CHAPTER NINE
ALL THE CRYING had made her congested and plugged up her ears, and that’s probably why Eve hadn’t heard the footsteps behind her a lot sooner.
Especially these footsteps.
When she finally heard them and whirled around, she immediately spotted the intruder. It would have been impossible to miss him. He was wearing a shiny black cape that puddled on the ground and thigh-high leather boots with platform heels that added a good four inches to his already six-foot height. He was also carrying a black metal shield and a scythe blade.
Clearly, this was one of the hornies but one who preferred to dress the part rather than just deposit horns here or there. He had on the garb of a Swaron warrior, the characters who routinely kidnapped and tortured Ulyana so they could in turn use her to get to Stavros.
In the scripts, Eve had the same reaction every time a Swaron appeared. A sharp gasp, followed by a look of terror in her eyes. She did that now out of habit. And also out of habit, she reached for one of her prop knives. Which wasn’t there, of course.
The bottle of environmentally friendly aphid spray didn’t seem nearly as menacing as a poison-laced switchblade.
“Ulyana?” the intruder said. “Uh, is that you?”
Obviously, he didn’t follow script because he didn’t have a gravelly, threatening voice. What he did have was a Texas-sized amount of surprise in his tone. Probably because he hadn’t expected the teen demon hunter to be a thirtysomething-year-old woman in cutoff sweatpants and with a slightly pudgy baby belly. Well, they were even. She hadn’t expected a “fan” to be here.
“How’d you get on this ranch?” she asked.
He lifted his shoulder, causing his body armor to clang and ping. “The woman in the raincoat didn’t shut the gate after she drove through. I was parked on the side of the road and followed her in. If the gate’s open, it’s not trespassing.”
She huffed. Eve had no idea who the woman in the raincoat was, but this warrior wannabe had a warped notion of what constituted trespassing.
“She didn’t have on any clothes underneath the coat,” he added a moment later. “When she opened her car door to press in the code for the gate, she put her foot on the ground so she could lean in better. The side of her raincoat came open, and I saw her hoo-hoo and ta-tas.”
“Too much information,” Eve muttered. “And this is private property. You need to leave right now.”
Normally, she didn’t feel threatened by the hornies. Only frustrated that they seemingly had too much time on their hands. But this guy was big, and her baby was just inside the house. So was Cassidy. And Eve considered calling out to her, but she wasn’t ready to sound the alarm just yet.
He came even closer, and even though most of his head was covered with the bulky hood, she could see his face. He was probably about Tessie’s age, maybe younger, and she saw the disillusionment when he studied her.
“You don’t look like Ulyana,” he said. “She’s beautiful, and you’re, well, just okay. You’re kinda old, and your body’s a little...squishy.”
Gee, this wasn’t doing much for her ego, but it would make it easier for her to be rude and send this Swaron running. But before she could do that, she heard someone who was already running. With her head clearing, she had no trouble making out the footsteps this time.
And she saw the blur of motion as it went past her.
The blur was Lawson, and he cut right in between her and the Swaron. “What the hell are you doing here?” Lawson snarled to the intruder, and he had the menacing tone down pat.
“Uh” was all the teenager managed before he volleyed some nervous glances between Lawson and her. In the middle of those glances, he turned and took off.
Lawson looked ready to chase him down, but Eve caught his arm. “It’s okay. Let him go.”
“Did he hurt you?” Lawson snapped.
And that’s when she noticed Lawson’s body language. For one thing, he was out of breath, and since his truck wasn’t there, it likely meant he’d run—in cowboy boots—from his place to hers. The muscles in his neck were corded, his right hand was in a fist and his eyes were narrowed to slits.
And that’s when she noticed her own body language.
She had the bottle of aphid spray poised in the air, the way someone would wield a weapon. She probably looked a little on the defensive, too. That meant Lawson had thought she was in danger and had come to her rescue.
Wow.
