“Look at that. Can any of you do that?” he asked.

Kaden shrugged. “Haven’t tried it yet, but we’re going to,” he admitted.

Dahlia glanced up at his face and burst out laughing. There was something to camaraderie, something she’d been missing all of her life. “I want to watch when you do,” she said.

“Well you can want, but it isn’t happening,” Sam protested. “You’d be laughing at us, and we can’t be having that.”

“Men are such babies.” Dahlia looked over to Nicolas. He’d been on the phone with Lily and Ryland for some time and he had his stone face on. His eyes were flat and cold and she knew he was still upset over the position he’d put the men in, entering the agent’s house without the proper intelligence, not realizing the Norton twins were there.

Max had insisted he be let in on whatever they were doing, and no one objected all that much. He didn’t seem to be much of a prisoner, moving freely about the condo Lily had arranged for them to stay in. He was definitely trying to hear what was said, hovering near Nicolas, and occasionally pacing restlessly.

Nicolas put down the phone and turned to the others. At once all conversation ceased. “Calhoun is in a bad way. It doesn’t look good for his legs. They’ve operated and will a second time, but there’s a lot of damage, especially below the knees.” He rubbed his hand over his face. “Louise Charter had correct information. They don’t think he’s going to ever walk again. At least not on his own two legs.”

Max turned away and stared out the window. Dahlia sat very still, absorbing the sudden flare of energy while the men tried to suppress their emotions. She couldn’t suppress her own. She pressed her fingertips to her eyes. “It doesn’t seem possible.”

Nicolas crossed to her immediately, standing behind her as he put his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to offer comfort and take some of the energy from her. “We knew he was in bad shape, Dahlia. At least he’s alive.”

She didn’t trust herself to speak. She’d been hoping for a miracle, and in reality they’d been given one—Jesse was still alive. On some level she’d known when she saw the damage to his legs that it would probably be impossible to fix it, but she had held out hope anyway.

Nicolas crouched down beside her. Lily will see to it that he has the best doctors, the best care. She’ll make certain he’s guarded around the clock. And she’ll try to do even more because she knows he means so much to you. Kiciciyapi mitawa, look at me. I’m speaking the truth. She won’t let him go.

Dahlia blinked back tears that seemed all too close. Was it because she found herself leaning on Nicolas’s strength? She didn’t know. Didn’t care. She looked into his eyes. Into his heart—and saw herself there. She smiled at him. I’m beginning to believe in her. In the GhostWalkers.

Nicolas ruffled her hair and went back to the desk. “We brought some photographs out of Louise Charter’s home early this morning.” He held them up. “Has everyone gone through them?”

“Not me.” Dahlia put out her hand.

Kaden passed her the glossy snapshots. “There are a lot of pictures of Martin Howard.”

“Did Lily have any information on him?” Dahlia asked.

“Martin’s a good friend of mine,” Max interrupted. “He’s a decorated officer in the Green Berets and someone I’ve always been able to count on. He’s a good man, and has served his country since he was eighteen years old.” There was a hard edge to his voice.

Nicolas pinned him with a cold, flat gaze. “No one wants to look at friends, Maxwell. If you can’t do this, we’ll understand.” His voice held no inflection, but Dahlia winced at the clear reprimand. Max bit back a curse and paced across the room to the window.

“Lily found a few interesting things,” Nicolas continued. “Martin Howard isn’t the name he was born with, and Louise Charter isn’t having an affair with him. Apparently, Martin was born into a small-time Mafia family right here in Detroit. His name is actually Stefan Martinelli, and Louise is his mother’s cousin. When his parents were killed in an automobile accident Louise and her husband took in him and his four brothers and helped raise them.”

“Which explains why he’s always around her house and in so many photos,” Max said, folding his arms across his chest.

“Yeah,” Nicolas agreed. “To make a long story short, Martin changed his, and his four brothers’, last name in an effort to keep them away from the kinds of activities his parents had been involved in. They lived in Maryland near Louise and Geoffrey Charter until they all graduated from college. There were some minor incidents with the law, but Geoffrey got them through it.”

Max leaned against the wall. “So he was born into an Italian family with ties to the Mafia, but apparently he did everything possible to keep himself and his brothers out of that kind of life.”

Kaden flicked Max a quick glance. “It does sound that way, doesn’t it? What else did Lily find, Nico?”

