Misha: Lanning's Leap (13 page)

“You’re nuts, has anyone ever told you that before? And lived to tell about it?”
Maribel shook her head as they got into the limo that pulled up just as they exited the building. “You planned this, didn’t you?”

“I did. And now we’re going shopping. As flattering as Misha’s shirts look on you, I think you need some new things of your own. And before you start bitchi
ng about not wanting to spend the money, I am the matriarch of this family and you will do as I say.”

They were driving toward who knew where when Han thought of her mother.
She’d never taken her shopping that she could remember. And the only time Han ever got new clothes was when she got new uniforms. When she thought of that, she sort of hurt for it. Han looked over at Maribel.

“I don’t love Misha
. You know that right?” Maribel shrugged, and Han felt frustrated. “He tells me that a lot. That he loves me. I’m not sure he should be doing that when we both know that this relationship is only going to end in heartache.”

“My mate was a man much like Misha was just before you came
into his life. Not so much cold and heartless, but not caring. Even after the boys started to come into the world, he treated me, and them, too, I suppose, as if we were nothing more than an inconvenience to him. Something that—and I say this with a very heavy heart—something that he must tolerate but never love.” Maribel took out her wallet and handed her a picture. It was of the boys when they were younger, all of them handsome and all of them frowning. “Their father wanted that picture. He said that when other people asked him about his kids, he wanted something to prove he had them. There is not a smile among them. Do you know why?”

“He asked them not to be happy and smiling?” Han tried to hand it back
, but she shook her head. “I’m sure he loved them at least a little.”

“Not at all
. He even told them that whenever he could. Then Misha and Rider, well, they stopped saying it to anyone, including me.” Han looked up from the picture to Maribel. “Until the other morning. Rider came into the kitchen where I was and kissed me on the cheek. He said in a normal voice, as if he’d said it to me a thousand times that morning, that he loved and cherished me. As he moved out of the room, I stood there so stunned that I could scarcely breathe. Then today, just before Misha left with the others, he came over to my house and hugged me up like a big old bear. Then he told me that he loved me more than he thought possible.”

“And you think I had something to do with this?”
Maribel nodded. “I don’t see how. I barely know Rider, and Misha and I are just…I think it’s the sex. He seems to enjoy it a great deal. Perhaps he’s just overjoyed because of that.”

Maribel laughed
, and Han flushed. The things that popped out her mouth lately were strange to say the least. Before she could tell her again how sorry she was, Maribel hugged her.

“You are the best thing that could have happened to all of them.
And as much as you want to deny it, I do believe you are just a little in love with them as well. Especially Misha.” Han shook her head.

“We
aren’t in love.” Maribel only nodded. “We aren’t. We’re just two people who have been thrown together because of some twisted fate thing. I don’t believe in love.”

“Just because no one has loved you before now, my dear, does not mean that you
can’t have it. You’re a wonderful young woman. And one that I will enjoy having around for a very long time.” The door to the limo opened, and Han looked at the front windows of the shop before looking back at Maribel. “Are you going to complain and not let me help you pick out clothing? It will do you no good, just so you know.”

“You’re going to do it anyway, aren’t you?”
She nodded, and Han felt herself smile a little. “I think I like you, Maribel. You’re bossy and a pain in the butt, but you’re all right.”

“Get it straight, dear
. I’m a pain in the ass. Now, we’re to spend the day shopping. Which personal item do you need more than anything else? We’ll get that first and then buy things to match them.” Han asked her why her underthings had to match her outer clothing. “Because, my dear child, you have a mate who will wonder what you have beneath it every time you step into a room.” Before she could comment—and what she might have said was still a mystery to her—they were helped out of the limo and escorted into the store. Han felt like she was in a faerie land and she wasn’t all that thrilled about it.

They were shown to a small room where there were several mirrors around in sets of three.
Before she sat with Maribel, a young man, Toddi, took her to a salon and measured her. He tisked a great deal, and Han wondered what he was finding wrong. Asking him seemed to upset him.

“You are an almost perfect four. I say almost because you have large breasts.
If you were perhaps a size or two smaller, then you’d be perfect. Now I’ll have to work around this imperfection.” She quirked a brow at him. “I’m sure your husband loves them very much, but dressing you will be a nightmare. Come, let’s start.”

Start was
exactly what they did. Like a flagger at a race, when he clapped his hands, several women came forward and started pulling her clothing off. Even her hair was lifted and measured. Han had never been touched by so many people in so many places, and she finally gave up on trying to be modest.

