Shadows and Spice

by Grady, D. R.

  Janine laughed. “Yes. The line goes pretty fast, you’ll see.”

  Greg appeared dubious, but Janine figured this was the perfect opportunity to introduce him to General Emma.

  They took their places behind her, and Janine waited until Emma finished her conversation with her sister-in-law before both ladies hugged her.

  “General Emma and Grandmom, this is Greg Gilmore. He is KC’s brother.”

  The ladies welcomed him with their usual Morrison grace and charm. Janine was relieved to see the tension ease out of Greg’s body. It was subtle, but he appeared to be holding his own. At least well enough he would easily fool most everyone in the room.

  “How’s Admiral O’Riley’s commute going?” Janine remembered to ask. She could tell KC about the conversation later.

  “He loves flying to work every day. He actually spends less time commuting now.”

  Janine turned to Greg, aware that he would know all this about their former boss, but Emma didn’t know that. Keeping secrets from family proved challenging.

  “Emma and Rich O’Riley married a few months ago.”

  “Congratulations.”

  “Thank you. He has a house and works in Washington, D.C., while I live and work here. Our daughter also lives and works here.”

  “A living dilemma,” Greg said. Janine thought he sounded polite and interested in the conversation. Good for him.

  “Yes. Shelby and I both pushed for him to move here.”

  “And you won?” Greg grinned at Emma and Janine’s heart bottomed out. Alarm chased away the thrill of his smile. What did her heart have to do with this? The man couldn’t smile without her reacting?

  “Of course. We’ve decided to keep both homes. We added an office for each other. So we can work from either house.”

  “Emma enjoys being married,” Janine said with a knowing look at her aunt.

  “To the right person, marriage is the best thing that could happen to anyone.” Emma stared at her like she tried to pry open Janine’s brain. Janine suppressed a smile.

  She would probably let Emma in if that lady could explain what was going on inside her suddenly troubled thoughts and mind. She didn’t much appreciate, or understand, the new sensations that swept over her whenever Greg Gilmore was near.

  Time to change the subject. “Is Shelby here?”

  “Yes, with Sam and Kiley.”

  “Did I hear they’re getting another child?”

  “They’re trying.”

  “A boy this time?”

  “Actually, I think they’ll take whatever they get.”

  “That works. Emma and Rich’s daughter and her husband have an adopted daughter named Kiley,” she explained to Greg, although she guessed he was well aware of all this.

  “Do adopted kids respond well to their new family?” Greg’s voice was quiet. But his eyes were intense.

  “Kiley has adjusted just fine. And all of Heather’s children are adopted.”

  Janine smiled as warmth infused her. “That would be my mom.”

  “You’re all adopted?”

  “Yes. Ben and I are birth siblings, at least half siblings. We’re still working that out. But the other three girls are also adopted.”

  “Your brother Ben has four sisters?” Greg sounded incredulous.

  “He does. He’s tougher for it.” Emma’s voice held a trace of mischief.

  “I’m sure.” Greg’s response was faint.

  She enjoyed his obvious surprise at learning about the SEAL commander Janine knew he had worked with in the past. Maybe the knowledge would give him new insights into Ben’s character. She decided to steer the conversation into a safer topic for Greg.

  “General Emma, Greg is a painter.”

  “Really? What do you paint?” Emma exclaimed and she and Greg quickly launched into an impressive discussion about paints, canvases, brushes, and technique. Janine was lost in the dust of their roaring good conversation.

  Anything to make Greg comfortable with her family.

  This at least gave her time to sort out her chaotic thoughts on the man.

  “If that man’s a driftless painter, I’ll eat Tom’s cooking again.”

  Ben raised a brow at Sam Welby’s statement. “Recognize Gilmore, too?”

  “I’m pretty sure he’s the same guy who saved my butt on one of my first assignments.”

  “Where was I?” Ben’s brow pleated.

  “It was one of those high stakes missions we couldn’t talk about. One I was sent in to do alone.”

