Angel in the Shadows (14 page)

He should have grabbed Michael and left but he’d been pushed to his limit. Turning around, he’d intended to kill the alcoholic son of a bitch but caught a hard fist to the face instead. Seth came up swinging, his anger turning him into a monster. In the end, Carl had gotten worst of it and even now, Seth had no doubt that he would have killed him. Except that his mother, his own flesh and blood, jumped in to save the abusive bastard.

Michael went to live with their Aunt Nancy and Seth was sent to a boys’ home. It wasn’t long before he was back out on the streets and in trouble with the law. Handcuffed and thrown in jail, his life was over before he could even think.

And that’s where Charlie came in. Appearing from nowhere, she offered him a choice. He could serve his extended sentence, be released after several years, and struggle to make a new life for himself on the outside. Or he could leave with her. He could leave everyone and everything behind and become invisible. He could disappear. The choice had been an easy one. He had no doubt, then or now, that if Charlie had not come to his rescue, he would have spent most of his young adulthood behind bars. And so from that moment on, he belonged to them.

Chapter 16

Madison opened her eyes only to clench them close again against the bright sunlight that pierced directly into her brain and moaning quietly in disgust. Her eyes felt heavy and swollen. A clear result from her indulgent crying last night. But surprisingly, she felt better. Like a weight had been lifted from her chest. Not completely but enough so that she might be able to breathe without the crushing painfulness she had become accustomed to in the last few days.

Lying on her back, she stared up at the ceiling, letting her mind drift when a faint sound interrupted the silence. Listening intently, she couldn’t make it out. It was a strange sound, heavy and almost . . . wooden. Sitting up, she pulled back the curtain and peered outside, trying to identify the origin of the noise. The sunlight reflected off of the snow, blinding her for a moment. Blinking against the brightness, she scanned the yard curiously. It must have continued to snow all night, the drifts of white stopping just under the windowsill. The yard was empty as far as she could see but there was still that strange knocking sound. Jumping out of bed, she opened the bedroom door and strode purposefully into the living room only to find it empty. Seth was gone. No big surprise there. He was always disappearing and reappearing out of nowhere like a ghost. Almost as if he lived in the very shadows. Stepping over to the large glass windows, she looked out, finally discovering where the noise was coming from.

At the far edge of the yard, Seth stood wielding an axe. She watched, spellbound, as he worked. Even through the long sleeved shirt, she could see the muscles in his arms as they flexed with each powerful swing. The blade of the axe
flashed wickedly as it arced down, splitting a thick piece of wood smoothly. His dark hair fell forward as he leaned over, hauling another large piece of wood up onto the chopping block. Standing up, he casually flipped the hair out of his eyes as he raised the ax high over his head and brought it down swiftly again, connecting solidly.

He was so beautiful. Easily the most handsome man she had ever seen or spent any real time around. J
ust remember what he is
, her mind tried to reason.
He’s a killer and his beauty is only skin deep
—
the deceptive beauty of an extremely dangerous animal
. But she wasn’t exactly sure that was true anymore. Catching rare glimpses of the real him, she knew that he was not as heartless as he wanted people to believe. He might have done some terrible things but perhaps he’d had no choice in the matter. She sensed something in him, something that had been long ago been forgotten or buried. She just didn’t know what it was or how to find it out. But she wanted to.

However, for the moment, she could only stare, her eyes feasting on him, gorging themselves with the strength and power of this man. Unable to turn away, she watched him a while longer until her heart raced with need and she felt drunk with lust. She must be going crazy. How else could she explain this insane, foolish attraction to him? She had to get out of here. She was going to go completely mad if she didn’t. But how was she going to do that when he had blocked every attempt she had made?

Okay, she had to think about this.
Obviously, he didn’t want to sleep with her and he had decided not to kill her. So it was entirely possible she had a chance at surviving this little situation that she had managed to find herself in. She just had to find the right way to get out of it. Hatred and seduction were not the way to go which only left one other option. Grimacing, she desperately searched her mind for some other idea but there were none. She supposed she
could
play nice if it might give her an edge. And right now, she would use any help she could get.

Well, if I’m going to do this, I might as well start now
. It must be cold outside and even a man like him would appreciate a nice, hot cup of coffee and a warm breakfast, provided the electricity was back on of course. Opening the refrigerator door, she was relieved when the light came on. Thank goodness. She really didn’t enjoy the idea of spending another night in the dark with Seth. It created too many mixed emotions.

