“He won’t be happy about that.”
Jaimie shrugged. “It’s Whitney. He’s strange. He gets all excited when the GhostWalkers are able to outwit him or foil his little attempts to retrieve them. I think he pats himself on the back, and it just reinforces how clever and brilliant he is. We are, after all, his creations.”
Kane scowled at her. Jaimie held up her hand. “Hey. That’s a quote from one of his reports. I don’t hack into his computer often, but Flame found a way in, and she passed it on to me. We’re careful, but we monitor him. We just give him a lot of room. We’re lucky he doesn’t trust anyone, so he does all his own computer work. He’s just not as good as he thinks he is with security. He doesn’t keep up on the latest and greatest because his entire world has become DNA and psychic research.”
“So did your warning come from his computer?”
“He’s very anxious to get his hands on the baby. He sent his ‘representative’ to ‘acquire’ him. I kid you not. It’s right there on his computer. He was furious that Rose and the baby escaped him. He’s determined. Apparently he feels we’re far more vulnerable here. The stronghold in the
Wyoming mountains has become nearly impenetrable, and he doubts if he will be able to acquire the children kept there. Once again, he seemed pleased that the teams banding together had managed to not only keep themselves but their women and children safe from not only him, but all outside threats. Again, that’s pretty much a quote, Kane.”
“We’re doing the same thing here.”
“True, but we’re more exposed because we don’t have the ability at this time to clean things up as fast should there be an attack on us.”
“But we’re getting to that point,” Kane said hastily. “We’ve managed to purchase five of the seven buildings we need to secure the entire area. Rose, if you want to take Sebastian and go to the stronghold in Wyoming, I can arrange it. The teams settling there are excellent. This building is secure, but we haven’t set up for street surveillance ...”
Jaimie looked smug. “Bite your tongue, Kane. Javier and I have been working night and day. We’ve got the street covered down two full blocks, the roof on three of the buildings as well as this one, and the water side.”
“I’m fine with you,” Rose said. “I’ll help out here. I can work.”
“Mack’s got weapons and ammo stashed everywhere. We could take on an army. We’ve got a helipad on the roof of this building, and it’s got all the necessary permits. That’s how we managed to transport you directly here after your surgery,” Jaimie added.
“I knew that was in the works, but didn’t know it had come through.”
“Where is all the money coming from?” Rose demanded.
Jaimie glanced a little apprehensively at Kane. “Lily Whitney-Miller. She inherited billions, and she shares with all the GhostWalkers.”
Tell me. It was a demand, nothing less. Rose was naturally suspicious of such generosity.
“She’s Dr. Whitney’s adopted daughter,” Kane explained. “He experimented on her as well. She was raised with quite a few of the girls.”
Jaimie leaned forward, staring into Rose’s eyes. “Do you remember her? She was with you in the beginning, when Whitney first took you all. You were in a big house, and he kept you in a dormitory. You were never allowed out of the laboratory.”
Rose nodded. “It’s impossible to forget that time. Lily was always like a mother to the rest of us. He treated her better, and she tried to get privileges for us.”
“She put aside money for each of the other women she was raised with as well. You’ve got that money, Rose,” Kane said. There was a hard knot in the pit of his stomach. Money could change things. She might decide to take the money and vanish.
Rose moistened her lips, her little pixie face very sober. “Do you trust her completely?”
“Yes,” Kane said. “She’s done too much for all of us to be anything but the real deal, Rose. She just had a baby. And Jack Norton and his woman had twins. They have three babies up there in the mountains. Sebastian isn’t the only child at risk.”
“Do you trust Eric completely?”
Kane almost nodded and then stopped himself. Did he trust the doctor the same way he trusted Lily? Eric was the official GhostWalker surgeon, and he always came through when needed. Why hesitate? What was the difference between Eric and Lily? Was he prejudiced simply because Eric wasn’t a GhostWalker and had no real idea of what they went through? Kane didn’t like the idea that he might in any way be prejudiced, but the truth was, there was a hesitation for whatever reason.
