Kadan closed his eyes and looked away from her. "Damn it. Just damn it." Because he should walk away, leave her in peace, but he wasn't going to. And not because he needed to save the lives of his friends. Not because he needed to save lives of innocent people. He was going to put her through hell because he was a selfish bastard and he wasn't willing to give her up. He didn't like knowing that about himself, but there it was.
CHAPTER 6
They began fighting the moment they entered the house where Kadan had set up headquarters. Tansy was going to call her parents whether Kadan liked it or not. And he didn't like it. She tossed her head, her eyes flashing defiance.
"You can bark out orders all you like, big man, but I'm not under your command. I'm not exactly an amateur at this business, and I don't fall under the category of your underling, so get over that notion as well. Just who do you think you are, anyway?"
Kadan stepped close to her, purposely invading her personal space, inhaling her cinnamon scent, challenging her idea of what equality was. "I'm the only man who is ever going to lie with you at night and hold you close and keep you safe. I'm the only man who is going to make love to you anywhere, anytime, any way we both need or want it. More importantly, Tansy, I'm the man who is going to kill anyone who threatens you. So you can damn well listen to me."
She blinked at him, opened her mouth and closed it again, looking confused and entirely too seductive and bewildered for him to resist. Kadan leaned his head down and took possession of that soft, trembling mouth. Kissing her felt so damned good. He wanted to get lost in her, to just have the world disappear so he could spend his life skin-to-skin, kissing her.
"You know how to take the wind out of a woman's sails," she said accusingly, when she could talk again. "What am I supposed to say to that?"
"Nothing. Just kiss me again."
Tansy turned her mouth up to his. This time he pulled her close, his hand at the nape of her neck, holding her still while he took a long exploration, savoring her cinnamon flavor. "You are never supposed to argue with me." He rested his forehead against hers, looking into her strangely colored eyes.
She laughed softly. "I hate to burst your bubble, here, buddy, but all the kisses in the world are not going to stop me from letting my parents know where I am, who I'm with, and what I'm going to do. I don't hide things from them."
Kadan jerked away from her, pacing across the room. "I can't trust them. That's the truth whether you want to believe it or not. Until I clear them, I have to treat them like the enemy."
"My parents? Enemies? What do you think they're going to do? Contact the killers and say we're on to them?"
He spun around and gripped her shoulders hard. "I think they'll call Dr. Peter Whitney and inform him what you're doing."
Tansy tried to pull away from him, horror blossoming on her face, but he held her with his enormous strength, refusing to allow her to move away from his solid warmth. He gave her a little shake. "Did you hear me, Tansy? Did you understand what I said? What I meant? I'm the man who kills anyone who threatens you."
She swallowed hard and shook her head. "Not my parents. They would never betray me. Never. I don't care what you think, they wouldn't do that."
"Why would they choose a damaged child, Tansy, when they were wealthy enough to buy perfection? Any adoption agency would have given them whatever they wanted right down to the color of hair and eyes. Why you? When they got you, you probably couldn't stand their touch, or even using their utensils to eat with. Come on. You have a brain. Use it here. Figure out what the hell was going on back then. They took you to a doctor you clearly didn't want to see, and in spite of your tears and pleas, they left you alone with him."
Tansy closed her eyes briefly, trying not to remember the way her mother pleaded with her father, clinging to her before he took her firmly from her mother's arms and shoved her into the room with Whitney. Kadan couldn't be right. She wouldn't let him be right. Even thinking that way was a betrayal of her parents' love for her. "Shut up. I mean it, Kadan, I don't want you talking about my parents anymore."
"Then you promise me you're not going to call them."
"I have to call them. We have an arrangement. If I don't, they'll come looking for me." Tansy glared right back at him. "They love me, Kadan. They won't betray me."
"Then ask them what they're relationship with Whitney is and ask them why they didn't tell you he was still alive. Do that much. Don't make me have to track them down and find out myself, Tansy. You don't want me confronting your parents."
He looked so grim, so frightening, as if he was capable of walking in and putting a gun to their heads. Her parents. Two people she loved.
"Two people who are in this up to their necks," Kadan interrupted, clearly reading her mind. "Whitney experimented on children. On you. And they had to have known, but they said nothing. They did nothing to stop it. At least admit they had to have known."
She pushed at the wall of his chest. "Damn you, you just can't leave this alone. You're leaving me with nothing. They're my sanity. They're everything in my world and you're not going to take them away from me. This is a mistake. A big mistake. I was crazy coming here with you."
His fingers dug deeper, not allowing her to escape. "You're damn right. You don't seem to have the first idea of security, even when you've had plenty of reasons to be afraid. But I'm not your problem, Tansy, and you wouldn't be so upset if you didn't already know that. Don't blame me because there's something very smelly about the way your parents acquired you."
"You're such a bastard. Take your hands off of me. I'm calling my dad."
"Put him on speakerphone. This number is blocked and will be difficult to trace, but even so, you only have a few minutes to talk. I'll be timing you. If you start to say anything that compromises our mission or your safety, I disconnect. Do you understand?"
He held her in place, his eyes blazing down into her with that relentless, implacable, very annoying expression. She had a wild urge to kick him hard. Finally she nodded. He dropped his hands immediately. She muttered a repeat of the not so nice name she'd called him earlier, only this time she added not so nice adjectives to go along with it for good measure. He simply ignored her.
Tansy swung away, stalking across the room to the phone. She stabbed out her parents' number, refusing to look at Kadan as he came up behind her and pushed the speakerphone button. Her mother answered.
"Hey, Mom," Tansy said in greeting, her fingers twisting together. "Is Dad right there with you?"
"You're on the phone, not the radio," her mother observed. "Where are you?"
"Is Dad there?" she repeated.
"He's right here. I'm going to put you on speakerphone so we can both hear," Sharon added. "When did you get off the mountain?"
"Hi, Dad. I need you to answer a question for me," Tansy said, gripping her wrist hard, digging in her nails. "Why didn't you tell me Dr. Whitney was still alive?"
There was a silence. She closed her eyes, picturing the shock on her parents' faces.
"Did that son of a bitch bother you, Tansy?" Don Meadows demanded. "What has he done? Tell me, honey, and I'll take care of it."
She looked around for a chair to sink into. Kadan shoved one under her and Tansy collapsed into it. "Why didn't you tell me about him, Dad? I've gone through enough that I deserve to know. Why do you have anything at all to do with a man like that? You've got to tell me the truth."
"What has he done? Tell me where you are and I'll send Fredrickson to pick you up. Don't trust anyone else," her father insisted.
Kadan dropped his hands on Tansy's slumped shoulders in an effort to show camaraderie.
"What does he have on you?" Tansy asked quietly.
There was silence again. Her mother choked back a sob.
"Come home now, Tansy. I'll tell you everything, but come home."
Kadan gripped her harder and shook his head when she tilted back to look at him. They need to get out of there, somewhere safe. He's p
robably monitoring this conversation. Tell them that. Tell them to get out.
"I have to go now. He's probably monitoring the conversation, Dad, and it isn't safe for you. Take Mom and go into hiding. Do it now and don't trust anyone."
Her mother screamed.
"You don't have to do that," Don Meadows bellowed. "She'll come back."
Tansy jumped to her feet. "Mom?"
"Tansy?" There was another male voice on the phone. "I'm afraid Mommy can't talk right now. Neither can Daddy. You have twenty-four hours to get back here or they're both dead. Say you understand."