“That was a dinner party I could have missed,” Selene groused. “I had to wear that atrocious gown. God, where did Mom find it!” she wailed.
“I don’t know, but you could have been pretty if you hadn’t snarled all evening,” Morgan teased her with a brotherly chuckle.
“Selene doesn’t snarl. She demurely demands,” Bram offered lightly as he sank his teeth into the roast and savored the beef cut. “This is wonderful.”
Morgan and Selene laughed easily with him. “She can be very demanding,” Morgan agreed. “And even if she doesn’t aspire to chefdom, she can cook, quite well.”
“I would have to agree there.” He offered Selene a real smile and was rewarded by the color on her cheeks. He liked watching the rosy hue that warmed her skin when she did blush.
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” Selene inquired, nibbling in slow bites.
“I do. Mitchell is three years younger than me and a firefighter in St. Louis. He recently finished his jump training and with his pilot’s license, he can be called anywhere in the country. He’s a remarkable man nowadays.”
“Unlike, say, when you were young?” Morgan quipped with a wave of his fork and a look that said he understood.
“That would be right. What about you two? Who’s older?”
Morgan started the run down. “Well, I’m the eldest son, first born, then came Roman, six minutes later, then Brooke, three minutes later, and Selene was last, twelve minutes after Brooke. She’s taken her sweet time about everything since,” Morgan teased her with a brotherly stare.
“Quads? Seriously?” Bram stared between them, then remembered to shut his mouth when he feared he may be gaping.
“Afraid so,” she replied. “None of us look alike, except Morgan and I have Mom’s gray eyes. Roman got the brawn; he’s six-five by the way. Morgan got the looks, Brooke has an ingrained affinity for nature, and I have the smarts with a dash of compassion. That’s how I knew I wanted to be a doctor. I live every day to make someone better and healthy.”
“Amazing. I’ve never met a twin much less a set. Not counting the ones in the hospital nursery,”
Bram said as he pushed his plate forward. He noticed that he wasn’t the only one who’d been hungry. Two more nearly empty plates were pushed forward. “So, what do you do for the hospital, Morgan?
Selene had said that you are contributor.”
“I am, but the whole family is. I work with the National Forestry Service between here and the Pacific Northwest corner, but I only live about five miles from here, so we’re close. The others are a little more scattered.”
“Speaking of scattered, have you heard from Roman about Delilah?” she asked her brother.
“No, not yet, but she should be due any time now,” Morgan turned to Bram. “Roman married a little over a year ago and their first child is due. We’re all waiting to see who wins the bet.”
“Bet?”
“Sure, boy or girl, day, time. The usual,” Morgan explained.
Bram laughed lightly. “What family doesn’t do those things, is what I’d like to know.”
Selene rose from her spot, saying, “Go on out to the living room. I’ll clean this up and join you in a minute.” She shooed them off with her hands.
“Okay, don’t push,” Morgan whined. “I’m full.”
“Yeah, sure you are. You and I both know you could eat the whole thing by yourself,” she admonished him. He gave her an answering grin that bordered on wolfish, as he made his way out of the kitchen.
Bram began to follow his host but noticed Selene gripping the counter, concerned when she seemed to pale and flush simultaneously. “Selene, are you all right?” he asked her, worry for her filling him.
She nodded with a sharp movement. “I’ll be fine in a minute.”
Bram lifted a hand to her shoulder, wanting to turn her around to look into her face, needing to see that she was all right, but his concern grew when she shuddered under his touch. “Selene?”
She started shaking under his palm. He twisted her around to face him, lifting her chin to search her features. When her eyes opened, they were the color of soot, a charcoal gray unlike any he had ever seen.
It was at that moment he knew she wasn’t ill, with her chest rising and falling with ragged gasps. Her breath was a hot brand against the hand holding her chin. “Bram,” she whispered, a plea of confusion.
