Hold Me (8 page)

Katie woke up in a large, unfamiliar bed. Her mind still bleary with the remaining edges of sleep, she reached out, but didn’t touch the bedroom wall of her undersized apartment. She frowned, confused. Then she remembered.

His bed. His room.

Her eyes snapped open.

Because she was as blind as a newborn puppy without her glasses, everything was a big light blur. Since it had been a big dark blur before, she assumed it was morning now.

Groaning, she sat up, leaned out to the nightstand and groped for her glasses. Once she’d slid them into place, the world came back into focus, and she felt a little bit more in control.

The graceful room was gilded with sunshine. Long beams of it spilled through the bay window, danced patterns across the stones of the fireplace, the multi-colored spines of the books, bounced against the ceiling and the walls. The space literally glowed.

For a few minutes, Katie sat watching the light strengthen, comforted by the reminder that not everything in her life was ugly now.

When she pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them, she winced, surprised at how much the small gesture hurt. She felt kind of beaten up, like she’d been fighting. Maybe in a way she had been. It was hard work wrestling with the demons when they chose to make an appearance.

She smiled at her own thoughts, then grimaced because even her face hurt. Which shouldn’t have been a surprise, considering how much she’d cried. But maybe the indulgence had actually helped because inside she felt better. Definitely confused. Still very frightened. Absolutely bruised and battered. But underneath it all…better. Maybe her mother had been right after all when she’d said that McCabes were a resilient lot.

The smile faded. God, she missed her mother. She wanted to tell her what was going on. She wanted to get her advice, listen to her lecture, have her voice opinions about things that really didn’t concern her. She missed all of her brothers and sisters, even Fiona. And her father, well. She wouldn’t think about him.

Although the clock on the nightstand showed that it was still pretty early, Katie didn’t think she’d be able to go back to sleep, so she climbed out of the bed and stood staring at her reflection in the mirror hanging over Luc’s dresser. Her hair was a jumbled mass of curls sticking out in all directions like Medusa. She was pale, her nose and cheeks red. Her eyes were wide and dark behind the glasses. Attractive.

What was going to happen now? Katie found herself looking at the shirt she’d worn to bed, remembering the silky pink teddy she’d found.

She pressed the shirt against her stomach, then shook her head and headed for the shower.

After she’d bathed, it occurred to her that one way she should have worked off some energy the night before was by washing out her clothes. Her twill pants would be okay, but the rest of her wardrobe was definitely not, uh, fresh as a daisy. She supposed extreme amounts of stress did that to a person.

Sighing, she rinsed out her blouse, bra and underwear in the bathroom sink and hung them in the shower.

Further investigation of Luc’s dresser drawers produced a soft, brown shirt that was a little warm for the season, but clean and in reasonably good shape. Certainly decent enough for breakfast. Which left only the problem of feminine unmentionables. Maybe Luc would let her use his washer and dryer. Surely he had one somewhere in the place.

In the meantime it looked like Katie McCabe was going out commando style.

Luc shifted his position at the stove when the door behind him opened, and Katie slid into the room, Spot following closely at her heels.

“There you are.” He tried to keep his voice neutral, but it was hard.

She was carrying a book and looked more than a little uncomfortable. Her hair was damp from a shower and, for the moment, relatively subdued, but it had already started to spring into curl around her face. She had on his favorite old shirt. It hung on her like a tunic. She’d had to roll up the sleeves several times so her hands could peak out. She was adorable.

It just wasn’t goddamn fair.

“I hope you don’t mind that I borrowed your shirt.”

“Uh…no.” Luc’s mind felt like the batter he’d stirred up for some pancakes. He struggled to pull his thoughts back together. “It never looked so good.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere.” She smiled and sat down at the kitchen table, facing him.

“I wondered where Spot had gotten to,” Luc said. He grinned when the dog took up a position next to the stove, staring with fixed interest at the pancake griddle as if willing it to fall.

“She was waiting for me in the hallway when I came out of the room. I guess she’s appointed herself my official escort.”

“She likes you,” Luc said. We both do.

“That’s good. I, uh, brought you a book,” she said, putting it on the table. “It was on the nightstand and looked like you were reading it, so I thought you might want it.” She wrinkled her nose. “Although why in the world anyone would voluntarily read
The Illiad
is beyond me.”

“Heathen.” Luc was disoriented. She smiled again and he cleared his throat. He wasn’t going to get distracted just because she wore his shirt and brought him a book.

He wasn’t.

“Is your ankle okay?” she asked. “Should you be on it?”

