“But what about your mermaid? I thought you wanted me to see her.”
“William offered to go with me, so that lets you off the hook.”
Maddy leaned away. “You’re taking William instead of me?”
“Hey, I thought you’d be pleased that I’m getting along with your boyfriend.” He snorted. “Considering how I couldn’t stand to be in the same room with Billy Boy.”
“Look, we both know William is not my boyfriend, so quit calling him that.”
Trace arched a brow. “Does that mean you’ll let any old guy walk in here and stick his tongue down your throat?”
“We went on one date, and one was quite enough, thank you very much. I was going to break the news to him just now, but I didn’t want to do it in front of you. I’m discerning but not cruel.”
Trace looked down the empty hallway, then back at her. “I don’t think Killkenny is going to be that easy to dump, Peeps. He strikes me as a man who goes after what he wants and doesn’t stop until he gets it. And I’d bet my boat that he wants you.”
“Look, if you want to be his new best buddy, that’s fine with me. But I feel I should warn you, the guy is weird.”
“Weird how?” he asked, tensing. “As in perverted weird or your typical I-can’t-boss-him-around weird?”
“As in guarded, focused, and . . . lethal weird. And the guy is way too controlled. In fact, last night, he reminded me of you.”
Trace relaxed, folding his arms over his chest. “Thanks. I think.”
“Oh, you know what I mean. Which, come to think of it, is probably why you do like him.” She waved him off. “Go on, get out of here. Go shoot beer cans with your new best buddy,” she said, sitting down and grabbing Samuel’s chart.
“Maddy.”
She looked up at him. “What?”
“You will stop mothering Rick. And don’t bother waiting up for him at night anymore; he’s on my watch now, and if he so much as even raises his voice to you, he’ll be answering to me.”
Maddy’s hand flew to the side of her face. “He told you?”
“After a little . . . prodding.” His eyes hardened. “And I told him that if I ever hear of him striking a woman—any woman—ever again, he won’t be able to . . . well, let’s just say he’s decided to see things my way.”
Maddy shot out of her chair. “Did you threaten him? Dammit, he’s just a kid!”
“Not anymore, he’s not. And you,” he growled, leaning over the counter to get right in her face, “will stop coddling him. And if I ever catch wind of you giving him so much as a dime, it’ll be years before you can put your hair in a ponytail. Got that?”
“He’s my baby brother,” she growled right back at him. “Which makes him my responsibility, not yours.”
Trace was around the counter and had her backed up against the medicine cabinet before she could even gasp. “I own him for the next two weeks,” he said ever so softly. “He’ll be sleeping on my boat at night and working his ass off every day, earning the money for his college supplies. You so much as buy him a pillowcase, and one inch of hair comes off.” He reached up and pulled the band off her ponytail, taking a lock of her cascading hair and holding it in front of her face. “Buy him a pencil, and another inch comes off.”
“He lost his father when he was fifteen, Trace.”
“And he just lost his big sister last week, when he punched her and left her lying in the dirt.”
“Is there anything I can help ye with, Huntsman?” William asked.
Trace dropped Maddy’s hair but stood his ground, keeping his dark gray eyes locked on hers. “Thanks, Killkenny, but I was just asking your girl here if she’d like me to give her a haircut. I’m hoping she decides to keep it long, though.” He kissed her forehead. “Rick needs this more than you do, Peeps. Let him go so he can grow up.” He turned and walked away. “I’ll see you at the gravel pit, Killkenny.”
“I also hope ye decide to keep your hair long, Madeline. And though he might never have come right out and told you, I believe Rick prefers it long, too.”
Maddy ran shaky fingers through her mess of hair, and with a shuddering breath, she walked back to her chair, sat down, and opened Samuel’s chart.
It took her a moment, staring down at the blurred writing, to realize that she was alone. And it took her the rest of the afternoon to grudgingly admit that maybe Trace was right and that she might have been babying Rick a little too much.
