by Amelia Autin
Cate shook her head. “Is this some guy thing, like you giving Alec a black eye?”
Liam grinned. “Not exactly, but close. Shane gave him a medium set of lumps, but Cody gave as good as he got, then offered to take the rest of us on. But at that point Shane laid down the law, said anyone who pounded on Cody would have to pound on him first. Shane’s the oldest, so...” He shrugged. “We welcomed Cody into the family.”
Cate shook her head again, as if she would never understand the workings of the male mind.
“Sorry,” Liam said. “I was supposed to be showing you around. This is your bed,” he said, pointing to the double bed her suitcase was lying on.
“Where will you sl—” She stopped short, as if she wasn’t sure he was staying there with her, but Liam knew what she’d been going to ask.
“There’s a cot in that closet,” he said, pointing. “I’ll use that while I’m here.” He continued as if she’d never interrupted. “That door leads to the bathroom, and that’s obviously the kitchen.” A kitchen table and two chairs stood neatly in front of the stove and the sink. “And that’s the back door. The generator’s out there, and I guess now’s as good a time as any to crank it up so you can have water. I’ll be right back.”
He started toward the back door, then reversed course and returned to stand in front of Cate, trying to reassure her with his presence. He very carefully didn’t touch her, but he wanted to. And he knew he wasn’t entirely successful keeping that out of his expression. “You’ll be okay?” he asked. “I’ll only be gone a couple of minutes. Feel free to look around.”
* * *
Cate waited until the back door closed behind Liam, then her curiosity got the better of her and she started on a voyage of discovery where the cabin was concerned. The cabinets in the kitchen contained not only dishes, coffee cups and glasses, but row upon row of canned goods of all kinds and boxes of prepackaged dry food—the nonperishables Liam had mentioned earlier. The closet contained the cot Liam had told her about, and tidy stacks of sheets, pillowcases, pillows and blankets on the shelves. She took one book out of her precious bag of books and put it on the nightstand next to the bed to start reading that night, then stashed the bag out of the way on a lower shelf.
She opened the door to the bathroom and saw a smallish room, with much of the space taken up by a large, old-fashioned claw-foot tub. She wasn’t big on baths—when living in boardinghouses a bath meant cleaning out the tub each time, before and after using it. So she was glad to note there was also a showerhead. Towels, washcloths, soap and other toiletries were stacked neatly on the shelves between the sink and the tub. Liam had told her no one actually lived here, but she’d never have known it. Everything they needed was readily available.
She was just closing the bathroom door when Liam returned. “I started the pump on the well,” he told her. “There will be water soon.” He opened another closet door, one Cate hadn’t gotten around to, and made a sound of satisfaction. “I thought I remembered the water heater was in here,” he said. He searched in a drawer next to the stove and found a box of kitchen matches. “I’ll get the pilot light going so you’ll have hot water later on.”
When he was finished, he dusted off his hands and tucked them in the back pockets of his jeans. “Is it okay?” he asked her. “I know it’s not fancy, but—”
“But it has everything we need,” she finished for him. “I already found that out.”
“And it’s safe,” he added. “About as safe as you can possibly get.”
The sound of footsteps thudding on the front porch drove the smile from Liam’s face, and he pulled his SIG SAUER from its shoulder holster so quickly Cate didn’t even have time to draw a breath. Then he was pushing her inside the bathroom just as someone knocked on the front door. “Not a sound,” he breathed before he shut the bathroom door with her on the inside, himself on the outside.
Cate strained to hear what was going on in the other room, even going so far as to place her ear against the door, but all she could hear was the rumble of deep male voices. Then the bathroom door opened, and Liam smiled at her.
“False alarm,” he told her, indicating the tall, dark-haired man standing just inside the front door, wearing a uniform and a cowboy hat with some kind of insignia on both. “Cate, this is Ryan Callahan, sheriff of Black Rock. Sheriff Callahan, this is Caterina Mateja, but she goes by Cate.”
