Guarding Kelsey ((Books We Love Romantic Suspense)) (20 page)

Wolf took a step back and looked between the two.
There was a strong resemblance in their features. And in the haunting sadness that shone in their blue eyes.

“You are Elisabeth’s son, aren’t you?" Kelsey asked.

Michael nodded slowly and shot a nervous glance towards Wolf.
"I'm sorry. She said you wanted to meet me.
I didn't think you'd mind if I came to visit."

* * *

Kelsey’s cheeks burned with embarrassment and her heart ached with sorrow.
She didn’t know her own brother.
The poor kid just wanted to meet her and he’d been treated like a criminal.

"Where's Mother?" she asked.

"She doesn't get up before eleven unless she has an appointment at the hair salon."

Kelsey let out a bitter laugh. "You must be my brother.
We defiantly have the same mother. What are you doing here?"

Michael shrugged. "I don't know
.
. I just thought
.
.
I mean
.
."

"Can we move this inside, Kelsey?" Wolf chafed.

She could understand his agitation.
His job was hard enough without her many relatives popping up unannounced.
But there was no danger.
He should be relieved instead of snorting as if he was about the breathe fire.
How could the same man, who earlier had been playful and caring, suddenly become cold and aloof. How did he turn off his emotions like that?

Wolf opened the apartment door and entered first. She and Michael followed behind.

"Have a seat,” she said to her brother.
“I have to let Mother know you’re here before she calls out the National Guard."

“She probably hasn’t noticed I’m gone yet,” he called after her.

Sadly, her brother was right.
Elisabeth had no idea her son wasn’t in his room and she was livid when she learned where Michael had gone.
Kelsey refused to send him home in a cab and insisted her mother come in person. At least she would have some time with Michael, and Wolf would have a couple of hours to get over his current attitude problem.

"So, Michael. What
are
you doing here?" Kelsey asked again.

"I just wanted to meet you.
Is that a crime?"
He addressed Kelsey but his gaze remained on Wolf's gun. "You don't know what it's like to have a sister you've never met."

"Yeah, I wouldn’t know,” she said dryly.

"Yes, well
.
.
Maybe you do.
I thought you might want to meet me since you were nice enough to give me a place to live."

Tears picked at her eyes. "I've always wanted to meet you Michael.
It's just been difficult to arrange, with you living in Florida with your father and me being away at school in California."

"I might be young, but I'm not stupid.
Mother could have arranged for us to meet if she wanted.
But there was nothing in it for her."

He wasn't stupid at all, Kelsey noticed.
He was perceptive and sensitive and stuck in the same confusing void she had inhabited for many lonely years.
"She hurts herself more than anyone else."

"Do you believe that crap?"

Kelsey bowed her head.
His anger wasn't directed at her. "Not when I was fifteen.
But I do now."

"She's never happy about anything."

"I know.
But isn't that an awful way to live?
What about your dad?
Why didn't you stay with him?"

Michael made a face.
"He's got a new wife and baby.
He doesn't want me around to remind him how old he is.
It was almost funny to see Mother and Father fighting over which one would get stuck with me.
Face it, Mother only took me so you'd give her the condo."

The hurt in his voice struck deep at her heart as well.
Because they both knew, he was right. Their mother’s obsession with money
created an empty w
oman
terrified of losing her looks and her ability to attract wea
lthy suitors.
Her children served as
a frightening reminder of her age.
However, Michael’s solo trip into Th
e City alarmed her, so Kelsey reserved
hope for her
mother
.

"Give her a chance, Michael.
She might surprise us.
With a firm hand and a few strict rules, we might actually get her to grow up,
” Kelsey
said lightly, but with a hint of truth to her words.

He laughed, although she could tell he didn’t want to.

"Let me give you some advice, which is something older sisters do when they're not tormenting their little brothers. Life is a poker game.
You play the hand you're dealt or you have to fold."

"And if you get a hand full of jokers?"

"You bluff. A hand full of jokers is still five of a kind. If you play it right, nothing beats it.”

Michael smiled and shot a glance towards Wolf. “So, is he your boyfriend or what?”

