Samuel (Samuel's Pride Series) (4 page)

“You’ve a hell of a left. Did it hurt
your hand?” She looked down at the bruising already starting to appear. When
she tried to put it behind her he asked to see it.

“I’m peachy, thanks.” But he pulled her
arm toward him and then her hand. When he turned it over in his big palm she
felt the air in her lungs rush out. Her hand was so much smaller than his.

“You’ll need to put some ice on it.” She
looked up at him and wondered about the anger she heard. Sure she’d hit him,
but he’d been okay with it until now. “Then I’d very much like to have a conversation
with you.”

“I need to get going, maybe some other
time.” She went to the refrigerator. After pulling out a zip baggie, she
started to fill it with ice only to have him push her out of the way and do it
himself. She was getting angrier by the minute. The man ran as hot and cold as
the shower where she was staying.

“I shouldn’t have yelled at you.” His
back was to her, but she heard him just fine. “I was tired and out of sorts,
and I shouldn’t have taken my mood out on you.”

He turned to her then and handed her the
ice. He was saying the right words, but they weren’t sincere sounding. Instead
of pointing this out to him, she simply nodded. Tomorrow she’d give her notice.
She would not work for this man.

Saying nothing to him, she passed him
and went into the dining room. They were all talking until that moment, and she
tried not to be hurt by it. Instead, she sat down at the table and put a roll
on her plate. Kennedy wasn’t sure she could even get that down, but she had to
have something on her plate. Mr. Payne came in a few seconds later and sat at
the head of the table. Kennedy tried her best to ignore him.

“I wanted to tell everyone welcome. In
the coming months I’ll be getting used to being idle and trying to stay out of
your way.” Kennedy could feel his eyes on her, but she didn’t raise her head. Picking
up her fork, she stabbed at the confection until she was sure it resembled a
pile of mashed potatoes. Putting down her fork, she looked down at her hands
until she heard someone say her name. Looking up, she realized that Mr. Payne
had apparently said it a few times, because they were all grinning at her, with
the exception of him.

“I’m not sure what you want from me as a
cook. I’ll make whatever meals you want. Just leave me a note on the counter.”
Not that she’d be there much longer, but she wouldn’t go out with them thinking
she didn’t do her job.

“I was asking for you to tell us about
yourself. I know you have a bit of Irish in you. I’ve heard it along with some
of your temper.” She flushed hotly at him and he grinned. “Ms. Buehler and I
have some things to work out.”

“Aye we do.” She looked around the table
before she continued. “I’m Kennedy Buehler. I’ve lived in the States for nine
months now, though I was born here. My family resides in Ireland with my mother
and
seanmháthair.
I studied at the Le Cordon Bleu College in Paris
before finishing my education at Harvard, where I studied Business Law. I speak
nine languages including Gaelic, and I have a black belt in karate.”

She’d not meant to tell them all that.
It had been too much. She could see that now. She and Mr. Payne stood at the
same time and moved to the door. There was no way she’d talk to him now. He’d
tell her she was a showoff and a bitch for saying those things, just as her
brother had.

“Wait. Christ, why are you always in
such a hurry to leave here?” She turned to look at him as she wrapped her
knives up and shoved them into her pocket. “You didn’t tell my mother that, did
you? You didn’t mention any of your education to them.”

“I applied for the job as they
instructed. I didn’t fill out the application until after she’d told me I’d had
the job.” Lifting her chin, she glared at him. “I’m not stupid.”

“No, I’d say you’re far from that.” He
sat down on the stool on the opposite side of the bar from her. “Please have a
seat. We really should try to start over.”

“I…you’re not going to hit me?” She
flushed when she said it, and when he looked at her with narrow eyes, she
decided that she’d really like to see Shamus tangle with this man. He’d learn a
thing or two about hurting someone. Kennedy perched on the edge of the other
stool

“Who hit you?” He said it low, but there
was a good deal of steel in his voice. “Tell me. I’ll make sure he doesn’t do
it again.”

The hair on the back of her neck danced,
and she suddenly decided that she wouldn’t piss this man off again. If he did
decide to hurt her, he’d more than likely kill her. Instead of answering him,
she changed the subject.

“I’m giving my notice tomorrow.” He
shook his head. “I canna work for you. You’re…you and I will never get along
and I don’t want to upset Summer. I like her and the rest of your staff.”

