Page 131 of Her Reluctant Hero
“No.”
He held the envelope out, his lips thinned, no trace of joy remaining on his face. “Mallory, I can’t take it.”
“I want you to have it.”
He hesitated. Clearly he needed the money but was unwilling to accept it on her terms. “I’ll keep it on one condition.”
She tensed at his tone. “What?”
“That you stay.” He folded the envelope, creasing it between his thumb and forefinger. “That you help with the dive.”
She drew her lower lip between her teeth, saw his eyes follow the movement. “I don’t know.”
He took a step toward her. “What have you got to go back to?”
She moved away and studied the deck beneath her. “Adrian, staying here, with you, is not a good idea.” She hated admitting that weakness.
“And yet you want to.” The burr deepened.
She lifted her chin. “If I stay, this”—she flipped her finger between the two of them—“can’t happen. I learned my lesson the hard way, Adrian. If I stay, it’s professional behavior only. Deal?”
He cocked his head just the slightest bit, almost a challenge. He tucked the envelope in his back pocket and reached out to her. “Deal.”
Toney waited for Mallory on the path from the shower that evening, his jaw set mutinously. He looked so like Adrian, though his hair was longer, thicker, his features softer. It might be argued that he was the better-looking brother. Good genes certainly ran in that family. As did an excess of testosterone.
Toney’s stance was rigid, confrontational. She slowed, wary.
“Why are you even here?” he demanded.
The words were like bullets, hitting their mark one after the other. She eased away, wishing for another layer of protection, at least another person as a buffer. Toney could carry a grudge so she had been careful to keep her distance. She wasn’t afraid of him, but she’d worried this would happen.
“I’m here to help.”
He folded his arms. “Why? Why now? You’re not helping. All you’re doing is giving him hope when you’re just going to walk away again.”
She couldn’t deny it. “I don’t mean to give him hope. I just want to see him succeed.”
“Why? What does that matter to you? If he fails again, are you going to turn your back on him like last time?”
“Toney—”
He took a step closer. “You thought you saw the worst of it, right after, when the police arrested him and accused him of stealing the casket. Yet here you were snuggling up to Smoller, when he was the one who took it.”
“I wasn’t. I was trying to help.” And there had never been proof that Valentine had taken the box, but she wouldn’t prod Toney with that reminder.
“So you were helping by driving Adrian out of his mind? Good thinking. Yes, he became driven, obsessed, maybe even a little paranoid, but it was all for you. He thought you thought he wasn’t good enough. You know what he went through with our father, and you go and walk away and make him think he screwed up. Then you proved it by filing for divorce. You broke his heart and now that you see he’s back together, you’ve returned to do it again.”
“Stand down, Toney.”
Adrian’s quiet voice behind her made her jolt. How much had he heard? How much of that was true? In trying to save herself, had she destroyed the man she loved?
Toney’s hot gaze flicked over her shoulder at his brother, and he pressed his lips together.
“Apologize,” Adrian commanded.
“No,” Mallory said softly, not looking at him, not trusting herself to look at him. “He doesn’t have to.”
She made it to her tent, leaving the brothers to face off, before she burst into tears.