“All the brothers went into the service. Martin led the way, and the rest followed. Most of them went to college and then joined. Martin joined and went to school while he served. He provided for the others along with the Charters.” Nicolas looked up at Max.

“I know he’s been in a couple of fights,” Max said. “Haven’t we all?”

“Did you know his brother Roman has been in and out of the brig a dozen times and has been busted several times down from his rank as an officer? He’s been a troublemaker both in and out of the service.”

“We all have relatives,” Max said.

“Not all,” Dahlia objected.

“Ma cher.” Gator pressed his hand to his heart. “There you go again. Denying our relationship.”

Dahlia smiled and blew him a kiss.

Nicolas’s black gaze settled on Gator’s face. Gator just winked at him, flashing his bad boy grin.

“Quit baiting the tiger,” Kaden advised.

“Alligators eat tigers for breakfast,” Gator bragged, his white teeth bared as he leaned his hip lazily against the wall near the door.

The knife came out of nowhere, flying so fast it was a blur through the air, driving into the wall and taking the ends of Gator’s shiny black hair with it.

Laughter erupted while Dahlia stared in horror at the blade buried nearly to the hilt in the wall. She hadn’t felt the slightest surge of energy, violent or otherwise. Nicolas looked innocently at her. Gator shrugged his wide shoulders, the grin still in place as if someone throwing a knife at him was commonplace.

“You all are nuts,” she declared. “That wasn’t funny.”

“Actually, ’tite soeur, it was,” Gator said and pulled the knife free. He sauntered over to Nicolas and handed him the weapon, handle first. “I’d fight over you anytime, little sister, and if your man wouldn’t, he’s not much of a man.”

Dahlia frowned at them. “It’s a wonder any of you are still alive.” She began flipping through the photos. “By the way, just for the record, when I go into the building tonight, I don’t want anyone around. You all worry too much about me, especially Nicolas, and I can’t afford a backlash of energy. All of you will have to just stay put.”

Nicolas raised his eyebrow, his tough features completely expressionless.

“That’s a big negative,” Sam said.

“I don’t think so,” Kaden objected simultaneously.

Gator just laughed. “Oh, ma cher, your sense of humor is growing being around us all.” The smile widened. “Or are you just trying to give Nico heart failure?”

She ignored him and looked at Max. “They seemed to forget I’ve managed all these years without them.”

“What exactly are you planning on doing, Dahlia?” Max asked.

There was a sudden silence. They all looked at her. “Well, gee, Max, I don’t know. Something to do with my job. You know, that highly classified job we both share.”

“I don’t see Jesse here giving you orders.”

“No you don’t, do you, because he’s laid up in a hospital somewhere and I’m going to find out who put him there.” Dahlia’s black eyes flashed, glittering like hard gems. “They killed Milly and Bernadette, Max. And I’m finishing my job.”

“Did you talk to the admiral?”

“I don’t have to talk to the admiral to finish my job.”

Max shook his head and looked over at Nicolas. “And you’re fine with this?”

Before Nicolas could reply, Dahlia glared daggers at Max. “He has nothing to do with it. He doesn’t work for the NCIS, I do. He isn’t my boss. Just back off trying to be intimidating, because it irritates the hell out of me.” And it did. Her temper was rising in direct proportion to the testosterone levels in the room.

Nicolas was happy to see the real Dahlia back in fighting form. She didn’t lie down for anyone. Not that she was going anywhere as dangerous as Lombard Inc. without the GhostWalkers to protect her, but what was the use in arguing with her? He wasn’t going to change, and neither was she. It was good practice for the men to have to guard their emotions carefully in the field. He met Maxwell’s eyes. The man subsided immediately with a small nod of understanding.

“See anything in the photos?” Tucker asked. “I looked through them, but I was mainly looking for places, more than people. I know you think Charter’s not involved, Dahlia, but I did find this.” He passed a pen deliberately to Max to give her.

Max sucked in his breath, reading the advertisement for Lombard Inc. Without a word, he handed it to Dahlia.

She took it reluctantly, turning it in circles. “Anyone could have given this to her. They’re everywhere. It’s a big company.”

“It’s a tie to her,” Nicolas said. “And to Martin.”

“What other information do you have on him?” Max asked.

