Protector's Claim

by Airicka Phoenix

  I touched her cheek lightly. “Okay, we’re going, but you owe me another dance.”

  David and Cordelia were waiting for us when we slipped off the dance floor. The pair reminded me of prison guards lording over all the prisoners out in the yard. I wondered if we could somehow skirt around them without having to stop, but they were blocking the only exit.

  “Fuck,” I muttered under my breath.

  Next to me, Gabby’s fingers tightened in mine with a ferocity that made me wince.

  I didn’t let go.

  “David,” I greeted. “Something wrong?”

  There was an eerie intensity in the man’s eyes that I hadn’t seen before, a dark flicker of a cat eyeing the canary.

  I was no one’s fucking canary.

  “I wanted to introduce you to someone,” he said.

  I started to tell him I’d already met enough people, that Gabby and I were going home, but the figure just over David’s shoulder stepped forward and I stopped.

  It took me a second to place him. He had one of those faces that was both memorable and easily forgotten, but the moment I did, my insides went cold. My stomach flipped and a metallic taste filled my mouth.

  “Hello again,” the man said stepping up alongside David. “Fancy meeting you here.”

  The man from the auction, the man in the seat next to me. I couldn’t for the life of me remember if he’d given me a name, yet there he stood.

  What were the fucking odds?

  “Tiberius and I met over a game of cards,” David said. “Your name came up and he tells you two already know each other.”

  Jesus, did he know? It was impossible to tell, but I knew I needed to get Gabby as far away from both as possible.

  “Where did you meet Kieran, Mr. Rutherford?” Cordelia asked.

  “Mr. Kincaid and I met a few weeks ago during an auction,” Tiberius revealed, never once taking his eyes off me. “He was betting on a mare.”

  I felt rather than heard Gabby’s sharp inhale. It was in the tremor that passed from her into me, even while she struggled to remain as immobile as possible.

  “He won,” Tiberius went on. “A true stroke of luck, because she was truly an exquisite creature, pure and untamed. He paid quite a bit for her, I thought maybe too much, but I can now see why.”

  I disliked him comparing Gabby to a fucking horse, but I kept a firm reign on my temper.

  “I didn’t know you collected horses, Kieran.” Cordelia’s attention found mine. “Where do you keep—”

  Tiberius cut her off. “I’ve been meaning to get in touch and see about taking her out, with your permission. You see, I train them in my spare time.”

  “No,” I replied simply. “I appreciate the request, but I don’t share.”

  Tiberius chuckled. “That’s what I told David you’d say. You didn’t strike me as a sharing kind of man.” His gaze slid slowly sideways to Gabby. “I can’t say I blame you. I wouldn’t either.”

  “Kieran.”

  Over the noise in the room and the roar of blood in my head, I couldn’t be certain if Gabby had actually spoken or not, but it spurred me to move.

  “It was nice seeing you again, Mr. Rutherford. Enjoy your evening.”

  I moved us past them in the direction of freedom. We were nearly there. I could just make out the front doors, when Gabby was snagged. The jerk pulled me to a stop. I whirled around, fist bunched, ready to flatten whoever had her, only to find it was Cordelia’s painted talons cutting deep groves into Gabby’s forearm.

  “Gabrielle,” she purred. “I haven’t seen you all night. Hiding again?”

  Gabby twisted her arm free before I could open my mouth. She staggered slightly into me and I caught her.

  “Tell Mother I’ll send her dress back.”

  Cordelia’s eyes narrowed. “Are you leaving already? I thought for sure you’d stay for the food first.”

  Gabby took another step back, trudging slightly on my feet in her attempts. “We only came to congratulate Mom and Dad.”

  She realized her slip the same split second Cordelia did.

  “We?” Cordelia’s eyes shot past Gabby to me and hardened to fine, blue chips of fury. “Oh, I see.” Her laugh crackled with brittle frost. “You fucking whore.”

  I planted myself between the two and glowered down at the other woman.

  “Enough. We’re leaving.”

