Despite the size of his meal, he finished before she did. Leaning back in his chair, he watched her munch on her fries, his expression unreadable.
“One thing I don’t understand,” he said. “Why’d your family split up to begin with? I understand with your father getting killed, the world must have seemed like a dangerous place, but the logic about separating the entire family escapes me. It just doesn’t make sense.”
She stiffened, her previously relaxed feeling dissipating, just like that. Slowly and deliberately, she finished the last two fries, swallowing and wiping her fingers on the napkin before she lifted her chin to answer.
“My father knew that someone, our enemies, and by that I assume he meant the Protectors, would come after us.” Taking a deep breath, she was proud of how dispassionately she was able to speak.
Mac’s hard expression told her he wasn’t buying it. “Again, vague. Paranoid, even. But let’s go with this theory. Your father believed your family was in danger. Instead of organizing a group to fight the threat, making an army of Tearlachs, so to speak, he ordered you to split up and hide? Does that make sense to you?”
“No.” She looked away. “The splitting up wasn’t his idea, it was my uncle Danny’s, his brother. My father was in the middle of making plans for the entire family to go into hiding. Together.”
She went silent, wondering how to continue. This evidently prompted him to urge her to continue.
“Then what happened? I know you said a Protector killed your father, but you didn’t say why.”
Taking a deep breath, she glanced at him, steeling herself to tell the rest of it. “He’d gone to town for supplies, and someone—a Protector—attacked him.”
“You’re positive it was a Protector?” he asked.
“I only know what I was told,” she answered.
“By whom? Your father?”
“No. He never came home. Uncle Danny told me and Bonnie what had happened.”
Mac waited, for which she was grateful. No doubt he was aware from the tortured look in her eyes that she needed a minute to gather her composure. She took a deep breath, willing herself calm.
When she continued, her voice was once again steady. “My father called my mom from a payphone and told her what had happened. She begged him to be careful, to come back to her. She even told him to kill the Protector. I heard because I was in the kitchen with her when he called. I’ve never seen my mother suffer so much anguish.”
She glanced down, wondering why telling him this brought the old pain back full force. She’d honestly thought she’d come to grips with the loss of her father and then almost immediately losing her entire family. Her entire support system, her sense of security, all destroyed in an instant. She’d been only sixteen and sometimes felt she’d lost her youth at that tender age.
Over time, a decade plus two years, the sorrow had become somewhat blunted, softened with the passage of the years, as she moved from her teens into her twenties. She always felt far older than she should have.
Her father’s death had changed everything. All of the children—she and her sister and cousins—had been split off and shunted off to places unknown. Countries and continents divided them. Because of one act of violence, all their young lives had been disrupted, destroyed.
They could never get this back. And yet they went on living, all of them. She had to assume it was the same with them. The world continued turning, the sun rose and set and life went on.
It wasn’t like she’d ever forgotten it, and often she relived in her dreams the night her entire world had been unspeakably altered, but this retelling felt so raw, as if she was experiencing it all again. Maybe that was because this was the first time she’d retold the story out loud to another person.
Or maybe it was Mac, trying not to show sympathy, though his deep blue eyes shone with it. For some reason, this made it all worse.
“Maybe that will change,” he said. “Now that your family is getting back together.”
Nodding, though privately she hated to get her hopes up, she took a long drink of her diet cola. “I’d like that, but I kind of think this Texas meeting is a one-time-only thing.”
Crud. She froze. The instant she’d finished speaking, she realized she’d told him more information than she’d wanted. Though he’d have to find out sometime. And that didn’t narrow it down too much. Texas was a huge state.
“Texas?” He raised a brow. “We’re heading to Texas?”
Miserable, she nodded.
“Have you ever been to Texas in August?”
“No. How bad can it be?” she asked.
Shaking his head, he frowned. “Compared to Wyoming, you’ll think you’ve traveled down into the bowels of hell.”
“So it’s hot.” She shrugged. “I can handle it. The only time we’ll be outside is at night when it’s cooler.”
“It’s not much cooler after dark.” He smiled to take some of the sting off his words. “Though I guess it depends where in Texas we’re going. I’ve heard the Davis Mountains out in far west Texas got snow on May 1, so maybe it’s better there. I know the higher elevations are drier, at least.”
She glanced at him again, wondering how much to reveal. “We’re not going west,” was all she said, before a huge yawn overtook her. Damn sneaky things.
He saw. “We’re either going to have to stop for the night or you’re going to have to let me drive,” he pointed out again. “I don’t want to have an accident because you fell asleep at the wheel.”
Stifling another yawn, to her own surprise she nodded. “You’re right. I was planning on driving straight through, but you haven’t had any more rest than I have.” She pointed out the front window toward the building across the street.
“We’ll stay at that motel.”
He turned to look where she pointed, at one of the many generically bland motels that dotted the scenery of all U.S. interstates. At least it didn’t look like some cozy love nest.
He startled at the thought, since even the idea that he’d think she’d even want to shack up in some motel was crazy. Not only did she not have the time, but she’d made it clear that she believed in following her Tearlach rules.
