“I like him a lot,” Cav admitted, watching the couple in front of them stop at a white SUV.
“I call Dad my teddy bear,” Lia said, smiling fondly. “Mom was always the strict one. He always let me do wild, wonderful things when Mom wasn’t looking.”
“Like what?”
“Like buying Goldy, the palomino mustang gelding that I wanted to rescue from the dog-food factory in Ontario. He did buy him, because I was so horse-crazy.”
“So,” Cav said, “your dad spoils you? Your mom gets the job of being the house meanie?” He watched his teasing draw a huge smile out of her.
“No way, Jordan! Believe me, my dad was equally good at making me responsible and do the right thing for the right reasons, too. There’s no good cop/bad cop in our family.”
They just didn’t lay a hand on you to get you to do it, is all. Cav kept those words to himself. Because that’s how he got taught: with a fist, a belt, and threats that were usually carried out. He’d learned real fast.
“Well, it’s going to be interesting for me,” he confided.
“Oh, you’re gonna use your SEAL abilities?” she crowed.
“Yep.”
Lia rubbed her hands together, giving him a wicked grin. “We’ll compare notes when we’re alone, okay?”
Cav had his doubts about that, too. Lia had only told Susan that she was in love with him. “Did you tell your mother that we’re living together?”
“No,” she hedged.
“Then,” Cav said lightly, “from what I’ve surmised of your mother so far, she’s not going to let us sleep together under their roof. That’s my assessment.”
Lia’s fine, thin brows knitted as she considered Cav’s statement. “Oh … I hadn’t thought of that.” Her mouth canted and she muttered, “I’ll bet you’re right.”
“Not happy about that?”
“No, but it’s their house, Cav. We’ll respect whatever they want.”
He gave her a mischievous look. “Do you have a barn?”
“Yes. Why?” And then her eyes widened. “Oh, Cav! You wouldn’t! I mean … what if we got caught?”
Shrugging, he said blandly, “I’m a SEAL, remember? If I don’t want to be found or seen, I’m not.”
Her lips curved and she gave him a thoughtful look. “This is going to get interesting. I’ve never made love in a barn.”
“No?”
“No.”
He leaned over, kissing her hair. “There’s a first time for everything, baby.”
CHAPTER 2
Cav liked the old two-story farmhouse as they drove up to the U-shaped gravel driveway. It sat out in the middle of what he assumed were sugar beet fields, their large leaves waving like green fans in the breeze. He saw a tractor with a wagon on the back, spitting out what looked like red beets, only their tops were cut off. There were a lot of men working about a mile away in one of the three massive fields surrounding the family homestead.
“Those are the fields,” Lia said, pointing toward the tractor and men laboring around it.
“It’s harvest time,” Steve told Cav as he put the SUV in park in front of the house. “Come on in. Let’s get you two young ones settled in.”
Cav opened the door and held out his hand to Lia, who took it. He could feel Susan’s eyes on him, like two holes burning into his back. It hurt him that she didn’t trust him. Maybe he could find out why sooner rather than later, because he knew there would be blowback on Lia. And that’s what he didn’t want. As he closed the door, he released Lia’s hand and walked to the rear of the SUV, where Steve was hauling out their suitcases. Cav took both of them in hand.
Susan was mounting the wide white wooden steps. She pulled the screen door open and as Cav came up the steps, she said, “Your bedroom is on the left. You can put Lia’s luggage in her room, which is across the hall from yours.”
Cav made sure he hid his smile from the frowning woman. She sounded like a general who wasn’t going to take shit from a lower-ranked officer. “Yes, ma’am,” he murmured. He walked down the cool hallway lined with dark mahogany paneling, a very old Persian-rug runner extending down the length of it. The wood was hand hewn and Cav appreciated the craftsmanship that had gone into it.
Lia hurried past him, hooking her finger. “This way,” she urged breathlessly.
She led him through a beautiful curved entryway into the living room. The floors were blond oak, aged with a golden patina. There was an overstuffed couch with a flowery print and two matching chairs. Everything shouted the early 1900s, even the furniture. Lia gave him a smile over her shoulder as she led him down one hall.
