Текст книги "A Highlander Christmas"
Автор книги: Джанет Чапмен
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Chapter Seven
Luke sat sprawled on the couch four days later, watching the infomercial explaining how mineralbased makeup would make his skin feel like he wasn’t wearing anything, so bored out of his skull he was damn close to tears.
How in hell did Camry do this five days a week, week after week?
Granted, the dogs were entertaining—for all of ten minutes—but how did she just hang around this house all day, doing virtually nothing? How does anyone with even half a brain not justify the air they breathe by at least trying to be productive?
When she’d mentioned her e-mail argument that first morning, Luke had felt guilty that he might have been responsible for Camry’s walking away from her work. But as he’d gotten to know her over the last four days, he’d come to realize that her little midlife crisis had more to do with her mother—and her concept of family in general—than it had to do with him or her work.
He now believed that Camry was afraid of being just like her mother instead of wanting to emulate her, afraid that falling in love with a man and having babies would addle her brain, and afraid of losing her passion for the sciences—which she readily admitted she’d acquired in the womb—just like she believed her mother had.
And Luke was pretty sure that being afraid of anything was as mind-boggling to Camry MacKeage as doing nothing all day was to him.
That’s why he’d spent the last four days trying to figure out how he might jump-start Camry—not only back into her work, but also back to her family. Admitting he was Lucian Renoir certainly might do the trick, but he wasn’t convinced it wouldn’t just as easily push her in the opposite direction.
Unless he also confessed that he’d destroyed her mother’s satellite. Because if that didn’t make her want to kill him in his sleep, maybe she’d at least try to kill him in the scientific arena.
Not that it mattered, considering he’d committed professional suicide the moment he’d started eavesdropping on Podly.
Luke drove his hand into the cellophane bag Fiona had given him before she’d gone to help Camry take a shower, and pulled out a fistful of corn chips. Four heads lifted and eight ears perked up. Four drooling tongues appeared, and eight hopeful brown eyes locked on his hand moving toward his mouth.
Luke suddenly lifted his hand over his head, then darted it to the side, then quickly shot it over to his other side—all the while watching the canine eating machines track his movements with the intensity of a guided missile locked on its target.
“You are such uncomplicated beasts,” he muttered, tossing the chips to the floor.
While they were occupied chomping down the junk food and inhaling stray crumbs up their noses, Luke quietly reached into the bag again and quickly filled his own mouth as he absently watched the magical transformation as a woman’s face went from blotchy red to visibly flawless.
Camry MacKeage certainly didn’t need this product; she hadn’t been wearing any makeup that first morning he’d awakened beside her, and her skin had looked damned flawless to him—except for the bruise on her left cheek and around her eye, which was only now starting to fade.
She’d felt pretty damn good in his arms, too, when she had recklessly kissed him right there in the bathroom, and he had just as recklessly kissed her back.
When he’d decided to come to America, Luke had known Camry was somewhere around five feet three, but had hoped herweight had blossomed to four hundred pounds. And it wouldn’t have hurt, either, if she’d sprouted horns soon after the photo had been taken that he’d found of her on the Internet. Considering his track record with women, he’d have preferred that Dr. MacKeage be anything but gorgeous, because he hadn’t wanted even a hint of sexual tension to creep into their work.
So much for that pipe dream. Hell, if they both hadn’t been so beaten up that first morning, he wouldn’t be bored to tears right now because he would have spent the last four days making love to her.
Not that he hadn’t tried.
It had become somewhat of a game between them—or maybe challengewas a better word—where they flirted right up to the edge of fullblown passion, then withdrew into what Luke could only describe as salacious hell. He was so sexually frustrated, and so damned in lustwith Camry MacKeage, that the next time she kissed him he wasn’t going to care if the dogs watched, he intended to take her right here on the couch.
Hell, he’d nearly nailed her this morning, when he’d awakened to find herin hisbed. Looking him straight in the face with the same piercing green eyes as her father, she’d had the nerve to say she’d heard him whimpering in his sleep but had fallen asleep before she could return to her bed.
Fiona, apparently not the least bit impressionable, had breezed in, popped a pill in each of their mouths, and told them she was running out to buy groceries. Beginning to suspect the romantically inclined teenager was keeping them drugged so they would keep playing musical beds, Luke had started hiding his pill in his cheek, then slipping it behind the headboard the moment the girl turned her back.
If Camry had a mouse problem, they were certainly happy rodents now.
