The girl sniffed and then turned to grin in Sam’s direction. “Sounds like Marlene needs to be lecturing someone else on safe sex, not me.”
“Rusty, for God’s sake,” Frank Kelly bellowed.
Sophie jumped and looked cautiously at the burly older man. His bark seemed worse than his bite, but she couldn’t be sure on such a short acquaintance.
“If you can’t keep a civil tongue in your head, you can go back upstairs,” Frank said. Then he turned to Sophie. “The smart-mouthed young lady sitting next to you is Rusty. Don’t mind her. She likes to needle my boys.”
Sophie swallowed her bite and didn’t ask the obvious. It wasn’t any of her business. She really didn’t want to know who Rusty was anyway.
Rusty leaned over conspiratorially. “I’m the stray. Marlene sort of adopted me. Not that you could possibly think I sprang from the same gene patch as that bunch.” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder in Sam, Garrett and Donovan’s direction.
“Zip it, Rusty,” Sean snapped. “The last thing we need is your mouth today.”
Sophie looked in surprise at the young sheriff’s deputy standing across the room.
Rusty curled her lip in Sean’s direction. “I don’t answer to you, copper. Go eat a donut or something.”
Rusty turned back to Sophie and rolled her eyes. “He’s another stray Marlene picked up. Though personally I think he’s worn out his welcome.”
“Rusty,” Frank said in his gravelly voice. “That’s enough, young lady.”
To Sophie’s surprise, Rusty shut up and straightened in her seat. Sophie could swear there was genuine respect and affection in the young girl’s eyes when she looked at the Kelly patriarch.
Sophie was less sure of Frank. He watched her. He’d watched her ever since Sam had deposited her on the couch. There was nothing accusatory in his stare, but he studied her intently nonetheless and it made her uncomfortable.
She could only imagine the assumptions that were being made. She could name several, but there was no use in torturing herself. The assumptions were deserved, and she didn’t have the mental energy or the desire to correct any of them.
“Are you through, hon?”
Sophie blinked and looked up to see Marlene standing in front of her, her hands outstretched to take the tray.
“Yes, thank you, Mrs. Kelly. I appreciate the food. It was wonderful.”
Marlene smiled warmly. “Such a polite young woman. But please, call me Marlene. No one calls me Mrs. Kelly, well unless they’re telemarketers. Most folks just call me Marlene or Mom.”
She took the tray and Sophie listed to the side, no longer able to keep her head up. Sam had put several pillows behind her and to the side and she snuggled under the warm quilt. No one seemed to be paying her much attention now, so she drifted, barely listening to what was going on around her.
SAM watched as Sophie’s head dipped lower and lower, until her cheek nestled against the pillow. His mother was also watching, and as soon as Sophie’s eyes closed, she marched across the room, her eyes narrowed and fixed on him.
“You’ll tell me what on earth is going on here,” she said in a low, determined voice. “And I want all of it, not the watered-down version your brothers already gave me.”
Sam expelled his breath in a long sigh. He rubbed his hand tiredly through his hair and glanced up to see his dad looking at him with the same intensity that was in his mother’s gaze.
Hell.
“She’s carrying my grandchild,” Frank said.
Trust Dad to get straight to the point. He never was one for pu**yfooting around.
“It’s very likely she’s carrying my child,” Sam said carefully.
Marlene frowned. “Shouldn’t you know?” She glanced back at Sophie, her frown deepening.
“Don’t go jumping to conclusions, Ma. And don’t think badly of Sophie. Not yet. There’s too much I don’t know. She deserves the benefit of the doubt until I find out what the hell is going on here.”
If that didn’t make him a flaming hypocrite, he didn’t know what did. He didn’t want anyone else disrespecting her or developing a bad opinion, but it didn’t stop him from being suspicious and cautious with her.
He’d recognized early on that she had a lot of power where he was concerned, and that didn’t sit well with him at all.
“Then tell me what you know,” Marlene said fiercely.
Knowing it wasn’t going to make him look good in front of his parents, he still told them the unvarnished truth about his mission to Mexico and his involvement with Sophie. He left out the part about killing the assassin, but judging by the look on his dad’s face, he’d figured out that much. No need to horrify his mother more than necessary.
“Now listen to me, Ma,” Sam said. “This is serious. Our entire family could be in danger. I need you and Dad to do exactly what I tell you. No arguing.” He looked pointedly at his father. “I can’t do my job if I’m worried that you aren’t safe.”
Frank put his arm around Marlene and drew her into his side. “What do you want us to do?”
Sean, who’d been standing just to the side, walked forward so he could be included in the conversation.
“My teams are due to arrive shortly. One will be assigned solely to keep you safe. All of you. No one moves without my men’s say-so, and that includes Rusty.”
Sean scowled. “I’ll keep the little twit in line.”