Explosive Engagement. Lisa Childs

might be telling the truth about the attempts on his life and he might be right about who was behind them.

      Instead of ignoring Garek’s impudent question, Logan—equally as impudent—replied, “I’m taking my fiancée home.”

      She barely managed to contain her shock. He’d been adamant that his mother’s plan would never work, so why was he playing along now? Or was he only playing—just amusing himself by aggravating her brothers?

      Garek tensed and bristled like Cujo when he saw a cat or a small dog or a squirrel. His upper lip curled, he barked back, “She is home.”

      With the stairwell blown off the side of the building, it didn’t look much like home. But she could still access her second-story apartment through the inside stairwell.

      “The ATF agents haven’t cleared the building yet,” Logan said. “Nobody’s going to be allowed inside until they make sure it’s safe.”

      “I—I should stay,” she said, hoping to defuse the tense situation between Logan and her brothers, “while they do that.”

      “But even if the ATF agents declare your place safe,” Logan said, “you’re not.”

      She shivered.

      “You would know,” Milek bitterly muttered.

      Logan nodded as if in agreement with her brother. Apparently, he hadn’t picked up on the deeper meaning. “Neither of us is safe until we catch the person trying to kill us.”

      Was that why he was acting like her fiancé? Had he decided to use their fake engagement to try to find their would-be killers?

      “Us?” Garek snarled the word. “You and Stacy are not an ‘us.’” And her brother reached for her, clasping her arm to pull her from Logan’s grasp.

      Cujo growled in protest, echoing the sound Logan had made low in his throat. His arm tightened around her shoulders, holding her against his side. And the dog stepped in front of him to protect them both from men he had never accepted as alpha males or friends.

      “That damn dog likes you?” Milek asked, amused. “That dog doesn’t like anybody but Stacy.”

      “That’s not true...” But it absolutely was or at least had been.

      Logan reached his free hand down and patted the dog’s head. “It’s obviously not true,” he said. “But then not much of what you guys say is true.”

      “You self-righteous hypocrite!” Garek stepped closer, but the dog growled louder and bared his teeth completely. So the man stepped back.

      “He’s not,” Stacy defended Logan. She believed that Logan thought he’d been doing the right thing, that he’d been getting justice for his father.

      “This is ridiculous,” Garek said. “I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you but it sure isn’t love.”

      Milek studied them through narrowed eyes as if he was beginning to have some doubts that their engagement was fake. Maybe he’d remembered accusing her of having a crush on Logan during their father’s trial. “Garek, you’re not exactly an expert on love since you’ve never been in it.”