It seemed like hours.
She’d been stripped of her clothing, put into a lovely robe, and then taken to have her hair done. Han had no say in that either, and when asked who her stylist had been, she told him.

“When it gets too long, I just hack it
off. I have to have it out of my face and sometimes a ponytail is just a bother.” She almost laughed at the expression on his face. “You should have seen it when I tried to color it.”

She hadn’t
, of course, but it made her laugh when he staggered back from her. Maribel was moved when she was and sat with her when the man started cutting at her hair. They talked about small things. What her favorite color was, which she had no idea, and did she like heels.

“I have no idea. I’ve never had any.” The man cutting her hair lifted her chin up and looked her in the eye. “I sort of grew up strangely. My mother wore these heels that made me
think that I’d never be able to walk in them.”

“
It’s all an art, honey. I’ll show you when you get this mop taken care of. And if I hear of you chopping at your hair again?” He fanned himself with the comb. “Well, just don’t let me hear about it. You have gorgeous hair, and I’m going to make that mate of yours sit up and pant. Oh my, yes, he will.”

Lunch was served when she was under the dryer.
The biggest rollers she’d ever seen were currently in her hair, yet she didn’t mind so much. No one had let her see herself, and while the two women did her nails and toes, she enjoyed things that she’d never eaten before…shrimp cocktail and brie. There were small sausages as well as the prettiest bread she’d ever eaten. By the time the dryer was off, she was stuffed and ready to move on. It was nearly five o’clock when she was declared ready to have a look.

The mirrors were unwrapped and she was stood in front of them.
Han actually looked behind her to see who this woman was. Turning to her right, then left, she fell in love with the green silk dress and the tiny, little-heeled shoes. Maribel put a lovely necklace at her throat, and Han felt tears.

“You mess up my makeup and I’ll spank you
r bottom.” Han nodded at Toddi. “I’m to assume you like the butterfly that I’ve created?”

“Oh yes. It’s…I can’t believe that’s me.” He kissed her cheek and stood beside her.
“You did an amazing job.”

“Oh honey, you’ve no idea
, but we’ve only just started. You’re going to make runway models simply drool when I’m finished with my masterpiece.” He grinned. “All I ask for is a description of that mate of yours face when he sees you the first time.”

Han wondered if he’d notice
, then decided that he’d have to be blind not to. As soon as they left for dinner, she thanked Maribel, who told her not to worry…it was the best fun she’d had in years.

“It was the most fun I’ve had since I was born.”

Chapter
13

The death toll was well over two dozen. Not as many as they’d first thought there would be, but enough to exhaust him and his brothers. The town needed a better tornado alert system put in; that might have saved a great many more. But finding the children when they had had done a great deal to boost morale.

“That was just a stroke of luck.”
Misha didn’t look at the mayor, who had been a pain in the ass since they’d arrived over seventy hours ago. “You said they were there, told me over and over they were. I guess that’s why you get the big bucks. Knowing your job.”

“We do know our job.” He grinned at Carter
, who had been getting sharper and sharper with the man since they’d found the small room where the nineteen children, all kindergarteners, had been stuffed when the building had been hit. The teacher hadn’t faired so well.

“Yeah, so you said, so you said. But it was there, just like you said it would be.”
Carter moved away, and if his looks were any indication, he did it before he hit the man. “How did you know there was a shelter under all that rubble? The public is going to ask me, and I want to make sure I have all the details. Details make the man, they say.”

“Do they?”
He nodded, and Misha continued packing up as he answered the man. “It was on the map. The one you told us was outdated. Make sure you let the public know that you would have let them die rather than listen to someone who knew the area. It’s a good bet that someone else might know a little more than you.”

“I suppose that could be true
, but I did call you gentlemen in. So, in effect, when I tell the press that I was instrumental in finding them, it will all be true.” Misha paused and turned to look at him. “I’m up for reelection. This will be a feather in my cap, I think. People can be so fickle when things aren’t just how they think they should be.”

“
What do you mean?” He waved Misha off, and he decided to make it his business to find out. After the man left, he called the office to speak to his mom. Instead of her answering, he realized it was Hannah.

“
You’re there with my mom?” She told him she’d gone to a book club. “So you’re filling in for her?”

“I’m working here. Unless you think I shouldn’t. I know that people will think it weird that we’re working in the same office
, but your mom can be very persuasive when she wants to be.” He agreed with that one. “I have it down pat, I think. And she only just left me today. I’ve been doing this for a few days now. Is everything going well there?”

