Ryland (17 page)

It frightened her a little that Bronwyn
wanted her to kill someone, then she thought of the man on the deck. He
certainly wouldn’t hesitate to kill her if he got the chance. She started to
tell her that she would try and looked into the girl’s eyes. There was fear
there, for her she was sure. “I’ll kill him. Any one that comes here, I will. I
may be just a single woman with a gun, but I protect what is mine too.”

Bronwyn nodded.

“I’m afraid.”

“Good. If you’re afraid, then you will
be cautious. If you’re cautious, then that’s half the battle to winning.” She
hugged her again then picked up a stack of dishes. “Sandra, if you have to
shoot someone to get to the bad guy, then do it. If you don’t, all of us will
die.”

She didn’t know if she could shoot one
of her family to kill a bad guy, but she was very happy that Bronwyn thought
she could. She took the last of the dishes into the kitchen to find that Bronwyn
had put the men to work. Yes, she thought, she was going to love having a
daughter in the house.

~~~

Eli fingered his gun as it lay on his
desk. He looked at it rather than the man in front of him. If he had to see
that stupid, moronic face once more before he calmed down he would kill him.

“I don’t know why she tried to shoot me.
And in my dick. Why on earth would that be the first thing that she wanted to
shoot me at?”

Eli wanted to say that it was because
she knew his brain was there, but didn’t.

“And her house smelled like cats. Never
smelled so much male in the house as she had.”

“Six sons would do that.” Eli looked up
when the man behind him snickered. “You have something to add to this
conversation, or are you just laughing at the fact that an elderly woman got
the drop on you?”

“She said the same thing when he said
that to her. He told her that her house was scented with males and she told him
nearly the same words. That woman ain’t like any of them other ones we razed. She’s
got balls.” He snickered again. “Maybe more’n her sons do.”

For some reason, he doubted that. She
might have scared off Crawford, but she was still just a woman. A woman who
shot the floor and made threats rather than simply taking care of the
situation. He knew that she’d fall apart like most women did when it came to
being brave. She’d get someone killed more than likely and he liked that idea.

“I have an appointment with Ryland Golden
on Friday to talk about him selling me Bronwyn. When he does, then I’ll need to
have the lab ready for her.” Crawford raised his hand like a five-year-old. “Yes?”

“You said ready the lab up and we
already got it all cleaned up with them humans. Or did you mean you want us to
hire on some extra muscle to hold her still? Last time, she damned near killed
a couple of my men. She’s hell on us. You think maybe she might be madder at us
when we bring her back?”

He actually picked up his gun. Shooting
Crawford would make him feel better, but the other cats would tear him apart.
There was no way for him to communicate with them and he didn’t think he could
control them with promises of money and whatever else they wanted. And what
they wanted, he couldn’t stomach. Killing. They stayed because they could kill
however much they wanted and whoever they wanted to.

“Yes, she’ll be madder. And for the
record, not only will she be ‘madder,’ she’ll be stronger. I noticed that when
we went to pick her up. Her control has gotten much better.”

“So she can do more stuff? Damn but she
ain’t gonna like having us holding her down when you run them tests then, is
she?”

Crawford looked at the man behind him.

“Remember what she did to him the last
time she was there? Fucking bit him. Thought for sure she was going to take his
hand off him.”

Eli stood up. Both men looked at him and
there was still a smile on Crawford’s face. He wanted nothing more than to shoot
him so that he’d have something else to remember, but he simply told them to
get out.

“But you ain’t never told us how we was
supposed to—”

The gun was in his hand before he could
think.

“You thinking of shooting me?”

“Seriously thinking about it. So if you
want to live, I would suggest that you shut the fuck up and get the fuck out of
here before I do. You’ve pissed me off enough for one day.” Crawford started to
speak again, but the man behind him clamped his hand over his mouth and
practically carried him out the door.

Eli sat down. It was only Wednesday. Just
two more days, three at the most, before he had her again and then he was
