You Only Love Twice (Masters and Mercenaries #8)(40)

He poured out the Scotch, more liberally than she had. “No idea, but she did come back. According to Ten, your husband is never coming back. So I think I can tell your future.”

“Nice. I didn’t know you were clairvoyant.”

“I have many hidden skills.” He grabbed a second glass for himself. “You’ll head back into the service, but you won’t play things the way Ten does. You’ll go back in as an operative, and you’ll take all the risks you can because you’ll have a death wish. The good news is in our business, people with a death wish usually find their desire granted and quickly. Does Jesse know he was in the same prison as your husband?”

She wished Ten hadn’t mentioned that little truth. “No.”

Taggart slipped the Scotch back in its hiding place. “Then I’ll talk to him about it.”

“No. He doesn’t need to know.” She couldn’t see how having that information would do anything but hurt him. “Look, as soon as this mission is over and we figure out who’s trying to kill Jesse, I’ll be out of here and he can go on with his life.”

“His life in Wyoming? Because he’s planning on quitting and punching cows and stepping in their shit.”

She shook her head. “He’s not serious about that. Just tell him he can’t quit and he’ll settle back in.”

“It’s not about the job,” Taggart replied. “It’s about you. He’s been fine on the job, but finding out his awkward little princess is really a warrior queen put him on his ass. Now he’s questioning every single friend he’s made. You did that to him. You broke him. You better fix him.”

“How the hell am I supposed to do that?”

One big shoulder shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s not my problem. I gave you a very viable solution. Men are simple. Sleep with him for the rest of his life and he’ll probably be fine. See, simple. You women are the ones who make things hard.”

“I’m married.” The words came out of her mouth before she could think to stop them.

“No. You’re a widow. Your vows were until death parted you and it did. Your story is not going to end like mine. He is not going to walk through those doors. He’s not going to sneak up and tell you it was all a trick. He’s dead and unless he was a sorry son of a bitch, he likely wouldn’t want you to be alone.”

“He was the best man I ever knew,” Ten said quietly. She hadn’t heard him walking up behind her. He groaned a little as he leaned against the bar. “We were just kids when we met. Nothing fazed Jamie. I mean, it did, but it didn’t. He came up through the same system Phoebe and I did, but it didn’t wreck him the way it did us.”

Phoebe shook her head. “He was lucky. He didn’t have the same trouble we did, Ten.”

Ten’s lips firmed as though he was holding something in. He finally turned her way. “No. That’s not the truth. He never told you about it. He went through every single thing we did. Some worse.”

Her heart twisted. “No. He said he was all right. He lived with his aunt until she died.”

“Who beat the shit out of him,” Ten said. “He had those scars on his arm. You remember the one.”

“He said he was playing with a nail gun.”

“She burned him with cigarettes when he didn’t behave,” Ten stated flatly. “She was a monster and yet Jamie was still open, still willing to try in a way I wasn’t when Franklin adopted me. He was a light and I miss him every f*cking day, Phoebe. And I know one thing. He wouldn’t want you to die with him. He would want you to be happy.”

He would, but she wasn’t sure she could be happy without him. How many shots did a person get? In her experience, it wasn’t many. She’d had her real true love. There couldn’t be two of them. She took a deep breath. Explaining that to these particular two men wouldn’t do a damn thing. Ten had never been in love and Taggart wasn’t exactly being logical. It was apparently okay for him to have shut himself off after he thought Charlotte died, but she was supposed to just jump right into bed with someone else.

Except it had been years and she missed the feel of arms around her. Jesse Murdoch made her miss the feeling.

“Look, I’m here for a few days. How about we just say that I’ll keep an open mind.” She couldn’t say she wasn’t intrigued by what happened here at Sanctum. And if spending time with Jesse helped him at all, she would happily do it. She just couldn’t allow herself to feel too much for him.

Taggart handed Ten a glass. “I can’t ask for more. Oh, wait. I own this place and I totally can. I can give you an entire contract to look over and sign, or I’ll shove you out on your pretty ass and let Erin pretend to be you.”

“Erin so can’t pretend to be me. I don’t think Erin has a sensitive bone in her body.” Everyone kept trying to shove other women at Jesse and she really didn’t like the idea. It was totally illogical and unreasonable, but the thought of Erin with her hands on Jesse made Phoebe want to rip all that red hair off her freaking head.

“Apparently she’s sensitive enough to know my little brother gets a boner around her. I need to have a long conversation with that boy. Talk about a death wish. Hey, Ten, put the glass down.” The minute Ten set the glass on the bar, Taggart casually popped him right in the nose, the sound crunching through the air.