The sheriff moved until he could reach out and shake Cate’s hand. “Glad you made it safely,” was all he said. Then he glanced at Liam. “So you found the place without any trouble?”
Liam caught Cate’s eye, and she knew from his expression he had no intention of telling the sheriff about the two false turns he’d made on the way here, and would prefer she not say anything either. She smiled a little at that. She was starting to read Liam, and she liked that idea. She liked it a lot.
* * *
An hour later Callahan rose from the kitchen table where he’d been discussing the situation with Cate, making sure she knew everything he had planned. He pushed in the paddle-back chair, settled his hat on his head and turned to Liam, leaning against the kitchen sink. “I had the propane tank topped off, and stocked the cabinets with enough nonperishable provisions to last a month. But now that the generator’s going, I’ll bring up milk and eggs and a few other perishables you might need when I come tomorrow morning.”
“Thanks.”
“I’ll check on you at least twice a day. But I don’t want to set a pattern someone might get curious about, so I’ll vary my times.”
“Okay by me,” Liam said. “We’re not going anywhere.”
“Your cell phone will work up here, but coverage can be a little spotty. It works better outside the cabin than inside—just giving you a heads-up. You’ve got all my numbers, so don’t hesitate to call if you need me...but I don’t think you will. I think you’re safe here because no one knows where you are except Nick D’Arcy and me.” He glanced at Cate, then seemed to reach some kind of decision, because he turned back to Liam and said, “I’ve got some stuff in the back of my SUV to rig an extra security system for you, just in case. It’s worked before. But you need to know the location of each trap I set on your perimeter, and how to avoid them. So you’d better come with me.”
Liam nodded. “Sounds like a good idea.” He looked at Cate. “Stay inside for now, okay? I’ll be back in a little while.”
Callahan didn’t say a word until they reached his SUV, parked next to Liam’s. He pulled out coils of rope and wire, several of which he handed to Liam before looping some across his own shoulders. Then he grabbed a box containing what looked to be nothing more than odds and ends, and said totally out of the blue, “Your sister saved my life, you know.”
“Yeah, I know.” Liam knew the bare fact, but little more than that.
“She took a bullet for me and almost died because of it.” Callahan shook his head, admiration coloring his next words. “She’s a hell of an agent.”
“Yeah, I know that, too.”
“I owe her. So whatever you do, don’t get yourself killed on this op, okay?” Callahan started walking back toward the cabin without waiting for a response. “I’d never be able to look your sister in the eye again if I let her brother get killed.”
“You don’t have to worry about that.”
Callahan grunted. “Nick asked me to keep Cate safe until the trial, and I will. He also mentioned you were going to hang around for a bit.”
“How the hell did he know that? I wasn’t even sure myself until this morning.”
Callahan laughed, softening his saturnine face. “He’s omniscient, didn’t you know?”
“Keira and Cody call him Baker Street. McKinnon, too. Sherlock Holmes, you know? But D’Arcy told me maintaining that reputation takes constant vigilance, and even with that he slips up every now and then.”
/> Grimly serious all at once, Callahan said, “Don’t I know it.” Then he relaxed...or what passed for relaxation for him. “But I’d never bet against him. There’s only a handful of men I trust, and he’s three of them,” Callahan joked. He stopped just outside the clearing and dumped the box he was carrying on the ground, then slipped a coil of rope and one of wire off his shoulder and laid them beside the box. He moved around the clearing’s perimeter, then stopped again and dropped the same two coils. Liam followed him. Eventually, when Callahan had dropped his last coils, he took the ones Liam carried, and completed his circuit.
“Special ops?” Liam asked Callahan, his respect for the man growing by the minute.
“A lifetime ago, but yeah. Some things you never forget. You were in the Corps, too, weren’t you? McKinnon told me all you Joneses were, including your sister.”
“Yeah, but I was just a run-of-the-mill marine. I wasn’t special ops.”
Callahan bent over and dug into the box he’d left at the first drop. “No such thing as a run-of-the-mill marine,” he said flatly as he started forming the first of his traps. “You either are a marine...or you aren’t. Period. End of discussion.”