“Here’s your room, Cav.” She opened it up and stepped inside.
He lugged his bag onto a bed that had a shining brass head and footboard. There was a blue, green, and purple quilt across its expanse. “Nice,” he murmured to Lia.
She came up to him, giving him a swift kiss on the mouth. “Don’t mind Mom. Okay?”
He smiled and kissed the tip of her nose. “Not a problem, baby.” He saw worry in Lia’s eyes and he wanted to erase that look. “We’ll have moments where we’ll be able to hang out with one another.”
She smiled and said, “I hope so. I’ve never seen Mom so prickly.”
“Remember, I’m the first guy you’ve brought home. I’m sure she’ll adjust once she gets to know me a little better,” he said quietly so only she could hear. He smoothed some strands from her wrinkling brow as she considered his words.
“Do you think that’s what it is, Cav?”
“I don’t know, but it’s a good guess,” he murmured. “Show me your room. I want to see what kind of little-girl dreams you dreamed.” His teasing snapped her out of her concern about her mother’s reaction to him. Susan’s feelings had been obvious and adamant. And Cav was going to have to do something about them sooner, not later. He wasn’t going to have Lia’s very necessary time with her parents ruined in this way. Susan would have to get a grip on whatever was bothering her about him. Since Lia had almost lost her life a second time, this family needed to do some healing with one another, and he didn’t want to become a distraction from that.
Beaming, Lia moved into the hall and quickly opened the door opposite his.
As Cav brought her pink luggage to her bed, he thought it was a girly-girl room, no question. There were white curtains with big ruffles embroidered here and there with pink roses. Her quilt was white with pink flowers. There was an oval braided rug over the golden oak flooring that was composed of white, pink, red, and green. The head-and footboards on her full-size bed were carved with roses and leaves and painted white. He set the luggage on the bed and opened it up for her.
“I get the feeling you like pink roses,” he teased as she came and sat next to the suitcase.
“Pink has always been my favorite color.” And then she lowered her voice. “I can hardly wait to show Mom and Dad the pink diamond engagement ring you gave me. They’ll love it.”
“And we’re going to let them know we’re officially engaged at Christmas?” That was what they’d agreed upon. But Cav knew things could change. He was finding that Lia was willful, a sprite who changed at a moment’s notice. He loved her just as she was. She brought spontaneity into his life and he treasured it—and her.
“I want to but I’m not sure I can keep it a secret until then.” Lia sighed, looking around her childhood room with fondness. She clasped her hands in her lap, giving him a warm look. “I know we’re going to break this gently to my parents, but I’m just bursting to tell them, Cav. Now that I’m home, I’m not sure I can keep it a secret for that long.”
He grinned and looked at the open door, knowing their voices could carry. “You’re like a kid with a secret, no question. And it’s fine with me whatever you decide. Okay?”
Laughing, Lia nodded. “Thanks for telling me that. I just feel giddy, Cav. I’m so happy and I love you so much.” She reached out and slid her hand into his. “Truly, I’ve never been hap
pier.”
After making sure no one was in the hallway, Cav leaned over, cherishing Lia’s smiling lips. His heart burst with such fierce love for her. He wondered if her parents honestly knew the real toll that Lia’s brush with death had taken on her. He didn’t think so. Lifting his mouth from hers, he said gruffly, “I love you, baby. You’re the light in my life. Never forget that.”
She sighed. “I feel badly that Mom wants us in separate rooms.”
“It’s okay,” Cav reassured her. “We’ll survive it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Hey,” he growled, stepping over, sliding his large hands around her face, “don’t ever apologize, Lia. We’ll respect what your parents need. I’m fine with it. So stop going there. This is a celebration of being home, enjoying them, making the most of the time you have with them.” He saw her gray eyes lighten; he knew she was influenced by other people’s actions and reactions too easily. That was something he wanted to stop before it got started. Susan had the issue with him. Lia didn’t. And she was really apologizing for her mother when there was no need to do it. He leaned down, caressing her lips with his, feeling her start to melt into his hands, surrendering over to him. In that moment, Cav wished he were anywhere but here. Remembering the door to her bedroom was open, he reluctantly ended the sweet, hot kiss with Lia. As he drew away, he saw the heat and arousal in her eyes. His erection responded, and he placed a steel grip on himself.
