By Honor Bound

by Ruth Ryan Langan

  She glanced over. “May I ask you something?”

  Though his smile remained, she thought she could feel him tense. “Sure. What would you like to know?”

  “How did my father find you?”

  “He asked around. One of his security agents used to work with me.”

  “In the Secret Service?”

  He arched an eyebrow. “I see you’ve been doing a little digging.”

  “Bren offered me her family album.” She set aside her tea. “I assume your family knows about me as well.”

  “Not much. Only what little they could overhear when your father came here. As you can imagine, I didn’t volunteer anything more.”

  She nearly smiled before she caught herself. “What about Margot Jamison? And Professor Loring?”

  “Nobody knew. This was between your father and me.”

  She let out a breath. “I’m glad. I wouldn’t want to think I was the only one who’d been kept in the dark.”

  “I’m sorry about that, Pru.”

  “I know.” She looked down at her hands. “Now that I’ve had time to think, I realize you had no choice but to do whatever my father told you. If I’m going to be angry with someone, it’ll be Dad.”

  “Just remember that he did it because he loves you. He called you his most precious treasure.”

  “Oh yes. I know all about his pet phrases. His treasure. His princess. But he can’t keep on treating me like a child, Micah. Other parents know how to let go. Look at your mother. It has to weigh heavily on her heart that she doesn’t even know where your brother Donovan is living, or how he’s living. But she’s willing to trust his judgment.”

  Micah gave a wry laugh.

  Her head came up. “What’s so funny?”

  “You’d have to know Donovan. He’s always been a wild man. I don’t think he ever really got over our dad’s death. Either that, or there was a devil inside him. As for Mom trusting him, I’d say she has no choice. Donovan lives exactly as he pleases. Always has, always will.”

  “But at least she’s come to terms with it. My father absolutely refuses to accept that I’m a woman now, with a life of my own. He still wants to treat me like his little girl.”

  Micah’s voice was low as he emptied his cup and set it aside. “I don’t blame him.”

  “What did you say? Are you agreeing with him?” She was on her feet, eyes blazing, hands fisted at her hips.

  His eyes were equally hot. “I can’t help it. If you were mine, Pru, I’d move heaven and earth to keep you safe.”

  She poked a finger in his chest. “You listen to me…”

  Once again, the mere touch of her had him forgetting all the rules. Though he hadn’t meant to, he dragged her into his arms and framed her face with his big hands, forcing her to meet his eyes. “No. You listen to me. If it meant locking you up in some private estate, away from the dangers of this world, I’d do it. And nothing you could say would change my mind.” His voice lowered. “If you were mine, I’d move heaven and earth to keep you safe.”

  She could feel him holding himself back even as the passionate words tumbled out.

  As she opened her mouth to argue, he covered her lips with his, kissing her into silence.

  They were both shocked by the intensity of their feelings as they poured themselves into that single kiss. A kiss that had them trembling with need. Both of them could feel the storm building, shud dering through them, threatening to break through at any moment.

  Pru pulled free, dragging air into her starving lungs. “Micah…”

  “Shh.” He kissed her again, softer now. Nuzzling her mouth with his until her lips softened, then opened for him.

  “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe, Pru.” He whispered the words against her mouth, then inside her mouth. “No matter the price.”

  His words, spoken almost reverently, set off fireworks inside her. There was such restrained passion in his tone. And beneath the steel, so much tenderness. In that moment she felt her heart fill to overflowing with love for this man. She had no doubt that he would die for her if necessary. That knowledge made her heart swell with love.

  Though she knew he wanted to do more, he gathered her into his arms and pressed his mouth to a tangle of hair at her temple. “Now, if you have any feeling for me at all, Pru, you’ll turn around and walk up those stairs without looking back.”

  “But, Micah…”

  “Please.”

  She could see what that word cost him. Whatever protest she might have been ready to make was gone in an instant. She lifted herself on tiptoe to brush a kiss over his mouth. Then she turned and walked away.

