Kandis pushed away her negative thoughts and concentrated on the moment. She needed to make the most of it before she dropped her bombshell and it inevitably changed his perception of her.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Kandis
The sun was already up when she woke but to be fair it had been the middle of the night before they had given in to sleep after another marathon sex session. She stretched her hand above her head luxuriously and smiled as the bedroom door opened and Liam came in with a breakfast tray piled high with food, coffee and a small bunch of wilting pansies in a glass.
“I stole them from the pots on the porch,” he grinned and her chest swelled at the sweet gesture. There wouldn’t be many places this early in the year to get flowers.
“They are lovely and I’m starved.” she tucked into the bacon and eggs and pulled a pancake from the stack, popping a chunk in her mouth. “Is this all for me?”
“I had mine earlier and went for a short run. Looks like there are some people at the other cabin but they may be moving out. We should go down and have a look after you have finished eating.”
“She nodded as she ate another pancake and leaned back to finish her coffee, her stomach full for now, “I will cook dinner tonight, you have been spoiling me,” she said but he took the tray and waved away her concerns.
“I enjoy spoiling you, darlin, I never thought I would be lucky enough to get the chance.”
At times like this, he could look so vulnerable. Most people knew him as the persona he had cultured as pack enforcer, rough and tough but there was such a sweet side to him that most of them would never know. He was one of the strongest in the pack and he towered above Kandis, but he was also incredibly kind and generous and she fought her attraction to him for so long.
She had tried to convince herself that she wanted Seann but that was merely a defense mechanism because as handsome as he was, she wasn’t actually attracted to Seann and he wasn’t attracted to her. He was a safety net for the vulnerable scared woman that she was before. Seann had since found his mate in Imogen and they fit perfectly together.
She showered and dressed in record time, eager to cram as much time into their days together as possible. Her jean leggings and brown leather hiking boots were ideal for the steep trails. She pulled a cream woolen sweater over her t-shirt and left her hair loose hanging down past her waist. She knew Liam loved her hair this long, especially when she was completely naked and she was happy to give him what he wanted.
They walked hand in hand down the dirt track road and she smiled a little at how romantically cheesy they were as a couple, she would never have thought it of either of them but it was just how they were and she loved it. Liam was as ‘chest-beating male as a man could be but she surprised herself by how little she minded. He treated her as his equal, but she also loved that he had a protective streak where she was concerned.
He would make an awesome father.
Where the hell had that thought sprung from! They were a brand-new couple, brand new mates and now she was fantasizing about his daddy capabilities, shit!
They hadn’t used a condom, not one single time.
He probably thought she was on the pill or something, they had never discussed it. She felt her wolf crow deep inside. Liam stopped and turned to face her.
“Is everything okay?”
She looked at the concern in his eyes.
“We never used any birth control and we have had sex dozens of times.”
He grinned and she relaxed a little.
“We haven’t even discussed it, Liam. don’t you think we should?”
He shrugged, completely unconcerned.
“I’m ready but if you’re not, we can wait a while.”
“Are you always this laid back about things.”
“Only when it concerns you, Kandis.”
He took her hands in his.
“We are mated for life and I want to have babies with you. I think you would be an awesome mother but you are so much younger than me, so if you want to wait, we will wait,” he said and her heart filled with love for this gorgeous man who was now her life partner.
“It could be too late now anyway, but I think we should just let nature take its course.” she grinned.
Suddenly the thought of carrying Liam’s child filled her with joy and Kandis wondered whether he was secretly a magician. Everything he touched in his life was good and pure and he was healing her faster than she could have ever wished for.
He pulled her toward him for a kiss and she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeper. He groaned and set her away from him.
“I am going to burst through these pants if we don’t stop now.” he grimaced and she chuckled as they resumed their walk down the hill toward the other cabin.
The air was cool, but the sun was shining and she was warm in her sweater. It took them about twenty minutes at a slower pace, but they were in no hurry and when they reached the cabin an older man and woman were sitting outside enjoying the sun. There was a rental van in front and it did look as though they were moving out.
“Hello there,” the woman called out and they walked over to talk to them.
Both looked to be in their late sixties and were friendly and just a little curious about them.
Kandis sat down on the wooden step and Liam stood behind her as they introduced themselves and the couple said they were Maryanne and Geoff Turner and were selling up to move out west, nearer their grandchildren.
“We already sold our house in the city and this was under contract, but it fell through a few days ago. We will leave it with the realtor and we are selling the larger pieces of furniture with the house but we still have a bunch of personal stuff to load into the van. I don’t suppose you know anyone in the market for a nice mountain cabin?” he joked but Liam folded his arms and looked at the property.
“Can we have a look around?”
“Sure, go ahead, there are boxes everywhere, but you can still see around them.”