And when she finally walked out of the River Run Nursing Home later that afternoon, just wanting to go home and fall into bed and sleep for a week, Maddy realized that Trace might also be right about William not taking no for an answer. Because parked next to where she’d left Eve’s car this morning was a fire-engine-red pickup truck with glistening new windows.
And Eve’s car was nowhere to be found.
Chapter Thirteen
Apparently in an attempt to further ingrain himself into her life, Maddy also found a brand-new, fire-engine-red, state-of-the-art cell phone propped up on the steering wheel when she finally got in the truck. He’d left a short note—written in painstakingly neat lettering—saying it was already programmed with all the important numbers she would need, and he hoped she liked the color.
William Killkenny might be having a hard time knowing which buttons to push on his truck, but he seemed to know exactly which ones to push on her.
“Dammit to hell,” she whispered, dropping her head onto the steering wheel.
The man kept kissing her senseless.
But he also scared her spitless.
So how in hell was she supposed to deal with the guy, when on the one hand she was desperately attracted to him, and on the other hand he frightened her?
She’d been able to handle Billy, because deep down her ex-husband was just a big kid at heart, who didn’t have a secretive or calculating cell in his body. Whereas William seemed as old as time itself when he got all guarded and focused and controlled, and she’d bet her red panties that he had more secrets than King Tut’s tomb.
Life had been harried but basically uncomplicated with Billy, despite their having Sarah and being married so young. Their grab-the-world-by-the-ass passion had quickly waned when reality hit; Billy had been forced to give up his dream of college to work two jobs to support them, and she’d alternated between taking odd jobs, going to night school, and changing diapers.
She thought of him as Billy the Bastard, not because he’d broken her heart but because he’d shattered her dream of happily-ever-after, making her wonder if true love even existed. And he sure as hell hadn’t ever been a soft place to land whenever she’d felt herself falling into an abyss of desperation.
William, however, might be too complicated for her; that is, if she ever got brave enough to dig her dreams out of mothballs and open her heart again. She’d thought she’d found the courage to do just that a few weeks ago, when she’d watched Eve pick up the pieces of her own shattered dreams and dare to fall in love with Kenzie. Heck, she’d even put on her short shorts and pushup bra and actually flirted with the men who had helped rebuild Eve and Kenzie’s home after one of the freak storms had left it in ruins.
But then William had walked right up to her in the town square, stark naked and looking like a caveman, and kissed her. And ever since then, she’d been vacillating between wanting to jump his bones and wanting to take Sarah and move to Alaska.
“God, Susan, I wish I had your balls,” she muttered, pressing the palms of her hands to her stinging eyes. “Hamish MacKeage carried you off to a mountain hideaway, and I’m sitting here in Prince Charming’s truck, afraid that instead of a tragic little frog, he’s the big, bad bogeyman.”
Maddy pulled on the front of her scrubs and twisted the material to look down at the pin William had given her, having to wipe her eyes again to dry her welling tears. She truly did like it; the colorful dragon was reared up on powerful hind legs, its front claws curled to strike and its wings stretched in flight,
looking lethal and formidable and yet . . . enchanting.
Not unlike the man who had given it to her.
She supposed she’d have to wear it to work every day from now on, or she’d never hear the end of it from her residents.
Trying to remember the last time anyone had given her jewelry, Maddy gave her eyes one last swipe, finally turned the key William had foolishly left in the ignition, and started the truck. She pulled out of the parking lot and stopped at the street, looking both ways in indecision.
Left would take her home, and right would take her to Eve’s.
She turned right in defeat, suddenly deciding that she was naming her pin Willy Dragonheart—the manifestation of her dreams and nightmares.
“What do you mean, your car was totaled?” Maddy whispered, her skin tightening as she stared up in horror at Eve standing on her porch. “How badly was William hurt? Did they take him to the hospital in Ellsworth?” she asked, all the blood pooling in her feet as she started inching to his truck.
Was he dead and Eve just didn’t know how to tell her?
