Once we were inside Colt’s office, I turned on him. Letting go of his hand, I planted both palms on his chest and gave him a shove. He barely budged. “What the hell was that?” I whisper-yelled. “Are you trying to confuse them?”
“No,” Colt replied evenly. “I’m just trying to make them happy.”
“By lying to them?”
“No.” He glanced at Porter. “Want to tell her, Admiral?”
“Jesus, Montgomery, I thought we agreed we’d see how everything turns out first,” the admiral said.
I rested my hands on my hips. “One of you better start making sense or I’m walking out of here with those children.”
“Funny. Moments ago, you were terrified of them,” Colt shot back.
I refused to respond. Instead I gave both men my best version of a death glare.
“I wanted to avoid this conversation tonight,” the admiral said, walking over to the door of the study and closing it. “We have to protect the kids. Even now, my sources tell me Romanov has gone off the grid.” Porter split a look between me and Colt. “He’s coming for them. Josh being angry with his father right now works to our advantage.”
“Why?” I asked. “Did Alex hurt him?”
Colt’s face hardened at my familiar use of Aleksey’s name. He could just suck it up.
Porter relayed what Colt got out of Josh. “But we’re not sure if his anger at his father will last,” the admiral continued. “If Romanov finds them he could still convince them to go back to him. He has his own documents claiming they’re his.”
“I’m sure the CIA can dredge up some paperwork for them,” I said, not without sarcasm.
“You’re asking me to put you in as their mother?” Porter asked.
“Wasn’t that the whole point of this meeting?” I asked, exasperated.
“No, Kate. I couldn’t entrust the twins entirely to you. Not with how you view the agency at the moment.”
I wouldn’t trust myself at that point either. I wasn’t sure I was entirely stable after what Quantagen did to me. “I understand, so what do you propose?”
“My plan is to give guardianship to Colt,” Porter said. “There’s precedent, and he’s proven himself to the CIA. But the twins are biologically yours. A legal union between you and Colt should provide a stronger case if Romanov decides to bring this to the rule of law. I can’t stress how disastrous this could be for the state department if this comes to light.”
“You did steal them from him after all.”
“As he stole from you,” Porter reminded me. “In my mind, the scales are even.”
I gave a derisive laugh. “But marriage is taking it too far. Colt and I can do this co-guardianship thing.”
“You don’t get it,” Colt interrupted me. “We need to make Josh and Olivia feel like they have a family. They never had that living in that facility where they were treated like lab rats. You should know.” He gave a shake of his head. “Do you want that life for them?”
“That sounds a lot like manipulation,” I retorted.
Colt scowled, dropped an expletive, and glanced at the admiral as if saying you deal with her. When the admiral didn’t respond, he returned his scowl on me.
“Romanov has a bond with them,” he gritted through his teeth. “That’s what you’re up against. Even if he had been an absentee father, he’s all they’ve ever known.”
I looked at Porter. “Is the CIA interested in their abilities? Because no way am I taking care of them only to hand them off to be used at the agency’s whim.”
“We expended too many resources to extract them simply to be used on an agency whim,” the admiral said. “There’ll be tests—”
“No way—”
“You don’t have a choice,” Porter cut in. “I can take those kids and you can’t do a damn thing about it.”
“You son of a bitch,” I whispered.
“Kate—” Colt started.
“Fuck you, too,” I snapped, turning to Colt. “You’re always on his side, kissing his ass. I’m not entering a farce of a marriage to appease any agency doubt regarding my suitability to take care of those kids. I may not even be a fit mother, so where will that leave our marriage, huh?” I marched to the door. “This discussion isn’t over. I’m too overwhelmed to process what you’re proposing, let alone make any decisions.” I sighed, opening the door. “I’m going to get to know the children.”
10
Colt
“Well that didn’t go over too well.”
Colt glared at the admiral. “You pissed her off by threatening to take away the kids.”