“Selene,” he said, lingering as he stood before her. His head tilted to hers before he realized he couldn’t stop himself. She gasped as he made contact, a seductive heat that filled him, made him hungry in a way he had never imagined when his mouth covered hers.
He stepped back in a rush, dropping his hands as if he’d burned himself. Maybe he had. “Oh, God!
I’m sorry,” he gasped. He shook from the power of the kiss, of her lips as they melted against him. Her eyes flashed at him and she snaked a hand to wrap around his head. “I’m not,” she whispered, pulling him back down.
She controlled the kiss, the heat, the hunger. It was all Selene as his hands settled at her waist, holding himself steady. His heart beat with a trip-hammer intensity against his rib cage as she urged him on. She moaned softly when he pressed himself against her body, the shape of her form filling him the way her kiss was filling his senses.
She shuddered in his hold when he flicked out his tongue, touching the edge of her soft mouth. Her reaction shot through him like a liquid fire. He became consumed by her kiss, her touch. He became lost in her as he took the kiss over from her, feeding off of her. She moaned again, deeper, a vibration that heated his blood to boiling.
He forced himself to stop, to lift his head. Or he would make love to her. The realization was as chilling as an ice cold shower. He was not going to get tied up with another woman. “I’m sorry,” he told her, fighting to regain his composure. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.”
Her gaze lightened once more as she released him, a sharp guilt filling them instead. “I understand. I shouldn’t have—”
He lifted a finger to silence her, pressing against her still rosy lips. “Shh. That was my fault, and even if I shouldn’t have, I don’t regret it.”
Her gaze was unsure, confused. “But I—”
He shook his head, not letting her continue. “I don’t regret it,” he told her, his voice lowering to a gravelly sound, unable to stop himself from reliving the sweetest moments of her kiss. She shivered before him. “I’m going to tell Morgan thank you, and then I’m going to leave.” He stepped back, forcing a space between them. “Thank you for having me, and for letting me meet your brother. But if I stay…” He couldn’t finish the thought. “I have to leave,” he repeated. And even though his entire body was screaming for him to make love to her, to hold her, to please her, he made himself turn away. It was the hardest thing he had ever made himself do.
SIX
Selene stayed at the counter bracing herself, listening when several minutes later, she heard the front door close and released a shaky pent up breath. Her breathing was still erratic with the scent of him filling her, his kiss heating her as his hands had on her skin.
She’d been powerless, filled with him, with wanting him. Needing him. Her head slipped forward as the push of blood against her ears eased. She had to acknowledge now there was no way to avoid the truth. Her gaze followed his headlights as they faded slowly in the darkness.
“Selene?” Morgan stood behind her, well aware what she had just experienced was obvious, written all over her face.
“How did Roman do it?’ she asked torn with indecision, with a hunger she didn’t understand, and a need that she couldn’t control.
“I don’t know. It’s different for each one of us, every generation.”
Her head sagged forward again. “Why does it have to be so much harder for us?” she agonized. He turned her into his arms, holding her as he had when they were still children. “I can tell you this, he’s as much off kilter as you are.”
“I’m not saying that. Just go with your feelings, Selene. Trust in what you know,” he advised, brushing back her hair. “I need to get back. I have a long assignment coming up near the Washington state line.” He kissed the top of her head. “You will be fine.” He looked into her eyes, so similar to his, filled with love and tenderness. “Selene, I’ve always thought between you and Brooke, you were the sensible one. Maybe in this instance, a little imprudence is just what you need.”
“You’re not suggesting…!” she gasped out on a shocked breath.
“No, of course not, but be open to things. You’ve known this day was coming for six years. You can’t hide your head in the sand forever.”
She laughed shakily at his analogy curling into his embrace. “That’s an ostrich.”
He just kissed her forehead and left her to her thoughts.
***
Bram felt strange the entire drive back to the highway. Overheated, overwhelmed, needy. He snarled loudly as he moved his Explorer off the highway to a scenic park. He got out, slamming the door.
