Whisper In The Dark (The McKinnon Legends-- The American Men Book One)

by James, Ranay

  She found what must have been every horse picture she ever drew, every report card she ever earned, and dozens of awards in a box in her father’s old suite of rooms. She had cried tears of joy. Her father had been proud of her after all. He just did not know how to show it. The fact he had kept all her things proved he loved her. It was a weight lifted from her shoulders.

  She found old love letters from her grandfather to her grandmother. They were sweet and so very innocent. She found a cache of silver certificates taped under a drawer in the nightstand in the room she had grown up in and wondered how she had missed them as a child. There were other items she found of interest: receipts, photos, ledgers, bills of lading for cattle sales and purchases. There were tons of antique documents that any historian would love to get his hands on. She planned on donating many of the items to the Cattleman’s Museum at the Fort Worth Stock Yards.

  Systematically, she was making her way through the old mansion rediscovering what it meant to be a Brandenburg.

  However, today was laundry day, and she had spent all day indoors rather then combing the ranch. Continuing with the cleaning in the rooms of the house, it felt good to freshen up the curtains and sheets that were long overdue while keeping close tabs on George’s recovery. She almost felt like she was nesting. Anytime the thought of her leaving the ranch crossed her mind, she would quickly push it aside.

  Sleep was still elusive so cleaning was a way to work off the tension. The more she settled back in the house the greater her fear became that the thirty days would be up long before she had a chance to find the gold. This was her home, and she was gambling on a hope and a prayer.

  She had not seen or heard from Robert in almost five days, and she was beginning to worry. Unjustifiably she knew, but it was nagging all the same. She had really grown to care for him, and the line of work he was in was not exactly free of danger. She knew he could be faced with hardships and great inconveniences all in the name of personal safety. As she glanced at the television screen on her way past the living room to the laundry room, she understood now why it had been five days without so much as a peep from him. And who could blame him for hiding away for a few days? The paparazzi had found him along with the reason he had dropped her like last week's newspaper.

  Candice “Candi” Reslinger, heiress to the Reslinger Dot Com fortune, was draped across him as they were coming out of the posh hotel in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Cameras flashed as he held up his hand in front of the camera lenses and glided her along the red carpet to the waiting limousine where they took off heading into the Mexican sunset. She was blonde, tall, rich, and gorgeous.

  “Damn, some hardship," Kate muttered. "Why couldn’t she at least be homely to give me a fighting chance? How the hell am I supposed to compete with that?” she asked herself. Then she asked herself why she even felt the need to compete. Robert was her partner not her boyfriend.

  Then as if that were not enough, the announcer flashed additional photos of Robert and Candice together on the beach and on the deck of a million dollar yacht, aptly named Daddy's Money. The compromising embrace was a wallpaper background on the plasma screen TV stationed just behind him, and like a car wreck she could not look away even knowing what was coming next. This station made a fortune from dirt falling off the rich and famous, so why couldn’t she look away? She saw the announcer’s mouth moving, but all she could focus on was the next, more dramatic scene. There on the expansive balcony of a posh penthouse hotel room were Robert and Candice. From every indication she was not wearing any clothes, unless you count the thong, which Kate didn’t. Robert was without a shirt as well. It was pretty damning evidence for him to deny he was closely, if not intimately, involved with this beautiful, young woman.

  The photo had been taken from a helicopter’s perspective; the lovers undoubtedly taken unawares.

  “The stinking bastard,” she mumbled under her breath. “And to think I was worried. But no, you are just fine, living the good life off in Mexico with heiress Barbie. I’m honor bound, my ass.” She whirled around crashing right into a massive wall of muscle, dropped the laundry basket, and sent clothes flying over the kitchen floor. The only thing keeping her from joining the heap on the floor was the iron grip now wrapped around her waist.

  “Kate, it’s not what it looks like.” Robert had come in as silently as a specter.

  His reassurances only served to make him sound guilty to her. The saying about protesting too much springing to her mind.