Kandis was a little embarrassed to be going through the cabin when their stuff was still inside but she followed Liam from room to room and admitted it was a nice cabin. It was a little old fashioned but nothing that a few trips to the store couldn’t put right. It was about the same size as the one they were staying in minus the mezzanine floor.
They went back outside and Liam insisted on carrying the rest of the boxes to the truck for them and Kandis helped. Between them they did it in just over an hour and she took a glass of lemonade from Maryanne who kept saying how grateful she was for their help.
“You two must work out a lot, you are super fit,” Geoff said and Kandis smiled.
“We work out most days.” she stifled a grin.
“Are you newlyweds?”
“Yes, we are actually on our honeymoon,” Liam said before she had a chance to answer, “The cabin belongs to a friend of ours, he just recently bought it.”
“We were friends with the Delaney’s who sold it to him and our other friends across the way are talking about selling up too, it will end up deserted up here on the mountain.” Maryanne sighed, “There are already too many cabins lying empty.”
“How much land comes with this cabin?” Liam asked and Geoff stood up and pointed away in the distance.
“We own everything up to the border of Francine and Marvin's cabin to the west and across to the east until it reaches all the way around the mountain, although there is nothing built on that face, it’s just too steep. We have about thirty acres going down and around and I think your friend owns everything above, his property has the biggest parcel of land, about fifty acres I believe. Between the three cabins, we own the entire top of this mountain but only about a third of it is suitable for building on. I have plans around here somewhere, we were all given a set when the cabins were all newly built. I will have a look and see if I can find them.”
Liam looked at Kandis and he had a ghost of a smile on his face.
�
��I would be interested in buying the cabin, Geoff if you can wait until we go back home again at the weekend.
He told him the asking price and Liam nodded knowing it was fair.
“Here’s my attorney’s number.” he scribbled the number on the back of a receipt. “He can wire the money to you on Monday and if you have the paperwork ready for me to sign, we have a deal. I will call him today and he can wire you ten thousand dollars now as a deposit to hold the property. I would also appreciate it if you could tell your friends Francine and Marvin that we may know someone who would be interested in theirs as well.”
The couple looked a little shell shocked but delighted and Geoff wrote down his phone number and Marvin’s too. He also wrote down the address, but he wasn’t aware that they were probably going to go across country to have a look at the third cabin before approaching them.
They said goodbye and began walking back up the hill and Kandis waited until they were far away from them before she spoke.
“What’s going on, Liam?”
“Seann has been talking about selling the land that our current mountain retreat stands on because the land around there is being developed too quickly for comfort. It is within a two-hour commute to the city, so everyone is jumping on the bandwagon and it’s getting a little too crowded for us.
“This would be a fabulous alternative and it’s much closer to home. We still have a couple of years before at least some of us who are better known around town will have to move on and it would give us time to build many new cabins to accommodate people. Garrett may be interested in the other cabin and between us, we would effectively own a chunk of the mountain. In the meantime, we could be up here whenever we needed a break.”
“That’s a lot of money and a lot of people to accommodate, where would you get the money to build all of those cabins,” she asked.
“Some people would want to build their own and the pack would build others for low rent, same as they do in the compound. The land we would sell is worth a lot more because of its location and would cover most of the cost of what we would have to do here, with a huge chunk left over to invest back into the pack. He explained how much they would likely receive from the sale of the mountain retreat and the difference in prices being this far away from the city.
They reached the top of the steep hill and she turned to face him.
“How do you know so much about all of this?” she looked a little puzzled.
“I learned from the best,” he said sarcastically.
She waited for him to explain and he took a deep breath and sighed.
“Have you heard of Richard Hamilton-Danvers?”
“The real estate mogul, who hasn’t.” she shrugged.
Liam rubbed his hand across the stubble on his face and a muscle twitched on his face as he clenched his teeth.
“He was my father!”
CHAPTER NINE
Liam
“But your last name is McGuire.”
“I took my Mom’s last name when he left us.”
“He was a wolf, no wonder he was so young and good looking.”
“He was a rotten bastard who broke my mother's heart.”
She linked her arm in his as they came up onto the cabin porch.
“He left her when he discovered that a society wife would do much more to further his career than a stay at home mother who really had no marketable skills. He discarded her without a backward glance and married Ursula Flemming Courtney, daughter of Senator Abner J. Courtney. His father-in-law was one of the richest men in the country.”
“He has other kids too doesn’t he?”
“I have two half-brothers and a half-sister, but I have never met them. They are a few years younger than me.”
“What happened to your Mom?”
“She died of a broken heart many years ago. The son of a bitch is also dead now, about five years ago but I didn’t go to his funeral, why would I. The packs don’t like it when wolves become too well known, it’s okay being prominent in a small town but to be known throughout the country is another thing altogether. He had to artificially put gray streaks in his hair to look a little older, but people often commented on how young he looked.”
“At least he gave you something useful,” she said with a smile as she sat down on the swing and leaned into him.