  I hooked Gabby’s waist with my arm and propelled her towards the doors.

  We got all the way to the car and into the backseat before she fell apart.

  “What did I just do?”

  “You left a party,” I assured her calmly. “Everything is fine.”

  “I just told David about us.” Her horrified gaze met mine in the light radiating from the house. The pupils were dots, the terror in them paralyzing. “Why did I do that?”

  “Because it’s true.” I leaned over and kissed her unyielding mouth. “Because there was no point hiding it after that dance.”

  Her eyes closed and she slumped forward, gasping. “This isn’t going to end well.”

  Chapter Thirteen — Gabrielle

  We skipped dinner. By the time we returned home, my skin was numb. My stomach felt slick with an oily sensation, and I couldn’t tell if I was on the verge of throwing up, or passing out. The car ride didn’t help.

  “Gabby.” Kieran captured my hand halfway up the steps to the manor doors. “You need to tell me what’s happening. I can’t protect you if I don’t know what I’m fighting.” His hands claimed my upper arms and I was made to face him. “You’re shaking.”

  “We shouldn’t have gone,” I rasped.

  “We had to, love.”

  I shook my head. “We shouldn’t have gone together. We shouldn’t have danced. We shouldn’t have...” I broke off, every warm sensation I’d felt that night being in his arms thickening to a cold slime in my chest. “How could I be so stupid?”

  “Gabby!” His hold tightened, bruising flesh, but I was too past that. “Talk to me.”

  What could I tell him? Even with the truth, it wouldn’t stop David from what he might do. Even at that moment, he could already be sending men to grab me, to take me. He could be at my apartment, or on his way to Kieran’s.

  “We ... we need to get inside.” Now, I had him. My fingers were ripping the expensive fabric of his top and wrenching him in the direction of the house. “Get in. Please. Hurry!”

  I got him in first and swung around to slam the doors closed on the empty night. The bolts were wrenched into place, filling the silence with the reverberating crack.

  “What’s happening?”

  I wasn’t listening. My mind was a catacomb of battle and strategy. It echoed with a bloodthirsty wail, urging me to protect the only thing I’d ever loved.

  “We have to lock the doors and windows,” I breathed, the voice sounding half-mad even in my ears. “If ... if you have an alarm, you need to put it on.”

  This wouldn’t work. David would find a way in. He would hire someone who knew how to cut wires, knew how to pick locks. Kieran wasn’t safe. I had to get him somewhere safe.

  “A hotel...” I swallowed audibly. “You have to—”

  “Gabby!” He caught me and gave me a shake hard enough to make my teeth clack together and my neck snap back. The pain slapped me back to the present. “Talk to me!”

  But terror had crippled me. It tore out my insides until there was nothing left of me, except a greasy paste at the back of my throat. It slithered down my chest, each serrated barb marking Kieran’s name into my flesh.

  “He’s going to kill you,” I croaked. “I should leave. He won’t hurt you if I’m not here.”

  “You’re not going anywhere.”

  As if to prove it, he scooped me up into his arms and hauled me towards the stairs.

  “I can’t stay!” I protested. “He’ll come look for me and if I’m here—”

  “If you’re here, I’d like to see anyone come near you.”r />
  “He’s going to hurt you.”

  But my arms had wound their way around his shoulders. My face had found a home in the warmth of his neck.

  “No one’s going to hurt me.”

  He liberated me of the dress and undid my hair from their pins. His arms never lost their hold on me, nor did his gaze ever waver from mine. He placed me beneath the sheets and joined me, fully clothed.

  “Talk to me, Gabby,” he urged, lips against my temple. “Tell me what you’re scared of.”

  I closed my eyes as the first tear slipped. “Losing you.”

  I WOKE THE NEXT MORNING to the complete confinement of Kieran’s arms around me. They enfolded me into the heat of his chest and the soft warmth of his breath on the back of my neck. It was such a welcoming relief to the demons who had chased me most of the night. My eyes were gritty from my troubled sleep. My head echoed with the hollow numbness of exhaustion. All I wanted was to return to the place of slumber, and all I could do was fight it.

