If they wanted to pretend that last night hadn't happened, then she'd just help them right along with that, she decided after leaving her house and walking the distance to her parents'. She'd gotten real good at ignoring Raeg, anyway. She'd perfected the art over the years. At least, that was what she told herself as she stepped onto the back porch where her father was sitting comfortably in his rocking chair. "There's my baby girl." Daddy, or Caleb "Cal" Calhoun Sr., opened his arms for a hug that enfolded Summer in a secure and loving gentleness she'd felt only with her parents.

Raeg and Falcon stepped onto the porch behind her, waiting patiently as father and daughter hugged.

"And there's those friends of yours. Caleb was certain they wouldn't make it this morning." There was a watchful tension in her father's gaze that almost caused her to cringe with worry.

Daddy could be a problem when he got that look. It meant he was curious, and his curiosity could become a problem if her momma didn't keep it reined in.

At sixty, Cal was still a force to be reckoned with despite his claim of bum knees and a busted shoulder and she knew it. And it worried her.

His face was lined from his years in the military, but his dark blue eyes still held a twinkle of amusement and, sometimes, downright fun that never failed to draw others in.

His black hair was heavily layered with silver, his brows were still a raven's black, his farmer's tan giving his face a dark, leathery look of a lifetime spent in the weather. He was still fit though, shoulders broad, his frame perhaps not as muscular as in his youth, but her momma seemed right proud of how well built he appeared.

Her daddy had always been strong in her eyes though, even at a time when he seemed lost within himself. He was still the man who had taught her how to protect herself from the time she could walk until the time came that training would require harder lessons than he was comfortable teaching her. Because of him, she'd saved herself more than once instead of needing someone else to save her.

He and his "bride," as he still called her momma, were still crazy in love and had managed to raise three boys and two girls that were, as he put it, "wild as the wind but damned good kids."

"Good morning, sir." Falcon shook hands with her father first. "It's nice to see you again."

"Mr. Calhoun." Raeg nodded, shaking Cal's hand as well, though the fact that he was remaining as aloof and distant as possible was easy to see.

She hoped Raeg knew how to mind his manners with her daddy, otherwise, she might have to find the black iron skillet in the kitchen and teach him better.

"Raeg." Her daddy nodded. "Davis Allen speaks highly of both ya'll, but he seems especially fond of you."

"Thank you, sir." Raeg nodded back. "I've gotten kind of used to him as well."

Now, didn't he just sound about as enthusiastic as a hound over a rock bone? Damn him. He was scooting close to being offensive to her daddy.

"Why, Davis Allen just loves Raeg," Summer stated with wide-eyed sweetness as she shot him a warning look. "He's saying all the time how his chief of staff is just a political natural."

And it wasn't a compliment. Though only Raeg and Falcon likely knew it. Because didn't her god-daddy just think a political natural was an asshole to the core and too damned hateful to even discuss the weather with?

She smiled at Raeg, an innocent smile as she clasped her hands behind her back and tilted her head to bat her lashes at him ingenuously.

He didn't appear overly impressed with her though, now did he?

"If she comes up missing, it's because I've fed her to the alligators," Raeg grunted, though his expression was anything but teasing.

"Her brothers threaten that daily." Her daddy chuckled before turning back to her and centering his attention on her.

Uh oh, there was that look in his eyes again. That was definitely her cue.

"I'll just go help Momma..." she said, trying to escape.

"You just wait a minute." Cal caught her shoulder gently as she was about to pass him, leveling a firm look down at her. "You have something to show me, little girl?" her daddy asked her then, frowning down at her from his six-foot height, his expression stern.

"Something to show you?" She shook her head, confused. "I don't think so."

And she wasn't a forgetful sort of person either.

His dark blue eyes narrowed on her. "Turn around, little girl. Your brother told me about that bullet you took in the shoulder. I wondered why you stopped wearing those dresses with those tiny straps last year."

He pushed her around, gently but firmly, as she restrained a groan of defeat.

She was killing Caleb, she decided.

Killing him. Her momma was going to lose a son right fast.

It was with gentle fingers that her daddy lowered the wide strap of her dress just enough to find the scar that marred her shoulder, his calloused thumb brushing over it.

"I have an appointment in a few months with a plastic surgeon," she mumbled. "He'll just make it all go away, Daddy. I promise. We won't even know it was there."

He wasn't happy. She could feel it.

"Only animals shoot little girls in the back." He pushed the strap back in place. "Get in the house, girl. Your momma's waitin' for you."

She went. Too quickly. She knew that tone of voice, and it was not one she ever argued with.

