by Lora Leigh
“And fifth cousin to England’s Lord Lowden Grant,” Lilly added. “He’s considered a black sheep, though. Dropped out of college, joined the military for a while. He was discharged for unsatisfactory performance of duty and conduct unbecoming.”
“I’m surprised Taite is allowing him anywhere near his daughter,” Jordan murmured.
Lilly’s smile was all teeth and disgust. “He’s still royalty, my dear Mr. Malone. As fifth cousin to Lord Grant, he’s also somewhere around twelfth cousin to the Queen Mother.”
Jordan’s brow arched. “Lineage, huh?’
“Lineage.” Lilly rolled her eyes. Anyone related to the Queen Mother placed a stamp on that kinship and proclaimed it far and wide.
“Beauregard won’t be a problem,” Jordan said. “Journey knows Tehya’s identity as Teylor Johnson and nothing more.” He looked at each man in turn. “Don’t take your eyes off her. Tehya is of primary importance, and tracking down whoever gave the order to attack her home is imperative. I want it over.” His voice hardened. “I want her safe.”
And as each man stared back at him he knew they understood, and they agreed.
Nothing mattered more to them than the protection of their wives, just as nothing mattered more to him than the protection of his … He gave himself a mental shake. Nothing mattered more than protecting Tehya and returning her to the life she had chosen for herself.
Because any life she chose would be far better than that of a life with a man who had learned long, long ago the perils of believing in love, and in happily ever-afters.
Nothing lasted forever.
CHAPTER 11
Tehya could think of far better things to do than to make an entrance at a party of politicians and their supporters. A root canal. A broken bone. Hell, being in the middle of a violent conflict in the most dense of jungles. And she hated the jungle. She hated it almost as much as the political parties.
But she had to admit there was a sense of excitement, a flare of pure feminine pride as all eyes turned to view their entrance, especially those of the women.
Like Tehya, they couldn’t take their eyes off Jordan.
Savage and dangerous, a sleek mature male animal, confident and primal, he was an instinctive draw to any female with hormones. And the women here seemed to have plenty of hormones if their sudden interest was anything to go by.
Walking down the short flight of steps, her hand placed comfortably in the crook of Jordan’s arm, she let herself pretend for the moment that they were a true couple. They were simply there to support a friend. There was no danger, no haunting past. There was nothing to worry about, no reason to be concerned or frightened.
He had asked her earlier to trust him. What he didn’t know, what he didn’t understand, was that she had always trusted him.
“Jordan Malone.” Senator Richard Stanton stepped forward, a warm smile on his face as his blue eyes twinkled merrily. Hand outstretched, he welcomed Jordan’s handshake with obvious familiarity before clapping him on the back and turning to Tehya. “Teylor Johnson, you’re as completely gorgeous as ever.”
“Senator.” Face uplifted, she accepted the brush of his lips against her cheek as a real smile tugged at her lips.
She had always enjoyed the meetings she attended where the senator was in attendance. As Jordan’s personal assistant for the past six years, she had had the pleasure of working with the older man often in his capacity of a committee member of the Elite Ops Command.
“You’ve met my daughter and son-in-law?” The senator turned to Kell and Emily Krieger.
“Hello, Tey.” Emily greeted her cheekily, her blue eyes sparkling merrily at the obvious knowledge that Teylor wasnt her real name.
Kell’s welcome was just as warm, his dark green gaze amused as he observed the interest they were drawing.
“It’s wonderful to see you again, Jordan,” the senator declared with robust friendliness. “Come to the bar with me, we’ll get a drink and see a few people I know are eager to meet with you.”
As the senator accompanied them across the room, Tehya watched as the crowd parted, as avid gazes locked on to them. And she saw the two young women standing together. One fiery haired, the other blond. One familiar yet confused, the other coolly composed, her expression arrogant.