“Lily’s thorough. We have everything from his grades to his classified missions, but what interests me the most is his relationship with his family. He’s an extremely loyal man. Not only to his siblings, but also to Louise Charter. I think it’s genuine. I think he’d exhibit the same loyalty to his country and to the NCIS and his friends,” Nicolas mused aloud.

Kaden nodded. “I see where you’re going with this.”

“I don’t,” Dahlia said. “Are you eliminating our only suspects?”

“Who else has access to the Charter home, Dahlia?” Nicolas asked. “Who else would come and go?”

Her fingers curled around the photos. “But how would they get classified information? Louise knows me, knows my clearance, and the only thing she really told me in the entire conversation was Jesse’s condition and that’s because no directive came down saying it was to be treated as classified. She’d never sit down to dinner, even with someone she considered a son, and reveal government secrets.” Dahlia shook her head. “I don’t know Martin Howard, but if he’s as solid as you all say, I can’t imagine he would be that chatty either.”

“Trust me, he would never say a word, accidentally or not,” Max affirmed.

“No, but his brothers would have access to both the Charter home and her office. She would allow them to come see her at work, even meet her to have lunch, that kind of thing. The same with Martin. Why would they ever suspect a family member of planting bugs? Techs go over the computers, but considering there’s so much security in the rest of the buildings, how often do you think the offices are swept? Even if a bug was found on the secretary’s phone or her computer was attacked, would anyone suspect a member of her family?” Kaden explained it carefully. “I think it would work over time, drop in, have lunch, pass the time, no one would give him a thought. He could collect a lot of information.”

“Which brother?” Max asked.

“My bet is on the troublemaker, Roman. He tried to follow in his big brother’s footsteps but wasn’t successful. He tried for the Green Beret and wasn’t accepted. He tried for the psychic experiment program and his troublemaking record blew it for him. Without Martin’s interference, he very well might have gotten a dishonorable discharge. He’s out of the service now and claims to be a student, and self-employed, but Lily’s investigator couldn’t figure out what he does.”

“A student where?” Dahlia asked.

“Rutgers,” Nicolas said in his quiet voice.

Dahlia spun around and stared at Nicolas. “It has to be him. How could it be such a coincidence?”

“What does Rutgers have to do with it?” Max asked. “I know that Jesse was poking around there.”

“Rutgers lost a few professors with grants to develop a new weapon for the defense department,” Dahlia explained.

“So there’s definitely a tie-in between Jesse’s investigation and where Roman Howard goes to college,” Kaden said.

Dahlia began to rotate the spheres again as the energy in the room began to build. The men were working at keeping their reactions very low-key, but they were human. “If it’s Roman, and he doesn’t work for the NCIS, how would he have been able to go out with the NCIS team to the safe house to take a potshot at me?”

“More likely, he followed them and waited on top of a building for them to point the way. Once he knew where you were, he took his shot and got the hell out of there,” Kaden said. “That’s what I would have done.”

She sent him a faint smile. “How very reassuring. I think all of you need some lessons in passive behavior.” She turned her wrist over as she levitated the spinning balls in her hand. “It’s getting late, gentlemen, and I’ve got work to do.”

She stood up, stretched, and pushed the small spheres into her pocket. She glanced down at the handful of photographs. The top picture seemed to be of a woman sitting on a wrought iron bench overlooking a river. Dahlia went very still. The woman had her back to the camera, but she looked familiar. And the river was all too familiar as well. She looked up at Nicolas, sorrow in her eyes.

Tekihila, my love, what is it? You look as if you could shatter at any moment.

Dahlia immediately straightened her shoulders. “If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen, I have to change.” Clutching the photographs, she hurried to the room she was using as her private refuge. She knew, without looking, that Nicolas was right behind her.

He waited until she closed the door before he took the photograph from her hand. “Who is it?”

“Look at the picture. Look at the knitting basket. That’s Bernadette. She’s sitting on the bench overlooking the river right there by the Café du Monde.” Her voice sounded hoarse.

“Roman was following her.”

“How?” She turned to look at him, her face so pale her skin looked translucent. “You tell me, how could he know about Bernadette?”

She was so agitated he could feel the heat in the room. Sparks touched the curtains, licked at the edges of the walls. Nicolas took the pictures from her hand and tossed them on the bed, enfolded her into his arms and locked her against his body. She was trembling. He bent low, his mouth against her ear. “We can do this together, Dahlia. You’re not alone, and whatever we find we can handle together.”

