Jaguar Hunt

by Terry Spear

  She was surprised to see that her dad was here. He and Mom had just visited her at the hospital. The last time she’d really spoken with him was about him visiting her new cousins. He’d made all kinds of excuses, which was so unlike him and had made her suspicious. “Dad,” she said and gave him an inquisitive look.

  “We’ve got to talk,” her father said.

  David said, “I was just going to fix dinner.” He walked off when nobody objected to his leaving them alone.

  “What’s wrong, Dad?” He looked so grim that she worried something bad had happened to her mother.

  “Your mother said you’ve been asking some…unusual questions regarding your cousins.”

  Tammy’s stomach tightened.

  “She thinks maybe you believe I’ve been unfaithful.”

  Tammy heartbeat accelerated. This was going to be a lot harder to talk to him about than she’d thought.

  “I haven’t been, Tammy. Your mother and I have been married for thirty-five years and not once did I stray. So what’s this all about?”

  Tammy pulled the afghan hanging over the couch back onto her lap. “Maya and Connor Anderson.”

  Her father didn’t say anything. If he hadn’t been unfaithful, why didn’t he say anything?

  “My brother was a wanderer,” her dad finally said. “When he met Eva, Maya and Connor’s mother, we thought he would settle down.”

  Eva? EL?

  “He’d come home on leave from the army and met her at my parent’s home. We were having Christmas dinner,” her father continued.

  “Wait. Aunt Eva was at my grandparents’ house for Christmas? Why?”

  “She had an abusive father. She was staying with us.”

  “Okay. And…?”

  “My brother was always the charmer. And she started dating him, but after they married, he couldn’t stay.”

  Something more wasn’t being said. She heard the hurt in her father’s voice, the weariness in his expression, but also something else. Irritation with his brother? She wondered if her father had really liked Eva before his brother showed up for the family Christmas. Maybe her father had been taking it slow with her, and his charming brother had swept her off her feet and married her.

  “But…Maya said her father left as soon as he knew Eva was pregnant. Was he afraid of taking care of a couple of twins?” Tammy asked.

  Her father didn’t say anything for a long moment. He let out his breath on a heavy sigh. “I am Maya and Connor’s father.”

  She felt as though the couch had melted out from under her.

  “I wasn’t seeing your mother at the time, Tammy. We met a couple of months later. Eva didn’t know she was pregnant until after she married my brother. They had moved away, he left her—he told us he left, but didn’t say why, and made no mention that she was pregnant. She disappeared. Never had any contact with us.

  “Your mother had known Eva and wanted me to find her and make sure she was okay. I used some resources I had to locate her, and when I did, I learned she had twin toddlers, and she was visibly upset that I’d found her. Which I couldn’t understand. We’d been friends. Well, more than friends. Until I realized the babies were mine. She was afraid I’d want to take them from her and raise them as my own.

  “I had to take some responsibility for them. She accepted money to help raise them with the condition that I wouldn’t see them.”

  “Dad,” Tammy said, not believing this.

  “It’s different for a mother, Tammy. She bore them, loved them, nourished them. Sure, they were mine, too, but when she began seeing my brother, I moved on and began dating your mother. I felt a financial responsibility for the kids and would have spent time getting to know them, but she didn’t want it.”

  “She abandoned them when they were sixteen.” Tammy felt horrible that Maya and Connor’s mother had done that to them after their…well, her father had never been there for them, either.

  “She said she’d never wanted kids. The birth control pills she was on didn’t work, apparently. Or she’d missed taking a couple. But she did stay with them until they were able to manage on their own.”

  “At sixteen?” Tammy shook her head. “You mean, running the landscaping business?”

  “Yeah. I gave them an interest-free loan. I helped set them up. I wanted to give them the money outright, but they would have suspected something wasn’t right about the deal. I told them I was a good friend of their mother’s, which I had been, and your mother had been also. If they ever needed anything, to just call. They never knew that the man who married their mother was my brother, that I was their father, none of that. And they only called every once in a while to thank me for my generosity and sent me monthly checks, which I never cashed.”

  “They never said anything about it?”

  “Sure, Connor did. Each month, he’d call and say he sent the check but it wasn’t cashed. I told him I didn’t need the money right away. That he should just earn interest on it, and when I needed it, I’d ask him for it.”

  “And they didn’t think that was suspicious?”

  “I’m sure they did. But they didn’t ask, and I wasn’t offering. I finally mentioned that their mother was married to my brother, which if he’d been their father, would have made you their cousin and me their uncle.”

  She let out her breath. “Dad,” she said in an elongated, annoyed way. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

  “If I told you, you would have gotten in touch with them.” He sighed. “I did finally tell you that you had cousins, thinking that they should know they had family. I…I couldn’t tell you I was their father. But I don’t want you to believe I cheated on your mother.”

  Tears filled her eyes. She felt choked up all at once. She’d thought the worst of him when he hadn’t done anything wrong. “Does Mom know?”

