It was the stupidest thing he had ever done.

Rafe knew it from the moment he put one hand over her back. The back left bare by the white silk. Why had she chosen white? It made her curves look all the more beautiful.

She wasn’t overly curved, but what she had...made a man drool. He hated to think it, but he understood why men like the lieutenant governor would become obsessed with her. She was the kind of woman a man simply couldn’t forget.

He’d tried since the moment he’d seen her in that rose garden. In the deepest hours of the night he’d tossed and turned and wondered what it was about her that drew him like a fool. Made him forget the nightmares and remember her instead.

Wondered what would happen if they got beyond the anger and the fights and looked to see if there was something more there. Something stronger than anger. Something richer.

If he was stupid—or brave. Rafe didn’t quite know which.

Some man somewhere would eventually fall for the woman in his arms and she’d fall for that man; her life would take that expected direction. She’d probably marry, have children, build a family much like the one from which she’d come.

Brave, then.

A man taking a woman like this for his own was far too brave for his own good. Rafe would never do it.

He’d seen the desolation and destruction women like her could bring to a man. His own brother was a prime example.

Marcus had been destroyed when he’d lost his wife Carissa four years ago. Rafe would never forget his brother’s agony. He’d held Marcus as his world fell apart, leaving his big brother with a two-year-old and a brand new infant.

Rafe would never let himself get anywhere near that point in his own life.

It just wasn’t worth the pain.

Rafe tried telling his body that. The instant she brushed against him, his body tightened and urged him toward a direction Rafe’s head just didn’t want to take.

A direction his damned body had urged him in several times over the last few weeks.

Jillian had such fire and life when she forgot to be afraid.

She’d come at him more times than he could count, especially when it was on her patients’ behalves. The hell of it was, he agreed with her most of the time. But Rafe was the Chief of Medicine for a reason.

To make the hospital profitable.

Or at least self-sustaining again. Before the-powers-that-be decided to close it.

Jillian didn’t quite seem to understand that. He looked down at the she-devil in his arms. He wanted to pull her closer. “I missed you at the hospital today.”

He had. Like an idiot, he’d looked for her every time he walked through her department. He practically had her schedule memorized.

“What can I say? I was needed here. And I am sure you had plenty of people telling you how wonderful you are. I’m sure you didn’t need me.” She danced beautifully. Rafe fought the urge to pull her closer against his chest. His brain might be putting off warning signs, but the rest of him hadn’t quite gotten the message. Healthy male, beautiful woman. Attraction was practically inevitable.

“Exactly why I missed you. No one else puts me in the dirt like you. I didn’t know you sang. You or McGareth.” Rafe glanced toward the other woman quickly. She and his idiot younger brother were the center of attention at the moment. McGareth could apparently dance really well. His brother wasn’t a slouch, either. Travis was enjoying himself with the fiery blonde, that was clear.

“The three of us sing together when we can. It’s nothing serious. Just fun. Except Mel asked us to do this tonight. For W4HAV. It’s a charity she’s involved with, too. She and Ari brought it here to Finley Creek. I’m proud of them. They’ve worked hard to get it going.” He heard the challenge and knew she was just waiting for him to say something she didn’t like. He fought a grin.

Sometimes it was all he could do to keep from lighting her fire just to see the sparks. He sobered. He shouldn’t get her going just to entertain himself. It wasn’t right. And could quickly turn to something else.

“No thanks to you glaring at her, we made it through tonight.”

“Her?” he asked, though he knew exactly who she meant. He looked for his half-sister and found her right where he expected to find her. She was just as in demand as Jillian and Lacy McGareth with the unattached men at this little party of Jillian’s brother-in-law. He glanced at the man holding his half-sister closely.

Rafe almost did a double take. Marcus was looking down at Ariella Avery like they were the only two people in the ballroom. Like Ariella mattered to his brother.

Ariella was looking everywhere but at her dance partner. What was Marcus thinking?

“You’re staring,” Jillian said, her own attention on her friend. Her fingers tightened on Rafe. “And glaring. Quit scaring her. You’re doing it on purpose. I get that you don’t get along with women very well, but keep your nastiness pointed at women who can fight back. Ari won’t, you know. She’s too sweet.”

“Like you and Dr. McGareth, perhaps?” His nastiness? Was that really how she saw him? “You always protect her?”

He cursed himself when her face tightened. When he remembered that last damned video they’d shown while she was on that stage.

The lieutenant governor of Texas had shot Ariella point-blank, while Jillian had watched, helpless. The horror would probably never be forgotten by the woman in his arms. Would haunt her. And he’d just made her relive it.

Rafe pulled her closer unconsciously. “I—”

“Yes. I always protect her. And I always will. She and Lacy and my sisters, my family, there is nothing I won’t do for them. It’s why I’m dancing with you right now. Because Mel made me, and I won’t do anything to embarrass her in front of Houghton’s friends.”

The dance ended and Jillian pulled out of his arms. She stalked away, leaving Rafe feeling like a complete and total ass.