Nauti Temptress (23 page)

Brogan looked between the three men, more amazed that they had been able to accomplish drawing that contact out without raising red flags with Doogan, or with him.

“Who is he?” Brogan demanded.

Dawg shook his head. “You have enough. Get Doogan on board with the program. We want those packages. Full immunity, no matter what we have to do from here on out, no matter the investigation or the agent conducting it. Because I’m telling you, we’re getting damned sick of being pulled into the agency’s bullshit, threatened, our families endangered, and our freedom placed on the line because the agents in charge are too damned arrogant to accept defeat, or to acknowledge that they don’t know what the hell they’re doing once they get in these mountains.”

He was right, and the fact was that Doogan wasn’t the only agent with the opinion that just because a man was from the backwoods Kentucky mountains, then he was somehow not as smart, as quick, or as capable as one born and raised in the city. Or in Doogan’s case, the boardrooms and drawing rooms of the ultrarich.

Brogan shook his head. “Delaying risks Eve,” he protested. “Wrap the case up; then play games with Doogan.”

Dawg shook his head in the negative, his expression as well as Rowdy’s and Natches’s turning grim as they watched him.

“I have Eve covered, but that won’t last forever,” Dawg informed him, his voice tight. “Get those packages in place, Brogan; then we’ll finish it.”

“And if Eve gets hurt while we’re fucking around with Doogan?” he snarled furiously. “What then, Dawg?”

“What if she gets hurt because our hands are fucking tied, or later one of the others is hurt because our hands were fucking tied or we didn’t know they were pulling an operation beneath our noses?” Natches sneered, his eyes, so like Eve’s, glittering in fury. “I don’t think so, Brogan. We’ve told you enough; get it fucking taken care of; then we can finish this.”

“If Doogan doesn’t cooperate? What then?” Brogan questioned harshly, beginning to see exactly where this was going.

“If he doesn’t want to play ball, then you have other connections,” Dawg stated knowingly. “Use them.

“My father,” Brogan surmised mockingly. “This is where it’s been going all along. You want me to go to JD and have it taken care of.” Brogan rarely called his father by anything other than “JD.” “John David” if he was pissed with him.

Son of a bitch, just what he needed.

“I want you to do whatever it takes for me to see to my family’s fucking protection. And if you care anything about Eve, then that’s all you should want, too,” Dawg retorted heatedly. “As long as DHS is using this county and the Mackays to do their dirty work, then we’re all at risk. And that includes Eve, her sisters, and her mother. And trust me, you think she’s pissed at me?” he warned with dark emphasis. “Then how will she feel if one of her baby sisters, or God forbid, her mother, who nearly died of a chemical infection trying to feed Eve and her sisters, or her brother and cousins who all but got on their knees and begged for your help.” Dawg grinned mockingly. “If any of us end up hurt because you didn’t go to daddy to ensure we were all protected, then how do you think she’s going to feel?”

Brogan stepped into the truck, slammed the door, and started the engine.

Throwing the three men one last bitter, furious look, he reversed the truck and whipped it to the side of the parking lot before pushing it into drive and hitting the gas. Gravel spewed as the tires bit into the unfinished parking area and the truck shot forward and sped from the cabin.

Folding his arms over his chest, Dawg frowned before sliding his dark sunglasses over his eyes and turning back to his cousins. They, too, were watching the truck speed away, their expressions brooding.

“Are we doing the right thing?” Natches murmured.

Dawg could only shake his head. “Timothy and Chaya are right, Natches. As long we’re alive and living here, DHS or some other American alphabet agency is going to play games with us for the simple fact that they know we love our homes, our families, and our country too much to stand back and just protect our own asses. And if they get the urge to demand more from us, they can always threaten our family’s freedom to ensure they get it. We have too much at stake and too much to lose not to do this now, while we have the chance.”

“And you really think Brogan will ensure that it happens?” Rowdy muttered, unconvinced.

“He ensured that he had his own agreement and compensatory package before ever agreeing to work with Timothy Cranston and Chatham Doogan.” He shrugged. “And I know Director Bryce. He wants the gold. He has no idea it’s been found, and that’s been okay until now, because he wants those traitors more. They’ve been a thorn in his side since before DHS existed. I think this is the best chance we have.”

“Think Eve’s going to forgive you for playing these games with her?” Natches asked quietly, compassionately. “You should have talked to us, cuz. Told us what was going on. We work better together, remember?”

