Daphne held onto her anger for the next hour, careful not to let Maya feel her wrath. She spoke to her child as she nursed, warmed by the glowing logs in the fireplace.

All the while, her thoughts churned in her head. No wonder Boomer had been so distant. He’d thought she had gone from one man to another without a break between. He really didn’t know her. Or he held her to the same standard as himself or the other women he’d been with.

How many women had he slept with in the past year? Two, four, a dozen? Their week in Cozumel probably meant nothing to him.

He said he’d looked for you.

Yeah, but how hard?

Granted, Chuck had done a good job of getting her away from the little island off the coast of Mexico. When they’d arrived in the States, he’d arranged for fake identification. As far as Utah was concerned, Maya was Maya Jones, not Maya Miller or Maya Rayne as she should have been. And the Utah driver’s license Chuck had given her had her name as Donna Jones.

As far as the US was concerned, Daphne Miller had disappeared. She hadn’t filed a tax return in over a year, and she never had a baby.

She shifted Maya to the other breast, adjusted the baby blanket over her shoulder and Maya’s head, and leaned back her head in the wooden rocking chair.

How much longer could it take to nail Harrison Cooper and his corrupt father? They had to make a huge mistake soon. One that would land them in jail and take the pressure off her and Maya. Once those two men were incarcerated, surely she and her daughter could settle into a nice little cottage overlooking the ocean and create a peaceful existence free of assassins and sexy SEAL bodyguards.

Maya fell asleep nursing on the second breast. By the time Daphne laid her in her playpen, the guys had the generator roaring outside.

Daphne carried bags full of groceries into the kitchen and unloaded them into the pantry. With the generator running, the refrigerator worked. She placed the cold items inside and hurriedly closed the door. Until the electric company switched on the electricity, they had to conserve energy. The couple five-gallon jugs full of fuel wouldn’t last forever. Thankfully, they’d brought firewood, and she’d seen more stacked in the shed. At least they’d stay warm in the chalet.

Daphne found a pan in a cabinet, opened a large can of beans, flavored with tomato sauce and spices. She cooked the venison hamburger Sadie had packed with the refrigerated items and mixed it with the beans and tomatoes for chili.

Chuck entered the house, and with him, came a gust of frigid air.

“The temperature has dropped below freezing, and the storm doesn’t appear to want to let up anytime soon. I’d say it’s safe to say we’re not going anywhere tonight.”

Daphne smiled. “On the flip side of that, I hope that means we won’t have to worry about Cooper’s team descending on us during the middle of a blizzard.”

“That would be my educated guess. You can’t see much farther than the hand in front of your face out there.” He shook the snow off his coat and hung it on a peg on the wall near the door.

Daphne leaned to the side, peering around Chuck.

Chuck’s lips quirked upward on the corners. “If you’re looking for Rayne, he went for a walk.”

Daphne frowned. “In that storm where you can only see the hand in front of your face?” She stepped toward the door. “And you let him?”

Chuck caught her arm. “He only went as far as the shed. He’ll be all right.”

She bit her lip, wanting to go after Boomer.

“Give him time to digest the news. He looked pretty pale.”

“Well, he’ll just have to get over it. It’s not like he has to do anything. I can take care of the baby. I don’t need a man in my life.”

Chuck’s brows rose. “And what am I? Chopped liver?”

Daphne drew in a deep breath and relaxed the frown tugging at her forehead. “Sorry. You’ve been wonderful through everything. I don’t know what I would have done without you through childbirth and the first three months of all-nighters.” She hugged Chuck. “I know it was above and beyond the call of duty.”

“Hey, you know I’d do anything for you and the kid. You two have grown on me. I like to think if I’d actually had a kid of my own, she would have been a lot like you. Flexible, good-natured and tough.”

With a smile, she hugged him again. “You’re not old enough to be my father. But you’d make a great big brother.”

“It’s a good thing we’re not physically attracted to each other. Someone might get the wrong impression.”

