Chapter Twenty-One

Kara eyed Luc's grin and made a gagging noise. "No, I don't want to join. Thanks for kindly offering," she snapped making him grin harder.
He had to stop doing that, she thought. That thing with his mouth when he pulled up the corners and bared his white teeth making that dimple appear. For normal people, it would be called smiling, but Kara didn't think Lucas was a normal person. From that first day when he'd stood over her with a shotgun like some modern Greek God, she hadn't thought he was normal.

She eyed him as he opened her door, only to turn back and look at her.
"Wait, how the hell did those two get in here? Is your door broken? I can take a look," Luc said, pointing his modern Greek God hand at her door.

Kara shook her head, waving him into her room. "No, no, Celeste has a key for emergencies. Now go, go shower."

He gave her a look and disappeared into her room, leaving Kara in a charged state.
She sighed in relief once the door closed as she looked around. The room was a little messy since she and Lucas had a mini food fight around four am that morning.
She'd playfully tossed a chip at him and Luc, unable to take a damn joke, poured half a bowl of chips over her head. It was on.
But at the end, Kara nearly wept at the food they'd wasted.
She sighed again, an unacknowledged smile tugging at her lips as she started cleaning up.
Glancing at the painting, her spirits rose a little. Soon, she'd have more money to add to what she had left over from Luc's.
She'd be able to pay him back and then leave. His idea of her moving in with him was a no go! Yes, she didn't want François or Celeste getting hurt because of her, but Kara couldn't let him use that to have her move in with him. He said he'd be able to protect her better, but how sure was she that it wasn't just some sinister plot to corner her and seduce her?!
No later than he'd get her a step into his isolated house, would he put those hands of his on her body and turn her willing and compliant in his arms. Kara gasped at the image in her mind and fanned herself.
Her? In Luc's arms?
Hah! He'd better think again, she wasn't so gullible.
Snorting in mockery of Luc's see-through game plan, Kara breezed into the kitchen to have some cereal.
Lucas averted his gaze from Kara's bed as he walked to the bathroom. The last thing he wanted was thought of her laying there in that tiny t-shirt she wore last night. The one that left all her legs bare and made them look ten times longer.
Groaning in annoyance, he went into the bathroom and closed the door as he pulled out his phone and called Raphaël.

"Sauvage," came the answer.

"Raphaël," said Lucas. "I hope you're awake. If you're not, you're a lazy bum."
Raphaël snorted on the line. "Please. I just heard that you've only just woken up. In the arms of a certain someone. Just a little street thief, hey?" He chuckled.

Lucas scowled. "Nothing happened, okay. I let Isabelle and Celeste think that because I needed an excuse for sleeping here."
There was a beat of silence on the line and Luc studied himself in Kara's large bathroom mirror, lifting his shirt to make sure his body was still as ripped as the day he was in the gym last week.

"If that's not your reason, then why were you there?" Raphaël questioned. "Because François is ready to kill you. He thinks you've gone and corrupted their innocent Karen and you're just going to break her heart because you're an incorrigible rogue."
Luc rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "François needs a fucking life. I'm calling about the reason I slept here in the first place. I told you she's being hunted, remember?"

"Mm-hm."

"Yeah, I slept over cause I just... I don't know, I had a feeling something was really up with her. She's scared, Raphaël. So I stayed over and around two o'clock, I hear Kara screaming in her room. I came in carrying ready to shoot and found her damn nearly out of the window. Some motherfucker was trying to pull her out of the window."

The other end was silent. Then, "Did you shoot the bastard?"
Lucas scowled darkly at his own reflection. "She pulled me back. I left the cottage to find him, but the bitch was gone. Had black gloves on. They found her."

Raphaël tilted his head, frowning into his coffee. "Who?"

"The bastards who are after her. She came here from Rein, Sauvage. You and I both know what happens in Rein. My guess is she was a group working girl, she escaped and now the dog who pushes that circle is looking for her. I think he's found her. She's shit scared of him, it pisses me the fuck off."