  Ben nodded and stared at him for a moment. He hadn’t heard about one of those missions bearing Sam’s name, but then if it had been top secret, he supposed he wouldn’t have. “What’d he do to help you?” He used his chin to indicate Gilmore who had merged with the shadows.

  “He hustled my butt out of a country it shouldn’t have been in.” Welby’s voice was wry.

  “How’d he know who and what you were?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I must have had green SEAL written all over me.”

  “We were never green SEALs,” Ben refuted with a grin.

  “I was way in over my head, and slow. I’d begun to realize my body wasn’t responding the way it should.” Sam glanced into the corner where Gilmore remained silent and still.

  Yeah, this Gilmore was definitely a painter with no direction. His actions, or utter lack of them, anyway, proved that theory wrong, Ben thought with a grimace. If Greg Gilmore didn’t have superior military training similar to his own, he’d eat Tom’s cooking, too.

  And everyone knew Tom’s cooking made you sick for days. Babies cried when the man entered a kitchen.

  A bevy of Ben’s aunts, cousins, and mother stalked over to the corner where he and Sam had escaped. He recognized the tension in the air, and the fact that none of them were smiling sent further alarms to shrieking.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Sam straightened and stared at the small army of determined estrogen producers.

  “We’re worried,” his Aunt Monica said. She glanced in the corner where Greg watched the family gathering, but didn’t participate. Ben groaned silently to himself. He didn’t need this.

  “What are you worried about?” Sam feigned nonchalance by swirling the ice in his colorful plastic cup. The clinking of the cubes did not reassure Ben for some reason.

  His mother stepped forward. Great. “We’re worried that man will take KC and Max’s kids and run.” Her words sounded rushed.

  “They’ll never see their kids again,” an aunt added in dire tones.

  Ben was sure his eyebrows had soared so high they disappeared. Sam actually choked on the mouthful of liquid he had just sipped.

  “No,” Ben said, infusing his voice with all the command he possessed.

  His mother, not intimidated by him most likely because she had bought him his first pair of Superman underwear, raised an imperious brow. “Would you care to explain?”

  “That man would no more steal Max’s kids than he’d set your hair on fire.” Now his mother was perfectly capable of setting her own hair on fire, but Greg Gilmore would never do anything to harm his sister’s kids.

  “How do you know that?”

  “I just do.”

  “I’d stake my wife and kid on that fact,” Sam said quietly and took another sip of his drink. His gaze was steady as he stared Ben’s mother in the eyes.

  “So would I,” Ben seconded.

  “You trust this man?” Aunt Monica sounded incredulous, like he still wore those Superman underwear. He was in his thirties with a wife and two kids, and he was a Navy SEAL. Why did women who watched you grow up only remember the more embarrassing parts of your childhood?

  “Yes,” he and Sam said as one. Neither of them looked away from the women who stared them down. Disbelief, astonishment, and maybe even some resentment emanated from them.

  “What’s going on?” KC breezed up to them, her eyes wide with curiosity.

  “My mothe
r, aunts, and cousins seem worried Greg will take your children.”

  KC gasped, but shook her head, vehemently. “No.” Her denial was as firm as his had been.

  “How can you three be so sure of that?”

  “Greg would die for my children. And he’d die for yours, too.” KC’s tone reminded him of his first SEAL trainer. Not someone to mess with.

  “He’d die for all of us if he had to,” Sam added. Again, Ben noticed his gaze never wavered. It was apparently hard to doubt the word of a two hundred and thirty pound bald man. Because he noticed each of the doubting women in his family starting to back down.

  Then he glanced at KC. Her eyes were sure, and the love that gleamed there was obvious as she stared into the corner where her brother had all but disappeared into.

  “But how do you know?” his Aunt Lily asked.

  “Because he told me.”

  “You trust him? He’s a painter.”

  “With no direction,” someone else added.

  “No, he’s my brother.”

  There was movement in the corner where Greg had disappeared and Ben and the others turned in time to see Greg grab Kyla, Ben’s daughter, before she could pull a table down on herself.

