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He looked at her, his eyes bleak “Remember what I told you, and what D’Arcy said about Larry Brooks betraying Callahan’s partner, Josh Thurman? D’Arcy still didn’t know Brooks was in theCallahan in As soon as he heard Callahan was alive, Brooks infor to explain how it came about I hadn’t killed him the year before”

Keira thought about asking hiainst it She wanted to hear the end of this story first

“Brooks fireboet Callahan It alht Mandy was dead—only Brooks and Pennington knew the real target was Callahan, and they thought he was dead, too Callahan figured it was safer for Mandy and him to play dead until he could work out a plan They hid out in hed “Most of the rest of the story you already know But Callahan and Mandy almost didn’t reunitebecause of me”

Keira knew she had to ask “Who told him?”

“I think Mandy intended to, but before she could find a way, he guessed He confronted us, andII told him the truth” He shook his head and added softly, “He deserved to know It wasn’t right not to tell him—I knoould have felt But he’s a proud man Very possessive of Mandy”

“That had to hurt him where he was most vulnerable”

“Yeah” Cody’s tone indicated this was a gross understate the trap for Pennington It galled him—I know that—but he didn’t have much of a choice It wasn’t just his life at stake It was Mandy’s, too And despite everything, he still loved her”

Keira carefully digested what Cody had told her While it still hurt to think of how much he had once loved Mandy, she honestly believed he hadn’t planned to seduce her that fateful New Year’s Day Cody just wasn’t that kind of retted it; he accepted his responsibility But he couldn’t change it—he just had to live with it He could even put himself in the other uts

But Cody wasn’t quite finished “Callahan still loved her And sheshe never loved anyone but him So I told him,” he added in a low voice

Keira turned a perplexed face toward him “Told him what?”

Cody smiled crookedly “The other truth Callahan deserved to know”

“I don’t get it”

“I told him Mandy criedafter I made love to her”

“Oh, Cody” Her tender heart, the one she hid from the world, ached for him, for the wound to his prideand his heart But she was also fiercely proud of him What other man would have done it? What other o, suppressed his own love for a wo he hadn’t planned but still blamed himself for? She couldn’t think of any manexcept for hirowing list of reasons

She wanted to cry for his she’d denied herself for years And besides, tears weren’t what he needed right now He needed to know she understood She put her hand on his, curling her fingers and squeezing to let hih His hand turned so that it was clasping hers, and she stared at it for a moment Her hand looked so small wrapped in his hand

But there was still soet “You’ve told me this whole story,” she said, with a puzzled expression on her face, “but you still haven’t explained what ‘amateur’ means”

Cody’s sht up in the hostility between us we both acted like amateurs Not once, but twice We knew better, and we knew it could have gotten either or both of us killed, along with Mandy But it didn’t stop us It’s just a subtle reminder, that’s all”

His siven iven myself”