Entering the foyer, she asked her grandmother, How’s Ciaran?
Jolene sighed. Outraged would be the best word. He wasn’t serious about Sherryl, but he’d considered her a friend, if nothing else. He’s mad at himself for not seeing what she was doing—which is dumb, of course, and I’ve expressed this to him several times. He’ll be all right. I wish you’d told me about Malloy before you killed her. It’s not fair that you got to have all the fun.
Sorry.
Jolene gave a soft, almost delicate snort. No, you’re not.
No, I’m not.
It’s a good thing that the other Primes got to see what you’re capable of. It’s also good that they saw you’re not someone who will hide behind Knox or leave the dirty work to him. You could have left the punishment to him, who would certainly have made Malloy suffer. But you didn’t. Nor did you invite him to get in on the fun—which does make me feel a little better about being left out. Instead, you took care of it yourself, and you did it in a way that conveyed a very powerful message. They’ll highly respect that.
Hopefully the message would be heard loud and clear, Harper thought, as she followed Knox into the living room. Asher was nowhere to be seen, so she figured Meg had him with her somewhere. Gotta go, Grams. Speak soon.
Take care, sweetheart.
Breaking the connection with her grandmother, Harper turned to Knox, who was watching her closely. She also realized they were alone. “Where’d the sentinels go?”
“To their respective cars.” Crossing to her, Knox cupped her hips, fighting the urge to eat up every bit of her personal space and hold her tight. “You okay?”
She placed her hands on his chest. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not feeling bad for what you did, are you?” he asked, searching her eyes and getting caught up in the way the chocolate-brown color swirled, faded, and then settled into a warm honey shade.
“No.” Harper jutted out her chin. “She deserved every second of pain she got. I don’t need to go journal about it or cuddle a teddy bear.”
“But it unsettles you that you can deliver such pain and feel no remorse for it.”
She shrugged. “Maybe.” When he just looked at her expectantly, she sighed. “Okay, yes, it unsettles me that I have that kind of cruelty in me.”
Knox couldn’t relate to that, because he never experienced any such guilt—that wasn’t something he was proud of, though. “You are not cruel, Harper. You didn’t hurt Malloy because you’re heartless or sadistic. You did it because she was partly responsible for what happened to our son. That primal, mama bear protectiveness in you was never going to let that go. Nor was it going to be satisfied with anything other than her death. The very fact that you’re unsettled by your lack of remorse shows that you’re not a bad person.”
Harper swallowed, comforted by his words, and walked into his arms. He held her close, stroking her back and pressing gentle kisses to the side of her face. She sighed, content. “I was kind of looking forward to our day out.” Malloy had fucked that up.
“Some quality time on the island will make up for it.”
“You still want to leave tomorrow?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Then I’d better get packing.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Sitting in the inflatable paddling pool, Asher again tried pouring water over his head with his plastic sieve. Once again, the water dripped through the holes of the sieve before he could get it near his head. “Ma!” he practically barked, frustrated.
Sprawled on her stomach on a sun lounger, Harper leaned over and handed him a fish-shaped tub. “Use that instead.”
Asher took it, studied it carefully, and then tossed it aside in favor of the sieve.
Harper sighed, shaking her head. She wished there was some room in that inflatable pool for her, because she was seriously freaking hot. The heat was prickly and smothering, which was why they were sticking to the cabana on the deck that overlooked the rippling turquoise sea. The sand was simply too hot for him to play on this early in the day, but Asher was having an absolute ball in the paddling pool, stomping and splashing like he’d never seen water before.
“Ma!” he barked again, utterly exasperated, when he once more failed to drench his head in water.
“So use this.” She held out the fish-shaped tub again. Asher began furiously shaking his head back and forth. Honestly, she didn’t know how it didn’t leave him dizzy. “You’re just like your father—determined to do everything your way.” Which just made her smile.
They had been at the island for a week now, relaxing, sunbathing, swimming, and even venturing out on Knox’s new mini yacht. Asher loved it there. He’d also loved their time on the private jet. For the first ten minutes. Then he’d gotten bored of looking at clouds and simply played with the toys she’d brought in his bag.
He’d seriously enjoyed the mini trek through the jungle, though, as they’d walked from the jet to the villa. His beautiful dark eyes, sparkling with fascination, had drunk in the thick lush canopy, colorful birds, rough ropy vines, and meandering stream. Every sound had tugged at his attention—the calls of the birds, the trickle of the stream, the chirping of the crickets, and the distant hoots of the monkeys.
Harper had heard the occasional chuffing that made her think of a large cat. She also hadn’t failed to miss the shadow in her peripheral vision, following and watching them. “I’m pretty sure we’re being hunted by something,” she’d said.
Knox had glanced at her over his shoulder and said, “It’s just curious. A predator always senses other predators. It’ll have more sense than to try to attack.”
He’d been right, luckily. Nothing had followed them to the villa. Two-stories tall, the spacious building was all bright walls, high windows, and gleaming marble floors. It also had a private pool and was surrounded by palm trees and white sand. With the housekeeper and maintenance guy—both of whom were members of their lair and natives of the neighboring island—the place was always pristine and there was no need to cook. Knox would make a mint if he rented out the island, but he was much too territorial to share what was his.
Resting her crossed arms on the lounger, Harper propped her chin on her hands. Even with the jet skis thundering by—Tanner and Levi were currently racing, and neither appeared to be winning—she could hear the peaceful sounds of waves crashing into rocks and tumbling onto the shoreline. It was the first time in a while that she’d felt truly relaxed. Maybe that was because she also felt safe. Knox had been right—they needed this. And how could she not love having quality time with her guys?
Speaking of her guys … Knox was padding up the narrow wooden walkway that led from the villa’s deck to the shoreline, bucket in hand. Well, damn. Little drops of water were sliding down all that hard muscle and sleek tanned skin, making her want to lick it all up. He was as mouth-watering and magnetic as he was intimidating.
It made her glad they were on a private beach, or there would be females ogling and batting their eyelashes at him. Then Harper would have to kick some skanky ass.
“Hey, baby.” He bent and pressed a soft kiss to her mouth, tasting of salty water. Her body hummed, and her toes curled. The feel of his wet hand sweeping across her back felt so good on her heated skin.
A loud splash was followed by, “Da!”
Knox ended the kiss with a nip to her lower lip and then straightened to smile at Asher. “I got something for you.” Squatting, he emptied the bucket of sea water into Asher’s pool to top it up, and the little guy flashed his dimples. “I half expected him to climb out of the pool and crawl everywhere, looking for trouble,” Knox said to her. “But he really does love the water. When the temperature cools, we’ll take him to the shoreline, so he can paddle in the sea. You sure you don’t want to take another dip? Tanner and Levi will watch him when they’re done racing.”