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"Not until the hunters have been stopped. And until they’re caught in the act, you’re not safe."
    "They can’t be out hunting every night," she argued.
    "This is Texas," Same said. "You think hunting every day is out of the realm of possibility?"
    He had a point, but she refused to give in. Her mind raced. "So the plan is to simply wait for the law to do something?"
    "It’s not a great plan, but those are our orders, and we’re going to follow them," said Jeremiah.
    “They’re not my orders.” Miko stood from the table and gave them both an impassive look. “It’s not your life being put on hold while we wait for this thing to blow over.”
    “Isn’t it?” Sam retorted. “We’re here babysitting you to make sure you don’t run off straight into a pack of rabid hunting dogs. Again.”
    Miko flinched.
    “Sam,” Jeremiah said in a placating voice.
    “That’s not what I meant,” Sam said, wiping his mouth with his napkin and giving her a frustrated look.
    “Isn’t it?” The sad thing was that she understood his frustration – she didn’t like sitting around and waiting any more than they did. She understood it, she really did. “No need to apologize to me, Sam Thorpe. I can’t wait for you to get out of my hair either.”
    And with that, she turned and left the room.
     

Chapter 7

     
    “That went well,” Jeremiah commented as Miko stalked out of the room.
    Sam gave him an angry glare. “She’s being impossible.”
    “She’s not the only one.” Jeremiah stood and began to calmly clear the dining room table, even though he was disappointed that she’d left. He always missed her when she wasn’t in the room. Just her presence warmed him. “You told her we were babysitting her. Of course she’s going to get offended.”
    Sam raked a hand through his messy hair, and frustration made his jaw clench. “That’s not what I meant to say. I just…hell.” He grabbed a few of the discarded forks and began to toss them onto the plates that Jeremiah held. “She gets to me. I worry about her.”
    Jeremiah remained silent, his thoughts caught up with the petite were-fox. He recognized the look on Sam’s face – he wanted Miko for himself. And if he was a good friend, Jere would back down and let Sam have her, because Sam needed a good woman in his life. Except the thought of backing off and seeing her with Sam left him with mixed emotions. He’d be happy for his friend, but Miko…
    He couldn’t let her go. Even the thought of backing away left a sour taste in his mouth.
    “I want her, Jere.” Sam said in a quiet voice. “And I know you do too.”
    Jeremiah swallowed. Thoughts of Miko flashed through his head. Miko, smiling up at him over a hand of cards. Miko with a smudge of graphite on her nose, bent over her art table as she worked on a sketch. Miko, naked and arching up from her chair, her small breasts tight with longing. No, he couldn’t back off. “I do. So the question is, what do we do now?”
    Silence hung in the room for a long moment. Neither man had the answer. Trying to quell his own emotions, Jere left the plates in the sink and paused, bracing himself against the counter. He wasn’t ready to give up on her just yet, but he was torn. Sam was his closest friend, and he wanted him to be happy.
    He gripped the edge of the countertop and glanced over at the door frame, where Sam waited.
    “No other option, brother. We have to let her choose,” Sam said.
    Jeremiah nodded. But he knew very well that her choice would tear the two of them apart.
    Sam gave him a hopeful look. “Do you suppose she—”
    “Nah,” Jeremiah said. “Wishful thinking, there.”
     

Chapter 8

     
    Even though the men were content to wait around her house, Miko was not. She stalked up and down on her big wrap-around porch, her mind full of rushing thoughts – of the men in her house, the hunters, and, oddly enough, her mother. She headed back into the kitchen and picked up the phone again.
    “