At that moment, the door to the chalet opened and a blast of cold air split Daphne and Chuck apart.

Boomer entered. When he spotted them in a hugging clinch, his brows drew together. “If I’m interrupting something, I can leave and come back later.”

“Don’t be silly. Supper’s ready, and you look like you could stand to warm up a little.” Daphne checked on Maya and returned to the kitchen to stir the pot of chili. She gathered bowls from the cupboard and spoons from a drawer and set them out on the small dining table near the fireplace. Among the supplies Sadie and Hank had provided was a box of saltine crackers. Daphne set a sleeve of the crackers on the table. When she started to lift the pot of chili, Boomer entered the kitchen.

“I’ll get that.” He carried the pot to the table where Daphne laid a hot pad on the wood, and Boomer positioned the pot on the pad.

Chuck held Daphne’s chair for her. When she’d been seated, the men sat and filled their bowls full of the rich, steaming chili. Several minutes of silence passed while they ate.

The silence stretched.

Tension built until Daphne finally set down her spoon. Any conversation was better than none. She took a deep breath and threw out a conversation starter. “So, what’s the plan?”

Chuck grinned. “My plan is to finish this chili. You make the best chili. But don’t tell my grandmother, God rest her soul.”

Boomer ate the last bite of his chili and nodded. “Thank you. The chili hit the spot.” He took his bowl to the kitchen.

So much for conversation.

Daphne finished what was in her bowl and carried her dinnerware to the kitchen.

Boomer had filled the sink with soap and water and set a teakettle on the stove to heat water. “You cooked. I can pull KP.”

“KP?” she asked.

“Kitchen patrol.” He took her bowl. For a brief second, their fingers collided.

A shock of electricity raced from that point of contact up Daphne’s arm and into her chest. Warmth spread throughout her body at that simple touch. When she glanced up to see if it had the same affect on Boomer, she was gratified to see his eyes flare before he turned with her bowl to immerse it in the water.

“If you wash, I’ll dry,” she offered.

“No, you’ve done enough.” Chuck entered the kitchen behind her. “You’re not the chief cook and bottle washer.”

“But you two are protecting us. I need to do something useful.”

“Taking care of Maya is useful,” Chuck said. “We can handle doing dishes.”

Behind Boomer’s back, Daphne glared at Chuck.

He tipped his head toward the living area. “I think Maya is stirring. I’d much rather dry dishes than change a diaper.”

Foiled at her attempt to be close to Boomer, Daphne left the kitchen and lifted Maya out of the playpen. As suspected, her diaper was wet. Though the baby had been a trooper for their great escape, traveling via four-wheelers through the mountains without a complaint, she didn’t like being wet, and she wasn’t afraid to voice her opinion.

Moments later, Maya settled into Daphne’s arms, content in her dry diaper.

The men finished up the dishes and put the leftover food in the refrigerator.

The hum of the generator nearly drowned out the sound of the wind wailing through the trees and mountain passes. But there was no denying the storm had settled over the area and Daphne didn’t think it would let up for a while. For now, at least, they’d be safe.

“Is there any hot water in the water heater, yet?” Daphne called out.

“We used hot water from the teakettle for the dishes,” Chuck said. “You can see if the generator has been running long enough for a warm shower.”

Daphne rose from the rocking chair and leaned over to lay Maya in the playpen. As soon as she attempted to let go, Maya fussed. “You poor thing. All this running around is making you nuts, isn’t it?” She settled the baby on her shoulder and glanced around the room. She couldn’t shower holding Maya.

Both men walked out of the kitchen.

Daphne grinned. “Who wants to hold Maya while I shower?”

Chuck held up his hands. “I want to work on that snowmobile before we lose what’s left of the light outside.” He slipped his arms into his ski jacket and hurried out the door.

Daphne faced Boomer for the first time since she’d told him Maya was his baby girl. She cocked her brows. “Well?”

Boomer’s gaze darted around the room as if he was searching for an escape.