* * *
Liam took Cate on a tour of the cabin’s perimeter after Callahan left, making sure she knew where every trap was located so she’d know where not to tread. Not that he had any intention of letting her wander around outside without his protection, but just in case...
They opened some cans and heated up the contents for dinner, then ate sitting on the front porch steps. As before, Cate sat silent and nearly still while she ate, but Liam could tell she appreciated the pristine beauty of her surroundings.
He did, too. He’d spent much of his adult life away from the mountains—first in the Marine Corps and then wherever the DSS posted him—but he’d grown up in the Rockies, and he hadn’t lost his love for mountain country. He wondered if Cate was as enamored of mountains as he was. She’d grown up in Zakhar—he knew that much from her cousin, Angelina, his new sister-in-law—and Zakhar was seemingly nothing but mountains, sort of like Switzerland. Still...
“Have you ever seen the Rockies?” he asked abruptly.
Cate glanced at him, hesitated, then said, “I was living in Denver when ICE arrested me,” she said. “Didn’t you know?”
He shook his head. “I know almost nothing about the circumstances surrounding your case. Alec didn’t tell me much of anything. Not until—” He broke off, unsure how much to reveal.
“Not until you were forced to become my bodyguard?”
Liam stiffened. “I wasn’t forced to do anything, Cate. I’m here because I choose to be here.” He held her gaze. “When it comes right down to it, I’m on vacation—you know that already. I could have just turned you over to Callahan and headed back to Denver if that’s what I wanted—Cody invited me to stay with my sister and him. But that’s not what I want.” He stood up, took her plate and utensils from her unresisting grasp and walked into the cabin before he could add, Wherever you are, that’s where I want to be. Because he wasn’t quite ready to admit that to her.
He placed the dishes in the sink, ran some hot water and added a little dish soap, then took his frustrations out on the dirty dishes. Hell, he told himself as he stacked the rinsed dishes on the dish rack to dry, it’s not just that you’re not ready to admit to her how much you care. You’re afraid she’s not ready to hear it. That she’ll never be ready to hear it.
For a man whose own family called him a knight-errant, it was devastating to realize his damsel in distress might not want to be rescued...by him.
* * *
Night had fallen. Cate showered and got ready for bed while Liam made a perimeter check. She’d known when he told her how long he’d be gone that he was doing it to give her some privacy, and she was touched by his thoughtfulness. The folding screen beside the bed would give her privacy, too. She’d argued with Liam about the cot he’d set up for himself near the fireplace, but she’d known even before she’d started it was a battle she was destined to lose. Despite the fact that he was bigger and taller than she was, he wasn’t going to take the bed, and that was that.
She was already tucked under the covers, reading one of the books he’d bought her that morning when she heard the front door open. “Don’t worry, it’s me,” Liam told her in the deep voice that resonated inside her in a way she’d never thought possible.
She tried to concentrate on her book, but she heard him move around the room even though he tried to be quiet about it. When he went into the bathroom she heard the shower running. If she was any other woman—any normal woman—she knew she’d be curious. Knew her imagination would be piqued by the idea of a naked man in the shower. No, not just a naked man. A naked Liam. Especially since she knew he’d be even more splendid naked than he was clothed...and he was pretty impressive clothed.
But she wasn’t a normal woman. And she could never have a normal woman’s reaction to a man—she knew that. She wished with all her heart things could be different for her. That she could let herself be touched in intimate ways and not tremble in fear and loathing. Part of her wanted Liam to touch her, kiss her, caress her. Part of her wanted Liam to want her the way a good man wanted a woman—with desire, but also with respect. But she’d told him the truth on the drive up here. She was afraid to try, because she couldn’t bear to fail. And even worse, she was afraid she’d freeze up or scream if Liam tried to make love to her. He didn’t deserve that. He deserved a woman who could let him touch her without fear.