In an attempt to distract himself from his raging lust, Luke had tried focusing on Fiona instead, specifically on finding out her last name so he could locate her parents. But apparently teens today were much sharper than he had been, because when hehad run away from home, he hadn’t made it ten miles before his stepfather had found him. André had dragged Luke home, handed him a crosscut saw and ax, and made him cut, chop, and stack eight cords of firewood by hand while he contemplated the hell he had put his mother through.
Luke hadn’t run away from home again until age twenty-four.
He heard the bedroom door open and knew that Camry—likely armored in lilac-scented soap for another one of their salacious battles—was heading over to sit down beside him while Fiona took the dogs out for their morning walk. The winter solstice was only a week away, and Luke figured he had only one or two days left to talk Camry into going home before she claimed he was fully recovered and kicked him out on his sexually frustrated ass.
He sighed, scooting over to make room for her on the couch as he patted his pocket to make sure he’d remembered the condoms. It was time, he’d decided this morning while shaving, to launch a full frontal attack: first on Camry’s body—because he really, painfully wanted her—and then on her conscience.
“I’m heading out to walk the mutts,” Fiona said as she put on her jacket. “Is there anything either of you need before I go?”
“A beer would be nice,” Luke said, not caring if it was only ten in the morning, because he was so damned bored. Dave had brought him a six-pack, but Fiona had hidden it, claiming he couldn’t mix beer with the drugs she thought he was still taking.
“If you don’t take your afternoon pill, you can have one tonight with supper,” she promised, snapping leashes on the four tail-wagging dogs and heading outside.
“You seem to be getting around quite well,” Luke said when Camry swiped his bag of corn chips. “How’s the ankle feeling?”
“Ready to run a marathon,” she said, stuffing her mouth with chips.
“Are you going to waste time eating, or can we go straight to the necking part of this morning’s entertainment? They’ll only be gone an hour.”
She looked over at him, blinking her pretty green eyes, and Luke realized there had been an edge in his voice. He grinned. “Or we can skip the necking and just kick things up a notch. But I suggest we use your bed, because the spare really isn’t large enough for the two of us—as you found out this morning, when I gallantly saved you from falling out on your sexy little . . . behind.”
She blinked at him again.
Okay, so maybe directwasn’t the best approach after all. He threw his arm over the back of the couch behind her, drove his other hand into the bag of chips, and munched away while he waited for her to make the first move.
Assuming she made it in five minutes. He figured he needed at least forty-five minutes in the bedroom, and that gave him only ten minutes’ leeway in case Fiona walked fast today.
Camry attacked him in three.
The bag of junk food suddenly went flying and she scrambled onto his lap; before he’d even finishing swallowing, she cupped his face in her delicate hands and kissed him. Quickly recovering from the surprising assault, Luke wrapped his arms around her and let her have her wicked way with him, because . . .
Well, because just as soon as she got herself worked into a really good frenzy, he was hopefully going to use two of the three condoms in his pocket.
And once she was so exhausted she couldn’t speak, and hopefully too mellow to care, then he would casually mention who he actually was.
Then he’d tell her what he’d done to Podly.
And then he would very nicely ask her to help him find the little satellite so they could bring it back to her mother, and the three of them could lock themselves in Gù Brath’s lab until they had a viable propulsion system to present to the world.
Realizing he was about to pop the zipper on his jeans, and seeing how Camry had his shirt unbuttoned and was doing wickedly delightful things to his nipples with her tongue, Luke cupped her backside, stood up, and headed toward her bedroom.
She didn’t even notice the sudden change of venue, she was so busy working herself into a frenzy. And when he laid her on the bed, settled his sexually frustrated body beside her, and started undoing her blouse, she very kindly helped.
Surprised he even had the sense of mind to glance at the clock on the nightstand, Luke gave himself five minutes to get her naked.
Only she had him naked in two. And herself naked in one.
Luke began to wonder who was seducing whom.
“Beautiful,” he murmured, his mouth trailing down her throat on its way to her lovely breasts, and his hands . . . hell, he simply touched her everywhere, since every damn square inch of her turned him on.
Though he thought she had already worked herself into quite a frenzy, Luke discovered she was only getting started. Camry turned so suddenly wild and urgently aggressive, she reminded him of the blizzard that had all but immobilized him for two entire days with its intensity.
She didn’t waste time exploring any parts of his body that didn’t seem immensely interesting. Her hands went straight to his groin, and Luke pretty near bucked them off the bed when she wrapped her fingers around him.
