TWO

Ray Mackay was a big man. At fifty, he was still a powerful man, with hazel eyes and black hair only beginning to gray. His weathered face was beginning to crease with deep laugh lines at the sides of his eyes. Eyes that were usually cheerful, always warm and friendly.

Rowdy was waiting on the front porch of the two-story white and red farmhouse when his dad pulled into the driveway, the dark green Jeep Laredo parking beside Rowdy’s Harley.

Maria Mackay was out of the jeep before Ray turned the engine off, rushing up the cement walkway, her gray-blue eyes concerned as she met his gaze.

“Is Kelly okay?” Maria Benton Mackay was still slender for her forty-two years of age, the summer shorts and crisp, white cotton shirt showing off her tanned legs and arms attractively.

“Why wouldn’t she be?” He leaned against the railing, watching her with narrowed eyes. “And why do I have a feeling that if I had warned ya’ll I was coming home, that I might have found my way barred?”

He could see it in her face, in his father’s heavyset expression. They hadn’t expected him, and they weren’t comfortable with him being there alone

with Kelly. And that just pissed him off now. Whatever the hell was going on, one thing should have been set in cement in their heads and that was the fact that he would die before he hurt Kelly.

“I’d never bar you from your own home, Douglas.”

He winced. Maria was the only person who called him Douglas, and the snap in her voice when she said it now was as sharp as a knife. No one

called him Douglas, ever. But hell, she had taught him in school and breaking her of the habit wasn’t easy.

He crossed his arms over his chest, staring down at her intently as she stepped onto the porch.

“I’m going to check on Kelly.” She moved for the door.

“Not yet.” He didn’t move, he didn’t intend for his voice to lower

warningly, or his body to tense as he watched a main source of information attempt to escape. But he wanted answers, and she wasn’t running off until he had them.

“Go on, Maria.” Ray stepped up behind her, his large hands settling on her shoulders as he gave them a comforting squeeze. “I’ll talk to Rowdy. We’ll be in soon.”

She glanced up at Rowdy, worry and regret shimmering in her eyes before she turned to her husband, kissing his cheek gently before moving into the house.

Rowdy had never been comfortable with his dad’s demonstrative relationship with Kelly’s mother. From the first night he had seen them together he had noticed the care and joy his father showed in the woman. It was a radical change from the relationship he remembered his father

sharing with his mother before her death.

Rowdy’s attention fixed on his father, watching as he swiped his fingers through his hair before burying his hands in his jeans pockets.

“Was she raped?” Rowdy lifted the bottle of water to his lips, taking a long sip as he watched Ray’s eyes darken painfully.

Ray breathed out roughly, his shoulders shifting as he lowered his head.

“Attacked,” he finally muttered. “She wasn’t raped. But she was cut up pretty bad, traumatized. And it gets worse.” He lifted his head and Rowdy wondered if his father could see the pure murder burning inside him now.

“How can it be worse?” He kept his voice even, cool, but he couldn’t still the rage blazing now.

“She didn’t see his face, there were no leads on who he was or why he attacked her. And he’s stalking her now. He wants to finish what he

started.”

The water bottle crumpled in his hand, water sloshing over his fingers before he realized what he had done. Forcing himself to release the plastic, he set it on the railing and focused on his father.

“Where did it happen?”

“She moved out right after your last visit,” he sighed roughly. “Nice little apartment in town, next to one of her friends. Few weeks later she started getting crank calls. Caller ID couldn’t trace them. We put new locks on her doors and windows, but you know how she was.” Ray shook his head

wearily. “Liked sleeping with her window cracked. She thought she was

safe. Thought she would hear it if someone snagged the fire escape ladder. But she didn’t. Her neighbor’s boyfriend heard her screams and knocked the door down, but he’d already hurt her. The attacker got out the window before the boy could catch him.”

Short and to the point. And he was hiding something, Rowdy could feel it.

He stared back at his father, silent, probing, knowing he would tell him eventually. Rowdy wouldn’t give him a choice.

Ray glanced back at him, then away. His teeth clenched, rage glittered in his eyes.

“It wasn’t a normal attack,” he finally muttered. Rowdy felt a chill race up his spine.

“What do you mean by that?” He had to force the words past his throat.

Ray cleared his throat. “He meant to rape her anally. He almost managed it.”

