Cain's Salvation (Passion in Paradise - The Men of the McKinnon Sisters) (12 page)

If Cain thought the days in Afghanistan
had been torture, the past ten days that he’d spent watching the woman he loved
suffer had been sheer hell. The taste of heaven that he had found in those
stolen moments a week ago should have temporarily settled his demons....or so
he’d thought.  Instead, he had only managed to realize how badly he had
screwed up a good thing.  Since they had fucked in the office, she had
given him a wide berth...almost as if she was hiding from him in plain sight.

Every once and a while, he would catch
her studying him, almost as though she was trying to work up the courage to
approach him.  No matter how many encouraging smiles he offered her,
however, she always quickly averted her eyes and busied herself somewhere
else.  Honestly, the anticipation was killing him, and he itched to touch
her again.

His eyes drifted to the clock on the
wall.  In half an hour they’d be closing up for the night.  Briefly,
he toyed with the idea of cornering her now.  He knew his impatience might
well be his downfall, but damn it, he loved her.  She belonged to
him.  He wanted her back in his bed with his ring firmly on her finger
again.  He also knew that if he ever hoped to get everything he wanted, he
had to play this smart and think with his head instead of his dick.

“Hey, Cain,” Patience called from the
front of the bar where his brother and the Sherriff sat nursing their beers,
“Would you mind patrolling the parking lot one last time?”

Frowning at her, Cain cocked his
head.  “What exactly am I looking for out there?”

“Oh, I just wanted to make sure Old Man Burnett
didn’t pass out on his walk home,” Patience replied with a mischievous
grin.  “You know you don’t wanna have to carry him home to his wife twice
in one week.”

Nodding Cain sighed. Maybe it was
kismet, he thought to himself.  Perhaps fate was telling him that this
wasn’t the night to approach Faith after all.  Offering the woman a last
lingering look, he nodded at Patience.  “I’ll check.  Be back in a
few.”

~000~

Waiting until Cain was safely out the
door, Patience exchanged a look with Harmony, Zeke and Abel before turning her
attention to where her sister stood wiping down tables.  “Hey, Faith,
sweetie?”

“Hmmm?” Faith hummed without looking up
from her task.

“Would you mind going and grabbing me
another bottle of Jack Daniels from the shelf in the back?” she asked,
pointedly looking at the empty space on the shelf behind her bar.  “I
swear those frat boys drank us clean out of whiskey tonight.”

Nodding, Faith turned toward and walked
toward the door to the dining room, disappearing around the corner without a
word.

Waiting until her sister was out of
sight, Patience turned to Harmony.  “Are you sure about this, sis? 
She told us not to meddle,” Patience worried in a hushed whisper.

“We’ve given them a week,” Harmony
reasoned.  “It’s time to do something.  The holidays are right around
the corner and I want Heaven to have one big, happy family for Christmas. 
This’ll work
if
everybody did everything they were supposed to do,” she
continued with a hard look at the men seated in front of her.

“Everything you told us to get is in the
walk-in cooler,” Abel declared with a nod and an impish smile.  “Right
down to the bottle of wine and two glasses.”

“Plenty of sleeping bags and lots of
thick blankets?  Battery operated lantern?” Patience asked worriedly, tapping
her nails nervously against the bar.

Nodding, Zeke swallowed the last of his
beer.  “They won’t die of hypothermia, and I stuck two lanterns in there,”
he said dryly. “But, there are about a thousand things in there that Faith can
use to impale Cain with if she takes a notion.”

“She won’t,” Harmony insisted with the
trademark McKinnon determination.

“I hope not,” Zeke muttered, not quite
as certain of the outcome.  “Honor’s gonna be pissed if that cooler gets bloody,
and I’m not ashamed to say that I have no problem throwing any of you under
that
oncoming bus if it comes down to it.”

“You are
so
whipped,” Patience
breathed in derision, staring at the Sheriff.

“Why do people keep stating the
obvious?” Zeke asked Abel irritably as the bell above the door tinkled and Cain
returned.

“Home safe and sound, Patience,” Cain
called as he began to shrug his jacket off his shoulders.