Where in hell had she thrown his pants with the condoms?
Alarmed to see her head dipping in the same direction as her hands, and fearing four days of building frustration would be over in three seconds if he didn’t get her under control, Luke took hold of her shoulders and hauled her up beside him.
But then he had to pin her hands over her head and throw his leg over hers to keep herfrom bucking them off the bed.
“Slow down,” he rasped, trying to catch his breath.
She was also panting, as if she really had run a marathon, and Luke worried that if just getting naked left them both winded, full-blown sex might actually kill them.
He slid his free hand down her ribs to her pelvis, and found her moist and hot and definitely ready for him.
Where in hell were his pants!
She made a ragged sound of pleasure and arched into his touch. Luke increased the pressure and slid a finger inside her, retreated, and repeated the intoxicating dance. She tightened around him, her body humming with building tension as she strained against his hold on her wrists. Her climax was as sudden and gloriously breathtaking as an exploding nova.
And it didn’t slow her down one damn bit.
So caught up in the wave of pleasure he was witnessing, Luke didn’t realize he’d slackened his grip. And before he knew it, Camry’s hands were back at his groin, doing gloriously breathtaking things to him.
And just as suddenly as she had, he made an utter disgrace of himself.
He flopped back on the bed beside her with a groan and stared up at the ceiling, trying to catch his breath as he wondered what had just happened.
Little Miss Exploding Nova, also panting raggedly, rolled over and snuggled against him with a sigh. She patted his chest. “Thanks. I really needed that.”
Chapter Eight
Luke pulled the unused condoms out of his pants pocket two mornings later and tossed them in his ditty bag with a derisive snort. He’d just experienced two days of the best sex of his life, and he hadn’t even gotten to use one of the damn things. He still couldn’t figure out how he could be so sexually sated without technically having sex, or how Camry MacKeage had managed to fool him into believing he was.
Dammit, what sort of perverted game was she playing? They’d done it every way but standing on their heads, but they hadn’t actually done it!
Luke suddenly reached in the ditty bag, pulled out one of the condoms, and stuffed it back in his pocket. He was on to her now, by God, and he’d be damned if he was going to be used as some convenient boy toy to stave off herboredom.
The very next time they got naked together he was calling her bluff, and either she could put out for real, or he was taking the next flight back to France. To hell with her and this whole damn mess. He’d been deluding himself long enough, holding out hope there was anything left of that damn satellite worth salvaging. And being in lust with a woman was one thing, but deliberately being used by her was . . . it was . . .
Dammit, he actually felt violated!
Fired up with righteous indignation and no small amount of wounded pride, Luke stormed out of the bathroom in search of the green-eyed siren.
Only finding the house was empty, he stood in the living room, nonplussed. Fiona must have taken the dogs out for their walk early, and Camry must have gone with her. Dammit to hell! Had she grown bored with him already?
But wait. She couldn’t stay out the entire hour; her ankle still wasn’t that strong. Luke grabbed his jacket, fully intending to sit on the steps and ambush her when she returned. Only he nearly fell over her when he rushed out the porch door, because Camry was sitting on the top step. She didn’t even bother looking up when he bumped into her, but simply continued to stare down at something in her hand.
Immediately sensing something was wrong, Luke silently sat down beside her. It was then he noticed she was holding open a card. And though he couldn’t quite read it, the handwriting looked eerily familiar. When Camry still didn’t acknowledge he was there, he glanced around for Fiona, even standing up to see the beach, looking in both directions for the girl.
“She’s gone,” Camry said, her voice lacking any emotion.
Luke sat back down. “She took all the dogs to the grocery store?”
“The dogs don’t come on Saturdays.”
He glanced at Camry with growing alarm. “Will she be back soon?”
“She’s not coming back.”
The hair on his neck stood up, his gut tightened painfully, and every muscle in his body tensed. “She ran off?” he whispered. He stood up again. “Come on then, we have to go find her. I don’t care how mature she seems, we can’t let her wander around alone!”
Camry still didn’t move. “She’s okay. She’s gone . . . home.”
Luke took a deep breath in an attempt to control his pounding heart and sat back down beside her with a disheartened sigh. “All she left us was a card? She couldn’t even say good-bye in person?”
Camry reached down between her knees, her hand returning with an envelope, and Luke finally noticed the small box sitting on the step below her, between her feet.
