Bad Girl Bill (Atlantic Divide) (2 page)

He might have seemed full of insecurity when she first met him, but the way he had held her on the bike and the interested glint in his eyes gave her second thoughts about him. Perhaps he was tougher than he seemed. The quiet, shy man might just be dangerous. She took a step away.

“If you want to sit on the porch swing while I get changed, I’ll bring you some iced tea.”

“You don’t want to invite me in to your house while you get changed?”

He took a step forward, his voice smooth now, warm, deep, and very British. No sign of a stutter.

“Nope.” One word, flat and cold. If there was one thing she had learned, it was how to cut a man dead.

*

He scanned the facade of her house in a natural move designed to check the environment for hazards. As his gaze came to rest on Bill, he gave her a quick assessment too. Her long, lean body had fit well against his. He’d almost had an orgasm with the friction and heat that radiated off her during the bike ride, all the rubbing and jostling against her. His pulse had only just slowed down. When she wanted to know if he could stand up, he’d almost swallowed his tongue. His mind had been full of ideas of what they could do in the next half hour.

“Do you often bring complete strangers to your house?” He studied her face. “How do you know you’re safe here with me?”

She smiled at him—she had such a wicked smile. Her eyebrows arched as she met his stare straight on. He felt his heart pump back up again.

“Four good reasons.” She held four fingers up in front of his face, tucked one down each time she made her point.

“One, ordinarily I would have taken you straight to Jack’s, but I am secure in the fact I know your family.” Her smile spread, slow and easy. “Two, I could kick your ass from here back to England if I needed to…” She paused, and he lifted one eyebrow as he doubted her last claim.

“And the other two reasons?” he inquired.

“They’re sitting behind you.” Her smile spread wide across her face to show her perfect white teeth. Her two remaining fingers formed a gun and she pulled the trigger with her thumb. He narrowed his eyes and caution made him turn nice and slow as he came face-to-face with two enormous German shepherds, silent and deadly. Their rapt attention centered solely on him.

“Ralph, Bruno, Michael’s a friend, be nice.” The dogs stood as one, wagged their tails, and lowered their large, black-and-tan heads. As they both pushed their noses into his groin, he froze.

“Hey Ralph, Bruno, nice dogs.”

With a cautious glance, he looked up to see Bill stride away, her long legs bounding up the porch steps, as she left him to the tender mercies of her two beasts.

He made his cautious way to the porch, gingerly lowered himself onto her swing seat as the dogs panted close at heel. He decided the boys were not as dangerous as he had initially thought as they both pushed forward to be petted. He chanced ruffling their ears and scrubbing their chins.

Bill pushed open the back door and offered Michael a glass of amber liquid.

“Back shortly, enjoy your iced tea.”

He nearly choked on it. It bore no resemblance to tea, and it had enough sugar in it to kill a diabetic in one gulp. It had a certain appeal; it was cold and it was wet. He would rather have had a beer.

He sat back in the swing seat, relaxed, and enjoyed the mild breeze that caught him as the seat rocked gently. He let his mind drift.

He’d needed a break from work. Although he was, strictly speaking, never off duty. His life was his work and vice versa. But he had time. Seven weeks, give or take, dependent on developments or setbacks in communication. He would have to come and go, but he was determined to have a little time with his family. It had been years since he had this much time. It could be years until he could do it again. If ever.

He’d spent a week back in England with his parents, made sure they were both well, put up with fuss from his mother and questions from his father he couldn’t answer. Now he got to see his sisters and their kids. He looked forward to being able to kick back, relax for once in his life. He idly wondered if there may be any chance of a little R&R with Bill. If he read his cards right, she seemed interested. Right up to the point she’d said no.

While he was there, he needed to grow his hair and a beard so he would fit right in with the terrorist group they were trying to infiltrate. He had to dye his hair at some point and wear dark contact lenses. He hated to wear lenses in the heat and dirt; they made his eyes dry and itchy, and he had to wear them round the clock. It wasn’t easy, but his light green eyes were a dead giveaway. When he glanced in the mirror, he’d see a stranger looking back. It was always a little bizarre, something he never became accustomed to.

