If I didn’t know you better, I’d say you were jealous.”

“I don’t even know where to begin with that statement...so many ways I could run with it.” He smiled at her, a charming smile that made her want to leap from her chair and run.

“Joe,” he said politely, “works for me.”

When her lips parted he held up a hand to stop her.

“He’s worked for me since the day you hired him. He didn’t attend USC. He never studied art, communications or design. And he’s not twenty-four. He’s thirty-one, and before he came to work for Dunamas, he was a member of Delta Force.”

Logan couldn’t wrap her head around what Rowan was telling her. Joe was not a military guy. Joe was young and sweet and hardworking...

But Rowan misunderstood her baffled expression. “First Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta,” he said.

“I don’t need an explanation for the abbreviation Delta Force. I need to understand how someone I hired from a pool of candidates worked for you.”

“They all worked for me.”

“No.”

“How many résumés and cover letters did you get?”

“Six. No, five. One withdrew hers.”

“How many did you interview?”

“Four.”

“How many in person?”

“The top three.”

“Trish Stevens, Jimmy Gagnier and Joe Lopez. Trish wanted too much money. Jimmy made you uncomfortable because he knew about your family. And Joe was just so dang grateful to have a job.” The corner of his mouth quirked but he wasn’t smiling. “And you believed him because you wanted—needed—to believe him.”

“But I called his references...” Her voice faded as she heard herself and realized how foolish she sounded. She stared hard at a point just past Rowan’s shoulder, willing her eyes to stop stinging, willing the awful lump in her throat to stop aching.

She’d trusted Joe.

She’d trusted him with her work and her family and her life...

“I thought he was a good person,” she whispered, feeling impossibly betrayed.

“He is. He would have died for you. No questions asked.”

“I’m sure that must have cost you a pretty penny.”

“Joe did protect you,” Rowan said. “And he wasn’t a spy—”

“I don’t believe that for a minute.”

“If he was a spy, he would have told me about the baby. He never did.” Rowan’s voice deepened, hardened. “His job was to protect you, and he did. He was so devoted to you that he also protected you, and Jax, from me.”

Logan had nothing to say to that. She stared at Rowan, stunned, because theoretically, if Joe was employed by Rowan, he probably should have told Rowan he was protecting a woman and a baby...

“Yes,” Rowan said. “He took his job as your security detail very, very seriously. He never once mentioned anything about a pregnancy or a baby or that he spent lots of time working from your home.”

She almost laughed, feeling slightly hysterical. “Do you have any idea the things I had him do? The errands after work? The trips to the dry cleaner? He even helped feed Jax dinners when I was working away at my computer...” Logan swallowed hard. “I thought he loved her. And maybe it wasn’t love, but I thought he really did care about us.”

For several minutes there was just silence and then Rowan made a low, rough sound. “He did,” Rowan said shortly. “For two years Joe protected you and your secret.