A Summer in Paradise (11 page)

“
Yeah, me too.” Duncan held
the steering wheel in a death grip. They had to find her, tell her
they loved her.

Heat swirled around his insides and he
glanced at Jarrod. “We should have mated her last night. We never
should have given her the chance to run without our marks
permanently scored into her flesh.”

He’d wanted to mate her. Gods knew he
had wanted to mark her as his and make her take his blood in
return. She only needed a drop of their blood to make her like
them. They should have forced it on her.

In fact, Duncan had planned
to do just that. Then some misguided sense of honor kept him from
tying her to them without her consent. Look what it got him. It got
him a mate on the run who was possibly taking off with Jarrod’s
child—
his
surrogate
child.

Whatever happened between now and the
time they found Pearl, Duncan prayed he would be able to cool his
anger because he didn’t want to break his promise to Pearl and
touch her with anger in his heart.

Chapter Eighteen

“
I wish you’d reconsider and
stay a while longer.”

Pearl looked at her sister. Her throat
and eyes burned with unshed tears. How could she explain that she
couldn’t stay? She didn’t want Duncan or Jarrod to think that she
only came back to Paradise for their protection.

She hadn’t. Not really. She had
returned hoping to see her sister and them one last time before
exiling herself in an attempt to get Glenn to leave her
alone.

She didn’t know why he bothered to
follow her. How did he seem to know where she went? He followed her
unerringly through several states over the last few months. The
last time he’d found her. He managed to convince her he had
changed. She should have known better. Men like that didn’t change.
They didn’t think there was anything wrong with their
behavior.

Well, she was tired of running. If
escaping to Scotland didn’t help, she didn’t know what else she
would do.

Turning, Pearl searched the airport for
Glenn’s face. She hoped he wasn’t here. Even if he wasn’t able to
figure out what flight she was on, he would bribe someone to tell
him where she went.

Heat still burned her middle and Pearl
wondered if all this worry was giving her an ulcer.

A flash of blond hair caught her
attention and she looked away, her heart pounding. Was it him, or
was she just paranoid? When she gathered her courage to look again,
her stomach knotted at the familiar face.

He’d found her again! Pearl could
almost feel her shoulders slump with defeat though she knew they
didn’t. Her back was straight and she stood tall. Never again would
Glenn make her feel inadequate.

Why hadn’t Duncan and Jarrod mated her?
Why hadn’t she stayed in Paradise where Glenn couldn’t get to her
so easily?

She was an idiot, plain and simple. She
wasn’t any better than one of those women in books that she just
loved to hate. She was just too stupid to live.

Pearl turned to Gemma, grabbed her hand
and started pulling her toward the door. I’ve made a huge mistake,
Gem.”

“
That’s a fucking
understatement.”

Closing her eyes, Pearl turned toward
the voice she both loved and dreaded to hear. “Duncan!” Opening her
eyes, she leaned to the side to peer around him. “Where’s
Jarrod?”

“
Parking the car.” Duncan
took her arm and pulled her away from Gemma and her mates. “Where
the hell do you think you’re going?”

“
I, uh, um…” she paused to
lick her lips. “I’m going to Scotland for a job.”

“
Scotland!” Duncan ran his
fingers through his dark hair. “What about us? What did you plan to
do about us?”

“
I planned to miss
you.”
A lot.
She
crossed her arms and glared at him. “Did you think one night would
turn into forever? Can it turn into forever?” She lowered her
voice. “Do you want forever, because I can’t stay here and settle
for less.” She shook her head. “I
won’t
settle for less.” How could she
settle for less when forever was what she’d wanted all along? Pearl
almost laughed at that. How could she settle for less and how could
she ask for more? They barely knew each other.

Lowering her crossed arms to cover her
belly, Pearl closed her eyes. The pain she felt all morning seemed
to intensify when Jarrod showed up. What was it about these two
that caused her insides to go through a meltdown every time she was
near them?

“
Why did you just run out on
us in the middle of the night?”

Pearl watched Jarrod, unsure of how to
answer his question. Heat suffused her face, her entire body. She
wasn’t sure if it was from shame that she’d slunk out of the cabin
while they were sleeping or if it was that strange burning
sensation that seared her insides ever since she saw her two men at
the lake.

What was it about these two that drew
her to them and why didn’t they frighten her when they spoke so
freely of spanking her?

The two of them crowded
close.

“
If you think we’re just
going to stand by and watch you leave, you’re out of your mind,
woman.” Jarrod stood close, his body nearly pressing against hers
as he glared down at her.

The mixture of anger and pain on his
face made Pearl want to cry. She glanced around the airport and
noticed Glenn staring at her with something akin to hatred in his
eyes. The look gave her goose bumps. She rubbed her arms, trying to
dispel the feeling of doom.

“
I think we might have to do
this the human way,” Duncan said as he knelt on the floor, reached
up and took her hand.

Jarrod knelt down beside him. “I think
you’re right, though I’m not sure this is the place. Won’t people
think it strange that we’re both on our knees?”

Pearl wanted to laugh and cry at the
same time. Each of them took a hand in one of their larger ones and
looked up into her eyes.

“
Pearl June Alexander, will
you marry us?”

Tears filled Pearls eyes as she stared
down at them. She wanted to say yes, scream yes, but she needed to
tell them about her problem with Glenn first. What if they thought
she agreed to marry them for their protection?

While that was at least half truth, she
hadn’t really decided to spend the summer in Paradise just so these
men would protect her from Glenn. She had wanted to see her sister
and, to tell the truth, she wanted to see them and maybe touch them
before she went to Scotland to start her new life.

