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Women.
Troy shook his head. With the exception of Ethan and Nathan, his brothers had all lost their minds. They’d turned his existence upside down. They’d gotten married.
And now, because his sister-in-law was worried, he was in a two-bit Texas border town, and he was not only supposed to get some answers from a woman, he was supposed to reason with one—a crazy one at that.
He swore under his breath. This family duty stuff was for the birds, but Troy was a man of his word. Sliding back into the hard wooden chair, he ordered a burger and nursed another beer and watched Senada.
It was 2:00 a.m. when Senada pushed the key into the doorknob of her small but well-maintained rental home. Feeling a prickling sensation on the back of her neck, she stopped and turned around. Probably Juan, she thought, staring into the darkness. He’d followed her home another time.
“The answer is no,” she said, wishing her porch light hadn’t burned out.
Her heart sprinted when she saw the silhouette of a big male form. Juan wasn’t that tall.
The moonlight hit Troy’s face as he stepped forward. “I didn’t ask.” His mouth tilted. “Yet.”
Relief sputtered through her, followed quickly by irritation. “What are you doing here?”
He shrugged and opened the door for her. “Just wanted to see where you live.”
Senada kept her back to the doorway. “It would have been polite to warn me.”
“It would have been polite for you to invite me,” he corrected in a low voice, and met her gaze.
“It’s late.”
Troy nodded but didn’t graciously back off. His blue eyes didn’t waver, his jaw was set in a firm line.
She sighed and led the way into her living room. “Three minutes,” she told him, and flicked on a lamp.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and prowled around the small room. “Looks like rental furniture.”
She’d always known Troy was big, but having him in her home made her more aware of the fact. Two minutes and thirty seconds, she noted. “Mine’s in storage. This was quicker, easier.”
“Why were you in such a hurry?” he asked, turning back to her.
Tossing her purse on the sofa, she shrugged. “I don’t know. I needed a change. Haven’t you ever felt like you needed to make a change and it had to be now?”
“Yeah, but moving halfway across the country requires a little planning,” Troy drawled, stepping closer.
“For you,” she conceded, and flipped her hair behind her shoulder. “I’ve been told I’m impulsive.”
“Maybe.” He gave her a long considering look, his gaze brushing over her body and returning to her face. “But there’s more to the story, isn’t there, Sin?” he said in a low voice.
It was an intimate, you-can-trust-me voice, and she felt the lick of temptation. She’d always thought Troy, with his six-foot-plus height, unapologetic chauvinism and blatant masculinity, was a little over the top.
Too much had been her assessment. Too big. Too rugged. Too intractable. Senada had always been the one to hold the aces when it came to male/female relationships. She suspected Troy preferred calling the shots. They wouldn’t mix well. Still, he was a strong man, more than physically strong, and that strength appealed to her now when she was vulnerable. Maybe he could handle the truth.
He cocked his head to one side and lifted his hand to cup her cheek. “Something is going on,” he mused. “Tell me and I’ll help.”
Her heart tugged. His hand was gentle, his gaze warm. She’d locked herself away from human kindness over the last few weeks and suddenly felt the loss. It would only take one step, and she would be in his arms.
In that second, she thought of her big, strong father and how he’d been unable to handle the truth. She took a giant step back, physically and emotionally. “It’s been three minutes.”
“I’m gonna find out,” he told her.
Sin shook her head and headed for the door. “You’re wasting your time.”
“I already know you’re not seeing any men, and Lord knows that’s out of character.”
She whipped around. “How do you know that?”
“Juan, but I would have found out anyway.” He twisted his lips in a cynical grin. “I’m the youngest of seven brothers, Sin. When you’re the youngest, you learn by watching, so I’m damn good at watching. And just so you’ll know, another characteristic about the youngest is that people underestimate you.” His gaze fell over her like a hot brand, then he looked into her eyes.
“Hasta la vista, baby.”
Troy didn’t like the accommodations.
His hotel room was the size of a closet, and if he turned over in his bed, he would land on the floor. No AC, no fan. To make matters worse, the walls were thin, and it sounded as if the guy next door had gotten very lucky tonight.
To distract himself from the explicit cries of his neighbors, he thought about Senada.
More convinced than ever that something strange was going on, he considered the possibilities. She could be sick, but it didn’t make sense that she would abandon her home and friends for that reason.
She could also be pregnant.
