Seductive Knight (5 page)

“Or willingly.”

“Right. I hope this woman you left at my house isn’t a drinker. Last time, I baby sat a woman who drank and danced until she passed out on the floor.”

“Did you pick her up?”

“I would have if she didn’t weight over three hundred pounds. Stop laughing, damn you.”

“So you left her on the floor.”

“Dickhead, I made sure she was comfortable on the floor. She was gone the next day.” The woman left a thank you note and the only dollar she had in her pocket. When he told Bors, his brother made sure the woman got her money back. Then some. To keep her going at least for a week.

“I take it she isn’t the one you’ve been searching for?”

Egad! Even Edmund knew he was on a hunt for his soulmate. Kirsten most likely told him. “No. She didn’t make me hard.”

“That’s where your problem lies, Knight. Finding the right one isn’t all about whether she can make you hard.”

“Really, now,” Gawain said, his tone heavy with sarcasm.

“Knight, when you find the right one, you’ll know. You’ll just know. It’s crazy, really. She’ll make you feel like tasting crème brulee the first time, or feel the heat of the sun during the coldest winter. She’ll make you want the days to never end. Crazy.” Edmund chuckled.

For a minute Gawain forgot about his headache. He wanted to experience what Edmund had just explained. “Yeah, crazy.”

“All right. Go home, Knight.”

Bors always left a woman at his house when he was back in Orcas. Not this early. “I can’t leave work this early. I have students, man.” Jamming the pencil in his pencil sharpener, Gawain watched as it grew smaller and smaller. Sharpening pencils had been his way of passing the time while waiting for calls from clients who wanted sightseeing tours or calls from his instructors.

As the owner, he was the Chief Instructor, but since the number of his students taking flight lessons grew, mostly female, he gave up the position. They giggled and most of the time batted their lashes at him instead of listening to his lessons.

His company provided Sport Pilot, Private Pilot, Instrument Training, Seaplane, Advanced Training, and Instrument Proficiency. Around Seattle, his company rated the best. And he wouldn’t put his name on the line because of the female students who would rather chat with him.

Gawain took another pencil to sharpen, then changed his mind and started doodling, making circles. He stopped when he realized what he’d scribbled resembled a pair of breasts. Jesus.

“Sorry, man. I think you’ll have to leave your desk early today. Hey, I’m on duty at Swedish. See your visitor. She’s all yours.”

“Damn it, I’m still in Seattle. Bors always waited until I reached Orcas before leaving anyone at my home.”

“This is a special case, fly man. And it’s Friday. Your employees know you always come home on Fridays. Tell them you have to leave early. It’s not like you’ve never done it before.”

“Tell me this, Edmund. You went to Orcas just to deliver this woman at my doorstep and then you’re going back to Seattle?”

“I was told to do that.”

“Pussy.”

“Fuck you. I’ll see you next Sunday, man. You’ll be there, right?”

“Of course.” He wouldn’t bail on any family get together. He was proud of his family and loved them more than life itself. Even though sometimes, he just couldn’t stop feeling so fucking jealous of his brothers and their luck.

“All right. I’ll give you another chance to beat me in poker and get your three grand back.”

He’d give it to Edmund. The man was a fucking genius when it comes to poker. None of the Knights were happy when Edmund joined them on a poker night. “How much did Bors lose?”

“Five.”

“Son of a bitch.”

“I have a ticker. I know how many times you cursed.”

Gawain fished a coin in his pocket and dropped it on a fishbowl sitting on top of his table. The coin made a loud clink. His secretary heard it and looked at him shaking her heard. “Heard that sound? I don’t need you to count how many times I curse. I pay all the time.”

All the Knights grew up with a potty mouth. Their mom had got tired of telling them to stop, so she’d made a house rule that whenever they cursed they’d have to put a quarter in their respective coin jar. Bors had always been the first to fill his jar.

“Mom never required us to pay whenever we curse.”

Edmund’s words sobered Gawain. He knew Edmund had come from a big family of five children. When their father died from a brain tumor that took all of their money and home away, at a very young age of thirteen, Edmund started working by mucking up horse stalls to help put food on the table. He’d give it to the guy. Hardship had only made Edmund work harder.