  “Oh, well hello, traveler,” she said sweetly belying the torrent of emotions rolling through her heart and body. “You must keep your passport on you at all times to be able to just hop a plane at the drop of a hat. Or was it the drop of Candi Reslinger’s pants?”

  She batted big, brown, innocent eyes at him. Not a trace of humiliation or hurt was showing, but he could feel her emotions rolling. It made him sick. She never even heard him come through the door, and when he walked into the kitchen seeing what had her so enthralled, he knew there was going to be hell to pay.

  “I’m capable of standing all by myself, Robert. You may take your hands off me,” she said fighting the hurt.

  He immediately released her even though what he actually wanted to do was kiss her. He had missed her the last few days.

  “It was just a job, Kate,” he defended the actions she had witnessed on the television.

  “Wow,” she acted surprised. “Must be nice. I never got perks like weekends in Mexico and days sailing on a private yacht from any job I ever held. Best thing I ever got was a cheap pen and pencil set from some competing brokerage firm. Oh, and multi-million dollar lawsuits.”

  “Jealousy does not look good on you, Katherine.”

  Kate’s eyes flashed hot.

  “Jealousy? You think this is jealousy? Oh no! Let’s get one thing very, very clear,” she said not quite poking him in the chest with her index finger but close. “I’m not jealous, Robert. I’m pissed!” she said with a very dramatic nod of her head. “Two very different emotions, I can assure you. I have a very limited time frame to find that damn treasure or I lose everything, a fact I’m sure you seem to have forgotten while you are off screwing some brainless, manipulative bimbo." Now that finger was in his chest. "You, on the other hand, have nothing to lose and everything to gain by keeping the hunt to a minimum.”

  “Don’t poke me again, Kate,” he warned, stepping back and taking a deep breath. “You know the thirty days doesn’t mean anything to me. I have no heartburn extending and I’m sorry, I know the timing was bad, but I have no choice where Candice is concerned.”

  “Oh, that’s such bullshit! We always have a choice, Robert. It is called free will. God, please tell me why men cannot see through women like her?” she asked to the heavens. Exasperated she turned to leave the room.

  “What the hell is that suppose to mean?” he asked catching her by the arm and spinning her around.

  She wordlessly looked down at the fingers wrapped around her upper arm.

  He let her go.

  “For a brilliant man you sure aren’t playing a smart game of cards.” It was her turn to take a deep breath and calm down a notch or two. “Look, I could care less what you do with her or any other woman for that matter. It is none of my business.”

  Up to that comment he had just been perturbed and frustrated. Now it was his turn to be agrivated. If she had any feelings for him, then it would have mattered. He knew it would matter a great deal to him if he found her with another man, and he had not pegged her for a tease. Yet, she had stopped just short of saying the few moments they shared were nothing more than friendly flirting.

  “Nonetheless, Robert, I feel it is my duty to point out a few facts you seem to have blindly overlooked.”

  “Don’t patronize me, Kate. Besides, you have no idea what I do or what I don’t do with my clients. And it is none of your damn business.”

  “I think I already said that,” she countered coming back at him. She wondered why
he was repeating her comments.

  “Yes, you did. However, so we can clear the air and I can be up front with you, there is nothing between Candice and me.” He admitted to the fact he was involved with the heiress at one point. “But not any longer.”

  “Oh, pleeease!” She drew it out, rolling her eyes. “Wake up and smell the coffee, cowboy. You may think there is nothing between you and Miss Prissy, but from where I sit you are still on a very short leash. You may not have a clue, but she does and so do I.”

  “That is where you are wrong.” He tried to deny her accusations. There was no way he was not in control.

  “No, I’m not wrong, Robert. She still has a hold over you. Don’t you see what she is and how she is twisting you to her benefit?” Kate went on not waiting for his answer. “Candice Restlinger is the kind of woman who will always have some crisis, Robert. Always have some sort of issue requiring you to fix, and damn if you don’t just fall in line. Who is playing whom, McKinnon?”

