10 Ways to Steal Your Lover (12 page)

 
      
She was just about to push herself out of
the car when Kane’s hand reached down for hers. She looked up, her heart
picking up speed when she saw the familiar reassurance in his eyes. They hadn’t
settled a thing but he wasn’t going to let her face this on her own.

 
      
She swallowed the lump rising in her
throat, blinking to settle the sting of tears trying to form in her eyes. Then
she slid her hand into the warmth of his and let him help her to her feet. Kane
quickly closed the door and signaled to Pete to go ahead. The kid probably
wanted a tip, but he was smart enough to see a situation he wanted to avoid and
the car just short of burned rubber out of the driveway.

 
      
Delilah looked around carefully. Her
ex-fiancé and her father standing shoulder to shoulder with identical blank
expressions was not a good sign. Beyond them, sitting on gold-painted benches
near the matching gold doors of the casino were her mother and grandmother.
Dinah, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief, and Rainbow, waving as if this
were the most exciting thing since the British Invasion. Behind them, his dark
hair falling artfully across his face in flattened layers, stood Jesse.

 
      
She shouldn’t have been surprised, since
someone had to have tracked down Craig, but still, seeing their most elusive
friend with her mom took this meeting from embarrassing to surreal.

 
      
Kane cleared his throat, nodding to her
father. “Colonel, sir, how about we all take this upstairs, where we can speak
privately.”

 
      
At her father’s nod, Kane acknowledged
the others and led the way into the hotel, not letting go of her hand the
entire way.

 
      
The living room of their hotel suite,
such as it was, had floor to ceiling glass on one side, complete with full
length curtains that could turn the day into night if drawn.

 
      
Like nearly everything in the downstairs
portion of the room, Kane was fairly sure they were controlled by the glossy
tablet resting on the white lacquer table in the center of a sitting area
facing it.

 
      
The huge room was mostly open, but there
was a definite sense of sections. One wall boasted a large flat-screened
television and closed cabinets he’d just bet held every kind of electronic
device one could imagine. A dining area was tucked behind where the stairs
arched, the long table likely custom made for the sunken space.

 
      
The carpet was so white and thick he
wondered absently how often the hotel had to replace it.

 
      
For all its opulence and size, he also
had to wonder if it was big enough to handle the tension coming off the seven
people inside it.

 
      
Delilah had kept pace with him to the
elevators, her grip tight in his. Once they were in the room, he led her to the
couch corner and settled himself next to her on the arm. He’d gestured to all of
them to choose seats of their own on the long couches, but so far, only the
ladies had taken the invitation. Jesse had parked himself against the room’s
double doors—in case he needed to clear out if the women got too emotional, no
doubt—Craig stood near the window, looking out as if none of this had any
meaning for him and the Colonel positioned himself in front of the wall with
the television, automatically taking the strategic place for control of
everything.

 
      
Dinah, despite all her eye dabbing,
didn’t have a hair out of place or a smudge to her makeup. She watched him and
Delilah like a hawk, waiting for something to pounce on, if he didn’t miss his
guess. Rainbow, her graying black hair curling wildly into her face despite her
efforts to pull it back with a cloth scrunchy of some kind, looked pleased as
punch to be included in whatever kind of showdown this was supposed to be.
She’d even dressed somewhat somberly—for her—in a black tie-dyed,
rainbow-colored skirt and a matching black cotton peasant shirt with
multi-colored flowers embroidered on the sleeves and neckline. Meaning she
either thought this was going to be a hippy funeral or she was planning to jump
into one of the pirate shows immediately after this. Or possibly both.

 
      
“So,” The Colonel began, his gaze—colored
just like his daughter’s—searing into Kane’s skull, “which of you would like to
explain what’s going on?”

 
      
Kane probably shouldn’t have been amused,
but fact was, everyone in the room probably heard Delilah’s nervous swallow. He
had no idea why she was so nervous. It had taken him all of twenty seconds
after meeting Heath McGavin to see the retired Air Force Colonel was absolute
mush when it came to his daughter. The older man was rational. If they simply
addressed it all like adults, they’d be fine. “With all due respect, sir, I
believe that’s our business.”

 
      
“Not when you’re talking about my
daughter, it’s not.”

 
      
“She may be your daughter, sir, but she’s
my wife.”

 
      
“You can’t possibly force her to adhere
to a marriage vow she made while she was drugged!” Dinah looked to her husband,
craning her neck to try to catch Craig’s eyes and failing that, pinioned Kane
with a glare. “That’s just ridiculous!”

 
      
“Mom,” Delilah sighed. “Kane isn’t
forcing me to do anything.”

 
      
Rainbow patted Dinah’s knee. “Of course
he’s not. Look at him, Dinah. You really think a man who looks like that has to
force his way anywhere? If I were Delilah, I’d have tied him up and had my way
with him years ago.”

 
      
Kane decided to ignore that—even if Jesse
was coughing in his corner, pretending he wasn’t laughing, the bastard—and got
back to his potential father-in-law.

 
      
“We all know that Rainbow’s…whatever it
was—”

 
      
“Help, honey. I was being helpful.”

