“Meghan, Ma’am.” The woman’s slender frame bobbed in an honest to Gods curtsey.
“Where the hell does he find you people?” Quinn waved away Meghan’s confusion with a shake of her head then lifted the still grumbling Adam a little higher in offering. Her shoulder was beginning to ache, the burn of Kahler’s bite clawing its way down her arm in violent red pulses. “Could you help me out here please, Meghan?”
When Quinn didn’t attack her after the first slow step towards the bed, Meghan came to them and lifted Adam from Quinn’s arms with a deft expertise that Quinn felt envious of. The ache in her shoulder was nothing compared to the ache she felt as Adam’s weight was taken away.
As Meghan shuffled away, Quinn cleared her throat with a small frown. It was a strange sensation. She had gone through a phase where she had dreamed of being someone’s mate, of having a multitude of children. But it had been all too brief, crushed away under the reality of poverty and occasional homelessness. By the time she’d been sixteen and under Alton’s employ as a runner, the thought was all but forgotten. Even he had never made demands for offspring, careful to keep all of his women safe on birth control.
“Ma’am,” Meghan questioned in a faint whisper, the stink of anxiety surging as she stared at Quinn with wide eyes.
“I’m sorry, what?” Blinking away the fog of discomfort and memories, Quinn began the process of unraveling her body from the twisted sheets.
“A-after I change him, he n-needs to eat.” Meghan swallowed and the dry click of her throat was loud. “Mr. Kahler has said I’m to bring Adam back to you whenever I’m not tending to him.”
“I have a better idea.” Quinn dragged herself from the bed, pressing her knees tight against the side of the mattress when they tried to fold under her. “I want you to show me how to do it.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The words may have been deferential, but Meghan’s tone was nothing but confusion and doubt as she watched Quinn head towards the door. The soft angles of the woman’s face began to fold in, scrunching into a look of dismay that was comical.
“You coming or what,” Quinn asked over her shoulder as she reached for the handle of the door. It was then she saw the bastard hadn’t bothered to bandage her up while she slept. The bite was raw and livid, smears of red still staining her skin. No wonder Meghan had looked a little ill when she’d first come in.
“Ma’am, um… perhaps you would like to dress?”
“Why would I?” No, let everyone see what she was subjected to. Let Kahler get angry. He’d done this to her, why would he not want to see his handiwork to remind Quinn so well of how close she had come to caring for him.
“Ma’am…?”
“Curtis has seen me in all kinds of states, and unless you or Adam has an issue…”
“Mr. Kahler won’t like it, ma’am.”
“Yeah, he won’t.” Quinn’s smile was a bitter slash.
Chapter 13
Opening the door wide, Quinn stepped out into the cool hallway with her head high. Nerves jangling in discomfort at the display, skin crawling at the idea of anyone seeing her, she half-turned to sweep an arm in an invitation for Meghan to lead the way.
Hurrying past, Meghan headed for the nursery. She kept close to the wall, no doubt hoping Quinn would do the same. The whole game would be moot if Quinn hid now. Quinn veered towards the rail, trying her damnedest not to look down. No male roars of outrage filtered up from the lower level, giving her a little more space to breathe.
Inside the nursery, there was a brief shuffle as Meghan and Quinn arranged themselves alongside the changing table. Quick, efficient motions saw the grumpy, babbling Adam stripped, cleaned, and diapered before Quinn could even think to ask a question. His toothless smile was brilliant and made her heart stutter just a little when he turned it on her.
Quinn’s answering smile crept into uncertainty as Meghan scooped Adam back up and headed towards the door. Trailing behind her, Quinn took several deep breaths to gather some calm with a brittle smile plastered on her face.
A litany of silent curses and pleas to the Gods for Meghan to not head towards the stairs leading down fell on deaf ears. Meghan glanced back just once, the faded brown of her brows knitting before she began to descend.
“You’re just a piece of meat,” Quinn muttered under her breath as she took the stairs down, toes curling into the soft carpet lining them. Refusing the banister, knowing it would show a white knuckled grip, she descended with exaggerated care. Goosebumps covered the backs of her arms and legs, drawing the skin tight as she imagined scores of eyes on her.
They made the stairs and even the first long hall to the main areas of the house without seeing a soul. They were almost to the turnoff for Kahler’s office and the sitting room when Meghan headed down another path, one Quinn had never been allowed to explore. So sure the bastard would be in his office now and could be altogether avoided, she dared to think she might get through this unscathed.
She should have known better than to let that first flicker of hope to blossom, should have tamped it down with her heel the second it popped into existence.
Quinn’s breath left her in a rush as Meghan shied away, cowering against the wall with Adam tucked close to her chest.
Kahler stood there.
Not just him, but two other males and a woman.
There was no recognition for the other three people. She’d never seen them before. The warmth blossoming in her chest, spreading up her neck and face, promised a vivid blush suffusing her skin. There was no backing down now. Quinn bounced her eyebrows once at the trio, daring them to look, to fuckingseewhat she’d been subjected to. Three sets of eyes went to the claiming mark and the fresh bite before rushing to turn away. The smaller male went so far as to face the wall as if giving her his back would somehow change anything.
If Quinn had expected an immediate explosion of rage from Kahler, she’d been mistaken. After the way he had acted the previous day, the cold fury he’d exhibited when he’d ravaged her shoulder yet again, she should have known better.
