Claiming Her (Keeping Her Series) (12 page)

Cleo’s eyes narrowed,
her mouth tightened as the color in her cheeks attested to her rising
temperature.  “Why would I tell you?  Until I saw her walk out of your bedroom
with your mark, I had no idea you even liked her.”  Cleo’s voice rose, where
her fathers had dropped, but the emotion behind the words was no less angry. 

“You should have told
me.”

“Why?  When do you tell
me anything?  She was my friend and you fired her for no reason.  Then you
refused to discuss her.  Tell me,
Dad
,” she said, her words a bite of
frigid cold that stung.  “Why would I tell you
anything
, when you closed
down every time I tried to bring her up?”

“You should have
brought it to me if you knew she was in trouble.”

“How would I know that
you would help her?” Cleo snapped out the words, her own growl backing them up.
“You
fired
her.  She was my friend and you sent her away.  Not once,”
Cleo spat out, clearly as furious as her father,  “did you think about how much
I
would miss her.  I was a 17-year-old girl surrounded by men when Miley
came to us.  She was the one who got me through my teens.  She taught me how to
wear make-up and shop.  She was the one I talked to about boys and music.  And
you fired her for nothing, the one person I could talk to.  How could I
possibly know that you would even care that she was in trouble?”

“Cleo . . .” He closed
his eyes and took a breath clearly holding on to his patience.  “Maybe you have
a point.  I should have explained what was happening and why I did what I did. 
But you were seventeen, sweetheart, and a father does not tell his teenage
daughter that he’s in love with a woman and scared out of his mind that he will
do something to put her in harm’s way.”  At his words, Isabella felt her entire
body freeze up, but while the words ‘in love with a woman . . .’ reverberated in
her head, Lucas was going on, his eyes only for Cleo at that moment.  “I should
have talked to you about her, I knew you were close, just not how close . . . But,
bottom line Cleo, is that Miley was in trouble and I could have helped her, and
you know,” he stepped forward and placed his hand on the side of his daughters
face, holding her tight enough to make his point, “You
know
, Cleo, that
I
would
have helped her.”

Cleo took a shaky
breath, closed her eyes, then opened them again, still stubborn but not as
angry.  “I love her too, Dad, ” she said softly, icy blue eyes against
cerulean.  “And you
knew
that when you sent her away.  So when I found
out she was in trouble,
I
helped her get out of it. 
I
made sure
she was safe, and
that
is the bottom line.”

“I mourned her, Cleo.” 
Isabella could see the jerk of Cleo’s body as if she had taken a direct hit. 
Her eyes filled up with tears, but she rallied and she did not fall.  Not so
stoic, Isabella could feel the trail of her own tears sliding down her cheeks.

Wrapping her hand
around her father’s hand, she placed it against her cheek and squeezed.  “How
would I know that, Dad?” she asked in her own whisper, “when you don’t talk to
me?”

“Fuck me,” Eli suddenly
said, drawing every eye at his loud outburst, “you were the one who helped her
fake her death,” he said to Cleo.  “Not for nothin’, Cleo, but that was some
kickass work.  I’m still trying to unravel your web.”

Cleo smiled a little
sadly, then turned back to her father, who still had a hand on her face, and
his eyes on her.  She lost her smile, and shrugged her shoulders.  “I was
trained by the best.”

Lucas had lost that
angry look and something infinitely sad had taken its place.  “When did it
happen, I wonder?” he murmured, studying his daughter.

“What?”  Cleo asked,
just as low.

“My little girl is
growing up.”

She shook her head and
let out a little snort, her face clearly showing her exasperation, but at least
now it was tinged with affection that took a little bit of the bite out of her
next words.  “I haven’t been a little girl for years, Dad; you’re just in
extreme denial.”  Then she patted the hand that still held her.  “Don’t worry
your big head about it.  I’m beginning to think it is an affliction of the
shifter male to be obtusely blind where women are concerned.”

Isabella snorted
through the tears she was trying to suppress with both hands.  “No kidding.”

Even while he was
pulling his daughter into his arms, his eyes were narrowing toward Isabella.   “Why
didn’t you tell me about Cleo?”

Isabella was tempted to
roll her eyes.  “Review that last few minutes, Viking, and you just might
figure out the answer on your own.”

“Whelp,” Eli
interrupted before more drama ensued, “I just saw Cleo coming up and wanted to
say ‘hey’.”  He smiled at Cleo.  “Hey.”  Then he started for the door while she
laughed.  “Best get back to the other Gibbs, before some island hottie rolls
his drunken ass.”

“I’ll go as well.” 
Shawn joined him at the door, his hazel eyes turned, honing in on Cleo.  “We’ll
talk later.”  It sounded more like a warning, but when Isabella looked to Cleo,
her eyes on Shawn where shuttered, her lips pressed firm.

Uh-oh.
 
Something was definitely going on there.  But Shawn was out the door and gone
taking the mystery with him.

“Why don’t I give you
two some father-daughter time this evening?”  She smiled at Cleo, and ignored
the sudden vibes coming off her unhappy father.  “I’ll be back in the morning
and we can have breakfast together, how about that?”

“Miley, you’re newly
mated,” Cleo said, looking confused.  “I should be the one to leave.  I can get
another room and get out of your hair.”

“No,” Lucas shook his
head, his voice mild, and his eyes on Cleo were soft.  “Until we are finished
with the security overhaul, this island is not safe.  You stay here in the
second bedroom; we’ll move your brother out to one of the rooms on this floor. 
You get settled and we’ll have dinner on the terrace together.  All three of
us.”

Cleo huffed out a
breath, ignoring the last part in favor of the first.  “Why is it safe for Ian
to have his own room, but not me?”

