Moonlight Warrior

by Janet Chapman

  Chaos was putting it mildly. They couldn’t even seat everyone at one table for dinner, although the table was thirty feet long and six feet wide. So Grace and Mabel had arranged a beautiful buffet on it instead, and people were eating anyplace they could find a seat out of the traffic zone.

  Kenzie was conspicuously absent, and Eve learned from her mother that he’d gone to have a quiet dinner alone with Matt and Winter and baby Fiona.

  Camry and five of her sisters had ganged up on Eve at the buffet table, and they’d brought her downstairs to a large room they called the lab. Eve had often taken her fourth-grade class to a real lab at MIT, but the one she was eating in this evening made it pale in comparison. She didn’t know which impressed her more—the lab full of equipment or the women who had grown up using it.

  They all had startling green eyes filled with intelligence, and personalities to match. They were also bubbling with energy, and had asked Eve more questions about herself than her kids did on the first day of school.

  Now, though, they were talking about her as if she wasn’t even there.

  “I don’t know if it’s such a good idea,” Elizabeth said. “I’ve heard Pete’s Bar and Grill is a rather rough place. Kenzie will kill us if anything happens to Eve.”

  Elizabeth was the next to the youngest, an elementary-school teacher here in town, and the mother of…Eve couldn’t remember how many of the adorable little heathens belonged to Elizabeth.

  Heather, the oldest, who now lived in Scotland, waved Elizabeth’s concern away. “We won’t let anything happen to her,” she said, stabbing a cherry tomato. “As a group, we could level the place if we wanted to.”

  “Jack said he’s been called there at least six times since it opened,” Megan said, holding two-month-old Walker to her breast with one hand and trying to eat with the other. “It’s not like most of the lounges we have here in town. It’s a bar.”

  “I’ve been there,” Camry said. “It can get a bit rowdy, but it’s not like it’s dangerous. I like Pete’s. It’s about time we had a place to party hearty around here.”

  “The TarStone Lounge is pretty hip,” Sarah—Camry’s twin—said. “We could take Eve there. She’s never seen it.”

  Chelsea—who was a lawyer in Bangor, and daughter number four—set down her water. “But we certainly have, ad nauseam. I vote we go to Pete’s.”

  “Kenzie will kill us,” Elizabeth repeated.

  “That’s why we’re going to sneak Eve out,” Camry told her. “We’ll make sure nothing happens to her.”

  Eve wondered if they even cared if she wanted to go. “Hello?” she interjected, smiling when the women looked startled. “I’ve been living in Boston for six years. I’m pretty sure I can take care of myself.”

  “Oh! We weren’t implying…I mean, we’re sure you can.” Heather smiled sheepishly. “It’s just that you don’t know Kenzie like we do.”

  “What I’m trying to figure out,” Eve said, “is what possible say Kenzie has about my going to a bar.”

  Camry sighed. “All the men around here are very old-fashioned, which means they’re annoyingly overprotective. Kenzie is the biggest atavist in the bunch, and since you came here with him, he’ll feel responsible for you.” She shrugged. “But because we love all our men so much, it’s just easier for us to sneak out instead of trying to remind them—again—that we are perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves.” She looked at Megan. “You can come, too, can’t you? If Jack can’t watch Walker tonight, I’m sure Mom would.”

  “But I can’t drink. I’m nursing.”

  “So pump,” Heather said. “Come on, Sis. How long has it been since we’ve all been out together?”

  “Six months,” Megan drawled. “On winter solstice eve? Remember? Winter and I had to pour you all in the truck and drive you home.”

  “I remember our husbands had to come down and carry us up to bed,” Chelsea said, shaking her head. “And you and Winter were the only ones who could eat birthday cake the next day.”

  “We deserve to cut loose a couple times a year since we’re all such angels the rest of the time.” Sarah grinned at Eve. “So, are you brave enough to go out on the town with the MacKeage women?”

  Finally, she was being asked! “I’m definitely game, as long as you don’t expect me to get roaring drunk. I’m still trying to recover from a spiced-rum incident several weeks back.”