“Fiona left you this,” she said, handing him the envelope.
His heart started pounding again when he saw his name– Lucian Pascal Renoir—in flourished handwriting that was definitely familiar. He glanced over at Camry, but she continued to stare out at the ocean. He slid his finger under the sealed flap and pulled out a card exactly like the one Grace and Greylen MacKeage had received over a week ago.
He opened it. Please don’t give up on her,Luke silently read, because everyone needs a miracle once in a while, and you are hers.She’d drawn a little smiley face, then continued. And though you might find it hard to believe right now, she is your miracle. Have a great adventure together, you two. I’ll see you again . . . sooner than you think.She’d drawn another smiley face, before signing, All my love, Fiona Gregor.
Luke lifted his gaze to the ocean. Gregor. Why did that name sound familiar?
Fiona Gregor.
“Don’t you have a brother-in-law named Gregor?” he asked.
“Matt. He’s married to my sister Winter,” Camry said, still looking out to sea. “Fiona’s their daughter. And my niece.”
He frowned at her. “You didn’t recognize your own niece?”
She dropped her gaze to the card in her hand. “I didn’t recognize her because right now she’s only five and a half months old.”
Luke’s heart started trying to pound out of his chest again. He didn’t know which alarmed him more: what Camry was saying, or her utter lack of emotion. She had obviously read his name on the envelope she’d handed him, so she knew exactly who he was. Why wasn’t she going for his jugular, or at least screaming her head off?
And what in hell did she mean, Fiona was only five months old?
This had to be some sort of bizarre joke.
And how had Fiona found out his full name, anyway?
He snorted. “Apparently our respecting the little brat enough not to go through her belongings wasn’t reciprocated. She obviously went through my briefcase when she picked it up for me.”
He held the envelope with his name on it in front of Camry, but when she still didn’t respond, he dropped his hand back on his thigh. “I know you probably won’t believe me, but I was going to tell you today.” He shifted uncomfortably, disguising the action by sliding the card back in its envelope. “In fact, I’ve spent all week trying to figure out how to tell you. I . . . you should also know that your mother asked me to come here and talk you into going home for Christmas.”
She finally looked at him, her eyes filled with horror. “Mom knowsI’m living in Maine?” she whispered. “D-does Daddy know, too?”
Luke nodded.
She was on her feet and off the steps so fast, it took him a moment to realize she was bolting. The colorfully wrapped box clattered down the steps after her, the card she’d been holding trailing behind it.
Luke jumped to his feet and ran after her. “Camry!” he shouted, tearing onto the beach, amazed she could run so fast on her ankle. “Wait! Let me explain! Dammit, will you stop! You’re going to hurt your ankle again!”
It took him an amazingly long time to catch her, and then he had to tackle her to get her to stop, twisting so he took the brunt of their fall. But then he was forced to protect himself from her pummeling fists, his heart nearly stopping when he realized she was sobbing as she lashed out at him.
He finally just hugged her so tightly that her blows became ineffective, and cupped her head to his cheek. “Shhh,” he crooned, wrapping his legs around hers to stop her struggles. “It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay.”
She suddenly went limp. “Let me go.”
He chuckled humorlessly. “Not a chance, lady. Just listen to me, will you?” he said in a rush when she started struggling again. “I just spent the last two months searching Springy Mountain for your mother’s satellite, which crashed there last summer.”
She went still again, only this time she remained guardedly tense.
“But I got caught in a blizzard, and your brother-in-law Jack Stone found me and brought me to your parents,” he quickly continued. “I told them who I was. Well, I told them I was Luke Pascal, but I did say I was the man you’d been corresponding with all last winter. Anyway, I wasn’t aware they didn’t know you no longer worked for NASA, so you can blame that one on me. But it was Fiona who sent them a Christmas card, which led them to believe you were living here in Go Back Cove.”
He shrugged, shrugging her with him. “I don’t know why they refused to come get you themselves. But your mother said something about their needing you to wantto come home. So she asked me to come get you.”
He sighed, pressing his face into her hair. “I don’t know if any of this is making any sense, Camry, or even getting through to you. I only know that your parents love you immensely, and they’re . . . aw hell, they’re hurt and confused and probably scared sick that you’ve been keeping your secret from them for so long.”
She went completely limp again, and this time Luke knew she wasn’t faking. It might have had something to do with her silent sobs, or the fact that instead of pushing him away, she was now clutching him with wrenching desperation.