He pulled her tightly against his side, feeding on her warmth and took a deep breath before he told her the rest.
“His real estate expertise is not all that I got from him. I also inherited fifty million dollars when he died.”
Kandis looked at him in stunned silence and he looked a little embarrassed by his shocking revelation. He was watching her face for a reaction and she broke into a smile and turned to face him.
“Well, at least I know you can afford to feed me.”
He threw back his head and roared with laughter.
“Thank the fates for you, Kandis.”
“Well shit! You’re a bona fide millionaire, many times over. Who knows about this?”
“Only Seann and Garrett. I wanted to give the money away when he died but Seann made me promise to do nothing for a year. Then I thought about all the things I could do for the pack and I decided to sit on it for a while. I will talk to Seann when we go home but we could buy this mountain and be safe for the next hundred years up here.”
“I could make a home here with the pack, it’s so beautiful.” she breathed in the crisp mountain air and pushed the swing back and forth with her feet.
He was so content and glad he told her how wealthy he was. She didn’t seem to care how much money he had. He didn’t want the life his father had led, living in a mansion with a bevy of servants at his beck and call and in the end, he had died lonely and unhappy. He knew by the stories in the press that he had alienated his other kids by forcing them into the life he thought they should lead and Liam knew deep down that he had a lucky escape when he abandoned him and his mother. His mother had loved the son of a bitch though and she mourned the loss of her mate until the day she died.
“Are you going to buy the other cabin too?”
“No, but I think Garrett might want to. Garrett and Seann are both wealthy in their own right. It’s easier to amass a fortune when you live as long as we do.”
Liam wanted to scope out the area to see the land and the other cabins that bordered what they would own between them so they stripped off on the back porch and went for a run. They were careful not to get too close to the occupied cabins and he pinpointed several smaller cabins that they would need to try and purchase if they were to create a new home up here. He made a mental note of them and they took off to climb to the summit. Kandis was as fit and able as he was but both of them were out of breath when they reached the very top.
Kandis shifted back after scouting the area but no-one was crazy enough to come up this high, especially as it was private property. Liam followed quickly and they sat down on the freezing cold mountain top to take in the breathtaking views. She shivered in the frigid air and he wrapped his arms around her to envelop her in his warmth.
“Have you ever seen anything as magnificent?” she said in awe.
“Never in my long life,” he said and she turned to find he was watching her and not the scenery.
She was a little embarrassed by the intensity of his gaze, but she also basked in his adoration. Who could have predicted that they would end up here? She knew that before when she was acting like a prize bitch that Liam hadn’t liked her very much and she had projected those feelings back onto him.
She also realized how much easier it was to be herself and not have to keep up the huge wall she had erected around her heart. She had a life with parents who loved her and a mate who she adored. She was hopeful that love would come to him later, she was already crazy about Liam, she loved him with her heart and soul, but it was too early to speak the words.
She was shivering now so they shifted and ran back to the cabin and soaked in the hea
t of the hot tub for a while. Life didn’t get much better than this, did it.
She made a chicken curry with wild rice for dinner and Liam was impressed with her skills in the kitchen. The smell was driving him crazy and he tucked in as soon as she put the plates on the table. It was hot and spicy, but he liked his food with a little heat and he soaked up the sauce with a chunk of naan bread.
“Kandis, this is amazing. I didn’t know you could cook like this.”
She shrugged off his praise, it was still difficult for her to accept compliments at face value but she was working on it and made a joke to cover her awkwardness.
“You want me naked, barefoot and tied to the stove.” she smiled as she sipped on her wine and he helped himself to another portion.
“I love it when you talk dirty.” he grinned and raised an eyebrow, “I think I would prefer you tied to the bed, though.”
He knew the minute the words left his lips that he had touched a nerve. Her smile faltered and she tried to cover it up, but he caught it and could have slapped himself for not being more careful. Despite how well she was doing, Kandis was still healing and although she hadn’t told him everything, he was confident that she would when the time was right, but he couldn't push it.
He remembered the cabin they had rescued Imogen from when Kandis had killed Dan Kellas by ripping out his throat. He was the ringleader of the three men who had raped her as a young teenager. The bastard had planned on taking Kandis there and holding her to play his depraved games and he would never forget the restraints tied to the bedposts. He was sure now that she had been restrained before and he just put his big foot in his mouth. He didn’t know what horrors she had gone through at their hands, but it made him feel murderous to think of her hurt and scared.
“Baby, I am so sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it, just shooting off my big mouth.”
“Let’s get something straight, Liam McGuire. I am not a victim and you can’t walk around on eggshells, that’s not the life I want to lead with you. Sometimes one of us will say something that could trigger me, but I can deal with it, I am learning with my therapist’s help how to cope with my baggage. Kellas and his sick friends are all dead now so it’s time to move on with my life.”
Children of the Moon: Book Three Page 5