“Figured as much. We’re not going to have a problem here, are we, Lowe?” Knox stared hard at his brother’s back.
Problem? Was it that Knox didn’t want his brother getting involved with her, or that he thought his brother might try something with her when she didn’t want it?
Knox ignored the warning look Lowe gave him and his blue gaze slid to meet hers. “Lowe has too much heart, and it’s stuck together with sheer will and a lot of tape, and if you break it, so help me gods, you will pay for it.”
Cameo shrank back into the couch and frowned at him. “I have no intention of breaking Lowe’s heart.”
Because she had no intention of surrendering to the attraction she felt.
Knox grunted, “They never do.”
“Maybe I should go back upstairs.” She pressed her left hand to the arm of the couch and grimaced as the wound that darted across her upper arm pulsed and throbbed as she tried to stand.
Lowe was quick to grip her shoulder and make her stay where she was.
“You sit.” Lowe turned a black look on his brother. “You leave.”
“No.” Knox made himself more comfortable, wriggling lower in the armchair and stretching his long legs out in front of him as he settled his hands on his stomach and laced his fingers together. “As long as she’s here, I’m staying put.”
Lowe strode over to his brother, grabbed him by the front of his dark fleece shirt, and dragged him onto his feet. She swallowed hard as he pulled his brother to the door and shoved him out of it, closed it behind him and pushed Knox towards the edge of the deck, far away enough that she couldn’t hear them.
But she could see them through the window by the log burner.
Whatever they were talking about, it grew heated, had both men looking ready to throw a punch, and then Knox rubbed his dark blond hair, heaved a sigh and his expression lost its hard edge. He shrugged and said something, worry written in every line of his face.
Lowe pulled him into a bear hug.
Released him and came back to the door, opened it and stepped inside with Knox on his heels.
“He’ll be civilised now, apparently.” Lowe cast Knox another black look, one that held a warning in it.
“I’m one hungry bear this morning.” Knox smiled slightly, as if he had made a joke but it was secret, and slumped back into the armchair. He looked at her, his sapphire eyes softer now. “Sorry about that. I can get a little protective of Lowe.”
“I get that.” She smiled up at Lowe as she took the coffee he offered her and then looked back at Knox. “I was protective of my brother too.”
“Lowe filled me in on that. I’m sorry about what happened to him.”
She looked at Lowe for an explanation.
Lowe held a plate out to her, the sight of the two bacon sandwiches on it making her mouth water almost as much as he did as he gave her a soft look. “I hope you’re not mad. It seemed like a reasonable way to get my brother to behave himself and stop treating you like you’re a threat to me.”
She took the plate and held back her smile as he slid another look at Knox, silencing him just as he was about to say something.
“I’m not mad. Relieved maybe.” She hadn’t been looking forward to having to tell his brother the reason she was here.
She looked from Lowe to Knox. They were both as big as each other, both looked capable and as if they could handle themselves and any trouble that might come their way. She felt as if she could rely on these men, could trust them to help her, but at the same time, part of her still didn’t want to get them in trouble.
She ate her sandwiches in silence, sipping her coffee between bites, listening to the fire as it crackled and popped. She tried to think of something to say as Lowe sat beside her, but the thought of having to leave weighed her down, stole her voice and had a war erupting inside her. She had to go. As soon as she was able. Lowe said he could take care of things, and she believed him, but that didn’t mean she wanted him to fight her battle for her. Just the thought of him having to fight turned her stomach and put her off her food.
Cameo looked across at him, listened as he complained about the snow to his brother and Knox mused whether spring would come early this year. An ache formed in her chest, a tight knot that felt as if it would only grow worse if she left Lowe.
Just minutes ago, she had been determined to resist the attraction that blazed between them. Now, she wasn’t sure she was strong enough to fight it. She wasn’t sure she could stay here and not surrender to it, and she couldn’t bring herself to leave either.
She didn’t want to leave Lowe and it wasn’t because she felt safe around him.
She had a terrible feeling it was because she was falling for him.
He was handsome, kind and charming, and he took good care of her. He was the sort of man she had always dreamed of having in her life, and one she had never thought would actually exist. But here he was. Deep in her heart, she knew she would be a fool to fall for him with things in her life so uncertain and danger all around her.
But that same heart also said she would be a fool to deny herself something just because it had come along at an inopportune moment.
She would regret it.
Lowe was a once in a lifetime kind of man, checked every box she could think of, every one she had written down once when she had been lonely in Vancouver, mending her broken heart. It honestly felt as if fate had taken that list she had made and created Lowe just for her.
He angled his head towards her, his eyes slightly wider than normal, as if her staring had disturbed him or maybe worried him. A hint of colour touched his cheeks and he dropped his gaze to her plate and cleared his throat.
“You done?” He stood and took her plate before she could answer, set it down on his and carried them to the kitchen.
Knox gave her a hard look. She held his gaze, refusing to be cowed by him, because she intended to keep her promise—she wouldn’t break Lowe’s heart.
But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t steal it.
“Knox, we should, uh…” Lowe gave her an awkward look and then shifted his gaze to his brother. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Check on Saint. We should check on Saint.”
Cameo had the feeling that what he really wanted to do was talk to his brother about her and whatever he wanted to say, he didn’t want to say it in front of her.
Lowe topped her coffee up and set the pot back on the counter. “Stay indoors.”
As if she could go anywhere.
The furthest she could probably make it was the deck and even though the storm had cleared, it was well below freezing out there. She had no intention of making herself feel worse by standing on the deck. She was going to stay right here on the couch, sipping coffee and enjoying the fire and trying not to think about Lowe or her growing feelings for him.
Feelings that part of her said were crazy and the rest said felt right.
He was quick to shove his feet into his boots and pull his coat on, and Knox was just as quick to follow his lead and do the same. They were out of the door in under a minute and as Cameo stared at it closing, a feeling stirred inside her.
Lowe was hiding something from her and something deep inside her said it had nothing to do with her or the trouble she was in.
She pushed to her feet with effort and stared out of the kitchen window in time to see Knox glance back at her and then say something to Lowe.