“Motherfucker! God. Damn!” Rowdy flung himself across the porch, his hands running over his head before he gripped the back of his neck in fury. “Son of a bitch!” His abdomen tightened as he fought to hold back a howl of pure rage before jerking back to stare at his father. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”

“Hell Rowdy, what could you do?” Ray snapped, anger suffusing his face. “She begged us not to tell you. You were clear across the world with no hope of coming home anytime soon. There was nothing you could have done.”

“Like hell,” he snarled. “They would have let me come home or dealt with the consequences. That’s no excuse.”

“Exactly.” His father’s face flushed with anger. “You would have gone

AWOL to come home, and caused even more of a mess for that kid. Do you think we didn’t know what the hell was going on before you left the first time? You couldn’t keep your eyes off her and she was just a fucking kid.

Four years later you were back for three months and it was worse. She didn’t need that.”

Rowdy’s face blanked in shock. “You think I would have touched her, pressured her for sex after she was attacked?” He fell back a step, unsure how to deal with the blow his father had just dealt him.

“I didn’t think you would have touched her when you were home before,” he snapped. “She’s your sister…”

“Fuck that shit.” Rowdy’s hand sliced through the air. “That girl is no blood to me and you know it. And I fucking left, didn’t I? Did I rape her in her goddamned bed, Dad? Son of a bitch, I don’t believe this.” He had

to force himself to lower his voice, but he couldn’t hide the astonishment as he stared back at his father.

“Hell, I didn’t think you would rape her,” Ray bit out. “But she didn’t need the stress. She was terrified of you knowing the way it was, so damned hysterical over it I had to swear I wouldn’t tell you. And Son, a woman doesn’t get that upset over a man knowing, who should have been treating her like a sister rather than a woman.”

“She is mine!” Something inside him snapped then. He had thought over the years that there were things he didn’t have to tell his dad.

Things the other man would understand without words. Such as the fact that Kelly belonged to him, as soon as she was old enough, mature enough. He had been wrong, and the knowledge cut through him like a knife. “I’ve known she was mine since we were fucking kids. I left, didn’t I? I stayed

away until I thought she was old enough. What the fuck more did you expect from me?”

“You’re too old for her…”

“Then what the hell are you doing married to her mother? More age separates the two of you.”

“I wasn’t raised with her mother,” Ray snarled. “I wasn’t taught to treat her like a sister.”

“You condescending old bastard!” Rowdy raged. “You wouldn’t have

anyway and don’t try to tell me you would. Damn you, Dad, I can’t believe this.”

Rowdy shook his head, trying to make sense of his father’s sway in loyalties. Hell, he expected his father to love Kelly; he’d practically raised her. But this? To think she needed protecting from his own son?

“Rowdy, I love you more than life.” His father heaved a tired breath.

“But I know you, boy. I know the kind of man you are and your tastes in women. And if you think word wasn’t circulating about the little games

you and some of those women got into then you’re wrong. Even before you were out of high school, I knew. And that girl is like a daughter to me…”

“Screw this.” Rowdy could feel the heat swirling in his head then, a rage like nothing he had ever known. He had lived his life believing in his father’s trust in him, never breaking his word, never giving his father any reason to think he wasn’t the man he should have been. “I have never hurt a woman. Ever.”

“No, not that they weren’t willing. And I’m not judging your sex life, Son. I’m protecting Kelly’s.”

Shock seared him. He stared back at his father, disbelief warring with an anger he was afraid he would never be able to quench.

“Protecting her from what?” he snarled at the implied accusation. “What the hell do you think I would do, Dad?”

Rowdy shook his head as his father stayed silent, staring back in the older man’s eyes and seeing the conflicting pain, the division of loyalties.

“What the hell did I ever do to make you think I would hurt her?” he asked, confused, bitter now. Anger burned low in his gut, but the disbelief held it back, for now.

“Son, when a man and woman consent to certain sex games, it’s all well and good. Hell, I’m no saint, and I figure you got some of it from me.

But Kelly’s just a kid, and after this…”

“Wait.” Rowdy shook his head. “Sex games? Are you saying you’ve taken what you’ve heard and based that on whether or not you’re going to believe I wouldn’t hurt her?” He stared back at his father in astonishment. “Hell,

Dad.”

“I’d kill any man who would touch that girl the way I know you were carrying on with Calista James,” Ray growled, his voice dark, deadly.

