Rose lifted her chin. "I have trust issues, so I guess we're both to blame."
There was nothing grudging in her voice. He felt pride in her blossom, spreading warmth through his body. Rose had no problems meeting someone halfway, and she sounded sincere, but after what she'd revealed, he knew she wasn't about to let Eric near their son without constant supervision. He brought her hand to his mouth and nibbled.
Have you suddenly developed an oral fixation?
He glanced at her, startled. She was teasing him with company around. It felt--intimate. He grinned at her and bit down on her finger. Yes.
Jaimie returned with the coffee, handing him a cup and then giving Eric one. "I made you tea, Rose. You seemed to prefer that to coffee."
Rose nodded. "Thank you."
Jaimie returned with the two cups of tea. "I added milk because I saw you used milk the last time, but if it isn't enough . . ." "This is fine."
"This is fine."
Rose smiled up at her, and Kane could tell it was genuine. He felt his belly settle. He hadn't even realized he'd been tense until that moment. He wanted Rose happy, and he wanted her to like and accept his family.
Eric took a sip of his coffee as Jaimie settled into a chair. "Where's Mack?"
Jaimie shrugged. "He's off doing Mack things," she replied with a sweet smile.
Kane frowned and glanced between her and Rose. Something had definitely happened while he was recovering. Jaimie had been enigmatic in her answer, something she would never have done had Kane asked the question. Which also raised the question: just what was Mack doing? He felt a little like Rip Van Winkle, waking up and having no clue what was going on.
Eric sighed. "I really don't have a lot of time. Kane, I have to at least examine the baby before I go, to make certain he's healthy."
Rose shook her head. "I believe you examined him yesterday. Do you think his condition has changed between yesterday and today? He's asleep, and I'm not waking him up to be poked and prodded again."
A flash of anger crossed Eric's face. He threw his hands into the air. "I can see you're not going to be reasonable." Abruptly he stood up, disgust on his face. "I'll come back when you've talked some sense into her, Kane."
He turned and stalked out, slamming the door behind him.
"That went well," Kane said and took another drink of fortifying coffee. He looked from one woman to the other. "You want to tell me what's going on?"
"Not really," Jaimie said and winked at him.
Both women burst out laughing.
Kane glared at them. "I see how it's going to be around here. You two are planning on sticking together."
Jaimie shrugged. "Obviously we're outnumbered. We have no choice."
"Tell me anyway. And where's Mack?"
"Mack is scouting around the neighborhood, looking for anything that might threaten his nephew. He's gone all protective. A freighter came in yesterday, and all sorts of unsavory characters have been frequenting the bars and shops around here. You know Mack. He and Javier are out gathering information."
Kane's warning system went off. Jaimie was being casual for Rose's benefit. Her sapphire eyes met his steadily, conveying her worry. His heart constricted. Things had certainly changed in his life. He would have felt an adrenaline rush at the first sign of danger. Even an eagerness to go meet it, but now he had so much to lose. Rose. Sebastian. He wanted to wrap them up and keep them safe forever.
"You're not going to be ready for action for another couple of weeks, soldier," Rose said.
He had to grin at her. Damn. Nothing got by the woman. "So how bad is the threat, and how credible is it?"
Jaimie threw Rose an apologetic look. "I didn't want you to worry, Rose. You've been through so much."
Rose shrugged. "This is my life, Jaimie. I chose to come here. Kane and I have Sebastian, and we know they're going to keep coming at us to get to him. I'm prepared mentally for that. You don't have to try to protect me."
Jaimie nodded. "Whitney knows Rose is here."
Kane reached down and rubbed the tattoo on Rose's ankle. "We knew he'd track us here. We're hoping you and Javier can do something about his little homing device."
"We've got that covered already," Jaimie said. "But Mack says no matter when we disrupted the satellite transmission, he would have known you would bring her back here. He just can't track her movements anymore."
"He won't be happy about that."
Jaimie shrugged. "It's Whitney. He's strange. He gets all excited when the GhostWalkers are able to outwit him or foil his little attempts to retrieve them. I think he pats himself on the back, and it just reinforces how clever and brilliant he is. We are, after all, his creations."
Kane scowled at her. Jaimie held up her hand. "Hey. That's a quote from one of his reports. I don't hack into his computer often, but Flame found a way in, and she passed it on to me. We're careful, but we monitor him. We just give him a lot of room. We're lucky he doesn't trust anyone, so he does all his own computer work. He's just not as good as he thinks he is with security. He doesn't keep up on the latest and greatest because his entire world has become DNA and psychic research."
"So did your warning come from his computer?"
"He's very anxious to get his hands on the baby. He sent his 'representative' to 'acquire' him. I kid you not. It's right there on his computer. He was furious that Rose and the baby escaped him. He's determined. Apparently he feels we're far more vulnerable here. The stronghold in the
Wyoming mountains has become nearly impenetrable, and he doubts if he will be able to acquire the children kept there. Once again, he seemed pleased that the teams banding together had managed to not only keep themselves but their women and children safe from not only him, but all outside threats. Again, that's pretty much a quote, Kane."
"We're doing the same thing here."
"True, but we're more exposed because we don't have the ability at this time to clean things up as fast should there be an attack on us."
"But
we're getting to that point," Kane said hastily. "We've managed to purchase five of the seven buildings we need to secure the entire area. Rose, if you want to take Sebastian and go to the stronghold in Wyoming, I can arrange it. The teams settling there are excellent. This building is secure, but we haven't set up for street surveillance ..."
Jaimie looked smug. "Bite your tongue, Kane. Javier and I have been working night and day. We've got the street covered down two full blocks, the roof on three of the buildings as well as this one, and the water side."
"I'm fine with you," Rose said. "I'll help out here. I can work."
"Mack's got weapons and ammo stashed everywhere. We could take on an army. We've got a helipad on the roof of this building, and it's got all the necessary permits. That's how we managed to transport you directly here after your surgery," Jaimie added.
"I knew that was in the works, but didn't know it had come through."
"Where is all the money coming from?" Rose demanded.
Jaimie glanced a little apprehensively at Kane. "Lily Whitney-Miller. She inherited billions, and she shares with all the GhostWalkers."
Tell me. It was a demand, nothing less. Rose was naturally suspicious of such generosity.
"She's Dr. Whitney's adopted daughter," Kane explained. "He experimented on her as well. She was raised with quite a few of the girls."
Jaimie leaned forward, staring into Rose's eyes. "Do you remember her? She was with you in the beginning, when Whitney first took you all. You were in a big house, and he kept you in a dormitory. You were never allowed out of the laboratory."
Rose nodded. "It's impossible to forget that time. Lily was always like a mother to the rest of us. He treated her better, and she tried to get privileges for us."
"She put aside money for each of the other women she was raised with as well. You've got that money, Rose," Kane said. There was a hard knot in the pit of his stomach. Money could change things. She might decide to take the money and vanish.
Rose moistened her lips, her little pixie face very sober. "Do you trust her completely?"
"Yes," Kane said. "She's done too much for all of us to be anything but the real deal, Rose. She just had a baby. And Jack Norton and his woman had twins. They have three babies up there in the mountains. Sebastian isn't the only child at risk."