A muscle in his cheek twitched as he ground his teeth. ‘How did you know about Matty?’ he finally asked.

Matty. Matthias’s nickname. ‘Marcus told me to Google your old last name and Lexington. I did, so I know what the papers covered. No more.’ She watched his agitation begin to fade. Marcus had told her that some of the story was Stone’s to tell, and she’d suspected that Stone had been worried about personal details Marcus might have shared with her. ‘I’m sorry you lost your brother, Stone. Both brothers. I have brothers too. I can’t imagine losing any of them, although I came awfully close a time or two. Which I know doesn’t mean anything to you, but I want you to know that I understand that you’re worried about Marcus.’ She sighed. ‘Look, I can’t promise that everything will be roses, rainbows and happily-ever-after between Marcus and me, but I can promise that I won’t hurt him.’

‘You won’t mean to,’ Stone said wearily, all his anger gone. Or at least stowed. ‘You should know that I told him to take you out for a spin and then dump your ass.’

She frowned. ‘Oh really?’

‘But he said he couldn’t. Apparently this . . . thing he has for you, whatever it is, goes deep.’ He leaned forward, looking her squarely in the eye. ‘Very deep. Do you understand that?’

Scarlett drew a steady breath, unsurprised. ‘Very deep’ was what she’d seen in Marcus’s eyes just minutes before. ‘Very deep’ was what she’d felt since she’d first heard his voice. It was a connection she’d had with no other man. ‘Yes, Stone. I understand. I also understand that you’re asking me if I feel the same way.’

Stone didn’t budge. ‘Do you?’

‘Yes.’

Stone shook his head, clearly skeptical. ‘You don’t know him.’

‘Perhaps not. But I know that I want to know more.’

Stone’s shoulders slumped. ‘My brother deserves to be happy, Detective. Can you promise to make him happy?’

The sadness in his voice, the forlorn hopelessness there, tugged at her heart, making her want to promise that his brother would never be sad or lonely again. But she wouldn’t lie.

‘I can’t,’ she said with regret, ‘but only because I learned a long time ago that you can’t be responsible for someone else’s happiness.’

He nodded thoughtfully, surprising her. ‘That’s true,’ he murmured.

‘I can promise to take care of him, and if that means protecting him from himself, that’s what I’ll do.’

Stone studied her for a very long moment, then nodded, still scowling but less so than before. ‘Maybe you do know him, after all.’ He stood up, looking exhausted and afraid. ‘Call me if he decides to go off and be a damn hero,’ he said quietly. ‘He does that way too often.’

‘I’ve figured that out myself,’ she said wryly, wringing a ghost of a smile from his lips that was gone almost before it started. ‘And yes, I’ll call you.’

A sober nod. ‘Thank you, Detective. And please don’t forget to arrange for protection for Delores.’ He swallowed hard. ‘She deserves to be safe and happy too.’

‘I’ll take care of it as soon as I get to my car. Stone, one question. That young woman back with Gayle, that’s her niece?’

His expression instantly hardened. ‘Jill.’

‘What’s her role in all of this?’

‘She makes trouble,’ he said curtly. ‘Marcus gave her a job because Gayle asked him to, but the girl has an attitude that makes me want to—’ He bit back the next words.

‘I wanted to smack her too,’ Scarlett said, and saw his fleeting smile once again. ‘She’s not part of your team?’

‘No. Marcus doesn’t trust her.’

‘Neither do I. How does the girl know about the threats?’

‘She broke into Gayle’s computer when her aunt was sick. Claims she was just trying to help, and she may have been, but she’s got her sights set on Marcus. She resents him because Gayle mothers him.’

‘And you?’

He pushed away from the table. ‘She just wants to get in my pants, which Diesel thinks is a real scream. Me, not so much. Spoiled little girls have never been my type.’

Scarlett blinked up at him. ‘Um, I meant, does Gayle mother you?’

He blushed, making him look ten years younger. ‘Oh. Right. Well, not really. I’m not exactly the type to be mothered by anyone. I need to go now. With Diesel and Cal back at the paper, I’m on Jill-sitting duty.’

‘Because she knows about the list,’ Scarlett guessed, and he nodded. ‘What are you afraid she’ll do?’

‘I don’t know, but I don’t trust her not to use it to hurt Marcus, especially after her little outburst in the waiting room. The kid needs to be taken down a notch or two.’

‘Then do it,’ Scarlett told him.

He shook his head. ‘I’m afraid I wouldn’t be gentlemanly about it. Marcus is the nice brother. I just . . . am not. Figure this out, please, and find out who’s trying to kill my brother.’

‘Are you not targeted by any of the threats, Stone?’

He shrugged. ‘Some. Most of the more dangerous investigating happened while I was out of the country covering other stories. The really vile assholes are out for Lisette, Phillip and Marcus of course.’

‘What about Diesel?’

‘Diesel hacks and lends muscle when needed. He’s not really a writer, although he pinch-hits from time to time. I wanted to bust his face for keeping this threat list a secret from me. I had no idea that so many people were out for Marcus’s blood.’

She came to her feet, fascinated by this side of Stone. ‘When did you find out?’

‘Right after we lost Mikhail. Marcus was laid up and Cal needed help.’

‘So you stepped forward.’

He shrugged uncomfortably. ‘I was here. Didn’t have anything better to do.’

Scarlett smiled at him kindly. ‘You’re a fraud, Stone. You want everyone to believe you’re a Neanderthal, but there’s a good guy in there.’

The look he gave her was witheringly cold. ‘I’m no fraud, Detective. I’m not a good guy. I’m not a nice guy. Most of the time I’m not even a very smart guy. But I do love my family and I will do anything to keep them safe.’ He took a step backward toward the door. ‘If you want to help me look like a good guy, then keep Marcus safe. Please.’ Then he was gone, leaving Scarlett staring at the empty doorway, her mouth open but with no words to say.

Sadness welled up in her, then helpless rage. At least she’d been old enough to understand when she’d found Michelle’s body. Those boys had been traumatized as children so that some bastard kidnapper could get rich quick. Six and eight years old. She couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for them.

She gently pushed the thought of a traumatized eight-year-old Marcus aside, replacing it with the memory of the man who’d returned to that alley this morning, risking a scandal. Exposure. Maybe even prosecution, were his team’s activities to come to light – to the wrong person, anyway. All because he wouldn’t leave Tala Bautista alone in the dark.

This was the man she’d dreamed of for nine months. The man who was waiting for her right now. The man who made everything go tight and hot inside her every time she thought about the way he’d looked at her, like he could never get enough.

The man who wants to have me every way there is until I scream his name.

She was taking him home as soon as she cleared this hospital. She started down the hall, fishing her cell phone out to check her messages as she walked.

‘Detective Bishop?’

Scarlett looked over her shoulder to see Phillip’s surgeon coming up behind her. Her feet came to a cold stop. ‘Oh no,’ she whispered. ‘Please don’t tell me Phillip Cauldwell is dead.’

‘No, no. His condition is the same. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you.’ He pulled a small plastic bag from his coat pocket and handed it to her. ‘A bullet taken out of Mr Cauldwell’s abdominal cavity. I didn’t want to give it to you in front of his sister and co-workers.’

Yes. The bullet was mangled, but recognizable as the same type that Carrie Washington had taken from Tala’s body that morning. ‘Thank you, Doctor. I’ll get this to Ballistics ASAP. We may just have a match to this morning’s killing.’