The take-charge demeanor was to show his friend who was in control. She’d seen enough of Goodfellas and the Discovery Channel to recognize the signs.
Finding herself drawn to the scene, she took a few steps forward.
“Ma’am, the maternity ward is this way.”
She waved a hand to quiet the orderly.
“Ian,” Luc’s voice was strong and forceful. “You’re home and you’re safe.”
The man’s fists had been clenched, but at the sound of Luc’s voice the tension eased. In fact, his entire body relaxed.
“Not remember.” Ian’s voice was hoarse and raw. She wondered if he’d forgotten how to speak as it sounded as if he were an alien trying words for the first time.
“But you’re here,” Luc said. “No more wandering, my friend.”
Ainsley was surprised by Ian’s Irish brogue. A stereotype, perhaps, but she thought his human form would be Indian or Asian. Luc actually looked like a bear, and she would have never guessed the other man was a tiger.
“I saw her,” Ian croaked.
“No.” Luc, said.
“Dream?”
Luc smiled and gently petted his friend’s arm. “No, she’s real but it isn’t her. There is a definite resemblance. She’s mine.”
Those last words were said with such authority, she quivered. Probably he had to say stuff like that because of the moon and protecting her.
Don’t read too much into it.
“Woman?” For the first time she heard humor in the other man’s voice.
Luc snorted. “Had to happen sometime. Are you calm? I’d like you to meet her.”
“Yes,” the other man whispered. “But wait another day. In my mind I understand it isn’t her, but my heart…”
“Understood, brother.” He motioned for the orderly to pull her back into the hallway. She’d been gradually moving closer entranced by the reunion. “Give me a moment.”
Ian sniffed the air. “Here. She’s here.” His voice went up several octaves.
“Get her out of here,” Luc shouted as he ran to slam the steel door shut.
“No,” she screamed. “He could get hurt.” She fought with the orderly as he dragged her down the hall. “Get him out of there,” she snarled. “I swear, I’ll call the cops. That tiger could rip him to pieces.”
“No,” the Doc said. “Luc sedated him before he could get the second strap off and stopped the change. They will be fine. But Luc wants to stay. He has the strength to subdue his friend should he break free, and as you saw, he’s a calming influence. Ian needs that as he struggles to stay human.”
Ainsley closed her eyes and took a long breath. Luc would need a change of clothes and she should probably try to find some for Ian. Nothing made a person feel more human than a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
She had the keys.
But she’d made Luc a promise. Putting herself on autopilot, she found the gift in the SUV and then followed the orderly to Patty’s room.
A man jumped up as they entered and put a finger to his lips. Then he motioned for her to go back out to the hall.
Before she turned, she saw the babies and mother sleeping. Patty had one in each arm and had the aura of a woman who had things well handled.
“Sorry,” she whispered when the man met her in the hallway.
“Oh, don’t be. I was more worried about you waking up Patty than the babies. Her hormones are all over the place today. One minute she’s my loving wife, the next she’s a drill sergeant, the next, the weepiest willow you’ve ever seen in your life. My poor, love.” He laughed to take the edge off his words. “I’m Keen. You must be Luc’s friend Ainsley.”
“Small towns?”
He nodded. “This time of year any kind of news is welcome, and gossip is what runs this town. Word is you’re some kind of witch who has tamed the bear.”
She giggled. “I don’t think anyone could tame Luc but he’s been helping me out. Luc wanted to deliver this himself but he’s helping another friend of his, Ian.”
Keen’s head snapped up. “Where’s Ian?”
She pointed toward the other side of the hospital. “Luc’s with him. I—” she wasn’t sure how much she could say. Was Keen one of the shifters?
“Is he in human form?”
She nodded. Whatever Keen was, he knew Ian was a shifter.
He sniffed. “Damn, Patty’s going to start crying all over again she’ll be so happy. She was best friends with Ian’s sister. She always kind of looked up to him like a big brother, in the same way she sees Luc.”