  Eve sat at the crowded table in Pete’s Bar and Grill, and sipped her third soft drink. At first, she’d been so excited about sneaking out with the Mackeages that she’d completely forgotten her mom would be left alone in a house full of strangers. When Mabel had come up to the bedroom, utterly exhausted and the happiest Eve had seen her in months, Eve had told her what the women had planned, then explained that she’d decided not to go.

  Mabel had gotten all huffy, claimed she didn’t need babysitting, and insisted Eve go on her adventure with those sweet, charming, wonderful women. Heather, bless her intuitive heart, had shown up at their door with her ten-year-old daughter, introduced Mary to Mabel, and asked if the girl could sleep in Eve’s bed since Mary didn’t want to bunk with the smaller children tonight.

  Mabel and Eve had both known it was a flat-out lie, but not only had Mabel eagerly agreed, she’d told her young roommate they’d sneak down to the kitchen and make hot cocoa and popcorn.

  So sporting a plaid blouse Camry insisted she just had to wear, Eve left Gù Brath by way of the back stairs. Now, after three sodas and several turns on the dance floor with many of the sisters, she was quite pleased with her decision to join them.

  Or she was, until she finally noticed that each of the women were also wearing either a scarf or blouse or belt made of plaid, and innocently asked, “How come the plaid you all are wearing is the same, but mine is different?”

  Chelsea lifted an end of the scarf hanging loosely around her neck. “This is the clan MacKeage plaid. It’s become a tradition for us to wear it when we go out together. You’re wearing the clan Gregor colors.”

  Eve arched a brow at Camry. “Why am I wearing the clan Gregor colors?”

  “Because you belong to Kenzie,” Heather said before Camry could answer.

  Eve turned the brow on Heather. “I don’t belong to anyone.”

  “You’re living in his house,” Megan pointed out.

  “Because I work for him, and the pay is room and board for my mother and me.”

  “I think it’s much more than that,” Sarah said. “Kenzie wouldn’t have brought a mere employee home to meet the family.”

  Eve blinked at the women. Did they all have couple syndrome, or what?

  Camry laughed. “Welcome to my world,” she said. “They’ve been trying to get me married off for years. Why do you think I jumped at the NASA job and moved to Florida right after college?”

  “You live in Florida?” Megan asked in surprise. “Then why are you always here?”

  Camry stood up. “I need to go to the powder room.” She looked at Eve. “Want to come with me?”

  Oh, yes she did—if only to chew her out for making her wear the Gregor plaid. Eve followed Camry through the crowded bar, and just as they entered the narrow hallway leading to the restrooms, she pulled Camry to a stop.

  “That was a dirty trick,” she said, holding her sleeve two inches from Camry’s nose. “You know how I feel about Kenzie.”

  “I’m sorry. I know it was a dirty trick, but I am really, really desperate. If everyone’s busy matching you up with Kenzie, that takes the pressure off me.”

  “But what’s wrong with our being single?”

  “Oh, neither one of you lovely ladies should be single,” a deep voice said from behind them.

  Eve and Camry turned and came face-to-face with two men—both holding beers in their hands and swaying slightly, both looking rather lecherous.

  “Come on,” Camry said, taking her hand. “Let’s go back to our husbands.”

  The men didn’t move, blockin
g their exit. “But you just said you’re both single,” the dark-haired, unshaven man said. He waved his bottle between him and his friend. “And it just so happens we’re both single, too.” He winked at Eve. “And seeing how I got this thing for tiny little blondes, maybe you and I can hook up for the night. Maybe even all night, cutie-pie?”

  Camry nudged Eve behind her. “My friend prefers her husband’s bed.”

  Eve leaned into her. “That’s it? All you’ve got is the threat of a nonexistent husband?” she whispered.

  “You got a better idea?”

  “Maybe the women’s bathroom has a lock on the door.”

  “I tried that last week—it doesn’t. I’ll distract them, and you go find the bouncer.”

  “I’m not leaving you,” Eve hissed softly, eyeing the guy who was eyeing Camry.