  Sleep wouldn’t solve my problems. It wouldn’t protect Kieran. It wouldn’t make David disappear. In the halo of day, the party had been a disaster. It had been the thing I’d feared most in my life. Unknowingly, Kieran had opened a box with the power to destroy us both. There was no coming back from that. David would not forgive or forget. He would not overlook what he’d seen. He wasn’t stupid.

  I had betrayed my promise.

  I had been with a man, but not just any man. I had stolen his daughter’s shining future, his bright, crowning achievement, all the things he had wanted, that he had worked tirelessly towards for seven years ... gone.

  I had done that.

  He would not be kind or merciful. He would do exactly what he promised.

  Maybe even worse.

  But all he wanted was me. Once I was out of the picture, he would try and get Kieran back on track. He wouldn’t hurt him if he could help it. He still needed Kieran to fulfill the plan. It was too soon for my plans, but I could do it. I could disappear that very night. I didn’t have the money I needed to get far, but I had the ID and that would work just as well. I could grab a bus and go as far as a single ticket would get me. When David arrived and found I was gone, Kieran would be left unharmed.

  “Stop.” The body against my back shifted. The arm tightened, squishing my gut as I was pulled deeper against him. “Whatever you’re thinking, I don’t like it.”

  “You don’t know what I’m thinking.”

  He nuzzled the back of my neck. “I can feel it. It’s not going to happen. I’m not letting you leave me.”

  I sighed and closed my eyes. “I’m trying to protect you.”

  “If you leave, it’ll kill me, which would defeat the purpose.”

  “Kieran.”

  He grunted. “What did I tell you about saying my name in that tone?”

  I sighed and twisted over to face him. He’d removed his clothes at some point in the night and his beautiful torso practically begged to be touched. They called for my hands to flatten across his chest and curl up over his shoulders. They glided up to cup the back of his neck.

  “You don’t understand just how much you mean to me,” I whispered. “I’ve never known happiness, or affection. I’ve never experienced kindness, but you’ve given me all that in just a few weeks. I would do anything to protect you.”

  “Then stay and let me fix whatever is upsetting you.” He hooked a strand of hair and gently tucked it aside. “Give me a chance to show you I can handle whatever’s happening.”

  Maybe he could. I had to believe David wouldn’t hurt Kieran. That was my only shining beacon. If all David wanted was me, I could live with that.

  “On one condition.” I waited until I had his full attention before continuing. “You’ll get a bodyguard.”

  Kieran blinked. “A what?”

  “A bodyguard,” I repeated. “Someone qualified. Someone with black ops training and ninja skills. Someone enormous and an expert in all weapons.”

  He stared at me, possibly waiting for me to laugh and tell him I was kidding. When I didn’t, he made a sound between a chuckle and an exhale.

  “Baby, that’s...”

  “Please,” I pressed. “It’s the only way I’ll stay.”

  The humor left his face. “Just what the hell do you think David’s going to do if we’re together?”

  “I don’t know,” I whispered, fear working up my chest. “But I’m not taking any chances.”

  “Okay,” he murmured slowly. “But I’m getting you one, too.”

  I winced. “I don’t need—”

  “If this matter has reached the point where I need to start wearing a bullet proof vest and walk around with an armed escort, sweetheart, you’re getting one, too, especially since you’re the one David wants.”

  Bullet proof vest. Why hadn’t I thought of that?

  But my palms framed his stubbled cheeks and I peered up into his eyes. “You don’t think I’m crazy?”

  “I think you’re scared,” he answered almost immediately. “I think there’s more to this than you’re telling me, and I think you know that if I ever found out, I really might kill the son of a bitch.” The fury dimmed slightly. “I think you’ve been alone for so long that you don’t know how to let anyone help you. But I don’t think you’re crazy.”

  I SKIPPED THAT ENTIRE week of school. Even with the driver Kieran hired to take me, the one instructed never to leave my side, the outside world had become a dark and dangerous place. I couldn’t even stand to part the curtains, just in case.

