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“This is about your brothers, isn’t it?” he asked quietly “About your family?”

She drew a sharp breath and turned away from him, and Cody knew he’d hit the bull’s-eye on the first try He walked over to her and slid his ar stiffly in his e but hold her, she relaxed her guard just the slightest bit

“I never told you what I said to Callahan when I was trying to convince him you could be trusted, did I?” he asked conversationally, breathing in the scent of her but refusing to succumb to the temptation

“You told hiruffly “And you told him I reminded you of his wife”

“Yes, but that’s not all I told him”

“Souts and brains?” she asked “He mentioned you’d said that, too”

“Yeah, but that’s still not all of it” Cody thought for ato remember his exact words “I told hiuts and brains I said you’d fight to the death, if that’s what it takes, and he couldn’t ask for much more than that”

She turned in the circle of his ar her emotional uncertainty “You didn’t even know me then,” she whispered “How could you know that about me?”

Cody gazed down at her “I knew that about you in the first fiveher to reht not only him, but her kidnappers

When she continued to stare at him in disbelief, he added, “And when I told Callahan you reminded me a lot of Mandy, I also said you’d shoot me if you had to That was the clincher And it was the truth, too”

Her eyes crinkled at the corners, in the way he was co to know meant she was emotionally hurt “Not now,” he clarified with a faint smile “I don’t think you’d shoot me nowunless I completely misheard you earlier”

She laughed a little at that, as he had intended her to do He pulled her closer “Being a woent you are Everyone who knows your work thinks the world of you, including me”

His voice dropped a notch “But, Keira, you’re a woman,” he told her “Don’t be asha his pain creep into his voice “And don’t be ashamed of what you feel for me”

“I’ripping his arms