Damon, Lee (45 page)

Again, old instincts and well-learned reflexes snapped into operation. At the last second, her body from the waist up turned slightly to her left, her right shoulder lifted with the arm clamped across her ribs, she tucked her chin down behind the shoulder, and, with her legs still driving hard as Ez had taught her, she hit him full force with a smashing body block that lifted him completely off his feet and dropped him flat on his back with a resounding thud. The impact knocked her off-balance, and her forward momentum sent her down onto one knee and a hand. With hardly a pause, she pushed herself up and started to leap for the feebly moving man while a snarling Hero went by her in a copper-white blur in a direct line for the man's throat and Gus raced up with his arm drawn back and a sizable rock clutched in his fist. Simultaneously, hard arms came around her from behind, lifting her off her feet, and she heard O'Mara's "No, Hero" and "Hold it, Gus" thundering in her ear.

Gus skidded to a stop, panting, and tossed the rock aside. Hero swerved and slowed, turning to limp back toward Kitt. He was favoring a hind leg but still putting weight on it, and she didn't think he was badly hurt; his ears were up and he was practically smiling in triumph. Gus let out a sobbing "Oh, Hero," and dropped to the sand, gathering the dog gently into his arms and settling him in his lap.

O'Mara let Kitt slide down to her feet and held her off at arm's length. He examined her quickly from head to toe to check for visible damage and, satisfied for the moment, let his gaze drift over the battlefield.

Kitt's equally quick check of O'Mara noted the signs of his desperate plunge down the cliff-path and race across the beach. He was breathing deeply; sweat ran down his face and neck and the thick pelt on his legs and arms was damp. Blood was welling slowly from several surface cuts on his bare legs—his denim cutoffs had been no protection from the rocks on that scramble down the path. Kitt was coming down rapidly from her adrenalin-powered high, and she was still somewhat bemused as she followed O'Mara's gaze and finally became totally aware of her surroundings.

Both of the unknown men were still flat on the sand, and seemed to be only partly conscious, although they were making tentative movements with their arms and legs. A choking sound drew her attention to where Ez was standing with one large foot resting warningly on the stomach of Midge's former foe. Midge apparently considered him very much a current foe, since she was trying to get back to pounding his head in the sand, an activity she had been enthusiastically pursuing when Ez had finally reached her and plucked her off her victim. He was effortlessly restraining her now with a tight one-handed grip on the back of her shorts, while he wiped the sweat from his face with his other hand. Since he was also wearing shorts, his legs, too, had a scattering of rock-cuts. The choking sound was due to his rapidly deteriorating effort to hold back laughter.

Kitt brought her eyes back to O'Mara and saw the same look of barely restrained mirth on his face. She wondered what could possibly be funny in such an appalling situation. Moment by moment, she was becoming aware of various aches and twinges in overstrained muscles, and it was coming home to her that she had put down and out two fairly sizable men. True, they weren't as big as Ez or O'Mara, but they were certainly considerably larger than she was.

Ez couldn't hold it in any longer. He stepped back, sat down on the sand and roared with laughter. That set O'Mara off, and his deep bellows joined Ez's. Kitt, Midge and Gus looked bewilderedly at each other, and then at the two nearly hysterical men.

Finally, Ez managed to gasp, "Oh, God, Kitt. For a woman who turns to jelly... at the mere thought of violence... you certainly mopped up... the beach with these two. That was... without doubt... the best straight arm and body block... I've ever seen."

For a moment, Kitt stared at her twin in disbelief as he rocked with laughter, wiping tears away with both hands. She looked at O'Mara, scowled, threw her head back and yelled "MEN!" at the top of her lungs.

To the rising laughter of Gus and Midge, O'Mara pulled Kitt into his arms, hugged her, contained his laughter long enough for a quick kiss, and then lifted his head to watch her growing smile. He was still chuckling and the sapphire eyes were flashing their wicked gleam when he said, just for her ears, "After this, there's no ques—"

"Dad, Dad," Gus's frantic voice interrupted, "who's that woman?" He grabbed his father's arm, tugging him around and pointing to the top of the steps leading from the beach.

O'Mara's eyes widened in disbelief at the sight of the angry-looking brunette poised on the top step. Kitt didn't need to hear his explosive "Laura!" to know who she was.

Everyone on the beach froze, staring at the furious woman snarling, "You bungling idiots! How could you let one stupid woman—" Her snarl ended in a startled squawk as an infuriated Kitt leaped up the steps, plucked her off her feet and started shaking her violently.