If the guy had dumped her, maybe she felt humiliated and didn’t want to face her friends. He frowned. The only catch was that he’d never heard of anyone dumping Senada. She went through men like tissues and always appeared to be the one to move on.
He remembered how soft her cheek had felt in his palm, and the appealing mix of fire and vulnerability in her eyes. For a minute there, she’d looked as if she wanted to trust him, as if she would share her secrets with him.
He swore, kicking off the sheet. This was going to take patience, and he’d never been patient. He deliberately closed his eyes, and the image of her stole past the barrier in his mind.
Her mouth was red and taunting, her eyes dark and sensual. His body heated. He swore again. His dear beloved brothers had sent him straight to hell.
Over the following nights, Senada tried to ignore Troy. It should have been easy. Most of her customers were male. Many watched her, but none with Troy’s unwavering intensity. He wasn’t the least bit sly about it, just propped himself on a stool at the bar, nodded his head in greeting, and watched.
She really didn’t need this, she thought, five days after he arrived. She’d fled to San Pedro with the intention of going to her father, but once she’d arrived, she chickened out.
If her father had been unable to handle her mother’s illness thirteen years earlier, how could he deal with Senada’s current crisis?
So, here she was, still shocked and afraid, and trying to adjust to a new and totally necessary lifestyle. She shook her head and checked the time. These days she was more conscious of the clock.
Juan sidled up to her. “This man from Tennessee. Troy. He comes every night. Is he bothering you?”
She flicked a glance at Troy and saw that he must have overheard. “Bothering me?” she repeated. Yes.
Another regular customer came up behind Juan. “Yeah, like stalking.”
Senada wrinkled her eyebrows. “I don’t know if I’d really call it stalking. It’s more—”
Juan waved his friend up to the bar. “If he’s bothering you, you should let us know and we’ll take care of him.”
Senada rolled her eyes. She could practically smell the machismo. “He’s not doing—”
“We can make him go away.”
She felt a stab of alarm. If this got out of hand, it could get messy, and Senada didn’t consider breaking up fights one of the perks of her new job. “You don’t need to do anything. He’ll be going away very soon,” she said, throwing a meaningful glance in Troy’s direction.
Troy shook his head. “I’m not leaving until I get what I came for.”
Juan stiffened and pointed his finger at Troy. “What makes you think you have rights over Senada?”
Pausing, Troy gave a warning glance at Juan’s accusing finger. He took an unrushed swallow of beer and leaned back in his seat, clearly sure of his power. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’ve got rights with Senada.”
Then he looked at Senada, and she felt the impact of his take-no-prisoners gaze to her toes. “She left me at the altar.”
Chapter Two
After being ignored for days, Troy felt a measure of satisfaction at seeing Senada stare at him in shock. “I may not be the only one she’s left at the altar,” he continued, elaborating on his fabrication, “but I think I deserve some answers. Wouldn’t you?” He shot Juan a challenging glance. “She told me that all those stories about her ex-husband having to be—”
“Ex-husband!” Senada repeated, apparently finding her voice.
“—rushed to the hospital on their wedding night were just rumors.”
“The hospital,” she sputtered. “You’re lying.” She looked at Troy as if he’d lost his mind.
“You’re crazy. You’re—”
Troy nodded. “That’s right. Crazy for you. You stood with me at the altar, then left me. I deserve a chance to win her back.” He nodded at the men. “Agreed?”
Juan looked uncertainly from Senada to Troy.
A waitress gave Senada a searching glance. “Why’d you dump him?”
“I didn’t! He’s lying. I never promised him anything. He’s crazy. He just wants…” She took a breath, running out of words.
“He just wants what, señorita? Or is it, señora?” Juan added meaningfully.
“Can you honestly say you didn’t stand beside me at the altar?” Troy demanded, recalling Lisa and Brick’s wedding, where Senada had been a bridesmaid.
She paused, her eyes narrowing. “No, but that wasn’t our—”
“There you have it, boys. From her very own mouth.”
Juan motioned his friends backward. “A man deserves to claim his woman.”
Senada slammed the pitcher of beer down on the counter. “His woman, my fanny.”
“Appreciate your understanding,” Troy interjected with a nod.
She glared at him with enough heat to melt iron, then seared him with a rush of Spanish words for which he could only guess the meaning.
She narrowed her eyes. “You know, up until this moment, you just annoyed me,” she told him as she rounded the counter. “I had decided you were pushy because you were misguided. And if you were a little thick upstairs, it was probably just genetic, since the rest of your brothers seemed to be the same way. When people annoy me, I ignore them.”