Dawg turned away from his cousin’s too-perceptive gaze to stare into the beauty of the mountains for one long moment. When he turned back, he took a shaky breath and said, “If she can’t forgive me, she’ll need you and Rowdy. I couldn’t chance her hating all of us. She’s too much of a Mackay, Natches. Too much pride, too much spirit and fire, and when she hurts, she hurts too deep. I didn’t want her hurting and feeling she didn’t have one of us to come to.”

Natches breathed out roughly and gave his head a hard shake.

“It doesn’t work that way, Dawg.” It was Rowdy that chastised him quietly. “She wouldn’t come to us. She’ll go to our wives. And that’s okay, because that’s what makes them strong. They’ll always have each other, and they’ll never be alone if the unthinkable ever happens and we’re not there anymore. And we have each other, Dawg. Our ladies take care of home and hearth, our babies and our hearts. We keep their lives, their families, friends, and homes safe. We do that together. No more hiding things, you got that?”

“I got that.” He gave a hard, sharp nod of his head.

“What about Eve, Dawg?” Natches asked again.

Dawg knew he wasn’t repeating his earlier question, but that earlier question was all Dawg could consider.

Would Eve forgive him?

Dawg’s lips tightened. Shaking his head, he strode to the dual-cab pickup he’d driven in, and stepped into the driver’s seat without answering.

He didn’t have an answer because he simply didn’t know.

What did he know?

If it were him, he knew he wouldn’t forgive—no matter the reason, the explanation, or the circumstances. He wouldn’t want platitudes and promises of protection. He’d want the trust and the ability to choose his own path and his own protection. And he knew Eve was often far too much like him and his cousins, just as the other girls were.

There was a chance, a very good chance, that she might never forgive any of them.

SIXTEEN

A week later, Eve entered the backyard of Ray and
Maria Mackay’s farmhouse and stared around at the gathering of family, relations, and scattered friends.

This year there were nearly a hundred family members who had confirmed attendance at the Mackay family reunion, and it looked as though every one of them had shown up.

The reunion was a yearly endeavor Ray and Maria—Grandpa Ray and Grandma Maria—had begun insisting on the year Rowdy and Kelly had become engaged. As he had explained it to his son and nephews, as children came, they would need traditions. And his “boys”—who comprised his own son as well as his two nephews—well, their children deserved a far better life than their father had had.

Not that Rowdy’s life had been too hard, as Eve heard it. He’d had Ray, and then, once Ray had married Maria, he’d had a mother. The stories she’d heard of Rowdy’s mother had never been pleasant, but there was no doubt Maria had loved Ray’s son.

Just as Ray had taken her daughter, Kelly, in and loved her.

Eve had always found it amusing that Rowdy and Kelly had lived in the same house for so many years and then ended up married.

But Grandpa Ray had bragged that his boy, his Rowdy, hadn’t been base or without honor. When his son had realized he was feeling things for Kelly, Rowdy had moved out. And even before he’d realized he was falling in love with her, Rowdy had made certain he’d taken care of her, his father bragged.

Once Rowdy and Kelly became engaged, Ray had begun the family reunions, even though the first “reunions” were only him, Maria, Kelly, Rowdy, Dawg, and Natches.

He said kids needed traditions. They needed to know and understand family.

Christmas, New Year’s, church on Easter morning, then the egg hunt before dinner once the girls had been born. Ray made certain each holiday was celebrated for the meaning it was intended by the family, with the family. And every June, there was the Mackay family reunion.

That Saturday, Eve had no choice but to slow down, take a day off, and show up at Grandpa and Grandma’s farm. The reunion had begun as a meal, and had turned into a daylong circus as years had gone by.

It was a day Eve and her family looked forward to every year. And each year it had only grown. With Dayle Mackay, Nadine and her son, Johnny Grace’s, deaths eight years before, the separation of Ray, Dawg, Rowdy, and Natches from their relations had ended. Now, all the Mackay relations and their families had begun showing up. Among them were the Augusts from Madison, Texas—Cade, Brock, and Sam August—along with their wives and children.

The Mackays and their extended families were just as interesting and just as complicated as Eve had always imagined they were as she grew up. Living in northern Texas, so far away from the brother and cousins her father had told her mother about, Eve had often hungered for news of them. She’d built them up in her mind instead, and at times she could honestly say she hadn’t done them justice.

