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"And here is your youngat his lips as Piper swore she could feel Jed co, Mr Saer, and deter down her spine

That tone had only intensified over the past days, just as the gleaaze had only hardened and, at certain tireeted hi I believeand hopes to find the best spots for a few days of fishing"

"The fishing here is excellent, Mr Samson; I’ing around Guido’s portly fraers around Piper’s upper arm "Excuse us, please Piper and I need to talk"

"Of course," Guido s to discuss privately"

His soft chuckle followed the the roorip

"Since when do we have things to discuss?" Piper asked roughly as the door closed behind theo She wasn’t free because she wanted to be; she was free because he let her be

Crossing her ar she could push back anger, guilt, or any of the other eh her, as she could with her family

She could stare back at Dawg and freeze any response to the knowledge that he was frightened for her, hurting for her, worried about her, or just plain pissed off at her

Her sister Eve had always been so thankful to be accepted and loved by her brother and cousins that she would have done just about anything--anything but deny the er than Piper, had such a guilt coood enough, act properly enough, or be strong enough to be part of the Soest sister, Zoey, felt She rarely talked about it, and if asked would just laugh and say she here she belonged But Piper had always felt there was so much more beneath that statement

Of the four of the best They all loved hi with him

Him, or any other man

Unfortunately, the defenses Piper had built over the years didn’t ith Jed

"Have you talked to Dawg yet?" he asked

Piper looked away and shrugged "He hasn’t been around for a while"

Guilt was lashing at her now

God, she remembered the look on his face when he’d seen the bruises on hers He looked as though so inside hi to talk to him," she promised

What the hell was it with Jed Booker?

He was just staring at her There was no force, no guilt-inducing co her with that silent, deep curiosity

"Are you?" Jed asked

It was a si offensive, but Piper could feel the guilt growing inside her

"You don’t understand what he’s like, Jed," she burst out, pushing her fingers through her hair in frustration as she turned and sto back "This is how he gets you He knoork every damned one of us"

"Does he, Piper?" he asked her quietly "Or is he just struggling with his inability to protect four girls he loves nearly as irls whose abandonment and hardships as children torment him?"

She shook her head fiercely "That wasn’t his fault"

"Fault doesn’ther all too aware of the sudden sensitivity of her body whenever he was around

His voice was steady, every movement deliberate, but his eyes were like deep pools of sexual heat His gaze licked over her as his hands curved against her bare shoulders They slid down along her arainst her softer flesh so erotic she was forced to bite back a moan

"What does aze froive in to him as Eve tried to do, and refuse to end up in your bed? Should I proht?"

Tears filled her eyes at the thought "Don’t you think I’ve learned how I have to handle him by now? If I don’t defy hi a life myself"

"And there are those times you could defy him and lose your life, Piper"

"Then he has to learn to talk to us" Frustrated anger hoarsened her voice as it tore through her eive in and bury our heads against life or risk dying? Jed, I can’t do that If I’er then I have to know, and I have to knohy Just as you would"

His gaze flickered and she knew he understood that

"If I go to Dawg, then he’ll see it as a weakness; don’t you understand that? I’ll be giving in and he’ll take full advantage of it Not out of cruelty" She held her hand up to delay whatever argu in his expression "Not out of ued "Just as it’s yours"

It was the way they were, the type ofanswers, then he wouldn’t be in a frame of mind to discuss what had happened to her while she ay He would dictate her security instead and try to lock her so far out of sight she would have a hard ti her

"You forget: I came for you" His head lowered as he voiced the re her eyes to close at the pleasure of the touch "No questions, no demands I came for you, Piper, and I’m the one forced to field questions from your friends and family If I have to take Rowdy or Natches Mackay’s fist for you, because I keep refusing to answer their questions, then you are going to owe ainst her neck as Piper felt her knees weaken