Mrs. Beaumont's hysterical howling immediately grew louder, but Zach kept his attention focused on the two men. "From now on," he said flatly, "we do this my way."
"The hell you say," Richard countered, and Mrs. Beaumont screeched. "You'll kill him! You'll kill my darling David!"
Zach glanced at the older woman. "No, ma'am," he disagreed. "Blind obedience to an extortionist will kill him."
"Well, you can't simply commandeer our money and tell us we have no say on how it's used." Richard said furiously. "That's thievery ."
"So call a cop." Zach pinned him in place with an ice-cold gaze. "I'd welcome it. In fact, you can all tell him where you were while I was out following your instructions."
"Listen, you—"
But when Richard took a menacing step forward, Lily's patience snapped She inserted herself between the two men. "All right, that is enough! What's the matter with you people? Zach was knocked unconscious tonight trying to protect not only David and Glynnis, but your precious money as well, and all I've heard since we got back is complaints about how he handled the drop."
"Hey, he's supposed to be the big, hotshot expert." Richard sneered.
"Yes, and isn't it amazing how that only seems to apply when it comes to putting himself in danger? When he tried to give you the benefit of his expertise, however, no one wanted to pay attention. Well, shame on all of you! You can just sit around throwing hissy fits or wallowing in your self-righteous indignation until you turn blue for all I care. But Zach was injured doing what none of the rest of you were willing to do, and we're finished listening to your grievances. I'm taking him up to his room."
And with a final glare that dared anyone to stop her, she grasped Zach's arm and marched them from the room.
Okay, that was embarrassing. Lying in bed where Lily had stripped him down and bundled him a moment ago before heading off to her own room, Zach relived the way she'd jumped in to defend him from the Beaumonts' ire. He wasn't some grade-school kid needing his mommy to fight his battles for him. Yet he had to admit it was impressive as all get-out seeing a little five-foot-nothing blonde take on an entire household and leave everyone standing around with their mouths agape.
Of course the Beaumonts weren't the only ones whose mouths had been hanging open, and he was the one who'd allowed her to hustle him out of the room. So what did that say about him? That he was a grade-A pussy, probably—a guy who hid behind a woman's skirts. Still. He'd never had anyone stand up for him like that, and it was kind of—
Shit. The truth was, his head throbbed like a bitch in heat, and he didn't know what the hell he felt, aside from the fact that a persistent little kernel of warmth glowed in the region of his tough marine heart. And that wouldn't do. No one knew better than he how dangerous it was to let anyone come to matter too much. In the end no one ever seemed to stay.
Not that he'd let it become a problem in this instance. The trick was not to depend on having anyone's company for the duration, and he'd learned how to do that long ago. He didn't plan to get used to Lily's, either. As soon as he got his sister back and made sure Beaumont was good enough for her, he'd go back to figuring out how to spend his last two years in the service. And since little Miss Lily had big plans for her restaurant, no doubt she'd go her merry way as well without so much as a backward glance.
So when the subject of his thoughts suddenly slid back into his room wearing a little piece of satin and lace that could probably raise the dead, he had a noncommittal expression firmly in place. "I'm pretty hammered, sugar. I don't think I'm gonna be of much use to you tonight."
For just an instant her mouth dropped open. The minute she snapped it closed, however, it promptly morphed into a crooked smile full of genuine amusement. "Well, darn. And here I was, too, just dreaming about sex with a guy I could whip with one arm tied behind my back." She heaved a sigh. "I guessI'll just have to be satisfied with tending to your owie."
Only then, to his embarrassment, did he notice the small tray she carried in her hands, and he said flatly, "I don't require attending."
She nodded in complete understanding. "Because you're such a big, bad Marine." Climbing up onto the bed, she reached across him and carefully set the tray down by his hip.
"Damn straight." What the hell was she up to? He stared at her uncertainly as she carefully swung a leg to kneel astride him, then lowered her lush butt, settling on his thighs with a subtle little wiggle.