“Come on,” he urged, “let’s go see what your parents are up to.” To stay with her here, in her bedroom, was too big of a temptation. And sooner or later Susan would realize they were lingering alone in Lia’s room and she’d get even more tense.
They walked out to the kitchen, where preparations for the family’s six p.m. dinner were under way. Lia retrieved a red apron from one of the drawers. Susan was at the kitchen sink, peeling potatoes for the meal. Lia instantly leaped in to help her. Steve was making a fresh pot of coffee down farther on the granite counter, which was white with black swirls through it here and there. It seemed like the only new, modern decoration in the huge, ancient-looking kitchen.
“Cav? Why don’t you come with me? I’m driving out to the north field to see how the sugar beet collecting is going. By the time we get done this coffee will be ready for us.”
“Sounds good, sir … I mean, Steve.”
He grinned. “Old military habits die hard, don’t they, son?”
Cav followed him out to the foyer. “Yes, sir, they do.” He grinned back at the farmer, who was pulling a straw hat on his head after lifting it off a wood peg along the foyer wall.
As Steve walked him down a dirt road between two huge hundred-acre plots, toward a beat-up white pickup, he gave Cav a quick tour of the area. “I have three sugar beet fields. Each a hundred acres. This place has been in the Cassidy family since 1910, when the land was bought and the farmhouse was built on it.”
“That’s a beautiful home,” Cav said. “I really like all the hand-carved mahogany.”
“Yeah,” Steve said, resting his elbow on the window frame of the pickup. “It’s a priceless heirloom to us. Did you see the carved railings on the stairs?”
“I did. They’re works of art. Craftsmanship like that doesn’t exist today.”
Steve laughed. “Well, there’s a few men in the U.S. that could do that kind of high-end work, but you’d get a high-end price for it, too. Most folks could never afford that kind of art and craftsmanship in a home today. Climb in. We’ll go check that field they’re working in.”
Cav nodded. “Lia is lucky to have grown up here.” They got into the truck.
“Well,” Steve said, “she grew up an only child. My wife and I had planned on a herd of kids, but unfortunately, Susan had a lot of women’s issues. The doc told us we were lucky we got Lia.” He started the truck and headed slowly out of the driveway, toward the north field.
“I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”
Shrugging, Steve said, “In every other generation of Cassidys, there was always a son to pass the farm on to. This time, it will go to Lia.”
Cav frowned. “Is that what she wants?”
“I don’t know, son. You might know more about where she’s at than I do.” He glanced over at him, giving Cav a pointed look. “You know, you’re the first young man she’s ever brought home to us. Unlike my wife, I think that’s kinda significant. Don’t you?”
Uncomfortable, Cav didn’t want to spill the beans for Lia. “We’re still getting to know one another,” he said. That wasn’t a lie. “When I met your daughter, I was her personal security detail.”
“I imagine you enjoyed that.”
Cav said, “I was a SEAL and later went into private contracting; I’d had jobs guarding a woman before. I wasn’t looking to fall in love with her, if that’s what you mean.” He saw Steve grow thoughtful.
“Lia told us in a Skype call that she loved you. She never said that you’d told her that you loved her. So I’m pretty glad to hear this coming from you.”
Brows raising, Cav wondered if Susan thought the same thing. That would explain, in part, why she was so protective of Lia when it came to him. “Sir, I love your daughter with my life.” He pinned Steve with a hard look. “She’s one of the bravest, most kind women I’ve ever run into.”
“I see. Well, you did almost give your life for her from what my daughter tells me. You saved her life down in Costa Rica. Isn’t that right?”
“Yes, sir, it is. But understand this: I would give my life for her without a second thought. She’s my life. She makes me a better person.” Cav might not have been able to come right out and say he was going to marry her, but he wanted to make sure Steve Cassidy understood he loved Lia. That wasn’t up for debate.
