Tapestry of the Past (33 page)

Gabriel didn’t even spare her a glance. “You’re going.”

“I’m not hurt that badly. It’s barely a scratch,” she protested, a hint of panic in her voice. “I hate hospitals. A few aspirin and I’ll be as good as new in the morning,” she told him, a mulish expression on her lovely face.

“
Kalesia
,” Wolf said, coming into the conversation. “You’re bleeding. You need to see a doctor.”

“Some friend you are,” she retorted, her voice gaining spirit for a moment. “Friends are supposed to listen, to help, not force their friends into hospitals against their will. You’re on Gabriel’s side, not mine.” Her bottom lip trembled.

“Don’t listen to her,” Gabriel advised. “She’ll drive a man daft.” He slanted a glance down at the suspiciously quiet woman. “You’re going to the hospital if I have to bind your hands and feet and bodily toss your ass into the emergency room,” he threatened to hide his surge of relief. His witch was up to fighting with him. She was going to be all right.

“Don’t you just love it when he goes all autocratic and stern?”
Kalesia
asked Wolf. “
Kinda
reminds me of Hannibal when I first got him. Of course,” she continued, a hint of acerbic tartness in the husky tones, “I cured Hannibal of that bad habit by neutering him.”

Both men paled slightly at that image. Satisfied she’d made her point,
Kalesia
lapsed into silence.

* * * * *

“I told you, Gabriel. I hate hospitals,”
Kalesia
stated several hours later. To emphasize her complaint, she poked one finger against his broad chest. Gabriel captured her hand, refusing to let go even when she tugged.

“Quit whining. The doctor wants to keep you at least overnight. You’re staying.”

And that was that, she thought, disgruntled. The master had spoken. She peeked at him from beneath lowered lashes. If arguing didn’t work, maybe a little sugar instead of spice, would. She let what she hoped was a beguiling smile curve her lips. “But I feel so much better. I’d rather be at home, with you. Besides, I want to find out what happened with Senator
Morne
.”

A wide grin softened the severe lines of his mouth.

Kalesia
cursed her spurt of truthfulness. The man wasn’t above blackmailing her into doing as he wished.

“Fluttering your lashes at me won’t work,” Gabriel told her dryly. “Even though it’s just a deep crease, the doctor wants to be certain you don’t go into shock.”

“But, Gabriel…” she began.

“No.”

“Oh, all right,”
Kalesia
conceded with a decided lack of grace. “But all they’ll want to do is stick needles in me and take my last drop of blood. Vampires every one of them.” She picked up the hand lying on her stomach, kissing the scarred knuckles, pleased when she heard Gabriel’s indrawn breath.

“At least tell me what you found out.”

Gabriel sat on the side of the bed, his thumb caressing her lower lip with open sensual pleasure. “They said no excitement,” he reminded her perversely.

“Trust me. If you don’t hurry up and tell me what you found out, things are liable to get downright hot around here,”
Kalesia
threatened, glowering at him.

“Promise you’ll give no more arguments about staying here until the doctor releases you?”

“Oh, all right. I promise, not another word.” Blast. She knew she shouldn’t have made that slip.

He relented. “Harley found out the identity of the man killed two years ago. His name was Daniel Pressman.”

“Why was
Morne
so worried? He’d gotten away with murder for over two years.”

“At the time of his death, Pressman was under investigation for smuggling drugs into the county. He used an isolated pasture as a landing strip. We suspect
Morne
used him to move the drugs from South America. With Pressman’s death, a lot of pressure was taken off the case. Harley just didn’t have the manpower and the DEA had other cases needing immediate attention.”

“So,”
Kalesia
said slowly, working it out in her head, “
Morne
feared exposure if the Pressman case was reopened?”

“That’s about the size of it.”

“How did
Morne
know so much about your career?”

“You heard him say he was in Intelligence?”
Kalesia
nodded. “Once our paths crossed, he made it his business to keep tabs on me. The power he garnered enabled him to do so. He was head of the Senate Arms Committee and sat on the committees that handled Central and South American affairs.”