“I heal fast. It’s better this morning.” More importantly, he couldn’t stand the thought of lying helpless on the sofa for one more minute. “How are you?” He looked her over carefully. She was pale, but at least she didn’t seem to be quite so fragile today.

“Better.” She inclined her head. “Less breakable.”

“Good.”

“Where did you get the crutches?”

Luc glanced at the old crutches leaning against the stove and shrugged. “A closet. I forgot I had them last night.” He hadn’t been thinking too clearly.

Katie nodded soberly. “Good man. Prepared for all emergencies.”

“That’s me. The proverbial boy scout.”

“What’s for breakfast?” There was a smile hidden in the corners of her mouth and in her blue eyes behind the glasses. Hidden was a good word to describe her, Luc thought. If you just looked at the surface you would miss the intelligence in those eyes, the soft roundness of her features.

“Luc?” Her eyebrows were raised. Had she asked him a question?

“Pancakes,” he said, shaking his head to clear it. “I found a few things around and my neighbor brought me some milk. She dropped it off on her way to work at the diner…” He forced himself to stop talking when he realized he was babbling. Christ, he never babbled.

“Again, very resourceful.”

“Thank you. I try.”

“They’re burning.”

“What?” Luc turned back to the stove and frowned when he saw she was right. “Crap.” He hated burned pancakes. They always reminded him of his and Melanie’s time as foster kids at the god-awful Winston house and how the bitch who ruled there had insisted that they call her “mother”, and the beatings, and… Grumbling, he flipped the pancakes off the griddle to cool for Spot and stirred the batter again.

“Are you sure you should be standing.”

“I’m fine.” Actually, his ankle was killing him, in spite of the fact that he’d been a good boy and wrapped it tightly in an elastic bandage. But he wasn’t going to admit that to her or she’d want to come over and help. Then she’d be too close. He was trying to cut down on temptation, not ramp it up.

Katie was silent while he carefully poured the batter onto the griddle in perfect little circles. “Do you have a washer and dryer?” she asked suddenly.

“Sure. Why?”

“Because I need to throw in a few things.”

“What?” He glanced back at her and saw her blush. Deeply.

“Um, well, I only have one, uh…okay.” She sat straighter. “Here’s the deal. I washed out my underwear and my bra upstairs, but they’re still kind of icky, and it’s going to take them a while to dry anyway.” She fidgeted around on the chair. “And these twill pants really itch when you aren’t wearing underwear.”

Luc’s hands jerked. Batter flew all over the griddle. “Shit!”

“What’s wrong?” Katie jumped up and rushed over to him. He looked down at her, into her wide, concerned eyes. She really had no idea…

“We’ll go to a mall and buy you some clothes.” He hesitated, watching as she pushed up the sleeves of his shirt only to have them flop back down to cover her hands again. “Now,” he added.

Katie blinked. “Now?”

“Now.” Sure. Why not now? Get them out of the house. Christ, had the kitchen always been this warm? He tugged at the collar of his T-shirt. “Besides, we really need to get some food,” he added desperately.

Her things would dry, of course, but he wasn’t going through this every morning while she was here. He was under enough stress as it was. They could take her car; his Volvo station wagon still had the unfortunate tendency to lose all of its fluids at inappropriate times. They could do some grocery shopping while they were out, buy her clothes, get gas for the Nova. Yeah, this was a good plan.

He turned off the griddle and dumped the entire mess into the sink, then tossed the burned pancakes to Spot, who caught each one in mid-air like little Frisbees.

Katie seemed puzzled. “But what about breakfast?”

“We’ll get something while we’re out.”

She hadn’t moved. He wished that she would. She smelled like his soap. Like warm, clean woman. “Won’t it be, uh, dangerous?”

“We’ll be okay.” He hoped that was true. But he couldn’t leave her alone here at the house and he wasn’t going to shop for her clothes and underwear by himself. That would mean he’d have to figure out her size, decide what would look good… “There’s a big mall about an hour away,” he said on a surge of panic. “We’ll go there. We’ll be fine. Really.”

“I look like a bum.” Katie pulled at the shirt.

“Who the hell cares what you look like?” Luc snapped. “You look good.” More than good.

And then, God have mercy, she blushed a bright scarlet red again.

“But I’m not wearing—”

“Would you just shut up about the underwear?” Luc banged his hand down on the edge of the countertop and made both Katie and Spot jump. “I’ll buy you a whole freaking pile of underwear. Just go get your purse and I’ll meet you at the Nova. Move!”

He grabbed the crutches and hobbled off, trying to ignore how she stared after him, her mouth hanging open with surprise.