“Oh, don’t take that off, Cain,” Harmony
said sweetly as Faith returned and handed a bottle of Jack Daniels over the
counter to Patience.  “This beer cooler is plumb empty after those boys
came through here tonight.  Honor would have our scalps if we didn’t
restock everything before we left tonight.  You know how she gets when the
beer isn’t the right temperature.  After that last health inspector took
points off his report for it, she’s on the warpath about following all the
rules.”

Shoulders sagging, Faith nodded. 
“She’s right.  Honor would kill us.”

“Oh, she’s gonna kill us for a lot more
than that,” Abel mumbled into his beer, fully aware of the huge risk they were
all about to take together.  He’d interfered once in his brother’s life
and lived to tell the tale.  He just hoped he’d be as lucky the second
time around.

“Let’s just get this done,” Zeke
suggested with a sigh, jerking his head toward the kitchen as Faith, Cain and
Abel filed toward the door.  Winking at Patience and Harmony, he murmured,
“Wish us luck.”

“Good luck,” Harmony offered with a wide
smile.

“You’ll need it,” Patience muttered
under her breath.

Zeke walked into the kitchen just as
Faith shrugged on a jacket.  Thankfully the woman had worn jeans instead
of shorts tonight in deference to the cooling temperature outside. 

“Y’all go on in,” Abel murmured to the
others.  “I’ll grab us a dolly to roll the beer out.”

Following Cain and Faith into the
cooler, Zeke took a deep breath and prayed he was about to do the right thing
for all parties concerned.  Thankfully, the clueless pair walked right
past their stack of supplies in the corner without noticing them.

“Okay, we usually start with the
Budweiser,” he heard Faith tell Cain as she lifted her arm and pointed to the
cases stacked in the corner.  Seeing his opportunity, Zeke lunged forward
and captured her slim wrist quickly manacling her arm with an economy of
motion.

“Zeke!” Faith asked loudly as she
realized what was happening.

Acting with lightening quick reflexes,
Zeke fastened the other manacle around Cain’s arm before the man could open his
mouth.  Quickly backing away from the shocked pair, he smiled and held up
his hands in front of him. 

“What the hell!” Cain cursed, frowning
at his shackled arm. 

“Now, kids,” Zeke soothed calmly, his
authoritative voice dripping with sympathy, “First off, this wasn’t my
idea.”  He crept steadily backward toward the door as the pair stood
frozen to the spots they stood in.  “But I really
do
believe this
is for the best.  You’ve got plenty of supplies,” he said, gesturing
toward the pile of blankets in the corner.  “And somebody will let you out
in the morning, I promise.”

“Let us out?” Faith gasped, her wide
eyes going from Zeke to Cain.  “Did he just say ‘let us out’” she
shrieked, yanking at the handcuff around her wrist.

“Trust us,” Abel’s voice joined in as he
opened the cooler door and held it for Zeke, “This is gonna save dozens of
lives and shave years off the war!”

“Abel, don’t you fucking dare!” Cain
roared, charging toward the two men as the heavy door swung shut in his
face.  Pushing furtively against it with the weight of his body, he
growled.

“Cain?” Faith questioned, beginning to
panic as the light began to dim in the walk-in cooler.  “Open it,
Cain!  Open the door!”

“Honey, I can’t,” Cain admitted, hanging
his head for a second.  “They locked us in here.”

“No!  NononononononoNOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Faith screamed, pounding her fist against the steel door.  “Let us out of
here!  I mean it!  Patience!  Harmony!”

“Pretty sure they were in on it, too,
babe,” Cain remarked with a sigh.  Oh, somebody was gonna pay dearly for
this, he thought to himself as he watched two fat teardrops roll down Faiths
cheeks.  “It’s okay, sweetheart,” he murmured, pulling her against his
chest and sliding the hand not chained to hers down her back.  “They won’t
keep us in here forever.”

“You think they’ll come back in a few
minutes?” she asked hopefully, looking up into his face.

“Well, I suspect it’ll take a little
longer than that,” he answered truthfully.

“When, then?” she asked, lifting her
head to stare up at him.

