“Have fun, kids,” Corinne said as she closed the door behind them. “Midnight curfew, Cinderella. Charming, behave yourself.”
Lacie started apologizing for her sister when the door across the hall suddenly opened and a male form filled the doorway. He took one look at Lacie and Shane, a brief look of barely contained fury washing over his features before he hid it carefully beneath a mask. Shane caught it, recognizing him as the man who’d been with Lacie at the re-zoning meeting.
“Lacie!” said the little urchin scooting through Craig’s legs to hug her. “You look like a princess! Who’s your friend?”
Lacie’s features softened; she obviously adored the little girl. “Shelly, this is Shane. Shane, this is Shelly and her dad, Craig Davidson.” The men nodded tightly to each other. Shane smiled and said hi to the little girl.
“You look really pretty. Are you and your friend going to watch movies with us tonight?”
Lacie smiled. “Not tonight, sweetie.”
Shelly frowned. “Whatcha gonna do?”
“Go out to dinner.”
“Will you come over later?”
“No, but I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Good. Daddy’s making pancakes. You love Daddy’s pancakes.”
Shane didn’t like the way Davidson’s chest puffed out at the little girl’s statement; there was something far too possessive in it for his taste, and it was clearly making Lacie uncomfortable. He put his hand to Lacie’s lower back, pleased with the way she unconsciously shifted her weight slightly into it. Davidson’s eyes followed the movement, his eyes filled with fire. Lacie wished them a good night and walked out with Shane, her body language suggesting a tension that hadn’t been there only a few minutes earlier.
Shane half-expected Lacie to say something about Davidson and his little girl, but she didn’t. Normally he would have left it be, but her sudden uneasiness worried him. “You okay?”
She looked at him and smiled. “Yes. I’m sorry about that.”
“Don’t be. The little girl really seems to like you.”
“She’s a good kid,” Lacie said, her expression softening. “Her mom was a friend of mine.”
“Was?”
“She died in a car accident two years ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thanks. It was difficult. Craig had only just been sent home from Afghanistan, not sure if he’d ever walk again, and blaming himself for Brian’s disappearance. Shelly was just three, too young to realize what was going on, but maybe that’s a blessing.”
“Davidson was with your brother?”
“Yes,” she said on an exhale. “They enlisted together. They did everything together. I feel as if Craig’s almost as much my brother as Brian.”
Shane had seen the look in the man’s eyes, and it only reinforced his earlier impression that Davidson’s feelings for Lacie went beyond brotherly affection. He’d have to step very carefully until he learned a little more about what was between them. If he shared his gut feelings with Lacie at this point, she might not take it kindly. Until he had a chance to explore this compelling attraction he seemed to have for her, he didn’t want to do anything that might push her away.
“He seems rather protective of you,” he said, keeping his tone conversational and only mildly curious.
“He is,” Lacie admitted, frowning.
“It bothers you?”
“Sometimes,” she exhaled. “I don’t know. He’s different ever since he came back, you know? Something happened over there, something that changed him.”
“War can have that effect on people.” He spoke the words with the heaviness of someone who understood all too well how combat could change a man, how the need to commit unspeakable acts in the name of God and country and freedom could damage his soul.
“Were you in the service?” Lacie’s attention was on him now.
“Yes,” he said.
“Not the Army?”
“SEALs.”
“Do you ever talk about it?” she asked quietly. “What you’ve seen? Where you’ve been? What you’ve done?”
Shane cast her a sideways glance. She was looking at him with those big blue eyes, not with morbid curiosity, not with sympathy or pity, but because she was trying to understand something that was beyond her comprehension, past any frame of reference she might employ. Whether it had been her intent or not, she was reaching into a part of him that he kept tightly locked away.
“No.”
“Why not?”
Shane slowed the vehicle, then stopped as the traffic light turned red. Turning his blue eyes on her he said, “Because there are some things in this world that should never be spoken of.”