He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not

heavily. “Riley, how many men are patrolling the property?”
    “Four. They’re keeping in contact via radio every fifteen minutes. I’ll rotate them out in the morning around eight o’clock with a fresh team.”
    “Don’t bother with a new team. I’ll let her stay here tonight, give her time to pack her things. She can leave at first light for the safe house. Does that work for you, Pierce?”
    Pierce nodded. “I’ll drive her there myself. What about Madison?”
    Logan flushed. Getting Madison to safety hadn’t even occurred to him with all his worries about Amanda. Some brother he was. “I hadn’t even thought about her,” he admitted.
    “I can take her into town with me,” Riley offered.
    “So can I.” Pierce aimed an irritated look at Riley.
    Logan’s brows rose. “You’re interested in my sister?”
    Pierce folded his arms over his chest. “That a problem for you?”
    “I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it.” He grinned and shoved Pierce. Pierce shoved him back.
    Riley looked at them, his eyes darting back and forth. “So I’m not taking her back with me?”
    “No,” Logan and Pierce said at the same time.
    “Okay, okay.” Riley held his hands up. “If that covers everything, I’ll head back to town. I’m going to be up half the night as it is, filling out reports.”
    “I’ll help you tomorrow. I have to fill out one of my own on the shooting,” Logan said.
    “I’ll go take Madison off your hands,” Pierce said as he eagerly strode back toward the house.
    Logan stayed on the porch until well after Riley drove away. The side of his face was throbbing where he’d had a handful of stitches, and his mood was still too dark to want to go inside.
    He was so angry with Amanda he wanted to shake her until her teeth rattled. But at the same time he wanted nothing more than to hold her and assure himself she was okay. She’d come so close to being killed today. If Pierce hadn’t come along when he had and took that shot, she’d be dead. He’d seen the shadow of a man off to his left a split second before Amanda threw herself in the way, a split second too late if Pierce hadn’t been there.
    The sound of a door opening had him jerking his head up in time to see Madison and Pierce stepping out onto the deck. Pierce held a suitcase and nodded at Logan before continuing to his car.
    Madison stopped in front of him and instead of the lecture he expected for ignoring her all day, she surprised him by wrapping her arms around his waist and squeezing him in a bear hug.
    He returned the hug and kissed the top of her head. “What was that for?” he asked
    “Oh, let me see. You were shot at. You could have been killed today. What do you think?”
    “Touché.”
    “Of course it would have been nice if you’d bothered to take a few minutes out of your day to say hi.”
    “Now this is what I expected.”
    She sighed. “I love you, big brother, and I’m glad you didn’t get shot, but if you don’t go in there and fix my new friend’s broken heart, I’m going to shoot you myself.” With that she marched off the deck without a backward glance.
    Broken heart? What was she talking about? How had he broken Amanda’s heart?
    For the first time since that God-awful moment when he’d almost lost her to a killer’s bullet, his haze of anger began to fade. In its place he started to see the events of the day from Amanda’s perspective.
    She’d thrown herself in front of him, willing to give her life for his even though it wasn’t necessary. She knew he wore a vest. So why had she done it? Why had she risked her life?
    The only answer he could think of was that she hadn’t thought. She’d simply reacted on instinct. She’d risked her life for his.
    And he’d done nothing but glare at her since.
    “Ah, hell.”

 
     
    Chapter Eighteen
     
    W hen Madison and Pierce walked out the French door and closed it behind them, an overwhelming sense of loneliness crashed down on Amanda.
    With Logan ignoring her, there was no reason for her to hang around downstairs, so she headed upstairs and retired to one of the guest rooms. She didn’t think he would seek her out, so she could have stayed in her own room, but the thought of sleeping in that big bed without him was far too depressing.
    Instead, she chose one of the smaller rooms with a single bed. It was decorated in warm browns and subtle hues of creamy yellow. Not a rose or any other flower in sight. She loved it. She