Sullivan’s dark brows snapped down over his golden eyes. “No,” he said dryly. “That wasn’t where she kicked me.”
That sounded like a fascinating story, but though Kell still looked amused, he didn’t pursue it. “This is Rachel Jones,” he said, holding out his hand to her in a quiet command. “She dragged me out of the ocean.”
“Glad to meet you.” Sullivan’s drawl was soft and raspy as he watched Rachel immediately go to Kell in response to his outstretched hand.
“I’m glad to meet you, Mr. Sullivan…I think.”
Kell gave her a brief, comforting touch, then began pulling on his shirt; it was an action that still caused him some difficulty, as his shoulder was stiff and sore. Sullivan looked at the tender, red, newly formed scar tissue where the bullet had torn into Kell’s shoulder. “How much damage?”
“I’ve lost some flexibility, but there’s still some swelling. Part of it may return as the swelling goes down.”
“Did you get it anywhere else?”
“Left thigh.”
“Will it hold up?”
“It’ll have to. I’ve been jogging, loosening it up.”
Sullivan grunted. Rachel sensed the man’s reluctance to talk freely in front of her, the same ingrained caution that characterized Kell. “Are you hungry, Mr. Sullivan? We’re having spaghetti.”
That wild-animal gaze turned on her. “Yes, ma’am. Thank you.” The soft slurring of his drawl and the grave courtesy of his manners made such a contrast to the fierceness of his eyes that she felt off-balance. Why hadn’t Kell warned her?
“I’ll finish while you two talk, then. I must have dropped the peppers when you grabbed me,” she said. She started toward the door, then turned back, distress in her eyes. “Mr. Sullivan?”
He and Kell were walking into the living room, and Sullivan stopped, looking back at her. “Ma’am?”
“My dog,” she said, a faint trembling in her voice. “He’s always there when I go outside. Why didn’t he—”
Understanding was in those wild golden eyes. “He’s all right. I’ve got him tied up in that pine thicket. Had a helluva time outsmarting him. That’s a nice animal.”
Relief made her weak. “I’ll go untie him, then. You didn’t…hurt him in any way?”
“No, ma’am. He’s about a hundred yards down, just to the left of that little trail.”
She ran down the trail, her heart thudding; Joe was right where Sullivan had said he would be, tied securely to a tall pine, and the dog was furious. He even snarled at Rachel, but she talked softly to him and approached him at a slow, measured pace, calming him before she knelt beside him to untie the rope around his neck. Even then she kept talking, giving him small, quick pats, and the snarls diminished in his throat. Finally he accepted a hug from her, and for the first time gave her a welcoming lick. A lump rose in her throat. “Come on, let’s go home,” she said, getting to her feet.
She collected the peppers from where she had dropped them on the back steps and left Joe prowling around the house. She washed her hands and began preparing the sauce, listening to the quiet rumble of the men’s voices from the living room. Now that she had met Sullivan she understood Kell’s confidence in him. He was…incredible. And Kell was even more so. Seeing them together made her realize anew the caliber of the man she loved, and she reeled under the shock of that realization.
It was almost an hour before she called them to the table, and the sun was a fierce red ball low on the horizon, a reminder that now her time with Kell was truly running out. Or was it already gone? Would they be leaving soon?
Deliberately, to get her mind off her fears, she kept the conversation going. It was remarkably difficult, with both men being the way they were, until finally she hit on the right subject. “Kell told me that you’re married, Mr. Sullivan.”
He nodded, a curious lightening of his expression making him seem less formidable. “Jane is my wife.” He said it as if everyone knew Jane.
“Do you have any children?”
There was no mistaking the look of intense pride that came over the hard, scarred face. “Twin sons. They’re six months old.”
For some reason Kell was looking amused again. “I didn’t know twins ran in your family, Grant.”
“They don’t,” Sullivan growled. “Or in Jane’s, either. Even the damn doctor didn’t know. She took everybody by surprise.”
“That’s not unusual,” Kell said, and they looked at each other, grinning.
“The hell of it is, she went into labor two weeks early, in the middle of a snowstorm. All the roads were closed, and I couldn’t get her to a hospital. I had to deliver them.” For a moment there was a look of desperation in his eyes, and a faint sheen of perspiration broke out on his forehead. “Twins,” he said faintly. “Damn. I told her not to ever do that to me again, but you know Jane.”
Kell laughed out loud, his rare deep laugh making pleasure shimmer through Rachel. “Next time she’ll probably have triplets.”