“A good thing, then. Because your mouth is as dirty as Bors’s.” Gawain’s stomach growled. “I’m stopping by at the Cabin Tavern.”

“Gawain, fuck it! Go home and see your woman.”

“For the record, she is not my woman.”

“Fine. You’ll regret it if you don’t go now. She’s eager to go someplace else.”

“Not a bad idea.” Grinning, he shoved the pencil in the electric sharpener again while sandwiching his cell phone between his jaw and shoulder.

“Don’t be an ass, man.”

“Well, hell. Sounds like this woman would rather be anywhere than my house.”

“Yes, but I promised your brothers she’d be at your house when you get there. If she disappears, Bors will have my balls.”

“So?”

“Fuck you.”

Gawain laughed. “She has a friend, Edmund. And that’s bad?”

“No. But bad would be taking her someplace else instead of your house. I don’t want to end up Bors’s whipping post.”

“Edmund, if she has a friend, then maybe—”

“No. She’s staying with you. And don’t you fucking dare stop by the Cabin Tavern or I’ll fucking break your nose.”

“Ho! Calm down, Chief.” Every Friday, he would stop by Cabin Tavern, the only place where he could get fucking awesome soup and sandwiches. Now, he had to forgo his trip there because of another woman waiting for him. “I’ll go. Just so you know, it’ll take me another hour before I can leave here.”

“You know, Knight. Don’t let this moment pass you by. You might regret it.”

“Regret what? That she might get impatient and leave to see her friend?”

“Yeah, yeah. Laugh now. I’ll laugh later. Well, I got to go. One day, my friend, you, too, will find your match. And when that happens, you’ll melt even on the coldest day of the year. Mark my words.”

It was obvious Edmund and Kirsten had been in love with each other. His sister was Edmund’s sunshine on a cold day. So why hadn’t he proposed to her yet? What was he waiting for? “Have you melted yet, Edmund? Have you found her yet?” He knew the answer, but he asked anyway.

“Come on, man.”

“What are you waiting for?”

“For the right time. Love is not the only factor that we should consider when making a lifetime decision, Knight.”

“Well, just make sure my sister doesn’t get pregnant first or I swear to God, I’ll have Teta cut your fucking dick.” Despite his throbbing headache, Gawain grinned when he thought he heard Edmund whimper.

“You have my word, brother. Hey, we’re not talking about me. Don’t let this woman wait. She told me she’s really tired.”

“Well, you should have kept her until I get home.”

“Told you I’m on duty at Swedish in a few hours. Just go see her. I like this woman. She’s interesting, lovely, and—”

“Enough, Edmund.” His head throbbed like a son of a bitch. “Headache is getting worse.”

“Well, time to go home, then. See if she’s your match,” Edmund chuckled.

Match
. A sardonic smile formed on his lips as the image of young girl flashed before him. Alex.

Gawain’s dad had once told him that Alex Rose, a gangly green-eyed girl with bony knees and arms as thin as twigs, was his match. She reminded him of Kirsten. A brat that you couldn’t resist liking. He would never forget how she ruined his brand new shoes by dumping paint all over them. She was just eight when his brothers started teasing him about her. When she turned ten, she asked him to marry her.

Then, she and her mother disappeared. A week later, Clayton, Alex’s dad was killed in a freaking plane accident. His stepsister and stepmother didn’t know what happened or why Molly left, but the women believed that Molly was having an affair and ran away with her lover, taking Alex and the family jewels.

The Knight family had a hard time believing it. Everyone thought the Roses were tight, but then they could have had just been putting up a face.

He never really forgot Alex, though. Many times, he found himself wondering where she went and whether she and Molly were okay.

Yeah, he’d been annoyed when his brothers and even his father teased him about Alex. But when she disappeared, he missed seeing her and her mischievous green eyes. He even thought about her, especially when his nephew Lucan smeared tempera paint all over their newly painted living room.

Where is she now?
Married maybe? With kids? Or working like the rest of the world?

He looked outside. Kat, his seaplane, had been prepped earlier. “I’ll be in the house in twenty.” The best thing about owning a plane was he could travel without having to deal with the traffic. “Am I right to assume she’s inside the house?”

“Yes.”

“Kirsten gave you the key?”