“Meaning you don’t care for me.” She
didn’t answer him, and he threw back his head and laughed. Her entire body went
on alert, and she found that she wanted to hear him do that again. Before she
could act on that, she stood up again. “Please sit down. I’m not pissed at you.
I’m…few people stand up to me. And fewer still hit me on first acquaintance.
Please?”

She sat down. “I believe you’re a mite nuts.”
He stared at her for several seconds. It was as if he was looking for
something. When he stood up and walked behind her, she tried her best not to
squirm, but when he touched her ponytail and moved her hair out of the way of
her neck, she shivered. His hot breath on her neck was all the warning she had
before he licked her. Kennedy moaned before she could think not to, and when he
stepped back from her, she found she wanted to reach for him to…she wasn’t sure
what she wanted him to do, but it wasn’t going to happen.

“You’ll stay here so that I can keep an
eye on you. And we, you and I, will avoid each other at all costs. Do you
understand?” He was breathing hard, and his voice had turned hard again. When
she stood up, he backed from her as if she was going to hurt him. “Stay away
from me and we’ll be just fine.”

With that he turned and left the room. Kennedy
sat down hard on the stool again and tried to think what the hell just
happened. The man was nuts, certifiable, as a matter of fact. She decided that
she was going to find something else, and as soon as she did, she was out of there.
This place was insane.

Chapter 4

Samuel went to his office and closed and
locked the door. Christ, she was his mate. Leaning heavily against the door, he
closed his eyes while he tasted her again on his tongue. Whatever had possessed
him to taste her was beyond him, but now it was too late to take it back. She
was as much a part of him now as she’d ever be. Because as surely as he was
standing there, he was not taking this any further with her.

Going to his desk, he found her
application on the top of a pile of mail. He read over every line until he got
to her signature on the last page. Her education was exemplary and a good deal
more than she’d said at the table.

He’d no doubt that had he not pissed her
off no one would have known about her background unless they picked up her
application and read it. Samuel had a feeling that she’d only said it then to
show him she really wasn’t stupid. Why she’d thought she had to explain that to
him was obvious. He’d been an ass to her and she fought back the only way she
could. He rubbed his jaw, thinking she did have a nice hook.

Samuel logged into his computer and
decided to do a quick background check on the girl. Not that he thought he’d
find anything wrong, but he wanted to find out who had hit her. When he put a
search in for her name, he got immediate hits. Christ, she was famous.

At the age of seventeen she’d entered
the college, already having worked at some of the most prestigious restaurants
across Europe. Article after article about her told of her expertise in putting
together meals fit for kings and queens, as well as doing it for soup kitchens
and homeless shelters. Kennedy Buehler was not a household chef. He wondered
why she was working for him and not some five-star restaurant. Digging deeper,
he thought maybe he found out why. Samuel called a friend of his.

“I need you to do some checking for me,”
he told his good friend, James Burger. He gave him everything he had on her,
including her social security number.

“How deep you wanting me to go this
time? All the way to how much she weighed at birth, or just enough so her
family will stop hounding you to marry her?” There was a good deal of humor in Jimmy’s
voice, and Samuel realized that he’d had him do this numerous times before.

“All of it. And there’s no marriage in
mind with this woman. She’s my chef. And for your information, she doesn’t care
for me overly much.” That made his friend laugh even harder. “This isn’t funny,
you moron. I think the woman is my mate, and I want to figure out who the hell
hit her.”

That shut him up. The silence was so
profound that Samuel had a moment to wonder if Jimmy would come over just to
ask him if he’d heard him right. When he spoke this time it was with caution.

“What are you going to do now?” Jimmy
knew his aversion to having a mate. Hell, the man had as much reason to
distrust the whole thing as he did. But his had been because of another woman;
Samuel’s was because of his own parents.

“Nothing. She’s human, so she has no
idea what she is to me, and I’ve told her to stay away from me. I know that for
the long term that’s not going to work, but it’ll give me time to figure out
what to do with her.” Samuel knew he was playing with fire having her so close,
but he was a bigger man than this and thought he could handle it.

