Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 149641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 748(@200wpm)___ 599(@250wpm)___ 499(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 748(@200wpm)___ 599(@250wpm)___ 499(@300wpm)
He didn’t understand her family at all.
Still, he gave Dare his smoothest smile. “I’m great. Thank you for letting me come at the last minute.”
Dare put a hand on his shoulder. “The more the merrier. How are things going with Kenz? That’s what I meant. We haven’t had a lot of chance to talk since the last time you were in Dallas.”
“The wedding took up a lot of your time,” Ben murmured, his eyes still on her.
He felt different than he thought he would. He thought he could treat this like any other mission. He was gathering intelligence. He had to since his own boss hadn’t bothered to tell him important details.
But then she’d jumped into his arms. Like his presence had lit up her world. In that moment when he’d wrapped his arms around her, because she would have fallen if he didn’t, and wouldn’t that give up his game?
Damn it. He had to try to be honest with himself. He’d felt better and bigger and more important than he had in forever the minute she’d jumped toward him. As if it never occurred to her that he might not catch her.
Of course it was her openness that had drawn him in, but no one seemed surprised.
“Buddy, I’m trying to ask you how you’re handling the whole Kenzie thing,” Dare said with a smile.
Like they were friends. Of course he was likely in on it. Whatever “it” was. Sometimes he worried he was paranoid, then he remembered his own history. The thing that annoyed him was he thought he was over this. Over the need to form bonds. He’d told himself he gave up those notions when his own parents—crappy as they had been—rejected him. Or maybe it was when he’d brought Deanna into his world and her life had ended.
“When did you find out?” They had talked that day at Top, but they’d been pretty careful about certain subjects.
Dare flushed slightly but didn’t hesitate and didn’t pretend to misunderstand him. “I found out when we were at The Station.”
So he’d known early on. The Station was a club in Sydney. The one he’d been taken to after Tasha drugged him. In her defense, he’d been trying to take her in for questioning. He’d figured out she wasn’t exactly what she said she was and had made the decision to extract her to find out more information, but she’d been smarter than him.
He was pretty sure everyone was smarter than him.
The news hit him hard, but he simply nodded.
“Ian brought me in because he thought offering me his most closely held secret would prove how serious the whole family was about supporting Tasha’s love for me. I mean he put it in terms I could understand at the time,” Dare explained.
Of course he had. Ian Taggart was a tricky bastard. “So he told you a secret to get you to trust him. I believe at the time he was trying to get information from your father’s business. So he gave up his secret to keep you from walking out. And you thought it was about Tash?”
Dare’s brows had risen. “Yes. Ian wouldn’t have sold out his daughters to get a couple of reports he could likely have gotten on his own. He told me why he was doing it and then also gave me language I could accept at the time. I was angry.”
“Because she lied to you.” Intellectually, Ben knew Tasha hadn’t meant to lie. Meeting Dare was supposed to be some fun before her op began. It had gotten incredibly tangled, and Dare hadn’t been the only one caught in that web.
“I was angry at you, too,” Dare said quietly. “I’ve come to understand that you didn’t mean to hurt me. I’ve come to believe we can be friends. I hope you can acknowledge that doesn’t happen without Ian. I know you’re mad at him.”
He shook his head. “He was doing what a good handler always does. He protected his operatives.”
“But that’s not what a truly good handler does, is it?” Dare asked. “A good handler protects the op, not the operative. Ian is something of a maverick at the Agency. There isn’t another team like it. I’ve heard there’s an MI6 team that’s similar, but nothing in the States. They’re controversial, and the truth is the only reason Ian went back into this line of work was to make sure his girls didn’t get killed. He loves them. I know you’re pissed at all of them, but he’s sincerely one of the best men I’ve ever met.”
“Well, he doesn’t like me much.” It was fucking great that Dare found his perfect family. But then Dare hadn’t fucked up the way Ben had. As far as he knew, Dare had saved the people he loved, as evidenced by his half siblings in attendance. Even his damn stepmom was here, telling everyone how much she adored Tash and how she was thrilled to be part of this new family.