Crazy for Her(80)

“Oh.” Her gaze swept over the photos. “Are you planning to go in there?”

He hoped to God not, because it would mean they’d got to her and he would be mounting a rescue mission. The look on her face was the same as whenever she saw Evan off. Was her fear this time for him?

Lifting her chin with his finger, he turned her face to his. “I’m not planning on it, but you always, always prepare for all contingencies. I don’t like not knowing something, and right now, what I don’t know is whether Eli’s acting on his own or if he’s just someone’s puppet. So I’m just covering my bases.”

“I understand. What’s your gut feeling?”

That there was a 99.9 percent chance Ballard was pulling Eli’s strings. “Like I said, I don’t know. I’m hoping it’s nothing more complicated than Eli’s always known about his twin, found out Evan died, and for some strange reason, fixated on you as a link to his brother.”

“Then his contention that I’m his wife would make sense in a warped sort of way.”

A growl rose, and Logan cut it off. He might be starting to feel sorry for Evan’s twin, he might not want to see him hurt if what he suspected was true, but she was not and would never be Eli’s wife.

He closed his computer, stacked up the satellite photos, and put them aside. “I want you to listen very carefully, Dani. Things are about to come to a head. I want—”

“How do you know?”

“I don’t know how, I just do. Maybe it’s a skill that began when I had to second-guess what Lovey Dovey and her johns were up to. For whatever reason, it’s always been that way for me, so don’t blow me off about this. They’re going to try something and it’s going to be soon.”

“I thought you said this was just poor Eli and his mixed up—”

Furious, he cut her off. “I’ve never once said poor Eli. Get rid of those soft feelings you’re starting to have about him and do it now. He’s out to do you harm whether he realizes it or not. Maybe he doesn’t, but I don’t give a damn. All that matters right now is this: You don’t go anywhere without me, you don’t answer the phone and talk to him anymore, and you don’t do anything I don’t tell you to do. You don’t step one foot out your door, even to go to the mailbox, if I’m not at your side. You got that?”

Her eyes narrowed as she stood and backed away. “Who died and put you in charge?”

Red tinged Logan’s vision. Unable to hold on to his more rational thoughts, he reared off the sofa, getting in her face. “Evan. Evan died and left me in charge. The last thing he asked me was to take care of you and his child. So that’s what I plan to do with or without your permission.”

Her face paled, and she sank onto the chair behind her. “The only reason you’re here is because of your promise?”

“I’m here because I fucking love you!” The words had tumbled out of his mind, across his tongue, and past his lips before he could stop them. They bounced around the room as he and Dani stared at each other in shock.

What the hell was wrong with him? Stupid, he was stupid. That’s not how you go about telling a woman you’re in love with her. The hope he’d been clinging to that she would come to love him faded with the vigorous shaking of her head.

“You don’t really mean that.”

Yes, he did. He was afraid he would only make it worse if he said anything one way or the other, and was so far out of his element that he turned to leave.

“Don’t you dare walk out, Logan. I swear to God, don’t you dare. You can’t make an announcement like that and then go hide away in your room because I didn’t react the way you wanted.”

He stilled, his back to her, his hands clenched into fists. “You’re right, I didn’t mean it.”

“I think you did,” she said softly.

Turning, he looked at her sitting in the chair, her hands clasped in her lap. Her hair tumbled around her shoulders, still damp from the shower, and all he could think of was how beautiful she was. He ached to pick her up, hold her in his lap, and promise her anything in the world, or not in the world. The moon, the stars, fucking Pluto if she wanted it, but the wary look in her eyes held him in place.

How long was this pain in his heart going to last? Forever probably, something he would just have to learn to live with.

“Forget it, Dani. I was just angry and said something I shouldn’t have. It’s my problem to deal with, not yours.”



 Dani wished he hadn’t said anything either. Three simple words, four if she counted the f-bomb, and he’d changed everything between them. Not one of the three males before him had informed her of his feelings so forcibly and with so much rage.