“He is definitely an
‘
or what
’.
”
In truth, she wasn’t sure what she was in Wolf’s eyes.
Last night she thought she had broken through his defenses but looking at him now, the walls were back in place. She wanted to be more than a case to him.
She just wasn’t sure if he was capable of caring for her the way she cared about him.

* * *

When he stopped beating himself up long enough to listen, Wolf discovered how suited Kelsey was to her planned calling of social work.
He watched her ignite a spark of hope in a hurt and confused boy.
They weren’t words to her but the basic philosophy she herself, lived by.

“Excuse me, Sir.
Can I have the shell back,” Michael asked.

“Sure.”
His hand loosened around the object and he handed it to Michael.
He, in turn gave it to Kelsey.

"For me?" She asked.

"Yeah.
Grandma said you liked them.
I didn't have any money to buy anything else.
And I wanted to thank you for that book you sent me from Egypt."

Wolf's head shot up. "You've been to Egypt."

"The whole family went last year. Dad and
I loved it, my uncle and cousin
hated it.
Why?" Kelsey asked.

"No reason.”

No reason he cared to share. The doll use
d
in the incident to scare Kelsey's had been manufactured in Egypt.
The police couldn't find a single store in The City that sold one like it.
It could be coincidence, but Wolf didn't believe in coincidences.
Not when it came to threats against her life.

Acc
ording to DMV records her cousin
lived in the city.
He asked Martinez to check him
out.
Leaving Kelsey with her brother, Wolf went into the bedroom to call in.

"Have you got anything for me?" Wolf asked Martinez.

"Kelsey has a will.
Each blood relative gets a cool million. The rest goes to the Carlyle Foundation."

"That leaves us six
people with a million reasons to want her dead," Wolf said.
"Anything else?"

"Some interesting financial information on her family.”

“A
nything on her cousin
?”

“Nothing that makes him
stand out from the others. Something in particular you’re looking for?”

“Just foll
owing a hunch.”
Her cousin was the only family member
who hadn’t made an appearance yet, which could mean nothing at all, or that they had something to hide.

“I'll drop the information by the condo in the morning."

"At my
house
," Wolf corrected.
A long pause followed.
"It's not what you think.
It's easier to protect her from there at night."

Martinez chuckled.
"If I was single, I would have tried that one myself.
By the way, I hear there's a special on engagement rings down at the
.
."

Wolf dropped the phone back on the cradle. Why did every married man try to get the rest of the world roped into the same situation?
Although, waking up in the morning with Kelsey did have a certain appeal, waking up in her penthouse, didn't.
He couldn't picture her living in his small
house
after growing up in such luxury.
And he wouldn’t ask her to.

What might seem like a novelty in the beginning would soon wear thin.
He remembered the constant fights between his parents and the cruel words that tore their family apart.
Despite his years of bitterness towards his mother for leaving, she was happier back in her own world.

Even if Kelsey would be willing to try, he lacked the commitment gene.
Eventually he would fail to live up to her expectations.
His philosophy--
depend on no one and let no one depend on him.
He’d do better to remember that in his future dealings with Kelsey.

He remained in the bedroom when he heard Elisabeth Parker's voice. Why confront the Dragon Queen if he could avoid her?
With no guilt, he listened through the intercom to the conversation in the living room.
He felt sorry for Kelsey's brother. At least Kelsey had grown up with her father.

“I know that his timing was bad, Mother, but this mess will all be over soon and you aren’t going to be able to stop him from seeing me. Not if you want to keep living in the condo.”

“There’s no need for blackmail,” Elisabeth complained.

“It’s not blackmail, it’s bribery and I’m very good at it,” Kelsey said proudly.

“I never intentionally kept you apart.”

“Maybe not, but I’ll expect you to intentionally keep us together now.”

Wolf held back a laugh.
What had he created?
Kelsey handled her mother today with a confidence she lacked the last time they were together.
She held all the cards, and even if they were jokers, Elisabeth didn’t call her daughters bluff.

However, her new and improved attitude opened up a new set of problems.
In the last two days, Kelsey had backed her family against a wall.
First by telling her uncle she planned to sell off the business and then by threatening to cut off her mother financially.
She had given them strong motives for making a final lethal move.
He couldn’t afford to let his guard down again.