She smiled as Kristen traced her lips with her index finger as she ran her foot up her leg. “Give me an hour, and I’ll make it up to you. One of our people got shot, and he deserves our attention.”

“Take your time and let me know if there’s something I can do to help you. I hope he’s going to be okay.” Kristen kissed her, and it made her wish her night really was done.

“Your being here is making it okay. I might not say it enough, but I’m glad you’re with me. I didn’t think it was possible to be this happy.” She kissed Kristen again and let her go.

“In case you didn’t know, I really like it when you make these romantic declarations. They’ll get you out of trouble every time.”

“Good to know,” she said as she headed for the office Cain had built in this cabin. The phones as well as all the spaces in each building on the property were swept often to make sure all their conversations stayed private. She called Lou first, knowing he was next door to her cousin and had undoubtedly visited her.

“Muriel,” Lou said, sounding wide awake. “Did you talk to Sanders?”

“I told him to head to the office and a secure line before I tell him everything he needs to know. Have you talked to Cain?” She sat at the desk and put her feet up. After all the bad things that had happened to their family, she didn’t like being away from Cain when something like this happened. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Lou and Sabana to take care of her cousin, but peace of mind came when there was a wall of people around the head of their family. They would never survive without her.

“I just left their room. She’s staying until tomorrow. We ran into Judice O’Brannigan when we were at dinner tonight. Colin has gotten into something new, and it must worry O’Brannigan enough that she wants to talk to Cain about it, and Cain is wondering if he’s brought some madness our way. She’s trusting Sanders to keep it together until she sends a group of guys back tomorrow on the first flight we can find.”

“Don’t worry, he’s up to it. There’s no hints on Colin?”

“He’s your cousin, so you tell me,” Lou said and laughed.

“I’m not the imaginative one in the family, so who the hell knows? What we need to figure out is who hit the pub. Even with everything else going on, this takes precedence. I doubt this will be the last shot they take at us, and I don’t want any other innocents hit.”