Fiancee for Hire (12 page)

Mac’s fist balled in the sheet beside her head. “Jillian—don’t leave! Not with him, please!”

Kelli touched his arm, unsure what to do. She’d never slept with a man who had nightmares before. Hell, she seldom slept with a man, period, at least not the sort of sleeping that involved unconsciousness.

“Mac?” She propped herself up on her elbow and slid her hand to his chest. She touched him lightly, careful not to make any sudden moves. “Mac, you’re having a bad dream.”

His eyes snapped open, and he blinked at her with a steely look. Kelli jerked her hand back, shivering as she pulled the covers tighter around her breasts.

“You were having a dream,” she whispered. “About someone named Jillian?”

“Jillian,” he repeated, his voice cracking a little. He blinked again, as the light moved back into his eyes. “A dream.”

“It’s okay,” she said. “I mean, I understand.”

His brows creased. “You do?”

She wasn’t entirely sure she did, but she nodded anyway. “Sure. You’ve had plenty of women in your life and I’ve had plenty of men in my life. We’re bound to dream about others from time to time.”

“Right.” Mac sat up, his gaze still hard and unreadable. He looked at her a moment, then turned away. “I should get going.”

“Going?” Kelli glanced at the bedside clock. “It’s four a.m. It’s still dark.”

“I’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said, sliding out of bed. She shivered as his warmth went with him.

He fumbled in the darkness for his shirt, not meeting her eyes as he tugged on his pants. “I’ll be down in the office for a little while, but I’ll be out in the field for most of the day. I trust you have plenty to keep you busy.”

His tone was all business, and Kelli tried not to let it sting. “Of course. We’re starting the first round of spaying and neutering today, but Mac—”

“Talk to my mother if you need an extra set of hands,” he said. “She doesn’t have veterinary experience, but she had some field-nurse training years ago. She’d be happy to volunteer. Hank will drive you both and keep an eye on things.”

He finished buttoning his shirt and turned to look at her. His gaze flicked to the handcuffs still lying on the dresser, then to the rumpled sheets. When his eyes met hers again, they’d softened just a little.

“Thank you, Kelli.”

She opened her mouth to reply, but closed it again, unsure what to say. The temperature in the room had dropped at least ten degrees. She drew her knees up under her, holding the sheet tight around her breasts. It wasn’t like this was the first time a man had left suddenly after sex. Hell, usually she was the one running.

Running away so they don’t leave you first.

Kelli swallowed and forced a smile. “Have a good day,” she said at last, infusing her voice with a chipper note that fell flat.

He nodded once, seeming to hesitate. Then he turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. She stared at it a moment, then lay back down on the bed and blinked at the ceiling. She slid her hand over to the warm spot where his body had been.

What the hell was that all about?

Chapter Eleven

Kelli couldn’t fall back asleep, and by six, she couldn’t stand it any longer. She picked up her phone and dialed.

The call had barely connected when her words rushed out in a jumble. “Sheri? I’m so sorry, I know it’s still the middle of the night in Hawaii, but I had to call you and ask about—”

“Kelli? Is that you? Hang on a sec, I think we have a bad connection.”

Kelli bit her lip and waited, feeling stupid. She shouldn’t have called. It was no big deal, really, if Mac was dreaming about some old girlfriend who’d left him. Jesus, she knew he wasn’t a monk, and what business was it of hers if he wanted to dream about orgies with a dozen women from his past? She should just apologize and hang up, tell Sheri the whole thing was an accident and—

“There, that’s better,” Sheri said. “Sorry, my reception isn’t so hot on the other end of the house. The boys have a cold, so I was up anyway suctioning snot and messing with the humidifier. What’s going on, Kel? Is everything okay?”

“Who’s Jillian?” she blurted. “Shit, I mean sorry about the boys being sick and the snot and everything, but—”

“Jillian?”

“Yes, Jillian. Someone Mac used to date, maybe?”

