Beverly Barton - Raintree - Santuary

“I promise,” Eve said.

As easily as that, she had agreed to do as Judah requested. Mercy sighed inwardly, fearing that Eve would never question her father’s orders.

Judah set Eve on her feet. She grabbed his hand. He glanced down at her and smiled. “It’s late. You should be in bed asleep.”

“I was,” Eve said. “But when I heard you calling to me, I woke up and let you in. That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?”

Judah grunted. “Yes, it’s what I wanted. But now I want you to go upstairs and hop back into bed.” He glanced at Mercy. “Your mother and I have things we need to talk about.”

“I want a promise, too. I want you to promise me that you won’t fuss.” Eve looked from one parent to the other. “Be nice, okay?.”

“I’ll be as nice to Mercy as she is to me,” Judah said.

Eve smiled triumphantly, then eyed Judah’s suitcase. “You’ll be here in the morning when I get up, won’t you?”

“I’ll be here.”

Eve bounced up the stairs, a bundle of happy energy.

Once Mercy and Judah were alone, she said, “I’ll arrange for you to stay in one of the cabins.”

“No, I’ll stay here in the house.” He approached her so quickly that she had no time to react until he grasped her upper arm. “I need to be close to Eve…and to you.”

Mercy’s heartbeat accelerated. He’s a master charmer, she reminded herself. He would say whatever he thought she wanted to hear in order to get what he wanted. And she could never let herself forget for one moment that what he wanted was Eve.

“You can’t stay here for very long.” She forced herself to maintain eye contact, to prove to him that she wasn’t afraid of him, that he had no emotional hold on her simply because she had given birth to his child. “Keeping your presence here a secret will be impossible for more than a day or two. There are other Raintree visiting the sanctuary. More than half the cottages are filled. Whatever you need to do to protect Eve from your brother, do it quickly and then leave.”

“I’m afraid things are more complicated than that.”

Mercy eyed him suspiciously.

Tightening his hold on her arm, he said, “You have every right to be afraid.”

Mercy gazed into Judah’s cold gray eyes and felt the hypnotic draw of his masculine power. The only way to free herself of this man and keep him from taking their daughter was to kill him. But not yet. Not until she knew that Eve would be safe from Judah’s enemies.

He raked his gaze over her as if stripping her bare, then slowly released her. Mercy shivered.

“All you have to do is ask,” Judah said, “and I’ll give you what you want.”

Tightening her hands into fists, Mercy willed herself not to strike out and wipe that cocky smirk off his face. “I want you dead,” she told him.

“That wasn’t a very nice thing to say to me.”

“No it wasn’t, but it’s the truth.”

“Only half the truth.” His gaze caressed her roughly, creating an ache deep inside her. But he didn’t physically touch her again. “Before you kill me, you want me to pleasure you first, to lay you beneath me and-”

“You’re an egotistical bastard.”

“And you’re a woman hungry for what only I can give you.”

“You mean no more to me than I do to you,” Mercy told him. “If you weren’t Eve’s father-”

“But I am.” He focused on her lips. “And you can never forget how it was between us the night you conceived my child. The excitement. The passion.” He moved closer, until their bodies almost touched, never once removing his gaze from her lips. “I remember the way you whimpered and pleaded. The way you clung to me, shivering and moaning.”

Involuntarily, as if manipulated by a force she couldn’t control, Mercy reached out and laid her hand on Judah’s chest, placing her palm over his heart.

“I taught you what true pleasure is,” he said. “And you loved it.” He glanced down at her hand. “You loved me.”

Mercy jerked her hand away. “No, I never loved you,” she lied-to herself and to him. She had loved him, if only for those few brief hours before she had learned who he really was. An Ansara.

Straightening his shoulders, Judah stood tall and aloof. “Your destiny was to give me a child. You’ve done that. You’ve served your purpose.”

Mercy stared at him, suddenly realizing that she had somehow wounded him. He had switched from seductive charm to cruel indifference in a matter of seconds. Had she discovered the chink in Judah’s protective armor? Male pride? Or was it something far more personal?

Storing that insight away for later use, she asked, “Will he try to harm Eve?”

“What?”

“Your brother. Will he come here to the sanctuary and try to get to Eve? That’s why you’re here, isn’t it, to make sure he doesn’t harm her?”

“My brother’s days are numbered. It was inevitable that I’d be forced to kill him.”

“I can’t imagine hating my own brother enough to kill him.”

“It’s Cael’s hatred that will force me to kill him. He’s left me no choice.”

“What about your parents? Can’t they-”

“Our father is dead. And Cael’s mother murdered mine.”

“Oh.”

Judah picked up his suitcase. “Show me to a room near Eve.”

“The closest room to Eve’s, other than the nanny’s connecting room, is mine.”

“Is that an invitation?” Judah’s lips curved into a suggestive smile.

“Perhaps it is.” Mercy’s lips mimicked his, a smile without warmth or sincerity. “But if you come to my bed, you’ll have to sleep with one eye open to prevent me from murdering you in your sleep.”

“As tempting as the offer is…”

“There’s a guest room at the end of the hall. You can stay there tonight.”

“And tomorrow night?”

“You’ll be gone,” Mercy told him. “You and I will settle this matter tomorrow, and then you’ll leave the sanctuary and never return.”

As Judah studied her, she felt him probing her thoughts.

Don’t even try, she warned him.

If I show you a little bit of mine, will you show me a little bit of yours?

No!

Aren’t you the least bit curious? he asked.

No!

Liar.

“Come upstairs with me. I’ll take you to your room,” Mercy said aloud. “And when you wake later this morning, be sure to stay close to the house. If you venture too far away during the day, someone might see you and question who you are.”

“Don’t you think I could pass myself off as a Raintree?”

“Not with those ice-cold gray eyes of yours.”

“Point well made,” Judah said.

Mercy led him up the stairs to the second floor. He paused as they passed Eve’s room, pushed open the door halfway and looked inside at his sleeping daughter.

“Why do you suppose her eyes are Raintree green?”

“Because she is Raintree,” Mercy replied.

When Judah entered Eve’s bedroom, Mercy followed but didn’t try to stop him.

He halted beside the mattress, where Eve rested on her tummy, her arms thrown out on her pillow on either side of her head. He reached down and touched her long, pale hair.

Mercy held her breath. He lifted Eve’s hair, then parted it with his fingers to reveal the distinct blue crescent moon birthmark that proclaimed her heritage. The brand of the Ansara.

Judah allowed Eve’s hair to fall back into place. He caressed her little head, then turned, looked at Mercy and smiled. And for that one moment Mercy saw love in Judah’s eyes. Love for his daughter.

Wednesday Morning, 8:45 a.m.

Judah’s cell phone woke him from a sound sleep.

Damn! Whoever was calling had better have a good reason.

He grabbed the ringing phone from the nightstand, checked the caller I.D. and answered. “Claude?”