Guarding Kelsey ((Books We Love Romantic Suspense)) (13 page)

Elisabeth recovered first and swallowed hard. "I didn't realize you were seriously involved with anyone, Kelsey."

"We're not serious.
He's just living with me."

Wolf coughed.
He couldn't have appeared guiltier if the insinuation were true.

"Wolf.
Say hello to my mother," Kelsey said. He shot a bewildered glance towards Kelsey and opened his mouth to say something, then apparently thought better of commenting.

Elisabeth's face turned red with anger.
"You're living with a man named Wolf?
I thought you would be a bit more careful in your choice of men after
.
."

Her mother cut off the sentence, but not before making her point.
Elisabeth racked up more ex-husbands than her daughter, but Kelsey was not on the winning side of the ledger sheet when it came to marriage.

"Don't have a stroke, Mother.
Detective Krieger is a police officer.
He's been assigned the dubious task of seeing that no harm befalls your daughter."

Despite his vulpine name and
hard-edged
look, Wolf posed less of a physical threat than her polished ex-husband.
The threat to her emotional
wellbeing
was still in question.
Even now, when she should be centering her thoughts on the situation, she focused her attention on the masculine smell of him.
The seductive, rolled-out-of-bed look of him.
The heat radiating from him.

Damn, she was in deep trouble and she liked it.

* * *

Wolf took his coffee and backed out of the kitchen.
He refused to involve himself in a domestic dispute between Kelsey and her mother. He’d learned his first year on the police force that women fought more viciously than men.
"If you need me I'll be with Martinez."

"Coward," she accused.

He regarded the two women thoughtfully, and then grinned at Kelsey. "You're damn right."

He'd read the reports on Mrs. Carlyle Parker Worth and had no desire to make conversation with the woman.
He pulled a chair over and joined Martinez. “Where’s O’Brien?

“He had a court date.”

Wolf tipped his head towards the living room.
"How long has she been here?"

Martinez contorted his face in disgust.
He reached his arm behind him and turned off the intercom.
"You mean, Mommy Dearest?
About half an hour.
In that time she's criticized her daughter’s studies, mocked her devotion to her grandparents and asked her for a house. A house, for God's sake!
Like she was asking to borrow a dress or something."

The same as a visit with his own mother.
His address was wrong, his line of work was wrong, but nothing a couple sessions a week with a good therapist wouldn’t cure.
"That’s the way family dynamics work."

"Not in my family.
If that was my mother I'd want to be an orphan."

Wolf couldn’t say he disagreed.
At least his mother tried to be a mother, even if he wouldn’t let her.

“Do you want me for anything?” Martinez asked.

“I need you to check out a few people.”
He pulled a crumpled slip of paper from
his
pocket and handed it to his partner. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

After Martinez left, Wolf turned the intercom on and listened to her selfish mother until he’d had enough.
He sprung to his feet.
He headed toward the living room when a knock at the door brought him back.
As he checked the security
peephole
, Kelsey joined him in the foyer.
“Daniel Carlyle.”

She shook her head.
"Oh, great.
Just what I need.
Fireworks
and it's not even the
fourth
of July."

He’d gotten the impression that Kelsey’s had a close relationship with her uncle.
Judging by her body language now, she dreaded his arrival.
“I can tell him you’re out.”

“He’d only insist on waiting for me to return.”

* * *

Kelsey pulled the door opened and let her uncle enter. He paused for a moment to greet Wolf and then followed her into the living room.

"I have a few papers that need your signature
.
." Daniel stopped mid-sentence when he saw Elisabeth sitting in the chair. "Liz?"

She straightened and raised her nose in the air. "Daniel.
What are you doing here?"

He took a seat across from her and eyed her distrustfully. "I could ask you the same.
How long has it been since your last visit?"

“Unlike you, I don’t intrude on her life every other day.”

Kelsey flopped down on the sofa.
She might as well have been invisible.
They went at each other like two lions defending their territory.
Only the territory wasn't Kelsey, but her money.

They hurled accusations back and forth with language that would make a sailor blush.
Kelsey buried her head in her hands and tried to shut out the vicious words.
As the tone became louder she couldn’t shut it out.

