Shadows and Silk (14 page)

The only thing she had to worry about was not letting him see past the deception—the
way his touches and their bodies became one really affected her.

Darcy s
tayed to the edges of the main path, feeling more than exposed without her bathing
suit bottom,
slight
as it had been to begin with.
And she could feel the burn of Brant’s gaze
from behind her, no doubt checking out her ass. A look over her shoulder told her
she’d been right about where his eyes had been looking, and she raised a brow when
she saw he was already hard again. If this plan didn’t work, the sex alone might kill
them.

“Maybe I should let you walk in front next time,” she said. “It’s been awhile since
I’ve gotten to ogle your ass.”

His mouth quirked and his eyebrows
raised
in question. “When was the last time you ogled my ass?”

Her smile was mischievous, and she cocked a hand to her hip so the split in her sarong
showed more of her thigh. “You mean other than watching your naked
behind
walk out of my house in the middle of the night
four years ago
?”

He scowled at that reminder, but there was no heat in her words. She was starting
to understand why he’d thought he’d had to leave.
He had feelings for her, and he was scared to death.

“You stopped coming to the house as much as you used to,” she said. “But about
ten
years ago, I guess Cade had talked you into staying
with us
for a few weeks one summer. I spent that time checking out your ass, and every other
part of you, while you helped my brothers bail hay
and repair the fences
. You wore jeans and no shirt, and all those muscles flex
ing made my young heart go pitter
-pat.”

Darcy placed her hand over her heart and fluttered her lashes, and Brant smiled again.
He didn’t do that nearly enough. She knew he had a great family, parents and a brother
and sister who loved him, but Brant had always been a little bit of a loner. And there
was a sadness inside of him that always hovered just around the edges.

“I remember,” he said. “You spent that summer traipsing around the house in tiny shorts
that barely covered your ass. I thought your brothers were going to kill you.”

“I was
nineteen
. My brothers are overprotective
asses
.”

“They had every right to be. They knew the way I tried not to look at you.”

“Don’t worry, sugar,” she said, using one of his endearments. “I noticed. And I looked
right back. Especially that time you went skinny dipping down in the stock tank. I
got an education for sure.” Her eyebrows waggled and she turned back towards the hotel,
twitching her hips a little.

“You little brat,” he said, the amusement obvious in his voice.
“Someone should have spanked you more as a child.”

“I thought you were going to do that?”
She smiled as she heard his low growl and then thought back on that summer. “Tell
me something, Brant. When you came to stay with us that summer, you seemed angry with
me.
More angry
than your usual self, I guess. But it was more than the sexual frustration that always
seemed to be between us. It was like you hated me.
Y
ou had a fresh scar on your back
, and you’d lost weight
. I remember how red and angry it looked
against your skin
, as if it had barely healed before you’d come to us.
”

“I remember,” he said softly, and she could tell by the sound of his voice that the
smile and playfulness she’d sensed in him earlier was gone. “Just like I remember
you getting pissed at me over
not giving in to you
, and then you started dating that Freeman asshole.”

She stopped walking and turned to face him again, but this time she only saw the cold
hard side of him that had been taking over more frequently. “I believe that was the
summer you told me it’d be a cold day in hell before you put your hands on me, and
that I should just go and find a college boy to tempt.
Then you said some other horrible things and kissed the daylights out of me. And
then you didn’t look at me for the rest of the summer.
I
just did
what you told me to. And a girl has to lose her virginity at some point.”

Brant went completely still, the green of his eyes turning almost black as he stared
her down. “Jesus, you gave your virginity to that prick? What the hell were you thinking?”

“Well
,
you didn’t want it, so I figured he was as good as anyone. Of course, I know better
now.” She sighed and shrugged her shoulder. “But I guess you live and learn.
”

He opened his mouth to say something else, but footsteps coming up the path had him
jerking her
to his side
.
A young man of around seventeen
came around the bend, his dark hair and eyes slightly familiar
.
He looked sullen and a little angry, but he still gave them a smile when he saw them.

“Here you are,” he said. “I’m Enrique Luna. My father sent me to find you in case
you got lost on your way.”

His eyes trailed a slow path over Darcy from head to toe, and the very adult look
in those young eyes made her shiver.
He then took in Brant’s torn shirt and he smirked. “I guess
you had a reason for getting lost
.”

She couldn’t see Brant’s look since she was standing partially behind him, but she
saw the younger Luna pale considerably and take a step back.

“You can follow me this way to your cottage,” the boy stuttered out. And without another
word he turned on his heel and headed
back up the path
.

“Ah, men never change,” she said, feeling better now that those creepy eyes weren’t
turned on her.
“
Is there ever a time in life when you don’t have to compare dick size? You all make
things very complicated in a woman’s life.”

“The size of my dick is the only one you need to worry about, sweetheart. And if you
weren’t practically naked, it wouldn’t be an issue in the first place.”