  He looked more inebriated than his buddy, and no less horny.

  “Hey, don’t worry about choosing between us right now,” the guy on the left said, stepping forward. “If you can’t decide, we can all go back to my place.” He grabbed Camry’s arm.

  The other guy lurched toward Eve, backing her up against the wall. He tried to kiss her on the mouth, but drunkenly missed when Eve cried out in disgust and turned her face away—which got her kissed on the ear as his overlarge body pressed into hers.

  When his beefy paw grabbed her breast, Eve exploded. She grabbed his hand and bent his fingers back, then drove her palm against his nose to shove him off her, snapping his head back. He went flying into the crowd of people who had stopped to stare at his yelp of surprise.

  “Shit!” Eve’s guy cried, covering his face. “She broke my nose! And my fingers!”

  Camry’s assailant was sitting on the floor next to his buddy, holding his knee and groaning.

  “I guess you can take care of yourself,” Camry said, staring at Eve in awe. “Oh, please, you just have to marry Kenzie.”

  Eve grabbed her hand. “Let’s get out of here.”

  They didn’t make it three feet before a man in a Pete’s Bar and Grill shirt stepped in front of them. “I believe you ladies need to stay right here. That was the owner’s little brother you just assaulted.”

  “We were defending ourselves,” Camry pointed out.

  He just stood with his arms crossed and his feet planted.

  “What’s going on?” Heather asked from behind him, her sisters sliding to a stop beside her. “Dammit, Camry, now what did you do!”

  “Step back, ladies,” the bouncer said, holding his arms out to the side. “We’re just waiting for the police to arrive.”

  “Well, shit.” Camry looked at Eve. “How are you when it comes to enduring long-winded lectures on proper female behavior?”

  “What?”

  “Because once Daddy is done with us, Kenzie will likely take over. Then Heather’s husband, then Chelsea’s,” Camry continued, waving her hand in the air. “And on down the line until we can only hope our ears will fall off.”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Sorry, but you’re about to see true highlanders in action—as well as a few modern wannabe highlander husbands.” She suddenly shot Eve a broad smile. “Welcome to the family.”

  Eve couldn’t believe how fancy the tiny Pine Creek’s police station was, nor could she understand why these six intelligent, sophisticated women sat looking like naughty children about to be scolded.

  Hell, the fourth-graders she sent to the principal’s office weren’t this somber.

  Megan leaned across Camry to tell Eve, “Don’t worry, Jack will talk them out of pressing charges. He’s really good at getting people to see things his way.”

  Heather, sitting on Eve’s other side, snorted. “Of course they’re going to press charges. She broke the guy’s nose and fingers. And Camry probably tore a cartilage in the other guy’s knee.”

  Megan patted Eve’s thigh. “When Kenzie gets here, don’t say anything, okay? Especially don’t say anything about the guy grabbing you. Just smile and nod, and agree with whatever he says.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Chelsea pulled her chair away from the wall to see better. “If you try to reason with Kenzie, it’ll just prolong the lecture. Nodding will cut it in half.”

  Eve blinked at them. “Are you for real? This is the twenty-first century. We stopped letting men lecture us sometime in the last century.”

  Megan snorted. “Not in our family, we didn’t. Even Mom still sits through a few of them from Daddy.” She grinned and leaned closer. “She raised all us girls to realize that it’s better just to let the men blow off steam once in a while, because it makes them feel better and gets everyone past the problem quicker.”

  “But that’s archaic.”

  “Yup. But Mom explained it this way: testosterone can’t be turned on and off like a faucet, and the things that we love about our men are often the very things that drive us crazy. Protectiveness is programmed into their genes.”

  “And if you want a peaceful household,” Camry interjected, “then you have to learn when to keep your mouth shut and when to speak up.”

  “And you only speak up when their bellies are full,” Heather said with an authoritative nod. “Never, ever when they’re in the middle of a full-blown bluster.”

  “They’re angry because they’re actually scared,” Sarah clarified, “and lecturing us is the only way they know how to deal with it.”