“She won’t bite,” Daphne said, with a slight narrowing of her eyes. “She hasn’t even gotten her first tooth yet. She won’t be hungry for another hour, and her diaper is clean and dry. All she wants is someone to hold her.”

His gaze rose to meet Daphne’s, and he sighed. “What do I do?”

Daphne hid a grin and settled Maya in Boomer’s arms. “You can walk with her or sit in the rocking chair. If she gets fussy, sometimes lightly bouncing her seems to calm her.”

“And if that doesn’t work?”

“I’ll be out shortly. I’m only a room away.” She shook her head at the terrified look on his face. The man had to learn soon enough what it was like to care for his own child.

Daphne grabbed the bag of clothing Sadie had given her and hurried toward the master bedroom with the attached bathroom. Once inside, she leaned her ear against the door and listened for sounds of Maya’s distress.

When she didn’t hear any cries, she relaxed and smiled. Poor Boomer was way out of his element. Spending time with Maya would be good for him.

Perhaps it would make him realize how much he would want to be with her. And that, maybe, he’d want to be with Daphne again. And if wishes were horses…

She stripped out of the clothing she’d borrowed from Sadie Patterson when she’d first arrived at the White Oak Ranch, and pulled her hair up into a messy bun on top of her head. Then she stepped into the bathtub and pulled the shower curtain closed. When she turned on the water faucet, icy cold water poured out. She twisted the hot water knob wide open and waited, praying the generator had managed to turn the cold water warm. After a minute, she turned the cold water all the way off. At best the water was barely lukewarm. It would have to do.

She flipped the switch for the shower and gasped as chilly liquid ran over her shoulders. She quickly scrubbed her body. By the time she turned off the faucet, she shivered uncontrollably. The big, fluffy towel Sadie had sent along was heaven. She dried quickly and wrapped the terrycloth around her, tucking the corner in across her left breast.

Daphne recalled the large walk-in shower in Boomer’s bungalow in Cozumel. They’d made love in that shower several times. She wouldn’t be surprised if that was where they’d conceived Maya.

A sharp tug in the lower region of her belly reminded her of how perfectly they’d fit together and how attuned Boomer had been to her body and her desires.

She stripped out of the towel and stared down at her body. It wasn’t the same as when she’d been on the Mexican island. Her hips and breasts where larger, and she had a little belly pooch she hadn’t been able to work off after giving birth to her five-pound, six-ounce baby girl.

If Boomer saw her nude, would he still be attracted to her? Or would he be turned off by the changes in her body?

A baby’s cry sounded through the door of the bedroom.

Daphne’s breasts tightened, and she could feel the letdown effect of her milk rushing out to satisfy her baby’s needs. If she didn’t hurry and feed Maya, she’d drench herself with breast milk.

After tossing the towel over a rail, she hurried into a sweater and the thick, warm leggings Sadie had provided, forgoing the bra that would be more in the way than a help.

As she stepped out of the bedroom, she could see into the living room.

Boomer stood frozen to the floor, holding baby Maya out in front of him, staring into her screwed up face as she cried.

He didn’t move, he didn’t talk to her, he just stood like a statue.

Before Daphne could take a step, the front door opened, frigid air and snow blasting into the room.

“What are you doing?” Chuck’s voice sounded from deep in the hood he’d pulled up over his head and ears.

Boomer didn’t budge, didn’t respond, just held out Maya, his eyes wide and his breathing coming in short, disturbed gasps.

Chuck reached Boomer before Daphne, took Maya from Boomer’s hands and handed her to her mother.

Daphne hugged the baby to her chest and smoothed a hand over her head. “It’s okay. You’re all right,” she said in a singsong voice.

Maya immediately calmed and started rooting around for her dinner. Daphne carried her into the bedroom and lifted her sweater.

Maya latched on and settled in for supper.

Normally content to let her daughter feed, Daphne found herself counting the minutes until Maya was full. Then she could lay her in her playpen and find out what the hell had happened to make Boomer act so strangely toward his daughter.

