“So?”
“So, get your pretty butt up to that meeting before I have to get out of this truck and give Delia Staten something to gossip about. ”
Mac restrained his smile as a hard wash of fiery color filled her cheeks. If she had been embarrassed or hurt, he would have pulled Jethro back. He wouldn’t have given a second thought to it. But as he spoke, Mac watched the fear and confusion leave her gaze, to leave it filled instead with full feminine awareness of the male awaiting a chance to get his hands on her.
She swung her gaze back to Mac. A silent demand that he do something about Jethro. It was all he could do to contain his grin. He spread his hands in a gesture of compliance. “I guess you’ll just have to deal with him later, darlin’,” he told her. “For now, though, you might want to do as he suggests. I think you know neither damned one of us cares if the whole world knows who shares your bed. But I know you do. For now. ”
Rather than giving her a chance to argue further, Mac moved from the truck, aware of the women who stood outside the house watching them. He moved to her door, opened it, and stared back at her.
“For now?” she hissed incredulously as she was facing him once again, refusing to accept his hand in getting from the truck. “Is insanity rubbing off this week?”
Jethro shifted behind her.
Mac watched as her eyes widened just enough to assure him that she had felt the sensual threat behind her. As Mac gripped her waist and set her gently on the pavement, he was aware of the feminine nails pricking into his jacket, reminding him that he had every intention of joining that meeting until she convinced him to await her outside.
“This isn’t going to work. ” She watched Jethro warily as he unfolded his long legs from the pickup and stepped out.
Right there in full view, he shrugged his jacket off, turning his back to reveal the holster-encased pistol at the small of his back.
Twitters of gossip sounded behind them as he threw the jacket to the backseat and turned to Keiley with a rakish smile.
“Oh God,” she whispered, rolling her eyes as she glanced back at the women gathered together at the entrance to the house. “Jethro, I’m going to kick your ass. ”
“You can try. ” He shrugged as he moved to the front seat and lounged back. “Sure you don’t want us to go in with you?”
“And cause even more of a scene?” she muttered. “I knew that the two of you together were trouble. ”
“It was a given. ” Jethro smiled. “We’ll wait right here on you now. ”
Mac stared back at the house at the sound of the door opened, watching with narrowed eyes as Victoria Staten stepped elegantly from the house, followed closely by her daughter-in-law, Delia.
Mac had known there wasn’t a chance Victoria would let him get away from there without seeing him. She might be the queen bee in Scotland Neck, but she had a heart, unlike her daughter-in-law.
“John McCoy. What kind of trouble are you causing now?” she asked as she stepped down the wide stone steps, as slender and graceful as she had been for as long as he had know her.
“I hate both of you,” Keiley muttered as Victoria and Delia came closer.
“Be a good girl now, Keiley,” Mac told her softly. “You can kick us when we get home. ”
“John, you rascal. ” Victoria’s voice was filled with affection as she neared him, lifting her hands to accept his as he moved closer to her. “You have all the ladies atwitter here tonight. Please tell me that you and your very handsome friend intend to wait on Keiley rather than joining her? All that testosterone in the same room with those women might be too much for them to handle. ”
Her smile was as gentle and warm as it had been the night she found him, cold and hungry, curled beneath a bench in the park in town when he was barely fourteen.
“Victoria, you’re as beautiful as the day I met you. ” He kissed her wrinkled cheek gently, aware of the frailty of her body when before she had seemed as strong and enduring as the mountains around them.
“Flatterer. ” She reached up, patted his cheek with a soft hand, then turned and lifted a brow as Jethro stepped from the truck. “And who is this handsome fellow?”
“Victoria, meet a good friend of mine and my previous partner in the Bureau, Jethro Riggs. Jethro, this is Mrs. Victoria Leia Staten, the most gracious lady to ever step foot in North Carolina. ”
A light flush mounted her cheeks as her green eyes sparkled merrily back at Jethro.
“Mr. Riggs, you have my ladies gasping,” she informed him as he took he hand and bestowed a flirtatious kiss on the back of it.
“That happens a lot,” he whispered back at her, wicked charm glittering in his eyes as Mac caught Keiley closing her eyes helplessly. There was no doubt that she wasn’t ready to strangle them both now.
“I bet that nasty gun at your back helps. ” Victoria leaned closer with a smile that assured both men that she knew what a man was, and she knew well their weaknesses.
“It does seem to leave an impression,” Jethro chuckled as she stepped back and he released her hand.