“Who is that?” Patty called from bed.
Keen cringed.
“Is that Ainsley, Luc’s friend?”
Ainsley waved at her.
“Please don’t say anything about Ian, yet. I’ll tell her,” Keen whispered behind her.
“Your babies are beautiful,” she whispered.
“Thank you,” Patty glanced down at her children with the sweetest smile on her face. “They’ve been giving me hell the last eight months or so, but they’re worth it.”
Patty looked back up with a puzzled frown. “Where’s Luc? It’s Sunday. Isn’t the bar closed?”
Ainsley smiled. “He’ll be around soon. He’s visiting someone.” She shrugged. “I hear you almost had your babies in a bar.”
Changing the subject seemed the right thing to do.
Patty laughed. “Damn near. We barely made it to the birthing room. These kids weren’t waiting for anything.
“So, I hear you’re a sexy stranger who has Luc running around like a dog on a leash.”
“She brought us a gift from Luc,” Keen interjected.
With her arms full, she nodded toward her husband. “You’ll have to open it. We just got these little buggers to sleep, I’m not moving.”
Keen opened the box carefully, and then smiled. Gently he lifted out a carved wooden spoon and a bowl. “There’s one for each of them.” Tiny foxes were carved into the bowls and on the handle of the spoons.
“Oh, that man.” Patty started blubbering. “Take the babies before I start balling again.”
Keen was quick to put the babies in the small bedside crib. He nestled them together.
“He’s so grumpy, I nearly took his head off the other day, and then you know he was up there whittling these things for months. I’m going to kill him, right after I hug him. Damn man.”
Keen handed her a box of tissues.
She waved one in front of her face. “Please forgive me. Everything makes me cry right now. Keen asked me if I wanted some water a couple of hours ago and I cried for an hour.”
“Oh, honey. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Give yourself some grace.”
She rolled her eyes. “You know when you’re sweet to me, I just cry harder.” She gulped back a sob.
“How about I come back to visit when you’ve had some rest. Keen mentioned you’ve been having trouble sleeping.”
Patty nodded. Keen sat next to her on the bed and wrapped his arms around her.
“Oh, I don’t want you to go, but you might be right. Please promise you’ll come back. We don’t get outsiders very often. I’d really love to know what’s going on in the world. And Ronda Pippen said you were wearing Christian Louboutins when you came in the bar. I just want to gaze upon them.” She laughed in the middle of her tears.
Luc had been right. Patty was a sweetheart. “I’ll be back tomorrow,” she promised. “Sleep well. And Keen, if you need anything let us know.”
She watched for a moment as Keen stroked Patty’s tear-stained face with tender fingers. Someday she wanted that. A man, who would do anything for her, one who would put up with crazy hormones and crying babies.
Someday…when she didn’t have homicidal maniacs trying to kill her.
Her troubles at home brought her up short. Luc had helped her forget for a short while but the danger was still out there. What of her brother and uncle? And what if the criminals found her here and put Luc and his friends in danger? He�
�d explained the FBI was already involved and that this was the safest place for her. But those guys chasing her had been killers. Clarksville might be safe for her but what if those guys showed up and hurt Patty or her precious babies?
No, she had to stay on track. Though it would kill her to leave Luc, she needed to get the truck fixed and get out of Clarksville as soon as possible.
No matter how attached she was starting to get to the place and the people.
…
“Ainsley,” Deputy Conrad said from behind her. “Luc is still with Ian, he asked if I could take you back to his place since he’s going to be here a while.” There was something in his tone that made her falter.
“What is it?”
Conrad removed his cowboy hat. His golden brown hair fell around his eyes and she realized he was much younger than she believed that first night they met.
“Ma’am. You better sit down. I’m afraid the news from home isn’t good.”
Oh, hell.
“What happened?”
The deputy swallowed.