killing Crawford. Maybe even the rest of them too. Unless he could manage to
get Golden to come work for him. The man was wealthy, of course, more so than
anyone else Eli knew, but he was a smart man, a man who took risks, so Eli was
going to try and talk him into being his partner. The money behind his
brilliance, so to speak.

The phone ringing startled him. He
rarely had anyone use his office line and didn’t recognize the caller ID. He picked
it up and said his name.

“So now you threaten older women, do you,
to try and get what you want? Didn’t really work out the way you wanted it to
now, did it, Cunningham?” Bronwyn laughed. “Of course you really didn’t expect
her to give me up, did you? I mean, come on, not everyone would sell out their
own family like you did to get ahead.”

“You mean the Golden woman? She was
nothing. And when you come here again I’ll show you how threatening I can be.” Her
laughter made him want to scream in frustration. “You’ll not be laughing when
I’m through with you, Bronwyn. And the harder you make me work at getting you,
the more pissed I’m going to be. And you do remember what happens to you when
I’m pissed.”

“You remember what happens to me when I
get that way too? By the way, how’s the hand? Is it healing nicely?”

He looked down at the scar.

“Is the scar huge and ugly? Does it itch
all the time so that you scratch it raw? You should watch that. It will get an
infection that way.”

He realized he was scratching at the
scar and stopped himself. She laughed again. He was going to make her suffer
for what she was doing. He found himself scratching his scar again and put his
hand in his pocket. “I’ll have you soon, Bronwyn. Very soon, and when I do, I’m
going to make sure you can never bite anyone again.” She tisked loudly at him. “You
think this is a joke? You think that because you have a few cats at your
disposal I won’t be able to get you? Think again, bitch. When I find you, and I
will, I’m going to tear you apart.”

“You try that, Cunningham, you try. But
know this.” She was silent for several seconds before he started to see images
in his head. Her tearing him apart. Then her cutting into him with long, sharp
blades, knives he had used on her. He shivered when she rammed a sharp scalpel
into his eye and whimpered when she sliced open his chest. Fear crept along his
skin until he was soaking wet in his own sweat.

She was sending him messages through the
phone line. He slammed down the phone only to have it ring again. He didn’t
answer it that time, or the next two times it rang. He was suddenly afraid of
her. Terrified that she’d gotten so strong that she no longer needed to be in
the same room with him to threaten him like this. He thought seriously about
abandoning the whole thing with her and finding another way to fund his
projects. He saw that he had been left a message and nearly erased it. But at
the last minute, answered.

“This is Ryland Golden’s office and you
had set up an appointment for this Friday. There has been a cancellation for
tomorrow afternoon at three o’clock and, if you would like me to move your
appointment to then, please call the office and ask for Monica. If there is no
word from you by nine-thirty today, then I will call the next person on the
list.” She left a phone number and extension that he was to call.

It took him three times of writing down
the number she’d given him before he got it right. The first time, he’d
forgotten the extension number and the next time, he’d forgotten to get the
name of the person he was to speak to. By the time he’d gotten through, she’d
had to check twice to make sure she hadn’t already filled it. He wanted to
scream at her that she’d said she’d give him until nine-thirty and it was still
only twenty-seven minutes after nine. He did have time yet.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I must check. I
have you down for tomorrow at three. Please come at least twenty minutes early
for your appointment so that you may be badged into the building. You will need
to bring in a picture identification. You will also be wanded for any weapons,
including knives, so please leave those in your car. Any delays in rectifying
this rule will not give you enough time to get to the conference room. Mr.
Golden will meet with you there.” He heard her moving papers around. “Do you
have any questions?”

He wanted to snap that he was just
having a meeting, not going in to kill the fucker yet, but he only told her no,
that he did not. Just as she disconnected he realized she’d said conference