Journey and her sister Alexa. They were as different as night and day. Journey with her red-gold hair, and Alexa looking like an ice princess. Next to them was their handsome brother Royce, his hair and eyes dark, his expression cold. His gaze was harder, almost dead. It wasn’t even icy. It was just empty as he watched. There was no interest, no curiosity, and no boredom. They were simply dead.
As the senator led them to the bar, Tehya watched from the corner of her eye as Stephen and Craig Taite moved casually in a parallel line to meet them.
Both men had their gazes on Jordan, eyes narrowed, their arrogant, thin faces drawn into similar lines of predatory intent.
The castle Jordan owned in Ireland had been a bone of contention for years. The Taites seemed especially determined to possess it, claiming it had once been a part of their lineage as well. They had tried to meet with Grandpop Rory, with Jordan’s brother Grant, and once they had even flown to Texas in an attempt to meet with Jordan.
Now, they were pressing Jordan at every opportunity to sell the property via both e-mail and snail mail. And Jordan flatly refused, if he deigned to answer at all.
“What can I get you?” The senator turned back to them as they reach the long, dark-wood bar.
Jordan ordered for himself as well as for her before she politely rolled her eyes and turned to the bartender. She ordered her favorite whisky. Turning back to Jordan, she toasted him with the shot glass. Tipping it back and finishing it with a single swallow.
Heated, she felt a surge of bravado as fear receded at the whisky’s warmth. When her eyes opened, she found herself staring directly into the disapproving gazes of the great-uncle and the cousin she had never known.
The smile she flashed them was patently false. She didn’t dare show the hurt she felt at the disapproval her cousin showed, or the sudden flash of disgust in her uncle’s eyes.
“Stephen,” Stanton murmured. “I’m glad you could make it tonight.”
Stephen inclined his head regally before turning to Jordan. “I thought it time I met my adversary,” he said cordially. “We seem to still be locked in a silent duel over a piece of property he’s in possession of.”
“A piece of property I own,” Jordan reminded him as he moved closer to Tehya, his arm going around her waist to pull her closer to her side. “And it’s still not for sale.”
“Of course it isn’t,” Craig’s tone was just arrogantly superior enough to grate on the nerves.
The younger Taite’s blue-green eyes were chilly while the elder’s darker, moss-green eyes were frankly curious.
“It amazes me that you’re so determined to hold on to such barren property.” Stephen finally smiled back at them, though the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
This was her family?
“And it amazes me that you would want to buy such barren property,” Jordan pointed out, his tone definitely more cordial and less confrontational.
Suddenly, Tehya was seeing the Taites without the rose-colored glasses of nonassociation. She had never imagined such snide prejudice, such superior arrogance. How much worse would it be if they knew the truth of her?
“Jordan, excuse me, darling.” She turned to him smoothly, her smile all teeth. “I’m feeling a bit unsettled. Perhaps it’s something in the air. I’ll just step into the ladies’ room to clear my head, if you don’t mind?”
“Of course, love.” Chiding, knowing, his tone was still warm and caring. “I’ll be right here.”
He lifted his hand and gave a subtle signal to Travis and Lilly Caine. The two came instantly, following Tehya as she moved for the hall that led to the ladies’ room.
Jordan turned back to Stephen and Craig, allowing the an
ger surging inside him to ice his gaze as he flicked a glance over them before turning back to the senator. “Breeding leaves something to be desired in the manners department,” he commented.
Craig Taite straightened his bony shoulders beneath the silk evening jacket he wore. “Was that an insult, Malone?”
“Why, yes, I believe it was,” Jordan said, his tone low, careful to keep their conversation where it was, just among them. “You’ve insulted Teylor, Taite. That could end up being a very bad mistake on your part.”
Craig sniffed delicately. “Her manners are atrocious, Mr. Malone. A lady doesn’t swig whisky in public.”
“Only in private to endure the ass she’s with, huh?” he taunted the other man, well aware of Craig’s wife’s inability to attend many social functions with him because of her love for the inebriated state.
It was said in such a way that Craig couldn’t be certain of the insult.