“Do you think she betrayed me, and they killed her after they used the information?” She was angry. So angry she wanted to fling fireballs in every direction. How could Bernadette do such a thing to her? To Milly? For what? Dahlia had all the money they needed. The women never wanted for anything. If they bought it, the trust fund paid for it, no questions asked.

“You aren’t thinking clearly,” Nicolas kept an eye on the flames lengthening, spreading up the walls. In another minute, he would be forced to take action. He wanted her to control herself before the fire got out of hand. “If they found you at the NCIS, they must have found Bernadette and Milly. You would have been impossible to stalk, your movements were too unpredictable, but the two older women would have had a routine. They had to follow them to find the sanitarium and ultimately, you.”

She heard the crackle of the flames and took a deep, calming breath. “I’m sorry, I know better than to get so upset. You’re right, of course. I should have thought of it.” She turned her face up to his. “If we’re going to stop the fire, you’d better kiss me.”

He caught her chin firmly and lowered his mouth to hers. “What a chore.” He brushed her lips gently, enticingly. Teasing her. Nibbling at her lower lip to distract her. To feel her shiver in his arms. Wanting the thrust of her breasts against his skin and melting softness of her body as she went pliant. It wasn’t about stopping a fire, it was about redirecting the fire. He wanted the flames in her. In him. Sharing their skin.

His teeth tugged at her lower lip until she opened her mouth for him, allowing his tongue to sweep inside, to claim her. To lick away the flames on the walls and put them where they belonged, in her mouth, in his. His arms tightened around her, his hands restless, skimming down her back, cupping and squeezing her bottom, dragging her up and into his groin. The energy took them, as it always did, a storm flaring into an instant wildfire. He loved the way the energy was eaten up by the flames, by the way their mouths clung and melded, hot and wet and needy.

Dahlia felt right in his arms. Each time. Every time. Sometimes when he sat away from her, he felt the ice-cold blood running in his veins and knew he had mastered his emotions. Maybe too much. And then she’d look at him. One smoldering look and he’d heat up, feel everything. Every emotion a human being was meant to feel.

He slid his hands back up her body, cupped her head while he kissed her, again and again. Long, slow kisses and fierce, hot ones. She pulled away first, lifting her mouth inches from his. “Do you kiss me like that because of the energy? Or because you want to kiss me like that?”

“I have to kiss you. I need to kiss you. I’ll never get enough of kissing you. If the energy needs us to find ways to use it up, I consider it an added bonus in our relationship.” His fingers slipped into her hair. It was always so impossibly shiny. He loved the sight and scent of it, the feel of it. “I’m very much like you, Dahlia, I rarely do anything I don’t want to do.”

She stepped away from him reluctantly. “Well, you kept the house from burning down. Lily will be happy if she’s the one who rented it for us. I want to look at the rest of the photographs. Maybe I’ll see something else familiar.”

He handed them to her.

“Nicolas? Thank you for saying what you did about Bernadette. I don’t know why I jumped to the wrong conclusion like that. I think I’m more upset over Max than I want to admit. Why wouldn’t Jesse and Max tell me they knew Dr. Whitney? Why didn’t they say he performed the same experiment on them?”

“You didn’t exchange much information with them,” he pointed out carefully. “You’re all taught to keep secrets.

Her black eyes met his. For the first time he thought she looked like the mysterious witch some called her. There was something haunted and magical in her gaze. “Yes, I can.” The way she said it had him believing in voodoo and witchcraft. A slow, Cajun drawl, every bit as soft and sexy as Gator’s but with a soft hiss of a promise of revenge. It actually sent a chill down his spine.

Dahlia dropped her gaze to the pictures she held in her hand. She didn’t want to think about betrayal. She’d start another fire for certain and that would lead to kissing Nicolas, and he drove every sane thought from her head. She was recovering the data tonight so she couldn’t afford to get distracted. She forced herself to look at the photos. Several were of the Quarter. Obviously the photographer planned to show he’d been vacationing. Many were at the French market where Milly and Bernadette often bought produce. There was even a picture of the narrow alley and the small yarn shop where the women purchased their knitting supplies.

Dahlia sat on the end of the bed and spread out the pictures. There was one taken of a storefront and the reflection of the photographer was clearly in the window. She picked it up and studied it carefully. “I’ve seen this man.”