Not being much in the kitchen, she did know how to make a simple breakfast. Milo just loved her scrambled eggs. So if it was good enough for her cat, not the most tolerant eater, it was certainly good enough for this man.

Soon the kitchen was filled with the sound of sizzling sausage, cooking eggs, and hot coffee. She had just removed the last piece of sausage from the pan when the door opened and Seth stepped inside, his gun gripped loosely in his hand. His dark hair fell over his forehead in a sexy, tousled mess. Her fingers itched to push the hair away from his brow, to feel the skin against her fingertips. She tightened her grip on the spatula.

“What the devil are you doing?” he asked abruptly, clearly surprised.

Grinning, she shrugged. “I’m trying to cook some breakfast. The electric is back on and I don’t know about you but I’m starving.”

“The electricity isn’t on. There’s a generator out back. I started it this morning.”

“Generator?” Madison asked slowly as the mild irritation set in, her intentions at niceties temporarily forgotten. “You mean to tell me, we could have had electric last night? Why in the world did you wait so long to turn it on?”

“Well, my dear, if you must know, I was busy trying to make sure no one had kidnapped you while I was gone. And then of course I had to start a fire to keep you from freezing to death since you obviously don’t have a clue about fireplaces. So you’ll have to forgive me if I was more than a little preoccupied,” Seth replied less than graciously.

Ignoring the sarcasm, she resumed her polite attitude and asked, “Are you hungry? It looked like you were working up quite an appetite out there.”

Seth regarded her cautiously, his blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What are you planning to do, poison me?” he asked slowly.

Forcing a laugh, she was impressed at how real it sounded, even to her. “Okay, I know I’m really not that great in the kitchen but believe it or not, I
can
make breakfast.”

“Well, you haven’t burnt the cabin down yet so I guess that’s something to be thankful for,” Seth muttered.

He turned away from her and walked toward the bedroom. The back of his shirt was dark with sweat, clinging to him like a second skin. Her eyes strolled over the contours of his back, watching the lean muscles shift with every step he took. He was nearly through the doorway before her mind sputtered back into life and she stopped him.

“Hey, wait, are you even going to try and eat something? I mean, I went to all this trouble to make it.”

Turning, Seth faced her, his blue eyes hard. “I’m pretty hot and sweaty so if you don’t mind, I’m going to take a shower. Even we
bastards
like to be clean from time to time. And don’t even think of trying to escape. I can get to you before you even get ten feet outside.”

She didn’t doubt that for a minute. He would no doubt jump out of the shower, charge outside in the snow and tackle her, naked if necessary. Quickly clamping down on
those
images, Madison rolled her eyes. “I am not going to escape. Really, it’s pointless to even try anymore. I’m okay right where I am.”

Placing his hands on his hips, Seth raised his eyebrows. “Really? All of a sudden you trust me? Why?”

Not daring to look at him, she focused on the scrambled eggs, shifting them around in the skillet. “Well, you have saved me twice and that’s something to appreciate. And anyone who has managed to keep me alive, deserves at least a little trust, don’t you think?” she asked, raising her eyes to meet his.

“Be careful who you place your trust in, Maddie. They usually don’t deserve it,” Seth warned grimly.

Without another word, he stalked through the bedroom and into the bathroom beyond, shutting the door behind him. She heard the water running and released a pent up breath. Seth was right about one thing. She did need to be more careful who she trusted. But like it or not, she was beginning to trust him. And how smart was that? Piling their plates with food, she sat them on the scratched wooden table, one on each end. The smell of the coffee was strong and dark as she filled their cups. Madison added a fair amount of cream and sugar to hers and sat down, sipping it slowly, savoring its heat. Outside, the small birds flitted and flew about, enjoying their freedom. Lucky things, she thought. How nice it would be to be free and completely oblivious of the on goings not fifteen feet away, right inside this house. She would love to be that unaware again. Something she knew she would never be again.

The bathroom door opened and automatically she turned at the sound. From the open doorway, Seth exited the bathroom with nothing more than a towel wrapped around his waist and crossed out of sight to the other side of the bedroom. Fighting hard not to draw in a surprised breath, she quickly spun around, eyes focusing on the snowy trees outside. But it had been too late. The image of his half-naked body was burned into her brain. His hair, impossibly black and still dripping from the shower, the muscles in his arms and chest, fluid and strong, damp with moisture. God help her, she was going to hell for her lustful thoughts.

