At Her Service

“Okay,” he said, dragging air into heaving lungs, “you want to tell me what we’re fighting about?”

“You son of a bitch,” the man muttered. “The fact that you don’t even know is reason enough to keep fighting.” He reached for Jeff’s throat.

“Are you nuts?” A familiar female voice shouted from the porch, cutting the man off mid-speech, and Jeff swung his head around to look at Kelly.

His opponent used the distraction to plant one more solid punch to Jeff’s jaw. Stars flashed in front of his eyes.

“Blast it, Kevin!” she called, racing down off the porch and across the lawn. She stood over them, hands at her hips, glaring at the man on the ground. “Stop hitting him. I warned you … no fighting.”

Jeff wiggled his jaw back and forth a couple of times, ran his tongue around the inside of his mouth checking for loose teeth and, thankfully, found none. Then he turned a feral smile on the man still glaring at him. “I owe you for that one.”

“Anytime,” he countered, breathing hard as Jeff released him.

What the hell was going on around here, anyway? Why was a fellow Marine ready to pound his face in when as far as Jeff knew, they’d never met before?

“I don’t believe this,” Kelly muttered, glancing up and down the street, obviously looking to see if any of her neighbors had witnessed the brawl.

Pain flickered through his body in a series of stings and aches, but despite it all, he felt his blood go thick and hot at the sight of her. Damn, but she looked good, Jeff thought and felt his body stir.

She wore a soft green skirt that fell to her ankles and swirled around her legs in the cool wind. Her long-sleeved yellow blouse clung to her upper body, outlining her small, perfect breasts and made Jeff’s hands itch to touch them. Long auburn curls flew into a wild dance around her head, and her green eyes sparkled with what looked like pure temper. Yep, he thought, wincing with a new twinge of pain. Damn good.

“Hi, Kelly,” he said, and felt the full impact of her fury when she shifted her gaze to him.

“‘Hi Kelly’?” she repeated. “That’s all you have to say? I find you brawling in my front yard with Kevin, and all you say is ‘hi’?”

“Go inside, Kelly,” the other man said. “This is between him and me.”

She kicked him, then winced as her bare toes connected with his hipbone. “For heaven’s sake, Kevin,” she snapped. “Stop acting like the puritan father in an old movie.” “Damn it, Kelly …”

“I told you I wanted to talk to Jeff alone.” “Just who the hell are you, anyway?” Jeff interrupted, glaring at the man he’d just been pounding into the ground.

“Kevin Rogan. I’m Kelly’s brother.” Brother. Well, that was good news, anyway. Sort of. Probably wasn’t the best way to impress a woman you hadn’t seen in a year and a half—beating up on her brother. But on the other hand, at least he wasn’t a boyfriend.

Jeff pushed himself to his feet and waited while Kevin did the same. Tension still rippled in the air between them, and Jeff sensed the other man’s eagerness to continue the fight. Fine with him, he thought, already taking a step toward him. Then, before either of them could start up again, Kelly stepped between them, placing one hand on each of their chests.

“Obviously, an overdose of testosterone. Play nice or leave,” she said, looking from one to the other of them.

“Fine,” Kevin said flatly. “But I’m not leaving.”

“Neither am I,” Jeff told him. “I just got here.” “Yeah,” Kevin said with a derisive snort, “but you’ve been here before, haven’t you?” “What’s that supposed to mean?” “You bastard, if you’d—” “Kevin …” Kelly interrupted her brother with one word and a long warning look.

Then, turning her back on him, she smiled at Jeff. “It’s good to see you.” Kevin snorted again.

“Got a cold?” Jeff asked, then ignored the man and reached out to touch Kelly’s hair, blowing wild and gorgeous in the breeze. He had to see if it was as soft and silky as he remembered.

It was.

“Good to see you, too,” he said, knowing it for the understatement of the century. It was worth a few bruises and what felt like a cracked rib or two to see her smile. Damn, but he’d missed her.

“You going to introduce us, sis?” Another male voice spoke up, and Jeff glanced at the porch. Lined up like a wall of muscle with bad attitudes, three men—identical men—stood with arms crossed over wide chests. And each one of them wore a scowl fierce enough to fry bacon.

Specifically, Jeff guessed, his bacon. What was going on around here?