  Micah waited until he was alone. Then he turned and stared out the window at the backyard, waiting for his nerves to settle.

  This was one time when shooting hoops wouldn’t do a thing to calm his aggression.

  There was only one cure for it. And he was honor bound to keep his distance from Pru. He was, after all, nothing more than a hired gun, paid to see to the safety of the princess in the ivory tower.

  He’d try his best not to forget that in the days to come.

  Chapter 14

  While Prudence showered and dressed, she could hear the noise level in the house growing in volume as the others awoke and started their morning routines. To someone who had grown up in a house so quiet the scuff of a housekeeper’s slippers could be heard in the hallway, this was an entirely new experience. She thought of her own apartment, where she often turned on the television just for the sound of another human voice.

  By the time she started downstairs, the noise level in the kitchen was almost at a fever pitch.

  She stepped inside to find Kieran at the stove calmly arranging bacon on a paper towel. Kate, dressed in a suit and simple pumps, was insisting that she didn’t have time to eat. But when Kieran persisted, she reluctantly accepted a plate of scrambled eggs from his hand and headed toward the trestle table across the room.

  At the table, Cam was rummaging through an attaché case, tossing papers aside in a frantic search for a particular document. When he found it, he let out a cheer and hurried out of the room to fax it to a client. When he returned, he was beaming. It occurred to Prudence that he looked far different this morning in a dark suit and conservative tie than the sweaty jock she’d met the evening before. Overnight he’d become the very model of a successful Washington lawyer.

  “Here.” Kieran thrust a plate of bacon and eggs into Cam’s hand. “Eat.”

  “No time.”

  Cam was about to snatch up the briefcase when Kieran said, “Make time. I cooked it. You’ll eat it.”

  Cam rolled his eyes before taking the plate to the table.

  “Now you, lass.” Kieran began filling a plate before Prudence could refuse.

  She glanced over at Micah, who, through it all, kept a cell phone to his ear while writing furiously on a notepad. He glanced at her, winked, then returned his attention to the task at hand.

  Prudence accepted the plate and trailed Cam to the table, waiting for her heart to settle. Each time Micah looked at her like that, her nerves seemed to go into a tailspin. As she took a seat, Kieran and Micah walked up to join the others.

  “Do you eat like this every day?” She sat on the bench and felt a quick rush of heat as Micah moved in beside her, their thighs brushing.

  “Whenever I can have my way with them.” Kieran reached for the salt and pepper. “I know for a fact they never take the time to eat the rest of the day. I was raised to believe that our brains must be fed.”

  She glanced around the table. “If that’s the case, the Lassiter brains have been well nourished. As well as their bodies.”

  “And not an overweight one in the bunch,” Kieran said with pride. He stared pointedly at the way she was moving the food around her plate, without eating much of it. “I hope you’re not one of those modern young women who believe in starving yourself to look like a model.”

  “Actually, I enjo
y eating. But not this early in the morning.” She turned to Kate. “I’d like to thank you for your hospitality. Bren’s room was really comfortable.”

  “I’m glad you enjoyed it, Prudence. I hope this won’t be the last time we see you.”

  Micah helped himself to toast. “Pru’s leaving for Seattle right after breakfast.”

  She paused with her fork halfway to her mouth. “I’m what?”

  He bit into his eggs. “I just got off the phone with your father. He’s determined that you return to Seattle. We’ll be leaving for the airport right after we eat.”

  “We?” Her tone grew frigid. “Are you thinking of accompanying me?”

  “No. I’ll be in Georgetown, working with your father’s security team and the FBI until we find this guy.”

  “This guy.” She set down her fork and turned her head to study him. “Do you realize you haven’t told me a single thing about this ‘guy’ you’re after. Not who he is, or what his threat was. Nothing, except that you’ve been hired to see that I’m kept safe.”

