The second Stack moved his foot away, Carver lunged up, heaving. "I'll fucking kill you."

Denver nodded. "Let's go."

With an ear-splitting war cry, Carver charged. Denver stood his ground until Carver had almost reached him. Then he moved so fast that Cherry saw it as a blur. She'd just sucked in a breath of fear when Denver halted Carver's rush with a massive fist to his face, followed by a kick that sent Carver sprawling back to the ground.

Impassive, Denver again waited.

More slowly, Carver stood, and this time he approached with caution, his fists up, his eyes narrowed. Carver swung and missed; Denver struck him on the chin. Carver swung and missed; Denver landed a blow to his temple.

Less steady, his fists dropping a little, Carver took another stance. Denver kicked out, catching Carver in the face. Blood sprayed, and Carver went flat, dead to the world. That wouldn't last, so he switched his gaze to Mitty.

When the big man snarled, Armie gave him a shove. "Get on with it, will you?"

"Fuck you." Mitty stalked forward, his hot, furious gaze a laser beam on Denver.

Watching him, Denver waited until his patience wore thin. When Mitty was still several feet away, Denver strode within range. Mitty threw a hook, but Denver caught him with a series of straight punches, backing him up with each combo of left-right, left-right, until he finished with a knee to the gut. As Mitty bent forward, Denver nailed him with a straight right that sent him flat to his back. He was so big that when he hit, Cherry thought she felt the ground shake.

Stack checked his watch. "I'm guessing you've got three minutes more, tops."

Nodding, Denver said, "Get her out of here."

Understanding what he planned, Cherry scrambled to her feet. "I want to stay."

He looked at her over his shoulder. "Cherry-"

She put up her chin. "I'm staying." With a flicker toward Carver, she admitted, "I want to watch."

Denver searched over her face, gave a slight smile, and turned back to Mitty. "You first." And so saying, he hit Mitty fifteen, maybe twenty times in a row, until the big man collapsed, choking on his own blood, curled in the fetal position.

Although the beat-down lasted less than a minute, it did the job. He wouldn't be getting back up.

Glad, Cherry clasped her hands together and resisted biting her lip.

Through it all, Carver just sat there on the ground, doing his best to regain his wits.

"Up."

Carver shook his head. "Where's Gene?"

"I left him unconscious. I broke his knife arm in two places, bad enough that he'll never play with sharp objects again."

Cherry smiled. So many times she'd seen Gene threaten and intimidate with that big hideous blade. But no more.

She couldn't wait to tell Denver how much she loved him.

"Broke his nose, too." Denver nodded at Carver. "Now get up, you sniveling puke, so I can give you some of the same."

Carver eyed his brother, the mangled condition of his face, and he shook his head. "I'll just wait for the cops."

Denver laughed. "Doesn't work like that." He reached for Carver, got slugged in the chin, and barely flinched. In fact, satisfaction shone in his predator's gaze. "There you go. Might as well give it a try, right?"

"You're insane."

"I love her." Denver shrugged his massive shoulder. "That means it's going to take all I have not to kill you."

Cherry gasped. With both hands she covered her mouth. Denver loved her? She frowned. Hell of a time to tell her!

Armie and Stack both grinned at her.

Carver made the mistake of sneering-and got his face bashed because of it. Denver had big fists and deadly accuracy. He hit Carver three times before Carver could even think of trying to defend himself.

Not that it would have done him much good.

Slumped on the ground, Carver shook his head.

Denver didn't give in. "Get up."

When Pamela and Lyle walked out together, Cherry pulled her gaze away from Denver long enough to peek at them. Lyle's right arm was wrapped in a white bandage. His left arm was around Pamela. The pretty redhead had makeup streaks down her cheeks and some of her husband's blood on her otherwise immaculate and stylish outfit. She clung to him as if she feared she might lose him if she loosened her hold.

Denver pulled Carver up and hit him time and time again.

"That's enough." Lyle Lewis stepped away from his wife. "Son, he's had enough."

"You have no idea," Denver told him without looking away from Carver.

Police sirens sounded.

Denver popped his neck. Carver hung limp in his grasp.

Cherry watched his back expand several times while he struggled with himself. She noticed that neither Stack nor Armie seemed inclined to put an end to things.

With a growl, Denver slugged him again. It amazed her that with each punch Denver seemed to get angrier, instead of shedding some of his rage.

Seeing the uneasiness on Lyle's face, the torment on Pamela's, Cherry took a step forward. "Denver?"

He went still, but didn't reply.

She didn't get too close when she said, "I don't want to interfere, but I need you. Right now."

Carver moaned, and Denver gave him another slug that shut him up.

"Denver?" She took another step closer. "I love you, too."

He started breathing harder, his broad back billowing, the pronounced muscles in his arms flexing and bunching.

