Page 89 of Deathmarch

“Thank you, Mrs. Finnegan.” She stepped forward, then hesitated, frozen halfway between a handshake and a hug.A handshake?

Rose caught her hesitation, and her eyes softened. She offered a hug as warm as she had given to her son. And then, after she pulled back, she clicked her tongue at Kennan, snapping her bloody apron. “What are you waiting for? Take Allie upstairs so she can get off her feet.”

“What about the asshole?” Kennan tilted his head toward Zane on the ground—still out cold.

Rose swung her skillet in an arc that would have given Serena Williams pause. “I can watch him until Harper shows up. Don’t you worry about that.”

Kennan stepped over Zane, leaned the pool cue against the bread-delivery truck, then held his arms out to Allie. “May I?”

“It’s not that bad. Honestly. I can walk.”

“I have no doubt. But please don’t. Note that my mother is holding a skillet. If I let you risk further injury, she will bean me.”

Rose definitely looked like she would, so Allie said, “All right.”

Kennan bent to her without hesitation, and then she was in his arms, long before she had a chance to grow comfortable with the thought. She hung on to his wide shoulders as he maneuvered around the cars.Awkward.

But not entirely unpleasant. The Finnegan boys had always been sexy enough so that they could have had their own calendar. Not enough of them, but…the father would fit too, Sean Finnegan. And not that Allie was prejudiced, but Harper had always been hot enough to be featured more than once…

Speaking of the devil, his cruiser swung into the parking lot, coming to a screeching halt.

Harper to the rescue.She found that, just this once, she didn’t mind.

She thought Kennan would put her down, so she shifted, which caused her to slip lower, but Kennan hauled her up, holding her tighter.

And that was how Harper saw them when he jumped out of his car.

* * *

Oh, hell, no.

No to all of it. To Zane having found Allie, having hurt her. To Kennan having his arms around her like that.

Zane was already on the ground, looking half-dead. Harper barely paused to clip cuffs on and pat him down to check for weapons before moving on to kill his smirking sibling.

“Anybody call an ambulance?” He glanced over his shoulder to his mother.

“Your brother.”

The very brother who was now just a step from Harper. “What are you doing?”

Kennan shot him an amused look. “Carrying Allie upstairs.”

“I’ll take her.”

“Shouldn’t you handle the perpetrator?”

“Mom is handling him. Don’t antagonize me.”

Kennan wasn’t as stupid as he looked. He handed Allie over without further argument.

She glared at Harper but wrapped her arms around his neck, and laid her head on his shoulder—which she hadn’t done to Kennan—so that toned down Harper’spissedseveral notches.

Kennan opened the door for them with a stupid know-it-all look. “So. Far. Gone.”

Harper walked past him.Tell me something I don’t know, brother.

“How badly are you hurt?” he asked Allie. “Why are you bleeding?”