  Micah glanced around the table and saw that his family had gone silent, watching and listening with avid interest. “I think you should hear this from your father, Pru.”

  “My father isn’t here. You are.” She folded her arms over her chest. “I’m listening.”

  “Okay.” He shoved aside his plate. “Your fa ther has been getting Internet threats from a person who believes that the software package made by your father’s company has the capability to spy on him. This guy is convinced that his computer is sending back personal information about him to your father’s company.”

  “That’s crazy.”

  “Yeah.” Micah’s eyes narrowed. “That’s what makes him so dangerous. He really believes that stuff. What’s worse is that he appears to be smart enough to break through your father’s personal passwords, and now smart enough to find you. That makes him doubly dangerous. We know we have to work quickly to get this guy. Until we do, you’ll be safe at your father’s estate in Seattle.”

  She leaned back, shaking her head. “I’m not going to Seattle, Micah.”

  He huffed out a tired breath. “I’ve been on the phone for the past hour, while your father rearranged his entire schedule in order to bring you back to Seattle. He wants you home today.”

  “Washington is my home now. I’m not leaving.”

  “Fine.” He handed her his cell phone. “Then you can be the one to tell your father.”

  “I will.”

  As she started to dial he put a hand on her arm. “Before you call him, I suggest you decide where you’re going to stay. You can’t go back to your apartment now that the security has been breached.”

  She paused, considering.

  “If you’d like to stay here, lass, you’re more than welcome.” Kieran looked across the table at his daughter-in-law, who nodded her agreement.

  “You mean it?” Prudence, too, glanced at Kate for confirmation.

  “You’re welcome to stay as long as you please.” Kate glanced at her watch. “Now I really have to leave.” She grabbed up a briefcase bulging with paperwork and brushed a kiss over Kieran’s cheek, before kissing her two sons and patting Pru’s shoulder. “I’ll be late tonight.”

  “I’ll keep your supper warm.” The old man handed her a bag.

  “What’s this?”

  He grinned. “Last night when you were telling us about that pretty young mother and her little ones who’d come to you for help, you mentioned that they gobbled up my egg-salad sandwich like it was gold. I made some more. See that you put them in that little box you call a refrigerator as soon as you get to your office.”

  “You’re a sweetheart.” Kate kissed him again before dashing out to her car.

  “She’s not the only one running late.” Cam lifted his attaché case and turned toward the door, calling over his shoulder, “I guess I’ll see you tonight, Prudence.”

  “I hope so.” She watched him walk away before returning her attention to the phone. “I’ll just give my father the news that I won’t be flying to Seattle.”

  Micah walked to the counter and returned with the coffeepot. He didn’t want to miss a single moment of the fireworks that were about to begin.

  As Micah drove toward Georgetown, he was grinning. He’d been right about the fireworks between Pru and her father. To her credit, Pru had managed to keep her cool for almost a full minute. Her voice had been calm enough when she’d told her father that she wasn’t flying back to Seattle, no matter what he had to say. It had risen only slightly when he’d reminded her how disappointed he was in her. But when Allen Street had threatened to have Micah carry her aboard the plane and accompany her to her childhood home, she’d cut him off in midsentence by hanging up the phone.

  Several attempted phone calls later, Allen Street had admitted defeat. He’d agreed that she could remain in the Washington area as long as she stayed away from her apartment and her work at the Children’s Village until the danger had passed. Though she was reluctant to give up the work that meant so much to her, Prudence had agreed, for the sake of this one small victory.

  Before leaving home, Micah had extracted a promise from Pru that she wouldn’t leave the house. For good measure he’d asked his grandfather to stay close to home as well, since there was no telling how long this assignment might drag on.

  He drove up to the nondescript building in Bethesda and flashed his identification before being admitted inside, where the FBI agents were waiting to brief him, along with Allen Street’s security team, on the progress they’d made. After greeting Will Harding, Micah was introduced to the rest of the team before settling down to the serious business that had brought them together.