 
      
“—had a lot to do with what happened at
the wedding and we’re sorry that we left you to explain it to the guests—”

 
      
“To our families. We had to explain to
two hundred members of our family and his.” The Colonel hooked a thumb toward
Craig. “The three of you just walking out like that was irresponsible and
disrespectful to everyone who took the time and effort to be here.”

 
      
“Heath, I know herbs aren’t really your
thing,” Rainbow interrupted, oblivious to the daggers her son-in-law was
staring toward her. “But you may want a hit off one of my medicinal cigarettes
before that vein in your forehead blows up. Then again, popping it might mean
we’ll have an easier time pulling your head out of your ass.”

 
      
“Dinah,” The Colonel growled.

 
      
“Rainbow,” Dinah sighed, stopping her
mother from rifling through her fanny pack full of God only knew what, but
Rainbow wasn’t having it. She slapped Dinah’s restraining hands away and kept
flipping until she pulled out what could only be a dime bag of high quality
marijuana. She held it up in triumph before Dinah snatched it away.

 
      
“Mother! For the love of God!”

 
      
“What?” Rainbow asked, clearly
exasperated now. “You both know I slipped the kid something, but you’re still in
here acting like she’s the last virgin in Vegas. She wasn’t kidnapped by some
war-mongering savage. She ran off with six feet of prime, fuckable hot guy and
I for one think she has excellent taste.”

 
      
At Rainbow’s smiling nod of approval her
way, Delilah dropped her head in her hands. On the upside, Jesse’s choking
wasn’t feigned anymore.

 
      
“I mean, she was living with that one for
three years and he’s no hardship to look at either. If she’s a virgin, I’m Moby
Dick!”

 
      
There was a thump near the door,
accompanied by the wheeze of someone trying desperately to breathe.

 
      
Delilah leapt to her feet, hands out.
“Okay, that’s enough. I think we can all safely agree that I’m not a virgin,
all right? But neither is anyone else here, especially not you, Rainbow.”

 
      
Her grandmother snorted in approval. “You
can say that again, thank God.”

 
      
Kane hoped like hell the wink the older
woman threw in his direction was actually aimed over his shoulder to Craig.

 
      
“The point is that Kane and I were under
the influence of something and we’re still trying to sort out what all happened.
We’re going to do just that. Sort it out. Together. Alone.” She aimed her
pointed tone at her father, whose mouth turned into a hard frown. “If you could
just look past the situation, you’d remember that you like Kane. A lot. And you
love me. I know that you were all worried about us—”

 
      
“You. We were worried about you,” The
Colonel ground out. “He told your mother you belonged to him. For all we knew
he’d kidnapped you and was forcing you to stay with him.”

 
      
Hands still up, Delilah turned to Kane,
one brow raised, her mouth pursed. “You told my mother I belonged to you?”

 
      
“I think the word I used was mine. And I
said it to you, if you’ll remember. You mother just has ears like a bat.”

 
      
“How dare you!” Dinah huffed but no one
paid her much mind.

 
      
Delilah took a breath as if to answer,
then seemed to think the better of it and turned back to her father. “Daddy,
come on. Who in their right mind would believe Kane would kidnap me and make me
stay with him?”

 
      
“Those two.” The Colonel answered drolly,
not looking at either the sad sap trying to get off the floor or the one acting
like a sentinel or something by the window.

 
      
Turning again, displeasure across her
face, Delilah glared. “Do you tell everyone that story?”

 
      
“Gramps told them.” Kane shrugged. “I
told you he was proud of it.”

 
      
“Dad—”

 
      
“No, Delilah. I’m not standing for it.
This whole situation is ridiculous enough without you having a drunken
elopement on top of it. Get your things, you’re coming home with your mother
and me.”

 
      
“We weren’t drunk!” Delilah snapped.

 
      
“No, that’s right, you were high. I’m
sure that explanation will go over great with your grandmother.”

 
      
“I don’t have a problem with it,” Rainbow
chimed in.

 
      
“You don’t have a problem with anything,”
The Colonel retorted. “And you aren’t her only grandmother. Whether you believe
it or not, some people have a capacity for shame.”

 
      
“Oh, I believe it.” Rainbow replied drolly.
“Your mother’s capacity for shame must be huge by now.”

 
      
“Look, we understand the potential for
embarrassment for your family.” Kane stood, pulling Delilah closer, tucking her
against his side to get the Colonel’s attention before the older man lunged at
his spectacularly unwise mother-in-law. “If we decide to keep this marriage,
that decision will be between the two of us and how it happened doesn’t have to
go any further than this room. We’ll have a real wedding, one we’ll pay for and
one your family won’t be embarrassed about. But that’s something we’ll decide
later. For now, I’ll allow you a certain leeway because this is a shock for you
and because she’s your daughter, but I’m going to have to insist that you speak
to her a little more calmly and with a little more respect.”

 
      
“You’re going to insist?” The Colonel’s
nostrils flared and his body went impossibly more rigid. “Boy, I was killing
people with my bare hands before you learned to piss by yourself and you think
you can insist on how I speak to my own daughter?”

 
      
“No, sir, I’m insisting on how you speak
to my wife. And you’ll do it or you’ll leave.” He felt Delilah’s nails bite
into his wrist, which she’d grabbed a moment ago, ostensibly to shut him up,
but he wasn’t going to back down on this point. Her father wouldn’t respect him
and he wouldn’t respect himself.