“I don’t think this is such a good idea.
You’re going to take her, and after that, it’s going to be all downhill
afterwards. You should kick her to the curb now and be done with her.” Samuel
wanted to agree with him, but something about her made him think she needed
protection from someone. “Let me take her somewhere for you. I can find her a
job that’ll—”

The growl slipped from his lips before
he could stop it. Jimmy wasn’t a lion like him, but he was a shifter. Wolves
were just as territorial as he was. When he didn’t say anything more, Samuel
did.

“Just find out what you can about her.
Everything. I know that she has family in Ireland, so maybe you should start
there. It might be nothing at all, but she had an abusive dad, and he’s not in
the picture any longer.” Jimmy said he’d get back with him soon.

Samuel tried to bury himself in the
files on his desk. He took three calls from Lilly and then one from Aggie.
Things were going well, but there would always be things he knew more about
than they did. Lilly asked him if he’d thought about finding a replacement for her
yet when she called him this last time.

“You’re going to stay there?” She told
him she was thinking about it. “You know that I need you, but I can understand
why you’d want to stay there. Family and all.”

“I like Aggie. He’s a good man and is
trying very hard to make this work. And I think he will.” She laughed a little.
“Of course he’s not you, but no one can be you.”

“Damned right.” He told her to stay. “That
way if I need for you to stop at the Crumbled Muffin you can bring me my
favorite.”

There had been a brisk knock at his door
cutting off the conversation with Lilly as he had to unlock the door. His mom
and Butler stood there, and he had a feeling this wasn’t going to be good.

“Did you know that there is a garden in
the back of the kitchen?” His mom moved into the room as she continued. Samuel
adjusted the chairs so that she was sitting across from him as Butler had. “Kennedy
wants to know if it’s possible to have it redone so that there are fresh herbs
for the kitchen. She said she’d do all the work.”

For a second he wondered why she wasn’t
asking him, then remembered what he’d told her. He glanced at the doorway,
wondering what she was doing. His mom cleared her throat.

“I don’t care if she wants to work in
the garden. If her meals for the rest of her life are anything like the one we
had this morning, I’d be fine with whatever she wanted.” He flushed a little,
thinking of all the things he could give her. “Just tell her to have someone
get on it when it’s feasible.”

“She’s upset with you.” He didn’t say
anything to his mom when she said that, but waited for her to continue. “What
did you do to her?”

“Nothing. She and I had a disagreement
and she stood up for herself. I shouldn’t have grabbed her arm.” He flushed
when his mom raised her brow at him in that
you’d better explain that
sort of way. “She was leaving, and I didn’t think it was such a good idea. She
punched me in the mouth.”

Butler laughed but quickly turned it
into a cough when he looked at him. When he cleared his throat for the third
time, Samuel took pity on him and laughed too. He told them she had a great
left and that he would know better than to tangle with her again.

“See that you don’t. I’ve made her a
list for dinner’s this week from the one she’d given me. It’s only for dinners
because I wanted her to have fun with lunch. She said that she’d make breakfast
for the staff from now on as well.” He took the list and barely glanced at it.
“We’re having standing rib roast for dinner tonight.”

His mouth watered. Christ, he’d not had
that since…hell; he couldn’t remember when the last time it had been. When he
handed the list back to his mom, she told him to keep it. Butler moved out of
the room when one of the maids came looking for him. Samuel looked at his mom
when she didn’t say anything.

“You will stay away from her.” He
nodded. “She told me that you and she had an agreement. Would you like to share
that with me?”

“No.” He knew that if he told his mom
that Kennedy was his mate that she would stop at nothing to get them together. As
it was now he wasn’t sure having her in the same house with them was a good
idea. But if he stayed away from her, they should be able to work this out
until he could—could do something. Samuel had a feeling he was so fucked.

“I see.” Samuel was pretty sure she did
too. Maybe not that Kennedy was his mate but that he was going to avoid her. He
decided that he had to do something sooner rather than later. She left him to
his work an hour later after going over some of the things that needed his
attention.

His phone ringing startled him. Samuel
glanced at his watch and couldn’t believe that he’d been sitting there for over
two hours. His screen had since gone black, and the coffee he’d brought in here
with him was cold as ice. He answered the phone after the fourth ring.

“I didn’t think you were going to be
there.” Jimmy sounded excited. “Christ, do you have any idea who you have
working in your kitchen? Damn man, I might come over for dinner every night
just to taste her food. She’s fucking famous.”

