The Marine Makes His Match Read online

  Kinsey nodded her understanding.

  “Somebody has to convince her to take better care of herself. Maybe if someone other than me, someone with some professional medical standing, gets on her about it, it’ll bring it home to her.”

  “I can do that,” Kinsey assured.

  “And she needs a network of support. She has to have people in her life, whether she knows it or admits it or not. She has to have human contact and she certainly won’t go find it for herself.”

  “What about an assisted living facility—”

  Another firm, definitive shake of his head stopped her from going on with that. “This house has been in her family for four generations, she won’t leave it. And she’s only accepting having you here until she gets back on her feet. I offered to get her live-in help and she blew a gasket—”

  “I know it isn’t much comfort but what you’re describing isn’t all that uncommon. So what exactly are you wanting me to do beyond her recovery?” Kinsey asked.

  But his frustration level was too high to give her calm, concrete answers. “Anything! I want you to do anything you can to get her out of her rut, to make her let people into her life, to take care of herself!”

  It was an outburst that Kinsey could tell was out of the ordinary for him. He took a deep breath and exhaled to get himself under control. Then he went on unemotionally again. “Livi said you have a lot of good ideas. And if they come from someone other than me—” He heaved a sigh that was somewhere between frustration and disgust. “She won’t take suggestions from me. I tried talking to her about this stuff again yesterday and she actually pulled rank on me and just shouted for me to quit meddling in her life.”

  Kinsey didn’t suppress her smile this time. “Are you sure she won’t figure she outranks me, too?” she joked.

  Sutter actually laughed. He was even more good-looking when he did.

  Not that that was something that mattered. She was just glad to have eased some of his tension.

  Then, in a more confidential tone, he said, “And whatever you do, you can’t let her know that we even talked about this. If the colonel thinks I put you up to socializing her or networking her or whatever, she will dig her heels in and that’ll be it.”

  “So you need me to work a miracle transformation on your mother and her life before you have to leave again—and not let her know you put me up to it,” she summarized.

  “Yes.”

  The wheels of Kinsey’s mind began to turn.

  He was recruiting her for a conspiracy. A conspiracy to get him something he wanted. To reach a goal.

  Could she do the same with him?

  It would mean taking him into her confidence, something she was hesitant to do. But if she did, how much closer could she get to her own goal?

  The chance to build a relationship with the Camdens was the whole reason she wanted this job. If Sutter could provide her with more direct contact with them, things could move along much quicker.

  Or he could just throw her out when he found out her true motives.

  Was it worth taking the risk?

  “What you’re asking is above and beyond the call of duty,” she reminded him, deciding to take a chance. “But I’d be willing to give it a try if you might be willing to help me with something, too.”

  “Like what?”

  “I’d like to get to know the Camdens better.”

  “You already know Livi,” he pointed out.

  “We’re acquainted, yes,” Kinsey hedged. “But I’m interested in more than that. I mean I’ve met all of them—I went to one of their Sunday dinners but just in the role of nurse to my last patient. Everyone was nice and said hello, but that was it.”

  “And you want more than that?” He sounded suspicious.

  “I do. You’re an insider—”

  “And you want to use that—me—to get close to them and do what?”

  Oh, yeah, he was suspicious all right. She could understand why. The Camdens were one of the wealthiest families in the country thanks to their massive chain of superstores. There was probably no shortage of people who wanted to get close to them to take advantage in some way. But Kinsey wasn’t interested in their money or prestige.

  “I’m not after anything but the chance to get to know them. For them to get to know me—”

  “Why?” he demanded.

  Should she inform him of something she hadn’t told anyone except her brothers?

  “I’ll tell you here and now,” Sutter said sternly, “I don’t give a damn what you might be able to do for the colonel, I won’t help you work some kind of scam or angle on the Camdens.”

  “That’s not what this is about! I told you, I don’t want anything from them but to get to know them.”

  “To gain their trust and then what?”

  Oh, he was thinking the worst of her—it was there in those penetrating teal eyes that were boring through her.

  She realized that she was going to have to tell him the whole truth now just as damage control. Otherwise, she had no doubt that he’d do everything in his considerable power to make sure she never got within a mile of a Camden ever again.

  So she steeled herself and said, “You’re part of the Camden family...” Deep breath. Exhale... “And so am I. Mitchum Camden was my brothers’ and my biological father.”

  It didn’t look like Sutter believed her.

  “We had no idea until recently,” she went on. “My mother only told me in her last days. Then there was a letter her lawyer gave me when she died. There isn’t any question but I’d welcome DNA testing...”

  She paused. It wasn’t easy to be convincing when there was so little she knew herself. “I don’t know if any of them know we exist—my mother said they didn’t. But I’d like it if, before I approach the subject, they got to know me a little. If maybe they liked me a little. If they did, they might be more receptive to the news—”

  “For what? So you can hit them up for money?”