“Probably morning,” he admitted, watching
as her face tightened and two more tears escaped to slide down her cheeks.

“I’m going to
kill
them!” she
yelled, stomping her foot angrily as she turned to glare at the door.

“Sounds like a plan,” he surmised
reasonably.  “Happy to help in any way you need.”  Gazing toward the
supplies Sherriff Dickhead had mentioned, he tugged gently on her hand. 
“Until then, I suggest we see what they left behind for us and get real
comfortable.  It looks like we’re going to be here a few hours.”

Faith watched Cain thoughtfully rub his
scarred jaw as he peered into the corner of the walk-in cooler.  Pressing
her lips together, she shook her head.  Hadn’t this been exactly what
she’d been trying to avoid?  Captured in a too-small space with an all-too-overpowering
alpha male, she knew she was out of her depth.  Forcing herself to breathe
normally, she comforted herself with thoughts of the violence she intended on
inflicting as soon as she escaped this prison.

One of her sisters was to blame for this. 
She had to be.  The only question was which one was the most
culpable.  She doubted it was Honor.  While things were still tense
between them, she’d made her peace with the fact that her youngest sister had
been trying to do what had been best for everyone concerned.  Faith also
realized that at her core, Honor despised conflict.  She’d never have
taken action like this to try and resolve the issues between Cain and
Faith.  There was too much chance of blowback.  Nope, Honor was in
the clear here.

That left Patience and Harmony.

“I can hear you thinking, Faith,” Cain
chided as he looked up from where he knelt on the floor.  “What’s going
through that brain of yours?”

“Just trying to figure out which of my
siblings are ultimately responsible for our untimely incarceration,” she
muttered truthfully.  “I’ve ruled out Honor.  There’s no way she’d
risk pissing me off again after going behind my back and hiring you.”

“Well, that only leaves Patience and
Harmony,” Cain returned, grabbing one of the thick sleeping bags and spreading
it out on the floor.  “Which one are you leaning toward?” he asked as he
grabbed a second sleeping bag off the stack and spread it out beside the first.

“Patience is too in-your-face for this
kind of thing,” Faith mused aloud.  “She doesn’t do sneaky.  At
least, not well.  She’s involved, for sure, but I think she more than
likely got bullied into participating by the ring-tail leader.”

“Harmony,” Cain and Faith stated in
unison, looking at each other.

“Yeah, Harmony has happily-ever-after
syndrome.  I think she figures that if she couldn’t have her own, she’ll
do her best to make sure that everybody else gets one.  I can’t kill her,”
Faith grumbled unhappily, chafing her arm through her jacket as she watched
Cain pull several thick wool blankets out of a cardboard box.  “She’s
Heaven’s mom.  I can, however, maul her a little bit.  She doesn’t
need two arms and legs to be a mom.  One of each will suffice.”

Cain chuckled at Faith’s dark
plans.  “They were all only trying to help,” he pointed out quietly. 
“Things have been a little strained around here the last couple of weeks. 
I think they’re hoping that if we have no place to go, we’ll finally talk
things out.  Maybe we should take advantage of the opportunity,” he suggested,
smiling as he pulled out a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from the box.  It was
Faith’s favorite.   “They even gave us a bottle of nice wine to
grease the conversational wheels,” he remarked, holding up the bottle of
expensive wine to show her.

“Oh, this is
definitely
Harmony’s
work,” she seethed, snatching the bottle from him.  “She asked me just
yesterday if I preferred red or white wine.  She said she was getting
things ready for the holidays.”  Her sister would be lucky if this bottle
didn’t become the murder weapon Faith used when she killed her for interfering.

“Harmony means well,” Cain defended the
oldest McKinnon softly.  “She doesn’t like to watch you hurting,
Faith.  No one does.”

“I’m
fine
,” Faith countered
irritably. 

“That’ll help,” Cain muttered under his
breath.  “Just keep lying to yourself.  And me.  That’ll solve
everything, Faith.”  Reaching for one of the two battery operated
lanterns, he turned it on and cast the dimly-lit cooler in a warm, golden
light.  “At least we’ll be able to see now.”

