“Probably.” Then with a frown: “But I am not mean.” Why it mattered so much that she understood that, Joe couldn't say.
“You'll be perfect. Those bullies won't know what hit them.”
“You still haven't told me what's being done. Why are bullies bothering them?”
Luna frowned at a particularly ugly bruise below Joe's left pectoral muscle. She looked as if she wanted to touch him, and Joe waited, hoping she would, even though he knew he wasn't up to a romp at the moment. But Luna simply lifted her gaze back to his face. “Willow said it's because their mother was never married, and now they're orphans.”
“And no one has any idea who the dad is?”
“No. He's never paid child support, never been around. I didn't want to dig, but Willow volunteered that there wasn't a dad, and never would be.”
“Damn.”
“Sad, huh? How can a town blame children for being illegitimate or orphaned? Yet, none of the guardians have ever made a move to adopt them. They just keep drifting away, abandoning the kids for one reason after another.”
It sickened Joe, but he knew that small towns could be really funny about that sort of thing. In so many ways, they were worse than big cities. At least in a big city you could be anonymous and no one gave a damn who you were or what you did. “Who's the guardian now?”
“An aunt. She's sticking around just until I arrive, but she made it clear that she's impatient. There was another cousin before her. I'm told his wife got a job transfer and they didn't want to lug the kids along. Before that was a semiretired great uncle, who claimed the kids were too troublesome. The aunt is the third one. Now she wants to get married, and her fiancé doesn't want to be saddled with two children.”
Imagining how young kids must feel without any stability, Joe scowled. But to have Luna take over...
As a bona fide free spirit, Luna was too exotic, too bold and far too sexy to be a mother. Not only that, but she worked as a psychic, or rather a psychic's assistant. There were plenty of times when Joe thought she had legitimate
woo-woo
ability. On several occasions, she'd seemed to know more than she should, especially about him.
As if she'd read his mind, Luna flipped her hair and forged on. “I've already passed the background check, but I'll have to do the home study once I'm settled there. I'm not overly concerned because while I might not be the ideal motherâ”
“You said it, not me.”
With no interruption to her explanations, Luna pinched him on the arm, making him lurch. “âCPS is way overworked, and anytime kids can be placed with a relative, they tend to bend over backward to see it happen, or so the social worker told me. Even though I'm a distant, unknown relative, I'm still preferable.”
“Yeah? Preferable to
what?”
A golden fire lit her eyes, alerting Joe to the possibility of another pinch. He caught her hand to deter her. “Does the social worker know about your propensity for causing pain?”
“Don't be a baby, Joe. I didn't hurt you.”
True enough. Added to his other various aches and pains, a mere pinch was negligible, but God knew he didn't need any more.
“I'm going to move there.”
Thrown off guard once more, Joe asked, “There where?”
“North Carolina.”
Joe gave a start of surprise. Well, hell. Luna already lived over an hour south of him, in Thomasville, Kentucky. Any more than that was just too damn far for his convenience. He'd have to find a way to talk her out of relocating.
He wanted her in his bed. For how long he hadn't decided yet. But until he did decide, he wanted her within reaching distance. Kids he could handle. Bullies he could handle.
Never knowing how it felt to have Luna under him . . . Now, that was too much to consider.
Chapter Two
“M
aybe we should talk about this.”
“My mind's made up. They're alone, Joe. Two whole years they've lived with uncertainty, going from one adult's set of rules to another. At first, I thought to bring them here, but the house was given to them free and clear in the will, with the proviso that the guardian live there.”
Joe frowned over that. Why would their mother insist the kids stay in the same area? Surely, she knew how difficult it would be for most adults to relocate. Added to the automatic responsibilities of raising someone else's children, it was a lot to ask.
Picking up on his thoughts yet again, Luna said, “I bet Chloe meant the house as an incentive. You know, like free rent, since the mortgage is paid off. She probably didn't want it sold because it'd be too easy for a guardian to sell it, spend the money, then leave the kids again. Besides, the kids have had enough change. It's their home and they shouldn't have to move. For the past two years, it's been the only constant in their life.”
Luna sounded so set on leaving, something close to desperation crept in on Joe. He shrugged it off and scowled. “What about your life here? Your job with Tamara, your friends, your family?”
What about me?
He didn't say it out loud, and even thinking it made his guts cramp. But damn it, he wanted to matter to her a little.
Her shrug was negligent, unconcerned. “My family is already scattered around the country, and we've never been close. Believe me, it won't matter to them what I do.”
“No?” The idea of relatives not caring seemed alien to Joe, but then he came from a big, close family. That thought brought another, and he realized he really didn't know much about Luna's background.
Luna shook her head but didn't elaborate. “I can find work anywhere, and I can always visit Tamara and Zane and the others.”
