into the darkest corner of the room.

Nash pushed himself off the wall. All six pairs of eyes swung around to stare at him. Sienna almost felt bad, but if Nash could handle himself with the criminals he ferreted out, then he should be able to handle himself with a roomful of tipsy women.

His eyes found Sophie’s, and Sienna noticed her friend’s cheeks had turned an interesting color of pink before she turned away to retrieve another bottle of wine.

“I think women are the strongest, most beautiful treasures on the Earth and deserve to be protected—not because they can’t protect themselves, but because it is how men show their love. They deserve to be cared for, not because they don’t know how to take care of themselves, but because it is how men express their affection. And when most men would give up, women find a way because their hearts won’t let them quit.

“I don’t know how to tell a woman I love her, but when I protect her, my action tells her that I do, in fact, love her. When I care for her, my action tells her she’s the most important person in my life. When you look at a man, don’t listen for words. Watch for action, and there you will find what lies in his heart.” Nash folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against the wall.

Sienna wiped a tear from her eye as the other girls stared with shocked expressions on their face. “That was beautiful.” Sienna smiled.

“Is that why . . .?” Sophie started but then stopped. Sienna could see her friend's mind spinning before Sophie turned her back to the group.

“But what about Ryan questioning Sienna as if she had terrorist ties?” Layne asked Nash.

Nash shrugged. “Smart men can still do very dumb things.”

The girls giggled and Piper held up her glass. “Cheers to that!”

Ryan refilled his glass and stared at his two friends sitting across from him. “My feelings?”

Zain and Gabe nodded again.

“That’s right. You have to go deep with that stuff,” Zain said with authority Ryan knew he didn’t have.

“Wait a second; you’ve never been in love. Why am I listening to you?”

Zain shrugged. “Just because I haven’t been in love before doesn’t mean I don’t know what women want. They want to feel loved, cherished, and respected. You violated all three of those when you asked her if she was sleeping with that agent and then hinted she could be tied into terrorist activity.”

“I told you, I know I was . . .” Ryan started before he realized the brothers weren’t paying any attention. Instead they were looking over his shoulder.

“A jackass?”

Ryan winced at his mother’s voice coming from behind him. Paige Davies Parker was not someone you wanted on your bad side. Her good side, yes. She was loving, caring, and the perfect mom. But her bad side, not so much. His father still flinches when she asks him to vacuum. He had made the mistake once of getting her an “I love you” appliance as a gift when they were newlyweds.

“No, wait, I know,” his mother snapped her fingers. “It’s not your fault. It’s a disease that you inherited from your father. I knew it would manifest itself at sometime.
Manleus Stupidious
is a very real thing.”

“Hi, Mom,” Ryan said with a soft smile and turned around. His mother put her hand to his forehead as if feeling for a fever, and then she examined his eyes. Eyes Ryan was trying not to roll.

“Yep, just as I feared.
Manleus Stupidious
. Now, what are you going to do to fix something I’ve had planned since you were born?” His mother placed her hands on her hips. Instead of feeling six-foot-two, he felt barely four-feet tall under his mother’s gaze.

“I’m going to express my feelings,” Ryan mumbled.

“His deep feelings, Mrs. P,” Zain added in his defense.

Paige’s hands dropped from her hips, and she smiled brilliantly at him, wrapping him up in a hug. “It’s good to see you. I’ll even forgive you for not coming to see me sooner since you were with Sienna.”

Ryan took a gulp and finished the rest of his special tea. “Okay. Feelings. Deep feelings. Got it.”

“Good luck!” Zain and Gabe called as Ryan stood and walked determinedly out the door.

“Think it will work?” Gabe asked his older-by-a-minute brother.

Zain shook his head as he tossed some money on the table and stood. “Not a chance. But I’m not going to miss this for the world.”