"
.
.the most expensive condo in the building
.
.”
Daniel bellowed.
“I won’t allow it.”

"Have you forgotten that it's Kelsey's, not yours
.
." he
r
mother countered.

"
…
a parasite who sponges off her daughter
…
"

"
…
a leach who rode on his brother’s coat tails because he couldn't cut it on his own
.
.
."

With all the cruel and cutting words, the only one hurt, was Kelsey.
It boiled up inside until she reached her limit.

"Stop it!" she shrieked, springing to her feet.
Her body shook violently.

The arguing came to a halt.
Daniel and Elisabeth recoiled from her outburst but neither one believed they were responsible for her sorrow.

"See what you did," they accused each other simultaneously.

Burning tears streamed down Kelsey's face. "Shut up.
Both of you.
Give her the damn keys, Uncle Daniel.
Let her have it.
It's empty."

"We already have a contract on it." Daniel said softly.

"Then find her another one," she ordered. “I know there are several empty apartments.”
She pivoted around and headed towards her room.
She paused in the hallway and stared at Wolf.
She'd never felt more humiliated in her life.
"Isn't it wonderful to be rich, Krieger?"

* * *

Wolf stood speechless.
Damn!
He’d rather face down a gun toting, gang-banger than come up against her mother in a dark alley.
Her uncle wasn’t much better. With these two as role models, he marveled that Kelsey had learned any values at all.
He planned to give the two unfeeling jerks a piece of his mind.
Before he had the chance, he saw Kelsey reach for her purse and move towards the door.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked.

"I'm going out."

He clamped his fingers over her wrist. "You can't."

Her bottom lip quivered and she bit into it, almost drawing blood.
She took a deep breath and a silvery tear spilled down her cheek.

"Why not?"
She jerked her head towards the living room where her mother and uncle still went at each other. "Nothing could be worse than this."

She looked so lost.
He couldn't patronize her with empty platitudes.
What he'd just witnessed was an insult to the word family.

"Okay. Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t care as long as it is away from here.”

He’d been wrong.
Forced captivity, even in the lap of luxury
was
difficult.
Getting out for a few hours wouldn’t do either of them any harm.
“I have a few things to take care of.
You can come with me.”
He grabbed his keys from the credenza.

Wolf took Kelsey’s arm and led her out of the condo. She shuffled across the black and white marble tiles to the elevator with her gaze averted.
He could only imagine how she felt. He searched for something comforting to say, but only trite
clichés
came to mind.
On the ride from Manhattan to Queens she said nothing but silent tears streaming down her face.
She didn’t seem to care where he took her, as long as she escaped the scene in her condo.

He pulled up in front of one of the brownstones that lined 32nd Avenue and parked his car.
"We're here."

"Where?" she mumbled without looking up.

"Castle Krieger.
If you'll just watch out for the alligators in the moat, I'll have the gate lowered for your royal arrival," he joked of his small home.

"Don't start with me, Wolf," she warned.

"At least it wasn't a
cliché
."

She smacked her palm into his chest.
A soft laugh mingled with a hiccup. "You're such a jerk."

Wolf beamed broadly.
"That's me.
I'm an insensitive louse and damn proud of it."

She slid from the car waited for him by the front door. "If you're so insensitive why didn't you just leave me with the pack of wolves, if you'll excuse the pun?"

He inserted the key in the door and eased her inside.
"When a wolf corners himself a frightened little rabbit he doesn't share it with the pack."

A small smile tugged at her lips.
"Does that mean you are planning to make breakfast out of me?"

"You're a little scrawny to make a whole meal out of."
He arched his eyebrow devilishly, "I might consider you desert."

Kelsey's mood broke and she laughed. "Let me give you a little advice, Krieger.
Don't tell a woman she's scrawny and then make a pass in the same breath.
Not unless you like sleeping alone."

The image of sharing a bed with her flashed though his mind in a split second.
The physical reactions lasted longer.
What was he thinking, bringing her to his
house
?
Keeping the relationship on a professional level was much easier on her turf than his.