They sent the governor to get the new neighbor Jillian most definitely did not want.

Houghton had dropped the bomb on her three days ago that not only would she be dealing with him at the hospital—though he had become a bit tamer since Lanning—but that Rafe would be right there next door in their private little neighborhood sphere.

Since Houghton had abducted Mel and carried her away, their neighborhood had changed drastically. She didn’t mind change—the annoying neighbor who liked to cause problems for Brynna had been bought out quickly, the house that had needed torn down three hundred years ago was gone. The yard to that place had been split between her father’s property and the one right there.

Where Handley Barratt had once spied on her family.

The house always creeped her out, especially since they'd learned Houghton’s father had been the one to own it. Handley Barratt had lived in it, and used it as he spied on her family for Jillian's entire life. The living room of that house looked straight out onto their front porch. Their street wasn't linear, nor was it a cul-de-sac. It was in a cluster of houses set away from a small creek. The creek was an offshoot of the original Finley Creek and ran behind Brynna’s place. Their house set off to the left on a two-acre parcel, Brynna and Chance were at a diagonal, on a five-acre tract. Chance had purchased the house that her sister had always wanted for Brynna back in the winter.

There had been another house right next door to Brynna's, but it had been over one hundred years old and needed a great deal of repair to be functional. Houghton had purchased it and currently had men repairing it; it was the smallest on the block. Not that that was saying much, as there were only the four properties on their street for at least half a mile. Houghton had bought up all of the land that he could, to provide a safe, secure place for Jillian and her family. There were some drawbacks to having the wealthiest man in Texas as one’s brother-in-law. But that still left the home Handley Barratt had purchased right after Brynna's birth.

It was in too good of condition to destroy, yet Houghton and Mel would never live there. Not after knowing Handley Barratt had used it to spy on them all—especially Melody, whom the older man had been obsessed with, in a lot of ways. Chance had found some journals in that house about a month earlier. What had been written in those journals about how Handley Barratt had cataloged Melody’s life almost in weekly detail freaked Jillian out.

That had just magnified when they’d found the journal about Jillian.

Theoretically she understood renting it to Chance's cousin, and Ari’s brother. The house shouldn’t just sit there and be empty forever, and it was a very beautiful home.

That didn't mean Jillian was thrilled with Rafe being right there.

Jerk of a man and a creepy house—the two seemed suited to each other. But why did he have to be so close?

Her luck sucked.

For the first time since her mother had died, Jillian seriously contemplated moving away from home. She could get an apartment. Or rent the apartment next to Ari’s. Her friend lived over Lucas Tech’s Finley Creek office. There were three apartments, one was occupied by the guard assigned to Ari every so often.

As the governor stepped outside to go fetch his brother, Jillian seriously wondered how much Carrie would charge her in rent each month—her eldest sister owned an apartment building—and whether St. Louis needed a good trauma nurse.

It was a very tempting thought.

But then she’d have to leave her loved ones behind.

She just busied herself getting Lacy comfortable—her friend was not taking the doctors' orders to stay still seriously enough for Jillian's comfort—and helping Mel prep for Sunday dinner.

She grabbed the pan of fried chicken from the stove and moved it to the island where they were setting up buffet style. Then the door opened, and there he was. Satan, himself.

"Dr. Holden-Deane. Getting settled in?" He had to know how irritated she was with him at the moment. They’d come to a temporary truce while caring for Lacy, but Lacy was mending. And life was going to get back to normal at any time.

Normal should not include having him right there in her home, damn it.

She half-suspected that’s why the man had said yes to Houghton’s house.

Just to get under her skin.

"Jillian. I am. Thank you.” Did he realize he was glowering at her? Or was that just his usual expression? "Let me help you with that."

Jillian shifted the pan with the potholders as his hands covered hers, taking the heavy pot from her. "We’re setting up here on the buffet. You might head into the living room. Your brother and Lacy are already in there."

---

Her greeting hadn't been all that welcoming, but she hadn't tossed the hot chicken at his head, either. Rafe considered that a win. Things between the two of them had cooled down since Lanning’s death.

He preferred it that way.

Rafe was tired of arguing with her constantly, although the urge was always there just beneath his skin the first moment he saw her each time. He did as she instructed, joining his youngest brother—and from the ring now flashing around on McGareth’s hand, his future sister-in-law—in the living room of the Beck home.

He had to admit it was a warm, comforting, welcoming place. There were people everywhere.

Including his half-sister, who eyed him warily from the chair she sat on—and a teenaged boy who looked just like her.

The boy at him out of eyes Rafe saw every day in the mirror.

Shit. Another one.