“Danny,” she said, as she descended the few steps.
He pushed himself forward and when he reached her, he pulled her into a hug. Damn, she smelled good. Quickly, before his body reacted, he pushed her back. “Moira, you’ve grown up.” What a stupid thing to say. Of course she had. “I meant,” he corrected, “you look beautiful.”
Even in the shadowy moonlight, he caught the red creep up her neck and the blush that stole across her face endeared her to him. Damn, oh damn. Distance, he reminded himself.
Then his gaze landed on his brother, once again. He itched to reach out and sock the man, but he had escorted Moira safely into Danny’s arms. “Justin,” he said with a curtness he meant.
“Danny. I won’t be staying but overnight, so the pilots can get some rest. I can stay at a hotel if you prefer.”
Would he? He was royally pissed at his brother, but did he want him out of sight? No, he wanted answers and that meant keeping his brother close. He deserved answers. And he planned to get them. “No, I have room. Besides, we need to talk.”
Justin appeared uncomfortable, but Danny didn’t give a shit. If his brother was on the take and it caused their father’s death, he’d kill him with his bare hands.
Chapter Eight
After an uncomfortable ride to his home and situating Moira and Justin in his spare rooms, Danny grabbed himself a much-deserved Natty Boh. Justin’s appearance had been unexpected. So many nights he’d wanted to speak with his brother, to clear the air. Now that he was here, Danny wasn’t sure what to say.
Even at the late hour, all three returned to the living room. With Moira and Justin on the couch—sitting too close for his liking—and Danny in his La-Z-Boy, he jumped right in. “What happened to move up the timeline?” He had no problem with his guests arriving early, well, except he had to work and couldn’t entertain them. He just wanted to know what happened.
Moira responded, “Boyle found out about Declan and Diana. He found out she’s pregnant.”
Danny whistled at the implication, then a thought occurred to him, and he didn’t like that his mind expected deviousness from his brother. “Did you tell your boss?” he asked Justin.
His brother winced. He must not have known Declan had revealed his employer. “No. I’ve worked hard to keep it secret. I’ll have hell to pay for not telling Boyle about the relationship.”
“You’re going back?” Danny asked. Even though Declan had informed him Justin wasn’t staying, he didn’t expect him to go back to the asshole responsible for their father’s death. “Why?”
“I have to.”
“He has to kill us off,” Moira offered, rather nonchalantly for the topic.
Justin shrugged. “I need to make it appear I killed them so they can all live freely without worrying about who might be after them. That’ll also make up for me not telling the boss about the relationship.”
“I can’t believe you work for that asshole. You know he’s responsible for our father’s death. Sure, it was the US connection that actually did it, but he’s their backer.” Danny bolted from his seat, righteous anger building inside him, ready to blow. He walked to the end of the living room then back, before Justin spoke.
“And when I can prove it, I’ll stop working for him.”
That stopped Danny in his tracks. He turned on his brother. “You mean that you’re only working for him to connect the dots to our dad’s murder? What about the rumors you were playing both sides of the fence?”
“Rumors. That was until Dad died.” His voice broke speaking their father’s name, and Danny wasn’t sure how to react and respond.
Could he believe his brother after all this time? Was his brother really on the straight and narrow?
“Look, I was there when Dad was gunned down and couldn’t do shit about it. The agency wouldn’t let me do shit about it afterwards. So I chose my own route to find out the truth. It’s just taking longer than I’d planned.”
Moira reached out and clasped Justin’s hand, and something inside Danny rebelled at the thought of the two of them together, an odd sensation for sure.
“There’s something else going on. Someone is pulling strings to seize control of more than a drug pipeline. I just can’t figure out who or what exactly is happening, but Boyle’s been acting squirrely.”
Danny dropped back down in his seat. He’d always been jealous that his older, perfect brother got to go on ops with their dad while Danny still did grunt work in the agency. The day their father had been murdered had been a day from hell. First, he’d lost his snitch, then he and his brother had argued about Danny’s helicopter training, then the murder. And he hadn’t been there to stop it.
Sure, they’d captured those who’d killed their dad, but deep down, Danny and his fellow agents knew the men weren’t acting alone. Their father had been leading an op that had ties to Ireland. Yet, he hadn’t been able to prove it.
Now, maybe his brother could prove it and bring the mastermind behind the death to justice. Ironically, Justin had been named for justice. Their old man’s play on what was important. When Danny came around, they just went with a name his mom liked.
“What can I do to help?” Really, there was no other appropriate answer. He couldn’t hold on to all of the pain and anger at his brother after learning the truth. It surprised him how easy it was to let most of it go and how much lighter he felt.
Justin raised his and Moira’s clasped hands and kissed the back of hers. “You can take care of the family. They