“That doesn’t ring a bell. I haven’t known many of my brother’s girlfriends, though. Why? Did he do something stupid?”

“No, not stupid.” Kelli sank back on the bed, resting her forearm over her eyes to block out the morning light and the stupid glare of her own insecurities. “Just weird. Or maybe I’m the one being weird.”

“Not the first time. So what’s the problem?”

“He said her name in his sleep,” Kelli said. “Or shouted it, really.”

“Wait, what?” Sheri hooted with laughter. “We’ll come back to the girlfriend thing in a minute—you’re sleeping with my brother?”

“Oh, please. Did you really think I’d hold out more than forty-eight hours?”

“Of course not. You’d have shagged him in the jetway at the airport if you had the chance, but I thought Mac might hold out longer than that.”

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know—some stupid hang-up about his kid sister’s best friend, or maybe because he’d feel too wrapped up in protecting you to want to compromise things by having sex with you. Either way, I obviously underestimated your powers of seduction.”

“You’re forgiven,” Kelli said. “So about Jillian?”

“I’m stumped. Are you sure that’s what he said?”

“Positive.” Hell, he’d said it three times. That had to mean something, right?

“Why do you think it’s a girlfriend?” Sheri asked. “Was he talking dirty in his sleep or spanking the monkey or something? Oh God, don’t answer that—yuck, my brother.”

“There was no monkey spanking involved. Well, not then anyway. I guess I just thought—Shit, never mind. It was stupid. I guess I just wondered what sort of woman could get under the skin of Mr. Tall, Dark, and Detached-from-Humankind.”

“Jillian,” Sheri repeated as though trying to place the name. “The only Jillian I can think of is my Aunt Sarah’s daughter who died way before I was even born. Obviously, I never knew her.”

“A cousin?”

“Yeah, I guess so. I can’t imagine Mac would even remember her. He would have been five or six when she died, and our family really never talked about her.”

“Can’t be the same Jillian then,” Kelli said. “Can you think of anyone else?”

“He dated a Jenna in college. Wait, no, maybe it was Jeanine. Whatever, it wasn’t serious. None of Mac’s relationships ever were.”

“Exactly why I wanted to play hide-the-salami with him,” Kelli said, projecting a cheerful indifference she wasn’t sure she really felt.

“You sure you’re okay, Kel?”

“Of course!” Her words sounded falsely bright, even to her own ears, and she knew Sheri heard it, too. She cleared her throat and tried again. “I’m fabulous, obviously. I got to nail your brother, which allows me to cross one major item off my bucket list. I just need to go hang gliding and learn to juggle now.”

“Okay, then.” Sheri paused, and Kelli knew her friend was waiting for her to offer more. To fill in the blanks with something juicy or jokey.

Kelli stayed quiet.

“Right, so good luck with that,” Sheri said. “The hang gliding that is. You’ll call if you need anything?”

“Absolutely. Oh, I almost forgot—your mother’s here.”

“What? Seriously?”

“She found out about the engagement somehow. I think Mac’s freaking out about it a little. He’d hoped to keep the whole thing quiet and isolated in Mexico. I’m not sure what he’s going to do now.”

“Christ, are you okay?”

“I feel lousy lying to your mom. She always had a knack for knowing when I wasn’t telling the truth. For now, she believes the whole story, so Mac’s cover isn’t blown or anything, although speaking of blowing Mac—”

“If she bought the story, you’re the one who should be worried. You know Stella Patton is perfectly capable of marching you to the altar at gunpoint, don’t you?”

Kelli winced and threaded her fingers through her hair, feeling a chunk of crusted sugar. God, was it only last night she’d been in an arms dealer’s bathtub with Mac and a giant lizard?

And on the arms dealer’s bathroom counter, legs wrapped around Mac’s hips—

“I’m hoping your mom will understand when it’s all over and we explain it was a matter of national security,” Kelli said.

