by Lora Leigh
"I'll be around the stables and barns," he informed them both. "I let farmhands leave a few hours ago and I want to make certain everything's running smoothly before this evening."
"I told you I would cancel that, Mac," Keiley muttered.
"She has a meeting with her charity committee tonight for an hour or so," Mac said to Jethro. "We're going with her."
"That is not going to work," she snapped.
"We'll sit in the truck and wait on you. You are not going by yourself and you're not missing it. You look forward to this all year, Keiley. You're not going to let Delia's poison ruin it for you."
'And you bitch about it all year," she argued back. "So you can get out of it this time."
"The hell I will!" Mac glowered back at her.
The interplay was interesting, fiery, yet Jethro could detect the respect and bonding Mac and Keiley had developed over the years. It made him ache. Made him want to be a part of it even though he knew it was never going to happen.
"Keiley, I'm not letting this bastard steal this from you." Mac's voice suddenly softened as he stared back at her profile. "We'll go to the meeting and then catch dinner in town.
We're not hiding."
"Delia will be there."
Jethro watched her fist clench on the counter.
"So Delia will be there. I'll be damned if I'm going to pretend you're not my fucking wife for that bitch. Get that off your mind. If she hasn't accepted the fact that it's not going to happen between me and her in fifteen years, then you can pretty much bet she's not going to figure it out, and you can go on with your life."
She looked over her shoulder at Jethro. "She'll be rude."
"And then me and Victoria will have a little talk about the nature of the Bureau and exactly what she doesn't want my friends looking into." Mac shrugged then. "Big deal.
Do you want to hide for the rest of your life from the likes of her?"
Keiley muttered a little curse that had Mac's brow lifting and a smile tugging at his lips. "That's my girl. I'll be back in a little bit. Mind Jethro. He's an asshole, but he knows how to protect you."
"Thanks for the reference," Jethro growled.
"Welcome, bud." Lifting his hand, Mac punched in the alarm code before opening the back door, calling Pappy to him, and leaving the house.
Moving behind him, Jethro reset the code and turned slowly back to Keiley.
She was dumping the vegetables into a large bowl of water, her back still to him, the knife laying harmlessly on the counter.
"Would you really use the knife?" he asked her.
The look she gave him wasn't a compliment. It was the look a woman gave a man she considered less than an imbecile.
"No. I wouldn't use the knife on you."
"Mac seemed worried enough about it."
"Because Mac knows I'll brain him for being a moron," she snapped. "I don't handle the big strong male being stupid very well."
"I was being stupid," he agreed.
She stared back at him silently, her expression pulled into lines of weary acknowledgment.
"Maybe I deserved it," she finally whispered as she turned back to the sink, dampened a cloth, and began wiping the counter down.
She didn't deserve it. She deserved a man who recognized what a treasure he had. A treasure that wasn't meant to be shared.
"Why do you say that?"
He watched as she breathed in deeply before turning back to him.
"I knew about Sinclair's Club before I married Mac." She shrugged, the cloth clenched in her hand. "After I learned he was a member, maybe I let my own fantasies weave around it too much." Jethro felt his expression flinch. "What are you saying?"
"I knew about you and Mac," she snapped angrily. "I heard the rumors about the two of you, then I heard the rumor that he was a part of the club. Mac didn't force me into this, Jethro. Mac hasn't made me fantasize about it. And he didn't pawn me off like an old shirt. I knew what I was doing."
"You fantasized about me?" That surprised him. He hadn't seen her since the first months after her marriage to Mac, and he had made certain not to so much as flirt with her during that time.
"Sometimes." Her shoulders shifted defensively. "Look, Jethro, I love Mac. Heart and soul. He's my life—"
She broke off, her teeth biting at her lower lip as she quickly turned away.
"But?"
"But I knew this was a part of him when I married him," she said softly. "I sensed it was a part he wouldn't be able to leave behind him."
Admitting that to herself was something that had been hard for Keiley to do over the past few days. Looking into herself and seeing that she had known this path was coming, whether she let herself realize it or not, hadn't been easy.
"You're too good for this."
Keiley could hear the anger in his voice. Like Mac, he hid it well.
It came out as a gruff rasp that could have been many other emotions. But it was anger.
Anger and self-disgust.
"Don't fool yourself." She tossed the cloth the sink before turning back to him and staring him squarely in the eye. "And don't turn this into something it isn't. I'm not the delicate fairy Mac keeps wanting to see me as. I have my own needs as well, Jethro, and I'm not above admitting to them. I don't know if it's Mac's hungers that make me wild, or merely my own in the face of his acceptance. Whatever the reason, I'm not going to lash into myself or Mac over it. And I'm definitely not going to blame you. I've never walked the same path other people found comfortable and I'm not going to start now.
"That's not exactly true," he pointed out with an edge of humor. "You're not known for being a wild card, Keiley. You wouldn't have the solid reputation you have in business if that were the truth."
Keiley shrugged off the compliment. "It doesn't change the truth. I've known this was coming. Just as I knew it would be you he chose when he brought someone else to our bed."
"And you knew that how?"
