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 you 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.
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