by Nancy Gideon
He met her fierce glare for a long moment then stood, murmuring, “It was nice to see you again, Kendra. Call me if you need anything.”
“I need the truth!”
“Get it from your adored bonded mate.” With a nod, he was gone, leaving her frustrated and furious at both of them.
CHAPTER NINE
The sound of cracking pool balls drew Cale’s attention to his brother Frederick circling a massive blue-felt billiard table with an ornately carved dark wood frame in a spacious room just off the lobby. Something about the lonely way he methodically weighed his next shot made Cale hesitate when he wanted nothing more than the feel of his mate’s embrace and a hot shower, preferably both at the same time.
Sensing his presence, Rico glanced up, offering a smile before sinking the seven in the corner.
“No one to play?”
“Bunch of sissies,” Rico muttered. “Kip’s gone up to grab a few hours’ beauty sleep, and Colin’s sniffing around that dark-haired tart with the smoking bod from last night hoping for someone to sleep with.”
Cale laughed. “You wedded to finishing this game, or can I buy you a drink?”
He gave the stick a toss to the table top. “Lead the way. I’m losing to myself anyway.”
Tired, not wanting to bump elbows at the bar, Cale used the name of their exclusive suite to get them one of the private roped off areas where their own pretty hostess provided bottle service.
“So, how do you like New Orleans?” Cale asked once their pricy imported liquor had been opened and poured.
“It’s dirty, smelly, and has standards even lower than mine. That’s the only thing I do like about it.”
Cale grinned and tried to unwind. Hard to do when his brother was obviously stewing over something. “What’s on your mind, Red?”
“Wondering over whether or not to tell you that I walked in on your queen and that bitch MacCreedy.”
Cale didn’t seem to move, but every inch of him tightened. “Explain.”
“They were pretty friendly.”
“Explain friendly,” he ground out between clenched teeth. All his worst fears and unfounded insecurities rose in a panicked rush. “In the living room?” Or the bedroom? was what he didn’t want to ask.
“She was on his lap,” Rico elaborated carefully.
A quiet, deadly purr. “Are you trying to tell me they were fucking?”
Rico went wide-eyed, stammering, “No! Nothing like that. Kissing. Just kissing.”
“So you barged in on them lip-locked under my rented roof,” he clarified. When Rico nodded, he continued. “Pretty damned bold of them. Are you suggesting I shouldn’t trust my queen?”
“No!” He looked genuinely appalled. “She’s our family, my queen. I only thought to protect her should someone else not be quite so honorable.”
“Rico,” Cale said with calm certainty, “Silas MacCreedy is a lot of things but dishonorable isn’t one of them. I trust her to his care the way I trust her to yours.”
And the moment he vowed that, Cale realized it was true. He’d been foolish harboring jealousy toward MacCreedy. Whatever might have developed between him and Kendra disappeared when Silas chose the steely assassin over his gentle cousin. And Kendra made her own choice just as firmly and completely when she told Cale “I am yours,” accepting his claim, sharing his rule. And her heart.
“I’m sorry, my king. I’ve upset you over nothing.”
When his head lowered, Cale placed his hand atop the reddish brown bristle and gave him a push. “You don’t owe me an apology for looking after my crown and my queen. I’m humbled that you’d protect both for me.”
“You sound like a man missing what he has and where he should be.” When Cale didn’t deny it, Rico added, “You don’t need to worry. Wesley has things in hand. He feels he has to make up for the wrongs of his family.” For the mother and sister who tried to kill a king and control a crown.
“I don’t blame Wes. He knows that. I worry that we haven’t heard from Turow.”
Rico shrugged it off. “You won’t hear from him until the job he was sent to do is done. He’ll find them. I only regret your queen made him promise to bring them back alive.” He paused for a moment before asking, “And your plans for James?”
Cale’s features toughened, growing cold and hard as he said, “The same as he had for me.”
