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Maybe she was different, maybe she wasn’t.

For years rumors had abounded of the Mackay cousins. Women whispered their names with naughty pleasure at the thought of them.

-111-

Lora Leigh

Her friends had jokingly informed her that she was insane for not moving into Dawg’s or Natches’ bed while Rowdy was in the service.

She could have. But deep inside she knew that who her heart belonged to made a difference. Alone, Dawg and Natches held no appeal for her. But with Rowdy…

She stepped into the kitchen, watching as he turned to face her, his deep green eyes approving, and hungry.

She belonged to Rowdy.

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God, she was gorgeous. Rowdy couldn’t keep his eyes off her as he drove the truck into Somerset, listening to her soft voice catching him up on the local gossip.

Johnny Flowers traded wives with his worst enemy, Buck Layne.

Crista Jansen was back home and had moved into her parents’ home place outside of town. No one knew why she had returned to town after years away, but everyone was gossiping about it. Rowdy bet Dawg was interested in that one. He had been hot as hell for Crista before she ran off to college eight years before.

One of Rowdy’s old girlfriends now owned the café he and Dawg and Natches had frequented before Rowdy left, and for the most part, for all the things that had changed, everything was pretty much the same. It was one of the things Rowdy loved about home. It was familiar, endearing.

Lake Cumberland was a place of mystery and beauty, and the small towns that surrounded it were filled with friends and family and memories that had gotten him through the last eight years in the service.

And memories of Kelly.

-112-

NAUTI BUOY

He glanced at her again, the light reflecting off the emerald at her pretty belly drawing his gaze again. It made his dick hard. Damn, he was dying for her, his cock was throbbing like a toothache in his jeans and his mouth watering for the taste of her.

He entered the city limits, navigating the summer traffic as he drove to the popular spa the women in town seemed to flock to.

“Here you go.” He pulled into an empty space in front of the entrance and turned to her. “I programmed my number into your cell phone, call me before you leave. I’m meeting Dawg and Natches at the café up the street, so I won’t be far.”

Those kissable lips curved into a slow, promising smile as she leaned close.

“I bet I could walk down the street all by myself, Rowdy,” she whispered teasingly, sending a jolt of fear to slice through his soul.

“No!” He hadn’t meant his voice to be so harsh, but the slight flinch and the spark of fear and anger that filled her eyes assured him he was much harsher than he intended to be.

Rowdy drew in a quick, hard breath before pushing his fingers through his hair, frustration eating him alive.

“I’m sorry, baby,” he growled, his voice still rougher than he wanted.

“Don’t scare me like that. Give me a while, okay?” He gave her a quick, comforting smile. “Let me protect you, Kelly.”

She sat against the door now, her gray eyes quiet, her expression closed until she glanced away and lowered her head.

“I understand, Rowdy,” she finally sighed. “But I’m tired of hiding.”

She turned back to him, a frown edging at her brows. “I’m tired of letting him win.”

-113-

Lora Leigh

And she was alternately breaking his heart and terrifying him. He knew Kelly. She was impetuous, stubborn, and once she made up her mind, she rarely changed it.

“Kelly, promise me you’ll call me before you leave.” He reached out to her, his fingers running down her cheek, feeling the small quiver of response that ran through her. “Don’t fight me on this, please. He’s a madman…”

“I’m not crazy.” She brushed his hand away as she glared back at him. “I’ll call you, Rowdy. But I don’t think he’s going to try anything in broad daylight. It would be too risky.”

“Point taken.” He nodded. “But we can’t be certain, either. Until I know what we’re dealing with, we’re going to be careful.”

“So says the man who wants to poke at the crazy person by letting him think I’m taking on the Mackay cousins all at once,” she reminded him. “I think walking down the street is a hell of a lot safer.”

“Exactly why you shouldn’t be walking down the street alone,” he pointed out softly. “He knows I have you now, Kelly. Which means Dawg and Natches aren’t far behind, in his eyes. From here on out, we can’t underestimate him. We take nothing for granted.”