“It’s your brother, he’s—”
A strange moan vibrated through the reception area and it took her a few seconds to realize it emanated from her. “No. No.”
“Ma’am, I’m sorry, but your brother was killed last night.”
She felt the hope that Luc’s support had given her slipping away.
Her brother.
He couldn’t be…
“No. You’re wrong. It isn’t him. It isn’t him.”
“Sorry, ma’am. There’s been a positive identification. It’s him. The police found his body in upstate New York last night. He’d been shot.”
Tears fell to her cheeks as a numbness spread through her limbs.
Dead. Her mom, her dad, her brother. All of them.
She cratered, the orderlies catching her before she hit the ground.
“I have to go. I have to make sure it’s him,” she cried, tears spilling down her cheeks. “They might be wrong.”
“Ma’am. I’m afraid that’s not possible. The FBI says you need to stay here until they can catch who is behind the murder. I don’t have many details yet, but they will call as soon as the detectives finish with the crime scene. If you go there you’ll be a sitting—well, you’re safer here. I have orders to keep you safe and that’s what I’m going to do.”
The orderlies half dragged, half carried her to a chair.
A nurse handed her a box of tissues.
“What happened?” Luc’s voice was next to her. From his reaction, Conrad hadn’t told him the news yet. She threw her arms around his neck.
Tucking her into his side, he held her tightly while the deputy explained what had happened.
What the hell was she going to do? She’d be damned if they buried her brother without her.
Shoving her face into Luc’s neck, she let herself cry, not caring what anyone else thought of her.
There was a first time for everything.
Her father and mother had always been so concerned about appearances. Holding back on hugs and emotions, as if being demonstrative was a sign of bad breeding.
None of that crap mattered now.
Nothing mattered when you were dead.
Chapter Eleven
Luc observed Ainsley as she waited tables. She was as friendly as ever but her smile no longer reached her eyes. Guilt gnawed at him. He’d been torn between taking care of her as her world crumbled and helping Ian rebuild his world step-by-step.
Once Ainsley calmed down, she had sent him back to Ian, promising him that she was fine.
“It’s good Ian needs you, because time alone is what I want right now. I appreciate that you want to help, but there’s nothing that can be done,” she explained.
The last thing he wanted to do was leave her alone but she’d been insistent.
He’d let Conrad take her back to his place, knowing she had lied through her teeth. His strong and beautiful woman had lost the last of her immediate family. He, better than anyone, understood what a body went through when that happened.
A song came on the jukebox, and she stopped. Grabbing hold of the end of the bar, she bent her head down and then she ran for the kitchen.
Luc followed.
Inside, her fingers were white as she grabbed the steel counter tops.
“Hey,” he said as he tried to take her hand, but she jerked away from him.
“No,” she said hoarsely. “Your tenderness will be my undoing and I must keep it together right now.” She shook her head as if to clear it. “Everyone has been so nice, offering their sympathies. But I need to keep moving.” She gasped for air.
“Hell,” he grabbed her and pulled her into his chest. “The last thing you should be doing is working tonight. Get your ass upstairs. If you want distractions, turn on the television or read a book.”
Expecting her to push away again, he was surprised when she wrapped her arms around him. “Best distraction is you. I’m sorry I’ve been such a bitch.”
Luc grunted. “You’ve been no such thing. Damn, you’ve had enough shocks the past few days to last a lifetime. Give yourself a fucking break,” he stroked her hair to take the sting out of his words.
The strength in her shredded him. He wanted to shed the tears for her. To absorb the pain she suffered.
He hugged her tighter.
“I can’t leave the guys at the bar by themselves too long,” he sighed. “But I can send everyone home. With the full moon, well there’s gonna be nothing but trouble for a couple of days and I’m not in the mood for any of it.”