“I knew that much, you idiot. I meant
for you to find out something about her family.” Samuel became aware of the
scents coming from the hall and into his office. “I can smell the standing rib
roast she’s making now. I think she used fresh pepper.”

He was teasing his friend and laughed
when he whimpered. When he invited him for dinner the man nearly screamed out
that he’d be there. Then he grew more serious.

“She’s not just this fabulous cook, but
she’s also from a very wealthy family. Her grandmother is Lady Danielle Kennedy
Buehler. Her son, who passed away about four years ago, managed to bring the
family fortune from near ruin when he was just a teenager. They’re not where
they were when the family was in its heyday, but they were doing great until
his death.” Samuel heard him shuffle papers around before he continued. “Kennedy’s
father died, and things went back down almost immediately. The oldest son,
Shamus, has a bit of a problem. He’s not very smart when it comes to
investments, and the fucking fool gambles a great deal. I’m looking now, but I
think he’s into a shark for quite a bit. The family, Kennedy’s mother and siblings,
will be out on their ass if something doesn’t change soon.”

“And the grandmother? I take it she’s
not letting the grandson handle her money.” Jimmy said she wasn’t. “Smart
woman. And what have you been able to find out as to why Kennedy is here?”

“She’s engaged.” Samuel felt his lion
roar against his skin. She was his. Samuel wanted to go and find Kennedy and
shake her until she told him what the fuck she was doing here if she was slated
to be married when Jimmy continued. “Apparently she isn’t too thrilled with her
brother’s choice of husbands for her either. The man is nearly twice her age
and sickly. I’m not sure I’d want my sister marrying him, and I don’t care for
her.”

“So it was arranged.” Jimmy told him
from what he could find it was. “Let me guess, he’s got money and is willing to
leave it all to Kennedy in the event that they marry. That brother of hers is a
peach.”

“You don’t know the half of it. The guy
I contacted in Ireland said that her brother is a pervert too. I’ve not been
able to narrow that down, but I’m thinking he’s gay. Not to say that there’s
anything wrong with that, but different strokes for different folks. He’s been
known to…let’s just say that he’s less than discreet with his affairs. And with
the money he owes on top of everything else, Shamus is having a hard time
making ends meet. The way he’s trying to bring things together is by gambling
more and more. Idiot.”

Samuel wondered aloud what the hell he
was doing arranging a marriage for his sister. “I mean, you should see her. Blazing
red hair, skin the color of peaches, and freckles that seem to get darker when
she blushes. And Christ, a body that would make a monk whimper.” He knew that
he’d said too much when Jimmy didn’t comment. “I won’t touch her.”

“I would say something glib, but you’ll
take back your invite to dinner. Samuel, she’s going to get you trapped up if
you don’t watch yourself. She’s going to be your mate if you keep thinking of
her like that.”

“No, she won’t. I won’t allow it.” Samuel
glanced up when someone went by the door and it was her. “She’s not going to
trap me.”

He got up after hanging up to close his
door…or at least that was his intention. Instead, he found himself following
her scent until he found her. She was in the living room speaking to Caroline.

“I don’t want to miss. You should ask
one of the others to do it.” Caroline looked around the room and spotted him in
the doorway before he could move. “There’s Mr. Payne now. You go ahead and ask
him.”

Caroline took off out of the room like he’d
shot her from a cannon. Kennedy started after her when he asked her what she
needed. He could tell she was upset, but unless she told him what it was, he
couldn’t fix it for her. Samuel asked her what she needed.

“My car won’t start.” He nodded as she
continued. “I need to get to the store for something, and I don’t have a way to
get there.”

“What is it you need? Perhaps I can send
Butler after it.” She turned a bright red and told him it was personal. Samuel
had to hide a grin. The woman was absolutely adorable.

“I just need some shampoo and stuff. I’m
not sure what you’re thinking, but it’s not that personal. It’ll be too late
when I leave here and I don’t have anything for tomorrow.” She moved to the
door, and he felt his lion stir. She was forever running from him.

“I can take you.” The words were out
before he could think not to say them. But when she looked at him suspiciously,
he knew he had to take her now. “Get your coat and we’ll go now if you have
time.”