Rowdy forcibly tamped down the violence rising inside him. As he watched her vulnerable face, seeing the need to live in her eyes, the growing desperation that lurked just beyond the shadowed gray depths, he wanted to kill. He knew if he ever managed to get hold of the bastard who dared to touch her, then he would kill him. There would be nothing left for justice to convict.

“Fine. I’ll call you before I leave,” she snapped with a spark of anger he couldn’t blame her for. “But don’t take forever to pick me up if you don’t mind. I have a few other things I’d like to do while I’m in town.”

-114-

NAUTI BUOY

She reached out to grip the door handle. Just as fast Rowdy caught her arm, causing her to turn back to him. His hand moved, his fingers threading through her hair as he drew her head back and captured her lips quickly with his.

Summer heat, lightning and the sweet taste of a woman’s passion met his hunger, tightening his gut with lust. He couldn’t wait to get her beneath him. At that moment, nothing mattered except getting through the rest of the day until he could get her to the houseboat and the large bed awaiting them there.

He forced himself to release her seconds later, staring into her dazed features with a satisfaction so intense it caused his balls to tighten.

“That wasn’t fair.” She smiled despite the chastisement, her cheeks flushed with warmth and her breathing ragged.

“Sure it was,” he whispered, pulling back from her, despite the need to wrap her in his arms and run away with her. He wanted to hide her.

To make certain no one could ever touch her again. “I need to touch you, babe. That’s always fair considering how long I’ve waited to do it.”

She snorted at that before pushing her fingers through her hair and flashing him a disgruntled look. “No one made you wait.”

She was out of the truck before he could stop her, tossing him a cheery smile before crossing the sidewalk and entering the spa.

Rowdy breathed out roughly. She was going to be the death of him, there was just no other way about it. With her shining innocence, tempting eyes and sweetly rounded body, he knew she was capable of making him curse as often as he sighed in need.

He gave his head a quick jerk before reversing from the parking spot and driving further down the street to the café he had told Dawg and Natches to meet him in.

-115-

Lora Leigh

Reginald’s Café was newly remodeled, the inside cool and welcoming as he entered. Dawg and Natches were waiting at one of the back tables, steaming cups of coffee sitting in front of them.

“’Bout time you got here, cuz,” Dawg grunted as he slid into the chair across from him. “I thought we were gonna have to come down there and rescue Kelly ourselves from your clutches.”

Natches chuckled as Rowdy leaned back in his chair and watched his cousin curiously. Dawg had changed over the years, more than any of them, Rowdy sometimes thought. He was darker, despite the joviality, quieter than he used to be.

Rowdy didn’t know what had happened during the years he spent in the Marines, but it had affected his cousin. Natches was just as lazy as always, his smile quiet, his eyes watchful. Of course, none of them were as relaxed, as carefree as they used to be.

There was a darkness in them that had always lurked just beneath the surface. A difference that separated them from other men, made them appear wilder, more dangerous. And in ways they were more dangerous. They had proved that overseas.

“What’s up?” Rowdy could tell there was more going on than a general bad mood.

Dawg leaned forward, his eyes narrowed.

“You had company outside last night.” Dawg’s voice was low. “On that little knob above the house that looks into Kelly’s room. I was checking it out this morning before heading here. He must have been there all night. The grass was indented where he sat, with claw marks at the side where the bastard dug his fingers into the ground. He’s getting pissed.”

And they had no idea who he was. Fuck.

-116-

NAUTI BUOY

“Where do we go from here, Rowdy?” Natches watched him with a spark of excitement in his eyes that Rowdy knew was more due to the thought of a good fight as much as it was the chance of touching Kelly.

“I’m taking her back to the boat this evening,” he answered. “We’ll head out to the cove. We should be staying the night. We’ll see how brave he wants to get. We’ll have dinner on the boat. Let the bastard think we’re all having a fine time. After dark the two of you can slip on shore and I’ll pull further out into the water. We’ll see what happens.”

Dawg and Natches nodded somberly. They were waiting, watchful, their bodies now on high alert. Not that anyone else would have noticed the change.

They paused as the waitress moved toward them, her steps slow, her head down, waves of burnished chestnut curls pulled into a low ponytail, her classically pretty features stiff and tense.