Raphaël cursed. "Should we go down there? She's only twenty-three, Lucas, her life just began. Somebody needs to put that dog down."
Luc nodded. "Trust me... I will. I need to get her out of here and to my place. In the meantime, I need Gérard to find out which of the bastards in Rein is missing a girl."
"Hm. Yeah, I'll let him know." There was a beat of silence before Raphaël cleared his throat. "Lucas... that girl doesn't trust anybody enough yet. She's used to fending for herself... because she's clearly had life handing her a lot of bullshit and the look in her eye says it. Go easy on her."
Lucas ran his tongue over his teeth as he pointlessly studied the tiles of Kara's shower floor.
He couldn't deny anything. Isabelle wasn't the only one who sometimes called him out on his bullshit, her husband did it too. It was a fucking couple sport. Come at Lucas.
He sighed. "I got it."
"Good. We're leaving in thirty minutes because I need to be in the Inc for a meeting. If you can't uh...*cough, make it. We'll understand.
Lucas could damn well hear the grin on Raphaël's face.
"Oh, fuck off, Sauvage," he growled and hung up on the sound of Raphaël's laughter.
He turned back to the mirror, running a hand down his beard before he began to strip, throwing his shirt across the bathroom. His beard needed a trim on the sides. He grimaced at himself, focusing on the dimple that popped in high on his cheek.
He hated the damn thing. It made him look soft. And Kara wouldn't stop staring at it last night every time she made him laugh. It drew her attention...it was like she liked his dimple. Or maybe not. It wasn't his most masculine feature.
Turning on the cold water, he stepped under the hard spray and grabbed the bar of soap.
He glanced down at it. Why the hell didn't she use shower gel? Instead she had this soap that smelt like... Luc sniffed it. He paused then took another sniff, only a longer one this time. By the third time, he was really just breathing the whole bar in. It smelled a-mazing.
Like something precious, expensive and edible all in one. Luc scowled. Great, now he was going to smell like a damn fairy godmother.
With a sigh, he dragged a hand over his body and used the damn soap. Cause he had no choice.

The only sound in the house was the shower and Kara stood in the sitting area, dancing from foot to foot.
She needed to use the toilet! Why was he taking so damn long?
Hissing, she started dancing faster to hold it in. Oh, God! This wasn't fun at all, it was stressing. Her bladder felt like it was about to burst and with bladder surgery being the last thing she wanted, Kara ended up dancing into her bedroom to knock on the bathroom door.
"What are you, a princess?!" she screamed through the door, hopping up and down. "I gotta go, Lucas!"
When she got no response, Kara bit her lip and started swinging her hips from side to side in some terrible version of a salsa.
Finally the door glided open. Kara gasped, turning around at the sound of it, only to freeze on her two hundredth hip swing.
Lucas regarded her coolly with eyes framed by long wet lashes, undisturbed by her urgent state. His wet hair dripped onto his bare shoulders, and around his hips...
Kara's mouth dropped open even more.
"Th-th-that's...that's my towel!" she gasped.
He shrugged. "You've got plenty more in there."
Throwing her too sweet a smile, Lucas sauntered from the room and into the living room.
Kara gulped. Her towel... Her poor, innocent towel. Forced to grope against and cradle Lucas' most private parts! A tremor of grief ran through her. Now she can never use it again without thinking about...Oh, crap, she had to pee!
Darting into the bathroom, she slammed the door closed and sighed in relief when her butt hit the toilet seat.
Thank goodness. That had really been to close, she'd nearly peed herself out there!
When she was done, she got up and flushed, then set about getting herself ready for the day. Isabelle had popped back in while Lucas showered to say goodbye to Kara. They were leaving after spending a great weekend on the ranch and Kara would miss them. Especially little Zavier and Rayan, with his strange, quiet depth.
Isabelle had noticed the painting for the first time and stared at it for ten minutes straight. Kara then told her her plan to go to the market with it and was overjoyed when Isabelle had looked at her like she was crazy.
"To the market? This masterpiece?" she'd gasped. "For what? Why can't you sell it to me? Please Karen. I'm taking it for 15000 and no less!"
Kara's jaw had dropped open. That was an amount far greater than she had ever dared to hope for and she said so, but Isabelle insisted.

Kara tied up her hair and grinned, feeling giddy inside. Maybe she could make a living with her paintings now and become a full blown artist.
Oh, just the thought of it gave her chills. Her. Kara Knightly. A professional artist. Even after every time her step-father had told her she was worthless... and that her mother nearly aborted her... and that she would die soon after her mother... she was going to become a professional artist!
She laughed to herself, clapping her hands in excitement as she got in the shower for a quick five minute scub.

