Page 54 of Beware of Dog (Lean Dogs Legacy #6)

When Cass glanced at him, she saw that he’d schooled his features: utterly casual, utterly convincing.

Cass leaned back and caught Raven’s gaze behind her mother’s back. Raven nodded, surprised but pleased.

“That sounds dangerous,” Emily said, tone frightened rather than judgmental.

“Eh. It’s not too bad, most of the time. If you look tough, and you glare at people, they usually back off.”

Emily regarded him a moment, then nodded. “I suppose so.”

Shep’s ears turned pink at the tips.

Cass said, “He’s very good at what he does, Mum.”

Tenny smirked. “What he does being—”

“Provide protection for important clients,” Raven said, loud and pointed.

“Ooh,” Emily said, interest piqued. “Anyone famous?”

“Uh…” Shep said. “Yeah. Sometimes.” Quickly, as Emily was gathering breath for a follow-up, “I can’t say who. They value their privacy, you know?”

“Oh.” Emily deflated, disappointed. “Of course. That makes sense.”

Desperate to change the subject, Cass said, “Mum, Raven’s going to help me with a dress tomorrow. Maybe you’d like to come look at some with us?”

Her face lit up. “That would be wonderful!”

From there, the conversation split once more, guys and gals, and the boys thankfully didn’t get so loud. Raven pulled out her phone to show Emily pictures of Nat, and Emily cooed over her appropriately.

When the plates were cleared, and the waiter went to get their checks, Emily said she needed to go to the restroom. Shep and Cass slid out of the booth to let her by, but she paused at the edge of the table and said, “Cassandra, would you come with me?”

She’d been dreading this moment all evening. “Yeah.”

The bathroom was glassy green tile and faux marble counters, cool and lemon-scented. Clean, and, thankfully, empty.

Emily didn’t head for a stall. Instead, she set her purse on the counter and regarded her reflection a moment. Pushed her glasses up onto her forehead and dug a compact from her bag to dab beneath her eyes where her earlier tears had caked her makeup.

“Mum,” Cass started, and Emily snapped the compact shut and turned to her, tremulous smile breaking across her face.

“You sound worried. Don’t be worried, darling.”

Cass let out a shaky breath. “I know you think it’s strange. It is strange.” To Emily. To Cass it was the most natural thing in the world. “You can say it.”

Emily rolled her eyes to the ceiling, but her smile stretched, and steadied.

“It isn’t strange . I was surprised. I still think of you as this little girl.

My little girl. And he’s…he’s a man. A grown man.

” Her gaze dropped to Cass. “But you’re not a little girl, not anymore.

You’re a woman. And he looks like a man. But he’s…”

“Still mentally thirteen?” Cass guessed.

“Perhaps not quite that young.” Still smiling, she said, “How old is he actually?”

Cass folded her arms to keep from fidgeting. “Do you really want to know?”

“Yes.”

Cass braced herself. “Forty-six.”

But Emily, cheerful, optimistic, tilted her head and considered. “Older than I thought,” she said, but without negativity. Her expression turned almost sad. “He’ll be elderly before you are, darling.”

Cass swallowed hard. “I know that.”

“Is he good to you?”

“Very.” It was an answer she could give immediately, and without reservation.

“There’s…” she started, and thought maybe that’s too much , but then she thought about what she’d meant to say.

Thought about Shep in all his uncouth, grouchy, charmless wonder, and knew that it was the right thing to say.

“I’ve never had a man treat me this well before.

No one.” Not even, she didn’t need to say, the ones related to her by blood.

Emily’s brows lifted, face smoothing with quiet shock. “Well.” She nodded.

Cass let out a deep breath and felt the last of her nervous tension drain away. “I’m happy, Mum. I really am.”

Emily smiled. “I can tell.” She sniffed, and rubbed at her nose with a knuckle, but thankfully didn’t tear up. She gazed at Cass a long moment, still smiling. “I’m so proud of you, darling.”

“For getting married?”

“For following your heart. For being brave enough to come here, and study your art, and be with the man who takes care of you.” Then the tears formed, big fat droplets that gathered on her lower lids.

“Oh, Mum…”

“No, no.” She swiped a hand through the air and blinked hard. “Happy tears, happy tears.”

Cass stepped in close to hug her, and it felt like another hurdle had been cleared.

~*~

The rest of the Tennessee contingent arrived on Thursday morning, courtesy of Ian’s jet. Raven had volunteered to host them, and Cass wasn’t sure if it was better to be there already when they arrived, or show up afterward.

“You’re so nervous it’s making me nervous,” Shep said, while she adjusted her top in front of the bedroom mirror.

“I’m not nervous,” she said, and when she smoothed her hair, her exhale was audibly shivery.

“Yeah. Uh-huh. Who is it? Walsh? Fox?”

“And Shane, and Albie, and their old ladies. And the girls: Violet and Abbie.”

“Maybe they won’t commit murder in front of their kids.”

“We can only hope.”

Tenny and Reese rode over with them, and Cass was grateful for their presence; more grateful still when they stepped off the elevator and Tenny stepped out first, leading the way.

“Seriously?” Shep asked. “I don’t actually need a human shield, bro.”

Tenny half-turned as he walked, hand clasped to his chest, expression mock-touched. “Babe, did you hear? He called me ‘bro.’ We’re brothers.”

“In-law,” Shep stressed. “And not fucking yet, so don’t test me.”