That gave her a nice, warm feeling that chased away the bruised ego from the Swaron. She tried not to read too much into it though. After all, Lawson obviously hadn’t wanted to be near her in Austin, and that’s why he’d taken off the way he had.
Lawson clearly wasn’t feeling nice or warm though. He whipped out his phone and made a call to police chief Clay McKinnon to tell him that he wanted the “asshole in the Grim Reaper cape” arrested. Even though Lawson didn’t put the call on speaker, Eve was close enough that she heard Clay tell him that he’d send someone out right away.
When Lawson finished the call, Eve was about to assure him that she was okay, but he hooked his arm around her waist and got her moving toward the porch. “Wait inside, and I’ll go looking for that idiot. How’d he get onto the ranch, anyway?”
“He said some half-naked woman in a raincoat left the gate open. I figure it was someone coming to see Dylan.”
Lawson turned toward her so fast that his neck popped, and he did some more cursing. She didn’t know what to make of that, but when they went into the house, his cursing stopped. For a couple of seconds, anyway. Then he uttered some more after he did a double take. Eve didn’t approve of cussing near the baby, but in this case, it was warranted.
“Shit,” Lawson spit out. “What the heck is that?”
Good question, and Eve had another look at the massive stuffed animal to see if she could figure it out. She didn’t have any better luck identifying it now than she had when it’d been delivered about an hour earlier. If Jabba the Hutt and a mutant koala had had a baby together, it might resemble this creature. Of course, it also looked like a thirty-pound blob of hairy mucus.
“It’s from Kellan,” she said. She set down the bottle of aphid spray and checked the baby monitor to make sure Aiden was still asleep. He was. “It’s a gift for Aiden.”
Lawson made a face. Maybe because he, too, was having trouble understanding why anyone would consider that ugly thing gift material for anyone. “So, Kellan’s seeing the baby,” he commented.
“No. He just keeps sending creatures like that. Actually, I’d rather see the creatures than him, so it’s a good trade-off.”
Lawson made another face.
She’d probably already said too much, but that didn’t stop her from adding, “That should tell you just how much I don’t want to see Kellan.”
Yes, it was too much, and Lawson no longer seemed interested in running after the Swaron intruder. “You two had a falling-out?”
Anything she said at this point would only lead to more TMI and possible questions from Lawson, but he had more or less rescued her, so the least she could do was answer him. “Kellan and I were never actually together to have a falling-out. I had a one-night stand with him after Tessie and I got into a big argument.”
That made her sound impulsive and stupid. Which she had been. No one could tag her with labels any worse than those she’d already given herself.
“Tessie,” Lawson repeated. But he seemed to be speaking to himself rather than her.
Lawson muttered their daughter’s name again, didn’t make another face, though, or even look at her. He went into the adjacent family room and peered out the bay window. Maybe keeping watch for the Swaron in case he returned. He also glanced at the three stacks of boxes that were next to the coffee table.
“That’s some stuff that arrived from my house in California,” she said, though he didn’t ask for an explanation. “I haven’t had a chance to go through it.”
The boxes were all labeled with things like baby clothes, photos and such, but one in particular seemed to flash at her like a neon light. It was the box with Lawson, etc. written on it in black marker. No way did she want to go through it with Lawson right there, so she stepped in front of it. But Lawson’s attention definitely wasn’t on the boxes. He was still looking out the window.
“The intruder won’t be back,” Eve insisted. “He came here looking for Ulyana and was disappointed when he found me instead. He said I was old and that my body was squishy.”
That caused Lawson to glance back at her. Except it didn’t stay a glance with those scorcher eyes. He slid a slow look over her from head to toe, and he didn’t linger on the squishy parts. However, he did linger a bit on her mouth. His gaze shifted from one side of her lips to the other before settling right in the middle. In the exact spot that would get the brunt of a kiss. If he kissed her, that is, and it certainly felt as if he had.
Mercy. It felt like foreplay, too.
And sex.