“And you jumped the gun,” Porter retorted. “Fucking hell. You couldn’t wait to go all caveman and claim her?”
He fucked up. Colt knew as much. The past few days without Kate, knowing he held a secret that might drive them apart, not to mention how things were left between them, were slowly driving him out of his mind.
“She seems to be considering it,” Porter continued, rubbing his forefinger under his jaw in reflection. “Even if the solution is a bit premature.”
Colt blew out a breath. “Premature or not, it’s the best solution, especially if Romanov is on the move.”
The admiral looked at his watch. “I have to go. I’ll keep you informed if I get intel on Romanov’s whereabouts.”
“Porter, what tests are the agency going to do on those kids?” That was the first he’d heard of this.
“Can’t tell you.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Can’t,” the admiral said with a hint of irritation.
“If it’s going to be anything but to ensure Josh and Olivia are healthy, I’m with Kate on this,” he replied levelly. “No more fucking experiments on children.”
“Even if hundreds of lives could be saved?”
Colt stilled. “What aren’t you telling me … us?” he growled.
“You know me well enough. There’s a time and a place when I reveal information,” the admiral said. “Trust me on this, Montgomery.” At Colt’s unbending stare, Porter sighed. “I know what’s at stake. You’re letting your emotions for Kate cloud your judgment.”
He barked a derisive laugh. “I’m not even going to deny that, but I won’t have you hurting those children. Period. I refuse to be complicit in that. I don’t care if you have your whole paramilitary unit rain down on the ranch. I can assure you, the town of Misty Grove will back me on this.”
“Good,” the admiral said, opening the door. “That’s your job and you know what you’re up against.”
“Admiral …” Colt growled.
“I’m not talking about me.” The admiral stared at him for a beat. “Romanov. He’s desperate, and he’s going to bring war to this town.”
After Porter left him with that ominous warning, Colt went to the kitchen to check on Kate and the others. He only found Mac.
“Where’s the admiral?” his ranch manager asked.
“He left.”
“Doesn’t anyone use the front door anymore?”
“You know how Porter likes to make his exits.”
“Dramatic?”
Colt chuckled. “Those are his arrivals.” The admiral liked to show up in clutch moments. As though he was waiting until you thought you were going to die before he’d swoop in and save the day.
“Where are they?” he asked.
“Kate wasn’t comfortable getting the kids to bed which is understandable. Millie is assisting,” Mac said. “Is Kate staying the night?”
“Yes.”
“Does she know she’s staying the night?”
“No. But she will.” Colt had let himself into her apartment and packed her a bag. In retrospect, he should have asked Millie to do it, but he’d taken care of enough female operatives to know their needs. Although with Kate, he’d paid more attention on what to put in a duffel bag.
She liked her coconut-tropical shampoo so he grabbed that bottle with the matching conditioner from her bathroom
. None of her toiletries were of the drugstore variety. Colt could tell from their packaging that his woman liked high-end shit, probably ordered them online. This was in total contradiction to living in that shithole apartment. He tried not to be a creeper and pulled a non-discriminating selection of her underwear to put in the bag. Then he picked some jeans, shirts, sneakers, and socks enough to last her a few days.
Mac shook his head in amusement. “As much as I like to see Kate’s face when you tell her, I gotta get back to the bunkhouse.”
“Thanks for your help with Josh and Olivia,” Colt said. “I know it interfered with some of your duties.”
“Their situation breaks my heart,” Mac said. “They’ve never had the chance for family. I’ve known you a long time, boss. You’re not going to abandon them. And as much as I like Kate, I don’t know her very well and seeing those kids—they need stability—”
“I know,” he cut in. “I’m working on it.”
His ranch manager gave a tight nod and walked out the front door.
Colt went in search of the women and bumped into Kate coming out of the twins’ room.
“Can I borrow your truck?” she asked. “I need to run back to the apartment and get some stuff.”