What had he done? He marched with long strides, trying to fight the sleeping beast that her kiss had awakened. He stuffed clenched hands into his pockets, frustrated that he’d allowed his impulses to come so close to the surface. He could remember vividly every touch, every caress, every breath that had passed between them. It brought him right back to a full aching arousal. He stopped pacing, leaning instead against the side of his vehicle while he sucked in deep breaths. He stared up into the night sky, naming constellations without conscious effort. His fingers gradually relaxed from their digging positions into his palms as his mind’s focus changed. He could think logically about this. It had only been a kiss. Granted, one he’d wanted since that first morning a month ago, but it was only a kiss. An aberration. He’d lost his perspective. He worked with her. He admired her. He respected her.
He wanted her. And he suspected she wanted him right back.
Was she attracted to him? Except for that brief glimpse in the hall earlier in the week and again tonight when the signs had been right on the surface, he could have probably led himself to believe otherwise, but even he couldn’t ignore the spark that had ignited when he’d held her in his arms. She was so much…everything. Compassion, beauty, brilliance, intelligence. A complexity of a feminine puzzle that even upon their first meeting he’d felt drawn to. No! He snarled it openly into the night. No, it wasn’t possible. She was just another woman. He’d had enough of women. Rebecca had taken his soul and warped it, twisted his wants around her finger until he no longer had any idea of what direction was up. He’d barely escaped with his skin and he knew it. Misery or not, his only saving grace had been her realizing that he would have divorced her with or without her approval.
One just would have taken longer and would have been far more painful, for the both of them, and Rebecca was an all image woman. She was wise enough to let him go with very little dirty fighting. Even if he did have to let her keep the house to be free.
He crossed his arms as he bowed his head, his thoughts tumbling around him like a macabre shadow of his own life. That meant the only way to keep this from getting out of hand was to prove it wasn’t already a disaster. They had to face each other on a near daily basis. There wasn’t any way he was going to let this get out of hand.
Opening the door with a yank, he slid back behind the wheel and made his way back to her cabin. He would apologize. He would take the blame. He had started it. He would vow it wouldn’t happen again because there was no way it could repeat. And a kiss was just a kiss. He stopped next to her Grand Cherokee, waiting for the dog that hadn’t shown up since the first visit he’d made. He wondered as he got out where it stayed since it didn’t stay close to the house. But it wasn’t his concern. He just wanted to…
He jerked on a heel as a shot rang out. It wasn’t very close and the report was still loud enough to echo through the trees with a fading sound. Who would be using a firearm at nine at night? He turned completely around in a circle searching for any sign of where it had come from. When after several minutes it didn’t repeat, he moved with cautious steps to her door. He frowned when there was no answer to his knock. He looked through a window. The only light he could see was in the back of the house. The cabin itself wasn’t large and the illumination could have been from a bedroom or a hallway. The cabin wasn’t very large, but he hadn’t seen it all when he’d been inside earlier. He knocked again but thought better of calling her name. He really didn’t want to see the dog face to face if it decided he wasn’t friendly.
There was a possibility that she had gone somewhere with Morgan as he strode back to his car. His hand was reaching for his car door when he heard the pants, the wild sound of crashing branches to his right. As his eyes sought the shadows, a shape rose from the ground within the trees, a fluid motion of impossibility.
Yet, even as his mind couldn’t absorb what it had seen, it instantly recognized the blonde who now stood there, and his mouth went dry.
“Selene!” He barked her name worriedly.
Her head whipped around, her eyes widened with fear and pain just before she collapsed to the ground, completely naked.
He was beside her instantly, uncaring of the trees in his way. Lifting her, he ignored her naked state. When he turned back into the moonlight he found the reason for her unconsciousness. She’d been shot just above the swell of her right breast, the blood coating her limp hand where she had tried to stop the flow.
Uncaring of anything beyond seeing her safely inside, he was relieved to find the door unlocked, striding to the rear of the house. The illumination had been from her bedroom. He tossed back the blankets with a rough yank, scattering the small pile of clothing that had lain there.