  He swooped the little girl up in his arms and cradled her there until he located Treeny who leaped across the room. With extreme care he handed the little girl over to her mother.

  None of them missed the affectionate finger he smoothed across her cheek before he disappeared back into the shadows. It was impossible to miss the fact that Kyla utterly trusted him and sent him a gurgling smile while Treeny carried her off.

  Greg’s actions had been smooth and quiet, but filled with purpose. When he merged with the shadows, he again disappeared.

  “He’s not only a painter, is he?” Ben’s mother asked with a long sigh.

  “Hello, Nick. How are you?”

  “Please tell me that gorgeous creature is single,” her cousin, one of many first cousins, begged and Janine turned toward the woman he indicated with a hand.

  She shook her head. “That’s KC Gilmore Morrison, wife to our cousin Max Morrison.”

  “And they have kids.” Nick’s voice sounded resigned.

  “Of course. Two beautiful children, named Ryan and Macy.”

  “I’ve always liked the name Macy.” Nick stared forlornly after her friend and the side of Janine’s mouth kicked up.

  “You do have four kids of your own. And I take it from your haggard self, no nanny?”

  “The last one stayed four hours.” He groaned. Sympathy sliced through her.

  Nick’s wife had decided being a wife and mother wasn’t for her, after their fourth child was born. She headed for California and Hollywood, with Nick’s best friend. They died in a car accident somewhere in Illinois.

  Leaving Nick with four children, a busy career, and no one to help with the kids. Well, there were plenty of Morrisons who could help, and did, but Nick hated to burden them with his children.

  Besides, Janine thought the trauma of taking care of one busy home bad enough, but to have to worry about yours and a family member’s, especially when that family member toted four children and a parade of animals... She shuddered while guilt stabbed deep. She could get over to Nick’s more often to help. He was her first cousin. His kids liked her.

  “I’m sure someone will show up.” She hoped.

  Nick’s mouth curled down. “The agencies have all stopped answering my calls.”

  That was bad. “I’m sorry.”

  “I put an ad on the internet. Someone will call.”

  “Right,” Janine said, but she couldn’t imagine anyone insane enough to actually answer that ad.

  The forlorn expression returned to Nick’s face. “I’m doomed.”

  “Probably.” Janine couldn’t help but agree as she patted his shoulder. “Maybe you’ll get lucky though. Maybe her name will be Macy and she’ll be as cute and blonde as KC.”

  Rich O’Riley showed up long after most everyone had filled their stomachs. People still picked at the dessert table, but most of the casseroles had congealed and the chips started to stale when he breezed through the door.

  Greg thought kind thoughts about his former boss and roommate. The man didn’t put on any military airs. He just came, got the job done, and left. Right now, he helped himself to the food on the tables, and didn’t seem upset that most of it no longer looked appetizing.

  Their hostess took his plate after he finished filling it. O’Riley stared at her in bemusement.

  “I’ll heat this up for you,” Rachel said and whisked out of the room.

  O’Riley turned puppy dog eyes on his wife. “She took my food.” Greg couldn’t help but grin at the man’s problem.

  “She’ll return it. Rachel just went to heat it up,” Emma repeated the statement and stroked his arm before she snuck in another kiss. Greg still felt bad for O’Riley. He was probably starving and some woman stole his plate.

  But when Rachel returned, Greg saw the contents steamed. All the items his former boss had selected now appeared appetizing.

  “Okay, it does look better,” Rich said around his first mouthful of food.

  “Of course, love. Everything is hot again.” Emma rubbed him again and Greg marveled at how in love this older couple was. He always figured O’Riley would never marry. But the man seemed awfully content with the small whirlwind he had exchanged vows with.

  Emma would tire any normal man, Greg included. His eyes slid to Janine. She wouldn’t. Greg often felt refreshed after hovering in her vicinity. There was something quieting and calming about Janine, so long as she didn’t want to chat. She exuded a subtle power he appreciated, but also a peace about her that left the observer satisfied and content.