"Sometimes even marines need a little TLC," she said. "It doesn't mean they're like those Navy wusses or anything." She twisted to wring a washcloth over the bowl of warm water she'd taken it from, then turned back and cautiously dabbed at the knot on his temple.
For the next several minutes Zach watched her breasts sway and shift against her nightie as she administered to him, and stewed in his own confusion. He couldn't remember anybody ever taking care of him like this. When he was a kid and got hurt, his injuries had mostly been attended to with rough efficiency by a tribesman, since his folks, more often than not, had been out ministering to the natives. And in the service he'd always been doctored by medics. God knew in neither instance had anyone ever sat on his lap to tend him. Nor had they felt like this, nor smelled like this, and they sure as hell had never kissed the injury better once they'd finished bandaging it.
Man. What was it about her? He had a feeling if he didn't watch it she could make him come all undone. Between that body, that way she had of constantly surprising him, and her innate niceness , the woman was more dangerous than a vial of nitroglycerin.
But he was too damn tired to do anything more than feel grateful for the comfort he received a few minutes later when she put everything away, climbed into bed, and snuggled up against him. He pulled her a little closer, and sighed.
What the hell. He'd get himself straight in the morning. Right now he just wanted to let everything go. So he closed his eyes and concentrated on Lily's breath wafting across his chest, on the warmth of her arm draped across his stomach.
Then everything faded to black.
Chapter 18
WHEN THE PHONE RANG THE FOLLOWING MORNing, Lily snatched it up before it could awaken Zach. She whispered a greeting into the receiver.
There was a second of silence, then a male voice said, "Well, hey there. You must be Lily. Let me talk to Zach."
She could hear a woman's voice in the background chiding her caller about his manners, but she merely said, "He's sleeping."
"So wake him up. Tell him Coop wants to talk to him."
"No."
"Excuse me?" He might have been Zach's twin, so unaccustomed did he sound to having his demands denied.
"No. I won't do that. The kidnapper moved things up last night, and Zach ended up getting hit on the head. I'm not going to distur—"
"Did he lose consciousness?"
"Yes."
"For more than a few minutes?"
"No."
"Did he have to go to the hospital?"
"Nooo." She drew the word out cautiously, pretty sure she didn't like the direction this was taking. "Zach said it wasn't necessary."
"Well, he's had enough experience to know."
"He has a knot on his head the size of a golf ball!"
"That's not necessarily a bad thing," Coop informed her, and his voice turned as comforting as a warm hug, momentarily soothing her fears. "If he hadn't had a lump you actually would have had more to worry about, because that often means the hematoma's pressing inward against the brain." Without warning, his voice developed snap. "Which means you can get him up and put him on the phone. It's not like he's some Navy wu—"
"What is this fixation you guys have with the Navy?" she interrupted hotly, feeling doubly betrayed because for a moment there she'd fallen for his show of concern. "He got smashed on the head , and I am not going to—"
"Lily." Zach's voice, scratchy with sleep, cut through her diatribe before she could really get rolling, and she twisted around to see the blankets slide down to poo
l around his waist as he pushed up onto one elbow. "I'm awake." He held out his hand for the phone.
She wanted to refuse to give it to him, to make him lie flat so she could check all his pulse points to assure herself of a good steady heartbeat, to go over his wound thoroughly until she was certain it hadn't gotten any worse. But his hand remained out and he met her gaze with level-eyed demand. With a sigh, she handed it to him.
It was a brief conversation. From Lily's standpoint, it was also a frustrating one, since it was impossible to glean anything from Zach's grunts and uh-huhs . She snapped to attention, however, when she heard him say, "I'll be there in fifteen minutes."
" No" she protested as soon he hung up the phone, but could only watch in frustration when he ignored her and started pulling on his clothes. "Zach, be reasonable. You can't go running around with that wound on your head."
"My head is fine." A moment later he'd finished dressing and, against her continued protests, headed for the door.
She followed in his wake. "This is crazy."