Kalesia
considered that. “So, not only was he able to make sure you posed no threat to him but the Senator used the contacts he formed to run an arms and drug empire?”

“That’s about it.”

“What about
Morne
now?”

“He’s being held on a number of state and federal charges, not the least of which is murder and attempted murder. His arrest has already made the news services. From what I hear, several countries are screaming to get their hands on him. The courts will have to sort out who gets him first. As long as they leave him to rot in a cell, I don’t care.” Gabriel dismissed
Morne
with a shrug.

“What about what he did to you, Gabriel?”
Kalesia
asked, worried. Could he really let it go just like that?

His eyes hardened. “If he’s lucky, he’ll rot in prison. If he gets some slippery-assed lawyer to get him off, I’ll personally book him a passage to Hell.”

“Are you sorry I stopped you from killing him? I know how badly you wanted vengeance.” It worried
Kalesia
that one day Gabriel might hold her actions against her, begin to hate her for not allowing him the revenge he had dreamed of, no, lived for, for so many years.

Gabriel brought her palm to his mouth, pressing a soft kiss directly in the center. His tongue tickled the sensitive palm.

She felt a reflex quiver of desire down low in her stomach.

He met her gaze squarely. “I have enough blood on my hands in your eyes. I don’t need his. Not anymore.” His traced an intricate pattern before teasing the soft pad of flesh at the base of her fingers, setting
Kalesia’s
nerve endings on fire.

“Even if you had killed him, I would still love you. I did it for you, Gabriel. You didn’t need another face in the dark.” Her fingers curled at the sensations he was so expertly eliciting. He knew her so well.

Kalesia
could feel her lashes begin to drift downward as the painkiller a nurse had given her earlier started to take effect. She struggled to keep them open.

“Go to sleep, sugar.” He bent and brushed her lips with his.

She blinked hard, fighting the medication. “You won’t leave me?”

“I won’t leave. When you wake up, I’ll be here,” he vowed softly, brushing aside the hospital’s regulations.

“You never did tell me where you stood on pacifism,”
Kalesia
mumbled.

“I’m more the fire and brimstone, retribution and justice sort of fellow, myself,” Gabriel growled, sounding stern.

“
Mmm
. Tell me more.” Her eyes closed. She snapped them open, blinking several times.

“On our wedding night,” Gabriel said, a wealth of promise in the simple statement.

“Gabriel? I love you.”

His throat worked. “I love you too, witch.”

Epilogue

Lying on the bed, arms crossed behind his head, Gabriel waited for his wife to come out of the bathroom.

“Wife.”

Gabriel savored the sound on his tongue. “Wife.” He’d never get tired of saying it. It’d take more than forty or fifty years to get over the wonder of actually possessing a witch. Not many men were so fortunate.

A small chuckle escaped as Gabriel remembered the wedding. He’d be willing to bet a full year’s profit from his nursery that it was the first wedding where the bride wore bright, sunshine yellow.

Her mother had seemed resigned.

Della
Brannigan
was, much to his surprise, very like her daughter. He had expected someone cold and distant. Had been prepared to dislike her on sight. Instead, he was charmed and saddened by both her and
Kalesia’s
father. The reception had been the first time he had been alone with the woman. She appeared at his side, her eyes on her daughter as
Kalesia
, to her mother’s bewilderment, was surrounded by a sea of intrigued men.

The small, dainty woman sighed. “At least she had the sense not to have those cats in the wedding party.”

Gabriel looked down at the woman. It was obvious that Mrs.
Brannigan
loved her daughter. She just hadn’t the slightest idea of what to do with her. “I explained that being surrounded by so many strangers would upset Cannibal.”

She chuckled. “Smart man.” She slanted him a glance from the corner of her eye. “Cannibal? I thought his name was Hannibal.”

“It is.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I decided Cannibal suited him better. God knows, that damn cat draws my blood every chance he gets.” For a while there, he had actually entertained the idea that they might possibly get along. He was willing to bend that far to please
Kalesia
. Besides, Hannibal had fought on his side against Pompano. Gabriel guessed he had forgotten to inform that seven-toed beast of his change of heart.