“More brothers?” Jeff muttered, more to himself than to Kelly.

“Yes, but the triplets are the last of them. Four older brothers.” She blew out a breath that ruffled the loose curls lying across her forehead. “Lucky me.”

Yeah, Jeff thought, glancing from the triplets to Kevin, still glowering at him from the lawn. He was starting to feel real lucky himself.

She lifted one hand and with a sigh, pointed to each of the three in turn. “Jeff, this is Keith, Kieran and Kincaid.”

If anything, their scowls got blacker. Interesting, Jeff thought, wishing that he had Deke, J.T. and Travis backing him up. He was badly outnumbered.

“They Marines, too?” he asked. “No, just Kevin. Keith’s a policeman, Kieran’s a contractor and Kincaid’s a—” She paused, cocked her head and looked at her last brother. “What would you call it? A spy?”

For the first time, Jeff saw a chink in the wall of muscle as Kincaid smiled at his sister. “FBI, Kelly. Hardly a spy.”

She shrugged. “Well, whatever. So why don’t you guys get lost while I talk to Jeff?”

“Not hardly,” Kevin muttered, and walked past her, pausing just long enough to glare at Jeff again. Then he nodded to his brothers, and the four of them went into the house.

No doubt, Jeff thought, to lay an ambush for him. Man, what had he done to get all four men so damn mad? Hell, he hadn’t even been in the country for the past year and a half!

“I tried to get rid of them,” Kelly was saying, “but once they found out you were coming, they wouldn’t budge.”

“I don’t care about them,” Jeff said. “I’m here to see you. It’s been a long time, Kelly.”

“Yeah,” she said, smiling up at him, “it really has.”

“You look great,” he told her, and for the first time in eighteen months, reached out and cupped her cheek in the palm of his hand. God, she felt good. Soft, warm and so damn smooth. Just the touch of her skin was enough to set off a back fire in his blood. And if she didn’t have a platoon of brothers just a stone’s throw away, he’d show her just how glad he was to see her. As it was, he’d have to wait or take on all four of them.

She pulled in a long shaky breath, telling him silently that she was just as affected as he was. A flush of heat filled her cheeks, and her eyes went that deep, smoky green that he remembered so clearly.

But there was something else. Something … different about her. She looked rounder. Softer. Hell, the plain truth was, she looked good enough to eat. And he was a hungry man.

“What?” she asked, tipping her head to one side and looking up at him.

“Hmm?”

“You’re looking at me a little … strangely.”

“I’m just trying to figure out what it is that’s different about you.”

“Different?”

“Not different bad, honey,” he said, pulling her close enough to kiss. “Just … different.”

Kelly flattened her palms on his chest and leaned toward him. A soft ocean wind slipped past them and lifted her hair off her neck. He felt the warmth of her hands clean through to his bones and for the first time in too damn long, he felt alive again.

The scent of her surrounded him, and he lost himself in it. So many nights, he’d dreamed about this moment. Having his hands on her again. Feeling the soft brush of her breath against his skin. Cupping her face in his palms, he stroked her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs and let his gaze move over her features. She was even more beautiful than he remembered.

She reached up and covered his hands with her own. “Jeff, I’m sorry about Kevin. He’s just—”

He grinned down at her. With her right here beside him, he couldn’t have cared less about a handful of brothers with bad attitudes.

“Kevin who?” he asked, and bent his head to claim the kiss he’d waited so long for. She leaned into him, lifting up onto her toes to meet that kiss and do a little taking of her own.

Softly at first, as if reminding himself of the taste of her, Jeff quickly gave into the thrumming need inside him and deepened the kiss. He parted her lips with his tongue and explored her mouth as his hands moved up and down her spine, pulling her harder, closer against him.

Kelly clung to him, and gave herself up to the wonder of having him back home. Alive. Safe. The magic of his touch shimmered throughout her body, and she told herself that she hadn’t imagined it. It had been so long, she’d almost convinced herself that what she’d felt in Jeff’s arms couldn’t possibly have been real. Yet here he was, and once again her body was on fire and burning from the inside out.

The shriek of a child’s laughter finally shattered the spell, though, and Kelly reluctantly pulled free of his arms. After all, what with the fight and now this kiss, they’d given her neighbors enough of a show for today.

Besides, there were still a few things that had to be said.