"No, it's necessary. The kidnapper didn't get what he wanted last night, so he's bound to try again. This time we're gonna nail his ass."
"Not if you're flat on your back in the hospital because you were racing around with a concussion."
"It's not a concussion, Lily. It was a minor bump on the head, but I'm all right now."
A whistle of frustration escaped her. "You are so darn stubborn!"
He grinned and hauled her up against him, bending his knees until they fit in all the crucial places. Then he kissed her thoroughly. But even as he set her bare toes to curling against the floor and her body helplessly pressing as close to his as she could get, she felt him opening the door at his back in preparation to leaving.
"Oh!" Jessica's flustered voice exclaimed from the hallway. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I'm… oh."
Zach slowly raised his head. Licking his lower lip, he stared down at Lily. "I prefer 'determined' to 'stubborn,' " he murmured, pressing a final quick kiss on her still pailed lips. As she struggled to regain a modicum of intelligence amid a sea of jangling nerve endings, he turned to smile at Jessica, who stood on the other side of the door with her hand still raised to knock. "You're not intruding," he assured her solemnly. "I was just leaving."
And a second later, he did just that.
"Wow," Jessica said softly as she turned back from watching him stride down the hall. She stepped into the room. "He's feeling better, I take it." She inspected Lily, and a faint smile curved her lips. "I do believe your skin is smoking."
"Oh, my." A startled laugh escaped Lily. "It wouldn't surprise me." She looked at her friend. "How did you know to come here instead of my door?"
"I did go to your room first. You were just too preoccupied to hear my knock." Jessica flashed a crooked smile and shrugged. "When you didn't answer, I thought I'd try here."
Feeling her face heat, Lily decided a change of subject was in order. "Hmm. So. You're out and about early."
Jessica gave her a knowing grin. But she said politely, "Yes, I know. And I'm sorry to descend on you before you've even had a chance to get dressed, but the salon had a cancellation, and I've got an appointment in forty-five minutes to get my hair cut. You wanna blow off breakfast and come to town with me?"
Lily's sense of responsibility warred with her not-yet-lessened irritation with the rest of the Beaumonts for their treatment of Zach last night, and weighing the two opposing impulses, she gave a brisk nod.
"'Sure, what the heck. Your family can fend for themselves for one meal. Just give me fifteen minutes to throw myself together, and I'll meet you downstairs."
Zach walked into the Kangaroo House Bed and Breakfast. No one manned the minuscule front desk tucked beneath the open staircase, so he strode straight into the living area and turned left by the craftsman style furniture grouped in front of the big stone fireplace. A few steps away was a door marked Kathleen's suite, and he gave it a sharp rap.
Coop's wife, Veronica, opened the door, and her unexpected appearance made Zach blink. Then he smiled. Her usually sleek cap of shiny black hair was slightly tousled, but her white skin glowed with its usual pearlescent sheen. "Hey, Ronnie," he said. "Pretty as ever, I see."
She laughed. "And you're still just as diplomatic and sweet." She opened the door wider and stepped back. "Come in."
Beyond her, he saw Rocket folding a Murphy bed into the wall. As he stepped inside the sitting room, he noted a bathroom across the room to his right and an open bedroom door to his left. Coop strode out of the latter.
His friend was big, blond, and tougher than shoe leather, but his dark eyes went soft and his even darker eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement as he watched his wife step outside the room. "What are you doing out in the hall, sweetpea?"
"I'm going to go have breakfast and give you guys some privacy to talk." She turned to Zach. "I'm so sorry about your sister," she said. "Please let me know if there's anything I can do. I know you'll get her back, but I can only imagine how worried you must be in the meantime." Then, murmuring a farewell, she pulled the door closed.
"Diplomatic and sweet?" John said the instant she was gone, raising his eyebrows at Zach. "Was she talking about the same hard-ass we all know and fear?"
"Hey, the last time I saw Veronica, she and Coop were about to be married. I just made myself scarce whenever Lover Boy here started messing with her in front of me."