The Luna kid was practically running down the g
raveled path towards the beach, but they
walked at a normal pace behind him, forcing him to slow down
and wait for them to catch up, giving them impatient glares all the while.

Darcy sighed as Brant kept moving her
slightly in
front of him and to the left. S
he assumed
it was
so
his shooting hand would be free
,
just like her brothers always did when they were out
together
.

“Jesus, you’re just like my brothers,”
she finally said
.

“
That’s not what you
were saying twenty minutes ago.
”

She snorted out a laugh
,
and he relaxed
a little
beside her.

“I mean it’s impossible to go anywhere with them without feeling like your life is
on the line. You guys are always looking for bad guys in hidden corners and the closest
escape routes. It makes me itchy. One day I’d like to take a normal walk with a normal
man and not have to look over my shoulder.”

“Is that what you had with Kenneth
?” he asked.
“Normalcy?”

Her brow furrowed
and she thought about it for a second
.
“Sometimes normalcy is nice. And sometimes it just feels good to be with someone
who cares about you.”

“You don’t love him,” he said with c
onfidence. “Why waste your time?
”

“Because being lonely sucks.
I grew up in a town of three thousand people and four brothers. Friends were few
and far between, and my brothers stuck together like glue. I just don’t want to be
alone anymore.”

“
So get a cat. Don’t keep tying yourself to men like Kenneth just because you’re lonely.
You’re a
MacKenzie
, babe. You can’t live without a little excitement in your life.”

“
I guess it’s fortunate I have you for the next six months to keep me occupied. Maybe
you’ll cure me of my need for adventure, and then I won’t mind having a man like Kenneth
in my life. Six mont
hs was a good idea, love,
”
she said, patting him on the arm.

She was playing with fire, and she knew it. Brant was nothing if not competitive,
and the thought of her leaving his bed at the end of their time together and going
to a man like Kenneth wouldn’t sit well.

They followed Enrique in silence—
off the graveled path and
through
the manicured
tropical gardens—both of them lost in their own thoughts. T
he beach opened up
suddenly
in front of them
for miles in each direction
—white sand and crystalline blue waters.
T
hatched roof huts
were
built at the ends of docks that were spread every few hundre
d feet down the shoreline, but Enrique headed
in the op
posite direction and up a narrow sandy path lined with palm trees and flowers in bright
pinks and yellows.

Darcy
was starting to think the boy was leading them in circles when the
y
finally came upon the
honeymoon villa
. It sat high up on a hill—a small white stucco replica of the main hotel.
The windows and doors were arched and the roof was red tile.
It was completely secluded from the rest of the resort.

“Here it is,” the boy said, handing Brant the key. “My dad said your luggage is being
brought up. Enjoy your stay.” And with that, he started back down the hill without
looking back.

“
Little prick,” Brant said. “
I guess he didn’t want a tip
.
”

“
I think you scared the hell out of him with your macho display earlier.” She grabbed
the key from his hand and was just putting it in the lock when he put his hand over
her wrist.

“Let me go in first. Stay behind me.”

Darcy rolled her eyes but she stepped back and let him do the honors.
Brant
pulled the heavy black pistol from the small of his back and kept it down at his
side while he unlocked the door
with his left hand
. It opened on smooth hinges
,
and
she followed in close behind
him
into an open foyer. She inhaled the tangy scent of citrus and moved to Brant’s side
so she could see
the room better
.

The cottage was larger than it seemed from the outside, and it was dominated by shades
of white. Two long white couches faced each other and a wicker coffee table sat between
them. The little kitchen off to the side had a coffeemaker and a large basket of frui
t on the counter, and a wall of floor to ceiling windows were all that separated them
from the beach
.

Darcy
assumed the arched door
s
on each side of the main room went to the bedrooms
,
and she sighed in relief at the thought of taking a shower and changing clothes. She
tried to move around Brant, but he held out an arm to stop her.

When she looked at him, she could see the tension in his shoulders, but he shook his
head at her.

“Come on out, Dec,” he said.
“
I won’t shoot you. Yet.”

“What—”
Darcy said, confused
. Until she saw Declan come out of the bedroom.

He was dressed like one of the resort guests—
navy blue swim trunks,
a
loose white t-shirt and flip-flops
—except for the weapon he had in his hand
. The scar on his face stood out a
gainst the darkness of his skin as he frowned while looking her over from head to
toe.
And then he took in Brant’s open shirt, and Darcy took a step in front of Brant because
Declan
looked like he wanted to use the gun in his hand
.

“Don’t ever try to stand in front of me,” Brant said from behind her. “It’s not your
job to protect me from anyone, much less your brother.”

“Of course not,” she said, a little hurt by his brusqueness. “I don’t know what I
was thinking, little ole me trying to protect
a big, strong man like you.”