Nonny looked appeased at that. “Don’ you worry none about me and my gun, Ezekiel, you go on out and do what you gotta do. And don’ get shot or knifed like Wyatt did. We don’ need any more grumpy men around here.”

Wyatt stepped back to allow the women to get inside first. His mind was already working on how the attack would come at them. How much time they had. He kissed Thym and put her in her crib, drawing up a blanket around her. She looked so innocent. She even murmured “daddy,” when he tucked the blanket closer. That earned her another kiss.

He felt Pepper’s gaze on him and he glanced up to catch her look. That look. The one. Like he was the entire universe. Hot. Intense. Or maybe he wanted to see that look on her face because for him she was the center of his universe. He was hot and intense the moment he thought of her. He didn’t have to actually see her to feel that way.

He kissed Ginger and then Cannelle before he took his grandmother’s face between his hands and kissed her too. He didn’t want to see the sheen of tears in her eyes, and she didn’t want him to see them, so he let go immediately and jerked his head toward Pepper. She followed him out.

His arm swept behind her back and he pulled her close, right up against him, his body hard and tight against hers.

“You don’ put yourself in harm’s way unless you have to, Pepper,” he said, pushing iron into his voice.

“I’m a soldier too, Wyatt. This is my family. I’ll defend them, just like you.”

He gave her a little shake, fingers biting into her shoulders. “I’m not sayin’ you can’ fight, baby, I’m just sayin’ I need to know you’re safe until you have to stand in front of Nonny and the girls. Anyone gets that far, I know you’ll take them out. I have not a single doubt.” He stared into her eyes so she could see the truth there. “I can’ lose you, Pepper. Or the girls. Or Nonny. You’re my fail-safe.”

He saw understanding creep into the dark of her eyes. All the beautiful midnight purple sky. The sky above the bayou. Home. That was why he’d recognized her so fast, knew she was the one. Hell. Even the stars were there in her eyes.

“No one will get past me to hurt Nonny or our daughters. And nothing will happen to me. But you let me know what’s going on, Wyatt,” she demanded softly. “And you come back to me.”

“That’s a given, sugar,” he drawled, and tilted her face toward his, thumb and finger holding her chin.

“In one piece,” she added. “No bloody wounds.”

He grinned at her. “Told you you’d be crazy about me.”

“I’m just crazy. Kiss me. Right now before I can’t let you go.”

Her first real demand. His heart turned over. She was going to kill him before it was all said and done. A mixture of sultry, attitude, sex and vulnerability. What man wouldn’t fall at her feet?

Wyatt got down to the business of kissing her, and he took it very seriously. She’d asked him, and he was going to give it his all so she made it a regular practice to ask him. Her mouth was hot and wild, and he devoured her, his tongue sliding deep, dancing with hers, pushing into her space to let her know she belonged. It was the kind of kiss that could move a mountain or send an earthquake through the lands. It did both.

“Yeah, babe,” he whispered softly, his forehead pressed to hers so they could both catch air. “I’m comin’ back to you always.”

“Wyatt, just one more thing. I want you to listen to me. I’ve been giving this some thought and it’s important. Just, can you hear me out?”

“I don’ have a lot of time here, Pepper.”

She nodded. “This is important. You told me that Whitney is behind this. Our getting together, the termination orders, all of it. What if he’s not? What if this is about me and Braden, and Braden is messing up whatever plan Whitney had?”

Wyatt sucked in his breath. All the time nothing quite fit. He had the puzzle pieces but none of them actually snapped together – until that moment.

“I made him so angry, Wyatt. He called me into his office and he told me he would issue termination orders on the babies if I didn’t give him what he wanted. He was very specific in his instructions. I told him to go to hell. I was so angry, and he was so smug. I think Whitney had already given him the heads-up that the babies might be taken to the States. To here.”

Wyatt was still stuck on the specific instructions Braden had given to his woman. He breathed deep through his nose to try to keep the walls from undulating. “Keep goin’, honey,” he said softly. She was already alarmed by the look on his face. He didn’t want his tone to make it worse.

Pepper moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue and avoided his eyes. “He tried to rip my clothes, and he was far stronger than I expected him to be. I went a little berserk. I’d already made it clear I didn’t want another one of his men putting his hands on me without my consent. It took several of his soldiers to get me off of him and I wiped up the floor with them. I put seven of them down before they managed to knock me out. Seven, Wyatt. He was so angry.”

He waited and he knew he wasn’t going to like what came next. He heard his heart thundering in his ears, a roar of rage so loud he knew his team members caught it.

She continued to look down at the floor. “He retaliated of course. I was tied to the bed and gagged with this horrible piece of equipment so I couldn’t use my teeth on him.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “He came several times a day for nearly a week.”