Chapter Eleven

S hiloh huddled under the warmth of the thick quilt wrapped around her shoulders. A few steps away from the bed where she sat, Oaks stood watching her.

“You can stop looking at me like a worried pet owner.” She tucked her knees against her chest.

He straightened an inch more. “I don’t think of you as a pet. Nor am I your owner.”

“Who do you think sent the drone?” Just thinking about that thing flying over them felt like an enormous violation of privacy. What if she’d been out on that trail with Oaks? What if they had been in the throes of an intimate moment, and it was captured by the drone’s camera for anyone to see?

Oaks eyed her for another heartbeat. His shoulders were an unmovable concrete wall. His jaw was a chunk of steel.

He sank to the mattress, jostling her toward him slightly. She stopped herself from falling into his arms again. She couldn’t get too reliant on Oaks. When he was no longer in her life, when this ended one way or another, she had to stand alone.

She dropped her gaze to her knees. “I can’t stop hearing it. The hum of that drone in the air. Or the shot Colt fired.”

“I know all too well how sounds can be a trigger. There are people here to talk to about it.”

“Therapists?”

He nodded.

“Maybe I will…in time. Right now, I only want to try to forget.”

His steady gaze held hers. His stare cut into her.

“What aren’t you telling me, Oaks?”

He scooted closer to her. The heat of his body urged her own to move too. She never planned to end up in his arms, but she did.

With one arm anchoring her against his chest, he lifted the other hand and directed a lock of hair behind her ear. “As soon as you’re ready, we need to talk to you.”

“We? As in you and your brothers.”

“Yes.” His warm breath fanned across the top of her head. How did one man make her feel so safe? So…alive?

I’ve been in hiding. Walking to the corner store would have made me feel alive.

But deep down, she knew that wasn’t true.

She tilted her head up.

It had everything to do with the way Oaks was looking at her right now.

“I don’t know how you’re so calm. The things that could have happened—”

“But they didn’t. You’re not alone anymore. You’ve got three of us on your six.”

The military slang sent a shiver through her. If she knew how real the danger was before, she really knew now.

When he cupped her face in his big hand, her heart gave a small wobble. He protected people for a living, but she felt as if he took her trouble personally. There was no mistaking the fury in Oaks’s eyes after he saw the drone Colt shot down.

Whether or not he was really her husband didn’t matter in this minute. He was here for her…and she could lean on him.

She covered his hand with hers. Their gazes locked for a moment, his own dark with tenderness. Leaning in, he brushed a kiss between her brows. She felt them smooth out.

The blanket slipped off her shoulders, and he caught it, tucking it tighter around her. “Rest here a minute. I’ll get you some tea.”

She watched him leave the bedroom. Then listened to his footsteps on the hall floor. From some other part of the house came the low rumble of voices, but she couldn’t make out any words. It was just as well. What if the other members of Black Heart Security were talking about her? What were the chances they weren’t ?

When she heard Oaks returning, her insides warmed at more than the tea he carried. He really was a beautiful man, inside and out. Somehow, she thought voicing this would only make him deny it with one of those powerful shrugs that could knock a grown man over if he got in the way.

Silently, she took the tea and sipped. He watched her for a moment.

She lowered the cup. “Chamomile and honey.”

He nodded. “Soothes the nerves.”

“Are you always this good at taking care of your wards?”

His gray eyes sparkled. “Only the ones I’m married to.”

Her breath came faster. “Oaks…thank you. For everything.”

“I’m here for you, honey, and I will stay by your side.”

She waited for more, for him to add on to his statement, to define the timeframe that he would stick by her. None came.

For the first time today, peace rippled through her.

After she finished her tea, he offered her a smile. “Better?”

“Yes.”

“Do you feel up to talking now?”

She nodded and pushed the quilt off her shoulders. “I’m ready.”

They went into the office and settled around the table. Carson sat at the head, and Willow brought a laptop. She opened it and began tapping on the keyboard.

Shiloh felt a fleeting pang of embarrassment seeing Oaks’s sister. She’d made such a fool of herself when they first met. But Willow only offered her a welcoming smile steeped in sympathy, putting Shiloh more at ease.

She was old enough to have her life together, yet she couldn’t claim that at all. Since meeting William, she’d lost sight of her path. Maybe even the path her parents had wanted for her. When they disowned her, she lost two important people she could turn to.

Turning her head, she studied Oaks’s profile. She had him—for now. After this was over, she’d choose which direction she wanted to go again. It definitely would not involve a rich man with bad intentions and a cruel streak.

Carson nodded at Oaks, indicating they would begin the discussion. Being in the eye of the storm was never a place Shiloh wanted to be. She just wanted to do something she loved and do it well. How had her life gotten so off course?

She could only blame William for part of it—she was just as responsible. If she hadn’t been so na?ve…

Willow turned the laptop around. At the image of a woman on the screen, Shiloh gasped.

“Is this who you were going to meet?” Carson asked.

She gulped. “Yes. That’s her.”

“Good thing you never met her. This woman is a Russian plant.”

“Oh my god!” Under the table, her fist was balled. As if he sensed this, Oaks rested his hand over hers. The light brush of his thumb over her skin made her more appreciative that she had him by her side.

She lifted her attention to Carson. “Does the CIA know?”

He gave her a short nod. “They’re aware. There’s a sting op in progress. Lucky you didn’t meet up.”

Her insides were knotted too. She shook her head, trying to clear it. “I can’t imagine what would have happened if I had.”

Oaks squeezed her hand.

Shiloh looked from Carson to him, and then their sister, pulling them into her ring of confidence. “The information I was going to share with the agent is protected,” she told them.

“How?” Carson asked.