“It seems we were perhaps faulty in believing a meeting would help in building an intelligent discourse for the future,” Stephen Taite sighed regretfully. “We have many business interests that coincide. I had hoped we could work together.”
“As far as I know, we have no such business interests,” Jordan pointed out. “The only thing we have in common is your determination to acquire that which doesn’t belong to you.”
And would never belong to them.
Stephen Taite had sold the estate to Joseph Fitzhugh just before his niece was kidnapped more than thirty years before. He hadn’t cared enough to hold on to the once crumbling castle until Jordan had come along and restored it to the savage beauty it now possessed.
“And shouldn’t have been sold to you,” Stephen said with a weary sigh. “Such is business, though. It seems you are taking offense to what may be no more than friendly banter, Mr. Malone. That’s unfortunate. I admit, I do feel rather possessive of it. Fitzhugh acquired it at a time when I was young and relatively less appreciative of my own belongings.”
Jordan had acquired the estate after Fitzhugh’s death from the French authorities, months after Tehya had killed him. The property had at one time been Malone land, owned by Jordan’s grandfather before the Malone family came to America. “I assure you, I rarely misunderstand a situation, Mr. Taite,” Jordan assured him. “I’ve based my business on knowing exactly how to read others.”
Taite’s brows lifted. “And what exactly would that business be, Mr. Malone? I must admit, I’ve never fully understood it.”
“I must admit, I’ve never fully explained it,” Jordan said dismissively before turning to the senator. “If you’ll excuse me, I believe I have some business to discuss with your son-in-law, Senator. As soon as I collect Teylor.”
Tehya could be a part of this family. Their determination to acquire his land should have clued him into their personalities. Personalities that Tehya could never endure for long.
She could never fit in with the pompous arrogance that defined the two he had just met.
Their greed was only surpassed by their own sense of superiority. And it was all he could do to rein in his anger and not inform them of the very formidable enemy they had just made.
He couldn’t ignore the looks they had given her that had sent her running, their disgust for her preferred drink apparent as it sliced through her confidence.
Bastards. They’d insulted him well enough over the years; he wouldn’t allow them to insult her. He’d just never imagined her family could be all bad.
The estate they coveted had been all but given to Fitzhugh at a time when Stephen Taite and Joseph Fitzhugh had been friends during their youth. Jordan’s acquisition of it had been a stroke of luck.
The estate was run by caretakers for the most part, a couple whose own safety depended upon their cover and their ability to maintain that illusion.
Stepping into the hall, he moved to the upper end and toward the ladies’ room Travis stood outside of, leaning against a wall, his shoulders tense, his expression drawn into hard, forbidding lines.
Travis stepped up to Jordan and whispered, “I can’t believe she shares that bastard’s blood. He managed to insult her and Lilly all in the same breath. As though his blood were somehow far richer than others’.”
Jordan snorted at the thought. “It was in the dossier we had on him.” He finally shrugged. “We should have been forewarned.”
Travis shook his head. “Hell, Lilly was raised with the damned family. She warned us. For the past year, I’ve moved in his society and never even been introduced, and now I understand why. Son of a bitch. Tey is so fucking down to earth, and just kind.”
Knowing Tehya it had been hard to imagine the Taites were such as holes though.
“Because he avoided it,” Jordan murmured knowingly.
Travis’s jaw clenched. “Bloody bastard doesn’t know who he’s dealing with. I could have out-blooded him as well as out-moneyed him at one time. Hell, I still could I believe.”
Travis had been an English lord himself once, Jordan remembered. Before he’d lost it all and turned to vengeance instead.
“Do you miss it?” Jordan asked him, suddenly curious. “You gave up a lot to join us.”
Travis’s lips quirked in a slow, crooked smile as his gaze suddenly lit with a flare of humor. The door opened then, and Lilly stepped out, her gaze meeting her husband’s as a smile transformed her, lighting her face and the very air around her with warmth.
“Hell no.” Travis sighed. “Look at what I gained.”
