Page 48 of Lawbreaker

“That’s your job,” she pointed out. “You’re leading.”

“So I am.”

He turned her and every step seemed to bring them closer together. She was fighting her own reflexes the whole time, trying not to give herself away.

“Can I ask you something?” she said after a minute.

“Sure. What?”

She drew away just enough to see his face. “Why don’t you carry an automatic, like Ben does?”

He smiled. “When I was fourteen, I got into a shoot-out with some gang members trying to take over one of our venues,” he said simply. “I was carrying an auto, because everybody had one. It was just the way we did things.” He turned her again. “So this fresh kid comes at me, firing the whole time. I took off the safety and shot back. And the damned gun jammed.”

“Oh, gosh,” she said, lost in his memory with him. She could picture it. “What did you do?!”

“I threw the damned pistol to the ground and went straight at him. Old advice from my people. You run at a man with a gun, and away from a man with a knife. I was quicker than he was.”

“And you were fourteen?” she asked, shocked.

He nodded. His face tautened. “I’ve lived a hard life. It’s left me with some rough edges. Very rough.”

She studied his handsome face. “It doesn’t show.”

“You don’t see the scars?” he asked on a dry laugh, because there were some scars. They didn’t disfigure him, but they were obviously knife cuts.

“That’s not what I meant, Tony,” she said softly. “I mean, your rough edges don’t show in company. You’re very sophisticated with people at the gallery. You’re a lot better at mixing than I am.” Her eyes fell to his broad chest. “I’m painfully shy.”

“No, you aren’t,” he argued.

“Oh, not with people I know,” she protested softly. “But with strangers. I bluff by smiling and telling them my name and asking for theirs. Well, mostly. Not with that Donalson man, at your house on Long Island,” she added, averting her face.

“He was lucky to leave in the same shape he arrived,” he said darkly. “He was very lucky.”

“He isn’t somebody who might try to, well, try to get back at you for protecting me from him, is he?” she asked, and the worry was on her face, in her pretty blue eyes.

He got lost in them. “If he tried, he’d regret it for the rest of his life,” he said in a quiet, deep tone that chilled. His eyes swept over her face, slowly, intensely. “He was lucky that he left the house intact.” His voice deepened. “Nobody touches you.”

Her heart turned over in her chest and she flushed. She couldn’t even answer him. She felt that same, strange joy bubble up inside her. She tried to keep her ragged breathing from showing with a little laugh. “Well, thanks,” she said huskily.

He smiled slowly. “You’re Stasia’s best friend,” he added. “That makes you family.”

Her joy leaked out. Her heart felt heavier. She kept smiling anyway. It would never do to start crying in the middle of the dance floor.

He scowled. “Where is Stasia?” he added.

“She went with Tanner to a cattleman’s workshop up in Montana,” she said. “They’ll be back in a few days. And yes, the doctor said it was okay. Plus, Tanner took two of our men with him who were feds before they came to work here. He’s cautious. He thinks Phillip James isn’t through with him.”

“That’s what I think,” Tony agreed. He didn’t tell her about his meeting at the motel. He knew who was behind that attempt to entrap him. But he wasn’t sharing it. Not with her. If Tanner had been home, however, he’d have shared that information. “Feet still hurt?”

She shook her head and smiled. He smiled back as they moved around the dance floor with a growing number of couples.

From the trestle tables under the tent, Cole and Heather watched them dance.

“Don’t they remind you of us, when we were that age?” Heather sighed.

Cole leaned over and kissed her warmly. “They do. Except that Tony is fighting it tooth and nail.”

“Why, do you think?” she asked.