Rowdy cocked his head at the woman. Crista Jensen kept her head carefully lowered as she refilled the coffee cups before turning to leave.

“You didn’t ask me if I wanted anything to eat, Crista.” Dawg surprised them all with his mocking drawl. “Didn’t Jenny warn you to look after us good?”

“Shut up, Dawg,” Natches muttered, his voice low but easy to hear.

Rowdy watched as Crista pulled the ordering pad from the back pocket of her jeans, a pencil from behind her ear and watched Dawg with a spark of anger. Dawg stared back at her expectantly.

“What would you like to order, Dawg?” Her words were gritted, her voice raspy.

“Eh. Nothing right now, but be sure to check back in a few minutes.”

Dawg’s smile was all teeth, a predatory snarl if Rowdy had ever seen one.

-117-

Lora Leigh

“I’ll be sure to do that.” Crista’s smile was no less antagonistic as she returned the order pad to the back pocket of her jeans, picked up the coffeepot and stalked away.

The minute her back turned, Dawg’s eyes narrowed and a flash of anger seared the depths as he stood to his feet, dug into his pocket and slapped a few dollars to the table.

“I’ll see you at the marina,” he snapped before stalking from the café.

Rowdy watched, perplexed, before turning to Natches.

“What the hell was that?”

“Dawg in heat,” Natches snickered. “She won’t give him the time of day.”

Rowdy glanced to the woman in question and restrained his smile as he noticed her gaze, centered squarely on Dawg as he stormed from the café. Sad, weary, her expression marked with indecision. Yeah, she was giving him the time of day, perhaps more than the big lug deserved.

Now this was an interesting development.

-118-

NAUTI BUOY

Knowing what Rowdy had planned, and actually seeing it being put into effect were two different things. Kelly found that watching the men converge on a project was almost scary.

The Nauti Boys weren’t known for playing nice, in any way. But seeing the hard, cold men studying the banks as they maneuvered into the wide, deserted cove, reminded her that they had been warriors for years, Marines who had survived a long, bloody war. The men gathered in the living room, Dawg stood at the sliding glass doors that led to the deck, while Natches watched the back, and Rowdy kept a check on the bank along the side of the river.

Their eyes were narrowed, bodies tense and prepared, and all Kelly could do was worry. And try to stem the butterflies rising in her stomach.

“You’re too quiet, baby.” Rowdy’s voice was soft, filled with hidden depths as he glanced back at where she sat on the couch, staring back at him.

“There doesn’t seem to be much to say,” she responded quietly, seeing the shadows that filled his eyes.

She wished he wasn’t so handsome, wished he wasn’t so male. And she wished his cousins didn’t draw her almost as much as Rowdy himself did. It was one of the issues she had struggled with since the attack. Her rapist had called her a good girl, but she knew she wasn’t, not really, and that scared her. No woman had ever held even one of the

-119-

Lora Leigh

Mackay cousins’ hearts—what made her think she could? What made her think she could hold all three?

“I told you, Kelly, when it happens, it will be just you and me.”

Yes, he had. On the way to the marina, his voice quiet and throbbing with lust, but she had heard the tinge of regret as well. As though he were torn in his needs, in his wants.

She was aware of Dawg listening, his back to them, his body tense.

“The Nauti Boys would dare to play separately?” She arched her brow at the comment. “That’s just about unheard of, Rowdy.”

Dawg snorted, Rowdy shook his head, his green eyes chastising.

“Your tongue has grown sharper over the years, darlin’,” he growled.

“I’m a hungry man right now. It’s not nice to tempt hungry men.”

She settled into the corner of the couch, lifting her legs to the cushions and stretching them to the side. Rowdy’s gaze followed the movement with a spark of interest.

“My tongue has always been sharp, you just haven’t been around enough to notice.” She shrugged. “Dawg and Natches should have warned you of that. Wasn’t that part of their job description?”

Knowing they had been watching her and running off potential lovers hadn’t suited her well. It was a damned good thing she hadn’t known before Rowdy came home.

“The job was hard enough as it was, brat.” Dawg turned his head, flashing her a mock frown over his shoulder. “There was no sense in making it more complicated.”