“I’m glad to hear that, Cav. I felt after talking with Lia about you that she clearly loved you. That this wasn’t some passing fancy to her.”
“I never expected to fall in love, sir. It just wasn’t on my radar. When I met Lia, saw how much she’d gone through, my heart took over. The longer I was around her, the more I fell in love with her. Your daughter, sir, is very much loved by so many at that school down in Costa Rica. And her boss, Dilara Culver, who runs Delos, saw your daughter’s skills and expertise. That’s why she was given management of one of the divisions at Artemis Security.”
“She’s smart as a whip,” Steve agreed. He opened one of his hands on the steering wheel as he braked the truck near the field that was being picked. “I’m sure Lia has told you how she got her scars?”
Cav could feel the man probing him deeply. “Yes, sir, she did. She’s lucky to have survived them at all.”
Steve held his gaze. “You’ve seen all my daughter’s scars?”
The tension in the cab grew heavy, and Cav saw the man’s concern. “I have, sir. But frankly, I never really saw her scars. I saw Lia. They don’t define who she is to me, if you want the truth. Am I sickened by them? By what she’s suffered through? Absolutely. I love her regardless. I always will. It’s an event in her life, a big one, and something she can never change. My job is to get Lia to see how beautiful she is, how smart and necessary she is to this world, to Delos, and to me. I don’t dwell on her scars and I’ve been working with her since I met her to get her to release the fact that she thought herself ugly and unwanted.”
“Well, you’ve done something good for her,” Steve said, his voice thick with sudden emotion. “Ever since Lia was attacked and injured, she’s been so different from the little girl we raised here on the farm. Seeing her today, she’s almost her old self, and I attribute that to you, to your love for her.”
Cav swallowed hard and looked away for a moment, mouth thinned, swamped with feelings. Some were Steve’s. Some were his own. “One thing you and I have in common,” he told Steve, his voice low and vibrating with emotion, “is that we both love Lia. And we want the best for her. I can promise you, she is first in my life. She always will be.” He saw the man’s face relax, emotion c
learly written in his eyes, a sense of relief around him.
Steve sat back, rubbing his brow with his callused hand. “Lia has gone through hell. Hell.”
“Yes,” Cav said quietly, “and I’m sure you went through it with her. She said that you’d flown into Landstuhl medical center in Germany to see her shortly after she’d arrived from Bagram.”
“Yes,” he sighed, shaking his head, “it was such a shock. Our beautiful, lively daughter whose innocence and laughter filled our lives for twenty-one years, to see her like that …” He gulped, shutting his eyes.
Cav saw tears glittering in his eyes. That shocked Cav, because he’d never seen a man cry. Not his own father. Not any of the SEALs. Jacoby had always taught him to man up, not to cry, to just suck it up and carry on. Now Cav was beginning to see where Lia got her softness, her ability to show her emotions. If Steve could be like this with him, Cav was sure he was far more vulnerable with Lia. For a moment, he felt a tinge of jealousy, wishing that his father had a speck of kindness, of sensitivity, in his hardened, drugged soul.
Removing his hand, Cav added thickly, “I was a SEAL, sir. I know all about knives and when I saw what was done to your daughter, I knew she was lucky to survive it.”
“That’s what her surgeon told us, the one who operated on her twice at Landstuhl,” Steve said heavily. He wiped his eyes and then rubbed his hands down the length of his jean-clad thighs. Glancing at Cav, he said, “We were all in shock. We didn’t realize the extent of her wounds or that she nearly bled to death. My wife took that hard. Real hard.”
“I imagine you did, too,” Cav said gently. He tried to put himself in their place, seeing Lia like that, just coming out of surgery. Cav knew what shock did to a wounded person. He’d seen it often enough as a SEAL.
“Yeah,” Steve said somberly. “You just never think that your beautiful daughter will ever look like that. To see the life go out of her eyes … to see her ashamed and hiding herself in loose, long clothing. A big part of her died that night those two bastards attacked her.” His voice hardened, some of the rage still there.
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