“Don’t count on it. My mom would love to have you as a daughter-in-law. Don’t be surprised if she brings new meaning to the idea of a shotgun wedding.”

“The odds of a wedding actually happening are the same as the chances I’ll join a convent.”

“You’ll be the hottest nun on the block. Look, I’ve gotta run, Kel. The boys are starting to fuss again, and I don’t want them to wake Sam since he was up with them last night. You’ll call if you need anything?”

“Will do. Hugs to the babies and that big hunk of man-flesh.”

“Bye, hon.”

Kelli hung up the phone, feeling more uncertain than she had before she’d dialed Sheri’s number. Who the hell was Jillian?

More importantly, why did she care? The engagement was fake, and the sex was meaningless. She might have some temporary claim to Mac’s body at the moment, but certainly not his heart or mind or dreams. What the hell was her problem?

She climbed out of bed and went to take a shower, a little reluctant to scrub away the remnants of last night’s sex. She had to hand it to Mac, the man knew his way around a woman’s body. Even with his hands shackled, he’d made her come harder than any man ever had before. That was saying something.

She toweled off and dressed in set of pink surgical scrubs, forcing herself to turn her attention to the day’s agenda. Volunteers had been busy using live traps to collect feral cats from around the area. Today was going to be a big day of snipping and suturing, hopefully making a good-sized dent in the number of homeless cats breeding and starving and wreaking havoc on the area’s bird populations.

Trudging down the stairs to the dining area, she froze mid-step as Mac’s mother looked up from her morning paper and smiled. Stella was impeccably dressed in loose linen trousers and a matching top. Her eyes bored into Kelli the way they had when Sheri and Kelli got busted sneaking out in middle school.

She nodded at Kelli. “I trust you slept well, dear?”

Kelli felt the heat creep into her cheeks. How thin were the walls in Mac’s house, anyway?

“I—”

“Oh, please,” Stella said, shoving her newspaper aside before Kelli could stammer a response. “You can cut the blushing bride act with me. You forget I’m the one who picked you up on prom night after your date passed out from exhaustion in the backseat of his car.”

“He’d been drinking tequila,” Kelli replied, descending the stairs the rest of the way and seating herself primly on the other side of the table. “And that feather duster you found was only for cleaning the—”

“Sweetie, I don’t care. It’s none of my business now, is it? As long as MacArthur is happy and you’re part of the reason for it, I’m not one to judge. What the two of you do behind closed doors is between you. So tell me about this spay-and-neuter clinic you’re doing?”

Kelli blinked, not sure if she was more surprised by the subject change or by Stella’s sudden live-and-let-live attitude. Wasn’t this the same woman who’d threatened to tell her foster mom when she’d caught her playing spin-the-bottle at an eighth grade party?

“The clinic,” Kelli said, clearing her throat. “Right. Well, if you’re free, we could use an extra set of hands labeling the cages and helping keep things organized. It’s important that the cats are all returned to their original colonies, so there’s a system in place to make sure we follow protocol.”

“I’d love to help,” Stella said, standing up and folding her paper. “When can we leave?”

“I called Hank to bring the car around. He’s driving me—Mac’s orders, of course. He’s a little controlling about these things.”

“He’s worse the more he loves you.”

“He must love me a lot, then,” Kelli replied, feeling an odd twist in her gut as she said the words. She turned and picked up her medical bag off the hall table, nodding to Stella. “I think there are extra scrubs at the clinic that’ll fit you, if you like.”

“I’m always happy to be useful, honey,” Stella said, marching to the door like a woman on a mission. “When I heard Mac was getting married, I figured I’d fly down here and help pick out flowers and color schemes. Now that I know he’s marrying you, it’s a lot more fitting to spend our time lopping the nut-sacs off tomcats.”

Kelli nodded and picked up her medical bag, pushing back waves of guilt and uncertainty as she made her way to the door.