The minute she saw Caleb, she was going to kick him. A killing was just too good for him. He damned certain wouldn't suffer enough.

Raeg watched her go, a little bemused by the fact that she did everything but ask her father how high when he told her to jump. She didn't even obey Davis Allen like that, and from what he'd seen, the senator was like a close and favored uncle to her.

She called him "god-daddy." And though she respected him, she damned sure didn't obey him.

"Surprises you, does it?" Cal asked him gruffly, lowering himself into the rocking chair on the back porch Summer had led them around to from the front of the house.

"Excuse me?" Raeg turned to the other man, watching from the corner of his eye as Falcon took a seat on the thickly padded porch swing, eyeing it like a damned kid who'd never seen one before as Summer's father returned to his rocker.

"That she gets, when I tell her to get." The older man frowned up at him. "And sit down, dammit, don't make me squint up at ya."

Looking around and ignoring Falcon's amusement, he chose a chair across from Cal, so he wouldn't have to squint or turn his head.

God forbid he put the old man out. "I stopped questioning Summer's actions a long time ago," he answered as he sat down, ignoring Falcon's frown. "It's nice to see she listens to someone though." And that was a damned lie. It actually irked the hell out of him that she obeyed anyone without question as she'd just obeyed her father.

He hated it that she would bow and scrape to a man who had allowed himself to slip so deep into a drunken stupor that his child had been beaten so severely she'd thought she was going to die, and he wouldn't wake up. Beaten because she'd fought back when a nameless, faceless monster had tried to rape her.

And Raeg had caught the warning in her gaze. Disrespecting him would come with a price he might not want to pay. But it would hurt her. Pissing her off was okay, it always had been, but hurting her was another story.

Cal rocked silently for a moment as Falcon put a little swing in the seat he was sitting in. What the hell was up with that? The two of them were just rocking and enjoying the motion like there was nothing better in the world. He glanced at his brother, seeing the warning in his eyes and the disapproval on his expression.

What had he done to upset his far-too-playful brother this time?

"She'd listen to ya more if ya actually put some sweet in your voice," the father grunted, surprising Raeg at the advice. "Though to be honest"-the other man glanced between him and Falcon-"maybe it's a good thing ya don't."

Summer's was no man's fool, Raeg thought with sudden insight. The fact that her father was seeing something none of them wanted him to see wasn't lost on Raeg.

"I'm actually very sweet to Summer, sir," Falcon assured Summer's father, his expression holding its typical grin as he obviously tried to distract Cal. "You may ask her. I worship at her very tiny feet every chance she gives me."

Raeg closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. His brother ... One of these days that penchant for drama would get both of them in trouble.

"I can tell you let her think you're wrapped right around her delicate little pinky," Summer's father grunted, giving Falcon a doubtful look. "Boy, I have a feeling you're a menace."

Raeg actually had to hold back an amused snort. No truer words had ever been spoken.

Falcon looked up at the chains that attached his seat to the ceiling. "This is secure, is it not?" he asked, obviously determined to ignore the observation.

Cal narrowed his eyes on Falcon, rubbed the side of his nose with his thumb, and shook his head, almost hiding the tug of a grin at his lips. He continued to watch Falcon until pale blue eyes met darker blue a bit warily.

"You're the one, the reason that girl was in Moscow, I understand?" Cal stated. The expression on his face was anything but approving. "Tell me what happened, boy. Caleb swears he doesn't know, but that boy lies for his sisters every chance he gets. Let's see if you can be honest with me."

Raeg almost laughed at the thought. "He lies for her as well, Mr. Calhoun," he informed Summer's father. "Probably more often than Caleb does."

Falcon lied to his brother all the time where Summer was concerned, Raeg mused. They fought over that often.

"I do not lie for her," Falcon assured both of them, enjoying that swing a little too much as far as Raeg was concerned. "I simply refuse to tell you what is none of your business." He turned to Summer's father. "But you are her father, sir, and so I am at your disposal. Ask what you will."

"What the hell happened would be a good place to start," the older man demanded. "How the hell did my little girl end up with a bullet in her shoulder and some damned Russian psychopath hunting her?"

Amazingly enough, Falcon answered him. Thankfully, he did so briefly without his usual flare for the dramatic when it came to a story. Dragovich had bought stolen American secrets and he and his team, Gia and Summer, had been hired to recover them. As Summer was slipping from the office, Dragovich burst in, obviously warned at the last minute of the recovery. He shot, Summer jumped into the SUV, and Falcon raced to a safe house outside of town where the bullet had been removed by a surgeon Raeg and Davis Allen knew in the area.

The bullet hadn't gone straight through.

Yes, there was quite a bit of bleeding.