“How could you know? The camera hides his face.” But Nicolas was watching her. Dahlia was methodical and very controlled when she wanted to be. She was being very thorough, meticulously studying the photograph. If she said she’d seen the man before, he was certain she had.

“This is the man I saw at Rutgers just outside Dr. Ellington’s office. And then I saw him again when I was scouting the Lombard building. This is definitely the same man. I know it’s him. It’s the way he holds his head, just a little tilted to the side and down, but he’s watching everything. He was stalking Bernadette.” She pointed to the shadowy outline of a woman reflected in the glass. “That is Bernadette. She’s wearing her sunhat.” A sad smile flitted across her face. “She always called it a bonnet. She made them because she loved to sew, to create things.” Dahlia forced herself to stop rambling. Her throat felt raw.

Nicolas pressed his lips to her temple. “You’re closing in on him, Dahlia. I hope he feels your breath on the back of his neck.”

She turned into his arms almost blindly, instinctively. She wanted to be held and comforted. At that moment she didn’t care how much she was relying on him. She was just grateful she had him.

Nicolas simply held her, rocking her gently back and forth. He knew she was hurting. She’d lost everything and this one, elusive man had everything to do with it. Nicolas just needed the name. Needed it confirmed. Then he would go hunting.

“You can’t, you know,” she said softly.

“Can’t what?” His fingers tangled in her hair, rubbed the silky strands to relieve his spurt of anger, of suppressed rage that someone would so carefully destroy Dahlia’s life.

“I know what you’re thinking. You become very calm, very centered, and your energy level drops more than ever. I’ve figured it out. Your anger is ice cold, not fiery hot, and you contain it. You let it build and you use it when you work. This man isn’t your target. He isn’t your job.”

He bent down to brush the top of her head with a kiss. “I’m going to be there tonight, Dahlia. I’m not letting you go to the Lombard building alone. You won’t see us, or hear us, but if you get in trouble, we’ll be there to pull you out.”

She pulled away from him, her expression stubborn. “I didn’t go with you on your job. It will only break my concentration knowing you’re there.”

“You can be angry with me over this,” he said, “and I’ll understand, but it won’t change my mind. I’m being honest with you. It’s impossible for me to do anything else.”

“So what does that mean? Every time I go out on a job, you’re going to be following me because you think I’m not capable of handling it?”

“No, because I’m not capable of handling it. There’s a difference. Can you live with that? With me being who I am?” He caught her arm when she turned away from him. “I’m asking you to understand what I’m really like. I have my own drawbacks, Dahlia. I’m going to be damned difficult to live with sometimes.”

Her eyes widened in shock. In terror. “I didn’t ever agree to live with you.”

“No,” he admitted, “but you’re going to agree.”

“You’re so arrogant, Nicolas. Sometimes it sets my teeth on edge.”

He tried not to smile. “I know it does.” At least she didn’t say she wouldn’t agree to living with him, so maybe when he mentioned marriage, she wouldn’t just faint on him. Or put on her running shoes.

She tossed the pictures on the bed and rummaged through her clothes to find something to wear. Lily had been thoughtful enough to replace everything on the list Nicolas had given her for Dahlia, including her work clothes and tools. Because it was Lily she sent along as many other items she could get quickly and thought would be useful. Dahlia was pleased with the assortment and the tightly woven clothes with a myriad of zippered compartments to store necessary items and keep her hands free.

She slicked her hair back and braided it a second time as tightly as possible. As she slipped her hands into the thin gloves she glanced at Nicolas. “Well? If you’re coming, you’d better get ready.”

“We’ve been ready. Our gear is already in the cars. Do you want a radio?”

She shook her head. “Too distracting. I have to rely on myself, Nicolas. I can’t change how I do things at this late date. When I go in, I have to believe in myself, not think if something happens you can rescue me. I don’t need rescuing. If I’m in trouble, I’ll get myself out.” She pinned him with her black gaze. “Is that understood?”

“Perfectly clear.” He caught up her equipment bag and carried it out of the room.

Dahlia started after him and then went back to look at the photographs scattered across the bed. She picked up one and stared down at it, at the man who had orchestrated the murder of her family. It took a few moments before she realized the temperature in the room was climbing fast and her fingers were burning black holes in the evidence she would need to show the director. She tossed the picture away from her, but sat down on the bed to look at the others. Nearly all of them were taken in the French Quarter in New Orleans. Why did Louise have the pictures?