…

The morning was a long one, filled with an endless stream of mangy cats who were less than thrilled by the prospect of parting with their fuzz nuggets and lady biscuits. Kelli lost count of how many surgeries she performed, her morning and afternoon blending together in a haze of surgical clamps and feline fur.

By the time the clinic was wrapping up, the sun was already starting to sink low. Kelli did the same, sliding her back down the side of the concrete building to sit down on the curb outside the clinic.

“Here you go, dear.”

Kelli looked up to see Stella offering her an icy cola can. She nearly wept with relief as she reached up to take the soda. “Thanks. This is the first time I’ve sat down all day.”

“I’m sure I could find you a chair. Either that, or one of the bodyguards over there could get down on all fours and let you use him as a seat.

“That’s okay,” Kelli said, popping the top on her soda and taking a long drink. “The pavement’s nice and warm. Besides, Hank’s bringing the car around in just a minute. I want to watch for him.”

“Very well.” Stella seemed to hesitate, than sat down beside her on the curb. She looked a lot more dignified doing it than Kelli felt.

Kelli took another sip of soda and thought about her day. No matter how she tried to focus on the work she’d done, her brain kept drifting back to Mac. She pictured his hands anchored above his head as he angled his hips up and—

No. Stop thinking about that with his mother sitting beside you.

She glanced at Stella, hoping the older woman couldn’t read her thoughts.

Stella nodded. “You and MacArthur certainly seem compatible.”

Kelli choked on her soda, the warmth in her cheeks only partly a result of her lack of oxygen. Stella whacked her on the back and looked out at the street.

“Please, darling. Don’t pretend you weren’t having salacious thoughts about my son. It’s written all over your face every time you drift off like that. I have to say, I never really recognized the depth of your infatuation with him.”

“Neither did I,” Kelli said. She took another sip of soda, not sure if that was the truth or another embellishment for the sake of their cover story. Either way, she felt guilty. Stella had been like another mother to her and it felt wrong not to tell her the whole truth.

They sat in silence for a moment, and Kelli’s thoughts wandered back to that morning. To Mac’s sudden flight from the bedroom after his nightmare. What on earth had that been about?

She looked at Stella and cleared her throat. “Sheri and Mac’s Aunt Sarah—she’s your sister, right?”

The question was clearly out of the blue, and Stella turned to look at her with a curious expression. “Sarah? Yes, of course—she’s younger than me by three years. Why on earth do you ask?”

“We’ve—uh—been working on the guest list for the wedding.” Kelli felt another pang of guilt, but pressed on, too late to turn back now. “I was trying to remember if I’d ever met any of your siblings or Mac and Sheri’s cousins.”

“It’s possible,” she said. “Sarah’s son Carl is just a few days older than Grant, so we sometimes celebrated their birthdays together when you kids were younger. You used to come over sometimes for that, right?”

Kelli nodded, remembering how she used to think of Sheri’s younger sibling as her own brother. She’d certainly never felt any of that brotherly affection for Mac, but then he’d always been older and more detached, wanting nothing to do with his younger sister or her friends.

“Yes, Sarah’s had a rough go of it,” Stella said.

“Oh?” Kelli tried to sound casual, but obviously this was the reason she’d broached the subject. “Sarah had a daughter who passed away, right?”

Stella’s brows knitted together. “That’s right. Mac must’ve told you? It happened before Sheri was even born, but I’m surprised MacArthur would speak of it. He never wanted to discuss the subject.”

Kelli tightened her grip on the soda can and tried to look casual. “He was five or six when Jillian died?”

“That’s right.” Stella studied her a moment, assessing. Kelli kept her expression neutral, but her heart was slamming hard against her chest. Stella looked away, her gaze drifting over the horizon. “Mac just adored Jilly. She was two years older, and he used to follow her around like a puppy dog. They were such sweet little playmates.”

Kelli nodded, trying to piece the story together. She considered playing along like she knew all the details, but it seemed pointless to pretend.