  Professor Weber came to the manor for our sessions. He was kind enough not to mention the same outfit I wore each time, nor had he asked why I wasn’t in classes. He worked with me in one of the main libraries, the one filled with more than just ancient volumes and Latin scripture. He never yelled or lectured me when I got an answer wrong, even if it was a topic we’d already covered. That alone made me really like him.

  “We should get you some things,” Kieran decided one wet, windy afternoon as we sat cuddled in the back sunroom, watching the rain splatter across the glass. “While I love seeing you in my shirts, you should either let me take you to your place and grab some things, or let me hire people to pack it all up and bring it here.”

  I loved his attempts to get me to stay with him. The idea had become more and more appealing with every day that passed and I found myself calling his home mine. It was only the tiniest thing stopping me.

  I twisted my head back on his shoulder and caught his shadowy gaze. “I have really shitty things. Are you sure you want them here?”

  “That’s up to you.” He laced our fingers together and lifted the back of mine to his lips. “I have a whole empty wing for you to use as storage, or you can toss it all away and we’ll buy new things.”

  I chuckled. “Now you want me to redecorate your place?”

  “Our place,” he corrected, snaking our joined hands across my abdomen and tugging me closer. “I want you to be comfortable here. Do whatever you need to until that happens.”

  “I’d have to go through my things,” I mused. “I don’t want the furniture, but my clothes and a few other pieces...”

  His heart kicked against my shoulder blade. “Are you saying you’ll move in?”

  I chuckled at the excitement he was failing miserably to conceal. “If that’s okay—?”

  The slam of his mouth over mine was all the answer I got. I was hauled out of the V between his legs and made to straddle his hips. My hair made a fine veil between our faces while the heavens rumbled overhead. We were both breathless by the time one of us broke the kiss.

  “Too soon to ask about marrying me?”

  I burst out laughing as I pushed upright on him, resting my butt on his thighs. “You, Mr. Kincaid, are an impatient man.”

  “Damn right I am.” His palms settled on either sides of my bare thighs. “We should have been married five years ago and expecting our third by now.”

  I feign
ed horror. “Five years ago? I was seventeen, you pervert.” I laughed when he winced in realization. “Besides, we’ve barely moved in together and you want to knock me up? You are shameless.”

  “And dying to see you—”

  He was interrupted by the gong of the doorbell. The hand he’d slipped beneath the hem of my top and flattened over my belly stilled. His eyes jumped up to my face, all traces of humor gone.

  “Stay here,” he told me when I quickly scrambled off him.

  “Don’t answer it,” I begged, grabbing his wrist.

  “This is our home.” He pushed to his feet and dropped a hard kiss to the top of my head. “I won’t hide in it.”

  I watched him leave the room with my heart in my throat. My stomach quivered with anxiety. The restlessness propelled me off the lounge and hurrying in the direction of the main area.

  I heard Kieran undo the deadbolt and the groan of hinges as the doors were open to the gloomy day. I ducked behind an opening and listened as he greeted the visitor.

  “David, this is an unexpected surprise.”

  All the nerve endings in my fingers and toes prickled, sending waves of numbness up my limbs. My lips tingled, a strange vibration that matched the pounding of my blood in my ears.

  I tried to hold my breath, suddenly terrified he might hear it somehow, but it was nothing to the war drums in my chest. I slumped against the wall with both hands mashed over my heart.

  “I apologise for the intrusion.” His steady footfalls clipped deeper into the foyer. “I would have called, but I was in the area.”

  “That’s never necessary,” Kieran assured him. “But was there something I could help you with?”

  “Marcella sent me,” David said. “She’s been concerned about your absence to dinner these last few Sundays. She thinks you’re upset about something that happened during the party. I assured her that couldn’t possibly be the case, but you know she thinks of you as family.”

  “I understand,” Kieran began. “Please extend my deepest apologies. I never intended to upset Marcella. I’ve been preoccupied with work and it has consumed all my time.”