She was warm and tingly in a place that hadn’t been tingled in a very long time. That part of her was sending her a rather strong reminder of that.
Lawson finally looked away from her, his attention leaving her mouth, and he turned as if to go out the door. It reminded her of how fast he’d moved in Austin.
“Why don’t you wait here with us until Clay arrives?” she asked.
Having him here was playing with fire, and Eve blamed the tingling. She wasn’t ready for him to go just yet even if his going would probably be a good thing.
She saw the debate in his eyes, but in the end, he stayed put, probably because he was indeed concerned about her and the baby’s safety. He came back into the family room, but his attention landed on the binoculars on the table by the window.
“Dylan,” he grumbled. “He gave me a pair, too.”
Because Eve’s mind was still in the sex mode, it took her a moment to follow through on what Lawson was no doubt thinking. “I swear, I don’t use them to look at you. Well, I did once, but that was only because Dylan left a note saying I should use them to look, and I didn’t know exactly what I’d be seeing. And that’s the only time.”
Now she was babbling, and apparently confessing, too, because Eve added even more.
“But Cassidy has used them a time or two to try to get a glimpse of Lucian. She has a mini-fixation on him,” Eve added when Lawson glanced back at her. His raised eyebrow caused her to add even more. “Cassidy has a thing for bad boys.”
A muscle flickered in his jaw. “Lucian’s not a bad boy. He’s a son of a bitch. Big difference.”
Yes, it was a big difference, and yes, it was true about Lucian.
“Steer Cassidy away from him if you can,” Lawson added, and again, he turned back to the window.
“I’ll try, but Cassidy can be stubborn about that sort of thing. She’s in her room,” Eve explained when Lawson glanced at the stairs as if looking for her. “She’s working on illustrations for a kids’ book.”
Possibly spying, too. Eve wouldn’t mention that Cassidy had ordered her own binoculars and that her room upstairs faced the direction of the Granger house where Lucian stayed when he wasn’t at one of his other two homes.
“Were you able to patch things up with Tessie?” Lawson asked several moments later.
His question got the discussion off the privacy-invading housewarming gift from Dylan, but that didn’t mean this conversation was going to be any more comfortable. “No. I saw her, but only briefly.”
Eve cursed the tears that threatened again. Lawson cursed, too, when he noticed them.
“I saw you crying earlier,” he said. “While you were in the garden. Don’t worry. I won’t be using the binoculars again to spy on you.”
It hadn’t occurred to her how Lawson had known about the Swaron intruder, but he’d obviously been following Dylan’s instructions as she had done. That gave her a different twist in her stomach. She’d been sweaty, blubbering and not looking her best, and Lawson had seen her like that. Heck, he was still seeing her that way minus a little less sweat now that she was in the A/C.
“I need to run to the bathroom,” she grumbled and had started in that direction when there was some crying. Not her this time. It was Aiden, and the sound was coming from the baby monitor in her pocket.
Freshening herself up would have to wait, and instead she headed for the nursery. “I’ll get him,” she called out to Cassidy.
Because she thought both Lawson and she could use it—Aiden, too—she took her time changing the baby’s diaper and washing up again. She gave Aiden some extra kisses before she made her way back to the family room. Lawson was still there, still keeping watch at the window.
Aiden grinned a big gummy grin at Lawson. He was a happy baby—most of the time, anyway—but he rarely smiled at strangers, making her wonder if he sensed that Lawson had been the one to bring him into the world. Or maybe the baby just felt her heartbeat rev up whenever Lawson was around.
Lawson gave Aiden a small grin back and brushed his fingers over the baby’s toes. “He’s getting big.”
Yes, he was growing fast. And getting hungry. Aiden turned his head, brushing his mouth against her nipple. She wouldn’t put him off too long, but Eve wanted to wait a few more minutes for Clay to arrive. Then Lawson would almost certainly leave. To stave off Aiden a little while, she put him against her shoulder and gently rocked him.