*
Kendra glanced up from hotel’s info channel when Cale and Rico entered the room. Her gaze cut between them, questioning but not concerned. That was all Cale needed to see.
“Hey, mama,” he called softly, bending down so her arms could twine about his neck. Her mouth opened warm and sweet beneath his. When he straightened, she didn’t release him, letting him lift her up so her legs could wrap around his waist. Their kiss deepened into something not so sweet as his hands kneaded her ass. With a soft murmur of contentment, she leaned back to caress him with a tender gaze. Subtly, it shifted over his shoulder to touch on Rico, where he stood a silent sentinel by the door, then back again.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” she told Cale quietly.
“I should hope so.” He glanced back at his brother to ask, “Was that the kind of kissing you saw earlier?”
Rico shook his head. “Not even close.”
“Good. Excuse us.” He carried Kendra into their bedroom and toed the door shut behind them.
“Cale, it was nothing.”
He cut her off with a smile. “I know.”
“He came to tell me Brigit’s coming back day after tomorrow, and I was so excited—”
“You had to reward the messenger for bringing good news. You could have just said thank you.”
He grunted as her elbow found his ribs. “You make it sound naughty.”
“Was it naughty?” He backed her up until they bumped the bed. Clutching her tight, he moved her against him in a suggestive rhythm, his intent stare holding hers. “Did it make your heart race? Did you get all breathless? Did he make your panties damp like they are now?”
“Only with you,” she whispered. “Those things only happen with you and you know it.”
“Convince me.”
She dropped back onto the bed, tugging him over her, keeping her ankles knotted behind his back and her mouth moving beneath his in admirable persuasion. He lifted up when he felt her smile. His fingers toying with her bobbed hair, he couldn’t help but respond with the curve of his own lips.
“Besides,” she cooed, “where would I find the energy even if I had the inclination?”
Before Cale could form a comeback, her phone rang. He rolled onto his back with a muttered curse and grabbed it off the dresser. A broad grin creased his face as he answered.
“Hey, mama. We were just talking about you. Yes, fondly. She’s right here. I was about to have my way with her. Can she call you back? Ha. Very funny. Yes, it will take longer than ten seconds.” He turned toward Kendra to find her eyes bright with anticipation. “Do you want to talk to your cousin or have sex with me?”
“Can’t I have both?” She rolled to straddle him as she grabbed the phone, pausing only long enough to buss a quick kiss across his mouth before gushing, “Bree, how are you? Sassy, I can believe but fat, never! No tan lines at all?” She giggled like a little girl.
Hands stroking her thighs lightly, he watched her animated chatting. The simple joy she took in talking with her best friend filled Cale’s heart to overflowing. Nothing had ever twisted him inside out the way she did, the pleasure and pain of it going so deep he wondered if he could survive much more of it. Finally, he’d had all he could stand.
“Baby, let me talk to her a second.” When Kendra reluctantly surrendered the phone, he cut right to it. “Bree, are you and the new mister coming back to Savoie’s place? You think he’d mind if Kendra came out to stay with you? I don’t want her to get lonely here in the city while I’m at work. Yeah, my lowly manual labor job. You can blame your brother. Thanks. Yeah, I know. I’m a re
al prince.” He returned the cell to Kendra, and she talked for a little longer while studying him a bit too closely.
Finally, she set her phone aside. He braced for her questions. But instead of pummeling him for those details he couldn’t provide, she dropped down on his mouth for a hungry conversation, her palms pushing under his shirt to rub quickly heated skin.
“I adore you, Cale Terriot,” she assured him almost forcefully as her hands moved to belt and zipper.
He shut off the turmoil of his thoughts, closed his eyes, and let her have her way with him.
*
“Can we talk?”
Tina looked up as her husband joined her on the patio steps. She almost answered, “I wish we could.” Instead, she simply scooched over to make room for him beside her.