“I don’t know. He’s so intense about research. Maybe that creeps me out a little.”
“That’s all he’s really interested in,” Rose said. “I didn’t leave him alone with Sebastian. The doctor was so insistent about taking his blood, and I knew once it was out of here, at a laboratory, it would be vulnerable. Whitney would pay a fortunate for Sebastian’s blood. I told the doctor that, but it was obvious he didn’t care. Taking his blood from this house clearly wasn’t in Sebastian’s best interests, but for the doctor the research came first. I just don’t trust that, Kane.”
He nuzzled the top of her head. “I can understand, Rose. You’ve been an experiment your entire life. You don’t want that for Sebastian.”
“Exactly, but the doctor can’t see beyond what he might learn from studying Sebastian’s blood.” She sighed, her small teeth biting at her lower lip. “I know a doctor should examine him more fully just to make certain he really is as healthy as we believe, but it isn’t safe.”
“We happen to have just the man that will help you,” Jaimie said, glancing at Kane for permission.
Kane nodded in agreement. “I was going to suggest you meet him, sweetheart. His name is Paul. He joined our team recently, so I didn’t grow up with him as I did all the others, but he’s got an amazing talent when it comes to healing skills. I trust him.”
Rose swallowed hard, but she nodded. “If you’re certain, Kane. But his blood can’t leave our home.”
“It won’t have to,” Kane assured. “Paul doesn’t work like other doctors.”
“You can’t ever talk about him to anyone,” Jaimie cautioned. “If Eric comes back, you can’t tell him that Paul examined the baby.”
“We have to protect one another’s abilities. Whitney would take Sebastian apart to study him,” Kane said. “He would Paul as well. Do you understand?”
Rose jumped up and paced across the room. “You’ve had what? Five years, seven years, maybe ten years of experience with Whitney? I’ve had my entire life. You don’t need to tell me what he’s like. We all protected one another from him, and we learned very fast to keep our abilities hidden.”
“I know, sweetheart,” Kane soothed. “It’s just that Paul is ...” He broke off, unable to explain.
“Has a rare talent,” Jaimie supplied. “He’s sent out into the field a lot. Whitney would find a way. You’re part of our family now, Rose. Paul is family; that’s all we’re saying.”
Rose nodded. Kane could feel her agitation, although there was little expression on her face. The idea that anyone would study her son was abhorrent to her, but she was trying to be accepting. She knew Sebastian needed a doctor and that they would need help with him. The only thing he could figure to do to help ease her mind was to introduce his family to her, one member at a time.
“Who have you met so far?” He kept his voice gentle.
“One they call Gideon and, of course, Javier. Jaimie and Mack.” A faint smile touched her mouth, but failed to light her eyes. “They hover over you.”
“I’ll bet Mack did his fair share of swearing.”
“You must have heard him,” Jaimie said, astonished. “He’s been here every day. A few times you were awake.”
“I must have been doped up. I don’t remember much.” Other than Rose’s warm body snuggled next to his. He remembered her kisses, along his mouth and throat, her soft murmurs of reassuran
ce. He remembered feeling safe because she was there. At times he’d woken to the sound of Sebastian crying, and he could pry his eyes open just enough to see her moving around the room, changing and then breast-feeding the baby, singing softly to him. He’d felt—complete.
Jaimie grinned at him. “You were doped up, all right. We’d get you to sit up and you’d just slide down again and go to sleep.”
Rose regarded him with troubled eyes. “You scared me. You nearly died, Kane.”
He was weak, although he didn’t want to acknowledge it. Bits and pieces of the last couple of weeks were coming back to him now. Jaimie crying. Mack gruff as hell, always a bad sign. Javier and Gideon standing over him. Always, Rose watching them all, one hand free, obviously ready to defend him.
“I’m sorry, honey, I won’t do it again.”
“Damn right you won’t,” Rose said, flashing him a fierce look.