  “Yeah, when I located Eva and learned the kids were mine, I told your mother everything. I was upset, not sure what to do. We were raising you kids. She said she would have probably felt the same way as Eva. And when Eva left the kids, your mom was all for my backing their business for them. They’ve made a great success of it and have been free and clear for years.”

  Tammy frowned. “We’re not cousins. We’re half siblings.”

  “Don’t you tell them.”

  “Dad, Maya nearly didn’t marry Wade because she was so worried she’d be like her parents. They need to know. Either you tell them or…” She didn’t want to be the one to give that kind of information to her half siblings. “Well, you tell them.”

  Silence.

  “Dad?”

  “As a family.”

  “Do my brothers know?”

  “No, just you and your mom.”

  This was going to be awkward.

  “One last question. What does EL stand for?” Tammy asked.

  “Eva, Love. That’s what I always called her.”

  Tammy frowned. “Does Mom know that?”

  “No. And you’re not to tell her, either.”

  She couldn’t believe it! Now every time she heard her father refer to her mother as Mary, Love, she’d want to slap him. Couldn’t he have thought of something more original to call her? Maybe it went along with his habits of purchasing in quantities or being a pack rat. Did David have a special term of endearment that he used on all his girlfriends, too?

  She took a deep breath and let it out.

  “Since this seems to be confession time, is there anything you want to tell me about David Patterson?” her father asked, jerking his thumb in the direction of the kitchen.

  No, definitely not. “Well, I don’t know if anything will come of it, but…” She shrugged, not about to talk about what she and David had been doing of late. “You never know about relationships,” she said noncommittally.

  “He’s here now, and I suspect h
e’s been here since he brought you home from the hospital.”

  Her whole body flushed with heat. It was one thing to tell her dad that she was dating David, quite another to tell him the JAG agent was spending the night, every night, and more, and had been for some time. She really didn’t think that would go over big with her dad.

  “I want to talk to him,” he said when she didn’t answer her father fast enough.

  “He’s kind of busy with fixing dinner and…”

  “Let…me…talk…with…him.”

  She let out her breath in a huff. “David? You want to come here for a sec? Dad wants to talk to you.”

  David couldn’t have been more thrilled. As long as Tammy’s father was of like mind with what David wanted.

  Tammy looked like she was ready to die of embarrassment, her cheeks flaming red. She might not be ready for this conversation to take place between David and her dad, but David was. He came in, sat beside Tammy, wrapped his arm around her, and said, “Yes, Mr. Anderson?”

  “Are you marrying Tammy?”

  Right to the point. David liked that.

  “That’s up to your daughter.”

  “So you’ve asked her to marry you?”

  “We haven’t gotten to that part yet.”

  “I’ll be perfectly honest with you. I know you’ve been here, protecting my daughter before this, then watching her after her injuries, so I’ve gone along with it, or else I would have had you transferred. If you didn’t know it, I’ve donated a lot of funds to the Service over the years, so I have some clout there.”

  David wondered what Tammy’s father’s business was that he could afford to give away a lot of money. For a good cause, sure, but still.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I’ve talked with both her boss and yours to confirm you were needed there on this assignment.”

  “Yes, sir.” David smiled at Tammy. He liked her father. She looked like she was about to die from worry. He had to admit he was glad his father hadn’t called to talk to her.

  “I’ve spoken with your brother, Wade, all about you.”

  Hell, David thought to himself. It was bad enough her father probably dug up some information about the trouble he’d gotten into in his youth, but he sure didn’t want his brother telling secrets about him that only he and Wade knew.

  Her father continued, “I’ve had thorough background checks run on you and your brother—all about who you’d been seeing, why you’d been shot by a girlfriend’s ex-lover, the missions you’ve been on that the JAG director could share with me, family ties, and the trouble the two of you got into when you were teens and had lost your mother. I’ve also looked into your financial state, and I can say I approve.”

  “But?”

  “No buts. I just don’t want you taking the situation with my daughter lightly and stringing her along. When my sons told me that Wade was hitting on their ‘cousin’ Maya, I started the background investigations. I just never thought that his brother—you—would get involved with my daughter, Tammy.”

  “It was just an assignment.”

  “Yeah, except your boss told me you requested to work with her.”

  David heard a hint of a smile in her dad’s gruff voice. “Yeah, I did.”

  “Not just because you wanted to find the missing zoo cat.”

  “My mission was to bring in the boys who knew something about the missing zoo cat,” David said truthfully.

  “You didn’t ask to work with her just because of the missing cat or the boys. Both my sons and my son-in-law requested that you work with her, and you yourself wanted to. To keep her out of danger.”

  David cleared his throat. “She’s very capable, sir.”

  “I saw the video of her,” her father said.

  David glanced at Tammy.

  She was frowning at him.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You have my blessing,” her father said.

  David paused. “Thank you, sir.”

  “Now, what are you waiting for?”

  David chuckled. “The right moment when she’s in more of a receptive mood to say yes.” He smiled at Tammy. Her eyes widened.

  “So ask her.”

  “Right now?”

  “No time like the present.”

  “I’ve got to do this right.”