She’d felt it building all through dinner, in the looks he quickly cast aside, in the way he fiddled with his lasagna, a favorite he usually put away like a man starving, in the clipped responses to Oscar’s attempts at conversation. She’d wanted to believe things had gotten better, but instinct suggested she batten down for the worst.
“What do you think of Cale?”
Surprised by the topic, she thought a moment then smiled. “He’s a Tootsie Pop.”
Alain glanced at her, sandy brows raised. “A what?”
“Something my father . . . my step-father used to call someone who was hard on the outside but with a soft center. You just have to chew your way to it.” At her husband’s brief chuckle, she continued. “I like him very much.”
Alain focused upon the back fence, providing her with his chiseled profile. He was so handsome she sometimes had to catch her heart before it ran away with her.
“Do you think he’s a good influence on Oscar?”
Though puzzled by where he was going with his questions, she answered honestly. “I think so. He’s a bit,” she smiled picturing her half-brother at their table, “outrageous sometimes, but he’s a good man. And Kendra’s crazy about him.”
Alain said nothing for a long beat then simply nodded, forcing her to take the initiative.
“Why do you ask?”
“Just thought it was important for Oz to get to know his own kind.”
His own kind. His mild words took her like a slap. Their own kind. That’s how he saw mother and son, as different, as oddities, as unnatural within his world. How it still hurt every time he hammered that wedge between them.
“He’s got a good relationship with Max,” she mentioned quietly. Max Savoie was her son’s half-brother through the father they shared.
“Yeah, but Max is gonna have a lot on his plate when he comes back from his honeymoon. I doubt that he’ll have much time for someone else’s kid now that they’re going to have one of their own.”
“I’m sure he’ll make time. He loves Ozzy.”
“Yeah,” Alain agreed heavily. “That he does.”
Why don’t you? That pain-filled thought almost escaped her but she held tight to the outburst that would only push them farther apart. “And he has Silas,” she offered, bringing up her son’s other uncle.
“Same situation. He’s got his own agenda, his own family.”
“So does Cale. I don’t think he’s staying for very long, but I’ll certainly encourage him to spend time with Oscar while he’s here.”
“What if Oscar went back to Nevada with him?”
The suggestion slammed into her like a gut-shot. “What?”
“He’s curious about his people,” Alain hurried on. “He told me Silas had spoken about them before and that Cale had asked him to go there.”
“Oh.” She began to relax a little. “You mean for holiday break? This was Cale’s idea, for him to visit?”
“Yeah. For as long as he wants to stay.”
Panic gripped her. She struggled to build an argument to what her husband had already decided. “He has school, Alain. And friends here.”
“Isn’t learning about what he is part of his education, too? That’s what you told me, anyway.”
“What he is, is our son. His place is with us.”
Those dreamy blue eyes fixed on her. They held no warmth now. Everything about him was distant and emotionless. “You should go with him.”
She could barely get the words out. “You want us to leave?”
The fact that he continued to hold her huge, tear-filled gaze without so much as a blink devastated almost as completely as his next measured words. Almost.
“I think it would be for the best.”
“Knock, knock!”
At the loud shout from the front door, Alain stood to call gratefully, “Out here.”
Wiping a trembling hand across her eyes, Tina composed herself enough to smile up at their unexpected guests, Cale looking tough and trendy in his gorgeously detailed leather bomber, molded olive green tee shirt that made the color of his eyes pop, cargo pants, and rugged boots and Kendra in a fierce leather jacket, sunny yellow sweater, skinny jeans, and moto boots. Their faces were flushed from the cool night air and from the way hands tucked into each other’s back pockets.
“Hope you don’t mind us barging in like this,” Cale said with an irresistible grin. “We were out and about and thought we’d drop by to say hey.”
“No problem.”
Could they hear the relief in his voice? Tina wondered as the two men clasped hands and elbow bumped.
“Where’s Oz-man?”
“Basketball practice. Should be home in a few. Was just about to pop a top. Join me?”
“Sure, if the ladies don’t mind.”