  Greg didn’t know many people like that. Most tended to crowd and suffocate him. That could be why O’Riley had selected Janine for his team. He noticed most of the team members he knew produced the same zen-like state Janine offered. He wondered if that made him high-strung?

  O’Riley had the same caliber of power snapping in him as Janine, but he wasn’t wearisome either. Perhaps he and Janine exerted a certain amount of control over their power, and that’s why they didn’t overwhelm. Greg didn’t know, but he was grateful for both of them.

  He waited until the admiral finished eating, kissed and hugged his daughter, and granddaughter, affectionately rubbed his son-in-law’s bald head, and generally greeted family members as they passed by to say hello. One thing that could not be said about the Morrisons was that they were standoffish. Not one person who caught sight of Emma’s husband passed by without a comment or a hello.

  Rich, for all his exalted place in the United States military, didn’t escape the heckling the Morrison males dished up. And the admiral took the teasing with his usual aplomb, and even managed to sneak in attacks of his own. Often which left the disher with his mouth hanging open.

  Enjoying those digs, Greg leaned into the corner and watched the proceedings with definite interest and a sprinkling of amusement. So this was how you interacted with a huge family. O’Riley took the interaction with ease and goodwill. Greg didn’t know if he could do that.

  He watched as Janine strolled across the floor toward him. She moved with such delicate grace and an understated femininity that he caught himself staring. The easy roll of her hips and the refined way she carried herself enticed him.

  Greg suppressed a groan. He didn’t need the added hassle of attraction to this woman. Right now he had to focus on the problem at hand. That was keeping this family safe from his enemies. And this family included Janine. She was one of the many he needed to protect.

  Lusting after her was not an option. But he couldn’t tear his eyes from her. She halted beside him and her sweet, quietly spicy fragrance drifted out to greet him. He inhaled a little deeper, because her scent was so pleasing.

  “I imagine you saw Admiral O’Riley?”

  “Hard to miss him.”

/>   Janine smiled. “True. The boys sure are in a mood tonight.”

  “O’Riley can take care of himself.”

  “And he does. He even manages to take care of the troublemakers.” Greg liked the respect and admiration in her voice. He felt the same way about their leader.

  “He’s nailed them a few times already.”

  “You’d think they’d learn.” Janine shook her head, as though sad her relatives weren’t smart enough to cease baiting him.

  Greg grinned. The evening had been tolerable just watching O’Riley in action. The man certainly did add to the entertainment value. But Greg appreciated that a man he knew didn’t have much family, and therefore lacked experience in handling a large family gathering, still appeared so comfortable in this one. O’Riley even seemed to enjoy the vast number of people.

  Maybe there was hope for Greg. KC hailed from the exact same background he did. And she appeared to love the hustle and bustle of this huge but tight knit family. Just thinking about frequent interactions with the Morrisons caused Greg’s airways to close off again.

  He abruptly cut the thoughts, and his breathing problems eased. He might end up passing out and that would forever embarrass him. Of course, Janine might touch him then. But she wasn’t the only doctor in the house. His sister was here, and Ben’s wife, and some guy named Leo and his brother Mark. Not to mention Welby and his wife. But Janine was closest, so he might get lucky.

  Still, he wasn’t about to wheeze into a panic attack. Every time he came to visit KC, he’d have to endure this family. Greg didn’t doubt they would warm up to him enough to tease him about any nosedives he took in their presence.

  Better to not give them fodder to use against him. Greg sank further into the shadows and peered out over the crowd. There were faces everywhere he didn’t know. Interspersed with a few he did. It was nice to see someone’s face he thought he should know. Usually he wasn’t too bad with names, but this family was so huge and they all looked enough alike that their names and faces smeared.

  That created an image in his brain. A picture he could paint. Forming a scene on canvas of this moment might help him deal better with the overwhelming sensations he now associated with large families. He slipped further into the picture in his mind. Colors slid across the canvas and the scene came alive. Turning to Janine, he quickly said goodnight.