What did it matter that she’d slept
with them? Other than the fact that she’d come here hoping to
connect with them on some small level, she hadn’t planned it and
she certainly hadn’t planned for them to think she belonged to
them.

“
I’m not sure I can. I’m not
sure you’ll want me after I tell you what I have to say.” How would
they react to the fact that Camulus’s men raped her? What would
they do when they found out her taste in men was horrible? Glenn
was proof enough of that.

“
What she has to say,
gentlemen is that she belongs to me.”

Pearl felt the blood drain from her
face as Glenn stepped up and grabbed her elbow, pulling her off
balance until she fell into him.

“
You see? She can’t keep her
hands off me,” he said with a grin as she grabbed at his shirt to
keep from falling on her ass.

“
Don’t flatter yourself,
Glenn.” Pearl glared at him. “It was a reflex. I wouldn’t willingly
touch you with a ten foot cattle prod.”

She jerked her arm away from him and
stalked out of the airport, with Gemma and her mates flanking her.
She had to get out of here and get away from Glenn before he did
something stupid like try to hit her and managed to hit Gem
instead.

There was no doubt in Pearl’s mind that
Gemma’s mates would trounce him into the ground with the least
provocation. Neither of them looked too happy.

No matter what, she had to get their
group away from innocent bystanders. Any one of these four men
could lose control of their animal side any minute. Then there
would be hell to pay.

“
What were you going to say,
Pearl?” Jarrod trotted up next to her while Duncan stayed back with
Glenn. She had no idea what passed between them, but whatever it
was, Glenn got agitated.

“
Fuck off, mister! The bitch
is mine.” Glenn practically snarled the words.

Pearl wanted to curl up in a little
ball and die. Glenn had always been over the top. Now he was worse.
What made the idiot think he had a snowflake’s chance in hell
against these four guys?

Chapter Nineteen

Be careful, Duncan,
Jarrod warned.
That’s the
asshole who attacked Pearl last night.

Are you sure?

I’m sure all right. There’s
no mistaking that rancid odor about him or that greasy blond
hair.

Duncan looked at the other man and
growled. They had just exited through the double doors when Glenn
made a grab for Pearl.

“
Don’t touch her, you
son-of-a-bitch.” Duncan made a grab for the other man who had more
balls than brains.

“
Fuck off! She’s mine. She’s
been mine for some time now. Just because she decided to leave
Chicago, doesn’t mean a fucking thing.”

“
Yes, it does.” Duncan
grinned. “It means she came back home. It also means that she
opened herself up to a relationship with us…again.”

“
Bullshit!” He clenched his
fists at his sides.

Duncan looked around, most likely to
see if anyone was watching, then grabbed the man by the throat and
growled. “We know what you are, you piece of shit. Just leave
before you find you’ve bitten off a lot more than you can
chew.”

Glenn glared at them all for a minute,
then turned to go. “I’ll go for now, but I’ll be back. Count on
it.”

Didn’t the man understand
that just one of them could end his life with little more than a
whim? Jarrod shook his head. Maybe it was a good thing that Pearl’s
ex didn’t have a clue they were shifters. It would give them the
element of surprise at their next meeting and he had no doubt
there
would
be a
next time.

After Glenn left, both Jarrod and
Duncan turned back to Pearl. Again, they both got down on their
knees, took one of her hands and kissed it. “Marry us,
Pearl.”

“
Yes,” Duncan agreed with a
nod. “Marry us. You won’t regret it. We’ll make sure of
that.”

Jarrod looked up into Pearl’s eyes.
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked at them and shook her
head. “I—I can’t.”

His guts twisted into a knot as he saw
regret on her face. “Why?” He looked at Duncan, then down at
himself. “What’s wrong with us?”

Pearl fell to her knees and cupped each
one of their cheeks. “It’s not you.” She shook her head. “I
promise. It’s not you.” She bowed her head. “I can’t trust myself,
my judgment. I don’t make good choices.”

“
Nonsense, Pearl. Look at
you.” Duncan waved his hand in the direction of Paradise. “You had
the good sense to leave Paradise when you did. You left before
anyone had a chance to use you the way they used women
then.”

“
No!” She shook her head and
covered her ears as though she couldn’t bear to hear what more
Duncan had to say. “You’re wrong. I didn’t leave in time. Not for
me. I left in time for Crystal and I thank God every day for that,
but I didn’t leave in time for me.”

She wrapped her arms around her middle
and hunched over as though the pain of remembrance was just too
great to bear.

“
I didn’t make Gemma come
with me.” Her words became little more than hiccups as she
continued to try to explain. “I tried to get her to come with me,
but she wouldn’t leave and I was too much of a coward to
stay.”

Jarrod felt his beast surging forward,
trying to break free as she bared her soul to them. How could this
brave woman sit here and blame herself for the things that happened
to her as a child? How could she accept the responsibility for not
forcing her older sister to leave with her?

He growled with the voice of his jaguar
while Duncan did the same. “Who touched you, Pearl?” Fur sprouted
along his arms as he stood in the shadow of the building. People
came and went from the building, none of them noticing him as he
stood there almost more animal than man.

“
It—it doesn’t matter now.”
She shook her head without meeting his gaze. “All that matters is
that you two know that I’m defective. I don’t have the least bit of
survival instinct.” She laughed, mirthlessly. “If I did, I would
never have even said hello, to that jerk, Glenn.”

She didn’t add that she wouldn’t have
spied on two shifters sunbathing at the lake when she knew what
other shifters would do to her. She didn’t have to. Her shame and
sorrow were written on her face.

“
I’m so ashamed. I should
have—”