  “I have things well under control,” he defended his position.

  She snorted in response.

  Robert knew for certain he was not in control where Kate was concerned. Perhaps she just needed a little more background.

  “How could you possibly understand how vulnerable Candi is? You are a survivor, Katherine. You have proven it time and again. She is not. She is weak and needy. I made a promise to her father before he died.”

  “Just as you made a promise to Kyle to help look after me?” She stood there looking him square in the eyes arms crossed.

  Check mate. He knew she had a point. So did she.

  “Looks like you may be long on promise, cowboy, and short on resources for delivery.” She had stated the truth and it hit him where it hurt. His honor and his pride stung.

  Kate’s life was in danger and he was growing to care deeply for her. Yet, he dropped everything to go to a woman who he could barely tolerate and who grated his every nerve.

  “Yes, I did make a promise, but you are different, Kate.”

  He reached out to pull her to him. Sidestepping and pulling out of his grasp, she placed some distance as well as the kitchen table between them.

  “Damn straight I’m different. I am a survivor, and poor little rich girl needs her own personal attendant to fix all her booboos and ouchies. Well, you had just better go because as long as you are willing to jump when she says jump, she will always have a crisis which she deems worthy to pick up the phone, fully expecting you to come running. ‘Robert, I need you to come quick. I just had my nails done and I need you to carry my packages. Robert, come quick, oh please hurry….I need you. Blah, blah, blah.’.”

  “Kate, you are overreacting,” he said even hearing a ring of truth in Kate's statement.

  “No, Robert. I’m not. Women like her thrive on having men like you at their beck and call. It gives them a sense of power where they feel powerless, and there is not a woman in this world worth her salt that will be sympathetic to your promise. So why should I be?”

  He wanted to put his fist through the old plaster wall. Years of training kept him in check, and he was seeing now she was the only woman in the world who could make him crazy. He was behaving more like his brother Chase, rash and physical. “Damn it, Kate. I just knew you would react like this.”

  “React like what? Angry with myself for feeling something for you? Damn right, I’m angry. You should have told me you were on twenty-four hour Brat Call and a moment’s notice for a dead client’s spoiled princess. If I’m just another job to you then fine, I’m a grownup, and I can take it, but don’t lead me on. I do not appreciate being toyed with, Robert.”

  He advanced. She held her ground. Stepping close enough to touch, his tone softened as he brushed back behind her ear the hair that had come lose from the head band. Inwardly, he sighed with relief. She did care. Getting her to admit it was going to be another hard won battle.

  He looked her square in the eyes. “I swear, as God as my witness, I’m not toying with you, Kate. There is something here between us and I dare you to deny it.”

  There it was.

  There was the trap, the challenge, the checkmate. He was backing her into a corner.

  If she admitted and acknowledged what she knew to be growing between them then he could wield control and power over her body, heart, and soul.

  He pulled her to him and kissed her out of desperation trying to prove his point. That kiss was sizzling hot, designed to ignite and froth with the dangerous passion that she knew could be unleashed between them.

  She wanted to drown in that kiss and drowning she was. She could not breathe.

  Pushing the flat of her hands against his chest, her fingers ached to run nails down those hard pecks. Gently pushing off, she stepped back. He advanced. She would not be the first to blink. She was still stronger than the bond knitting them together, not by much, but she still was at this moment. If he stayed much longer that would no longer be the case, and she vowed when Daniel hurt her no person would ever have that kind of power over her again.

  She had to get him away from her.

  “Would you do something for me?” she asked breathlessly as she unconsciously gave him access to the pulse at the tender base of her throat.

  “All you need to do is ask, Kate. How can I ever refuse you?” he asked nipping the tender skin at the crook of her neck just below her ear. Breathing deeply and drawing in her scent, he barely heard her request.

  “Call off your men.”

