Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down (Vikings Underground #2)(18)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then she moved away from the bed and out the door, down the long corridor toward the front of the house.

On a chair by the front door she found Donovan’s discarded jacket. Inside the right pocket, she fished out the keys to his car.

She walked down the steps and toward the Vanquish in a fog, wondering how she would explain her infidelity to the 150 guests who would be arriving that afternoon. How could she face Jake’s mother and grandmother? Or his sister, whom Savannah had become such good friends with?

Like a robot, she turned the key in the ignition. The car’s engine turned over with barely a sound. She flicked on the lights and spewed up stones as she sped down the long tunnel of the driveway and back out onto the road, dreading the fast-approaching morning.

Soon she was pulling into her narrow driveway, parking the car by the same clump of bushes Donovan had, to hide the car from view.

What reason would she give her daughter when Jake called everything off? And, God, what was she going to tell her about Donovan? He was her father, after all. Savannah could no longer walk around with blinders on. She could not deny the man his daughter.

“Where the hell have you been?”

Savannah nearly jumped a foot as she neared the back steps and almost ran smack into her brother, who was coming around the side of the house. He had a strange expression on his face, and concern rifled through Savannah.

“What’s happened? What’s going on?”

“That’s a question you have to answer. Where in the blue blazes have you been? I walked past your room a half hour ago and saw the door partially opened, but your bed looked as though you hadn’t slept in it. I’ve been frantic, looking around here. I thought maybe you had decided to elope with old Jake.”

Not even close, she thought despondently. “I was…out.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Out? Where could you have been at—” he checked his watch—“five-thirty in the morning?”

Savannah closed her eyes. She had spent nearly six hours with Donovan. The morning was closing in much faster than she had thought. Marlene would be at the house at eight to do her nails and hair.

“It’s a long story,” she said with a sigh as she moved past her brother and up the stairs. “Can we talk about it later?”

“No. We’ll talk about it now.”

With her hand on the doorknob, Savannah looked over her shoulder. “You’re not my father, Frank, as much as you like to act like it.”

“Well, that’s gratitude. I raised you after mom died, protected you, fed you, did everything I could for you, and this is what I get?”

He was right. He had always been there for her. And it was clear he had been terribly worried. “All right. Just promise me you won’t get angry or do anything foolish,” she added, knowing her brother’s temper.

With her last bit of energy, she explained what had happened after Donovan had made his late-night appearance on her doorstep.

She tried to play down some of the evening’s events, leaving out one event entirely as that was private and not for her brother’s ears.

But no matter how calmly she endeavored to explain, Frank’s face changed from concerned to angry to enraged.

“That lousy, motherf**king son of a bitch. I’ll kill him.”

Savannah came down the steps and put her hands firmly on her brother’s shoulders. “Now, Frank, stop that kind of talk.”

Frank looked her straight in the eyes and said, “He’s dead. Mark my words.”

Alarm whipped through Savannah’s veins. “You, promised you wouldn’t get angry.”

“I lied. Give me a ten-minute head start then call the cops. They’ll be scraping his carcass off the floor with a spatula.”

He swung away from her and Savannah raced ahead of him to block his path. “I’m not going to let you do this.”

“You’re going to stop me?”

“I’m asking you to let me handle this. I’m not a little girl anymore, Frank. I know what to do.”

His jaw tightened. “That bastard just decides to show up and ruin your life all over again? Well, I’m not going to let him, Savannah. Do you hear me? I couldn’t bear to see you go through what you went through last time. Not again, damn it. He deserves to pay for this.”

Savannah’s heart lurched. Beneath his gruff exterior, her brother had a heart of gold. He had suffered right along with her when Donovan had left the first time.

Frank was such a strong man, but her father used to always say that she could make him crumble, and for a man like Frank, that was never easy.

He wore his masculinity like a badge. He did not like anything that threatened to break it down, and she had the power to do that to him.

“Frank,” she said softly, “I’m stronger now—thanks to you. You have always been there for me and I will never forget that. Donovan doesn’t have the power to hurt me like he once did. The first time gave me a tougher armor. And don’t believe it was all him, this time. I played an active role.”

She turned halfway from him and stared down the driveway, toward the spot where Donovan’s car was hidden. “Perhaps I had things of my own that I wanted to say. Perhaps I needed this time with him to let him go once and for all.”

“And have you let him go?”

Savannah wished with every fiber of her being that she could say yes, that she was completely and totally over Donovan, and that nothing he said or did mattered to her one way or the other.

But something inside her couldn’t do it. Some speck of feeling yet remained. Perhaps it always would. She might always have to live with his owning a piece of her heart.

She faced her brother. “If Jake will still have me, then I will marry him today as planned.” That didn’t answer his question, but it was the best she could do.

“What do you mean, ‘if’ Jake will marry you?” A scowl drew his brows together. “Don’t tell me you’re even thinking about telling him what happened tonight?”

“I have to. I can’t begin this marriage with lies and deceit between us.”

“Bullshit. There’s nothing to tell him because nothing happened. Only you and I know what went on.”

“And Donovan.”

“That piece of shit won’t say a word. You can count on that.”

“Stop talking like that.” She had never seen him quite so angry before.

“He won’t ruin your future, Savannah. You will marry Jake today as scheduled. You can’t let one innocent mistake jeopardize your happiness—or Reese’s. If nothing else, think of your daughter.”