Grandpa Ray and Grandma Maria, as they insisted they be called, were the grandparents Eve and her sisters had always dreamed of having. From day one, they had accepted Mercedes Mackay and her daughters with such warmth and acceptance that it often seemed her family had come home when they stepped foot in Kentucky.

That first family reunion, Eve and her family had cried. They had never been to such an event; they had never known family. All they’d ever known was one another. Having that tradition and then so many others as well had been a dream come true for them.

And having not just one big brother, but three, had always been so incredible to Eve. Rowdy and Natches never accepted being described or introduced as her cousins. They were her brothers, too, they promised.

Yeah, she had family now, and for the first time, Eve had no idea what to do with them. They were just as intimidating and as controlling as Timothy was rumored to be. They were just sneakier about it than Timothy.

Eve herself had never seen Timothy playing those games with her or her family. Of course, the Mackay sisters had never done anything to cause him to need to investigate them, or for him to have to maneuver them into protecting themselves.

For five years Eve had lived in a dream world that she was now terrified was no more than a lie.

Dawg loved her and her family; she knew that. But he was manipulating and controlling her, and she was suddenly afraid he had been controlling them all along. Especially her, where Brogan was concerned.

As she wandered through the backyard, stopping to talk to cousins, friends, and various Mackay relations, she looked around for Dawg, Rowdy, and Natches.

She found Dawg with Timothy, standing at the oversize barbecue grill, where Timothy was grilling the burgers and hot dogs. Eve couldn’t help but wonder whether she was wrong about the man her mother was in love with, as she had been wrong about Dawg.

Watching them talk, though, she saw Timothy pause and glance up at Dawg disapprovingly. As Dawg continued to talk, Timothy frowned and, without so much as the flicker of an eyelash, froze so completely that Eve knew he was livid. She’d known Timothy long enough that sometimes, unless he was trying to hide what he thought and what he felt, she could detect his anger.

Her gaze moved to Dawg. As she watched, his arms crossed over his broad chest and a scowl darkened his face. Then Timothy shook his head.

Dawg began protesting, and Timothy was ignoring him.

She would love to be the fly on that wall rather than the one watching from afar. Except she doubted Timothy would have discussed her with Dawg if she was close enough to hear.

Eve forced herself to move away.

Dawg once warned her and her sisters of the rules of the Mackay house, so to speak: Don’t betray yourself, your family, or your country, he’d told her. If they could adhere to those few rules, then they would always have family.

For the first time since she’d become a part of his family, she’d lied to him. And she was smart enough to know that part of her anger toward him had a lot to do with the fact that she had broken a promise, and now, she feared, she had risked not just her place with the Mackays, but also her sisters’ and mother’s places.

What Dawg had done was wrong. He’d played her in some way and she knew it. She just wasn’t certain how yet, and that hurt her, just as it risked her trust in him. But never her trust in the fact that he loved her family.

Or he had loved her.

Would she do it again? she wondered as she slipped into the house to find a little privacy for a while.

Eve knew she would.

Brogan had broken her heart, but staying away from him was so impossible that she had forced herself to work until she collapsed into bed around daylight. The less time she spent anywhere close to him, the better.

Not that she had seen him around very often. He seemed to be gone more often than not. Even Jed and Eli hadn’t been around much.

She couldn’t stay busy enough to forget the night and the morning she had spent in his arms, though. The memory of it tormented her. She couldn’t sleep without dreaming of it. She ached for him. She missed him.

And she was beginning to wonder whether perhaps he had lied to her in the worst possible way. Maybe he was one of those men who, once they’d had her, were just finished with a woman.

“Hey, Eve.” Rogue Mayes, a friend of the family and, as Grandpa Mackay liked to call her, his adopted granddaughter, waved at Eve from a table set beneath the huge oak at the side of the yard.

Smiling whether she felt like it or not, Eve moved to the couple and stared at the baby Rogue was holding close to her breast.

Little Ezekiel Mayes Jr. was only three weeks old, and looked impossibly tiny to Eve. He was filling out wonderfully, though. The cap of red fuzz on his head reminded her too much of Brogan’s red hair, while everything else about him was the image of his father.

“How gorgeous.” She breathed out as Rogue handed the baby to her carefully. “I didn’t think I’d ever get a chance to come out and see him.” She sighed.

“Yeah, I did good, huh?” Rogue laughed.

“You did excellent,” Eve assured her as she caressed the baby’s soft, rounded head before turning to the father. “You didn’t do too bad yourself, Sheriff.”

