Crave (The MacKenzie Family #11)

by Liliana Hart

  “Ignore it,” she begged.

  “I wish I could,” he said, kissing her one last time and pulling away. His absence left her cold and exposed, and reality crashed down like a bucket of cold water. “It’s Declan. The house will be swarming with agents if I don’t answer.”

  She took a second to reorient herself and then scooted down off the island, grabbing her shirt along the way. This was the exact reason she hadn’t wanted Cal to be her bodyguard. She wouldn’t be able to resist him. But she couldn’t trust him. Would never be able to trust him. She was nothing more than a pawn to him. Something he wanted to control. And a guy like Cal, once he came out the victor in the game he was playing, he’d move on to the next challenge.

  Her feelings must’ve shown on her face because he gave her a strange look as he answered the phone.

  “Colter,” he said.

  Evie could feel his eyes on her as she slipped her shirt on. She needed to escape and time to think.

  As if reading her mind he took her by the arm before she could leave. “Like glue, Evie,” he said.

  She jerked out of his grasp and slipped out of the kitchen, and then headed upstairs to her suite. She’d just dodged the biggest bullet of her life. Now she only had to make sure she didn’t put herself in the line of fire again.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  * * *

  Surrender, Montana

  “Are you going to tell me about it?” Shane asked.

  Sweat dripped from his brow and the athletic shorts and shirt he wore were soaked to the skin. His hair was too long and hanging in his face, so he’d pulled it back to a short stub at the base of his neck. He was going to have to cut it at some point. His mother hated the long hair. He kept it just because it was different than the buzz cut he’d worn since the day he’d joined the military.

  “Nope,” Doctor Shaw said. She didn’t pretend not to know what he was talking about. The subject of what had occurred in his room the other day hadn’t been brought up by either of them.

  His leg, or the space where his leg had been, had been a series of one set back after another. His prosthetic had been delayed because an infection had set in where the leg had been lost—all because a little piece of shrapnel no bigger than the tip of his little finger hadn’t been removed when they’d cleaned the area.

  The delay hadn’t bothered him any. He hadn’t really been in the frame of mind to replace what had been lost. As far as he’d been concerned, he didn’t really see the point of having a replacement. It’s not like he could put on a dive suit or a pair of BDUs and get back to work. There was no place for cripples to serve the country or to lead men into battle.

  But still, Shaw had been there to push him through physical therapy, despite the fact they’d spent more time staring at each other stubbornly than actually getting any work done.

  “You still have one good leg left,” she’d tell him. “If you put your mind to it you can do more with one good leg than most people can do with their entire bodies. Don’t waste the good work your doctor did saving it.”

  His response at the time hadn’t been very nice. In fact, his responses were never very nice. But still she somehow managed to get him up and moving. To sit at the machines and work muscles that screamed in agony. He still couldn’t look at the leg that had been saved—the weakness of the flesh and muscle there—scarred and red and full of metal and pins. It looked like it belonged on Frankenstein’s monster instead of a human being.

  But still she made him sit there and rebuild what had been lost. He’d gotten to the point where it was easier to just do what she said instead of staring into her eyes, wondering what she was thinking. It shouldn’t have mattered. But over the weeks he’d started wondering more and more. And working his ass of at the equipment kept his mind off things that were better left alone. He didn’t want her to see too much. And staring at him as she did, as if she could look right inside and pluck out all the secrets and terrible things that had plagued him through his career—well, he wouldn’t wish that nightmare on anyone.

  He gritted his teeth through another set and then slumped hack in the seat. Shaw tossed him a towel and a bottle of water and he drank deeply.

  “You wouldn’t have shown me if you hadn’t wanted me to ask,” he said.

  She made notes in her chart and set up the machine for the next round of torture. He noticed she was adding weight. Great.

  “I showed you because I didn’t want you to kill yourself, not because I wanted to do therapy together. I’ve had plenty of that, thanks.” She smiled and dimples fluttered around her mouth.

  “I wasn’t really going to do it.” He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to assure her of that. It wasn’t like him to explain himself to anyone.

  “Oh, yeah? Sure looked like it from where I was standing. Though I guess I should be grateful it was a fistful of pills instead of your service weapon.”

  He didn’t want to tell her that his family had removed all of his weapons out of the house for fear of that reason. It had been the one thing they’d been adamant about when he’d told them he was going home. He hadn’t had the strength to fight them on it at the time. The MacKenzies in full force were no one to mess with.

  “I thought about it,” he admitted. “Who wouldn’t think about it in my position?”

  “I understand,” she said, looking up at him. “I really do.” And then she squeezed his hand once. It was the only physical contact they’d shared over the last months other than her hefting him or shoving him in a machine of some kind. And it was oddly intimate. She must have felt it too because she jerked it back quickly and gestured for him to start another set of reps.

  “But I didn’t follow through with it,” he said, hooking his ankle under the bar and lifting the weight slowly.

  “No, you didn’t follow through,” she whispered. “I’m glad.”