Savannah had thought of no one else. What she had done tonight was something she would have warned Reese to never do. But she doubted Reese ever would: her daughter was smarter than her, had a well of common sense that Savannah had never possessed at that age. And apparently still didn’t possess.

Deep down she felt that if she truly loved Jake as much as she wanted to, she wouldn’t have done anything with Donovan. Perhaps she had sabotaged herself. She’d had doubts about marrying Jake from the start, but she’d pushed them down, believing it was past time that she settled down—and time to put the past behind her.

Reese deserved a home that consisted of a mother and father. Savannah knew she couldn’t have picked a better man to give her daughter that than Jake.

“Go inside and get some sleep,” Frank said in a gruff but calmer tone. “You’ve got a long day ahead of you.”

Savannah didn’t need anyone to tell her that, and she had much to sort out in only a few hours. “What are you going to do?”

A muscle worked in his jaw. “I’m not going to go looking for Jerricho, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

That’s exactly what she was worried about. “Are you angry with me?”

The tenseness seemed to leave his face. “How could I ever be angry with you?”

Tears suddenly welled up in her eyes and she wrapped her arms around her brother’s neck. “I really screwed up, didn’t I?”

“Yeah,” he murmured in a rough, loving tone, hugging her back. “You really did.” He took her gently by the arms and stepped back. “But don’t think it can’t be fixed. In a few days, this will all be an unfortunate memory and life will return to the way it’s always been.”

She tried to summon up a smile as she kissed Frank on the cheek, wearily climbed the steps, and entered the cool, apple-scented kitchen.

She leaned heavily against the closed door and wished time would stop until she could figure out how she could fix the mess she had made.

Donovan stared out the window of his old bedroom. The first rays of the sun were just peeking over the treetops and reflecting off Crawfish Lake.

He had always loved this place. Whenever his parents had been arguing, which had been frequently growing up, he would come here and hang out with his grandparents. When no one else understood him, they had.

They had also loved Savannah, seen in her what he had, and they had embraced her. He could only be thankful that they hadn’t been around to see how badly he had screwed up his life.

He sighed and leaned his head against the glass, his mind replaying every moment of the hours he and Savannah had spent together.

God, how he had missed her. This was what he had refused to acknowledge all these years, because to do so had only brought legions of hurt.

No matter where he had gone or whom he had been with, his heart and soul belonged in Mississippi, with the only woman he had ever truly loved.

She had believed him to be asleep when she had risen from the bed in the middle of the night and taken off in his car. He hadn’t stopped her because she needed to do what was right for her.

All night he had told himself that he would leave her alone. He’d go away again and let the past die once and for all. If she wanted to marry the doctor, then he had to stay out of it, no matter if he thought she was making an enormous mistake. No matter if he still loved her.

No matter if he wanted her for his wife.

Christ. He swung around and deliberately banged his head once against the wood frame, cursing his stupidity. He would call Nick to come and get him, then he’d pack up and head out. That was the plan. If he stayed, he would most likely do something stupid. Something Savannah might hate him for. Something that would feel damn good to him, though.

The sound of the front door slamming brought Donovan’s head up and sparked his blood like a hot wire. Had Savannah returned? It had to be her; no one else knew where he was.

Donovan reached down to grab his shirt off the floor. When he straightened, he found Frank Harper on the threshold, dressed in black from the tip of his shit-kicker boots to the Stetson riding his head. Not a good start to the day.

The last time they had squared off, Donovan had broken Frank’s nose, which still sported a slight cant, and Frank had managed to blacken Donovan’s eye to the point where he couldn’t open it for a week.

Donovan sat down on the edge of the windowsill and crossed his ankles. “I guess I don’t need to ask why you’re here.”

Frank’s hands curled into fists at his sides. “I warned you ten years ago to stay away from my sister, you son of a bitch.”

“Are you conveying Savannah’s request or your own?”

“Savannah’s getting married today and I won’t let anyone—especially you—ruin it for her. I told you the last time we crossed paths back in Detroit what I’d do if you ever came near my sister again.” Frank put his hand behind his back and Donovan caught the glimmer of steel as Savannah’s brother leveled a gun at him. “Perhaps you’ll listen now.”

“So you’re going to kill me? You think that’s a good idea?” Donavon asked calmly.

“I should have done it a long time ago. I should never have given you the chance to walk back into my sister’s life.”

“So when I’m dead and you’re behind bars, who will be Savannah’s fortress then? Who’ll make sure nothing disrupts the hermetically sealed bubble you’ve put her in? And what’ll happen to my daughter, Frank? Yeah, I see you’re surprised. I know all about Reese, and if I was holding that gun, you might be the one contemplating the afterlife right now. I know it was you who told Savannah she was doing the right thing by keeping Reese from me.”

The shock quickly wore off and a renewed determination lit Frank’s eyes. “She told you that, did she?”

“She didn’t have to. I know her better than you think. She would never have kept this secret had you not been breathing down her neck.” Donovan clamped his fingers around the windowsill. “She loves you, you know, though I haven’t a f**king clue why.”

“I am the only one who took care of Savannah, you ass**le. You claimed to love her, but your dismissal nearly destroyed her. I was there to pick up the pieces while you were out screwing every whore you could lay your hands on.”