There’d be no hanky-panky that night, and they’d both do well to remember that.
Chapter 7
“Are you ready?” Jumping to her feet, she drained the last of her drink and carried her tray to the trash bin.
“Sure.” Following, he did the same, wondering at her fortitude.
They returned to the Hummer and drove across the street. After she pulled into the driveway, she located a spot close to the main entrance and parked.
“What about a credit card?” he asked. “We can’t use mine because it’s company issued and they’ll know. And if anyone is tracking you, they can easily find you if you use one of yours.”
She gave him a tired smile to let him know she’d already thought of that. “I’ve got it covered,” she said. “We all were issued special credit cards and IDs to use if the need ever arose. I brought those with me.”
“Wow. I’m impressed by the thoroughness by which you Tearlachs used to remain hidden.”
“Shhh.” Hushing him, she glanced around. “Please don’t use that word. Everything was planned by my uncle Danny.”
Though his expression plainly said he thought she was being paranoid, he apologized. “Sorry. I’ll try to remember.”
The bored desk clerk checked them in, giving them, at her request, a room on the first floor at the end of the long I-shaped structure. She asked for only one card key.
“We’re sharing a room?” he asked, the humorous tone telling her he asked just to needle her.
“Of course.” Trudging down the hall, she didn’t even look at him. “There should be two double beds.”
“And if there’s not?”
“Then one of us will be sleeping on the floor.”
He went silent since he didn’t have to ask which one.
> Finally, they located their room and, with one pass of the card key, opened the door. The room, decorated in garish shades of yellow, orange and brown, did indeed have two double beds.
Right now Kelly thought they looked like the most comfortable beds she’d ever seen. She felt like she could sleep for days.
While a hot shower sounded appealing, it seemed like too much work.
“Though I’d really like a shower, I’ll wait until morning.” Pulling back the bedspread on the bed closest to the door, she avoided his gaze.
Suddenly hyperaware of him, she didn’t know what to do first. “I’m just going to go wash up and then the bathroom is all yours.”
He nodded, gazing at the television. She wondered for a half second if he were suddenly tongue-tied and feeling overly warm, like she was. She wondered what he wore to sleep in. Boxers or briefs, the age-old question. Or…nothing at all. The thought made her flush. If normally he slept in the nude, she hoped he’d leave his boxers on tonight.
Grateful for an escape, she grabbed her bag and fled to the bathroom. Though she glanced longingly at the shower, she settled for washing her face and brushing her teeth. She debated sleeping in her clothes, but knew she’d be much more comfortable in a T-shirt and terry-cloth shorts.
In the other room, she heard the television click on. Thank goodness. That meant he wouldn’t be staring at her when she exited the bathroom. She hoped.
Hurriedly changing, she glanced at herself in the mirror, trying to screw up her courage. She could do this. She had no choice.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the door. Wearing a faded T-shirt and her old, comfy shorts, she walked nonchalantly to her bed. Only when she was underneath the covers with the sheet pulled up to her chin, did she let out the breath she hadn’t even known she was holding.
Finally, she was safe.
Mac tried not to stare as Kelly emerged from the bathroom, but he couldn’t help glancing at her. He wondered if she knew how sexy she looked in the too-large, soft T-shirt. From the sway of her large breasts underneath, he could tell she wore no bra. And her short-shorts revealed that her legs were long and shapely.
Damn. He wanted her. Still. Again. Now.
His body stirred as he imagined cupping her in his hands, lifting her T-shirt and tasting her skin with his mouth. He could see her reaction if he skimmed his hands lower, inside the waistband of her shorts, could practically feel her rising desire as she writhed against his hand.
“Stop that,” she ordered in a strangled voice, her face bright red.
“Stop what?” Though he tried to sound innocent, the husky rasp of his tone made him unconvincing.
Color still high, she wouldn’t look at him. “I can tell what you’re thinking. I don’t know how, but I can. So stop thinking that. I just want to get some sleep.”
He had to bite his tongue to keep from teasing her with a sexy innuendo. Things would be better for both of them if he let that pass without comment. Even though, personally, he found making love first a great way to get a good night’s rest.
“Sorry.” Clearing his throat, he cast about for some way to rapidly change the topic. He supposed he could talk about the weather, or the hotel, or the drive—something, anything. But instead, he pointed toward the door, knowing this would be the fastest way to change the subject. “How do you know I won’t sneak out once you’re asleep?”
His comment had the desired result. She looked up, embarrassment forgotten, her frank gaze direct. “I don’t. But as you’ve said repeatedly, I’ve got to start trusting you sometime. It might as well be now, right?”
And with that, she effectively gained his cooperation. Not that he’d planned on making a break for freedom, but she’d ensured he’d stay, with her words of trust. He did want her to have faith in him, so much so that the desire went far beyond his duty of a Protector on assignment. He didn’t want to think too deeply about what that might mean.
Using the remote, he turned the television off. The silence at first felt deafening. Crossing the room to the bathroom, he made sure to give her bed as wide a berth as the confines of the room would allow. The entire way, he felt her gaze on him, burning into his back.