Disgruntled, Joe rolled his eyes. Obviously, the thought of being out of
his
reach didn't distress her one iota. But he'd find a way to change her mind about that. “So what's my role in this? You want me to beat the shit out of anyone giving the kids a hard time? Will I need to hurt anyone?”
Luna looked amused by his offer. “Give it up, Joe, because I'm not buying it.”
“What?” His innocent act was a bit rusty, but he thought he'd pulled it off.
“Zane already warned me that you'd say something stupid like that. He said you take every opportunity to exaggerate your own reputation.”
Zane ruined all his fun. But Joe still remembered a time when Zane had accused him of being a hit man, so apparently he'd bought into the reputation at least a little. Joe grinned. “So what is my role?”
“I just want you there for backup and to intimidate the more aggressive people.” Luna looked him over, her gaze lingering on his chest, his shoulders. Her eyes warmed and her brows lifted in feminine approval. “Even battered and bruised and moaning with every other breath, I can't imagine too many people dumb enough to take you on.”
Joe gave a wolfish grin. “Yet you never hesitate.”
Affronted by the suggestion that she might be dumb, Luna said, “I believe I've avoided you.”
Joe subtly kicked the sheet lower. Apparently, not subtly enough because her eyes shifted, then stayed glued to his abdomen. “Avoided me?” he asked, to keep her from noticing that he'd noticed her looking. “So that wasn't you with me in the dark hallway at Zane's wedding, kissing me and clawing my back and arching up against me andâ”
She was off the bed in a flash. “A touch of modesty wouldn't hurt, you know.”
“Modesty is for wimps.” He kicked the sheet farther away. It couldn't go any lower without baring him completely.
Being a stubborn witch, Luna refused to look. “All right. So, I kissed you. It was a momentary lack of sanity.”
Joe nodded in mock sympathy. “I have that effect on a lot of women.”
Her eyes got glassy with her determination to stay on northerly ground. “Which is why I came to my senses and walked away.”
It gave Joe a lot of satisfaction to point out one irrefutable fact. “But you're back.”
“Only out of necessity.” As if she couldn't help herself, her gaze flicked over him. Her breath caught; her cheeks warmed. Softly, she said, “There's no denying it, Joe. You'd be a treat. But I don't intend to be one more notch on your bedpost.”
So, he was a treat, was he? A few of his aches diminished beneath the rush of pain-numbing lust. “I understand completely,” he soothed. “There's no reason to get defensive.”
“I am not defensive.” She turned her back on him and crossed her arms beneath her breasts, looking very defensive.
“How about I be a notch on your bedpost? I wouldn't mind. Course, you might have to notch it twice, not that I'm bragging or anything . . .”
Another loss of temper seemed imminent. Through her teeth, Luna growled, “Will you go along with me or not?”
Her black jeans were low slung, snug, hugging that exquisite rear end to perfection. She turned back to him, and when she moved just right, Joe could catch a small glimpse of her belly between her jeans and her colorful halter. For a woman with generous hips and breasts, Luna's waist was surprisingly narrow, her belly only slightly rounded. More than anything, she reminded him of a pinup girl from days gone by. Lush, curvy. Sexy.
“I'm still considering it,” he muttered, thoroughly distracted with thoughts of getting her naked so he could do a better inspection of her assets.
“I'll pay you.”
Well, that shot his pleasant imagery all to hell. “Forget that. I don't want or need your money.”
She propped her hands on her hips. “But you just told me that you were broke.”
Joe waved that away, then had to hold his ribs when pain skittered through him. “I always say that so women won't get ideas. It's better than claiming I'm a lousy lover, which I doubt anyone would believe anyway.”
Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “So you lied?”
“Course not.” He tried to look offended. “I just exaggerated, that's all. I mean, I'm not wealthy or anything. But I've always lived a moderate lifestyle alone, I've always been employed, and I'm always good at what I do. I have enough put away to be comfortable.”
“You are such a pig.”
“I'm a realist,” he corrected. “Women have been trying to drag me to the damn altar for years. They're more inclined toward temporary liaisons rather than long-term relationships when they think I'm poor.”
“Fine, whatever. I really don't care what you tell other women. But I insist on paying you for your time.”
“No.” He'd rather she be indebted to him. Not that he'd use the debt to blackmail her into bed or anything, but if she softened toward him, if she saw him as her hero, maybe she'd quit fighting him so hard.
“Be reasonable, Joe. I have no idea what we're walking into, so I might need you there for a week or a month. Can you afford that long off work?”
Knowing his own abilities, Joe figured it'd take a week, ten days tops, to get the lay of the land, uncover any problems, and get it all straightened out. Then he could concentrate fully on Lunaâand her gratitude.