“You redecorated,” Lawson said, turning back to the window. “The place looks better.”
It did, but the bar had been set pretty low when it came to the previous decor. “Your mother seemed to have been aiming for a Vegas showgirls theme. Lots of red, feathers and sequins.”
Come to think of it, that’s how Regina Granger dressed, too. Like the hornies and their time management, she had not used her champagne budget wisely.
“Are you still upset that your mom sold me the house?” Eve asked. When Aiden kept squirming, she moved him back to the crook of her arm.
“Yes.” He huffed, looked back at her again. “Why exactly do you think she did that? I mean, she got this house as part of her divorce settlement twenty years ago, and before you bought it, it’d been empty for nearly a decade. So, why sell it?”
“She said it was because the house needed some attention and love.”
His next huff was louder. “She’s up to something. Possibly matchmaking.”
Eve had to shake her head. “Matchmaking for us?”
“No. I suspect she’s looking at you as a wife for Dylan.”
The laugh just burst out of her and was so loud that it startled Aiden. He jumped, his little arms and legs flying out, and he started to fuss, so Eve rocked him again. “Dylan’s like a brother to me.”
She winced, though, because the reason she felt that way was because as a teenager, she’d spun so many fantasies about Lawson and her getting married—that was despite Lawson repeatedly telling her that marriage for him was never going to happen. Regina had helped fuel them by making it known that she wanted all of her children to give her grandkids. Eve had given up on the fantasy of marrying Lawson, but that didn’t stop her from filling in the blanks on what he was telling her.
She tossed out there, “Your mother wants me with Dylan and you with Darby.”
Lawson certainly didn’t toss that theory right back at her. Which meant he believed it was true.
Well, Regina was obviously in the Team Darby camp. And Eve had to admit that it made sense. If Regina wanted Lawson to settle down and have a family, then she’d prefer someone like Darby to have her first grandchild. Little did Regina know, though, that she already had a granddaughter.
A granddaughter who Eve would tell both Lawson and her about as soon as Tessie knew the truth about the identity of her father.
Eve had attempted to do just that on the visit to Austin, but she’d failed. When Eve had spotted Tessie on the stairs in the sorority building, her daughter had hurried off, refusing to say anything to Eve other than that she didn’t want to talk to her.
Aiden, however, wasn’t refusing to speak. His fussing got even louder, and he rooted around on the front of her shirt until he located her nipple. Her son apparently didn’t want to wait any longer for his dinner.
“I need to nurse him.” That was all Eve had to say to get Lawson’s forehead to bunch up, and he started toward the front door.
“Lock up after I go out,” he said. “I’ll have a look around the place while I’m waiting for Clay.”
Even though she doubted there was a need for it, she did indeed lock the door behind him, and she lifted her top so she could unhook the cup of her nursing bra. Aiden wasted no time latching on.
While she nursed him, she went back to the window to have her own look around, but she stayed back from the glass so that if Lawson happened to stroll by, he wouldn’t see her with her boob hanging out. As expected, there was no sign of the Swaron warrior.
Since the binoculars were right there on the table, Eve used them to have a better look. Lawson was making his way to the road where he no doubt intended to meet up with Clay once he arrived.
A glint of sunlight on metal caught her eye, and for a moment she thought it might be Clay’s cruiser. But this was coming from Lawson’s house. She groaned, hoping the Swaron hadn’t gone there.
He hadn’t.
When Eve shifted the binoculars in that direction, she saw the woman in Lawson’s doorway. A woman wearing a raincoat.
Darby.
Like Eve, she had a pair of binoculars pressed to her eyes. And Darby seemed to have her attention aimed at Eve.
The wind shifted the side of Darby’s raincoat, and even though Eve didn’t need further proof that this was the very woman who had left the gate open, she got confirmation anyway. Because with that shift of the raincoat, Eve got a glimpse of something.
A hoo-hoo that was no doubt waiting for Lawson to return.