A fresh surge of anger-induced adrenalin gave Kitt the strength to hold the smaller woman in midair with her fingers clamped tightly under her ribs. Kitt was totally beside herself with fury as she realized the appalling act this selfish, shallow woman had attempted, with callous disregard of any possible injury to Gus.

As she shook the now-screaming woman, Kitt sounded almost like Ez as she growled. "You bitch! You miserable, nasty, rotten-minded bitch! What were you going to do to Gus? What kind of a slimy piece of nothing are you that you'd turn those gorillas loose on a child? Why don't you pick on someone your own size? I ought to—"

"Kitt! Kitt! Let go. Come on, now, drop her."

"Let go, love. You've scared her half witless."

Ez and O'Mara yelled in her ears to make themselves heard while they tugged at Kitt's wrists and pried her fingers loose, finally breaking her hold on the terrified Laura. The sobbing woman dropped to the sandy path and scrabbled backward on her bottom to get well away from Kitt.

"Keep her away from me," Laura choked, turning toward O'Mara. "She's crazy! She should be locked up." The frightened but still defiant woman struggled to her feet and backed well out of Kitt's reach, rubbing her hands over her bruised ribs and working up a fine sense of injustice. "I could have her locked up, you know. Attacking me like that. You've got a hell of a nerve, Mike, letting a woman like that loose around my son. What do you—"

"You just shut up, you bitch!" yelled an incensed Kitt, squirming to get out of the hold Ez and O'Mara had on her arms. "And he's
not
your son. You never wanted him, but I do, and he's
my
son now." Twisting and pulling, Kitt tried to break loose. The two big men were hard put to hang onto her without bruising her, but they persisted since she still had the light of battle in her eyes. "Dammit! Will you two let go of me? I'll fix her so she won't come bothering any of us again."

"Kitt, Kitt, settle down," Ez crooned. "You can't go beating her up. For one thing, she's smaller than you."

"Besides that," O'Mara chimed in, "she's just not worth it. You'd get a lot more satisfaction out of seeing her marched off to jail in handcuffs, wouldn't you?" he asked with a calculating, sideways look at his seething ex-wife.

"Jail!" screeched Laura, her anger-flushed face paling to a sickly white.

"Good thinking," Kitt said in a normal tone, relaxing and finally becoming aware of Gus and Midge standing to one side and staring at her in pop-eyed amazement. "Hey, what's the matter with you two?"

Gus closed his mouth and ran to her, flinging his arms around her waist in a bearhug. "Oh, Kitt," he cried, halfway between laughter and tears. "I never saw anybody get so mad. You... Was that on account of me? Knocking those men out and shaking that woman?" Kitt pulled out of the men's loosened hold and wrapped her arms around Gus, hugging him tight. "Oh, Kitt, you're going to be the best mother a guy could have! Wait till I tell the guys how you charged across that beach and dumped those gorillas on their butts. They'll never believe it!"

"I hope you don't think you're going to spend the next fifty years trying to top that!" O'Mara chuckled in her ear.

Suddenly exhausted, Kitt turned to look up at him and thankfully leaned against his strength as his arm came around her shoulders and he reached out with his other hand to ruffle Gus's hair.

Laura's strident voice interrupted their moment of closeness as she demanded, "What do you mean, jail? You can't—"

"Oh, yes, we can," O'Mara snapped. "How about attempted kidnapping for starters? Then, we can add a charge of assault and—"

"Go to hell!" Laura screamed. "She's the one who did all the assaulting. And I can't kidnap my own kid!"

O'Mara fixed her with an inimical stare and in a slow, deadly voice said, "You brought those two here. You hired them or bribed them to kidnap Gus. It is kidnapping, Laura, when you take a person against his or her will or, in the case of a minor, without the consent of a legal guardian. And I am Gus's legal guardian. You have no rights where he is concerned. You gave them up. You signed documents to that effect. There is not a police officer, a lawyer or a judge who would not consider this an attempted kidnapping. Those two," he pointed at the subdued men sitting meekly at Ez's feet, "and you will go to jail if I file a complaint. In fact, I doubt if I'd even have to sign a complaint in this case. Just call the police and tell them what happened here this afternoon. As for the assault charge, Midge could bring that. They attacked her. Kitt was only defending Gus and Midge from them. Do you understand, Laura?"