Lucas sighed, and they
all knew the answer that he was too smart to say aloud.  Isabella did roll her
eyes this time.  “Just take the bedroom, please,” he kissed her on the top of
her head, “to give me peace of mind?”

Oh, brother.

Cleo stepped out from
her father’s arm with a heartfelt sigh, picked up her bag and headed to the
door Isabella motioned to.  “Fine.  If I decide to hook up with some guy, he’ll
be more likely to survive if we go to his room anyway,” she said as a parting
shot right before she closed the door with a wink at Isabella.

Isabella tried to keep
the smile off her face, but it was a lost cause.  She very carefully did not
look at Lucas.

“Are you laughing?”  He
finally spoke into the frozen silence beside her.  “Was that funny?”

She turned to see Lucas
looking belligerent and offended.  She laughed out loud and immediately started
backing away from the angry predator in the room who was beginning to stalk
her.  “Come on, Lucas, she was just getting a little bit of her own back.  You
have a long conversation about her growing up, then immediately treat her like
a child who can’t stay alone in a hotel room.  She was pushing your buttons.”

“So you do think it was
funny?”

“A little . . .,” she
said holding up a hand with the thumb and first finger an inch apart.  “Come on,
she’s . . .”

He held up a hand to
interrupt her again, even while he prowled forward, herding her to their open
bedroom door.  “If you tell me again how old she will be tomorrow, I will take
it out on your ass.”

Isabella lost her
humor, stopped moving back and stood her ground, her chin going up, her eyes
flashing stubborn bravery.  “Don’t threaten me, Lucas.  It’s not my fault
you’re completely closed-minded where your
adult
daughter is concerned. 
She’s nearly two years older than Ian and you have no trouble letting him
debauch whomever he pleases, but God forbid your
adult
daughter should
try the same thing, your giant lion head would explode.”

He stopped a foot in
front of her.  “That’s different.”

“Why?”

He floundered for a
minute, she could practically see the wheels turning in his head, trying to
find a reason that Miley would accept.  Then with a growl, he took a final step
forward into her space and towered over her, trying to intimidate her no
doubt.  “It just is.”

“Really?  That’s the
best you got?”

“Miley,” he warned.

“Lucas,” she repeated
in the same tone.

He rubbed his hands through
his hair in clear agitation, then dropped them with a snap and growl.  “Fine.  She’s
a girl, she’s
my
girl, and I know what men are thinking when they look
at her, and I don’t. Fuckin.’ Like. It.”

Isabella studied him,
then let out her own breath and stepped forward until she could wrap her arms
around his waist and lay her head on his chest.  His arms immediately
surrounded her and pulled her in tight.  She melted into the feel of him, her
voice gentling.  “I understand, you can’t help feeling overly protective, but
Lucas, she is her father’s daughter.  She’ll no more let someone take away her
choices, than you would.  You keep treating her like a kid, you’re going to
look up one day and she will be long gone.”  He tightened his arms but she was
determined to finish strong.  “And Lucas . . . you would not want her to be any
other way.”

She could feel the
tension radiating from every part of his body.  He didn’t like what she was
saying, but she really hoped that it meant he was listening because she was not
wrong about this.

“Fuck,” he finally said
softly but with feeling.  Then he seemed to let the tension go all at once,
even as his grip on her tightened.  “I’ll try.  Fuck . . . Miley, she’s my baby
girl.  I can give no guarantees.  But, I will try.”

“Let’s start with
dinner, and then the beach party tomorrow, and go from there.”

He sighed long and loud
and pulled her head up so he could kiss her forehead.  “Still not seeing the
humor in Cleo’s remark, though.”

“Well, I don’t think
laughter was the response she was going for anyway.”

Looking over the map of
the island, Lucas was determined to make it as safe as possible.  The jagged
coral reef that surrounded the island made a ship dock problematic, but if
someone knew what they were doing, they could be dropped just off the reef and
swim in undetected. That was the biggest worry because the technology they had
and the no-fly zone above the island would, in effect, make a parachute drop
highly unlikely.

The swim in was the
real worry.  They could screen guests and employees all they liked to cover
that front.  A professional who came in under radar was impossible to vet.  He
was out of ideas.

“To make that swim
successfully, they will have to be SEAL-trained or the equivalent.  No ordinary
hire could make that swim.”  Eli was not wrong about that, but it didn’t change
the issue.

“I could make it;
anybody SEAL-trained could make it.  There has to be a way to neutralize that
threat.”  He looked over the island again.  The problem was there were too many
possibilities to cover all of them.

“If this was your
island it would be a worry, but these wolves do not swim in those waters.  The
likelihood of a hit being called for someone on this island is astronomical.”

“And if Miley wants to
come for a visit in the future?”

“We can set up
perimeters and rent the island for a private party.  That means if someone did
manage the reef, he would be a stranger and easily identified.”

Lucas tossed the map
away when it blurred.  “Shit.”  He rubbed his hand over his head.  “It will
have to do.  For now, spread the word that I want everyone familiar with the
staff files and the pictures of the guests.  I don’t want any surprises before
we finish here, especially at the drunken luau.”

“I’ll let them know,
but I think Logan already spread the word on that before we came.”

The door to the suite
opened without a knock and Miley walked in, narrowing her eyes at both of
them.  He missed the look on her face, however, because his eyes were stuck on
the rest.  She was wearing a bold brightly-colored sarong like a dress, with
the ends crossing at her nape and tied behind her neck.  He could see the
straps of her bathing suit at her shoulders and her hair was up in a messy bun
with an orange hibiscus above her left ear.  Her skin gleamed golden, her hair
looked shot with sparkles, and her legs flashed through the front of the skirt
when she moved.  In short, she looked mouthwateringly good, and he was prepared
to like this luau business more than he expected.