And yes, she had developed an infection but at no time had Falcon thought she would die-a bald-faced lie, Raeg knew.

Raeg and Davis Allen had been leaving the airport to fly to Russia and get them back to the States before Summer's fever killed her. It had broken and begun lowering just as they'd been packing the vehicle with needed weapons and supplies for the ride to a nearby military base.

The pain and anger that flashed in her father's face surprised Raeg, as did the other man's desperately clenched fists resting beside his body, pressed into the cushion beneath him.

"As she said, she meets with the plastic surgeon soon and he is certain there will be no sign of the scar once he is finished," Falcon reiterated. "My agency is covering the cost of the procedure as it occurred while she was on a job."

Summer's father was quiet for long, tense moments. Finally, Raeg saw his fists unclench as the other man took a slow, deep breath.

"Feel guilty as hell over it though, don't ya, boy?" he asked, clearing his throat.

"I still have nightmares," Falcon stated simply.

Cal nodded slowly before a brooding look filled his gaze and he looked between them, obviously not in the least worried about upsetting his daughter with his questions. Raeg wondered why he was still worried about the answers he might give ...

"Think I haven't checked the two of you out since you came here looking for Summer?" he grunted. "I know quite a bit about your wild ways in DC. Once I knew what to ask, Davis Allen wasn't about to lie to me. Why am I sensing both of you think you can play those games and claim my baby girl while you're protecting her? You think that's going to work here?"

Falcon stopped the swing, his blue eyes icy, his expression not nearly so open and friendly now. "You may ask me anything about Summer but that, sir. Let's not hurt her with questions that will cause the three of us to become out of sorts."

Summer's father turned to him then, and Raeg wondered why he hadn't just obeyed his first impulse and stayed at the house. "You got an answer there, young man?"

"He's a young man and I'm a boy?" Falcon protested then, obviously desperate now to change the subject.

Raeg and Cal both ignored him.

He wouldn't lie, but he didn't have to tell the other man the truth either. He was the senator's chief of staff for a reason. And he was damned good at his job.

"I have no claim on Summer," Raeg answered carefully, his voice low. "And to my knowledge, neither does Falcon."

Summer's father was quiet for long tense moments.

"Summer?" he said quietly then.

"Yes, Daddy?" Her quiet response wasn't hiding the hurt he thought he could hear in it.

Damn her father. The son of a bitch.

Raeg's gaze jerked to the screen door. She stood there, simply staring at him, her eyes like wounded violets. He'd hurt her, just as he hadn't wanted to do. Just as her father had fucking led him into doing.

"Could we get some coffee, since you're prone to eavesdroppin' this mornin'?" her father ordered more than asked.

"Yes, Daddy. But I wasn't eavesdroppin'. Breakfast is going on the table. Momma just put your coffee there," she said, her voice low, the hurt in her eyes causing his chest to tighten at the sight of it.

Her father smiled then, his gaze meeting Raeg's.

The bastard had known Summer was standing there when he'd asked if they thought they could claim her, had known she'd hear Raeg's answer and it would hurt her.

He needed alcohol, not coffee, Raeg decided, though he was sure they'd consider it too early here for whisky.

Surely it was five o'clock somewhere?

"Come on, boys." Cal lifted himself from the rocker, his voice far more jovial than the look he gave her. "My Leasa is a hell of a cook. You don't want to be late to the table, those boys of hers are like human vacuums when it comes to food. They consume it afore you even know it's there."

Following the older man into the house, Raeg caught Summer before she reached the table, his fingers curling around her upper arm.

"Summer...?" he began.

She shook her head and pulled her arm out of his grip. "Not now. Please don't embarrass me, Raeg."

She moved away from him, taking her seat as Raeg turned and caught her father watching them broodingly.

The son of a bitch. Damn him.

Breakfast was as crazy and loud as any elementary school lunchroom, Summer thought as she sat between Raeg and Falcon. The fact that she'd ended up there hadn't been lost on Momma and Daddy, or on brother Caleb.

Her other brothers Bowe and Brody were there alone, a rare enough occurrence, just as Aunjenue had evidently dissuaded any friends from showing up that morning. Besides Falcon and Raeg, only Clay, her brother's farm foreman, wasn't family-but he'd been there long enough that her momma and daddy considered him family.

The fact that Falcon and Raeg were simply not used to a family-style breakfast, with steaming bowls of food displayed in the center of the table, then passed around, was evident. Falcon caught on quickly. Raeg, despite his cool, confident appearance, wasn't nearly so certain about jumping right in. The paltry amount of eggs and the few pieces of bacon he put on his plate were going to hurt her momma's feelings.