Logan's Woman (24 page)

“Well you’re in the kitchen. Shouldn’t you be
making food?”

She breathed deeply, trying to keep
herself calm. “I’m not a
maid
,” she said between clenched
teeth.

“You aren’t?” A dark brow rose.

Her eye twitched.

“No. I’m really not.”

Darkie stared at her for a moment. He took in
her casual jeans, the cream tank-top, and the brown leather jacket
she wore with a scarf that was just a tad lighter than the
overcoat.

Then he stood up, walked to the door, and held
it open, his hand pointing to the outside.

Claire could just stare at
him.
This
man was
related to Logan?

“Please leave this house. If you don’t work
here, then you have no business being here. And I’m assuming you
aren’t a ranch-hand. So allow me to escort you out,” he said
sardonically, waving his hand out the door in a sweeping
gesture.

“Oh my... you have got to be kidding me,” she
scoffed.

“I’m really not,” he said with a cruel twist to
his voice.

“That’s too bad,” she retorted, glaring at
him.

Just then, Logan’s guests came into the
kitchen. They took in the scene between her and Logan’s unnamed
brother, and then moved in front of her like a barricade. She
pinched the bridge of her nose.

There was a tense moment of silence, and then
she heard the pair of thumps that came from the stairs.

Logan
.

She glared at the lot of the men, who stood-off
in tense silence, and met Logan at the door. His hand immediately
found her waist. “What’s...”

“Yeah,” she hissed as he finally took in the
scene. “Too much testosterone and your brother is such a
charmer!”

Her sarcastic reply went to deaf ears. Logan
was staring at his brother as if he was a ghost come back to life.
Claire pressed her lips as they stared at each other. His brother
gave on outward reaction except for his eyes flickering over to
Claire and then back to Logan.

“Alright,” she sighed, fed up. Her
hands lifted into the air helplessly. “This is getting pretty
redundant. How about instead of
staring
at everything,” she suggested
with a pointed look to each men in the room, “we actually make
conversation and introduce Mrs. Confused Claire to the
stranger!”

She planted her hands on her hips,
waiting.

Logan looked back at her. Though he was
unsmiling, she could tell by the light in his eye that he was
happy.

He held his hand out to her and she took it.
Luke, Eric, Blake, and Nathan all melted into the back of the room,
silently observing. She did notice, though, that Blake reached for
one of the apples on the counter.

“My brother, Chase,” Logan introduced, twining
their fingers together. She couldn’t help but eye the tall,
dangerous looking man as his eyes snapped to their fingers. “Chase?
This is my wife. Claire.”

“Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me,” he
breathed. For the first time, he showed some emotion. Anger,
disbelief, horror. She grimaced.

“Well I sure feel welcome,” she murmured,
pressing closer to Logan’s side.

“Chase…” Logan warned, stepping in front of her
slightly.

His brother only stared between them. His face,
which had been a becoming tan, was no pale and tense.

“No. You have
got
to be fucking
kidding me
,” he growled. From behind
her, she could feel the men stirring, straightening, getting ready
for something. “Again? You married another sleep-over
again?”

His eyes flashed hate in her
direction.

Claire felt déjà vu as she watched his
reaction. Hadn’t her father been the exact same way? She backed
away from Logan, crossing her arms over her chest. She’d let her
father walk over her and make her cry, but this was different. This
was her new family. And she would be damned if she let him be so
disrespectful in front of her.

Feeling her aunts training kick in, she ignored
Logan’s warning touch on her arm as she moved forward, fisting her
hand. Chase, at least, had the decency to back away.

“You’ve been here for five minutes, at the
most,” she said quietly, feeling a coolness wash over her. His eyes
narrowed as if he noticed the change. “And already you think you
know my situation and who I am, and how I’m like.” Her laugh was
like a cold melody. “I’m very sorry that I am not like Christina.
I’m also very sorry that you haven’t even given me a chance. You
want to think I trapped your brother into marriage? Okay. Fine. I
don’t care. I just hope that when a woman comes into your life, you
don’t treat her with so much disrespect off the bat. It’s going to
be hell when she kicks you where the sun don’t shine.”

She turned on her heel, passing Logan with a
sweet smile. “I’m going to go outside and walk around.” She
actually planned on sitting in the garden until she was calm enough
that her hands stopped shaking, but she couldn’t say that without
her voice cracking.

Logan nodded at her slowly, his eyes holding a
certain light. He kissed her temple and, smoothed her hair. “If you
want to ride anywhere, just have Frankie go with you.”

“Yes, sir,” she said lightly, leaving the group
of men with a relieved breath.

Chapter 26

“I didn’t know,” Chase started, raising his
hand.

“Yeah, you sure as hell didn’t,” Logan growled,
running a hand through his hair. “I thought mama raised you better
than to ever talk to a woman like that-- or about her.”

“In my defense, you don’t really know what I
said...”

“I have a pretty good idea. Claire only gets
like that when she’s offended -- and you really did a number on
her. Calling her a sleep over? Really, Chase?”

“What was I supposed to think --”

“Nothing
.
You should have waited for me and at least
acted
like you had some manners. Or
you could have asked her yourself,” he snarled, shoving his
brother’s shoulder.

“I didn’t really think --”

“You
never
think!” Logan shouted, feeling
like he could kill his brother. He didn’t understand the weird
reaction to seeing Claire act like that -- he felt like he should
have been there sooner, should have protected her from Chase’s
asshole-facade. Claire was incredibly delicate right now -- being
treated like shit by her new family right off the bat was not
exactly what he wanted her to deal with today - or ever.