  “No! We don’t need that! There already is money—a lot of it. Part of why my mother told me the truth after all this time was to explain the money I’d be finding when she died. For me it’s just about family—maybe having some around instead of always being on my own.”

  His well-shaped eyebrows were pulled into a frown but there was something about his expression that seemed to have softened around the edges. “What exactly do you want me to do?”

  “Tell me about them—whatever you know... I realize that my half siblings aren’t from the side you’re related to, but I’ve heard that they’re a close-knit bunch and I’m thinking that if you’re in with one of them, you’re in with them all to some extent. And maybe you could bring me along if you’re going to be with them—to the Sunday dinners, or whatever else you might be able to arrange. I’m not asking a lot—just for some information and to be around them as much as possible so I sort of become a familiar face.”

  Sutter gave her the hardest stare she’d ever endured but she didn’t waver. Nothing she’d said was a lie so there was no reason for her to back down.

  Until Jack leaped onto her lap, jabbed his nose into her bag and stole her stethoscope, taking it with him to jump off the sofa.

  Even injured, Sutter’s reaction time was quicker than Kinsey’s and he nabbed the puppy before Jack got too far, retrieving the stethoscope.

  Containing the terrier beside him on the chair once more, he handed it back to her. “Can you do something with this, too?” he asked, referring to the dog. “I got him so the colonel would have a companion but that’s not working out very well, either.”

  “Actually, yes—I think I can get help with Jack.”

  Sutter returned to assessing her before he said, “Then you’ll match-make my mother with the dog and with a support system, and yo
u want me to match-make you with the Camdens?”

  “That’s about it,” Kinsey confirmed.

  Another long moment passed under his scrutiny.

  “I’d be watching, you know. Like a hawk. And should anything make me think you’re up to something to hurt the Camdens, I wouldn’t hesitate to warn them. If that happened you’d never get anywhere near them again.”

  “Sure,” she said.

  More scrutiny before he seemed to come to a conclusion.

  He sighed again, this one resigned. “You better be on the level...”

  “So we have a deal? You’ll help me while I’m helping you?”

  “Yeah, I guess,” he said as if he wasn’t altogether thrilled with it. “But you’d better have a pretty good bag of tricks, lady. And you’d better not be working me.”

  Kinsey only said, “When do you need me to start?”

  “I’m bringing the colonel home tomorrow, whenever she gets released. I can text you when we’re about to leave the hospital and you can meet us here.”

  “Okay.”

  Sutter stood then, again holding Jack football-style.

  Kinsey took that as her cue to go and stood, too. “Tomorrow I’ll just take your mom’s history, check her vitals and settle her in, start to get to know her. Then we’ll go from there.”

  The towering marine agreed with an outward jut of his chin. “Brace yourself, she’s not a warm and fuzzy little old lady,” he warned.

  “She’s the colonel—got it,” Kinsey said.

  “And you think you’re a Camden,” he mused.

  “It’s what I’m told,” Kinsey countered, heading for the door with him following behind.

  “So how does this work hour-wise?” he asked along the way.

  Her fee had been discussed when they’d initially arranged this meeting, but her hours hadn’t.

  “The colonel is my only patient so I can be here as needed—morning till night. Unless you don’t want me around that much.”

  “No, that’s good. I’m glad you’re all mine—”

  All his?

  “Not all mine,” he said in a hurry. “I’m glad there isn’t anyone but the colonel on your to-do list because you’ll have your hands full with just her.”

  “With her and your shoulder rehab,” Kinsey reminded.

  “Yeah, sure, that, too,” he conceded.

  Was he just the slightest bit flustered?

  It amused Kinsey to think so but she tried not to let it show.

  He opened the door and followed her onto the landing.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said. “And you, too, Jack,” she told the dog, petting his head and inadvertently brushing Sutter’s arm.

  Then she headed for her car, wondering why that bare hint of contact had made her skin tingle.

  Another chill? she wondered.

  That had to be it.

  Certainly it couldn’t have been Sutter Knightlinger.

  Because no matter how attractive he was, a marine was still a marine to her.

  And towering and muscular and handsome-as-all-get-out or not, there was no place in her life for another one of those.

  Chapter Two

  As a career marine, Sutter had long ago become accustomed to rising early. But not quite as early as the following morning. By sunrise, he was already showered, shaved and dressed and had had breakfast, fed Jack and was on his second cup of coffee.

  Now Jack was in the backyard and Sutter was standing at the sliding glass door in the kitchen, watching him.

  Sutter had had a restless, nearly sleepless night.

  Kinsey Madison had better be the marvel Livi thought she was, otherwise he was worried that the nurse wouldn’t be able do what he needed done. Especially in the small amount of time before his shoulder was usable again and he was sent back overseas, leaving his mother to her own devices.

  The colonel was a tough nut to crack and Kinsey was going to have to damn near work a miracle to effect any change in her.