“What does
Kalesia
think of the new name?” Della asked her new son-in-law, a curious tilt to her elegantly coiffed head.

“I haven’t told her yet,” Gabriel admitted with a quirk to his mouth. She started laughing.

Della became serious, pinning Gabriel with a very direct gaze that was more than a little reminiscent of
Kalesia
. “Take care of my daughter, Mr. Steele. She deserves some happiness.” She hesitated. “I know I haven’t been the best of mothers. I never could understand that psychic stuff. But she loves you. I’ve never seen her so supremely confident. She has absolute trust in you, Gabriel Steele. Make her happy or you’ll have to deal with me.”

“I intend to.” Della
Brannigan
would blanch if she ever began to comprehend the bond between
Kalesia
and him. However, that wasn’t something he was willing to share, not even with
Kalesia’s
mother. The unique bond he and
Kalesia
had was private.

Kalesia
had actually experienced his pain and rage. The fact that she had literally crept into years-old emotion, his emotion, still amazed him.

Gabriel took a healthy taste of the punch and had to suppress a fit of coughing. The pink concoction packed a hidden wallop. He made a mental note to tell Wolf to keep Badger away from the punch bowl before the reception turned into a drunken brawl.
Kalesia
would never forgive him if he allowed her wedding day to be ruined.

“My daughter has made some unusual acquaintances lately,” the older woman began delicately.

Gabriel smiled, appreciating her tact. “Badger?” he asked, a slight wheeze in his voice. “He was honored to be
Kalesia’s
maid of honor.” Waiting at the altar, Gabriel had held his breath when the minister caught sight of the crusty CIA agent preceding the bride. The minister had blinked once, twice and then again at the neon purple cummerbund and matching jacket. To his credit, he had recovered his aplomb and begun the ceremony with hardly a pause.

“And his colors went so well with my daughter’s,” she said, a dry note of amusement in her musical voice.

Even in her fifties, the woman was a knockout. She smiled, reminding him again of
Kalesia
. She possessed the same impish amusement.

“But that isn’t exactly what I meant. I may be naïve, Mr. Steele but even I can tell there is something most unusual about the majority of the guests present. Most of them seem cut from the same piece of dough.”

Gabriel choked on the cautious sip of punch he had just taken. Wait until Wolf heard that some of the government’s best agents were lumped together with raw cookies! His eyes sought out
Kalesia
wanting to share his amusement with her.

A dark frown wiped out his amusement. He could barely see her surrounded as she was by wave after wave of remarkably similar suits.

Della was right. They all did look alike. Gabriel saw the curiosity and fascination on the men’s faces as they listened to
Kalesia’s
every word.

And he knew the reason.

They wanted to meet the woman with the warm, husky voice who dared to read erotic love scenes when she knew local and government authorities were recording every word.

Gabriel had done his best to kill the interest and speculation but, despite his best efforts, word had gotten around about that stunt. Of course, Wolf, Sam and Badger hadn’t helped one iota. The idiots had laughed themselves sick relating the way he had damned near crawled the walls because he couldn’t monitor
Kalesia’s
reading habits.

As a result half the sheriff’s office plus the government personnel involved in the operation, had begged, borrowed or stolen invitations so they could see firsthand the woman who was capable of putting Gabriel Steele through the loops. Thank God only a privileged few knew exactly what a feat his new bride had managed.

And
Kalesia
just laughed and smiled with them all. He’d wasted his time giving her a lecture on the value of propriety. Obviously, nothing he’d said had made the slightest impact. He’d have to do something about that later.

And there was still that matter of explaining his stand on a little judiciously applied retribution.

Gabriel rubbed his forefinger up and down the cool glass. He looked forward to “discussing” the matter with her.

With a start, he remembered Della. “They’re just paying their respects because she was critical in apprehending Senator
Morne
.” Gabriel deliberately left the impression that was the whole story.

“Uh-huh,” she agreed with a distinct air of disbelief.

It was with a sense of relief that Gabriel saw Harley motioning to him. He excused himself with more haste than grace.
Kalesia
and her mother definitely shared some traits. It made a man uncomfortable the way they looked at him with clear gazes that saw more than the surface.