He slid his fingers through her hair. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I am so damned sorry for not telling you up front who I was, and I’m sorry for letting your parents talk me into coming after you in the first place. This was none of my business, really, but since I’m rather invested now, I have to ask: Why couldn’t you tell your mother what was going on with your work?”
He slackened his hold just enough to lift her chin, and his heart nearly stopped again at the pain he saw in her eyes. He brushed a tear off her cheek and smiled tenderly. “You have my word, MacKeage: I won’t run home to your mama and tattle. That’s completely between you and her. But having met Grace, and seeing how much she loves you, I can’t figure out why you couldn’t go to her with your problem.” He widened his smile. “As for your father, that man scares the hell out of me almost as much as you do.”
She blinked at him, and Luke took a relieved breath, figuring he’d gotten them past the worst part. He slackened his hold even more, and when she didn’t start swinging at him, he released her totally, gently rolled her off him, and sat up. But when she tried to stand, he took hold of her wrist and held her sitting beside him.
“Just a minute. There’s a bit more you need to hear.”
She didn’t try to break his grip, but simply stared out at the ocean.
Luke took a deep breath. “I had been eavesdropping on your mother’s satellite for several months before I started corresponding with you. I was fascinated with what your mother was doing, and have been working on the same problem myself for nearly ten years. I know what I did was unconscionable, but I was getting so frustrated and so damned desperate, I simply didn’t care anymore.”
He looked over at her. “I swear, it wasn’t my intention to steal your mother’s work; I just wanted to find something—anything—that would move my own work along. But last summer something went terribly wrong, and Podly suddenly fell out of orbit and crashed just north of Pine Creek. I’ve spent the last two months searching for it on Springy Mountain, hoping I could take it to Grace so she could salvage some part of her work.”
“You don’t find it strange that Podly crashed so close to Pine Creek?” she asked, her voice raspy with lingering sobs.
He frowned. “Well, I admit it’s more than a little perplexing.” He turned to face her fully, and lifted her hand so he could hold it in both of his. “But what I’m trying to tell you is, I am truly, profoundly sorry for what I did. And I’m asking for another chance. Please, let me prove to you that even though nothing could ever justify what I’ve done, my intentions have always been honorable.”
She pulled free, folded her hands on her lap, and stared out at the ocean again.
“Please don’t shut me out, Camry. Let me prove my sincerity. Help me find Podly and bring it back to your mother.”
“I can’t ever go home again,” she whispered. She hugged her knees to her chest, huge tears spilling down her cheeks as she continued staring out at the ocean. “I can’t face either of them. I’ve been lying for what seems like forever. I’ve been lying to my entire family.” She dropped her head to her knees. “They’ll never forgive me.”
Luke leaned down and brushed away a tear with his thumb. “So you’re saying that if one of your sisters had a bit of a midlife crisis, then tried to cover it up and deal with it herself, you wouldn’t forgive her?”
“You don’t understand. This wouldn’t happen to one of my sisters. MacKeage women don’t have midlife crises, because we’re too damn busy being brilliant, successful, and happy.”
Luke snorted, then smiled when she glared at him. “Nobody goes through life avoiding brick walls. I’d bet my last dollar that every one of your sisters has hit at least one, if not several, walls.” He took hold of her hand again and held it in his. “You may be standing in front of one right now, but it’s not the end of the road. If you can’t go around it, then you just have to find a way through it. And your mother,” he said, giving her a squeeze, “is desperate to help you. And your father . . . well, I bet he’d give his right arm to help you through this.” He leaned forward to look her in the eyes. “And so would I, Camry.”
She said nothing, pulling her hand away to hug her knees again as she stared out at the ocean.
Luke turned to watch the waves gently lapping toward them. “I sold my soul trying to unlock the secret of ion propulsion, but over the course of this last week, I’ve decided that I don’t give a flying damn about it anymore.” He looked over at her and took a deep breath. “Tell me how to help you fix this,” he softly petitioned. “I’ll do whatever you want . . . except walk away. I’ll go home and face your parents with you, or if you prefer, I’ll go get them and bring them here. Or I can take you home to my mother in British Columbia and wait until you’re ready to go home to yours.”
She remained silent, then suddenly got to her feet. “I need to think.”
He also scrambled to his feet. “I don’t have a problem with that,” he offered, falling in step beside her as they headed toward the house. “As long as you understand that I’m not leaving.”
