Dangerous Secrets: Callaghan Brothers, Book 1 (23 page)

Kane shot her a look of disbelief.  “Now you’ve just gone and insulted me, woman.”

A corner of her mouth quirked.  She had a feeling pretty much everything she did annoyed, irritated, or insulted his manly pride in one way or another.  “How did I manage to do that?”

Kane swung again before answering.  “As long as blood is pumping through these veins, no female under my care will do a man’s work.”

“Excuse me?”  Hadn’t cavemen evolved a couple million years ago?

“You heard me.”

“What, you think I can’t swing an axe?”

Kane snorted, a sound so male it should have had a penis attached to it.  “This axe weighs more than you do, darlin’.”

Taryn bit back the retort that was on the tip of her tongue.  Kane was a stubborn man, as male as they came.  She would be much better off to pick her battles with him, and try something other than the direct approach. 

“You’re supposed to be teaching me what I need to know to live out in the woods by myself, remember?”

Kane exhaled heavily, suggesting exaggerated patience.  Resting the axe against the stump, he took out his handkerchief and wiped some of the dirt and sweat from his forehead. 

“After these past few days you still think you can survive on your own out here?” 

She stuck her chin out defiantly and narrowed her eyes.  She thought she’d been doing pretty damn good.  Apparently he disagreed.  “You don’t think I can do it, do you?”

“It’s not that I doubt your spirit, darlin’.  But you’re just not built for this.”  He took a long drink from the bottle of water she’d brought him earlier (the one she now wished she’d poured a few drops of ipecac into). 

“Is that right?” She asked, her voice going dangerously low.  If Kane noticed the little flames in her eyes, he chose to ignore them.  “May I ask, then, what it is you believe I
am
built for?”

Taking his time, he let his eyes graze her up and down, from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, deliberately letting them linger on some areas more than others.  A purely male grin tilted the corners of his lips, and his blue eyes sparkled, reminding her an awful lot of the way Ian had looked at her that first night in the bar.  “Cooking, of course,” he said, his grin widening.  He had tremendously white, perfect teeth, she noticed.  “And cleaning.  You stack a mean pile of firewood, too.”

It was hard to be angry with him when he was teasing her like this.  It was so decidedly un-Kane-like, and Taryn somehow knew she was seeing a side of him few others rarely saw. 

“Is that so?” she asked, her own eyes gaining a mischievous glint.

“It is.  Now go fetch me some of those cookies, woman.”

“Hmmphf.”  Taryn stalked off, his roaring laughter making her bite her lip to keep from laughing herself.  She disappeared around the side of the cabin, carefully maintaining her affronted posture.  She waited a few minutes until he bent over to pick up another log, then raced out on silent feet with a bucket of cold rainwater, emptying it over his head and back until he was completely drenched.

Kane stood slowly, shaking the water from his hair like a great big bear.  When he turned to her, he was not smiling, but his deep blue eyes
were
glowing.  Taryn didn’t think twice.  She
ran
.

Being much smaller than he was, she was able to scoot through the trees and change direction faster than he could.  She darted from one place to another, squealing and laughing each time he came close to grabbing her.  But his knowledge of the land, coupled with his much longer stride and reach, finally paid off.  Once he managed to catch her wrist, she was done for.

She screamed in protest as he unceremoniously threw her over his shoulder, landing a hard smack on her ass for good measure that had her howling.  He strode purposefully across the small clearing to one of the massive rain barrels at the corner of the cabin.

“You wouldn’t dare,” she hissed when she realized his intent.

“Bet me.”  He easily swung her around and put her feet first into the barrel, dunking her until she was completely submerged in the near-freezing water.  She came up sputtering and coughing, looking like a drowned rat.  Then Kane started laughing, a rich, deep bellow that echoed through the forest.

* * *

“W
ell?” Sean asked as Kieran held the powerful binoculars to his eyes.  They’d come in from the southwest, making slow, steady circles around the cabin, ensuring that there were no unwelcome visitors.  Still about a mile away, Kieran scaled a familiar tree and set his sights on the place.