“What if she’s like Christina?”
Chase tried, his face darkening with shame. His brother obviously
already knew his question was a waste of him – there was nothing
about Claire that could be compared to Christina except the
lightness of their coloring. Claire had a soft, open face. She
didn’t bother hiding her emotions – he didn’t think she could if
she tried. Her innocence shown in her eyes just as much as the
malice had shown in Christina’s. Claire smiled with her whole heart
– Christina never bothered to smile. Her face was set in hard,
beautiful lines, and she never showed
anyone
her soft side.

Unlike Claire… His hand clenched
into a fist as he thought about her. She was so easily hurt, so
fucking
delicate
.

And Chase and driven a knew spike
into her already wounded heart. “I don’t ever want to hear that
from your mouth again,” he growled. Blake’s bite of his apple had
the
crunch
sound
ringing in the silent room.

God. Everything was silent. Like no
one knew what they wanted to say. Logan knew what he wanted to say
– what he wanted to
do
, but he held back.

“What are you doing here?” At least he could
manage that simple question.

“Let’s go into the study to talk,” his brother
replied, eyeing the four men that stood behind Logan. He nodded,
turning on his heel and giving Nathan a look. He nodded, and the
four of them went to the basement while Logan and Chase went up the
stairs to his study.

“I think I might have gotten into some really
bad shit.” The second the door closed, those words were the first
thing that came from Chase’s mouth.

Logan sat at his desk, crossing his feet at the
ankles. He hid his irritation.

“What is it this time?”

“I need you to promise you won’t tell anyone
about this.”

“When would I ever,” Logan said drolly, already
knowing that if it were bad enough, he’d be involving his
group.

The look Chase shot him easily said that he
knew exactly what Logan was thinking.

“I was over in Socorro for a couple of weeks.
Cale sent me overseas to Italy, wanted me to meet up with his
daughter and her mother-in-law.”

Logan frowned. “Did you?”

Chase nodded, but a frown marred his scarred
face. “Yeah. I did. Except right when I showed up, the place went
up in fire. His daughter, Raelyn, was taken.”

Oh. Shit.

Logan sat up slowly. “Cale knows.” It wasn’t a
question, but a demand.

“He does.”

“And it’s being taken care of.”

“It is.”

“Then what’s the problem, and what
do
you
have to do
with it?”

Chase slapped his hands on his
thighs, one of the many gestures he’d done as a kid when he was
nervous or didn’t know what to say. “Fuck… Logan, you have to
believe me. You know I would not ever do anything to betray this
country
or
Cale’s
family. I would not
ever
.”

“What the fuck are you trying to say,
Chase.”

“Something happened. I don’t know what.” He
dropped his head, pushing his hands into his hair. “Jesus. I didn’t
fucking do this though. I didn’t plant the bomb. I don’t know how
it happened.”

Logan could feel his body tensing up. A sick,
curdling feeling started in his stomach and he could have sworn he
was lightheaded. “Tell me, Chase. Now.”

“I’ve been labeled as a traitor.” As the words
burst from his lips, Chase’s face was pale and disgusted, yet his
eyes beseeched with his brother to understand. “I didn’t do it
though. God, I don’t know how the fuck it happened. I was awake one
second, the next I was locked up in a cell.”

The implications were clear. Clear
as nothing ever had been before. Logan stood up, pacing. He closed
his eyes, breathing deeply. “What the fuck did you do, Chase,” he
groaned. “You know, you had a problem getting into trouble as a
kid. Always swearing it wasn’t you, always blaming someone else.
Hell, remember that one time with the horse? It got out of the
gate, one of mom’s new pure breds, and you swore up and
down
that it hadn’t been
you.”

“I don’t know what you’re trying to say,
Logan.”

“Do you remember what mom said she was going to
do to you if she found out it was you who let it out?”

Chase nodded. “Yeah…”

“And what did I do?” Logan turned back around
from his pacing and looked at his brother.

“…
You helped me out. Mom never found
out that it was me.”

“Exactly. And mama was a spittin’
psycho when she was mad, yet I
still
helped your ass out.”

He stood in front of his brother
now, hands on his shoulders. “You might have let that horse out,
but I know you, Chase. You’re an asshole, a sadistic son of a
bitch, and everything that’s raging in hell
—
but you’re no traitor. So don’t ever
think for a
second
that I won’t back you up when you need it.
Ever
.”

Chase’s head fell against Logan’s
chest. It was the weakest he’d seen his brother since before their
mother had died. His throat closed up with emotion
—
fury, disbelief, shock,
helplessness. It was all a myriad of emotions and he didn’t know
what the hell they were going to do, but it was definitely going to
get taken care of.

“Thanks, man.” He could hear every ounce of
gratitude in those two words.

He pulled back from his brother, sitting down
in the chair next to his. “Tell me what you remember.”

“Raelyn was by one of the hotels,
just outside of it. Her mother-in-law, Marcy, was there with her. I
had the driver drop me off a couple blocks away from them and I
walked to meet him
—
Cale warned me about people following us. Not saying that
anyone was, but it was a possibility
—
his words.

“A few blocks there and some men
started following me. I got them off of me just before I reached
the hotel
—
but I
guess I only thought I did.”