“I have it in an encrypted file with layers of security. A series of passwords, codes and my fingerprint.”

“You came with no devices. Is it possible they have the information already?”

“No. The minute I got on the plane, I used your computer to add another layer of protection. I’ve got it covered. No way can they access the file to wipe it out. Besides…there’s also a countdown timer set.”

Everyone stilled.

“Explain.” Oaks’s gritty tone perked her up more with how normal it sounded to her. The man was hardened by battle, but she saw the tender heart inside him.

She met his gaze and placidly explained her meaning. “I set a timer. If I don’t update the credentials every day by a certain hour, the file auto-sends to the CIA, the FBI and a massive list of journalists.”

Nobody spoke for a long moment.

“Jesus Christ,” Oaks said at last.

The silence broken, Willow and Carson talked over each other.

“That’s brilliant!”

“Damn, we could use someone with skills like yours on our team.”

Oaks beamed at her. “You secured your life, Shiloh. William needs you alive to have any hope of accessing those files.”

* * * * *

Oaks swept a look at each of his siblings. “See? I told you. She’s brilliant.”

Willow rolled her eyes at him using the same word to describe Shiloh’s intelligence and high-level move in this deadly game where she opposed William. But the other words Oaks wanted to use weren’t fit for his family’s ears.

Under his, Shiloh’s hand twitched. Turning his attention to her, he found her gaping at him, awe in her eyes.

“You’re not joking, are you, Oaks? You’re really not threatened by me?”

“You’ve been with the wrong men if they were threatened by your intelligence.”

Carson and Willow were talking in quick syllables while she tapped on the laptop, bringing up screen after screen to show their brother.

Shiloh’s focus shifted to them and back to Oaks. He leaned in, placing his mouth close to her ear.

“Surprise. You married the right guy.”

As soon as the words passed his lips, he knew them to be the dead truth. His plan really was perfect. He’d saved her, and in the process made the perfect match with the type of woman that existed only in his dreams.

Or so he’d thought.

She twisted her head to meet his stare. “Oh, Oaks…”

Carson cleared his throat, drawing their attention away from each other. “We need to get this information into the right hands. If it’s really a matter of national security, more people than William are after Shiloh.”

Before Carson spoke a word, Oaks caught the smart-ass twist of his brother’s lips. He was aware of the connection building between him and Shiloh.

“We don’t need to run. We’re smart. We’re two steps ahead.” He inflated his lungs, savoring the notes of Shiloh’s shampoo dancing on the air between them. “If you’re going to have a life, we need a plan, starting with taking William down.”

Willow waved to the screen. The CIA handler, aka Russian spy, stared out at them from the photograph. “We don’t yet have confirmation that William was behind the drone. It could be anybody under his command, or the Russians backing this woman.” Her long, manicured fingernail tapped the screen right between the woman’s eyes.

To Oaks, that was as good a target as any. The woman attempted to lure Shiloh out of hiding by masquerading as a CIA handler. Any number of events could have prevented the woman from meeting Shiloh that day.

Luck was on his wife’s side. Oaks stroked the backs of her knuckles with his fingertips and felt her thigh press up against his.

“Colt took the drone to the lab. It won’t take them long to run any fingerprints and hunt down all the information about that drone,” Willow told them.

“Serial numbers can be traced back to shipments, and we can even find out where it was purchased,” Shiloh added, excitement tinting her voice.

“And by who.” Oaks’s statement silenced them all again as they mulled over their own thoughts about the matter.

“There’s one more thing you’re not seeing.”

At Shiloh’s words, they all focused on her.

“The only thing that my not going to Russia messed up is Vanya getting a bride. The deal with William still went through.”

Oaks sat back in his seat. “That’s good, though. Make William comfy enough and he’ll get cocky. Cocky men make mistakes.”

Shiloh snorted. “Except you Malone men, of course.” She and Willow traded a grin.

“One other important thing, Shiloh.”

She hitched a brow at him in a skeptical expression. “Why do I already know I’m going to dislike this?”

“We’re going to stay inside more because of the drones.”

Her only response was a small tightening of her full lips, making the top one thinner. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her and show her just how much fun was to be had indoors.

The meeting wrapped up with all the information divulged—at least he damn well hoped his wife didn’t have more she was keeping from them. He led her out to the kitchen, thinking he’d set the kettle on for more tea. After the agitating topic of the meeting, she would need something to settle her nerves. He had to talk to her too—privately.

As soon as Oaks had her through the door, he grabbed her around the waist and yanked her flush against him. She issued a gasp of surprise.

“I really am sorry about asking you to stay indoors, honey. I know the toll it took on you these last six months.”

She blinked up at him, her gray-blue eyes even bluer. “It’s all right, Oaks.”

“No, it’s not. Because tonight would be the perfect night to dance under the stars.” He lowered his voice to a croon as he nuzzled her nose with his.

He’d never imagined himself saying such corny, romantic things to any woman. But Shiloh brought a warm kernel of emotion to his heart that he’d never known before. Right this moment, he was so damn proud of her. So awed by how exceptional she was.

And more than turned on by her.

A gagging noise from behind Oaks made his spine stiffen. “Get lost, Carson.”

“I’ll only interrupt your sickening poetry for a minute, bro.”

Oaks released Shiloh, and she stepped away, that pink blush he’d seen her wear several times on her cheeks.

Carson nodded to her. “I need to ask one more thing. What did you do for the last six months you were in hiding?”

Confusion pinched her blonde brows. “Freelance computer work. Online.”

With another nod and a wave of his hand, Carson said, “Get back to your kisses at midnight or whatever it is you were discussing.”

Oaks groaned for his brother’s benefit even as he walked out the door.