“Selene? Can you hear me?” he asked as his skills took over. He found her pulse, still as strong as her breathing, only slightly erratic from pain.
She moaned softly as he lifted a sheet to cover her. “I’m going to get my bag,” he informed her as he jogged from the room. When he returned, she still hadn’t moved. “You need to go to the hospital, Selene. This is too deep,” he said as he examined the wound closely. Her hand lifted from the sheet to find his arm. Her eyes were glazed and bright with pain when they opened and found his. “No. Hospital,” she bit out through clenched teeth. “Remove. Here.”
“Selene!” he cried, a tortured groan of indecision.
“Please. Bram. I trust you.” Those were the last words she said as unconsciousness stole over her again.
He gritted his teeth at her stubborn nature. He did notice the blood had slowed but the only way to do anything at all about the wound was to remove the bullet, which would restart any bleeding.
“Damn it!” He gave her one quick glare then moved to the restroom to wash his hands. As clean as he could be, he pulled out tweezers and a capped scalpel, suture thread and a needle. In less than five minutes he’d lifted the bullet enough to grasp it and with a final tug, pulled it free with a squelching sound. He dropped it on the bed next to her as he put pressure back on the wound with a towel he’d filched from the bathroom. Once the bleeding slowed he took a good look at the wound. It was still a good inch to inch and a half deep.
“You need to have this looked at,” he mumbled even as he threaded the needle and started closing the wound. Now that the worst was over, he started ranting at her, his soft reprimands the only sound in the room. “What were you doing in the woods, stark raving naked anyway? Were you trying to find trouble? Morgan told me you’ve had poacher problems. Are you trying to get killed? Crazy woman.”
He snipped the thread as he made his last knotted stitch. “And how are you going to do anything now? You can’t lift, you can’t go to work.” He shot her a look. “I get it now. This was your way to take your vacation and not look less than super human. You’re forced to take
it now.”
He rose from his crouched position next to her bed, gathering his instruments and the errant bullet. He rinsed everything in hot water, setting them on a towel to dry. He’d sanitize them the next day when he restocked his travel bag.
As he washed his hands, his gaze fell on the bullet that now sat on the rim of the sink. He felt a blunt shock as he realized he had just removed a .22 caliber bullet from her, one that had been deep enough to kill if it had hit something vital. “Good grief, how close were you?” he whispered. His head swiveled over his shoulder, seeing her prone figure on the bed as the bullet weighed on his mind.
He checked for a temperature but she felt cool to his touch. He grimaced when he remembered he’d just washed his hands. Not the best for temperature testing.
“Bram?”
He tugged the chair that sat along the wall up to the bed. Her eyes were still closed, pale lashes resting against curved cheeks.
“I’m right here,” he said. “You need to have that looked at. What were you doing, Selene?” he asked, feeling extremely cross at the predicament she had put him into. Her hand lifted to find his arm again, resting without pressure. “Please, don’t be mad. I’m sorry I scared you,” she said as she swallowed.
“Hold that thought.” He jumped from his spot and finding a cup in the kitchen, brought her water.
She drank with a grateful sigh. “Thank you.” Her eyes opened to his penetrating stare, a soft, silver gray that reminded him of something, a fleeting memory. He pushed it away as his concern for her rose again.
“Look, I don’t know what you were doing or why, but I just took a bullet out of your shoulder. Even though you’re awake when you probably shouldn’t be, I can’t just leave you like this. You need to at least be looked at.”
“I was,” she said with a sincere smile. “By the best doctor we have.”
“Selene!” he ground out with exasperation.
“Bram, I’ll be fine.” She closed her eyes even though her color seemed to be returning. “I’ll rest and in no time, I’ll be good as new. Nothing to it,” she said with unconcerned grace. “I am sorry you had to do it, to see me like that.”
A Trust Earned Page 7