"Way to drag out the suspense," Armie told her. He handed the gun to Stack and stepped in close, whispering something low to Denver.

Denver shook his head.

Armie whispered again, then pried Denver's clenched fist away from Carver's shirt. "There you go," he said as if soothing a wild animal. "A few more breaths. Maybe back up just a little? That's it. That'll work." He dropped Carver to the ground without concern for any additional injuries he might get.

The sirens grew louder.

Armie clapped him on the shoulder. "She's waiting for you, dude."

No, Cherry decided. She wasn't good at waiting; she'd already proven that. If she hadn't rushed Denver at the bar after Armie's fight, they might not be together right now.

Once again she'd have to act, to nudge him.

She'd taken only one step when he turned and stalked over to her, scooping her up without losing his stride.

Lyle said, "I'll go around front and fetch the cops."

"I'm going with you," Pamela told him, still sticking close.

Indicating the fallen men who were now unconscious, Stack assured Denver, "We've got this," as Denver walked away.

Armie added, "Take your time," and Cherry heard the suppressed laughter in his tone.

They were all nuts, but she loved each of them.

Ignoring everyone else, Denver left the yard with her held close to his heart.

DENVER WANTED TO take her all the way home, but he made it only as far as the back deck before emotion got a stranglehold on him and he had to sit down on the step. Never, not if he lived to be a hundred, would he forget the sight of Carver poised over her, a gun aimed at her head.

Thank God Armie called him when he did, that Armie and Stack had been close enough to disable Mitty without fanfare.

That Cherry hadn't been seriously hurt. He couldn't lose her.

Cherry tried to lift her head, but he hugged her tighter. "I love you." Saying it wasn't enough. Not near enough. "I love you so fucking much."

Her gentle fingers smoothed through his hair, over his shoulder. "I loved you first."

Laughing, he took a soft love bite of her neck, nuzzled his way over her cheek, and sealed his mouth over hers for a heart-stopping kiss. When he thought he might be able to talk normally, when some of the ragged tension making him shake had turned to lust instead of rage, he lifted his head and looked into her beautiful dark eyes. "I said it first."

"I knew it first."

God, he loved her. "It's not a competition, girl."

She settled in close to him and sighed. "If it was, you'd lose."

"Don't be so sure." Again he tipped up her chin to check her throat. A few of the red marks might turn to bruises, and it hurt him, physically and emotionally, to see them on her pale, soft skin. Back to trembling, he growled, "I should have killed him."

"I'm glad you didn't." She moved her fingertips over his bristly jaw. "I liked seeing you bloody him up some, though."

He'd bloodied him up a lot, but she'd seen and heard enough violence in her lifetime. "Carver is out of your life for good."

"I know."

"The detectives will bust up his drug trade, Lieutenant Peterson will make sure the dirty cops are exposed, and Leese is more than willing to testify. In fact, he's going to be pissed when he realizes he missed his chance to get even."

"He wanted to be here today?"

Denver shrugged. "He agreed to take his turn, but if he'd known things would break today, I know he'd have wanted to be here." It burned Leese's ass that Carver had gotten the better of him, never mind that he'd been drugged. Typical of trained fighters, Leese was cockier than most other men-and for him, this was now personal.

But not as personal as it was for Denver.

"I like the idea of Carver rotting in jail."

He just nodded.

"Pamela loves your dad."

"It would seem so."

"Will you be able to forgive her?"

Strange, but he enjoyed talking to her. Needed to talk to her. "He loves her, too, so I don't see any way around it."

Cherry hugged him tight. "You two talked?"

"Yeah." He cupped her face. "We're...getting there."

She pressed her cheek into his palm, then took his wrist and brought his hand around so she could examine his bruised knuckles. "You're really good, aren't you?"

"I got you, didn't I?" When she didn't laugh or even smile, he tipped up her face. "I do well enough, but you can't judge by any of this. Carver and his idiot brothers are thugs, not trained fighters."

He heard the shaky emotion when she whispered like a confession, "I was so worried."

"I know you were and I understand why. If Carver had fired that gun..." That thought made him feel it all over again, and he crushed her close. He wanted to hug her so tightly, hold her so long that she forgot about the past and everything she'd lived through.

"You saved me."

"You're here because of me." He looked around the yard. He'd grown up here. The conflict with Pamela hadn't tainted his impression of his childhood home, but what just happened to Cherry...he'd never again be here without remembering.

"Denver?"

"Hmm?"

"What now?"

Reese and Logan showed up in person, and they had a few uniformed cops with them, too. Armie was on his cell, probably talking to Cannon. Inside the house he could hear the paramedics and his father, likely fetching Gene from the wine cellar where Denver had locked him in for safekeeping.

"You don't mean now, today, do you?"

She shook her head. "I mean now, between you and me."