Chuckling, Tenny walked the last few feet to the door and let them in with the key. Voices spilled down the hall, not loud, but many of them, and overlapping.

Shep hesitated at the threshold. “Shit,” he murmured. “That’s a lot of British.”

Cass took his hand and, heart pounding, donned a smile she didn’t feel and tugged him forward in Tenny’s wake. “Let’s rip off the bandage.”

“If he shoots me,” he said, “wear something hot to my funeral.”

She laughed, and was still laughing when they entered the crowded living room.

The laughter dried up quickly when her gaze traveled around the room and she saw that every one of her brothers, save Phillip, was all crammed into the same space.

Raven’s flat was huge, but there were so many of them that it looked cramped, now.

Several calls of, “Hey!” went up.

Movement pulled Cass’s attention in multiple directions: Eden scooping up Abbie before she could snatch a crystal swan off the coffee table; Emmie standing up from the sofa; Violet launching forward with a cry of “Uncle Ten!” and bolting straight for him.

“Whoa, gremlin,” Tenny said, and caught Violet; swung her up into his arms while she shouted with delight.

“Great,” Shep muttered under his breath. “The human shield has a human shield.”

Cass squeezed his hand, but didn’t have a retort. Was grateful that Reese stepped up beside her.

“Hi!” Axelle came in for a hug.

And then Eden, Abbie giggling between them.

Emmie reached her next, and said, “You look great!” before wrapping both arms around her. When she pulled back, she whispered, “Don’t worry. It’s gonna be fine.” Her gaze cut toward Shep as she retreated, and she shot Cass a well done glance, brows waggling.

Charlie, she’d noted straight away, was perched on one of the stools at the kitchen island, turned toward the door.

He held a drink in one hand, something amber on the rocks, and his posture was deceptively casual, one elbow braced on the counter, shoulders relaxed. She didn’t think he’d blinked once.

King had been on the sofa with Emmie, and he stood now, walked around the end table, and headed toward them.

Fox got all the credit for being the main spook of the family; even Tenny and Reese deferred to him, personally and professionally.

But unless Phil was around, King was the head of the family.

The patriarch. His usual demeanor was one of cool indifference, and so Cass forgot, sometimes, that he was capable of looking as scary as he did now, when he approached them, hands empty, but face a masterclass of subtle English disapproval.

Shep was a head taller than him, but his hand tightened on Cass’s.

She had already decided that if Walsh did something as foolish as try to forbid their union, she was going to run away with Shep, even if she had to coerce him into doing so.

She wasn’t going to walk the same path as Ava Lécuyer.

She had suffered so that others in a similar position didn’t have to.

Walsh reached them, and halted. Said nothing, gaze fixing on Shep.

“Hello, King,” Cass said. “I’m glad you could make it.”

He stared at Shep.

And Shep, because he was not one of Devin Green’s progeny, and didn’t do stoicism, sighed and said, “Just spit it out, man. If I’m gonna have to stich my own lip in the mirror, I’d rather get it over with.”

Raven, puttering in the kitchen, covered her mouth with one hand and managed to turn a laugh into a cough.

Walsh’s gaze, still pinned on Shep, narrowed. “You were Army?”

“Ranger. Two tours. Medic.”

“You patched up Toly after the bratva mess?”

The man himself stood at the kitchen sink, and Cass saw his shoulders go still and tight at mention of his name.

“Yeah,” Shep said, and Cass waited for him to elaborate, to talk about what a mess it was, how fucked up and scarred Toly’s legs were to this day.

That Cass had hovered at his elbow, digging things out of his med kit when he asked for them, flicking a drop of sweat off the end of his nose without prompt while he concentrated on his task, more serious than she’d ever seen him.

But he left it at yeah .

Walsh studied him another long, tense moment. “What’s your favorite thing about Cass?” he asked, finally.

“Oh, please,” Cass muttered.

Emmie said, “King, really?”

From his stool, Fox piped up: “If you say ‘tits,’ fair warning, that’s the wrong answer.”

“Good God,” Eden muttered. “This is ridiculous.”

Albie said, “No. Answer the question.”

Miles started to say something, and Albie shushed him.

Clinging piggyback to Tenny like a little blonde lemur, Violet said, “What’s happening?”

In a bright voice, Tenny said, “Your daddy’s trying to decide if he needs to commit murder.”

“Don’t tell her that,” Emmie said. “Don’t listen to him. Uncle Ten is just kidding.”

Shep leaned in closer to her, and said, in a stage whisper, “You told Tenny to shut his hole. You not gonna tell this one that?”

King’s eyes widened. Only a fraction, but a telling fraction. A muscle flexed in his jaw.

Cass saw the way forward, and leaped at it. “He so rarely opens his hole. I’m afraid if I told him to shut it, he’d never open it again.”

Fox grinned.

Someone, Shane probably, stifled a laugh.

Emmie pressed her fingertips to her mouth, hard, and her big eyes said she was trying not to laugh as well.

Shep nodded, straightened, and told Walsh, “My favorite thing about her is she never stops giving me shit. Just always, non-stop.” He smirked. “Kinda like she’s giving you shit, now. She’s little, but she’s got big balls.”

Raven turned in the kitchen and flashed them a double thumbs-up.

Walsh stared at Shep…and then blinked. At last. He turned his head toward Cass, and his expression was a bored sort of withering. “He’s terrible,” he decreed, deadpan. “I hate him.” Then turned and walked back to the couch, no shots fired.