Kieran pulled the lenses away and rubbed his eyes.  He had to be overtired, because what he was seeing just couldn’t be happening.  Impatiently Sean appeared beside him, pulling the glasses from his hand.

“Holy.  Fucking.  Shit.”

The brothers looked at each other, mouths agape.

“That is Kane, right?”

Kieran gave Sean an annoyed look.

“You gonna tell Jake about this?”

“Do I look suicidal to you, man?”

“Right.”

* * *

H
is brothers were around, Kane was sure of it, but it would be a while before they revealed themselves.  It worried him, because it meant that they had most likely confirmed the threat to Kiara, and were securing the area and setting up additional traps.

Kane tried to keep things as normal as possible.  Kiara still had no idea who he was, nor that the majority of his siblings were bearing down on them in full stealth mode.  He wasn’t quite sure how she was going to take it, but he was pretty certain it would not be well.  When she found out, he would just as soon have the backup of his brethren.

He caught her glancing at him a few times, as if she sensed something was different.  No one could survive on the run for any length of time without finely-honed instincts, so he wasn’t all that surprised.  What he needed was to provide a distraction. 

“How about I give you a back massage tonight?” he asked after they were settled in front of the fire for a little while.  She was anxious, on edge, ready for flight even though her muscles had to be aching.  After he’d gone in for a shower he’d spied her sneaking out and trying the big double-headed axe.  While inwardly he applauded her spirit, sometimes she was just too stubborn for her own good.

She lifted one brow in obvious amusement.  “You want to give me a massage?  Aren’t you afraid you might crush my little girly bones under your raw, primal male strength?”  Sweetly-spoken, her words dripped sarcasm.

Wench
.  Only he kind of liked her sass.  She was one of the few who had ever stood up to him.  No wonder Jake had it for her. He pinned her with a stern glare. “You’re mocking me.”

Her lips twitched.  “Only a little.”

The corners of his mouth quirked, as he patted his lap.  “Come here.”  She remained where she was, staring at him with those violet eyes.  “Look,” he said, “We both know you’re going to crawl over here eventually anyway, so you might as well make it sooner than later.”

A flushed pink rose up from her neck and into her cheeks.  It was the first time he’d mentioned anything about her curling up to him at night.  He made sure he was always gone by the time she woke up in the morning, but by mutually silent agreement, neither of them spoke of it.

“Please.”  He patted his leg again, his dark blue eyes glittering in the firelight.  Slowly, Taryn untucked her legs and rose to walk over to where he sat on the couch.

“Lay across my lap,” he instructed, tugging gently on her hand. 

Taryn was still hesitant, but he persisted, and she finally gave in.  He pulled a pillow alongside him for her to rest her head on, positioning her chest and hips across his massive legs.  His hands, as large as they were, covered most of her upper back easily.  He made a conscious effort to be gentle. 

Taryn moaned involuntarily as he began to knead around her shoulder blades, making him chuckle.  “Good, I take it?”

She mumbled something incoherent into the pillow.  After a few minutes she turned her head to the side.  “Tell me a story, Kane.”

He laughed.  “What kind of story?”

“What’s your family like?”

He snorted.  She’d met all of them already, but of course she didn’t know that.  “Big.  Loud.  Annoying as all hell.”

“Tell me about them.”

“I’d rather hear about yours.”

She stiffened beneath him and tried to pull away, but he held her firmly in place.  In her current position, she didn’t have much choice. 

“I already told you.  I don’t have a family.”

“But you did once.”

“Yes,” she agreed quietly.  “I did once.”

“What happened?”

It was several long moments before Taryn exhaled heavily and spoke the words he’d never expected to hear.  “I killed them.”

Kane’s hands stilled.  He was not a man who was easily surprised, but even he was stunned by her words.  She waited, holding her breath, no doubt wondering what he would do.  Within seconds his fingers started moving again. 

“You don’t strike me as the type,” he said evenly.  Where once he would have considered it a definite possibility, he was now in one hundred percent agreement with Jake and Ian’s insistence that she’d been as much of a victim as the rest of her family.  Except maybe they’d been the lucky ones.  Who knew what she must have endured in the months following the executions.  Just the thought of anyone harming her in any way had his protective instincts flaring to life.