Calista James. Well, fuck!

Rowdy shrugged his shoulders then straightened them as he faced his father.

“Kelly is mine.” His lips pulled back from his teeth. “I don’t give a fuck what you think about my sexual practices or what you think I would or would not do with my woman. And I guess neither of us are the men we

believed each other to be, Dad. Because if anyone had ever asked me who believed in me the most, I would have said you.” He shook his head then, weariness suddenly surging through him. “I’ll get my bag and head back to town.”

“Rowdy.” Ray caught his arm as he moved to the door. “I’d give my life for you, boy, but you didn’t see her in that hospital, you didn’t hear her begging us not to tell you. Terrified you would think she was dirty, that it was her fault. You didn’t hear her crying as her mother rocked her, crying for you.

And you sure as hell weren’t the one who cleaned out her apartment and saw the blood on those sheets. I did. And I know you.

You’re a lot like me. You’ll want everything from her, and I can’t allow you to hurt her like that.”

Rowdy jerked his arm from his father’s grip, his eyes burning as he stared back at him. The description of what she had endured was ripping through his soul, hotter, brighter than any distrust his father could feel.

But his father was standing between him and Kelly. If he didn’t get the hell out of there, he was going to lose the tenuous control left to him, and God only knew what would happen then.

“I’ll clear out now. But I’ll be damned if you’ll keep her from me. And you remember that.”

Rowdy jerked the door open, stalking into the house before coming to an abrupt stop. Kelly stood at the top of the landing, her face paper-white, her long, damp hair hanging over that fucking shapeless T-shirt, her hands

clenched in front of her.

Her lips were trembling, her eyes big and dark and filled with tears.

Rowdy glanced away, fighting for control before he turned back to her and began to walk steadily up the steps. The tears gathered in her eyes, until one dropped as she stepped back, allowing him to stand beside her.

God, he wanted to wipe that tear away, wanted to erase the shattered pain he saw in her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice ragged. “I’m so sorry, Rowdy.”

“Why?” He asked the question softly, aware of her mother standing further up the hall, his father in the entryway.

“I wasn’t careful…”

“No.” She flinched as he snapped the word out. “Don’t be sorry for that, baby. That wasn’t your fault.” His arms hung limply at his side, his own world lying broken at his feet. “I’ll be at the boat if you need me. I’ll

always be here if you need me.”

And for now, that was all he could give her. Right now, it was all he had. He moved away from her, turning and stalking to his bedroom, ignoring

Maria’s whispered “Douglas?” as he pushed the door open. His duffel bag was still on his bed, unpacked.

“I’ll get the rest of my stuff later.” He picked up the Marine-issue bag and turned to face his father as the other man followed him into his room. “The houseboat is mine, I paid for it.” They’d agreed on that. Six summers worth of hard work had paid for the Nauti Buoy, and he claimed it.

“The boat is yours.” The houseboat had been his mother’s last request before her death. “Rowdy, I know you don’t understand—”

“Sure I do, Dad.” He turned back to his father then, a tight, cold smile on his lips. “I spanked Calista a little bit, screwed her ass and did it in front of witnesses.” He watched as Ray Mackay’s face nearly turned purple. “And to add to that distasteful little venture, me, Natches and

Dawg shared her for a while. I understand completely.” He was aware of Maria standing outside the door; he prayed Kelly was out of earshot.

“And you know what? I came back for Kelly. And I wouldn’t care what you thought of it, or what your wife thought of it, any kind of pleasure she

would have wanted at my hands, she would have had. And still will. I don’t care what it is. And I really don’t give a damn what you think about that

either.”

“Don’t make me kill you, Son,” Ray rasped, his eyes burning with fury.

Rowdy grunted mockingly, shaking his head as he glanced at Maria, then back to his dad.

“Hypocrite.” He pushed past his father and stepped into the hallway.

And there was Kelly, eyes wide, staring back at him in horror or surprise, he wasn’t sure.

“You know where to find me,” he reminded her. “Don’t make me come looking for you, baby. The fight wouldn’t be pleasant.”

“God, damn you, Rowdy…” His father’s snarl echoed behind Rowdy as he stalked away from them all.

But he saw her eyes before left. Fear, yeah there was plenty there.

But there were other emotions as well, and those were all he had to hold onto now.