She saw the frown, saw the edge of anger in his eyes, but she saw something in him that she had seen in Mac when she first met him. He was as lost inside as Mac had been.
"Because you're like a brother to him," she said gently. "He's missed you these last three years. Missed working with you. Missed sparring with you. Mac doesn't trust many people, you know." Jethro shifted uncomfortably then. "Yeah. I know that."
"And neither do you," she pointed out. "I've stood between the two of you for three years as I've tried to find my own footing with Mac and who and what I am within our marriage. I can't be the good girl all the time. I wanted to be. I thought I could be."
"You married a man who lets you be free," he stated.
"Maybe too free." She shook her head at the thought. "Whatever the reason, Jethro, don't think I'm being coerced into what happened. I accept who and what I am. That's something you'd better do as well. I'd prefer you called me a whore than to blame Mac for something he didn't initiate."
"Never say that again," Jethro suddenly snarled, moving quickly across the room, reaching for her and jerking her into his arms as he glowered down at her, angry flames licking in his blue eyes. "Never say that word in reference to yourself again or so help me, I'll paddle your ass in a way that you won't soon forget."
Chapter 17
Keiley stared back at Jethro in shock. His arms were tight around her, holding her flush against his hard body, his erection pressing demandingly into her stomach.
And she was aroused. Panic began to consume her. Mac wasn't here, and Jethro was holding her. His fingers were digging into her hair, jerking her head back, his head descending, and Mac wasn't here.
She whimpered in distress, her fingers curling against his chest as his lips covered hers. Covered them. Possessed them. Rocking the foundations of her belief that she only gained pleasure from this because of Mac's pleasure. That it wouldn't happen without his presence. That it wasn't disloyal. That it wasn't Jethro.
&nb
sp; Sensation swamped her as he forced her lips to part, as he dragged her closer, lifted her, and pressed her tightly against the wall.
Lust tore through her. Her hands were suddenly gripping his neck as his hand lifted her leg, wrapping it around his hips before his fingers moved between her thighs.
It was happening so fast. Too fast to stop it. Too fast to control it. Jethro's lips slanted over hers as a rough male groan of hunger shook her to her core and vibrated through her with an answering passion.
She should be pushing him away, but she was holding on to him, crying out into the kiss as she felt his fingers rubbing over the silk that covered her sex. Imperative, desperate fingers that pulled at the material until they revealed the silky heat blooming between her thighs.
A second later they were filling her.
Keiley arched, screaming into his kiss as she felt the impalement. Her muscles locked around the two fingers inside her, her hips arching, riding the incredible pleasure he was stroking into her as his lips traveled down her neck.
Questing. Commanding. He refused to ask for permission. He was demanding her response and receiving it, and she was helpless beneath it.
Helplessly, agonizingly responding to the hard thrusts inside her quaking center as her juices began to flow in demand.
As he pushed her past reason with the invasion the other hand tore at the bodice of her breasts, popping buttons, revealing her bare breasts and the hard nipples standing out like beacons of lust.
"God, I can't touch you enough," he bit out against one swollen mound. "I can't fuck you enough. Can't kiss you enough."
His lips covered an aching peak as Keiley moaned in helpless surrender, her arms locking around his head to hold him in place as she rode the waves of pleasure racing through her.
It was like this with Mac. It was only supposed to be like this with Mac. Not with Jethro.
"I fucked you without a condom the other day," he suddenly groaned as he released her nipple. "While Mac watched. You were so hot. So tight. And I haven't forgotten, Keiley."
She shook her head desperately. She had known he was bare and hadn't wanted to face it. Hadn't wanted to think about it.
He nipped at the tender flesh of her breast. I want that again. I want inside you, bare, burning, pumping my release inside you and feeling those delicate little ripples of your release on my dick."
She was shaking her head desperately, aching, feeling her juices flowing harder, faster at the thought of the pleasure his words evoked.
"Oh God," she gasped as his fingers impaled her harder, deeper.
He wasn't taking her gently and she found she didn't want gentle. He was taking his pleasure, slamming it into her, and she was loving it. Creaming for it. Tightening around the invasion as her body tightened further in the need for release.
"It was like fucking a dream." He licked her nipple before lifting his head, snaring her gaze as he thrust his fingers inside her again. "Like fucking hope."
She shook her head again, feeling emotions rising inside her that she didn't want to face, didn't want to acknowledge. But they were there. Staring her in the face as they blazed from Jethro's eyes, and slamming into her chest as they welled from within her.
"No," she gasped. "No."
Terror suddenly gripped her, a fear unlike anything she had known in her life. She pushed at his shoulders, beat at them until his expression twisted in agony and he released her with a quick, sudden move.
"Keiley." He stared back at her, grimacing painfully. "Baby—"
"No!" Her fists clenched as anger rocked through her. Anger and sudden fear as her gaze moved to a flicker of movement by the door.
She paled. She could feel the color washing from her face as she stared at Mac's thoughtful expression. She could feel herself shaking, trembling, as Jethro cursed beside her.
"It's not her fault, Mac." His voice was dark, edged with a potential for violence.
Mac's gaze sliced to his friend, the gray eyes calm, his expression placid if curious.