  “Micah said you moved in here right after your son died.” Prudence stashed her plate in the dishwasher.

  “That’s right.” Kieran Lassiter looked up from the bag of apples he’d begun to wash at the sink. “I needed Kate and the kids as much as they needed me. We were all in a state of shock.”

  “Though I lost my mother, it was to illness, not something as shocking as a shoot-out. I can’t even imagine losing my father like that. I read the newspaper account in Bren’s album.”

  “An entire city grieved with us.” Kieran pulled a stool up to the sink and began peeling the apples. “For the longest time afterward, I couldn’t bring myself to read the accounts of Riordan’s death. I guess it was a year or more before I finally looked through them. Kate had meticulously cut out everything she could find, so her children would have the facts when they got older.” He shook his head and paused in his work. “Kate’s the strongest woman I’ve ever met. My son made a wise choice. While the rest of us fell apart, she just carried on, doing what she had to, raising her four children, going back to school for her law degree.”

  Prudence rummaged in a drawer until she found another paring knife. Then she pulled up a stool and began working alongside Kieran, peeling apples. “I’m sure having you here with the kids made it easier for her.”

  “Maybe.” He gave a snort of laughter. “But it took some adjusting for all of us. I was a lot tougher than Riordan, and the kids resented that. I’d been alone in the five years since my wife had died, and I wasn’t used to having kids underfoot all day. The minute they tested my patience, I’d send them out the door to work off all that energy on hoops. Pretty soon, it became such a routine, all I had to do was give them my famous I’ve-had-all-I-can-take-look and they’d be out the door.”

  He and Prudence shared an easy laugh. She felt completely at ease with this silver-haired, courtly gentleman with the lilting voice and devilish blue eyes. It was easy to see where the Lassiters inherited their rugged good looks.

  He nodded toward the apples left in the sink. “If you can finish peeling these, I’ll get started on the piecrust.”

  “Go ahead. I can handle this.”

  He dusted a board with flour before taking a ball of dough from the refrigerator. “In the beginning
I never expected to stay on here. I just wanted to step in and fill a void. But the longer I stayed, the more I realized this was where I wanted, and needed, to be. Of course, I wasn’t so sure it was the same for Kate. After all, she was young and beautiful, and I figured if I stayed on too long I might get in the way of her personal life.”

  “Did she ever date?”

  Kieran shook his head. “Maybe she was just too overwhelmed with law school and four kids and a busybody father-in-law, but I like to think she was just so much in love with my son, no other man appealed to her. Whatever the reason, she’s never brought a man home to meet her family. And knowing the hours she works, I doubt there’d be any time left over for a love life.”

  “She’s still beautiful.”

  “That she is.” Kieran expertly rolled the dough and lifted it into the pie plate, then began adding the apple slices, along with sugar and cinnamon, before fitting on the top crust. “And our Bren looks just like her.” He trimmed the crust, crimped the edges and set it in the oven to bake.

  “Is Bren’s name really Mary Brendan?”

  Kieran chuckled. “After Micah and Donovan, my son had already picked out the name for his third. Brendan, after my father. When she was born, he couldn’t seem to wrap his mind around a girl’s name. So he just added Mary to it, and there you are.”

  Prudence was laughing as she cleaned out the sink and added the bowl and paring knives to the dishwasher. “Bren told me last night that she grew up feeling like one of the boys.”

  “That she did.” Kieran washed his hands and reached for some paper toweling. “She’s tough, our Bren. With a fine, quick mind. She’s not one to sit back and let her brothers get the best of her.”

  “Why did she move out?”

  He shrugged and began wiping down the counter with the paper towel. “It’s time she left the nest and made a life for herself. Time for all our birds to fly. They come back often enough that Kate and I aren’t feeling deserted yet. We’re both a bit flattered by the fact that they enjoy being around us. But we know better than to try to hold on to them.”