When they got to the mall, Luc insisted on buying all of Katie’s clothes with cash so there wouldn’t be a paper trail. The whole time they were shopping, he was funny and charming and obviously out to prove that he was the one in charge.

But later in the afternoon it was Katie who drove back to the Museum. Of course, she knew the only reason she’d been given the privilege was because after they’d stopped at a grocery store for provisions, Luc had been in so much pain even he couldn’t ignore it. He’d finally given in and agreed to sit in the back seat where he could stretch out his leg, providing shouted directions whenever she went astray. Fortunately, there weren’t that many turns.

“How are you?” she asked after they’d been driving turn-free for a little while, breaking what had become a rather companionable silence. She glanced at him through the rearview mirror and saw him straighten a little bit.

“I’m okay,” he said, but she knew he was lying.

“That ankle isn’t going to heal as long as you keep walking around on it.”

“I have to. Spot doesn’t take well to a saddle.”

Katie laughed in spite of herself. “We could always hook up a cart.” When she looked at him again, Luc smiled at her in the mirror. The brackets appeared around his mouth for one tantalizing instant, then were gone.

“Obviously her training has been sadly lacking.”

Katie looked away and focused on driving. She was suddenly breathless, caught by his smile, by the way his dark hair fell around his face, the way his skin gleamed a lush golden brown against the old black T-shirt.

“You really should have let me pay for something,” she said. Even if he was filthy rich and hiding it for some reason, she had her pride. She could support herself.

“I’ve never met a woman who could argue so much about not spending money.”

“I’m taking advantage of you.”

“For the last time, will you quit worrying?” He sounded amused. “I’m just going to put it on my expense report anyway. David will love it.”

“I do have some cash with me. I could have bought something without using my credit card.” She flexed her hands on the steering wheel. She knew she was talking much too quickly, but she knew he was watching her. She wished she could tell what he was thinking.

“Drop it, Katie. You’re not going to win this one. I got you into this. I’m buying your damn clothes.”

She risked another glance at him in the rearview mirror. His mouth had a stubborn set to it, so she decided to let the clothing issue go. But another worry was still niggling at her, the reality of her situation constantly hovering on the edges of her thinking. She turned her attention back to the road. “Are you sure you didn’t see anyone you knew?”

“Yes. I’m sure.” Luc sounded impatient. Which could be because she’d already asked him that same question about five times already.

“You really don’t think people noticed me?”

“No. I don’t think anybody noticed the way you were dressed. Besides, you changed right away.” He had insisted that the first thing they did, even before they ate breakfast, was buy her a shirt that fit. And underwear.

Katie smiled. “The saleswomen sure noticed you, though,” she teased. “I saw how they looked at you. Fresh meat without the ability to run.” Bunch of barracudas.

Luc, to her surprise, did not laugh at the small joke. When she glanced at him, he was frowning.

“Yeah. I hope they don’t remember me,” he said. “The scar, you know? It’s a little hard to miss.” He drew his hand down the side of his face.

“I like it,” Katie spoke before she thought, then felt herself blush a bright, fiery red. “Um, I mean it suits you. How did you get it?”

Luc didn’t answer.

“Forget it. I don’t want to bring up any bad memories,” she said quickly. She gripped the steering wheel tighter, intent on the road so she wouldn’t look at him.

“No, no. It’s all right.” He paused again. “It was a mistake. I was in the middle of a situation I didn’t know how to handle. I was young and stupid. I messed up. I paid. Everything worked out for the best in the end.”

Katie found that she wanted more details, but was afraid to ask. What had happened? Why hadn’t he ever gotten the scar fixed?

“Here’s the driveway,” he said, interrupting her thoughts. “Congratulations, you made it.”

“Hallelujah. I don’t know why in the world New Jersey thinks traffic circles are better than good old-fashioned stop lights.” She turned into the familiar gravel lane and soon Luc’s castle loomed into view.

“Museum, sweet Museum,” Katie sighed, charmed by the building all over again.

Luc didn’t respond. When she glanced back at him, she saw that he was sitting straighter, looking out the window, the tight line of his wide shoulders radiating a fine tension.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

“No, I just wanted to make sure—”

“Did we leave on the light over the front door?”

“We must have,” he said.

She was a little puzzled when she sensed him relax.

As soon as she pulled the car into the parking area and stopped, Spot came running out to greet them with loud barks and enthusiastic waves of her black tail.

“She’s pretty lively,” Luc commented. “Guess she was lonely.”

“Think you can make it inside?” Katie asked, twisting around in the seat to face him.

