Deadly Game (GhostWalkers #5)(91)
Author: Christine Feehan

“I’ll be sure and tell Briony how tough you are.”

“Briony’s probably going to hit me with something when she sees me. I promised her I’d be careful.”

“I’ll tell her you were showing off.”

“You do that and I’m retaliating. That sister of yours can be mean.”

Ken closed his eyes, fingers tight around Mari’s, and allowed himself to drift. He was physically exhausted, three days without sleep and his body on fire from the nails, but he had Marigold and that was all that mattered. He relaxed, listening to his brother banter with her while the helicopter took them far away from Peter Whitney and his insane experiments.

Chapter 19

Ken’s home, situated deep in the Montana wilderness and surrounded by national forest on three sides, was the most beautiful thing Mari had ever seen. Ken stood beside her as she stared up in awe at the giant log cabin. To her, the house looked like the epitome of the wonderful homes she’d fantasized about when she’d watched old movies the men had occasionally smuggled in for the women.

“We have twenty-four hundred acres, Mari, so you definitely have freedom.” Ken covered his sudden anxiety with a small smile. “Unless you think you’d prefer to be a city girl.” He could never live comfortably in the city, but he knew if she wanted that—needed at least to try—he would go with her.

Mari shook her head. “I wouldn’t do well in a city. Too many people, too much traffic and noise. I prefer solitude.”

Ken let out his breath. “We’re completely self-sufficient here. If we ever ran short of funds, we could harvest trees. We actually have a workable gold mine too, although we’ve never bothered with it. The water supply to the property is gravity-fed, and we use a hydro-electric system that powers batteries.” He wanted her to love the place the way he did, to feel the sense of freedom in the larger-than-life forest surrounding them and the complete self-sufficiency of their home. “Right now we’re using only a very small percentage of the power available to us. Jack and I could live off the land, hunting and harvesting crops if necessary, so this is a perfect place for us.”

“I didn’t expect it to be so big.”

“Right now the house is over three thousand square feet. Jack and Briony have the larger wing. We’ve been working on a nursery for them. We share a kitchen, dining room, and great room with them, and our wing is on the other side. At the moment we have a bedroom, bath, and office, but I have a second bedroom roughed in. The garage nearly doubles the space, so we have plenty of room to expand if we want to, and if Jack and Briony keep it up, we’ll have to very soon.” He flashed a small grin. “They’re expecting twins.”

“You never mentioned that.”

“I like to save the best for last.”

She smiled at him. “That’s kind of scary. Twins run in your family, do they?”

He nodded. “Big time.”

She looked away from him back to the house. “I love the logs. What are they?”

Ken didn’t let his disappointment show. She wasn’t ready for commitment. He had gotten her to his home in the Montana forest; he had to be happy with that and hope he could convince her to stay. “Western white pine. We fitted them together with Swedish cope and used oil to finish them off. Jack made most of the furniture in the house. He’s very good at woodworking.”

“It’s beautiful. I love the porch.”

“The roof is built for warfare, and we have an escape tunnel. We have alarms and a few traps to let us know if unwanted visitors show up. The wood shop is just down there in that meadow, and the smaller garage houses the equipment. We have a vegetable garden in that little strip of land where the sun shines the most. Briony planted the flowers everywhere.”

Mari’s hand gripped his. “Is she here?”

“Don’t sound so scared. No, Jack will bring her tomorrow. He wanted to see her first. He’s protective of her.”

“He still doesn’t quite trust me, does he?”

“Jack doesn’t trust anything or anyone when it comes to Briony,” Ken said. “She’s his world, and if anything happened to her, he’d go berserk. She’ll be here, honey, trust me; she’s excited to know you’re alive and well. Nothing is going to keep her from coming home.”

“Except Jack.”

“For a night. He wants her to himself tonight, and I was hoping we’d have a few hours together.”

Mari stood at the bottom of the steps looking at the wrap-around verandah. The night was falling and the wind rustled through the trees. There was a bite of cold in the air, enough to make her shiver.

“Are you afraid of me, Mari?” Ken asked.

She lifted her hand to his face. As always, in the shadow of the night, the scarring faded away, leaving masculine perfection behind. “No, Ken, it’s not you.” She hesitated as if searching for the right words—or the trust she needed to expose her fears. “It’s me. I don’t know anything about who I am or what I want. When I’m away from you, I feel as if I can’t breathe without you. How can I ever learn to be complete if I go from never making a single decision on my own to being in such an intense relationship?” She looked stricken. “I’m just taking it for granted that you want a relationship. You’ve never said. Not once.”

She retreated, stepping back away from him, away from the house. The forest, with all the gently swaying trees and thick foliage, seemed a refuge, something she knew, somewhere she could hide. She felt exposed and vulnerable and very confused.

“I’ll say it now, Mari. I never want you to leave me. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. I can give you time—whatever you need.” Even as he said it, he didn’t know if he was telling the truth. He wanted to give her time, to give her freedom, but there were limits to his abilities and he knew them better than most people.

She traced the outline of his lips. “You’re frowning.”

“I was lying. I can’t lie to you like that. I’m not a perfect man, Mari. I want to be everything you need, but I can’t watch you with other men while you figure out whether or not this relationship is the one you want.”

“Other men?” Her dark eyes glittered at him. “What do other men have to do with this?”

“I don’t want you looking to other men to help you figure things out.”