Ruthless Game (GhostWalkers #9)(34)
Author: Christine Feehan

“Let me put the baby down,” she said and immediately stood up.

He hadn’t stepped back to give her room, and her body brushed against his. Her scent immediately enveloped him. She smelled like warmth and sunlight. Like silk and satin. He couldn’t stop himself, although he knew better. His arms swept around her, and he just stood, holding the two of them, drawing a strange sort of peace from their very existence. Rose didn’t step away from him or stiffen as he expected her to. She held their son and leaned into Kane, resting her head against his chest.

He curled his fingers around the nape of her neck. “We have to actually choose a name,” Kane murmured above her head. “We can’t keep calling him ‘baby.’ When he’s fifteen he might resent it.” His fingers began a slow massage. Night was falling, casting muted purple shadows along the wall. Stars were beginning to scatter across the open sky. He would be going outside as soon as it was fully dark, and tonight he was reluctant, wanting to linger with her. “It’s been seven days. That’s long enough to figure out what you want to call him.”

Rose seemed to burrow closer to him, relaxing beneath his touch. “You’re the one who won’t agree on a name.”

“My son is not having some dumb name. I think you come up with the worst things you can possibly think of just to see my reaction.”

Rose’s soft laughter told him that he’d guessed right. He bent his head and kissed the top of all that silky black hair. “You’re impossible.” Reluctantly he allowed his hands to drop away.

Rose didn’t move immediately. She rubbed her face against his chest before she stepped away. “It’s not like I have tons of family to give me ideas, Kane. All my sisters have flower names—which we’re not doing to him.”

“Sebastian comes to mind. Has to do with soldiers and courage and looking out for us,” Kane suggested awkwardly. “Sebastian is considered the patron saint of soldiers.”

She frowned as she put the baby into the warmer. “What does that mean?”

He shrugged. “Just a suggestion. You can choose a name. Just not a crazy one,” he qualified.

She studied his face. The hard jaw. The etched lines. Very gently she stroked her hand over his tough features. “Sebastian it is. You can tell me what a patron saint is later, since I have no knowledge of such things. Sebastian Kane.”

“Sebastian Kane Cannon. You’re going to marry me and use my last name, right?”

“Is that supposed to be a proposal?”

He wrapped his arm around her waist and tipped her head up toward his. “I can make you happy, Rose. And I can protect the two of you from Whitney and anyone else who wants to experiment on us or kill us. I’ll always be loyal, but you have to know I’m a soldier. That’s who I am. I have a family we’ll be part of. My first loyalty will always be to you and the boy, but I’ll do what it takes to protect my unit as well.”

“Are you trying to convince me to stay with you or to run?”

“I don’t want you to stay under false pretenses.” He framed her face with both hands and let himself fall into her dark, almond eyes. She could take his breath and any good sense he’d ever had and it was perfectly okay with him. He might feel like an idiot, but that was okay as well—as long as he had her. “Fighting Whitney is always going to be a part of my life. Not just for us but for every other GhostWalker and the children they’ll have.”

She nodded her head. “I can accept that. I figure he’d just keep coming after me.”

“I said children,” he pointed out.

A slow smile curved her mouth. “I caught that. I’m actually quite intelligent and quick on the uptake, Kane. I knew you said that for a reason. I’m not afraid of having more children.”

“I’m going to kiss you.”

A dimple appeared beside the corner of her mouth. “Do you think it necessary to tell me first?”

“I was being a gentleman and warning you.”

“I think if you’re planning on marrying me, you should know a few things about me. Kisses will be an everyday requirement.”

Kane didn’t need any more encouragement. He’d been afraid Rose would shy away from physical contact, and he was prepared to take his time—get her used to his touch. Kissing had the green light, and he was more than ready to take full advantage of the situation. A man could do a lot with kissing when he was serious about it.

Kane slipped out of the house as he did each night. Rose always made a pretense of opening the door in the evening and looking around, which allowed him to move into the shadows unobserved. He knew if the sentries were watching, they’d have their binoculars on Rose. They had no idea anyone else was even in the general vicinity, let alone in the house with her. He knew the moment he left, she set alarms and crawled into the space along the windows with a sniper rifle to cover him.

This was the only time he ever really worried. He knew the tunnel left them vulnerable. Rose couldn’t watch him and both entrances. And she had the baby to look after, which he’d pointed out repeatedly had to be her first priority. As a wife, she was going to be a handful. She definitely didn’t take his suggestions—or his orders. She smiled at him, her eyes looking at him with an expression that twisted him up inside, but she didn’t allow whatever she felt for him to stop her from doing exactly what she wanted—or what she thought needed to be done.

He made his way to the first slope before turning back to send a small breeze low over the sand to obscure any tracks he might have made. It was always the little things that tripped a soldier up. He had learned to pay attention to the smallest detail. He stayed low, knowing it would be almost impossible to see him moving along the ground, especially as he stayed in the darker dirt patches or near boulders and waves of saw grass.

The camp Whitney’s men had set up was only about a mile away, and they were getting careless. They left tracks often. More, he sometimes smelled them smoking or drinking. Twice he smelled meat cooking. Carlson James often prowled close to the house and seemed to be getting surlier with each night passing. If their orders were to wait until they’d confirmed Rose had given birth, Kane was certain they’d never make the distance. Both men were bored, and neither had the disposition for being dropped in a desert and gathering information over time. Kane was certain that was part of the reason they’d failed to be included in the military’s GhostWalker program.