Keiley shook her head, feeling the tears that filled her eyes, the knowledge of the betrayal she had just dealt to her husband. It was one thing to let Jethro touch her while he watched, another to do so while he was out of the house.
"Oh God. I'm sorry," she gasped, the tears suddenly breaking through her control as he straightened, moving his shoulders back from the wall he had been leaning against.
"Mac—"
"Stop apologizing, Keiley," Jethro snapped, moving in front of her, between her and Mac. "It's not your fault."
She could feel her world shattering around her. Right there, she stared at her husband, feeling everything she had ever dreamed of crashing upon her.
She might as well have been cheating on Mac. She knew the unwritten, unvoiced rules.
The rumors of them had abounded in Virginia. Only when the husband was present. Only as a threesome. Never as a couple.
She stared between the two men, shaking to the point that she wondered if she could stand.
"Keiley, sweetheart." His voice was anything but angry as he moved toward her.
Suddenly Jethro was pushing her further behind him. Keiley gripped his arm in shock, in pain.
"Stay back there, damn it," he snapped as he faced Mac. "He won't blame you, Keiley.
I won't let him."
"Stop this!" she screamed out tearfully. "Oh God. What have I done?" She stared between the two men, watching as Mac's expression suddenly shifted. Concern or anger?
He had every right to be furious. To be betrayed.
And she had no right to suddenly feel torn between the man she loved, and the man she was terrified she was beginning to love.
She retreated, stumbling back as she stared between the two men, shock and horror at her own actions filling her. She couldn't look Mac in the eye, she couldn't bear the knowledge that in a single second, she had betrayed both men.
"Keiley," Mac called out as she spun away and raced from the room. She had to get away from them, she had to escape. If only she could escape her own actions as easily as she was escaping what she knew was Mac's coming feeling of betrayal.
Mac moved quickly as he saw Keiley turn and run, attempting to push past Jethro to get to her. Unfortunately, it seemed that protective instincts he had only suspected the other man possessed rose to the fore.
"It wasn't her fault." Jethro slammed him back, standing defensively, poised to fight.
"Of course it's not her damned fault," Mac snarled. "Son of a bitch, Jethro, do you I think I didn't know my wife was going to end up loving you?"
He watched as Jethro staggered back.
"Get the hell out of my way," Mac snapped then. "Let me take care of her, then I'll take care of you."
He hadn't expected to walk in on the scene between Jethro and Keiley, but he hadn't been surprised by it. He had been damned turned on by it. There was nothing as arousing as Keiley helpless beneath her own desires.
Taking the stairs two at a time, he moved quickly through the hallway to their bedroom, his jaw clenched tight at the fear, horror, and pain he had seen in her face.
She had, perhaps understandably, jumped to the wrong conclusion, and now he had to fix it. It seemed he was going to have to fix it not just with his wife, but with his best friend as well. Neither, it appeared, seemed to see where this was heading.
As he stepped into the room, he came to a stop, staring at Keiley as she stood before the shaded window. Her arms were wrapped around herself, her shoulders straight and tight.
"I can't even stare out the damned window," she said roughly. "I can't move around my own home." Her head lowered as she pushed her fingers roughly through her hair. "And I'm scared." The last was whispered in a voice rough with unshed tears.
Mac moved across the room, wrapping his arms around her even as she flinched as though surprised that he would hold her.
"I expected it," he whispered in her ear then.
"Do you think I would bring another man into our bed and place rules on it? That I would chastise you, or punish you for being the warm, passionately exquisite woman you are?"
She tensed in his arms, then jerked away from him, turning to face him furiously.
"What are you saying, Mac?" Incredulous anger filled her voice as her eyes widened and he watched knowledge slowly fill them. "You intended for me to—" She swallowed tightly. "To care for Jethro."
He saw the betrayal in her eyes, the fear. Hell, he hadn't expected to have things become so damned complicated. But they were. She had every damned right to be outraged.
"I knew you would never take another man into your bed without it," he told her then.
"Keiley, you're not a casual woman, I always knew that. From the first day I met you, I knew you would never be the type of woman to play games like this with a succession of different men. And I knew I could never handle that."
"You couldn't handle that?" she grated out, staring back at him as though he were a stranger. And perhaps he was. He had never shown her the parts of himself that mattered.
He had kept them hidden away, kept them tucked carefully in a dark little box until they had grown too hungry to stay put any longer.
"What's going on here, Mac? Did you suddenly decide you've had too much of married life and decide to find a man you approved of for me? Are you ready to leave? Are you missing something I'm not giving you?" Her voice rose with each question, betrayal and pain filling her tone as his eyes narrowed on her.
"Never," he bit out, reaching out for her, gripping her shoulders with his hands as he gave her a small, firm shake. "Do you hear me, Keiley? I will never let you go."
"Stop manhandling me." She tore out of his grip, putting distance between them once again before turning back to glare at him. "What did you think you would accomplish here, then? Is there something going on between you and Jethro that I need to know about? What?"
Mac's head jerked up incredulously. "Are you asking if me and Jethro are bisexual, Keiley?"
"I think that about sums it up, Mac." Her arms crossed over her breasts as she threw her hip forward in confrontation.