“Jeff …”

“Yeah?” His hand slipped from her cheek to her neck, and his thumb rested on the pulse point at the base of her throat.

“Come on in the house,” she said, and reached up to take his hand in hers.

He laughed shortly. “With that bunch? Am I allowed to fight back?”

She grinned at him. “Don’t worry about them.

I’ve been dealing with them for years. Their barks are worse than their bites.”

Jeff rubbed his jaw. “Honey, if that’s his bark, I don’t want to see his bite.”

“Hey,” she countered, “are you saying a Recon Marine isn’t tough enough to handle three civilians and a Gunnery Sergeant?”

“If that’s a challenge, honey,” he said in a low growl, “consider it taken.”

Three

The inside of the house was just as he remembered it. He’d always thought it looked a bit like a child’s playhouse might. The rooms were small, cozy. Fresh flowers dotted every table, and brightly colored pillows were stacked on all of the chairs. It was cool, welcoming, with the faint scent of lavender flavoring the still air. Pale blue walls gave the impression of a soft summer day, and the overstuffed furniture invited people to settle in and stay for a while. And there was nothing he would’ve liked more.

However, the four huge brothers glowering at him from across the room took the edge off his homecoming.

He had no idea what he’d done to deserve all the hostility, but he was damned if he’d back off. Jeff’s spine stiffened and he lifted his already bruised chin. His body still humming from that kiss, he was prepared to face down whomever he had to to get Kelly to himself.

Unconsciously, he mirrored the brothers’ stance. Arms crossed, legs braced wide apart and a defiant glint in his eyes. One at a time or all four at once … Jeff was ready for them.

“Kelly,” Kevin said, “I think we should—”

Jeff’s gaze shifted to Kevin and he felt a brief spurt of satisfaction at the other man’s split lip and already blackening eye. On the couch in front of him was a Smokey Bear hat, and Jeff knew that Kelly’s older brother was a drill instructor. He should have guessed when he heard the man talk earlier. His voice was rough from too much shouting, and he was talking to his sister as if he were giving orders to a boot recruit.

And from what Jeff remembered of Kelly’s temperament, her reaction should be worth watching.

He was right.

“Kevin,” Kelly spoke up, interrupting him, “I think you’ve done enough for one day.”

“Hey, this wasn’t Kevin’s fault,” one of the triplets said.

“Really?” she asked, turning on him like a snake. “Who punched whom?”

The big guy actually backed up a step, and Jeff hid a smile. Man, it was good to watch her in action. For such a small thing, she had enough fire in her for three women. And seeing her set loose that temper on her overbearing brothers was damn entertaining.

However, he wasn’t going to stand there and keep quiet while she defended him against her own family.

“Whatever your problem is with me,” he said, staring straight into Kevin’s flat gaze, “I’d be happy to settle it with you.”

The other man tensed. “Anytime, Gunnery Sergeant.”

“Fine,” Jeff muttered, already gearing up to finish what had been started outside. “Let’s go.”

“Nobody’s going anywhere,” Kelly snapped, looking from Jeff to her oldest brother.

“Kelly,” Kevin spoke up again in that drill instructor growl of his. “We’ve been waiting to talk to him for a long time.” “So have I,” she retorted. “Well, I’m standing right here,” Jeff said, looking from Kevin to Kelly and back again. They were all so busy talking around him and about him, no one was talking to him, and a tiny thread of warning unraveled inside him. Something was definitely up, and he wanted to know just what it was. “How about somebody tells me what’s going on around here?”

Kelly turned toward him, and for the first time he noticed a slight tension etched into her features. She looked worried. But about what?

Kevin opened his mouth again, but Kelly gave him a look that could have toasted a lesser man and he scowled, but kept quiet.

“This isn’t going at all how I planned it,” she said, turning back to Jeff, her wide eyes focused on him as if he were the only man there. “I want you to know that. I tried to get rid of them earlier, but they just wouldn’t move.”

Jeff ignored the brothers, which wasn’t easy since they took up so much space in the small room. But if she could do it, he sure as hell could. Keeping his gaze locked on her, he said simply, “Forget them, Kelly. Just talk to me.”

