Nadine jumped like she’d been shot, ripping her eyes away to stare at the floor. She might have whimpered.
Speaking through clenched teeth, Cal snarled, “That isn’t funny, Ben.”
From the look on his brother’s face, it appeared he found it very funny, indeed. The man who had cried crocodile tears into his scotch over his dead wife was no more; he had snapped back into place like a cracking leather belt, ready to draw blood. His father’s perfect weapon.
“I’m leaving now.” Nadine grabbed blindly for the doorknob, nails scratching at the door. She still wouldn’t look at him. “I’m going home, do you hear me?”
“Where’s home?” He lunged again, and her sizable backside smacked against the door this time when she jumped. She pressed against it like a flower. “Let me drive you.”
“No! I’ll be fine by myself. It’s a short walk.”
“Ooh, a short walk.” Odessa chuckled. “I bet that means she’s staying with Jessica Mayhew. I saw her lurking around the general store earlier, buying up pamphlets andmaps.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “Is that where you’re staying, Nadine?”
“Yes,” she said miserably.
“Good girl. Now, was thatreallyso hard, Nadine?”
At his teasing, her eyes lifted again, and this time, they were hot with challenge.
Not such a good girl, after all. Even better.
When her mouth tightened stubbornly, he imagined softening those lips with a vicious, claiming kiss, cracking that brittle shell of composure until all she could do was make those breathy little screams that had his blood singing.
Perhaps some of his thoughts showed on his face because she looked rattled, and her eyes flicked past him—not to his watching siblings at his left, but the door behind him.
You won’t make it, he thought silently.I’m much faster than I look.
Ben sighed loudly, dragging Cal’s eyes back to him with impatience. He was worrying at his scarred hands, though when he noticed Cal looking, he shoved them into the pockets of his light jacket. “I’m going out,” he announced coldly.
“Where?” Odessa asked with interest.
“To take care of that thing for father.” He looked at her, ignoring Cal. “Do you want to help?”
“Oh, I love to help,” she said. “Ilivefor it.”
“Help you right into the grave,” Cal said. Pointedly.
Ben’s smugness dripped away like cheap paint. Odessa gave him a scolding look, but the curl to her mouth betrayed her amusement. Still out of Nadine’s sightline, she flipped him the bird while his brother gave him a look that could have frozen stone.
“I suppose you’ll be taking your car.” Nadine spoke up. Acceding to the ride—and to him.
“Just for a little while.” He smiled at her, a hint of wildness seeping through it. “Unless youwantto stay?”
“No.” Her eyes flicked to the portrait of his great-grandfather. “I mean, no thank you.”
“Then I’ll be back in about twenty minutes.” He spoke casually, leashing his eagerness from his siblings. To Nadine, he said only, “Come.”
He got another matronly look of disapproval for that, but she was an obedient creature and had perfected the pretense ofmeekness. She followed him like a sullen little ghost down the hall, her sneakers landing on creaking boards that the rest of his family had long since learned to avoid.
They passed a glass cabinet and the glass captured her reflection so that it seemed that she, too, was just another curio. She studied the dead birds ensconced within, her mouth tight with distaste. “Do you like living here? Or do you just enjoy murdering all the wildlife?”
Cal stopped walking. She nearly crashed into him, and he felt a tug, followed by taut resistance, as she tested the grip that he had on her hand.
“Are we so terrible?”
“You’re—” She stumbled, and so did her fingers, as honesty warred with politeness. “A lot.”