“Dahlia?” Max stood in the doorway, his piercing blue eyes watching her.

She lifted her chin, drawing in air to calm herself. It was sheer hell being around so many people and trying to guard her emotions. She couldn’t imagine how difficult it was for them to be around her. “What is it, Max?”

“I wanted to say I was sorry. I’ve been thinking a lot about what it must have been like for you and you’re right, I should have told you I knew Dr. Whitney. You know all the problems with the experiment, everything that we suffer using the abilities we have and how difficult it is to block out the people around us. You probably know more than we do.” He tapped his finger on the door. “The thing is, we were warned someone was trying to kill us all. That someone knew about us and had already been killing others like us.” He jerked his chin toward the outer room where the laughter and easy camaraderie of the GhostWalkers could be heard. “Someone definitely killed members of their team, and we didn’t want to be next. We all went deep undercover and buried the information on us through as many layers of red flags as we could. Admiral Henderson helped us out.”

“And you didn’t think that I was in danger?”

“We should have, Dahlia. We should have taken steps to protect you as well.”

She knew she shouldn’t ask. She already knew the answer, but she couldn’t stop herself. “Why didn’t you?”

Max looked down at his hands, closed them into two tight fists before looking her straight in the eye. “We trained together and trusted one another. You were an unknown.

“You still don’t know that, Max.” It was a knife, she decided. He’d taken a knife and just plunged it through her heart. She wished she could be cold and distant and not feel anything. Hurt was just as dangerous as anger. Getting near people was hazardous and perhaps even perilous for someone like her.

“I do know, Dahlia, and I should have known it months ago. Jesse should have known it. We were wrong. I know that doesn’t help with the way you’re feeling, but I wanted to say it. To at least let you know how I felt.”

She didn’t know whether to thank him or spit in his face. She could only stand there helplessly wondering if it was possible to have a silent meltdown.

“I hope that confession made you feel better, Maxwell,” Nicolas said. His tone was low and mean and sent a shiver down Dahlia’s spine. “No, you didn’t call her a freak or different, but you damn well made her feel that way, didn’t you? And all for what? This little speech was all about making you feel better, not Dahlia. Now you can go home and tell yourself you apologized, and that should make it all right.”

Dahlia turned away from the two men. The air crackled with electricity, the energy suddenly alive and breathing like a monster while the two men faced each other with ice-cold eyes and anger fed by the violence of the gathering storm both inside the house and out.

She pushed past both men, afraid of the flames dancing behind her eyes. Afraid of the anger she felt at Max and Jesse and the admiral. She had spent most of her life learning control, but when surrounded by so many people with such strong emotions, it seemed an impossible task. She nearly ran into Kaden. He caught her shoulders to steady her, and at once, some of the pressure eased.

“Just breathe, Dahlia. Stand outside if you have to. That’s what we do when the overload hits us. You have every right to remove yourself from the situation. Just because you’re in a house with people doesn’t mean you can’t have privacy.”

Dahlia laughed. “I’d really look mysterious and intriguing if I started the White House on fire. Somehow I don’t think I’ll be doing much mingling in that direction.”

He grinned at her. “Can you imagine the Secret Service hunting for the firestarter, and you’re sitting at the table with the president, looking innocent?”

“Thanks, Kaden.” She looked into the night. The clouds boiled and churned, darkening the sky even more. The wind whistled between the buildings and bent the trees and bushes nearly double. “Look at this. When did this storm front move in? I checked the weather earlier and they said possibility of a storm. I don’t think the weather people ever get it right. Do you think anything else can go wrong tonight?”

Kaden turned to look at Nicolas coming up behind her and nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I’d say all kinds of things could go wrong.”

Dahlia knew Nicolas was there by the strange reaction of her body, the way it came to life. The way the energy dissipated. By the stillness in Kaden. She refused to turn around, staring out into the night instead. “You didn’t do anything stupid, did you?”

“No, but I wanted to,” he replied honestly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t help the situation any by getting angry, did I?”

“No, but part of me was glad you said it.”

Nicolas wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “The weather is looking a little grim. Maybe we should postpone this until the storm passes.”

“No, the storm might help. I want this over with.”

“All right, we’ll set up then. You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”