She inhaled sharply and blew the air out in a rush, ruffling the loose curls on her forehead. How many times had he thought of that little gesture of hers? How many nights had he dreamed of being right here … in this house … with her? Well, here he was, but so far the reality was nothing like his imagination.

“You’re right,” she said, nodding. “This is between you and me, no matter what they think.” She gave her brothers a warning look, then stepped forward, took Jeff’s hand and led him into the hall toward the two tiny bedrooms.

He felt the combined gazes of those brothers boring a hole into his back, but he did his best to ignore it. The last time he’d walked down this hall, he remembered, Kelly had been in his arms, nestled against his chest. If he tried, he could almost feel the beat of her heart against his again. Enjoying the memory, he let it unfold, recalling how he’d carried her into her bedroom, laid her down atop the bed and then fell into her welcoming arms.

It had been their last night together. A night that had lasted until morning. A night that had been burned into his brain with such clarity that even now, with her brothers hot on his heels, he felt a rush of desire so strong it nearly swamped him. But, he reminded himself, that was then and this was now.

A tinkle of music drifted toward him, along with a scent that he really didn’t recognize. It was soft and pleasant and faintly familiar, though he couldn’t place it. Behind him, he heard the heavy footsteps of the four men who were following after them and Jeff wished again he had either a weapon or his team with him.

But Kelly’s fingers were warm on his, and rather than waste any more time thinking about her brothers, he concentrated instead on the woman in front of him. His gaze dropped to the sway of her hips as she walked, and another sharp, sweet jolt of desire rocked him. Whatever was between them was damn strong, he thought. That he could respond to the mere fact of her presence while surrounded by her hostile family was proof enough of that.

Time was wasting, he thought, wanting only to see whatever it was she had to show him, then get on with the reunion. That one kiss they’d shared had only whetted his appetite, and he knew he wouldn’t be satisfied until he was buried inside her body, feeling the warmth of her ease back all the darkness within him. She was the only woman who’d ever been able to do that, he thought. It was only with Kelly that he’d been able to find the kind of peace that most people took for granted.

Jeff wasn’t a man to plan on forever. He’d learned long ago to count on nothing but now. Today. Planning for tomorrows that might not come was useless. But for however long this lasted, he wanted to cherish the time with Kelly. Revel in all he found with her so that when it was over, he’d be able to dredge up the memories and recall a time, however brief, when he wasn’t alone.

She glanced over her shoulder and gave him a smile that lit up his insides like a firefight at midnight. And every thought but one fled from his mind. All he wanted, all he needed, was her. The feel of her. The taste of her. His insides shook with the need to touch her. So, he told himself, let’s get this show on the road, and then send those brothers of hers packing.

Then she opened a closed door and pulled him into a pale yellow room where his sexual fancies died a quick death.

He noticed the crib first. Something clutched tight in his chest. But before he had time to wonder why in the hell Kelly had a crib in her house, the baby inside that crib grabbed hold of the bars with two tiny fists and pulled itself to its feet. There it stood, dark hair, blue eyes, wide grin and drool running from the corner of its mouth. It looked at them all, bounced a couple of times, then giggled and fell backward onto the mattress.

His mouth dried up. He shot a look at Kelly. “What?” Words failed him. What the hell was he supposed to say? She was a mother? Was she married, too? His gaze flicked down to her bare ring finger, and knew he should have felt relieved. But there were still too many unanswered questions for relief to come into this yet. If she had a baby, where was the father? And just what kind of reaction was she expecting from him? Couldn’t she have prepared him just a little for this?

“Jeff,” she said, her voice soft, intimate, “meet Emily.”

“Emily,” he repeated, and silently congratulated himself on getting his own voice to work. A knot of some unidentifiable emotion lodged in his throat, and Jeff choked it down. There was more coming. He knew it. He could feel it. And he braced himself for it.

And even when he was braced, her next words rocked his world right out from under him.

“Your daughter,” Kelly added, and the final blow hit him hard to the chest. Air rushed out of his lungs, and he wasn’t at all sure he’d be able to pull more in. All right, this he hadn’t expected. But it sure as hell explained her brothers’ attitudes toward him.

If this baby really was his, the four of them probably wanted to murder him. And he couldn’t even find it in him to blame them.

A curl of foreboding settled in the pit of Jeff’s stomach. His baby! Good God, Jeff thought wildly. He couldn’t be a father. He was a Marine. And father to a girl? What the hell did he know about girls—except, of course, for the grown-up version? No. There had to be a mistake.