“No. She told me about the fake rock. Took me a while to figure out which one was fake, though. All right, I’m done talking to you, bear. You’ve got an awesome girl waiting for you.”

“Yeah, right. You don’t even know her yourself.”

“Just take my word.”

“Fine. Hey, I’m going to Kirsten’s pad one of these days. Make sure you don’t leave your boxers for me to see.” With a grin, he hung up the phone. He didn’t want to think about his baby sister intimate with another man. Whether he liked it or not, his sister had grown into a beautiful woman who, without a doubt, had been sleeping already with Edmund. Egad!

Damn. Another woman. One thing the Knights wouldn’t stand for was abusing women. Women were made to love, pamper, take care of. Not to hurt. He’d help Bors, but his brother’s fight to help save lost women and children was comparable to shoving shit against the tide. Unless the government did something to help.

Leaving everything to his secretary, he grabbed his keys and walked out of his office.

Time to fly.

Chapter Four

From where she sat, Alex stared at the grand house. The living room alone was bigger than Nanni’s humble home. Two burgundy leather reclining chairs sat in the middle of the room facing the fireplace, flanked by two lovely light brown couches. Interestingly, the couches looked so feminine, with throw pillows and soft looking blankets draped over the back decorating them.

Above the fireplace hung a huge television. She’d never seen anything like it—almost like a mini movie screen. Nice, she thought. Bookshelves lined one wall. Airplane models covered the other. A coffee mug sat on top of the magazines on the coffee table. Alex sniffed the air. It smelled clean, with the warm addition of just-baked bread.

Except for the feminine-looking couches, no flower vases or curtains gave any indications that a woman lived here.

So this is Gawain’s home.

Her parents had been friends with the Knights. She’d met them all, but she’d been drawn to Gawain. Maybe because he’d hung out at their house more than his brothers so he could talk to her dad. He was also the one who had paid her attention. Like her dad, Gawain was now a pilot and teaching flying lessons as well. Wow. So his dreams came true.

Scrunching her nose, Alex focused her attention on the beautiful paintings hanging on the wall. Most of them featured airplanes—old models and new.

The house was fully furnished. It had been a long time since she’d laid her eyes on expensive stuff like this. In Palawan, old hand-made products surrounded her, all beaten, and re-patched.

She ran her hand on the couch armrest. Smooth and shiny. Real leather, she bet. She’d been sitting down since Edmund left. Seemed like that was what she’d been doing all day.

She yawned. Afraid she’d fall asleep on the couch while waiting for Gawain, she stood up.

Her eyes wandered, then settled on the portrait hung above the short bookcase. She stepped closer to look at the young man in a white uniform with a pin shaped like wings attached just above his left side pocket. It was Gawain.

A knot in her stomach stirred the feelings she’d hidden since she was a little girl, a feeling that she thought she had forgotten until now. He was no longer the boy she remembered him to be, but a grown man.

A handsome pilot, she thought to herself. Now, he would make women not only twitter, but also swoon. Surely women felt that way whenever he was around.

I knew you would turn out to be a handsome guy!

He could be a book cover model. If she were a writer, she’d base her hero on him. Just look! He had the complete package, all right.

Alex stared at the picture. No way would she recognize Gawain if she bumped into him. He had changed. The boyish look she well remembered was gone. This man had a stern look on his chiseled face. His deep-sea blue eyes still held that impish look, but not of a boy anymore. And if he had changed that much, she must have, too.

“What a handsome devil,” she said aloud.

“Thank you.”

Surprised, Alex swung around briskly, her long skirt wrapping around her legs in the process. She found herself looking at a stranger.

Stranger.
Hard to believe he was once the young man she’d followed around. The one who wore his nice shoes at her party, but she’d ruined them. The one who had given her her first kiss and whom she missed like crazy. Even after so many years had passed, he could still make her heart beat wildly.

Of all the people, Gawain had to be the first one she had to see from her past.

She stood and drank in his image. How he had changed.

Taller and with long suntanned arms that could wrap around her body with more to spare. And his legs! Goodness, Ema had long limbs, but Gawain had one of those brawny bodies pictured on the cover of her novels—long, muscular, and so perfectly sculpted. The faded blue jeans that needed ironing and black shirt he wore gave him a contour that made her want to touch him, feel his muscles move.