As soon as Chuck took Maya and handed her off to Daphne, Boomer bent double and rested his hands on his knees, dragging in deep ragged breaths.

After Daphne left the room, Chuck demanded in a barely controlled whisper, “What the hell happened?”

For a long moment, Boomer couldn’t have answered if he tried. The image of the woman in the black robes, holding her dead baby to her chest, haunted him.

For the first five minutes Daphne was in the shower, Boomer had walked around the room, staring down at the beautiful baby girl in his arms.

Maya seemed content to snuggle close, pressing her face against his shirt.

He’d tucked her blanket around her to ward off a chill and paced back and forth across the room, praying the baby didn’t wake before Daphne returned to relieve him.

Then something outside made a loud banging noise, like a limb hitting the metal roof.

Maya’s eyes blinked open, and she stared up at him.

Boomer had never seen eyes so blue, or such a precious, beautiful face. And she smelled like baby powder and sweetness. He’d marveled at the tiny human who was his daughter. A part of him, sharing the same DNA. Already she looked more like him than Daphne. Would she have her mother’s kind heart and good sense? Or would she be like he had been when he was young—wild, hard to control and headstrong?

His arms tightened around her. Or would the people after Daphne snuff out her little life before the baby had a chance to grow, play, learn and one day marry and have her own babies?

Maya must have sensed his distress. Her face screwed into a frown, and she opened her mouth and cried.

The sound had rooted Boomer’s feet to the floor, sending him into what was like a video rerun of his last kill and the death of the Iraqi baby. The wails of its mother blended with Maya’s cries, and Boomer’s head spun between memories and reality. He didn’t know how to make the woman stop wailing, and the baby in his arms wouldn’t stop crying. He held her out at arm’s length, but the memories wouldn’t detach from what he was seeing in front of him.

Until the door opened, and Chuck entered.

Once the other man had taken Maya from his grip, Boomer felt as if someone had removed the bones from his body. He was hard pressed to remain standing.

“What the hell happened?” Chuck asked.

Boomer recognized it as the second time the man had asked him the question. He swallowed hard and closed his eyes to block out the image of the woman crying over her dead baby. “I don’t know,” he said. He couldn’t tell the older SEAL he was seeing things.

Chuck shoved a chair behind Boomer’s knees. “Sit. Pull yourself together and tell me what just happened. No bullshit.”

Boomer sat for a long moment before he looked up into Chuck’s face.

The SEAL didn’t look at him with an accusing stare. A frown pulled at his brows, but it wasn’t an angry one, but more of concern. “PTSD?” Chuck asked.

Boomer shoved a hand through his hair and glanced away. “Probably,” he said.

“What are your triggers?”

When Boomer didn’t respond, Chuck added, “I have flashbacks when I hear the sound of gunfire or the backfire of muffler. Fireworks set me off as well.”

Boomer’s gaze shot back to the big SEAL. “You have flashbacks?”

“A lot of guys I know have a hard time assimilating back into the real world.” Chuck dropped another log onto fire, grabbed a wooden chair and straddled it backward. “We’ve seen too much, been shot at, and sometimes can’t separate our pasts from our present. Some people take years before the sharp edges blur. Others never get over it.”

Boomer snorted. “God, I hope that’s not my case.”

“What was your trigger?” Chuck persisted.

Boomer buried his face in his hands and whispered, “A baby’s cry.”

“A what?” Chuck leaned closer. “A baby’s cry?” The older SEAL muttered a curse. “Wow. That’s going to be tough to overcome.”

Boomer nodded. “I’m a father, and I can’t even take care of my own child.”

“You just found out you’re a father. You can’t expect to fall right into being a good parent.”

“I can’t do it. That baby needs someone who isn’t going to come apart at the seams every time he hears her cry. She needs someone who has his shit together. Someone like you.”

Chuck snorted. “I didn’t always have my shit together. Believe me. It took me two years after I left the SEALs to find my way. For one and half of those years, I sank so deeply into a bottle of booze, I didn’t think I’d ever find my way back out.”