Kendra touched his wind-burned cheek, the gesture small and achingly intimate. “Don’t go far.”
He turned to brush his lips to her palm. “Not likely.” He nodded to Tina, his intense glance taking in more than she wanted him to see, then followed Alain to the kitchen.
Kendra dropped to the step beside her, leaning close to whisper, “What’s wrong?”
“Everything.”
A supporting arm went instantly about her shoulders and Tina leaned, having never had anyone to lean into before this unknown family entered her life. Kendra was the type of friend she’d always longed for, sweet, sincere, and yet practical in outlook. Her pain came pouring out before she could restrain it.
“He wants me and Oscar to go with you to Nevada. To stay.”
She felt Kendra’s start of surprise and hesitation before her calming reply. “Why would he suggest that?”
“Cale gave him the idea.”
“Cale did?” Her cool tone intimated a rocky evening ahead.
“Apparently Alain jumped at the chance to get rid of us.”
“But you’re his family,” she soothed with gentle logic. “I’m sure he doesn’t mean forever.”
“Yes, he does,” she sniffed in misery. “I thought things were better. After your people came to Max’s house to threaten us, Alain took us away to protect us. I thought we’d gotten closer, but maybe it was just the clothes Brigit made me buy to seduce him.”
A soft chuckle. “Bree knows her way around the lingerie department. No doubt about it. Alain is your husband, Tina. He’s made a home here for you and Oscar to share with him. I can’t believe he’d just toss it away. He seems like a good, solid man. Why would he do that?”
“Because of who we are. What we are. He—he can’t make himself love what we are.”
A different species. She didn’t have to spell it out.
“He has a devoted wife and wonderful son. Why wouldn’t any man want that?” Kendra argued, temper rising.
“I don’t know. He won’t tell me. He won’t talk to me. And now, he wants to get rid of us like we never meant anything to him at all.”
“That’s not going to happen, Tina. Bree will be back day after tomorrow and between us, we’ll help you fix things.”
Tina levered back to study her expression. “Why would you do that? Why would you take my side against your own mate’s plans? We hardly know one another.”
“We’re family. Ten minutes, ten years. It doesn’t matter. Besides,” she said warmly, “I’ve always wanted a sister.”
Tina remembered saying the same thing to Brigit.
“And,” the dainty blonde continued with a glint in her eyes, “we sisters have to stick together even if it means kicking the very fine asses of the men we love.”
*
“What did you do to make my sister cry?” Though he still smiled as he accepted the beer, there was nothing friendly about the narrowing of Cale’s eyes.
“You want to take them to Nevada. I made the suggestion. It didn’t go over well.”
“The fact that you’re eager to get rid of her and her son? That surprises you, does it?”
“You know as well as I do that it’s dangerous for them to be here with all that’s going down. They’ll be safer with your family than with me.”
“You sound pretty damned okay with that.”
“It’s not like I have a choice.”
Alain turned away sharply but not before Cale caught the conflict of emotions in his face. Good. Conflict was good. It meant the man might just be worthy of his sister and her son.
“Life’s full of choices, brother. It’s all about when and why you make them.”
Oscar chose that moment to burst in like a thundercloud, the sight of Cale having little effect on his full-blown fury.
“I got cut from the team,” he announced, his hurt not quite overwhelmed by the anger.
“What? What happened?” Alain’s concern didn’t extend to approaching the frustrated teen.
“Coach Betz is replacing me with a kid who just transferred in because I missed too much practice while we were away. But it’s because he’s an All Star and I’m . . . I’m your son.” He flung that carelessly, with wounding intent. “Who needs them and their stupid team anyway? I’m a prince in the House of Terriot. I don’t have to take that shit off anybody.”
Before Alain could catch him, Oscar stormed by. The slam of his bedroom door had window glass shivering. Seeing Babineau’s features settling into harsh lines, Cale put a hand on his arm.
“Let me talk to him.”
Dismissively, Alain waved him ahead, returning to his beer.