White-faced, she stared at him in a mixture of fear and anger and frustration. Her eyes traveled to the tall woman standing close in the security of his arm, and then to the handsome boy who had turned in Kitt's arms to glare at her with the same inimical look that was in his father's eyes. As shallow-minded as she was, even Laura could see they were too strong for her. They were
together,
a cohesive unit, mutually supportive, mutually defensive. They defeated her.

"Take your bully boys and get out of here, Laura. Don't come back. And don't send anybody else to do your dirty work for you. Any more trouble from you, and I'll find you and turn Kitt loose on you. 7 might not be able to bring myself to belt a woman, but Kitt wouldn't mind at all plucking you bald-headed and leaving you wishing you were safe in jail." For just an instant, O'Mara looked as though he might change his mind and let Kitt at her now.

"You just keep her away from me," cried Laura, backing away. "We're going."

"Smart move," O'Mara drawled. "I assume this was all in aid of wringing more money out of me. You can forget it. I told you you'd had all you're getting. I suggest you find a job. It's safer than messing with us."

Ez nudged the two men with his foot, none too gently, and sent them scrambling to their feet and stumbling after Laura toward the road.

"Come on, Midge," he said, holding out his hand to her. "Let's see them on their way." They ambled after the departing trio, Ez calling back, "See you guys up at the house."

Kitt let out a long sigh and leaned her head back against O'Mara's shoulder. "I feel like I've been through a war. Oh," she exclaimed, straightening up and looking around, "I forgot Hero. Where is he? Is he all right, Gus?"

"He's right behind us," said Gus, stepping out of her arms and dropping down on the sand to pat the excited dog. "I think he's okay, but he's still limping a little."

Kitt and O'Mara knelt down beside him to examine Hero's hind leg and to run their hands over the rest of his body to check for tender spots.

"Seems okay," O'Mara said. "I think that leg is just strained. Maybe a bruise or two along his ribs, but he's not fussing too much when I touch him."

"He's bleeding a little on his lower lip," murmured Kitt, holding Hero's head still so she could get a better look. "Must have jammed it against a tooth. Doesn't look too bad. It should heal up in a day or so."

O'Mara stood up, half-lifting Kitt to her feet beside him. He chuckled as she groaned. "Stiffening up a bit? I should think so, love. That wasn't exactly light exercise you were indulging in. Come on, tiger lady, what you need is a session in the hot tub. I might even be coaxed into giving you a massage."

She gave him a teasing, come-hither look and breathed, "Coaxing, coaxing, coaxing."

"Witch! No, come this way. It's a bit long, but you won't have to climb that steep path."

"Hmmm. About that hot tub..." Kitt murmured.

"I thought you'd never ask," answered O'Mara, his smiling look promising her another new experience.

They strolled off, arms around each other, trailed by Gus and Hero.

Epilogue

The late-August night was remarkably clear, and the long, low building glowed silver-white in the brilliant moonlight. The tall lantern-lights bordering the drives, parking lots and sidewalks were dimmed by the power of Nature's night-light. Only on the shaded veranda facing the moon-bright beach was the natural light supplanted by the soft glow from the chandeliers in the ballroom. A geometrical pattern of alternating pale yellow and black rectangles stretched the length of the veranda floor. Shadows flickered across the pale yellow patches in rhythm with the music drifting from the open French doors. Periodically, the formal pattern of light and dark was broken as couples strolled slowly down the veranda, enjoying the unseasonably warm evening—it seemed more like the middle of July than the end of August—and gazing with moon-dazzled eyes at the wide white beach and rippling silver sea.

A young woman appeared at one of the French doors and stood quietly for a few moments admiring the view and letting the serenity of the evening relax some of her tension. With a deep sigh, wishing she could kick off her shoes and go for a long walk on the enticing beach, she turned back into the ballroom. Her eyes automatically scanned the room, checking for problems, making contact with an attendant here and there in the lounge and the anterooms. As activities director for the hotel, she was responsible for the planning and smooth functioning of this high point of the summer, the End-of-Season Ball. It was a long-established tradition, and was always well attended by both hotel guests and local residents. She watched the couples moving gracefully over the polished floor to the tune of a slow waltz. It was a good crowd, older, the few young people were well behaved and seemed to be enjoying the traditional ballroom dancing. There were a number of familiar faces—perennial guests, regular visitors from the surrounding area, and several who were generally well known to the public for one reason or another.