Boomer stared across the floor at his brother-in-arms, feeling more connected to the man than he had since they’d met.

Chuck had been through the same brutal training, conducted similar missions and probably had killed his share of civilians in the course of his duties. He understood.

“Don’t beat yourself up over this incident. Work through it. I don’t know what kind of coping techniques you can use, but do what it takes.” Chuck tipped his head toward the bedroom. “That baby girl is worth it. She needs a father who can be there for her.”

And Daphne needed a man who could take care of her and Maya.

Boomer shook his head. In his current state, he was more of a liability than an asset to them. They’d be better off without him.

Chuck leaned across and punched him in the arm. “Don’t talk yourself out of being in that child’s life. Or Daphne’s, for that matter.”

“If I can’t keep it together when Maya cries, what good am I to them?”

Chuck pinned him with a direct stare. “How do you think we knew where to find you?”

“You came to Hank. I just happened to be there.”

Chuck shook his head. “That woman in there had you on her mind from the moment we left Cozumel to the moment you appeared in Patterson’s living room.”

Boomer’s eyes narrowed. “We only knew each other for a week.”

“Some things don’t take long to gel. She couldn’t stop thinking about you. Through my SEAL contacts, I followed your career. I knew when you got out of the Navy. How do you think Hank Patterson found out about you?”

Boomer’s frown dipped lower. “You got me the job?”

Chuck shrugged. “No, your reputation as a sniper and a kickass SEAL got you the job. I just put the bug in Hank’s ear. He made the decision to hire you. Hank’s a nice guy, but he wouldn’t employ just anyone. You have to be right for his vision of the Brotherhood Protectors.”

Boomer wasn’t sure he liked the idea that Chuck had been the one to get him on with Hank’s organization. Nor did he like the idea that Chuck had been spying on him for the past year.

What did make his insides warm and his heart beat a little faster was the fact Daphne had wanted to know about him—where he was, how he was doing, when he was deployed and when he came home.

The woman had been through a lot over the past year. Probably as much trauma as he’d suffered. Hell, she’d had a baby. That in itself was life threatening. And he hadn’t been there for her.

The least he could do was make sure she wasn’t harmed by the bastards trying to kill her. He’d sort out his own issues after he got her past the threat on her life.

Looking over Boomer’s shoulder, Chuck pushed to his feet. “How’s Maya?”

Boomer turned toward Daphne. With her hair piled high in a messy bun on top of her head, a thick wool sweater and leggings hugging her long sexy legs, she couldn’t have been more beautiful.

“Maya’s asleep on the bed. We’ll need to keep the fire going through the night to keep the house warm enough.”

“I’ll take the couch and feed the fire through the night,” Boomer insisted. He couldn’t screw that up.

Daphne nodded, her brows twisting. “Are you all right?”

Heat burned its way up his neck into his cheeks. He pressed his lips together in a tight line. “Yes.”

“I’ll take the bedroom upstairs,” Chuck offered.

“Won’t it be too cold up there?” Daphne asked.

“Heat rises,” Chuck reassured her. “If Boomer stokes the fire all night, I’ll stay plenty warm. Besides, I need to be up above the noise of the generator. I want to know when the storm clears. If it stops in the middle of the night, we need to be ready.”

Daphne shivered. “Do you think anyone would be out on a night like this?”

Chuck shook his head. “No way. But if it clears off suddenly, the night skies can be as bright as day.”

“Could they already know where we are?” Daphne wrapped her arms around her middle.

“They found us in Utah,” Chuck said. “It might only be a matter of time.

Boomer glanced at the rifle he’d hung on the hooks over the door. “If they show up, we’ll be ready.”

“I hope so. I don’t want the same thing to happen to either one of you that happened to Rodney.”

“It won’t,” Boomer said. Not on his watch. He’d be damned if Cooper’s henchmen got anywhere close to Daphne and Maya. They’d have to go through him to get to the two women in his life.