Chapter 10

Six hours later, Cat woke to Declan staring at her. He reached out to touch her face and she stopped him. "I meant what I said before. I can't do this."

Looking down at his pants that were still on, he smiled. "Don't think we did."

"Declan, I ..." Her voice stumbled and then she took a breath. "This is just complicated."

As her words slipped from her mouth, the sexy smile turned into an angry frown. Throwing the blankets from them, he shook his head. "It's always been about Reynolds. Just admit it."

"What the hell?" Cat rumbled, staring at him as the cool of the black slid over her scantily clad body.

"Your jumps ... always about Mal. Claim to love my dad, yet, where the hell is he? Dead ... dying ... or just an inconvenience?"

"You better be glad you're 'Ski's son, Declan," Cat warned, a fury in her eyes he'd only read about.

"Thrilled, I assure you." He looked at her for a moment and then shook his head. "You know what I really want to know, Cat? Just this. How the hell can a woman that runs as hot as you be so damn cold?"

"What?" The statement took her a second to process, and by then Declan had gotten out of bed.

"Need to go for a walk."

Cat wasn't used to someone raising his voice in anger at her, at least not when it came to her mission, but for a moment, it felt almost perversely good. 'Ski never fought with her, at least not for real. If anything, they settled their disagreements with a good spar, ones that could have led further, but then her husband always respected her wishes. 'Ski knew her ... like no one else did. No one ...

"You don't know me," she snarled, guilt flaring into anger.

"Does anyone? Have you ever let anyone inside those damn walls of yours so they get to know the real you?" He glared at her, his hands on his hips.

"You wouldn't like the real me."

"How the hell do you know?"

"Trust me." She controlled her other half, trying to regain her calm. "Those stories they told ... the ones about me ... they've giv