His body hardened, a brutal punch of need. She was sexy as hell when she went all commando on him with her little pixie face, so fragile and beautiful. Her eyes too big and her hair all tousled as if they’d just spent hours between the sheets. He knew his gaze went all hungry and predatory by the way her face flushed. Her eyes met his steadily. A soft consent in them that shook him. She’d just had a baby and she’d made love with him; she had to be sore, but she was willing to give herself to him again because his body demanded her.
I can behave myself, he assured.
You don’t have to. You never have to. I love your hands on me. Your mouth. I love your body inside mine.
If she meant to soothe him, her words had the opposite effect. He wanted her with every single cell in his body. He took a breath, and pain flashed through him, reminding him he was flesh and blood, not a machine.
Well, maybe not a sex machine, she’d caught his last thought. Laugh lines appeared around her eyes, and her dimples flashed at him, taking the ache in his groin up another notch.
He glared at her, one hand pressed to his aching side. That’s not funny.
“If you two need to be alone,” Jaimie said, “I could always leave.”
He threw the couch pillow at her. “You don’t need to be putting in your two cents. You and Mack are disgusting.”
She laughed at him. “So true. He’s magic.”
Kane groaned. “You’re my sister, Jaimie. You can’t put those kinds of thoughts in my head.”
“I see. You have that double standard going. It’s okay for you and the boys, but not me.”
“Exactly. There are rules, girl. Rules. Follow them.” He held out his coffee cup. “I wouldn’t mind another.”
She took it. “Not a chance, bro. You’re on sick leave, which means you eat and drink nutritiously. One cup limit.”
He gave a fierce scowl. “You are not going to boss me around, Jaimie.”
“No”—she smiled sweetly at him and handed Rose the empty mug—“but Rose is.”
Kane studied Rose’s fine-boned features. That same determined expression she got, stubborn as hell and so appealing to him he knew he was a lost man, was right there on her face. Whenever she got that look, he knew he wasn’t going to win. He kept his mouth shut. There were other ways to get around his woman, and he was going to find every one of them.
“By the way, Rose. I have put all your necessary papers into the system. Social. Birth certificate. Concealed weapons permit. Driver’s license. Everything you’ll need here on the outside. The baby’s birth certificate states he was born in a military hospital. I’m establishing his records there now. Everything should be coming in the mail soon. Mack’s talking to Sergeant Major about compensation for being on the team.”
“Wait a minute,” Kane said. “You’re moving a little too fast. What the hell does that mean?”
“I’m a soldier, Kane,” Rose pointed out. “That’s all I’m trained for. I’m good at it, just as you are. You don’t want out. If I’m part of this team, they can’t break us up.”
He shook his head. “You can wait a little while. We haven’t even discussed this.”
“Would you discuss this with me?” Rose asked quietly. “If your time was up?”
“It’s not the same thing.”
She smiled at him, that serene, sweet smile he was coming to know meant really bad things for him. “You know better. And it’s added protection for Sebastian. I’m serving our country just as Whitney wanted. I’m more apt to bring up our son as a soldier, another thing he wants. He knows I’ll teach Sebastian everything I know, just as you and every member of this team will, and he’s more apt to leave us alone to see how Sebastian does under a full team’s tutelage.”
Kane bared his teeth at her. He hated that it was sound reasoning. His dream of the little woman sitting at home waiting for him was about to shatter. “We’ll talk this out before you commit.”
She arched an eyebrow at him. “Does that mean you’ll talk until I agree with you?”
“At least give me the chance to persuade you. Jaimie doesn’t go out on missions, and she contributes.” He was grasping at straws and he knew it.
“Jaimie has a very specific set of skills I don’t have. My skills are all in the field, Kane. I’ll be an asset to you there, not sitting here at home.”
Jaimie bent and kissed his jaw. “I think this is my cue to leave. Mack’s going to be down later with Paul, and he’ll tell you everything he’s found out.”
Kane watched the two women walk to the door together. He wanted them close but not conspiring against his wishes. He’d seen Rose in combat. She was fearless and didn’t hesitate, as good or better than any soldier he’d worked with, but didn’t she want to stay home and be a mother? What was wrong with that? His mother hadn’t wanted to stay home either. What the hell was wrong with women these days? Didn’t they understand someone needed to be in the home with the children, keeping the family together? Having dinners together? Do all the family things he’d envisioned but never had?