  The effort to speak was too much considering his leg felt like someone was sticking hot knives in it. But he wanted to tell her that he was glad too.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  * * *

  Cal was in seriously deep trouble. Because that kiss would be forever cemented into his mind as the day he decided Evangeline was his and his alone. They’d been playing cat and mouse for too long. It was time for both of them to settle. He just had to convince her to agree with him.

  He had a lot of regrets over the way he’d handled things ten years before. He’d damaged her pride and treated her like a child. But he still couldn’t think of an alternative solution, even after all this time. He’d done what he had to protect her. And that meant more to him than her hating or not hating him. And how could she kiss him like she had if she really hated him?

  What he really missed was the chase. He’d spent four years of his life searching for The Black Lily. And she’d outmaneuvered him at every turn. Except for that last time. He not only missed her as a person—they’d practically grown up together—but he missed pitting his skills against hers. There was no one else out there like her who had a combination of that level of skill and daring.

  And then there was the chemistry. The sizzle between them was hot enough to scorch, and damned if he didn’t want to feel it again. If Dec hadn’t interrupted he’d have taken her right there in the kitchen with no thought to anything but bringing them both pleasure.

  He’d have her in his bed. There was no doubt about that. But what he wanted was for her to trust him again. He wanted her heart. He was thirty-six years old. He was well past the point of having sex just to fill a need. He didn’t want an empty relationship. He wanted someone to challenge his mind. Someone to fill the void of loneliness. And Evangeline was the only person he’d ever met who could do both.

  “Cal, are you listening to me?” Dec asked.

  “Not really,” he answered. “This place is a security nightmare. What about the agents you’ve got on this assignment? Have they reported in?”

  “If you’d been listening you would have an answer to that qu
estion. There’s been no sighting of Taber in the area, and you guys are secure for the moment. You’ve got a weak spot on the northwest corner of the house. Beachside. No one can get in position to see from that angle, so we’ll put a boat in the water so you’ve got eyes in that direction. Should be in place by tomorrow morning at the latest.”

  “What about Taber? Any sightings?”

  “Not a sighting. More of a calling card. The head design engineer of AeroNaut was murdered about an hour ago in Dallas, Texas. Almost exactly the same way as Biddle. Car pulled up in the middle of the day, the window rolled down, and three shots were fired. He used a silencer this time because the streets were more crowded with pedestrians. No one got a look at his face, and he was gone and around the block before anyone could get a plate number. But the vehicle was described as a silver Mercedes, similar to the vehicle he used in DC. That’s consistent with Taber’s MO.

  “He likes to kill in style. He studies his target thoroughly, spends a couple of weeks doing recon, following them from place to place. Ninety-nine percent of people are comfortable in their habits. They take the same roads to and from work. They stop at the same gas stations. The same few restaurants. He knows what time of day and where the hit will be most efficient. He knows what businesses have exterior cameras and where the city has cameras planted. He has an escape route. And a plan B and C if that doesn’t work out. Men like Taber don’t stress under pressure. If he wasn’t a psychopath, he’d have made a hell of an agent.”

  “Comforting thought,” Cal said.

  “It is what it is. He’ll start heading your direction unless there’s someone else on his list.”

  Cal put the phone on speaker and then set it on the counter so he could go back to making a sandwich.

  “You said the design engineer of AeroNaut? They do a lot of government contracts, right?”

  “They’ve got about sixty percent of the pie as far military aircraft are concerned. Their last government contract was worth billions.”

  “Something worth digging into a little more. What was the CEO’s name?”

  “John Amir. I’ll send you the file. I’ve still got intel coming in from my sources. But go ahead and start probing into any connections between Biddle and Amir. The sooner we cut the head off the snake the sooner we can get Taber off of Evangeline’s back.”

  Cal rinsed his knife off and stuck it in the dishwasher and then and put everything else away. He stood over the sink and took a bite of sandwich. “If I remember right—”

  “And you always do,” Declan said.

  “—Then Taber doesn’t take a job for less than seven figures. The higher the profile of the target, the higher the price tag. And he’s just killed two very high profile targets. But here’s the problem, whoever hired him wouldn’t give a shit about Evangeline. Taber is responsible for his own anonymity. He’s coming after Evangeline on his own dime.”

  “Then we’d better hope Taber has other contracts to fulfill, so we have more time to hunt him down. Max and Jade got back yesterday. I’m giving them a day off to sleep and then I’ll send them out to see if they can narrow the search on Taber. The last thing you want is for him to sneak up on you.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “We’re all working on this, Cal. Lockwood means a lot to all of us.”

  “I’m not doing this for Lockwood. Evie is the one whose life is in danger. She’s the one that matters. I’d expect for us to all work on this just like we all worked to protect Audrey or Sophia or Darcy.”

  “Like that is it?” Declan asked.

  Cal didn’t hesitate. “Yes, it’s like that.”

  “Settle down, brother, and don’t get your back up. You know we’ll all do her justice. Just like we would for anyone we’re protecting. The MacKenzie name and reputation means something in this world. I won’t settle for anything but the best. But we also have an opportunity here. We need to be smart and use it. You’re right in thinking that Taber will come after her regardless of payment. He needs her silenced.”