“My daughter?” he repeated, even knowing that he was beginning to sound like an echo.

“Damn right, your daughter,” Kevin said from the doorway. “And what are you going to do about it?”

Okay, understanding the anger was one thing; putting up with it was another. Jeff turned on him. “Well, hell, why don’t you give me more than ten seconds to get used to the idea, huh?”

“What’s to get used to,” the other man argued. “You have a child. Unless you’re going to try to deny her.”

“Damn it, Kevin,” Kelly said, and rushed at her mountain of a brother. Planting both hands on his broad chest, she shoved for all she was worth and actually succeeded in backing him up a step or two before he dug in his heels and held his ground.

“This is family business,” one of the other brothers said, keeping his voice carefully neutral. “We have the right to hear what he has to say.”

When she would have argued that point, Jeff said, “He has a point. They do have the right to talk to me about this.”

Surprise flashed across Kevin’s face, but he nodded, clearly pleased. Until Jeff continued.

“But first, Kelly and I are going to talk. Alone.”

“Exactly,” she said, and waved both hands at her brothers, herding them toward the door. “You guys get lost so Jeff and I can settle this between us.”

One of the triplets spoke up then. “Fine. We’ll go. But this isn’t over.”

Now, that, Jeff thought, was putting it mildly. But as he turned back to face the crib, he pushed Kelly’s brothers out of his mind and tried to focus on the shift his life had just taken.

He had a daughter.

It never occurred to him to doubt Kelly’s word on this. She wasn’t the kind of woman to lie about something this huge. If she said he was the father, then that’s just what he was.

But how had this happened?

When he and Kelly were together, they’d been careful. They’d used protection. Hell, he’d gone through enough condoms in that two-week period to justify buying stock in the company. So how did they manage to create a baby? This kind of thing didn’t happen to responsible adults. Surprise babies happened to high-school kids with more hormones than sense.

Swiveling his head, he stared hard at Kelly for a long moment, looking for some sign that she was somehow kidding. Maybe she was baby-sitting, a small, hopeful voice inside him said, completely discounting the fact that the room was a magazine version of a perfect nursery. One last chance here, he told himself. It was a joke. A bad one. But there was no laughter in her eyes. Only the same tension he’d noted earlier.

So much for a last-minute reprieve.

The baby gurgled again, and Jeff forced leaden feet to carry him farther into the room. Pale yellow walls glimmered in the afternoon sunshine streaming through the windows. Teddy bears and baby dolls littered the floor, and a mobile of sea horses dangled over the crib, dancing weirdly to the tinny tune he’d heard earlier.

Dread crashed down around him. A baby. In Kelly’s house. A baby with black hair and blue eyes. A baby that looked—except for the lack of a five-o’clock shadow—too much like Jeff for comfort.

He stood in front of the crib, gripped the top rail in two tight fists and stared down at the baby through eyes glazed with confusion and just a hint of panic. The tiny girl kicked both legs, lifted her arms toward him and gave him a smile that both terrified and touched him more deeply than he would have thought possible.

A child.

He had a child.

God help the poor little thing.

With her brothers gone, Kelly drew her first easy breath all evening. It was hard enough telling Jeff about the baby without the added factor of four men ready and willing to beat him into the ground.

But now that it was just her and Jeff, a wave of discomfort rippled through her. This was so much more difficult than she’d thought it would be. He looked, she thought, like a man who’d been hit over the head with a two-by-four. And she couldn’t blame him.

“I’m sorry this is such a shock,” she said, and winced at the inadequacy of the words.

“Shock?” he muttered, shaking his head. “Good word for this.”

“I would have told you sooner,” Kelly went on, walking across the room to stand beside him, “but I had no way to get in touch with you.”

She looked down at her daughter and felt her heart melt as it always did with one look at Emily.

Amazing how such a tiny person could engender such great amounts of love.

From the moment she’d discovered she was pregnant, Kelly had loved her child with a fierceness she hadn’t thought she was capable of. And she’d wanted to tell Jeff about the baby. But he’d told her in the beginning of their relationship that he was in the Marine Force Recon. Always on the move. Always involved in some covert action, stealing in and out of hostile situations.