“I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t want to believe it.  Now they’re all dead, and it’s my fault.”

The fire crackled in the silence, the only sound except for the occasional shifting of a log.

“Tell me,” he coaxed, his voice a deep, almost hypnotic command.

F
or a brief moment, Taryn actually considered it.  She’d never spoken of that night or the torturous months afterward with anyone, not even Charlie.  How her soul ached with the guilt of what her ignorance had cost her family.

As if it was yesterday, she remembered waking to find Gavin sitting on the side of her bed, watching her as she slept.  Before she could say a word, he covered her mouth with one hand and held her down with the other.

“It’s me, Gavin,” he told her.  “I just want to talk to you, Kiara,” he whispered.  She stopped struggling right away.  Gavin was her father’s personal bodyguard. Only a couple of years older than her, he had proven himself time and time again. Fear for her father overrode everything else.  He moved his hand away from her mouth, but kept the other lightly across her hips.

“Gavin! You scared me!  Is everything okay?  Is there something wrong with Dad?”

The moonlight shone through the huge glass doors that led out to her private balcony, throwing his features into an eerie relief.  He had such an odd look on his face for a few moments.  She felt uneasy, but pushed it off, sure she was imagining things.

“Your father’s fine, Kiara,” he said, his voice quiet.  “It’s you I’m worried about.”

She sat up, shifting beneath him so that his hand now rested on her thigh instead.  It made her uncomfortable to have him touching her like that, but she felt weird about saying something.  After all, it was Gavin.  He’d been with them for years, and he’d give his life to keep her father safe.

“Me?” she asked, confused.  “What have I done?”

“You tell me.”  He studied her face intently, searching.  For what exactly, she had no idea.

“Gavin?” 

He stared hard at her for a good, long minute, before his features relaxed slightly.

“Is this about my date?” she asked suspiciously.  She had gone on her first “real” date that night with Bobby Harrison.  Bobby attended the exclusive boy’s prep school that often held joint events with her Catholic girls’ school, and was the star forward on his high school basketball team. 

“Tell me about it,” Gavin said.  “Did he try anything?”

Kiara laughed, all of the tension leaving her in a great rush.  “No!” she assured him.  She should have known it was about something like this.  Gavin was almost as protective of her as her father.  “We held hands in the movie theater, but that’s it.”

“Did he put his arm around you?  Grope you?  Try to kiss you?”

“No, no, and no,” she said, blushing.  “He was a perfect gentleman, Gavin.”

“There is no such thing,” Gavin muttered.  “Boys only think about one thing, Kiara.”

“Do you?”  Even now Taryn remembered the innocence of her question, the genuine curiosity.  Up to that point, she had led a pretty strict, sheltered life, with none of the knowledge most girls her age had about boys and sex.

“I am a man, Kiara, not a boy.”  His voice was quieter, huskier.

She had considered that for a moment, completely oblivious to the danger.  Gavin wasn’t that old - mid-twenties at the most - but he was one of the best when it came to security.  She overheard her father bragging to a fellow senator that Gavin, for all of his all-American, boy-next-door good looks, was one of the deadliest men he’d ever known.  As true as that might have been, she never saw any evidence of it.  She only knew that she always felt safe around him, and because of his relatively young age, she felt more comfortable with him than the other secret-service types.  Gavin was more like another big brother, really.  Part of the family.

“Is it different for men, then?” she had asked.

The clock ticked several times before he answered.  “No.”  Gavin’s eyes burned, even in the moonlight. 

Taryn felt a sudden shiver go down her spine, finally realizing she’d said something she probably shouldn’t have.  She lowered her eyes in embarrassment. 

“Go back to sleep, Kiara,” he said, placing a light kiss on her forehead as he rose to his feet.

“Goodnight, Gavin,” she said quietly.  “Don’t worry so much, okay?”

He smiled down at her.  “It’s my job, Kiara.”

She remembered thinking how odd it was that he said that, because Gavin was her father’s security man, not hers.  When she mentioned something to her father about it the next day, he simply told her that Gavin was a good man and was looking out for all of them.