Her friend snorted. “William doesn’t have a scratch on him, according to Kenzie. Apparently the man drove my car right off a gravel bank at the beginning of Pinkham’s pit, got out and walked to Kenzie and Trace, and started target practicing as if nothing had happened.”
Maddy’s horror rushed out in a relieved sigh, only to be replaced by suspicion. “He drove off a bank high enough to total your car, and he didn’t even get a scratch?”
Eve shrugged. “It’s possible if he was wearing a seat belt and the airbags went off. Come on. Let’s go inside and have some iced tea.”
“No,” Maddy said, hiking her purse up over her shoulder and turning to walk out the driveway. “I’m going to start for home.”
Eve ran down the steps. “Maddy, you can’t walk home! It’s eight miles!”
“Well, I’m not driving William’s truck home,” she said, turning to walk backward as Eve followed. “I refuse to be seen driving that damn thing around town.”
“But why? He can’t use it, so you might as well.”
She arched a brow. “You really think driving off that gravel bank was an accident?”
Eve stopped. “You think it wasn’t?”
Maddy also stopped. “I think that William is just devious enough to believe that taking away my only transportation will make me dependent on him.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out the cell phone. “Look what else he gave me this afternoon,” she hissed, holding it up as she started walking again. “One more link in the chain he’s trying to wrap around my neck.”
Following again, Eve’s expression turned pained. “That wasn’t calculating, Maddy. William knows you don’t have a working cell phone, and he was just being thoughtful.”
“He told me he’s not thoughtful; that everything he does is for selfish reasons.”
“Then after what happened last night, maybe he selfishly doesn’t want to be constantly worrying about your not being able to call for help.”
“Oh, I’m keeping the phone, and making lots of new friends in China and Australia and Brazil. But he can keep his truck.” She stopped walking again. “I’m not a charity case, Eve,” she whispered, fighting back tears. “Don’t you remember how you felt when everyone in town was telling you to go after Kenzie because he could solve all your problems? W-well, I don’t need a knight in shining armor to rescue me, either.” She swiped at her eyes. “And I sure as hell don’t need some man bullying his way into my life, acting as if he’s my Prince Charming.”
“But what if he is?” Eve asked softly. “Please don’t make the mistake I almost made. My own stubbornness nearly cost me the man of my dreams.”
“I stopped dreaming about happily-ever-after the day I moved into a dumpy old house with a three-year-old child, and I didn’t even have two nickels to rub together. If it hadn’t been for Billy’s parents not wanting their granddaughter to starve, I couldn’t even have bought cereal.”
“William Killkenny isn’t Billy, Maddy.”
Maddy gave a brittle laugh. “No, he’s not. He’s worse. If I found the courage to believe in happily-ever-after again and then fell in love with William, I wouldn’t survive it not working out this time, Eve. And I can’t take that chance, because I have a little girl who needs a mother that’s sane.”
“Please come back to the house, Maddy. Kenzie will be back soon, and he’ll give you a ride home.”
“I’m not up to battling William right now.”
“Then call your mom to come get you.”
“She took Sarah to Ellsworth after rec today to shop for school clothes.”
“What about Rick?”
“I don’t think I’m allowed to speak to Rick anymore.”
“Then Trace,” Eve snapped when Maddy started walking again. “Call your cousin to come get you.”
Maddy didn’t even bother to turn around even when she realized Eve wasn’t following her anymore. “Trace is the reason I can’t even talk to my brother. And he’s at the pit with Kenzie and William, so who do you think will show up here if I call him?”
“Maddy!”
She stopped and turned to her friend. “That’s quite a club you’re a member of, Eve; you know, the exclusive club you can’t tell me anything about? Only it seems my cousin has been invited to join.”
“Maddy, please.”
She gave her friend a weak wave, and turned at the end of the driveway and started walking up the road. It was three miles to town, and she had another five miles to her house after that, so she picked up her pace. Knowing Eve was right now on the phone to Kenzie, she hoped at least to make it to town where she could hitch a ride before William came looking for her.