room and he wanted to ask her who all was going to be there, but didn’t want to
call back. It might piss her off enough for her to tell him that she had filled
the appointment with someone else and he was shit out of luck.

He leaned back in his chair. The meeting
would go well, he knew it. Golden hadn’t gotten to where he was without doing a
few illegal things on the side. He would bet that the man had his hand in all
sorts of things that weren’t as picture perfect as everyone thought.

Eli decided he’d look up more
information on Golden. He wanted to be able to blow wind up his ass if that’s
what the man wanted. Eli had always been good at that, sucking up. He, too,
hadn’t gotten to where he was without a great deal of that. And a gun, of
course. He wasn’t all that thrilled about leaving his gun in his car, but
didn’t want to fuck up the opportunity to get Bronwyn back. He glanced at his
hand.

It was bleeding. He hadn’t realized that
he’d been digging at it. Grabbing a few tissues off his desk, he wiped away the
blood and looked at the scar. He’d torn into the skin deep in two places and
had rubbed it nearly that deep in one more. He went to his bathroom to run cold
water over it and decided he’d better get something for it before he did some
serious damage. He called his doctor and told him he needed something for a
rash. He told him he had touched seafood and now he was paying for it.

“I would rather see you, Mr. Cunningham,
but I know you’re a busy man. I’ll just call something in. If it gets any
worst, make an appointment and I’ll have a look.”

He told him he would, then sent his
housekeeper to the drug store to get it. By the time she got back with it he
was holding an ice pack over his hand and trying his best not to touch the now
raw wound. He was going to fucking kill Bronwyn for this.

Chapter 14

“Just so you know, I’m not thrilled
about this.”

Bronwyn grinned at Ryland.

“You think he’s stupid enough to think
that this meeting is going anything but my way?”

“Yes. Yes, I do. He believes that anyone
with half a brain, which is all he has by the way, will jump at this
opportunity to make money. Even if you do have it all.”

Alistair laughed then coughed when
Ryland glared at him.

“Oh leave him alone. This was partly his
idea too.”

“Mine? I don’t think so. All I suggested
is that we get this meeting over with so we can figure out what he really
wants.” Alistair got up to go to the small refrigerator in his office. “There
are things going on here that we know nothing about. Like this lab he has
going. He has all the permits and paperwork in order. There is nothing wrong
there that would make anyone suspicious about the real nature of what he’s
doing in there.”

She took the water he offered her, as
did Ryland. She hadn’t told them that she’d called him. She also hadn’t told
them everything she could do. She supposed it was time to say something, but
she didn’t want to. She really liked this family and didn’t want them to think
any less of her. But when she saw Cunningham tomorrow she might have to do
something to him and she didn’t want them to be freaked out.

“Just tell us.” She looked at Ryland
when he spoke. “Whatever you have going on, just tell us. We’ll feel better and
then maybe the pencils on my desk will stop dancing.”

“Sorry.” They stopped moving. “That happens
when I have pent up energy. Mostly I can burn it off by cleaning, but your mom
is just too good. I have to tell you guys something. I don’t want you to
think…it’s not horrible. Well, maybe it is if you want to think about it. I
mean, not anyone else I know can—”

“Bronwyn. Just tell us. Whatever it is,
we won’t think any less of you. You’re already scaring the shit out of
Alistair.”

She grinned at him.

“Now, tell us, if you please. I have a
powerful need to toss Alistair out of my office and make love to you again.”

She flushed and Alistair laughed. She
sat down again and looked at Ryland. She was in love with the man, she’d
figured out last night. And now she was about to fuck it up by telling them
what else she could do. She looked at the picture on the wall behind him, not
wanting to see the look on his face yet. “I can read anyone’s mind. I don’t
even have to know them, but just concentrate on an image of them or even see
them and I can see their every thought and their every memory. It’s not something
I do often, but it has kept me alive a few times. But I can’t read either of
you.” Alistair shifted on his chair and she glanced at him. “I told Ryland
about it and now I’m telling you.”