His Baby! Read online

  All that mattered now was facing Jeff and telling him what she’d been unable to tell him for so long. And hope she could get the words out before one of her brothers killed him.

  Two

  Jeff left his borrowed car in the parking lot of the Shore Breakers hotel and walked the five blocks to Kelly’s house. In this tiny beachside town, most of the residential streets were one-way and it was almost impossible to find a parking spot. And besides, it felt good to walk down quiet streets without having to worry about watching his back. He smiled to himself as he realized not for the first time that going out on those dangerous missions to every far-flung corner of the world never failed to make him appreciate the simple freedom of taking an afternoon stroll.

  A car horn honked, the driver shouted and Jeff chuckled, preferring the everyday noises to that of gunfire pinging over his head. But even as that thought rushed through his mind, he pushed it on and out. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking of the job. For the next month, all he wanted to think about was Kelly.

  He’d been looking forward to this too much to spoil it now.

  A cool breeze scuttled down the length of the narrow street and carried the scent of the ocean along with it. Jeff walked with the wind and felt it pushing him along, though he didn’t need any encouragement.

  Hell, he’d checked into his hotel room, dumped his bag on the bed and left, headed for Kelly’s house. He didn’t really need the hotel room, of course. He could have stayed on base. But when he was on leave, Jeff liked to get completely away from the job. He had a lot of unused pay stored up and besides, after eighteen months of roughing it in some very uncomfortable spots, he figured he’d earned a few luxuries. Like that giant Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom.

  He smiled to himself and quickened his step a bit. Oh, yeah, he wanted to get Kelly into that oversize tub, turn up the heat—on the water, as well as Kelly—and do a little experimenting beneath the pulse of those jets.

  His body stiffened instantly. Man. He rolled his shoulders and shook his head. Better watch the direction of his thoughts, or he wouldn’t be able to walk. But it seemed the closer he got to Kelly’s place, the more difficult it was to think of anything but her. Of putting his hands on her, feeling the brush of her breath on his face.

  And that just naturally made his body sit up and take notice.

  A whoop of laughter shattered his thoughts as a group of kids on skateboards and scooters raced by. Their voices hung in the clear air like pictures of innocence. Hell, Jeff didn’t even remember being that young. That carefree. He pulled one hand from his pocket and scraped it across his jaw.

  He’d gone from his last foster home directly into the Corps and had never looked back. Hadn’t seemed to be much point in remembering the past. It hadn’t been much fun living it, so why the hell would he want to waste time on memory lane?

  Jeff glanced over his shoulder to make sure the street was clear, then loped across the narrow road, easing his way between two parked cars. The houses here were crouched together on skinny lots with postage-stamp-sized yards. But he supposed living less than a block from the beach was compensation enough. Most of the places were at least fifty years old, though some had been remodeled recently, going up two, sometimes three stories. Kids and dogs littered the street, the whole place looked like a fifties movie set and ordinarily it was exactly the kind of place Jeff would have avoided like the plague.

  “That’s a hell of a note,” he muttered, smiling. “When a man feels more comfortable on a battlefield than in a neighborhood.”

  Still, seeing Kelly again would make it all worth it. If she was home. If she was still interested. If she even wanted to see him. “A whole lot of ifs in there,” he told himself, and locked his gaze on the house just ahead. Kelly’s place.

  It looked like a miniature fairy-tale cottage. Complete with rounded turret. She’d told him her late grandmother had left it to her, but Jeff couldn’t imagine anyone but Kelly living in it. It suited her, from the neatly trimmed hedges and flowers to the slate-gray tiles on the roof.

  And now that he was here, he wasn’t going to waste another minute admiring the damn house.

  Lifting the latch on the gate in the pale yellow picket fence, he pushed it open, smiling again at the familiar creak. He slid a quick glance at the driveway, noting the navy-blue Explorer. Did she have visitors, or had she bought a new car while he was gone? Hell. Maybe he shouldn’t have just left a message on her answering machine saying when he was coming over. Maybe he should have actually talked to her. For all he knew, she didn’t have any interest at all in seeing him.

  But it was too late now, he thought. If she was busy, he’d leave. And as he recalled, she didn’t have any trouble speaking her mind, so if she didn’t want to see him, she’d say so. But he’d waited too long to head back to the hotel now without even a glimpse of her. And if her visitor was a new boyfriend? Hell. He’d face that bridge if he came to it.

  Decision made, he moved up the walk, took the two short steps to the porch and reached for the dragon’s-head knocker on the heavy oak door. Lifting it, he smacked it twice on the pewter plate, then stood back smiling and waited.

  When the door opened, his grin faded. He’d been expecting—hoping—to see a short redhead smiling up at him.

  Instead, a Marine with dark brown hair and narrowed green eyes glared at him. “You Jeff Hunter?” he asked.

  Instinctively, Jeff went on full alert. His own gaze narrowed in return. Okay, so this little reunion wasn’t starting out just the way he’d planned. He tried to see past the man into the house, but he was taking up the whole damn doorway.

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  The Marine stiffened. “I’m asking the questions here. You Jeff Hunter?”

  “Yeah,” he said, “what’s th—?”

  The big man moved so fast, Jeff didn’t have a chance to react. Before he could get out of the way, a fist plowed into his face, snapping his head back and filling his mouth with the coppery taste of blood. Pain exploded inside his head and his ears rang with it.

  Damn, it had been years since he’d been blindsided like that. And generally, when he was punched, he had some idea why.

  “I’ve been waiting to meet you,” the guy said, and stepped out of the house, swinging that ham-like fist again. This time, though, Jeff was braced and ready. Head still pounding, he ducked under the blow and came up fighting.

  His fist slammed into the other man’s belly. “Who the hell are you?” he demanded even as he threw another punch after the first.

  No answer. Just a forearm around Jeff’s neck and a quick, flying trip to the tidy front lawn.

  He rolled and came up on the balls of his feet, crouched and prepared for attack or defense. This was what he’d been trained for, after all. But he usually liked to know just who the hell he was fighting.

  And somehow, it didn’t sit right, pounding on a fellow Marine. But he didn’t have much choice when the other man charged him, head down and bellowing like a bull. He got in a good shot and Jeff hit the ground. “That’s it. Marine or not, you’re goin’ down,” he promised as he jumped to his feet.

  Their bodies crashed together with a thud, and as a series of punches landed on his jaw, stomach and chin, Jeff sucked in the pain, buried it as he’d been taught and gave more than he took. He swung a hardened fist at the big man’s face and felt the sting of satisfaction ripple up his arm when it smacked the guy’s head back.

  “Had enough?”

  “Not nearly,” the other man answered.

  Absently, Jeff noted the sound of birds and the far-off roar of a lawn mower. Unreal, he thought. This shouldn’t be happening. He hadn’t come here as a warrior, but as a lover.

  “Who are you and where’s Kelly?”

  “Kelly’s none of your business.”

  “I say she is,” Jeff snapped, and threw a short, sharp jab at the man’s chin.

  “You’re wrong,” the man shouted, and landed a good shot to Jeff
’s jaw.

  They circled each other warily and when he saw an opening, Jeff made a move to end this little battle. He threw a flying tackle his old high-school football coach would have been proud of. He took the man down and when he was flat on his back, Jeff grabbed hold of the neck of his uniform blouse, bunched it in his fist and lifted the other one menacingly, just inches from the man’s nose.

  “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, p
ulling 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.