He grinned shamelessly as he said, “Yeah, I can.” When she started to argue again, he held up a hand. “Here's the thing. I was ready to dump this place anyway. Too many people feel free to drop in unannounced andâ”
“You mean too many women.”
He answered her pointed glare with a grin.
“Maybe if you quit handing out keys . . .”
“Now, that's one accusation you can't lay on me. I do not hand out keys.” Just the opposite. He valued his privacy, his bachelor status, above everything except family.
“So how did Barbie and her friend get in?”
“Barbie?” All this grinning was making his jaw ache as much as his ribs. “You mean Beth? She got in with Amelia, the other one who was copping feels off my drugged body when you arrived. And before you ask, no, I didn't give Amelia a key either. We had a date the night I got jumped, and so she's the one who took me to the hospital and brought me home. I'm assuming she kept a key, and God knows I haven't been fit enough to see about changing locks.”
An arrested, thoughtful expression replaced Luna's look of annoyance. “She was with you, but she wasn't hurt during the attack?”
“I was away from her when it happened.” And that had been the only blessing of the night. Joe couldn't bear the thought of a woman being hurt while under his protection.
With her head down in thought, Luna took a slow turn around his bedroom. Except for the clothes that he'd dropped on the floor the night he was hurt, the path was clear. Since the attack, he hadn't gotten dressed, had barely eaten, and rarely even ventured from the bed except that morning to clean his teeth and get a drink. He'd been prepared to scrounge up some food when Beth and Amelia had dropped in.
Of course, they hadn't thought to feed him. He figured he'd lost a good eight pounds in the last few days.
“So you were on a date with Amelia, but away from her side when some goon jumped you?” Luna tapped a foot. “That's rather convenient, isn't it?”
“For who?”
“Her?”
The blatant insinuation threw him. “I had no idea you had such a suspicious nature.”
Luna shrugged and waited for him to explain. Her insinuations rubbed him raw. “It was not a conspiracy. In case you failed to notice, Amelia is still fond of me. And that's even after I turned her down for anything more serious.”
“More serious?”
He shrugged. “They all seem to get marriage minded. But she was okay with just keeping it . . .”
“Sexual?”
Joe grinned.
In her driest Luna-the-goddess tone, she said, “Dumb question.” Then, with remaining suspicion: “So tell me, Joe, how exactly did it happen?”
Joe gave up. “I'd run out to the parking garage to get my truck because it was raining. I
am
a gentleman, you know.”
“Right.”
Did she have to sound so facetious? “I'd just gotten the truck unlocked when I got hit from behind. I went down, got beat on some more, but I'd already blacked out, so I have no idea how much time passed. When I didn't return to the restaurant, Amelia came after me and found me on the ground. She might have been the person who scared the guy off, you know. He might have killed me otherwise. It sure as hell feels like he was trying.”
Other than burning concern in her gaze, Luna let all that go by. “Did she call the police?”
“I was just coming around when she got there. She took me to the hospital, and when they finished with me, I spoke with the cops there. Not that I expect them to be much help. I didn't see who it was, so there wasn't much to go on.”
Luna didn't look at all convinced. “Amelia didn't see anyone either?”
“No. She heard some noises in the garage, but I was alone when she got there.”
“Hmmm. You must have been out for a quite a while.” Joe glared at her, and she said, “Okay, so Amelia adores you even though you turned her down for marriage. Do you have any idea who might not feel the same?”
“Oh, I've got my suspicions.” Even as Joe said it, his muscles clenched in anger, causing him additional discomfort. When he caught the son of a bitch again, he'd even the score and then some.
“Meaning?”
Joe shook himself. Now wasn't the time for savage thoughts of revenge, not when Luna was within reach. “Meaning it was probably Bruno Caldwell, the same bastard who shot out my knee.”
Her eyes widened. “That's why you sometimes limp? You were
shot?”
Joe grunted. “What, you thought I hurt it playing softball?”
“I don't know.” She looked dumbfounded. “I didn't . . . I never really thought about it. I mean, I know you've had some edgy jobs, but . . .”
Joe almost laughed. Obviously, she had no idea how dangerous his life had been at times. “I should have taken Bruno apart when I had my chance, but by the time I'd recaptured him almost a year later, I felt law abiding again and stupidly turned him over to the authorities.”
“Law abiding
again?
”
He shrugged. “The injury forced me off police work, which put me in a . . . bad mood.”
What an understatement.
He'd been in a killing rage for months. “I admit to being a little unruly for a while there.”
“They fired you?”
“Worse. They offered me a desk job.” And he hadn't been able to stand it. He liked to get in the thick of things, not fill out the endless paperwork after the dust had settled. “I was plenty pissed about it for a while there. Then I got over it and became a bounty hunter instead.”