“Great,” Faith retorted.  “For the
record, I am
not
lying, Cain.  I
am
fine,” she insisted
vehemently.  “Or, I would be fine if I didn’t feel like I had a stalker on
my ass,” she added bitterly, glaring at him. 

“A stalker?  Really?” Cain growled,
rising back to his feet.  “I’ve gone out of my way to give you space,
Faith.  I even cut back on the nights I’ve been working at the bar to the
busiest times on the weekend.  I’ve abided by your stupid rules.  I
haven’t mentioned anything about what happened two weeks ago between us, have
I?  I haven’t cornered or coerced you despite the fact that the waiting is
driving me insane.  What the hell more do you want from me?” he barked.

Taking an involuntary step back, Faith
frowned as her mind comprehended his sharp words.  Damn it, he was
right.  He had honored their deal and kept his mouth shut.  He hadn’t
pushed her to make a decision about them or used what happened in the café’s
office as a way to get closer to her.  He’d been completely honest about
that.  “You’re right,” she mumbled, looking away from him to stare at the
metal racks along one wall.  “You haven’t gone back on your word, and I
know you’ve been trying to give me my space.  I’m sorry.”

Exhaling a long breath, Cain stared at
the woman he loved.  “Look, I could use a drink.  Do you want a glass
of that wine or are you going to use it to bean me over the head?” he asked,
nodding toward the bottle in her hand.

“Harmony’s the one in danger of that,
not you,” Faith confessed, handing the wine back to him.  “And yes, I want
a glass.”  Perhaps, the alcohol would soothe her frazzled nerves. 
She watched as he grabbed the corkscrew from the box and quickly opened the
bottle and poured the wine into two glasses that had been left for them. 
It had taken both of his hands to do it, and she shivered as their handcuffed
fingers rubbed together.  She accepted the goblet he passed her and took a
small steadying sip.

“Listen, we’re gonna be here for a
while, Faith.  There’s nothing we can do about it.  Let’s just sit
down and drink our wine.  If you don’t wanna talk, I’ll deal with it,” he
offered calmly, tugging at her arm as he dragged her toward the pallet he’d
made against one wall.

Both of them sat down, their backs
propped against the steel wall as they stretched their legs out in front of
them.  “Are you warm enough?” he asked when they’d gotten settled.

Faith nodded.  “It isn’t that bad
in here.  They must have turned up the thermostat a little,” she commented
blandly. 

“No, I think that’s just your own anger raising
your body temperature,” Cain countered, lifting the glass to his lips
again.  “Righteous fury will do that to a person.”

“I just can’t believe that they thought
they had to trap us in here,” she murmured with another look around their cold,
makeshift cell.  “We haven’t been that bad, have we?” she asked, turning
her head to look at him.  “It’s not like we’ve been fighting or anything.”

“Personally, I’d rather we just fight
this out together.  The Cold War is driving me nuts.  I guess it’s
having the same effect on the people that care about us,” he admitted
gruffly.  “I know I’d rather have you yell and scream at me than freeze me
out, Faith.  Your silence is worse than any accusation or insult you could
hurl at me.  I can’t defend myself against silence,” he added huskily.

“Maybe that’s because what you did to
me… to
us
,” she corrected herself grimly.  “Maybe it was
indefensible, Cain.  Have you ever thought of that?” she asked tightly as
the same old hurt and betrayal tightened around her heart.  “I don’t know
if there’s anything you could say that would ever justify what you put me
through,” she revealed truthfully, closing her eyes as the ache within her
intensified.

Shifting his big body on the pallet so
that he could stare into her eyes, Cain swallowed.  “Will you please just
let me try, Faith.  Let’s have this out between us once and for all, and
if after we’re done you still can’t forgive me, I’ll walk away.  Ask me
any questions you want answers to, and I’ll give them to you.  I’ll give
you the whole, ugly truth.  Then, you can do what you think is best.”

“And you’ll abide but whatever decision
I make?” Faith asked through a throat clogged with emotion.  “You’ll walk
away if I tell you that’s what I want?” she asked, blinking back tears as she stared
into his haunted eyes. 

“I will.  It might kill me, but
I’ll do it for you,” he agreed huskily.