  “I’d like you to try now,” her father said. “But I’ll leave you to do it in privacy.”

  Her father kissed Tammy good-bye, and David walked him to the door and shook his hand. “She’s special,” her father said.

  “She sure as hell is.” David smiled, and then they said their good nights and David locked up.

  “So…how are you going to do this right?” she asked. Before he could come up with something, she held up her hand. “I’m kidding. Well, not really, but I’m not serious. My father is nuts. I don’t want…”

  “I don’t agree. I think your father is extremely sensible. He’s done a background check on me and approved me.” David pulled her from the couch. Her sweet cinnamon-scented breath mingled with his—so close their lips hovered, nearly touching. He slid his fingers under her shirt, cupped her lace-covered breasts in his hands, and kissed her. Her mouth pressed his back—hot, needy, wanting. “I love you, Tammy. And hope that you might come to love me.”

  She smiled up at him. “You don’t think this is too impulsive—of both of us?”

  He combed his fingers through her hair, his gaze on hers. “No. I’ve done a number of harebrained impulsive things in my life, but this is not like that at all.”

  She smiled and kissed him, then pulled away from him.

  “So it’s not a done deal yet? I need to get your father and mine to convince you what a great choice of mate I’d make? Your brothers? My brother? My boss? Maybe your boss?”

  She laughed, pulled on his belt loop, and headed for the kitchen.

  “When’s the right time, Tammy?”

  She smiled up at him. “Aren’t you cooking us something?”

  He sighed heavily and slipped his hand around hers. “We make a great team.” David swept aside her hair and brushed it over her other shoulder. He nuzzled his cheek against her neck and kissed it. His hands slipped underneath her shirt. Finding the fastener in the front of her bra, he unsnapped it.

  “David,” she said, but as soon as he clamped his large hands over her breasts, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the feel of him touching her.

  His hands were slightly rough, abrading her nipples, making them tingle and swell and eager for more of his chafing touch. In a circular motion, he massaged her breasts, which grew heavier with his gentle squeezes. Liquid heat pooled between her legs.

  She brushed up against his crotch in a playful and teasing way to get him back—and felt just how hard he had become and smelled his arousal. Hot, sexy cat and David’s special all-male scent mixed together like an aphrodisiac meant to entice a she-cat. This she-cat.

  She rubbed against his stiff erection for good measure twice, and he groaned. She smiled. Yeah. He was all ready for her. “Yeah, I can see us going to Costa Rica together, no mission, a waterfall pool and…I never thought I’d be saying this so soon, but…I love you, David.”

  He slid his hands down her waist, unbuttoned her jeans, and pulled the fastener down with a zip. “Let’s take this to bed.”

  They hadn’t made love in the last three days because of the headaches she’d been experiencing. Just hugged and cuddled and kissed. She glanced at the stove. He hadn’t started dinner, which was the only reason she’d come into the kitchen. To make sure nothing would burn while they were making love.

  “No dinner?”

  “I couldn’t decide what to make when your dad was talking to you.” He lifted her in his arms and carried her back to the bedroom. “So…is it a yes?”

&n
bsp; “How does three weeks sound?”

  “Hot damn.”

  She laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck. She loved how cute he could be.

  He set her on the floor and quickly dispensed with her clothes and his. She climbed into bed and he moved in next to her, quickly spreading her legs apart as he nuzzled her bare neck with his tantalizing mouth, licking with his wet tongue.

  She gave a little cat’s rumble of ecstasy as he ran his hands over her thigh, up and down, his thumb grazing her crotch in a tantalizing tease. And then he began to stroke her hard and deep between her legs.

  He purred in her ear, “Mmm, Tammy,” tickling the shell of her ear with his tongue, his voice like a big cat’s motor running at full speed.

  She’d needed this, the closeness, the intimacy between them. The tenderness and the passion. She was primed just in anticipation as he stroked her nub, then plunged two fingers into her.

  She felt like she was lifting off the bed as she pressed into his fingers, and then the climax hit. She shattered into a million pleasurable fragments. Exquisite tremors pulsed through her, and she cried out in wonderment and relief.

  She couldn’t believe how hot he made her feel, how quickly he could arouse her, how much she really needed this.

  As soon as he felt and smelled Tammy come, David was ready. Her breasts rose and fell with her every breath, her nipples dark and taut with need. For a moment, he allowed his hungry gaze to linger on her. He pushed inside her, deeper and deeper until she was anchored fully to him. She rolled her hips and added to the exquisite sensation.

  She was meant for him. He knew just what he wanted. Tammy. Here with him today and tomorrow and the next. Scent-wise, heartbeat-wise, they were in total sync. They could work cases together, be a team always if they could get their bosses to agree to it. If not, maybe one of them could switch branches. He would do it, anything to be with her.

  His blood was hot and pounding hard in his veins. He wanted to claim her for now and forever. The way she ground against him, he couldn’t hold on. He released his seed deep inside her, pumping as she met his thrusts. He was done, yet not. He wanted more of this—as soon as he could work up to it again.

  She was beautiful. And he wanted her to be his mate.