  “So what? You want to use Evie is bait?” Cal asked, his blood running cold. “Are you fucking kidding me? There’s no way in hell I’m going to risk her life by putting her in his path needlessly. Not to mention Robert is going to shit a brick if he ever finds out.”

  “It was his idea,” Declan said. “He was briefed in the car after he left the house, and he contacted me immediately. That’s why I called you.”

  Cal’s hand fisted, crushing what was left of his sandwich and he tossed it in the sink in disgust.

  “What the fuck, Dec. This isn’t what we do. Or who we are. If that’s your plan then you can take my resignation and shove it. And Evangeline and I will disappear off the grid for as long as necessary. To hell with Robert if that’s his way of thinking.”

  “You’d turn on him just like that? After everything he’s done for you?”

  “I’d turn on him in a second. She’s his own daughter for fuck’s sake.”

  “Reign it back, Cal. I’m on your side. And that’s exactly what I told Robert. He’s still who he is. Just because Evangeline is his daughter doesn’t mean he doesn’t see the big picture. He put it together pretty quickly that we’re dealing with something Biddle was working on with the Defense Committee. We could be talking billions of dollars at stake and countless lives depending on what’s up for grabs. Never sacrifice the good of the whole for one person. Not even if that person is your daughter. Lockwood is from the old school of thinking. ”

  “That’s bullshit. Stop being an asshole. I know if it was a choice between the greater whole or Sophia you’d tell everyone to fuck off and lay waste to whoever got in your way.”

  “Which is why I told Lockwood to stand down and that we’d do this my way. I call the shots for MacKenzie Security. Not Robert Lockwood. And we’re solvent enough where we could still survive without the contracts he gets us on occasion. I never cared much for politics. It’s why I left the CIA.”

  “So what do you want us to do?”

  “What you do best. Find out the connection between Biddle and Amir, find out who hired Taber, and keep Evangeline alive.”

  “Just another day at the office,” Cal said dryly.

  “Back up is close by if you need it. And Cal, don’t get so wrapped up in the woman that you can’t see the weapon pointed in your direction.”

  “Gee, thanks, Dad.” Cal disconnected the phone and went to find Evangeline. It was time they had a talk.

  CHAPTER NINE

  * * *

  Cal had a moment of complete and utter panic when he went upstairs and Evangeline was gone. There was no answer. No note. Nothing. She was just—gone.

  “Dammit, Evie,” he said after he’d entered her room. He banged on the bathroom door, but there was no answer there either. “Now’s not the time for this.”

  Cal knew the house, inside and out. He’d spent countless hours there, visiting the family, vacationing at the beach, and playing golf at the course down the road. He’d familiarized himself even more by studying the security system and the plans in place for an emergency evacuation.

  He hadn’t been kidding when he’d told her they were going to stick together like glue. Obviously, she was the one who needed to learn to listen to instructions. And she was going to be pissed as hell to find out that she was going to have to move out of her room and into his.

  Her room was a security nightmare. It was on the second floor, and a veranda ran the entire length of that wing of the house. Double staircases ran all the way to the third floor, and her bedroom had a wall of windows and a French door along the entire side of one wall. The scenery was beautiful—a clear view of the ocean on a sunny day. But it was paradise to anyone who wanted to get in. And for someone like Taber, it was like wrapping Evangeline up like a present and handing her over.

  He jiggled the knob of the bathroom door—thoughts of her privacy long gone—and he pushed open the door. The shower and tub were both empty and dry, but
the clothes she’d been wearing downstairs were folded neatly on the edge of the vanity. Nothing else seemed out of place so he went back into the bedroom.

  It was a room that suited the real Evangeline. Not stuffy and closed off like she pretended to be. But vibrant and full of life and color. It made him think of something a Sultan and his harem might enjoy. The bed was a massive four-poster monstrosity, dominating the room, and the comforter a rich blue silk. Sheers in different shades of blue and turquoise were draped from one corner to the other and pillows were piled high on the bed. Rugs with the same shades of turquoise were scattered along the hardwood floors, and there was a sitting area with a delicate settee in pure white and a chair upholstered in blue with thin gold stripes. Soft white sheers hung in place of curtains, but they were no protection against anyone who wanted to see in.

  The room was full of books—all kinds of books—from romance novels to technology guides, to memoirs. The shelves and every available surface were overflowing with books. And a lone, battered laptop sat closed on her desk. The pang of regret was sharp.

  His heart was in his throat, and he kept expecting a call at any time from the agents watching the house to say she’d slipped out and was on her own. Unprotected. He went to the French doors and noticed they were unlocked, so he stepped outside and onto the veranda.

  The wind had picked up since he’d arrived and the waves were choppy and crashed against the shore. The smell of the sea was strong, and if he wasn’t mistaken there was a hint of rain in the air.

  He looked over the white railing of the balcony and saw the footprints in the sand below. He swore, glad he had his backup weapon in his ankle holster, and hurried down the stairs. When he got hold of her he was either going to spank her or kiss her. Maybe both. Jesus, she’d scared him.