He also needed to build up some of the muscle tone he had lost on his last mission when he’d been holed up for so long in the Afghan hills. He was almost as skinny as he had been when he was a teenager. The food hadn’t exactly been plentiful or nutritious in the last few months. So he needed to eat…lots. And exercise, even more. He turned his head toward the kitchen window. Perhaps Bill could help with that too.

He felt relaxed and content by the time she came out ten minutes later smelling like a spring morning, her hair damp, and her skin dewy and fresh. She wore a pair of black jeans that hugged her hips and sat just below her navel. Her plain black T-shirt showed about two inches of her midriff when she moved.

His eyes were drawn to her belly piercing, and his mouth went dry, the gut wrenching he felt this time went from the center of his loins all the way through his body, spreading through his chest like a virus. He didn’t think he could take any more. He certainly couldn’t get back on the damned Harley with her again. Where the hell was he supposed to put his hands this time?

She picked up his empty glass and returned it to the kitchen.

“All set?” She drawled in her smooth, lazy voice “We’ll take the Jeep, I want the dogs to come along. They’ve been on their own a long time today.” She spoke as though she had read his mind.

She sauntered past him, and her cool scent wafted around him.

“Did you just have a shower?”

“Sure I did.”

“You could have offered me one.” He sulked. Jesus, he was desperate for a cool down.

“What and have you mess my towels up? We’ll be at your sister’s soon; you can have one there. I gave you a cold drink, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, I noticed you didn’t have one.”

Her wicked smile kicked up a notch. “Hell no, I wouldn’t drink that shit, it’ll kill you. Way too much sugar.”

“Well, you didn’t exactly give me a choice,” he mumbled, irritated by her cheerfulness.

“Jeez, don’t be so ungrateful. I’m taking you to see your family, aren’t I? How hospitable do I have to be?”

He could think how hospitable he wanted her to be…he had visions of her writhing hot and naked underneath him, their skin slicked with sweat…but he kept his mouth shut and followed her to her beat-up Jeep.

She parked next to a shiny, new, black Ferrari, watched his face with idle curiosity as he admired its sleek lines.

“This can’t be Jack’s. I know sheriffs don’t earn that much. If they do, I’m joining up.” She smirked at him as the front door opened, and Kate rushed out with Gemma in her arms.

“Michael,” she squealed as he enfolded her in a bear hug, they smothered each other in kisses and squeezed the baby between them until she started to object. In a completely natural move, Michael took the baby from his sister and tucked the little one in the crook of his arm as they stared with fascination at each other.

“She’s beautiful…takes after you. I don’t believe Jack played a part in making her. He’s too damned ugly to have had anything to do with her.” Putting his forehead to Kate’s, their hair blended into one while he grinned down at her. “Well done, sweetheart.”

Bill leaned on the Ferrari with the dogs at her feet. She was reluctant to draw attention to herself while the family reunion was taking place. She felt as though she was intruding, but was too uncomfortable to walk past and disturb them.

She watched Michael, his head leaning against Kate’s. His smile was wide and unselfconscious, and his eyes glowed. The way he handled the kid, he probably had a few of his own. Shame.

He was the most beautiful man she had ever seen, and as he cradled his niece, she felt a sharp tug deep inside for something she’d never expected to want, a yearning so primal it stopped her breath and made her look away.

As she cast her eyes up, she caught sight of her brother Mac at the front door, all long-limbed and lithe, his six-foot-five-inch frame leaning against the door post, his arms crossed over his enormous chest, his black eyes narrowed as he studied her.

Mac had always been able to read her thoughts. He’d been mother, father, and brother to her, but she hoped to God he couldn’t read them now. They were too confused for her to pin down; she needed a little time to think. Trouble with Mac, he was a very good observer of people. It was his business to be, and he would know right away there was something going on here. She didn’t know what it was herself at the moment, but she sure as hell could feel her body vibrate in reaction to Michael’s presence.

*

Michael noticed the mountain of a man whose hawk-like eyes watched close, flicked to Bill and back again. His expression never changed, nor his stance, but Michael knew a testosterone challenge when he saw one. He’d worked long enough in the company of men in the toughest of situations to know when there was a top dog around.