  She felt him go still.

  “What did you just ask me to do?” He could not believe his ears. He was so surprised that he turned her loose without even a struggle.

  She put several feet between them again.

  “Call them off. I don’t want any of you around. I’m sick to death of having all you people in my house and on my land.” Her voice sounded foreign to her. It was a lie, but he must never know.

  “You never even see them, so how can you be sick of them? You are not making sense, Kate. George has just gotten home. You need us here. If they have been in your way, I’ll make sure they stand clear.” He was rambling, desperately trying to regain the small foothold that he had so quickly lost.

  “No, I never see them, but I know they are there. Watching, waiting, taking note of every freaking move I make and running right straight back to you like they are tattling on me for doing something wrong. I just can't take this any longer!” She was tired, and frustrated almost to the point of tears and certainly past the breaking point. She was pushing him away and she really had no idea why. She did know that it hurt.

  “Don’t be foolish, Kate. Not about this. Not to prove some idiotic point that you could never convince me was valid. I won’t let you.”

  “You won’t let me?” her voice was smooth and steady as she cocked an eyebrow. “You and what army, Robert?"

  "Wrong choice of words," he said, quick to admit it.

  "Hum, perhaps." If she was not so tired she would have enjoyed needling him a little further. She decided to still have a little fun, so she dried the tears. "Shall I call the sheriff and have you forcibly removed,” she asked picking up the phone. Her resolve was not quite as tough as her words. She could never do that to him.

  To Robert she appeared to be serious. Cold fear shot through him. There was nothing legal he could do if she chose to force his hand. Technically, he was trespassing since she had never officially contracted his services. Contrary to what she thought, she was not just another job or a fulfillment of a promise to Kyle. Over the last four days all he could think about was getting back to her. He needed to be with her and to keep her out of harm’s way.

  The helicopter had filmed a nasty and sordid incident of him pulling Candi from the railing in an aborted attempt to jump. He had told her that he was assigning her to another bodyguard due to the demands of his current business dealings. She had threatened to jump and very nearly succeeded. If he had any doubts about his feeling for Candice, that ha
d settled it. She was a nut case and he was washing his hands of her. However, he could not abandon her as a client. He did, however, have other ways to fulfill the duties of McKinnon-Bride Security. Those means he was fully prepared to enforce. It just would not involve him personally.

  “You’re just upset right now, Kate. Don’t make a foolish decision running on emotion that you will regret later. Just sleep on it. And for God’s sake, don’t do this as some lame attempt to punish me because of Candi.”

  Kate sighed. Men, she thought. Would they never figure women out?

  "Robert, you are my business partner. We’ve shared some banter and a few tasty kisses. That doesn’t constitute a relationship in most circles. And I’m usually not a vindictive person. However, when I am holding a grudge, I will make my punishment stick and I will make sure the punishment fits the infraction, you can take that to the bank. And if I were going to punish you, rest assured, Big Guy, I would leave you without any doubts that you were in the freaking dog house, and there would be no questions as to what address the flowers and candy would need to be sent.”

  If it weren’t so dire a situation, he might have laughed. This was the Kate of old, no-holds-barred-straight-up-in-your-face Kate.

  She breathed heavily and sighed, tired of all the drama. “Look, I just need some space, Robert. Nothing more. Take George to your place. You agreed to take him regardless of the outcome."

  “I’ll take George, but not your security detail. I’ll come and stay with you if that makes you feel better.”

  That met with stony silence. She was no more immune to him than he was to her. The attraction was undeniable even if she had not verbally owned up to it, so slipping up next to her he tried another tactic.

  “You need me, Kate. You need what I can give you,” he purred next to her ear pulling her back against his chest. The insinuation was unmistakable. “I can give you security, safety, and a partnership with some really great fringe benefits,” he said just before nipping her earlobe, running his lips delicately down her neck, and lightly sinking teeth into her shoulder. The effect was erotic sending chills down her arms.