“No.” Luc tried to move his leg with limited success. “But I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”

“Not unless sleeping in a Nova appeals to you.” Katie jumped out of the car and hurried around to help him extract himself. It took some effort and a great deal of cursing, but eventually he was standing, balanced precariously on one foot. Spot playfully leapt at him.

“Hang on a minute.” Katie let go of Luc’s arm and went to get the crutches out of the car while he tried to fend off Spot.

“What is your problem?” he yelled at the dog. “Stop pushing me. Stop it! Sit! Stay, goddamn it!”

Spot ignored him and nudged him toward the house by pushing her large head against his thigh. The nudges didn’t look gentle either. Before Katie could hand Luc the crutches, Spot gave him a particularly eager shove.

“Oh, hell,” he said.

He teetered. It was like watching one of those films of a building swaying in an earthquake. One where you just knew the foundation wasn’t going to hold.

She dropped the crutches and made a grab for him, but it was too late. He fell, pulling her down with him, managing at the last minute to twist his body to cushion hers.

The next thing she knew she was lying on top of him, face to face in the driveway next to the Nova.

“Ouch,” Luc wheezed.

Spot moved to straddle them both. Katie felt the dog snuffling at her hair. She refused to speculate if there was drool involved.

“Oh my God, are you hurt?” She tried to get off Luc, but the dog wouldn’t budge.

“Yes.” He sounded pathetic. “This just hasn’t been my week.”

Katie realized she and Luc were nose to nose, and she was looking directly into his beautiful eyes. Her breath caught in her throat with a slight squeak. They stared at each other in silence for a moment.

“Katie?” Luc lifted a hand, pushing back the curls that had fallen forward into her face.

“Yes?” Her voice came out as a whisper. It didn’t sound like her voice at all.

“I’m going to kill that dog.”

Katie laughed softly. Before she quite knew what she was doing, she touched his hair. She’d been aching to touch it from the moment he’d jumped into her car, she realized. It was smooth and silky and slid through her fingers. Midnight black. Soft and sensual. His body was big and warm and all hard muscle under hers, their legs intertwined. So different. So exciting. She stared at him, stared into those deep, dark eyes. Saw them watching her.

She didn’t know if she moved first, or if he did. Maybe they both did. All she knew was that they were closer. His lips skimming hers, his mouth light and warm, but firm. Testing, tasting, questing, asking for more but not demanding it.

He nibbled on her lips, ran his tongue along the seam between them, acting as if he had all the time in the world, no desire beyond discovering the shape of her mouth, its texture, how it molded to his. His scent wrapped around her, his whiskers scraped her skin, his hands hot and insistent as he pulled her even closer.

Spot moved, and Katie knew the dog had ambled away, but it barely registered. It was probably a mistake, but God help her, she wanted this. Wanted him. Her lips were impossibly sensitive as he teased them. She found herself softening against him.

He sucked on her bottom lip, and she couldn’t control a little gasp. Immediately he seized the opportunity to plunge into the warmth of her mouth, sliding them deeper into the kiss, his tongue probing, wrapping around hers, coaxing, savoring her. She was being pulled under by the sensations. He tasted of sweetness and Luc and pure sex. She couldn’t breathe, but breathing was definitely overrated.

Almost abruptly his strong fingers threaded through her curls. He changed the angle of the kiss, bringing her impossibly closer. She couldn’t seem to do anything but respond and melt against him.

She shifted slightly, restless for more, and experimentally rubbed her body against a very hard part of his, making demands of her own.

He groaned and muttered something, then his mouth hardened, quickened. He wasn’t gentle anymore, but, God, she didn’t want him to be. He ate at her mouth, devoured it. Consumed it. Fed on it, on her.

She moaned deep in her throat, gripped his dark hair in both hands, and gave.

She’d never been kissed like this. The passion took her by surprise. His passion. Hers. Theirs. She hadn’t realized she could feel this way. She didn’t know how she was feeling.

His mouth slanted, slid across hers again and again. Hotter now. Wilder. Wetter. He tasted so good. He smelled so good. She drank him like he was cool water. She thirsted for him. She hungered for him. She—

“Everyone okay?”

At the sound of the masculine voice, Katie’s eyes flew open. She jerked away from Luc, rolled, and jumped to her feet, even as Luc shifted and his hand moved behind his back. Through the haze of her now crooked and foggy eyeglasses, she saw David Allen. He was standing a few feet away from the Nova, arms crossed, watching them, Spot sitting at his feet.

Uh oh.

Katie felt her whole body heat up in one big flush.

“It’s not what it seems.” She tried to clean off her glasses with her shirtsleeve and put them back on just in time to see David arch a dark eyebrow.

“Then what is it?” he asked politely.