“I called
to see if you can find something for me. I have a mayor here that is going to ride into the next election on our coattails. Not that I really care, but I think he’s up to something no good and I want to make sure.” He gave her his name and where they were. She laughed.

“Up to no good is more like it. He’s nearly ready to be impeached. There’s a long article in the newspaper
about how he’s been not only skimming funds allotted for other jobs, but has been taking entire monies earmarked for other projects and buying himself new homes.” She laughed again. “His mistress and his wife have been seen fighting in a very public way recently, too. He seems to think that he is entitled to all he’s been taking simply because they have been voted nicest city to live in.”

“How the hell does he expect to be reelected on that sort of
thing?” She told him there was more and sent the links to some articles to his and Rider’s phones. His mother had barely been able to get the printer to work, and now he was getting links on his phone. “Are you seriously wanting to work for us?”

“If you don’t mind.
Your mom took me to the bank and had my signature put on the checks, but I didn’t sign anything. The bills are on your desk waiting for you to approve them. Two of them are very past due.” He told her to sign them and mail them all. “But I might have done something wrong.”

“I highly doubt that. And the fact that I don’t have to fuck with it is wonderful.
Rider will more than likely buy you whatever you want simply because with you there, he won’t have to do it when it’s his turn next month.” Misha told her how much they all hated the job and traded it around monthly so no one person had to do it all the time. “I trust you, and I know the others do as well. Mail the checks. Anything else?”

He saw Rider coming toward him with a huge smile. He
knew that he’d gotten the link. He pointed to his phone and mouthed, “Mom?” Misha shook his head and handed him his phone. When he realized who it was, Rider looked at him, surprised. They talked for a few more minutes until she put him on hold to answer the phone.

“
She’s working for us?”

Misha
said, “Yes” and asked if he was okay with that.

“
Are you fucking nuts? I’d have her baby if that were possible. Christ, I have a link and I was so excited that Mom had figured it out that I was ready to buy her a dozen roses. I’m glad now that I waited to ask you if you wanted to go in on them. Han needs something really nice if she’s going to work for us.”

When she came back on the line
, he could hear the tension in her breathing. He felt his cat, always on the surface when they were helping out, run along his skin. He stepped away from Rider when she started talking.

“My mother just called here. How did she know I was
here? She said that she’s going to come and get me and that I’ll be locked up so tightly that they’ll never find the key.” He started to tell her to calm down but hated that when people said it to him. Instead, he let her talk. By the time she was running down, he could hear her anger instead of her fear.

“What right does she have to
tell me that I’m no good? I’m a wonderful person. I have a good job. I don’t know how much it pays, but that’s beside the point. I have one. And her telling me that she still owns me just doesn’t work either. I’m a grown woman. A woman who has a mate. I’m a…I’m a flipping cat. What is she? I’ll tell you what she is. She’s a mean vicious woman who drinks too much and doesn’t know a good thing when she has it.”

“Hannah, I love you.” She steamrolled right over him and continued
, but the words she said before she continued on her tirade had him reaching for something to hold onto.

“I love you
, too. But how am I supposed to be able to feel safe when she’s done nothing but make my life a living hell? I mean, she nearly killed me this time when she hit me. And then there is that man that was here today.”

“What man?” He
felt his body tense up, her declaration of love nearly forgotten. “Who was he and what did he want?”

“He said he worked for the police department
, but I recognized him from the other day when your mom and I went shopping. He could…you didn’t tell me I could smell things and remember them. Anyway, he was in here telling me I had to go with him to the station. I told him to fuck off. Then I called them. The police, not him. They have had a man sitting in the lobby for two days now. If I’m here, he told me, then he’s here. His name is Tony Fitzgerald, and a friend of Thomas.” Misha went to find Thomas and ask while listening to Hannah. “I’ve checked him out as well. He is real, and he told me so long as you guys were out of town, he was guarding me. He said he owes Thomas.”

And now Misha owed him.
As soon as he found Thomas, he was going to find out what it was, but for now, he was just glad that she was being protected. He noticed that she was quiet.

“You do know that I can take care of myself now, right?” Before he could tell her he did know, she continued.
“Your mom has been showing me all kinds of things I can do now. And I’ve been practicing. Even Jackson has been letting me practice in the house. But I’m no longer allowed to be a cat in the living room.”

“Why not?”
He laughed a little, thinking that whatever she’d done couldn’t be that bad. When he heard her sigh, he started to rethink that. “What did you do?”