“I’ve got you covered,” Colt muttered without looking at her. He walked to the next room and opened the door. “Went to your apartment and grabbed some of your things.” He winced when he realized something. “I forgot pajamas.”
It was then he glanced at her. She stared at the bag on the bed and then entered the room. Kate unzipped the duffel and studied its contents, taking some items out and laying them on the mattress.
“There’s toothpaste and an extra toothbrush in your bathroom.” He nodded to the en suite. “Regarding your pajamas—”
“Can I borrow a shirt?” she asked, her expression bland.
“Of course,” Colt said, feeling heat surge up his neck. “I didn’t do this on purpose. I really forgot.”
“Yeah, okay.”
He huffed in frustration. “I’m not that desperate.” Was he?
A delicate brow arched.
“Dammit, Kate.” Colt dragged his fingers through his hair and turned from the room. “I’ll get you something to sleep in.” He needed to get away from her. Imagining her in his shirt, with her shapely legs bare, was making his jeans uncomfortable.
“Colt,” she called when he reached the doorway.
He stopped, angling his head to the side. “Yeah?”
A two-second silence, and then, “Aren’t you going to turn around and look at me?”
No fucking way, he thought as he glanced down the front of his jeans.
He sighed. “Not a good idea right now, babe.”
“What—”
“I’ll get you that shirt,” he muttered and stalked out of the room.
* * *
Colt returned to Kate’s room.
She had left the bedroom door ajar, but the bathroom one was closed. Colt could hear the shower running. He closed his eyes. It had taken him a few moments to get his erection down and he blamed the fact that he hadn’t gotten laid in over a year, but that wasn’t true. It was only with Kate that his body reacted this way.
Even with Mya, he had to force himself to get physically turned on. They’d been intimate in every way except sex. He’d failed at that point miserably.
The only woman his body burned for was Kate.
He left several of his shirts on the bed and quickly left the room where he ran into Millie in the hallway. She had just closed the door to the children’s room, which had two twin-sized beds.
“Kids okay?”
“They’re settling in to sleep. Kate went home to get her things.”
“No, she didn’t. I packed a bag for her.”
By the time they’d walked into the kitchen, Millie was chuckling. “You don’t waste time, do you, Montgomery?”
Colt shrugged. “I’m a SEAL. I’m good at thinking ahead.”
“Okay, so, Mr. Former SEAL, what should be your next concern?”
“Food,” he replied without hesitation even as the smell of something mouthwatering wafted from the oven.
“Very good,” Millie approved as though he were answering a quiz. “Kate is still an ES and, I bet, when all the adrenaline leaves her system, and the bath or shower relaxes her, she’ll be very, very hungry.”
“Have the kids eaten?”
“Mac fed them at the bunkhouse—baked spaghetti. They’re fine for now,” Millie replied. “If I’d known ahead of time that Kate was coming tonight I would have fixed her smothered pork chops.”
“I’m sure she’s fine with whatever you have in here.” Colt pressed the light for the top unit of the double oven. “Hmm … meat loaf.”
“Well, I’m heading home then,” the older woman said. “It’s been a hectic few days. I’ll leave you both to inform Cassie and Lucas, and especially Matt, that they have a nephew and niece.”
“Still sounds strange calling them that,” he muttered.
“You’ll have to hold it together again for everyone,” Millie said. “Kate is trying, but I see her struggle. I forgot she’d dealt with her siblings in another environment where they were being trained as assassins. Josh and Olivia? They’re fragile. And we’re not sure what little Liv’s superpower is yet or if she has one.”
“Precognition?” Colt mused. “Telepathy? Or did she feel the need to get to the ranch house because she sensed her mother? Was it one-sided?”
“I didn’t sense her at all,” a voice spoke from the hallway. Kate stood there in his University of Texas T-shirt. Possessive pride swelled inside him.