Disappointment formed a hard knot in his stomach as he watched this man with the face of a fallen angel wait for the very woman he himself had lusted after for the past couple of hours. The fact he was disappointed disturbed him, but Bill turned out to be an enigma he’d been looking forward to unraveling.

Unfortunately for him, it appeared she was already taken. As she caught the giant’s eye, she didn’t hesitate. With a laugh of delight, she threw herself in his arms and clapped him on his back as though he was choking, a little more direction it could have resulted in the Heimlich maneuver. In turn, he gave her a bear hug and scrubbed the top of her head with his knuckles.

“I think you’ve grown again, kid,” the mountain grumbled.

“Ha, it’s only been six months since I last saw you, and I stopped growing at the age of sixteen. How long are you here for this time?”

“Only two weeks, and then I’m back on location.”

The mountain put her down. Michael felt the guy’s hard, black eyes pierce his soul as he stretched out a hand the size of a ham.

“And you must be Michael. Good to meet you.”

“My brother, Mac…” Bill stopped midsentence as the two men moved.

He reached his hand to meet Mac halfway and almost lost it as it was engulfed in Mac’s huge, firm grip.

Michael assessed brother and sister, his eyes flicked quick and efficient across their faces. The hard knot in his stomach unclenched, slid back to a more comfortable zone, his mouth tipped up at one side as he took the time to note the stark similarity between them. How had he missed that? They could have been twins. Apart from the size difference, where Bill was tall and willowy, Mac looked like a Native American warrior of old, with a body most men dreamed of and most women would crawl over hot coals to get to.

Their hair was the exact same dense, midnight shade, both had eyes black as the Devil with thick, sooty-black eyelashes and long, straight noses.

“I can see that. You come from a handsome family there, Bill. Real handsome.” He repeated her choice of words from earlier, smiled to himself as he did. Michael turned his attention to Mac, flexed his hand a little from the hard handshake. Testosterone was overrated when there were far better things to talk about than comparing muscle tone. He nodded toward the Ferrari.

“Yours?” With the baby still held secure in the crook of his arm, happy to blow dribble bubbles, they spent the next hour discussing the attributes of the car. Kate wandered back inside the house, and he noticed Bill hesitate for a long moment before she followed her.

* * * *

Fascinating though the Ferrari was, she’d needed to remove herself from the blond. He made her itch for something, and she hadn’t a clue what that was.

It was as though they’d had an invasion from a different planet. Michael burst through the door with his younger sister, Lydia, plastered against his left side, Lydia’s daughter, Rosie wrapped around his neck like a limpet, and Rosie’s twin brother Aaron clung to his right leg like the little monkey he was.

As Kate joined them for kisses and hugs, Bill stood back and admired the genes that had given this family their good looks. She smiled at Sam, her cousin and Lydia’s new husband, as she watched him handle Kate’s new baby like a pro, obviously comfortable in the kid-zone.

Personally, she didn’t think she was too good with kids, although as Rosie and Aaron hurtled across the kitchen and flung themselves at her, it occurred to her they seemed to like her good enough. She had no idea why; she didn’t consider herself a kid kind of person, could never see the appeal of tantrums and snotty noses.

There was something about these two though, she thought as she hung Aaron upside down by his ankle and tickled his belly till he squealed like a piglet. She’d never seen them have a tantrum, and she’d never noticed snotty noses either. It seemed she could always make them laugh. It was quite easy really.
You just needed to get down to their level
, she thought as she lowered herself to the floor on her hands and knees and let Rosie climb all over her back. Rosie clung tight, her plump, little arms squeezing so hard she almost choked the life out of Bill.

“Rosie, loosen up, honey.” Her voice came out of her restricted throat like a Donald Duck impression. As the kids shrieked with delight, she emphasized the sound deliberately. “Rosie. You’re choking me. Let me go.” Rosie laughed harder and clung on tighter, and Bill thought the adults would probably rescue her once she blacked out and lay comatose on the floor at their feet. They wouldn’t let her die, and they’d probably be able to resuscitate her in time.