Jordan’s attention had fractured though, the response meaning little as Tehya emerged behind Lilly. His gaze met Tehya’s and he saw the weary somberness in it.
Travis and Lilly moved toward the ballroom as Jordan pulled Tehya to him and pressed her head against his chest, feeling her take a deep, uneven breath.
“I’m fine,” she told him. “It’s like having the rug pulled out from under your feet, I imagine. It just takes a moment to get your breath.”
She hadn’t imagined they could be so carelessly cruel, even though her mother had regaled her with tales of the society she had once been a part of. A world where best friends were no more than backbiting enemies and trust was an illusion that only children were allowed to believe in. Rather like the tooth fairy.
She pulled back from him slowly, lifted her face, and gave him a careful smile. Another illusion. The lie that she was fine and it would only take moments to get over the shock.
She felt flayed, her flesh stripped to the bone as the family she had dreamed of for years had looked down their noses at her.
Had her mother ever been like that? Her grandparents?
Suddenly, she was incredibly glad that she hadn’t been raised to cherish and miss such a life as her mother had.
Francine Taite had grieved for the life and the family she had been stolen away from. The rare times she and Tehya had had together after their escape from the Fitzhugh estate, her mother had dreamed aloud of returning one day.
Until her parents had died, and within days, Francine had died as well.
“I believe this is why we avoid such events,” she whispered with amused conspiracy to him as he slowly released her. “So we don’t have to put up with the likes of the badgers such as Stephen and Craig Taite.” The hurt was there, thick and heavy, though carefully hidden.
She could joke about it, she could even pretend long enough to convince Jordan, that it didn’t hurt.
But Tehya knew better. It sliced her heart to ribbons.
His lips parted to speak when she caught a hint of movement from the corner of her eye.
It wasn’t an assassin, it wasn’t an attacker, a journalist, or any of the hundreds of people she would prefer to avoid.
Rather, it was the single member of the Taite family who seemed to have a heart rather than marble where a heart should be.
“Teylor.” Twenty-two, and suddenly uncomfortable, Journey Taite stood before them, dressed in emerald green chiffon and satin. The ball gown she wo
re was at once innocent and incredibly sexy.
Her long, wavy red-gold hair fell below her shoulders in thick, luscious waves, a far cry from the braid Journey wore at work.
“Hello, Journey.” Tehya felt Jordan’s hand at her back, comforting and warm.
Journey gripped the small clutch purse she carried with desperate hands as she stared back at Tehya, who knew exactly why the other girl was so apprehensive.
“We have a deal, Journey,” she assured her. “I won’t break it.”
The promise Tehya had made that she would never reveal to anyone that Journey worked for her, except the IRS.
Journey let out a slow, hard breath and within a blink of an eye, the natural vivacity that seemed to be so much a part of her, gleamed in her eyes once again.
“I’d hate to give Grandfather or Father, either one, a stroke,” she whispered confidentially. “Or do anything to dislodge the sticks up their bums.”
Jordan gave a small cough, an obvious attempt to cover his laughter.
For a moment, Tehya had to fight back tears, though. This girl was everything she had hoped her family would be. Warm, charming, filled with laughter and generosity.
“Are you adopted?” Tehya asked as they turned and headed back to the ballroom. “There’s no way you’re truly related to them.”
Journey grinned at the accusation before sobering. “Actually, my mother tells me often that I remind her of grandfather’s missing niece. She says I’m too much like my cousin Francine. Enough so that she worries one day that she’ll lose me as well.”
Tehya wanted to weep. She’d never really exchanged confidences with Journey for a reason. This reason. Because her memories of the past were still too painful.
“She’s missing?” Tehya asked as Jordan’s fingertips rubbed against her lower back in comfort.
“She was kidnapped more than thirty years ago,” Journey told her, her expression saddened. “She was killed about fifteen years ago. There’s rumors she had a daughter, but despite the family’s attempts to find her, she remains lost as well.”
Tehya made a noncommittal sound, listening rather than speaking as Journey discussed her family.