Zeke chuckled at the compliment. “At least you acknowledge that I might have had a hand in him. Your brother and cousins seem to believe immaculate conception occurred.”

“Eh, that’s because they think Rogue’s a sister, too,” she assured him. “And you know all their sisters are pure, sweet, and completely innocent.”

Zeke turned to his wife in surprise. “Has anyone told his sisters that yet? If they have, they’ve completely ignored the concept.”

Eve couldn’t help but laugh at the playful mockery as she handed the baby back to his mother. “He’s gorgeous. He’s going to break hearts right and left when he grows up.”

Rogue beamed in pride, while Zeke’s chest must have puffed out two feet.

As Eve turned to skirt the main part of the yard, she heard her name called out again.

“Auntie Evie. Auntie Evie.” Erin Jansen, Natches’s niece, was running through the yard, a smile covering her face as her long dark hair flew out behind her.

That child was going to have the boys worshiping at her feet, Eve thought as the six-year-old ran to her. Bending, Eve caught her, lifting her as Erin wrapped her arms around her neck for a tight hug.

“I missed you.” Erin beamed as Eve set her back on her feet, then bent down in front of her.

“I missed you too, baby.” Eve grinned as the little girl stared back at her with eyes an odd mix of green and gray. The world would label the color hazel, but there was no way such a tame description could describe it. At any time, there were at least two shades of green playing with the unusually dark gray color.

“I’m gonna go play with Bliss now.” She jumped around like a little Mexican jumping bean on caffeine. “Love you, Auntie Eve.”

“Love you, baby.” Eve smiled back at her, watching as she skipped off, the pretty summer dress she wore bouncing around her.

At that second, the possibility of being pregnant slammed into her so hard, Eve lost her breath.

Pressing her hand to her stomach, she looked around wildly, desperate to escape now, to find someplace to think, to ache in peace.

Someplace where so many people weren’t around her and possibly watching her.

Entering the quiet house, Eve moved through the kitchen, remembering the years that the reunion had been held in the house, and the kitchen had been brimming with people, laughter, and food.

It had quickly outgrown the house, though—so much so that Grandpa Ray and his “boys” had gone in together and built the backyard kitchen, with its huge grill, gas stove, and a sink so big Eve had teased them that it could double as a tub.

The whole thing was built under a massive gazebo-style shelter with a fireplace at one end and sliding windows that allowed the whole interior to be open to the yard in the summer to catch the breeze that rolled out of the mountains. In the winter it could be enclosed and, with the warmth of the fireplace, made a wonderful gathering area.

Moving to the living room and sitting on the sofa, she slipped her sandals from her feet and curled her legs beside her. Resting her head in the corner of the furniture Eve stared into the shadowed room as she closed her eyes and fought her tears.

She’d been crying for a week and she was tired of it. She hated it.

Not that fighting the tears often did her any good. Just as they did now, there were those tears that escaped her control and eased down her cheek.

“I’ll have to kill him if he’s the reason you’ve been crying for a week.” Dawg’s declaration had her eyes flying open as she quickly swiped the tears from her cheek.

“I can’t talk to you yet,” she whispered, refusing to look at him.

She couldn’t look at him. She felt too guilty. She’d made a promise, and no matter what he’d done, that didn’t change the fact that she had broken her word to him.

Dawg let out a hard breath and a second later she felt him sit down beside her.

Leaning forward, his big hands clasped between his spread legs, he stared at the floor thoughtfully.

“Do you hate me now, little sister?”

Swinging her head around, she stared at him in surprise. “Hate you? For what? Caring enough for me that you tried to protect me?” She sniffed back more tears. “Wouldn’t that just make me more awful than I already feel I am?”

Her voice was hoarse with the effort to hold back her emotions as she watched him, despising herself for the brooding look she saw in his eyes.

Finally he shook his head slowly. “You’re not an awful person at all, Eve,” he seemed to chide her gently. “What would make you think you are?”

Her breathing hitched as she pushed back a sob. “I lied to you. I didn’t mean to, but I gave you my word and I broke it. I broke it and I blamed you for my own guilt when I knew, you may not have been able to explain why, but you were only trying to protect me.”

His brows lowered, his expression becoming dangerously still.

“Eve, do you think I’d hold that against you?”

She couldn’t maintain his look. Turning away, she whispered, “One of the few things asked is that we not betray family.” She shrugged. “I lied . . .”