Shadow Rider by Christine Feehan Page B

seeking the shadows of others. He hadn’t liked it then—and he’d been a young boy, nine years old, when she’d been born. He had tried protesting, as had his other brothers, hoping to spare her their life, but there were so few of the riders anymore that the family insisted she be trained.
    Emmanuelle knew what he was doing, taking her out of that place of death, but she didn’t protest. All of her brothers preferred to protect her. They had been raised to respect women. To treasure them. To protect them. They wanted her to have a life like all the other girls in the neighborhood, not one of violence and death. She had grown up with four big brothers always hovering close and she’d never protested or gotten angry with them. Instead, she’d developed a sense of humor and, much to their mortification, the ability to ignore them and do what she wanted anyway.
    â€œI want to meet her.”
    â€œYou will,
bella bambina
, as soon as I have managed to make her mine. She has no idea. I have to go carefully.”
    Her dark blue eyes moved over his face, the smile fading. “I want to help. I know this is going to be difficult for both of you, Stefano, but she will be my sister. She will make my brother very happy. She gives my other brothers and me hope. Surely, if she’s new to our neighborhood, she needs a friend. I can do that.”
    Stefano thought it over. Francesca only knew Joanna. He nodded slowly. “Her friend, Joanna Masci, asked her to come here to work for her uncle. Francesca is in some kind of trouble.”
    Emmanuelle nodded. “Renato and Romano are working on finding out everything they can about her. Zia Rachele and Zio Alfeo are helping. I think they even have Rosina and Rigina helping. The entire Greco family.”
    His aunt and uncle and their children were all investigators—and good ones. Powerful ones. Rosina worked with Renato and Romano most of the time, using the computer as a rule, and Rigina helped her parents doing the same thing. If they were looking into Francesca’s past, he had no doubt they would uncover her every secret. For a moment he actually thought to stop them. It was insane, but if she had something to hide, maybe it was best for him to find out before anyone else. She wouldn’t like her privacy torn apart in front of his entire family.
    â€œStefano,” Emmanuelle said softly. “We all want to help you. She’s ours as well as yours. When she comes into
la famiglia
, she becomes our sister. A daughter to our parents. She has to fully embrace our life, be one of us. You know that. Let us all help you in whatever capacity we can. Give us that. You always take care of us. We’ve always counted on your strength and guidance. This time, let us be there for you.”
    He looked around him. His brothers faced him in a loose semicircle. Ricco, Vittorio, Giovanni and Taviano. His cousins, Emilio and Enzo, stood shoulder to shoulder with his brothers.
La sua famiglia.
His family. He put his hand over his heart, pressing his palm deep into his chest.
    â€œGrazie.”
He meant it. Sincerely. His heart aching and full. He tightened his arm around his sister. “Perhaps you and the cousins could befriend Francesca and Joanna and do a few things with them. Put her at ease and make her feel as if she’s putting down a few roots. My schedule’s fairly heavy. If a couple of you could lighten my load”—he looked at his brothers—“I would greatly appreciate the time to try to work things out with her.”
    â€œOf course,” Ricco answered immediately. “We’ll divide your jobs between us for the next few weeks.”
    â€œAnd we’ll keep our eyes on her,” Emilio said. “This time, much closer. She already knows you put a couple of teams on her so there’s no use in hiding.”
    â€œWe could coach you,” Emmanuelle ventured. “In what
not
to do.”
    He