“What’s the matter, Killkenny?” Kenzie asked. “Are ye having a wee bit of trouble with your woman?”
William glared out the windshield. “What in hell is wrong with the women of this century?” he muttered. “Christ, you’d think I’m the pox-marked village beggar for the merry chase Madeline is giving me.” He finally turned his glare on Kenzie. “I was doing quite well with the lass until those damned wolves showed up. And now I find out that I frightened her last night more than they did. When we told Trace what happened, he said Maddy’s warning to him finally made sense. Apparently the woman not only believes I’m . . . weird, but guarded, controlled, and lethal.”
“You are.”
William went back to watching the road, even though he knew Maddy couldn’t have gotten this far yet. “That should give her a sense of security, not drive her off.”
“Do you remember how reluctant Eve was to let me help her at first?” Kenzie asked, slowing down as they approached town. “It appears that women today don’t wish to be taken care of, and they no longer need their men to be warriors, because they have sheriffs to keep them safe.”
William snorted. “I didn’t see any sheriffs last night.”
“And they don’t want us to fix their problems for them,” Kenzie continued, putting on the blinker and then turning down the road to An Tèarmann. “I believe women today just wish for us to listen while they discuss their problems out loud with themselves.”
William looked over at him in surprise. “Are ye saying we not only can’t fix their problems, but that we can’t even suggest how to fix them?”
Kenzie chuckled. “This may come as a surprise to you, Killkenny, but women are just as capable as men when it comes to dealing with most problems, only they prefer to approach them with understanding instead of a sword.”
“But sometimes a good smack with the flat of a sword can keep a wee problem from becoming a big one. There, she just bolted into the woods.”
“I saw her.”
“Drive right by,” William said, unfastening his seat belt. “And let me out around the next curve.”
Kenzie pulled to a stop down the road, then grabbed William’s arm to keep him from getting out. “It’s not the flat of your sword she fear
s, my friend, but more likely the blow you could deliver to her heart. Eve told me Maddy realizes there’s more to us than meets the eye, but she thinks that’s only part of the reason Maddy’s acting skittish.”
“Did the pixie explain the magic to her, then?” he asked hopefully.
“Nay. I know it’s hurting both women, but Eve will keep her word to me. Have ye decided yet what your intentions are toward Maddy?”
William got out and turned to look across the seat at him. “Right now my only intention is to see what color undergarments she’s wearing today.”
“Ye can’t seduce her into liking you, Killkenny.”
William gave him a sad smile. “Is that why you highlanders carry such long swords, Gregor, to make up for the length of your cocks?”
“One of these days, I really will make you sorry for finding the stone that led you here.” Kenzie’s mouth twisted wryly. “Unless your woman beats me to it.”
William shut the door with a laugh, but instantly sobered once he started walking up the road toward little miss maddening Maddy. Why in hell couldn’t the lass just relax, and let them enjoy the pleasure of each other’s company? There was no need for her to be afraid of him, only he didn’t know how to make her believe that.
Well, except he had discovered that when he was loving her mouth—and her luscious body—she did seem to forget that she feared him.
But Christ, he couldn’t keep her perpetually naked.
Or could he?
William rounded the corner just in time to see Maddy peeking out of the bushes.
But when she spotted him, she quickly disappeared again.
Oh, she was a smart little hedgehog, having the sense to make sure they hadn’t seen her. Aye, she was already coming to know him quite well.
He continued walking a short way past her, then pulled out his cell phone and hit the speed dial for her phone. He then stopped and faced the woods on the opposite side of the road, peering into them as if searching for her.
He heard the loud musical tone of her cell phone go off—followed almost immediately by an unladylike curse—and then he heard her bolt deeper into the woods. He took off after her, jumping the ditch and pushing through the bushes, breaking into the old-growth forest without slowing down.
Dragon Warrior (Midnight Bay) Page 15