  “But what are they afraid of?” Eve asked, utterly intrigued.

  “Of something terrible happening to us.”

  “So let me get this straight,” Eve said. “Kenzie will walk in here as angry as a bear, because he’s afraid something terrible could have happened to me?”

  “Now you’re getting it,” Heather said. “He’ll be upset because he wasn’t there to protect you from that jerk tonight.”

  “And I’m supposed to quietly sit here and let him lecture me so that he’ll feel better?” She shook her head. “I don’t know if I can.”

  “If you can’t do it for Kenzie, then please do it for us,” Sarah pleaded. “When you’re back in Midnight Bay, you can argue with him all you want.”

  “We are not a couple,” Eve reminded them. Then she gasped. “Camry, quick! Change blouses with me before he gets here.”

  “Too late,” Camry said, looking at the door.

  Eve was starting to feel like she’d fallen down a rabbit hole—or a time warp. Greylen MacKeage and Kenzie came striding into the police station, both men looking downright…lethal.

  Maybe she should keep her mouth shut just this once.

  For the women’s sakes, of course.

  Kenzie strode right up to Eve, grabbed her by her shoulders, and lifted her to her feet. He gave her a visual inspection from her toes to her nose, then pulled her against his chest in a crushing embrace that actually made her squeak.

  By the time he loosened his grip enough that she could breathe, the lobby was full of people. Men mostly, except for Grace MacKeage. Eve assumed she’d come to protect her daughters from their husbands, because she’d positioned herself in front of her girls and stood facing the men.

  Eve had a whole new appreciation of the meaning of clans.

  And the definition of atavism.

  “Are ye at all hurt?” Kenzie asked, holding her by the shoulders as he gave her another inspection. He must have answered his own question, because when his gaze locked on hers, she could see the hint of a grin. “They told me ye broke three of the bastard’s fingers and his nose.”

  The nervousness that had been building in her suddenly vanished. “Now do you believe that I can take care of myself?”

  “Against a drunken man,” he pointed out. He pulled her into his arms again with a sigh, and used his chin to tuck her head against his chest. “I should have realized something like this would happen if I brought ye anywhere near the MacKeage girls.”

  “Hey, this isn’t our fault,” Camry said, jumping up to glare at him. “Eve and I were
merely going to use the powder room.”

  “Which just happened to be in a rough bar,” Kenzie growled, hugging Eve so tightly that she squeaked again.

  Camry tried to pull them apart. “You’re smothering her!”

  Her father took hold of Camry’s shoulder and sat her down in the chair. “Stay out of this,” he said, his voice unbelievably soft. He looked at Megan. “Where’s your husband?”

  “He’s at home with Walker.”

  The door opened, and when Kenzie turned to look—still not releasing her—Eve saw what looked like a pregnant man walk in. Then he unzipped his police jacket as he took in the full lobby of people, and she realized he had a baby strapped to his chest. Megan immediately jumped up and went to him.

  “Leave him,” the man said when she reached out to take the baby. “He’s sleeping. So, people,” he said to the room at large. “Did the little heathens finally capture Gù Brath, and you’ve all taken refuge in my police station?”

  “Camry and Kenzie’s girlfriend got into a little scuffle at Pete’s,” Megan told him.

  “Camry?” he said, his gaze shooting to her. “No. She would never get into a little scuffle.” He walked over and smiled down at her. “Now I might believe you got into a big scuffle.” He shook his head. “Why aren’t you in Florida?”

  “It’s the summer solstice.”

  “That came and went over a week ago, Cam,” he said, smiling affectionately. “But you didn’t.” He turned to Kenzie and peered at Eve, his eyes widening in surprise. “Good Lord, man, be careful you don’t crush her.”

  Eve tried to wiggle free, but Kenzie simply tightened his arms. “Make this mess go away, Stone.”

  “If I do, will you go away, too?”

  “Day after tomorrow.”

  Chief Stone blew out a defeated sigh, then walked to the officer who was standing in the hallway, looking overwhelmed. “Okay, Pratt, fill me in. You said something about assault charges. So who assaulted whom?”