“No. Just because I’m having a meltdown, doesn’t mean you should shut down the bar. I’ll be okay, besides I was doing pretty good with the tips.” She sniffled, but didn’t move away from him. “Word must have got around, because I’ve made twice as much as I did the first few nights put together. Pretty soon, I’ll have enough to get the truck fixed. Only fifteen hundred more to go.”
She meant to lighten the mood but her words hit him hard. At some point, she would have to go home. There was no one left but her to run the empire. She’d been wealthy before but now she owned half of Manhattan, London and several parts of France. Cody, at the FBI, had sent the whole profile and it was impressive. She was in the top one hundred of the wealthiest women in America. And she was in his bar working for tips.
Cody had given Luc the lowdown on the situation. Once the FBI finished tracing the embezzlement accounts, they would have a better lead on who killed her brother. Although a part of him was happy that an end was in sight for Ainsley, the selfish need inside him was devastated. Cody and the FBI were so close to cracking the case. Time was ticking away.
“Enjoy the moments.” The words from his mother haunted him.
A loud crash was followed by shouts.
Before he realized it, she was through the door into the bar.
“What the hell are you doing?” He slid into the bar in time to watch her punch Jason so hard he fell on his ass. Then she lifted a pink-sneakered foot and took Joey down with a shot to the nards.
“I don’t care what kind of hormonal shifting bullshit you’re going through. When you’re in the bar, you’ll adhere to the rules of the bar. Fake it till you make it boys, or so help me I will beat the living shit out of you,” she growled.
The bar was silent.
The tension roiled around the room in waves. Luc had quickly moved to her side.
Jason was bent over, blood pouring in his hand.
Joey was on the floor in the fetal position.
“Fuck!” Jason yelled. “You hit hard for a girl.”
Luc wrapped an arm around her but she pushed him back.
Pointing a finger down at Jason, she growled, “I am a W-O-M-A-N, and you damn well better remember that. And watch your mouth. When you’re in this bar, you show me and the other women in here respect. You might actually get laid if you talked to a woman instead of trying out your ‘moves.’” She held her ha
nds up in air quotes.
Luc’s belly shook with laughter, more because Jason and Joey were smart enough to look chagrined.
His little She Demon was on a roll.
“That goes for the rest of you. You may be part animal but that doesn’t give you the right to act like assholes.”
Everyone in the bar found their shoes very interesting.
“Luc works his mighty fine ass off to make sure you have a place to go in this Godforsaken town so you don’t go out of your fucking minds, and this is how you repay him. Stop being dickheads.”
She paused as if she realized for the first time what she’d said. But she didn’t back down. “Do you understand me?”
Luc nearly lost it when every man in the bar said, “Yes, ma’am.”
“If you ever fight in here again, I will personally hang your balls from the rafters.”
“Okaaaayyy,” Luc said as he reached for her hand. “We’d better get going. Folks, finish your drinks and head on home. It’s been a long day, and it’ll be a long night for many of you.”
The woman was a spitfire but if she kept going, he might not have any customers the next night.
She let him drag her back to the kitchen.
Once there, she collapsed on a stool and put her head in her arms.
“That’s not exactly how I usually handle my meltdowns,” she said.
“It was interesting.” Luc said carefully. He didn’t want to upset her, and he knew she was burning off all the pent up emotions.
“When my parent’s died I ate, a lot,” she said. “And, um, drank a lot. Margaritas were my poison of choice. To this day the smell of tequila makes me puke. The other night when I delivered those drinks was the first time I’d been near the stuff in years.”
“I had a little problem with bourbon myself. I wish the scent of it made me sick. I fight that urge most days. Or at least I did.” He smiled as he rubbed her back. “I haven’t even thought about taking a drink since you walked through the door.”
She laughed. It wasn’t the happiest of sounds, but it was a start. “I guess it’s a good thing I’ll be able to get to my money soon. You won’t have any customers left at this rate. If I keep beating people up like this, I’m going to need a team of lawyers.”
Lions, Tigers, and Sexy Bears, Oh My! Page 9