Rose closed the heavy door and turned to lean against it, regarding him soberly. They lived in a renovated warehouse, a massive building with large doors, and draped against it that way, she looked smaller than ever. It was difficult to imagine her in combat, yet he’d seen her, and she was too damned competent, with nerves of steel, for him to pretend she wasn’t.
“Damn it, Rose.” He pressed his fingers to his suddenly aching eyes. He hadn’t even noticed that his head was pounding and his gut hurt like hell. Maybe he was just tired. “You should have at least waited to discuss this with me.”
He felt the weight of her stare and looked at her. It was impossible to read the expression on her face. Not breaking eye contact, she pushed herself off the door and walked over to him. Her feet were bare, small and delicate, like the rest of her, making no noise on the floor as she came toward him. She was short enough that with him sitting, they were almost staring directly into each other’s eyes.
“You’re right, Kane, I should have. We’re a team, and I should have given you that courtesy.”
“I don’t want to be a team. I want you to be my wife. Mine. Wholly mine. Not part of this big team, a soldier. I want the woman.”
She smiled and very gently brushed at the hair tumbling across his forehead, tenderness in her touch. “You have both the woman and the soldier, Kane. They aren’t separate.”
“Damn it, I know that.” He knew that. He did. “It’s just that ...” He trailed off, feeling damned stupid. He wasn’t a little boy or even a teenage boy. He’d grown up hard and fast, and maybe that was the problem. He didn’t want that for his son. He shook his head and looked away from her. “I’m tired, Rose. I think I’ll lie down for a while.”
“Look at me, Kane,” she ordered softly.
He did, dropping straight down into those large, fathomless, melting chocolate eyes that threw him every time he fell into them.
“Tell me. I want to know.”
He shoved a hand through his hair, betraying agitation when, with anyone else, he woul
d have remained absolutely stoic. “I just always had this idea—this fantasy—about coming home to my wife, to dinner, to her waiting there for me. To her being a mother to my children. It’s stupid, I know, but when I looked at the possibility of a family, that was it—not our son being left to fend for himself.”
She framed his face with her hands. “I don’t even know what family is, Kane. I had my ‘sisters’ when I was young, but even then we were often kept apart and used against one another. I’m learning as I go along, and I’m counting on you to help me with that. I’ll do my best for Sebastian. I’ll love him and I’ll protect him, but quite frankly, I’ve never cooked a meal in my life. You’re going to have to give up your dream of the wife having dinner waiting for you.”
She leaned forward and brushed her mouth over his. “I don’t want to disappoint you, but I can only be who I am.”
He wrapped his arms around her and drew her onto his lap, cradling her close with a wry smile. “I suppose I could always be the girl and stay home.”
Her eyebrow shot up. “Girls stay home?”
“If I lied, would that count?”
She nuzzled his neck. “No. I’m your woman. All of me, Kane, and that includes the soldier. My advice is to learn how to cook if you don’t already know how.”
He was happy just holding her. Maybe a stay-at-home mother wasn’t as important as he’d first thought. “Fortunately, I’m a damned good cook.”
She kissed him.
CHAPTER 13
Rose liked Paul Mangan right away. He looked very young with his freckles and his wide-eyed innocence. It was more than obvious that he was of Irish descent. He looked a bit awkward and blushed every time he snuck a glance at her. He was tall and slender, with fine hands, almost delicate. She couldn’t imagine him as a soldier, let alone him going into combat. While Javier Enderman looked young and could easily pass for a teenager, he had a steely strength about him, and if one looked into his eyes, there was no way they wouldn’t feel a chill go down their spine. The killer was in those cold, flat, very hard eyes. But Paul ... He was altogether different. He just didn’t look like he belonged in the Marine Corps, let alone have Special Forces training as well as what it took to become a GhostWalker.
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