She had barely managed to get control of her raging emotions when Seth reappeared, fully dressed, and sat down at the table. He looked from her to the plate of food and back again.

“I promise, I didn’t put anything in them,” Madison sighed exasperatedly.

Giving her one last long look, he scooped up a forkful and shoved them into his mouth. The muscles in his jaw worked as he chewed the food. God, even the way he ate was sexy as hell.

“
This is pretty good.”

“I told you, just because I hate to cook doesn’t mean I can’t do it.”

Seth’s eyes darkened and a small grin formed on his generous lips. “So what else are you willing to do that you hate?”

Not bothering to answer, Madison dropped her eyes, trying not to blush at his obvious attempt to embarrass her. The silence stretched out and she ate quickly, not even tasting the eggs or sausage. Unable to resist anymore, she looked up to see that Seth leaning back in his chair, arms crossed behind his head, watching her intensely.

“So, what gives?”

Lowering her fork, she blinked widely. “What do you mean?”

“Let’s not play games, Maddie. You know exactly what I mean. Last night you wanted to scratch my eyes out and today, your acting like I’m your friend. So I’ll ask you again. What gives?”

Shrugging slightly, she rose out of her chair and collected their used dishes. “I just figured that as long as I’m stuck here with you, I might as well be civil. I don’t want to spend it being angry.” She placed the dishes in the sink and rinsed them off, her back to him.

“Anger does have its uses but mostly it’s just a waste of time,” Seth replied.

The tone in his voice made her turn. “What do you mean?”

“I just mean that anger is not really worth the time most people give to it.”

Leaning back against the counter, she looked at him. “You sound like you talk from experience.”

“Everyone has experience with anger. Some more than others.”

Tilting her head slightly. “Like you?”

Seth’s very-blue eyes regarding her suspiciously. She thought maybe she had overstepped her bounds. But then, he seemed to come to a decision.

“Yeah, like me.”

Taking this as a step in the right direction, Madison returned to the table. She started to open her mouth to speak when he interrupted her.

“Don’t even ask. I’m not telling you anything else. The less you know, the better off you are.”

“I know more than you think I do,” Madison countered.

Leaning forward, Seth grinned confidently. “Really? Care to enlighten me?”

It was clear that Seth thought she was completely in the dark about him and she wanted nothing more than to knock that smug smile off his face. Shrugging indifferently, she began to check off the things she knew on her fingertips.

“I know you work for some type of organization that seems to have unlimited access to everyone’s most personal information. Even things that nobody should possibly know. The technology you have would naturally be expensive so it seems that money is no object for whoever you work for. And for that type of money, it makes sense that the people that earn it would have to be extremely good at what they do, probably the best.”

Taking a deep breath, she continued before he had a chance to interrupt her. “You’re pretending to work for Vance as his personal assistant although that’s not really what your objective is. I don’t know what you’re actually meant to do with him but I’m sure that whatever it is, you’re supposed to do it quietly and without a lot of hassle. Which unfortunately, is where I came in. I saw Vance’s girlfriend get murdered on the ferry under his orders and now he wants me dead. No, strike that. He wants to torture me and
then
kill me. And although I really don’t think your one of the bad guys, I think you were supposed to kill me because I got in the way of whatever is going on here.”

She continued. “But I know that my death is not something that you want to be a part of anymore and you are doing your best to keep me alive. And I know that you are not as mean and heartless as you would have me to believe. Something happened to you to make you this way. I want to know what that was.” Madison finished, placing her hands on the table in front of her, one on top of the other.

Seth sat back, an unreadable expression on his face. His mouth formed a grim line and his eyes narrowed dangerously. “You’re right. I wasn’t always this much of an asshole.” He tore his blue eyes away from her for a moment before looking back, their depths dark and filled with a dull painful sheen. “What do you want to hear? That after my father left, my mother married an abusive alcoholic? Or that I nearly killed him one night for beating my younger brother before my mother jumped in to protect her husband? Or how about that I ended up on the streets and nearly spent the rest of my life behind bars?”

Madison was speechless. This wasn’t exactly what she’d expected and she didn’t really believe he would open up to her this way. But he had. His words carried such bitterness and rage that she had no doubt he was telling the truth.
Oh, this poor man.
“Seth, I…I’m so sorry. I didn’t know,” she mumbled, not sure what to say by this sudden revelation.

“There’s nothing for you to say. It happened a long time ago. And of course you didn’t know. How could you? That part of me is in the past, hidden. And that’s how it needs to stay.”