Only when Kara got out, did she notice Luc's clothing scattered everywhere. Her hands went to her hips and she bent over, picking up his t-shirt.
With clenched jaw, she tossed it into the basket.
How dare he leave his clothing lying around like this? What was she, a housekeeper?
Kara straightened at that last thought and rolled her eyes. Okay, so maybe she was a housekeeper, but not his! Celeste's.

When she went into the bedroom, she was grateful to see that Lucas wasn't there. For some reason, Kara had expected him to be dressing in her room, all bare chested and stuff. She rolled her eyes, ignoring the tingle deep inside her at the memory of Luc in a towel. No, she didn't care that he had a body that looked harder than rock. And that was bigger than rock! Nor did she care about how his skin glistened from the shower and his lips looked...
Oh, for heaven's sake.
Rolling her eyes again, Kara quickly moisturized and pulled on some clothes, choosing faded blue jeans, a fitting lace bodice and a slightly large white long sleeved dress shirt over it. She rolled up the sleeves halfway up her forearms and piled her hair up on her head in a really messy bun. With her hair so long and her having always worn it down before, she didn't really know much about tying it in cute styles. Nor did she care.
Taking a look in the dresser mirror, Kara studied herself.
Maybe Celeste was right. Maybe she wasn't so ugly. Even if Markov's green eyes glared boldly out at her from her own reflection. She had smooth, unblemished skin. She eyed her nose and thought it might be too big and found herself tweaking it before she made herself stop and left the bedroom, her slippers slapping the floor.
Lucas looked up at her arrival and stared.
His eyes trailed down her chest, where the lace bodice cupped her breasts enticingly. The shirt she wore looked too large to be hers and it only added to the sexiness the outfit exuded.
He scowled.
"Are you going out like that?"
Kara gave him a look as she carefully lifted and tore the canvas paper off the stand and began stapling it to the wooden frame she'd prepared. He shoved his hands in his pockets waiting for her response.
"Like what?" Kara asked.
"Like that. Your... the..." Lucas clenched his jaw and put his coffee cup in the sink. "You know what? Whatever. If those horny bastards at the stables try to touch you, I'll punch each of them in their fucking faces."
With that he went around the counter and disappeared out the door.
Kara scoffed to out-react the blush creeping into her face. He was so bloody chauvinistic, that Lucas, wasn't he? Wanting to punch people for her. Like she couldn't do it herself! Men.
Standing back to admire the now complete painting once she'd stapled it, Kara swallowed tears of pride. It really was powerful art. And she'd done it.
With a happy laugh, she set it down and grabbed her keys. She'd go out and find Isabelle before they left.
Kara pulled open her door and halted, gasping with a start. Kai, the cute as ever ranch hand, stood in her doorway, blocking her path.
Kara blinked. "Kai. Uh, hi."
He pulled his hat off and held it in his hand.
"Bonjour," he greeted with an enchanting smile. "Did you sleep well?"
Kara nodded. "Yes, very well." In a pair of very strong arms and against a warm chest. "How can I help you?"
She tried to look anxiously over his shoulder, but the guy was truly blocking out the view. Kara took a step back toward her door when his eyes drifted down her neck.
"Lucas is gone, oui?" he asked quietly.
Kara nodded slowly with a frown. "Yes, but how do you know that he was here?"
Kai chuckled. "Oh... uh, everyone knows, mademoiselle. The ranch is a big family."
She nearly groaned. How bloody annoying! Now everyone would think she was rocking the boat with Lucas the button pusher.

"Well, what can I do for you?" asked Kara politely.
Kai touched the back of his neck. "Uhm, I just... uh, I wanted to talk. Can we go for a little walk?"
Kara grimaced. She had to get to Isabelle.
"It will not take long. I just really need to talk about something. You are a good listener," said Kai.

Kara sighed and nodded. "Uhm, okay. Where're we walking to?"

He jerked his head to the left. "Around the river. Not far."

Kara nodded and turned around to lock the door. Wasn't the river a little too far East from the main house? What if something happened? But she was with Kai, he'd protect her, wouldn't he?
Kara turned back to him and Kai smiled warmly at her and took her hand. She uncomfortably eyed their hands clasped together as they walked.
She hoped he would.