"You must have spent a helluva lot of time making yourself scarce, then," John said sardonically, "because he's still at it every chance he gets." Both men turned to look at the subject of their discussion.
Coop shrugged. "What can I say? She's very messable."
"She must be," Zach agreed dryly, "if you couldn't leave her at home long enough to take care of business."
"You don't know the half of it." Rocket gave their mutual friend a pitying look. "He said, 'But honey, cookie, sugar. This here is men's work and ya can't come along.' To which she replied"—John's voice went falsetto— " 'I'm going, Cooper Blackstock, and that's final.'" Then his voice dropped back down into its normal register. "And he caved, Midnight, he just caved. Hung his head and said, 'Okay, princess. Whatever you say.' Hell, she even got to ride shotgun on the trip up here."
Zach shook his head in sad disbelief. "Whoever would have thought we'd see the day the Iceman turned into a boy who just can't say no to the little woman?"
Coop snorted. "It wasn't my little woman who refused to wake you up this morning simply because you had a"—he inspected Zach's temple—"very minor-league knot on the head."
"Yeah, but some of us actually take charge once we regain consciousness from our extremely serious head injuries." Zach gave Coop a smile that was all teeth. "And you'll notice Lily didn't accompany me here." Not that she probably wouldn't have tried to if Jessica hadn't shown up in time to prevent the idea from occurring to her.
"If you two are through swinging 'em around," Rocket interrupted, "maybe we can get down to business." He gave the fly of his fashionable slacks a fond pat. "Besides, a show of size is about as pointless as the nipples on your chests, dont'cha think? Everyone knows who's got the big one in this group."
Zach and Coop looked at him. Then they looked at each other.
"Can't argue with that," Zach said and took a seat.
" 'Course you'll notice he doesn't have a woman of his own." Coop pulled up the chair next to him and gave Rocket a nod as he sat. "But you're in the majors, Miglionni, no question about that."
Then he turned his attention on Zach. "So, what the hell is this I hear about the kidnapper calling last night instead of today?"
Lily picked up a few groceries, then stopped by the hair salon to collect the car keys and see how much longer Jessica would be. When she discovered it would be awhile yet, she left to stow the groceries in the back of Jessica's car, then headed for the drugstore to replace some of her items that were beginning to run low.
She was cruising the aisle
s when she suddenly ran across the condom selection. She stopped short, her heart dropping with a thud that was nearly audible. "Dear God," she whispered, her mind flashing to the lone condom she'd seen in Zach's zipper bag that night in the campground near Mount Shasta. They'd used it the first time they made love.
And hadn't used one since.
The romantic in her stood there bemused, staring at the display and thinking she was in big-time trouble if she was so moon-faced in love she'd bypassed something as basic as protection. Her bedrock practicality, though, took a more irritated stance. That part couldn't believe it hadn't occurred to her before now that they hadn't been using anything. Or to him either, since Zach was hardly the careless type. She was on the pill, so she wasn't worried about pregnancy. But he didn't know that, and he'd sure as heck never checked to make sure she had it covered. And for both of them to just disregard the most basic safety precautions—good grief, they hadn't even once compared health histories. She never took chances when it came to that, and knowing that she had with Zach made her feel like banging her head on the nearest hard surface.
Instead she selected a box and tossed it in her basket. It was probably locking the barn door after the horse had bolted, but until she knew Zach was safe, he could darn well suit up. It was his sole hope of ever getting his big ol' pride and joy anywhere near her again.
Still fretting about it as she left the store, she nearly barreled into a young man just entering. "Excuse me," she said, and gave the arm she'd grabbed to keep from mowing him down an apologetic pat. "I'm afraid I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." Then her eyebrows drew together. She knew that face from somewhere.
Just as quickly, however, her brow cleared. Well, duh. With that jet-black hair and those dark eyes, he was quite handsome, which undoubtedly was what she'd noticed about him when she'd seen him at one of the stores the last time she was here. Happy to have that cleared up, she gave him a sunny smile and stepped to the right to circle around him.
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