She leaned closer to him, and Troy was amazed at the quick leap of response in his body. “Now, I really don’t like you,” she whispered in a voice that shouldn’t have been but was outrageously seductive. Her eyes were nearly black with emotion, and Troy felt himself sinking.
He closed his own eyes, blinking at the odd sensations inside him. Before he knew it, cold beer gushed down his head. Senada put the empty pitcher on the counter. He swore. His hair was drenched, his shirt wet. “What in hell—” He swore again, jerking away and shaking his head.
Senada smiled. “That’s what I do to people I don’t like. Don’t mess with me, Pendleton. You are out of your league.”
After his shower, Troy received a call from his brother Brick. “Nothing yet,” he said, toweling dry his hair. “I knew she was moody, but you could have warned me about her temper.”
“Lisa says she doesn’t like being told what to do. And she gets really upset if she thinks someone is trying to put one over on her,” Brick said.
Troy glanced at his beer-drenched shirt wadded up in the corner of his room and nodded.
“Yeah, I figured that out.”
“Well, if you screwed up, Lisa says Senada loves chocolate.” Brick lowered his voice.
“Personally, I’d recommend ducking. What do you think is wrong with her, anyway?”
“I don’t know, but I’ll find out. Even if it kills me,” he muttered, then asked about the farm. After a couple of minutes, he finished his conversation and gazed around his new living quarters. A vast improvement over the hotel, the two-room garage apartment was still too small and hot, but it was clean. After sizing Troy up, his elderly landlord had given him a list of rules a mile long and required two months’ rent in advance. But as they say in real estate, location is everything. His present location was perfect for his purpose.
Before, his determination to solve the mystery of Sin had been a matter of his promise to his brother and sister-in-law. Now, male pride and a near self-destructive determination drove him. He pushed the curtains aside and looked out his window. Two doors down and across the street stood Senada’s house. He could just imagine her delight when she learned who her new neighbor was.
The finger prick still hurt, Senada thought as she tested her blood. She just wasn’t very good at sticking herself. She jotted down the date, time and results in the little notebook, then eyed the syringe warily.
“The needle is my friend,” she told herself.
“Liar,” she whispered back, and started to perspire. Her anxiety was strictly related to that damn needle, not her lack of insulin. She took a breath and grabbed a premoistened alcohol pad.
“Right thigh, today,” she said, wishing her voice had a more soothing effect on her nerves. She brushed the pad over her thigh, then poised the syringe over the same area.
“The needle is my friend.” Her overriding instinct was to close her eyes, but she’d learned it hurt worse when she missed her targeted area. “This is not my leg.” Denial worked for the millisecond she needed, and Senada plunged the syringe into her thigh.
She swore at the sharp sting. “That was most definitely my leg.” Her hands trembling, she tossed the used syringe away and stood. It should be easier now, she thought, glancing at her watch. But it wasn’t. She kept waiting for the day when she didn’t mind living by the clock, making sure she ate every four hours, testing her blood and giving her own injections of insulin. But Senada had always lived by her own clock and her own rules, so she was furious that her body had betrayed her.
There should be a rule somewhere that people who were afraid of needles didn’t develop insulin-dependent diabetes. There should be another rule that chocoholics didn’t develop diabetes. There should be, but there wasn’t.
As much as she would like to ignore the intrusion of her recent diagnosis, Senada couldn’t. She knew her mother had died of complications from diabetes. Either from ignorance or neglect, her mother hadn’t been conscientious about her health. Senada had inherited her mother’s height, her expressive brown eyes and thick, black hair. Unfortunately, she’d also inherited the diabetes.
The doctors assured her, however, that she could live a long, healthy life if she took care of herself. She’d been careless about that area in the past. Her idea of taking care of herself had been luxuriating in a bubble bath and sleeping until noon on her day off every now and then.
A healthy diet was a necessity now. A regular schedule was a given. She stretched her shoulders against the sudden sensation of being tied down. The needles and the lack of chocolate were tough to endure, but the most difficult for her so far was the loss of freedom.
She sighed and made a face at the mirror. After extensive negotiations with her dietician, they had found a way for her to have a chocolate dessert once a week. And tonight was the night for her devil’s food cupcake filled with chocolate cream.
Senada brushed her hair from her face and smiled wryly. Meat, vegetables and a small portion of grains first, but then the cupcake. “Better than sex,” she murmured in sweet anticipation.
