"I was tasting, not eating," Malichai called back. "Do you have eyes in the back of your head, Grand-mere? Every cook has got to taste his food."
"If you did the cookin' I might believe you, boy, but I did the cookin' and you keep doin' the tastin'."
Ezekiel stood just inside the kitchen laughing as Nonny chased Malichai out of the room with her tea towel. "I'm sorry about my brother's manners, ma'am. He was raised a heathen, and I suppose there's no changing him."
"I'll cut me a switch out of that tree in the backyard," Nonny threatened. "Ezekiel, you did good with the boy. He just loves his food a little too much."
Malichai swept his arm around Nonny, sneaking up on her from behind. "Is there really such a thing as loving food too much, Grand-mere? Especially when you're the one who did the cooking?"
He kissed her on the cheek. "Watching you cook is a thing of beauty."
"I'll admit that's true," Wyatt said. He picked up the food warmers and took them to the table.
"Wyatt, bring down the wooden high chair from the attic. It's right in front covered with an old sheet. Ginger will need it," Nonny instructed.
"I need to check on Pepper. Ezekiel, do you mind getting the chair?" Wyatt cleared his throat. "While you're at it, take a good look at the photograph on the wall at the top of the stairs."
Ezekiel sent him a sharp look. "I looked last night."
Wyatt let out his breath. He hadn't even realized he'd been holding it. His gaze shifted to Malichai. Of course Ezekiel would share information with his brother. He read knowledge in Malichai's eyes.
"Puts a whole different light on things," Malichai said. "We'll get those kids out of there, Wyatt."
"Thanks." He felt humble.
He was more than lucky to have such good friends, who knew they'd be risking their lives, but didn't hesitate. And Nonny; who had a grandmother who wouldn't hesitate to accept children who had lethal bites? He would have to consider how to minimize the risk to her. He couldn't overlook the fact that an accidental bite from one of the babies could kill. He definitely would have to cap their teeth as an interim solution.
And what the hell was Whitney's end game? There had to be one. This was no coincidence. Had the attack on his grandmother been orchestrated in order for her to call one of her sons home? Had Whitney known all his brothers were out of the country? That was a possibility, but how could he know Wyatt and the others were wounded? He couldn't have orchestrated that event. Or could he have? It was odd that his team had been ambushed the way they had. Could Whitney have been behind that?
What had Pepper said? She'd arrived at the laboratory two months earlier with the three children. Two months. Why had they waited two full months before issuing termination orders on the babies?
He stalked back to the bedroom. He could hear the baby laughing as she blew strawberries against Pepper's neck. The moment he stepped into the room, he felt the love Pepper surrounded the child with. He also felt pain beating at her. Leaning one hip against the doorjamb, he studied the two of them. He knew they were aware of his presence. How could they not be? They were both GhostWalkers.
"Ginger, I hope you're hungry," he greeted softly. "Nonny has fixed breakfast and it looks wonderful. Go on into the kitchen and eat. I'll be right in. Nonny will help you."
The child looked at Pepper. He couldn't feel the shift in energy, but they definitely communicated with one another. Ginger slipped off the bed and hurried out of the room, running on her little bare feet. He'd wanted to get a good look at her feet and made a mental note to examine them soon.
"When were the orders to terminate the children given?"
"About three weeks ago." Pepper turned her head to look up at him. "Why?"
Wyatt sighed. He didn't know this woman. Could she be part of a conspiracy? She looked innocent enough. Beguiling was more like it. She'd already admitted to him she was made to be a seductress for Whitney.
"Where were you and the children before you came here?"
"In France. At a laboratory in France."
"Yet you speak excellent English. Your accent is flawless."
"I speak several languages." Pepper struggled into a sitting position, clenching her teeth when pain beat at her. "Why? What's wrong?"
He felt the same pain, a blow to his system, and had to breathe deep until he could accept and absorb it as she was doing. He steeled himself to interrogate her. He had to be certain before he put his team and his family in danger.
"What's wrong is this all seems like an enormous coincidence to me. When did you first meet the children?"
She frowned at him and lifted a hand to push back the stray tendrils of hair tumbling around her face. The action lifted her breasts, immediately drawing attention to her body. He detested that his body reacted to her. That made him suspicious as well. He was a doctor, and he had both control and discipline. He'd never had a problem looking at female patients in his life. Not ever. Not once. Until Pepper.
Now, all of a sudden, he couldn't get this woman out of his mind. He wanted to keep her. Make her his own. Keep her. Make it permanent. Hell. What was wrong with him? The driving need seemed to be so strong, he felt primitive when he was around her. Caveman primitive. He'd always been dominant, but he had never been jealous, not even of Joy when he stupidly and mistakenly thought he was in love with her. But this one... Pepper. He didn't want his own friends coming near her.
"I think they were born in the same laboratory where I was kept. I was put in charge of caring for them when they were about three months old. I didn't mind. I didn't have a family, and I loved spending time with them. I was told when their teeth came in they might be dangerous but that I was immune to the venom." She pressed her lips together and shook her head. "They neglected to tell me all three babies carried both types of venom and I wasn't yet immune to viper venom."
"And that's what they were trying to do with you? Create an antidote to either of the two types of snakebites? A universal donor, so to speak."
She nodded slowly, her strange eyes moving over his face. "Yes. Without causing so many allergic reactions. But then suddenly, after my fight with Braden, we were told we were being moved."
"Right after?"
She wasn't lying to him. He knew the truth
when he heard it. Every small nuance of her voice, every tone, every breathy sound, connected to him.
"No. It was a few weeks later. Suddenly. Almost out of the blue. We boarded a private jet. The company, Wilson Plastics, has their own corporate jet. They flew us to a military base and then brought us here. That was just over two months ago."
"And yet they didn't issue termination orders until a couple of weeks ago."
She nodded again, her gaze never leaving his face. "That's correct, although I knew what that place was. I didn't know why suddenly they would want to get rid of us. I actually thought it was me they were going to terminate. I wasn't cooperating with them. They wanted to use me to assassinate someone and I refused."
"Who?"
"A sergeant major in the Marine Corps. He's a good man, at least when I did some research on him, he appeared to be. He's married, and they told me it would be difficult to get him to have an affair with me. They could get me in to work in his office, and I was to take it from there."
"Which sergeant major?"
"His name was Sergeant Major Theodore Griffen."
Wyatt stiffened. Sergeant Major Theodore Griffen ran one of the GhostWalker teams. He sighed and shook his head. "Why would they allow you to research this man if they knew you had scruples? Why not just send you off, spinnin' a story about how he's sellin' out his country?"
"I don't know." At his piercing look she shook her head. "I swear to you, I don't know."
"Did you know those three children are my children?" He watched her face carefully. If she had known, she was a damned good actress. Her face was a total mask of shock. "This mornin', right on that bed, you casually said Ginger looked more like me than you."
"Yes, but that's because you asked if she was mine. You said she looked like me and I just pointed out that she looked like both of us..." She trailed off, inhaling deeply. Her face went pale, more than pale; stark white.
Pepper felt her heart go crazy. Hammering. Hard. Her lungs burned, refused to draw in air properly. He stood over her, intimidating when men didn't intimidate her. Tempting when men didn't tempt her. Beautiful when men shouldn't be beautiful, and he was telling her the three little girls she loved so dearly could very well be their children. His. Hers. Theirs. A tidal wave rolled over her stomach and she shook her head.