“Do you need anything?” he asked, steeling himself to turn and face her, glad his arousal had somewhat subsided.
Shaking her head, she reached for the light and gave him a small, halfhearted smile. “Sleep well.”
He shook his head, trying to clear it, and managed a smile of his own, right before she turned out the light and slid under the sheet.
“You, too,” he said, entering the bathroom and closing the door behind him. He wondered if he ought to take an icy shower. Instead, he splashed his face with cold water and brushed his teeth, before changing into an old T-shirt of his own.
When he emerged into the dim room, she’d rolled onto her side and had her back facing him. She didn’t move, no doubt pretending to be asleep, though he could tell by her breathing that she was not.
His bed was surprisingly comfortable, and it took him only a moment to get situated before he, too, turned off his light. He thought sleep would not come easily and that he was definitely in for a night of restless tossing and turning, but he fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.
When he woke, still in darkness, well before dawn—at 3:30 a.m. according to the digital clock on the nightstand—he could tell by her measured breathing that she was deeply asleep.
His body ached—he’d awakened fully aroused. No surprise there. He still wanted her. Badly.
For a brief moment he allowed himself the unspeakable luxury of imagining climbing from his bed and crossing the short space to her. Lifting her covers and sliding in next to her, smoothing his hands down the soft material of her T-shirt, then caressing the warm skin underneath.
Imagining this made him grow even more aroused. Then, as if she participated in his fantasy in her dreams, she moaned.
The sound, low and sensual, nearly undid him. Oddly enough, her words from earlier came back to haunt him.
It was almost as if she’d read his mind.
Was that one of the things Tearlachs could do? He’d seen no mention of this in the file, but Kelly had told him there was much that the Protectors didn’t know.
Uncomfortable with his arousal now, he forced himself to think of something else. Ice fishing in the winter on the frozen lakes in his native Minnesota.
With his ardor cooled considerably, he was finally able to drift back to sleep.
Waking at her usual time of 6:00 a.m. as precisely as if she’d set the alarm, Kelly stretched. What dreams she’d had. Sensual and seductive, they’d made her body ache with longing and need.
She glanced at the bed next to her, where Mac still slept. As she watched him, his eyes opened, startling her with their blueness.
“Good morning,” she said, feeling unaccountably shy.
Pushing himself up on his elbows and staring at her, he didn’t crack a smile. “You hinted earlier that there were more things Tearlachs could do. Is reading minds one of them?”
Immediately she shook her head. “No, of course not.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Then yesterday, when you said you could tell what I was thinking, what was that?”
“I have no idea.” But she did, sort of. And she knew if he really thought about it, he’d reach the same conclusion himself.
But, since she wasn’t quite ready to tell him how deep their binding went, she said nothing.
And, as she guessed he would, he sensed that. Crossing his arms, he glared at her. “What are you keeping from me?”
Of course he’d recognize the truth. She sighed, aware she probably wouldn’t be too convincing, but what the hell. She had to try. “Nothing.” She smiled, a patently false smile. And, though doing so felt childish, she unobtrusively crossed her fingers behind her back.
“I don’t believe you.” Sitting all the way up, he swung his long legs over the side, immediately drawing
her gaze. Hounds help her, her mouth went dry at the sight of him wearing only boxer shorts and a T-shirt that did little to hide the muscular planes of his body.
When had she ever met a man so beautiful?
Never, she answered herself, knowing she had to train herself to become immune to the powerful lure of his masculinity.
“Why are you lying to me? If we’re going to be in this together, as a team, we’ve got to tell each other the truth. So what gives?”
“What gives?” she repeated, stalling for time. How to tell someone as fiercely independent as Mac Lamonda appeared to be that he was now tied to her for the rest of their natural lives?
You don’t just blurt something like that out. No, they had to know each other a lot better and the timing had to be a hell of a lot better than this for her to tell him.
Maybe then he’d even welcome such news.
Chiding herself for such foolishness, she managed a much more genuine smile. “Are you always so crabby in the morning?”
“No,” he shot back, giving her a layered look that she couldn’t interpret. “Are you always so cheerful?”
“Pretty much,” she said agreeably, unable to keep from admiring his backside as he strode to the bathroom.
As the door closed behind him, she let her smile fade. She couldn’t help but realize that she was playing with fire. And if she wasn’t careful, as cliché as it sounded, she’d definitely get burned.
After they’d both showered and dressed, they checked out and walked over to the little café next door to wolf down some eggs and bacon and toast. When they’d finished their meal, Kelly paid with cash and handed Mac the Hummer keys.
“What’s this?” he asked, expression guarded.
“I was thinking it’s your turn to drive,” she said nonchalantly, careful to hide her smile. “If you want to, that is.”
Instead of answering with words, he unlocked the vehicle and climbed up on the driver’s side. As she climbed up beside him and fastened her seat belt, he flashed her a grin so stunning in its masculine beauty that it took her breath away.
Pack 11 - Wolf Whisperer Page 9