“But come to think of it,” Kate continued as she headed to the oven to peek at the meat loaf. “There was a strange feeling right here.” She pointed to the base of her skull. “I’m beat right now, but I could eat.”
Colt and Millie exchanged knowing grins. Having dealt with Cassie and Lucas’s voracious appetites, ES were predictable on that front.
“I got her. Why don’t you head home?” he told the diner owner.
Millie winked at them. “You two behave; children in the house.”
“Get out of here.” Kate mock-scowled. “Get some rest.”
The older woman’s laughter tinkled all the way to the door.
“And, Millie,” Kate called. “Thanks. For everything.”
A rare soft look crossed the other woman’s face. “We’re family. Remember that.”
He was already pulling the meat loaf out of the oven by the time Kate turned back to him.
“So, Texas huh? Number twelve?” She twisted her torso slightly toward him to bring attention to the numbers on her back.
“Yes. Played football in college,” Colt said. He didn’t think about it nowadays unless he grabbed his university shirts. Too many events had overshadowed that time in his life.
“Were you any good?” He watched her open and close cabinets, find the utensils and plates with no problem, and proceeded to set the table.
“Guess I was.” His team had won the NCAA championship during his last year in college. Colt had been the starting quarterback. He’d also been awarded that year’s Heisman Trophy.
“Enough to play professional football?”
Colt set the platter of meat loaf on the table. “What do you know about football?”
Kate laughed. “Not much. Just a bunch of guys wearing shoulder pads, running back and forth across the field. We were schooled more on soccer.”
Of course, Colt thought. Because everyone else in the world played soccer.
“I was set to go pro, but my goals changed.” He shrugged. “I decided to join the Navy and try for the SEALs instead.”
She didn’t respond, her features lost in thought. They took their seats at the table and started eating.
“Why?” Kate asked a few minutes into the meal.
“Why what?”
“Why did you join the Navy? Must have been a multimilli
on-dollar contract you turned down.”
“Never got to the negotiations, so I don’t know.” Colt didn’t want to brag. He would have been first round draft pick, because he enlisted and never declared for the draft.
“Eric joined the SEALs two years before I graduated. I heard him tell stories about Bin Laden. He’d been very frustrated because the administration wasn’t taking this Al Qaida network as a serious threat,” he said. “I couldn’t play football and make millions, not when my heart wasn’t in it.”
“What was in your heart?” Kate asked softly.
“I believed in Eric. I wanted what he wanted. Protect the homeland against these rising threats around us.” He sounded too idealistic, but one couldn’t be a SEAL and not have such love for this country. “I was still in BUD/s when the embassy bombings in Nairobi and Kenya happened.”
“And a little over three years later September eleventh happened,” she completed. “Colt …” Her voice had grown softer, more quiet. “We’ve never talked about Eric. I knew he came after me in the caves, but I never saw him. The explosion happened quickly.”
Colt swallowed hard as an old wound blistered and bled. “We were able to match some DNA.” There wasn’t a body to bury.
Kate stared at her plate. “I’m so sorry.” Her fork scraped absently on the mashed potatoes, making messy ridges in it. Her lips moved as if trying to find something to say. Finally, her blue eyes lifted and searched his face. “I’m surprised you don’t hate us. You even took care of Cassie and Lucas and I heard you pulled Matt back from his path to self-destruction.”
“Kate.” His voice turned husky. “I never blamed you. Eric died doing a job he loved. He did it for people he loved and a country whose freedoms he fiercely protected. You understand that. As twisted as your handler was, Baxter had good intentions with the Enhanced Soldier program. He’d created some of the agency’s most effective assassins. But greed twisted his ideals and he lost sight of who he once was.” Colt reached out and put his hand over hers that was gripping the fork. “Let’s put that behind us.”
She smiled briefly. “Okay.”
He withdrew his hand and picked up his knife again as they resumed eating. “So, what else do you want to know about your future husband?”
Unexpected Vows Page 8
