Free Love Inspired Suspense July 2015 #1 by Valerie Hansen, Sandra Orchard, Carol J. Post

her.”
    Listening to his sister chuckle upset Isaac. “Look, Becky, this is not funny.”
    â€œHey, I was laughing at you, not her.”
    â€œWell, fine. Daniella’s scared, as she should be, and until the cops can find the person who set explosives under her car, she’ll continue to be in danger.”
    â€œHow can you be sure of that?”
    â€œBecause there’s more to the story. The bomb construction was familiar, for one. Crude but effective.”
    â€œWhat about the one that went off last night by the monument? Which reminds me, how’s your leg?”
    â€œIt hurts. Thanks for asking,” Isaac said, tongue in cheek. This was not the first time it had occurred to him to wonder why the two recently set bombs were so similar, both in size and destructive efficiency—or in this case, inefficiency.
    â€œWe sent the fragments of the first one to the lab at Quantico,” Isaac continued. “I don’t know what the bomb squad did with the unexploded one under Daniella’s car but I’m sure somebody thought to compare the test results. If not, I’ll see it gets done.”
    â€œHmm. This is the second or third time you’ve called her by her first name. Just how close a friend is she?”
    â€œI met her last night,” he said flatly.
    â€œAnd? That doesn’t mean a thing if you’ve fallen for her already.”
    â€œDon’t be ridiculous. Nobody can get seriously involved that fast. Not even me.”
    â€œOkay, okay. I just thought I heard something different in your voice when you talked about her, that’s all.”
    â€œNo way. You’re imagining things.” But was she? Isaac wondered. There had been something odd, some unexplainable connection, that he’d sensed the moment Daniella’s frightened gaze had locked with his in the ER. They did have an emotional bond of sorts, the kind that appeared once in a lifetime, if ever. He knew it and he suspected that Daniella knew it, too.
    Beginning to mutter the moment the call ended, Isaac pushed himself to his feet and made sure he was steady on his sore leg, then limped toward the area of the house where Jacob was currently at work.
    As he approached, he overheard his brother’s robust laugh, then the higher, lovelier pitch of a woman enjoying the same uplifting emotion. It had to be Daniella, yet the change in her mood seemed so unlikely, he paused to listen.
    â€œSo, grab a hammer and give me a hand,” Jake said. “I dare you.”
    Isaac couldn’t make out her answer but he didn’t care. There was no way he was going to permit her to hang out with his brother when she should be with him and Abby, where she’d be safest.
    Careful to smile as he rounded the corner into the laundry room, Isaac stopped. “There you are. I was getting worried.”
    Her head slanted in a quizzical pose. “Why? You’re the one who sent me to Jake,” Daniella countered.
    â€œI know. I just needed privacy. You can come back to the den now.”
    It floored him when she shook her head and said, “I’d rather stay here and help your brother if it’s all the same to you. He needs me to hold the level while he nails things in place.”
    The urge to make a fuss and insist she rejoin him was so strong Isaac almost expressed his disappointment. He saw Daniella look from him to his brother, then back again, as if she were a child trying to decide which flavor of cookie to choose.
    He wanted her to come with him voluntarily rather than because he’d ordered it. What little he already knew about her was contradictory, yet instinct told him she could be stronger than she appeared sometimes. She’d have had to be to survive and thrive after her turbulent teen years. Any weakness he was sensing now had to be mostly due to the reappearance of her lethal father.
    Having enjoyed a home with stable, loving parents and a peaceful