  But he didn’t know what else to do. His father had had a way with the colonel. He’d been able to finesse her into socializing and keeping up a healthy routine. Sutter didn’t have that same knack with her. Every suggestion, every recommendation he made, just set off her temper.

  But letting her have her own way was no solution. Merely looking out at the condition of the backyard was a testament to that.

  The accident that had ultimately cost his father his life had happened at the start of August and the lawn hadn’t been mowed since. Amos Knightlinger’s prized raspberry bushes were laden with unpicked fruit that had withered on the branches.

  The sight of that twisted something up inside of Sutter.

  He and his father had been close.

  “If I’d known what was going on, Dad, I would have busted my ass to get home. To see you...” he said, looking at those bushes, remembering how happy his father had been when the colonel had retired and they could finally settle in a place they could really call home. A place where his father could watch something grow year after year. His father had babied those bushes and reveled in the berries they’d produced every summer, eating them as if they were a great delicacy.

  If I had been here, I would have picked them for you and brought them to you in the hospital...

  But picking his father raspberries and bringing them to him was hardly the only thing that Sutter hadn’t been able to do one last time. And all because of the way his mother had handled things. There was a lot he would have—should have—had the chance to do, to say, in those last weeks and days.

  Instead he hadn’t even known his father was at the end of his life. And it pissed Sutter off something fierce.

  Maybe that was part of why he and the colonel were at odds. Maybe he wasn’t hiding his feelings, his frustrations, as well as he thought he was.

  But he couldn’t help resenting that the colonel had robbed him of any opportunity to say goodbye to his father. After all the years that his father had been there for him while the colonel was halfway across the world or just busy with one case or another; after all the years that his father had bent over backward to make every move, every transition, every new school as easy as possible for him; after so much time that he and his father had spent together, just the guys, the colonel had kept him from being there for his dad.

  “Not the right call, Colonel,” he grumbled.

  But what was done was done and now he had to deal with things the way they were. With the colonel the way she was. He had a mission here at home.

  He and Kinsey Madison had a mission.

  Kinsey Madison—also part of what had kept him up most of the night.

  Her agenda.

  Should he have agreed to help her get closer to the Camdens?

  His gut said no.

  He counted his cousin Beau as his best friend—more like the brother he’d never had. It had been that way since they were kids. But not only were Beau, Seth, Jani and Cade family, Sutter had strong feelings for all of the Camdens. GiGi had always treated him like her eleventh grandchild. They’d been good to him and he wouldn’t do anything that might cause them any harm.

  But it was Livi who had recommended Kinsey, so they did already know her, he reasoned. And the way Livi had talked about Kinsey made it clear that Livi thought highly of Kinsey, so any overtures she made on her own would likely pan out with or without him.

  He just didn’t like that, because of this deal he’d struck with her, he could be playing a part in anything that might bite them in the ass.

  On the other hand, he thought, this did make it possible for him to keep an eye on her and what she was doing. It positioned him to protect them—maybe that was better than if she managed to sneak in on her own.

&nb
sp; But he’d meant what he’d told Kinsey—if he got any inkling that she was up to something ugly, he’d sound the alarm and put a stop to it.

  And he’d be careful about what information he did feed her. Nothing that wasn’t public knowledge or on public record.

  But what about her claim to be half sister to Beau’s cousins?

  As much as Sutter cared for and respected the Camdens of now, as sure as he was that they were all honest, trustworthy, ethical people, he also knew that the generations that came before had bad reputations. Bad reputations that the colonel said they’d earned.

  She was open about the fact that she’d been leery of her sister’s marrying into the family at the time. She’d said that the men couldn’t be trusted, that H.J.—the founding father of the Camden empire, GiGi’s father-in-law—had been a modern-day robber baron, and that he’d instilled the same principles in his son and his two grandsons, the fathers of the current generation. That more than a fair share of the Camden fortune had been ruthlessly built on the backs of people who were swindled or hoodwinked or used without conscience.

  If that was true, if the earlier Camdens were those kinds of men, was it a big leap to think that Mitchum Camden had cheated on his wife? That he could have had a second, secret family in the wings?

  Sutter knew what the colonel would say—that it wouldn’t surprise her.

  And to be honest, Kinsey Madison’s appearance also supported the claim. She didn’t look unlike a Camden. She was built like the rest of the Camden women—not too tall, maybe only three or four inches over five feet, and compact with just enough curve to her to make it rough for him not to take notice.

  And she had the same coloring they all shared—her hair was as dark and rich a brown as the black coffee in his cup. She wore it longer than any of the Camden females, though—all the way to the middle of her back. Shiny and silky and thick...

  And along with the hair, there was her fair skin and blue eyes—those blue eyes especially made it seem likely to him that she was telling the truth. Those eyes that people called the Camden blue eyes—so blue they almost didn’t seem real. Kinsey definitely had those.