“The couch…was it anything you really liked?
I didn’t have any idea that my claws would be out when I stretched. There needs to be a manual on these things. Anyway, Jackson said that he could repair the one cushion, but when he startled me, I sort of…well, you might need to replace the chair as well. I’ll pay you back. I swear.”

“I don’t care about the cost.” H
e started laughing. “What did you do to the chair? And what were you doing in the house as a cat anyway?”

“Is that
another rule?” He told her no, that he was just curious. “I like the way she makes me feel. Like I can take on the world. I know I can’t, but I feel safe as her. Jackson said it was fine, he knew how I felt. Did you know that he’d been beaten by his father a long time ago when he was a kid?”

“I did. That’s why we’re good friends.”
He was surprised that Jackson had told her about his childhood. Few knew the story. “I’ll be home in the morning. We have something here we have to take care of. Then we’ll be out. Are you going to be home or at the office?”

He wanted her home, in the bed, naked
, but he knew that paperwork had to be filed and there had to be an accounting of what they’d found and done. Especially when they were finished with the mayor.

“Here.
I have two appointments lined up for the early morning. I’ve talked to your mom once or twice since you guys have been gone about some things that need to be worked on, and she said she could approve them. The computer systems here need to be updated. And there is a problem with the furnace. She told me you wouldn’t care if I got them taken care of.”

He already lov
ed having her there. The furnace had been on its last legs last fall, and the computers had needed an overhaul for years. But none of them had time to do it. He saw Thomas then and waved him down.

“
Instead of upgrading, let’s just get all new computers. We can do it, but no one wanted to mess with it. I have a name of a buddy that I trust to transfer the files over, unless you can do it.” She told him she could but didn’t want to do it. “You’ll be fine, but if you call Gary, just tell him that he can do what he needs.”

“It might be expensive. I know this place that can give you some money for the computers if you want to
sell them. It’s a homeless shelter on Tenth that uses older models to help people get a feel for them, and sometimes they use them for typing up resumes as well. Can I look into that?”

He grinned.
“You do whatever you want with them. But you know to have them wiped, right?” She said she’d take care of it. “Also, see if you can talk Gary into giving you a nice discount and we’ll donate a few newer ones, too. It’s a nice thing that you’re doing, and we might as well make it count for something.”

By the time he’d hung up with her, he had given her permission to get a new desk for her as well as a couple
of new chairs for the lobby. Not that he needed to give her permission, but she seemed to need it. Their building wasn’t huge, but it was nice. He even asked her to see if his mom would help out on getting that updated, too. After he closed his phone, he realized he’d forgotten to tell her he loved her, but smiled. He’d just have to work twice as hard to show her when he got home.

He sat down and spoke to his brothers about everything that was going on. Each of them, Rider most of all
, were happy that she was there as well as everything she was having done. Carter suggested that they get her some roses, and they all agreed. Before they got up to take care of business again, they had ordered six dozen roses for her that were to be delivered today. And two dozen for their mom. Misha was nearly skipping he was so happy to be going home.

~~~

Gary was working in Misha’s office when the man came to the door. She’d locked up because the computers were down anyway and she wanted to be able to clean out the refrigerator as well. The man standing at the glass door not only startled her, but made her feel…well, itchy was all that came to mind.

“I’m sorry, we’re closed.”
He nodded and pulled on the door again. He looked almost familiar to her but she wasn’t sure where she’d seen him before. “You’ll have to come back tomorrow.”

“I’m their dad.”
Han stepped back from the door when he pulled on it again. “Open the door, young lady. I’ve as much right to be in there as you.”

“I don’t think so.” He yanked harder on the door
, and she heard someone come up behind her. She didn’t have to turn to know it was Maribel. As soon as he saw her, he started pulling harder on the door.

“Open the fucking door.
Maribel, you heard me, tell her to open the door. I want to see my sons.” Han watched as Maribel reached for the door, and she put her hand on her.

“Don’t do it.”
Maribel looked confused for several seconds, and that’s when Han realized what he’d done. That compulsion thingy. He’d commanded her to do it, and she might have if Han hadn’t stopped him.

“I don’t want him here.”
Han nodded and pushed her behind her. The man was pissed now, and Han walked up to the door. She didn’t want him to not hear her.

“You get your fucking ass away from here or so help me I will come out there and kick your ass all over the lot.” He looked at her for several seconds
. Then he threw back his head and laughed. Han felt her cat stir along her skin, and she let her.