Cate closed her book, turned off the lamp on the nightstand and tried to think of something else. But her eyes burned with unshed tears as traumatic memories came back to her, memories she desperately wanted to suppress...but couldn’t.
Eventually she fell asleep. But her sleep was troubled by nightmares, and she was back in Vishenko’s clutches—a prisoner once more. Heard him laugh his coarse laugh as he caught her when she tried to run, then tied her to the bed and laughed again as she struggled against her bonds until her wrists were bruised and bloody. No! she screamed in her dreams. No!
* * *
Liam woke at the first sound Cate made. The first whimper. He almost pulled his SIG SAUER from its holster where it hung from a corner of the cot. But then he realized whatever was troubling Cate wasn’t a real threat. At least, it wasn’t a current threat.
He threw off the sheet covering him and moved swiftly to Cate’s bedside. She was thrashing around on the bed, little moans of distress catching in her throat as she fought off the sheet and blanket entangling her. He flicked on the bedside lamp and called her name—softly at first because he didn’t want to scare her, then louder when she didn’t seem to hear him. “Cate! Cate!”
He touched her shoulder to wake her and she shot up in bed, fighting off his hand with both of hers and screaming, “No!”
Liam backed away, both hands up, palms facing her. “It’s okay, Cate. I won’t hurt you. I promise. You were having a nightmare, and I wanted to wake you, that’s all.”
Her eyes suddenly focused on him and she choked on his name. Then she covered her face with her hands and bent over, burying herself in the twisted bedclothes. At first he thought she was crying—any other woman would have been. But not Cate.
Pity swept through him. Just as last night, he knew he had to do something to make it right for her, and he didn’t stop to question either his need to comfort or hers to be comforted. He bent down and gathered her into his arms—sheet, blanket and all—then trod across the bare wooden floor to the rocking chair beside the empty fireplace. He sat down with her on his lap, her head cradled against his shoulder.
She was trembling inside her blanketed cocoon, but Liam knew it wasn’t from the cold because it wasn’t that cold in the cabin. She was trembling because she couldn’t shake off the nightmare. Because something ha
d brought the past back to life for her, the past she wanted to forget.
He pushed the rocking chair into motion with one strong foot, crooning softly to Cate the way he remembered his mother doing to him when he was a little boy, as they rocked back and forth for endless minutes. Eventually she stopped trembling and her ragged breathing slowed, but still he rocked. Then he glanced down at her and realized—to his utter amazement—she’d fallen asleep in his arms.
In repose her face was totally innocent...and totally vulnerable. All those emotional fences she put up around herself vanished when she was sleeping, as if they had never existed. And Liam’s heart turned over.
Chapter 11
Cate woke to the sound of someone trying to move quietly around the cabin and the smell of coffee. For just a moment she didn’t remember where she was—which wasn’t unusual for her because she’d often woken in strange places. What was unusual was that she had no memory after a certain point last night. Had no memory of how she’d wound up back in bed...but she had a pretty good idea how she’d gotten there. The last thing she remembered was Liam holding her in the rocking chair, which meant—unbelievably—she hadn’t been afraid to fall asleep in his arms. He must have put her to bed, tucked her in, then gone back to his less-than-comfortable cot to finish out the night.
The cabin’s interior was still shadowed, but there was enough light to see, so she figured it was shortly after dawn. But Liam was already awake. He must be an early riser like me, she thought. She laid there for a minute, until she heard the sound of a door open and close in the distance, then total silence. Liam must have gone outside.
She slipped out of bed and headed for the bathroom. When she came out Liam was just walking in the back door, and she scurried behind the screen, then grabbed her robe and tugged it on.
“Breakfast?” he called to her from the other side of the folding screen. “You’re not a coffee drinker, right? But I am, so I made a pot for me. Let me know if you change your mind and want some.” His voice receded and she knew he’d moved into the kitchen area, but she could still hear him clearly. “There’s not much in the way of breakfast food, except dry cereal. There’s no milk until Callahan comes back this morning. I can make some oatmeal if you want something hot and don’t mind eating it without milk.”
