Page 15 of Hideaway

The previous flames Cade had felt sparking between them had gradually been reduced to mere embers beneath a deluge of emotional turmoil—personal traumas that he had forced her to share and his own traumas that he’d chosen not to. As the passion between them gave way to an emotional communion that was verging on a depth that was out of Cade’s comfort, he pulled away. He dropped his hand from Kara’s hair, looking down and flexing his fingers as though he wasn’t quite sure how they had made it into her blonde locks in the first place. Without another word, Cade turned around and headed for the exit, his riding gear still discarded on the floor where he left it when he’d walked in and spotted Kara with Sugar Cubes.

“Where are you going?” Kara asked, confused by his sudden retreat. He’dtouchedher. It felt as though he’d almostkissedher, though she might have merely imagined the closeness of his lips to hers. She’d shared some very personal details about her life, things that it physically pained her to revisit. And now he was just running away. Why the hell did that hurt so much? “Aren’t you going riding?” she added, trying to sound casual andnotas fucking desperate as she felt.

“I think the little traitor would prefer your company to mine right now,” Cade answered, turning back to look at her with his standard, self-satisfied smirk firmly in place once more. “I’ll see you at dinner, Miss Caine,”Cade bid farewell with a small bow of his head.

Kara was left reeling, alone in Cade’s stables, his horse nuzzling her shoulder to remind her that she’d held her attention before Cade came barging in. Kara stroked the horse’s neck once more as she contemplated what had just transpired between her and Cade. They’d had some sort of strange, unfathomable connection. They’d bantered. He’dapologizedfor hurting her. He’d stared at her lips as though he wanted to fucking devour them. He’d caressed her neck and hair as though he wanted to do more. He’d asked her about her scars and her parents. Oh, and he’d mentioned that someone might want tofucking kill herand claimed she was at his house for her own protection. Could she trust him? Or was it all some new ploy to gain her cooperation? Kara had no fucking idea.

“Caden Ashford is a baffling bastard, isn’t he Sugar?” Kara inquired of the dark beauty of a horse, who seemed to neigh in agreement.

And then Cade’s last words finally resonated. He was expecting her at dinner. With him. And the rest of his criminal company. The exact place she’d been trying to avoid at all costs. The exact situation she’d had every intention of evading even if it meant starvation. Unfortunately, she had a very strong intuition that if she wasn’t present in the dining hall for the evening meal, Cade would come up to her room and drag her down by her hair. So, dinner with Cade it was.

Fucking perfect.

Chapter Five

SHOCKINGLY, dinner had been reasonably uneventful. Cade and his all-male company had discussed business, loudly, allowing Kara to fade gratefully into the background. It was intriguing to observe Cade in his element when his glaring focus wasn’t on her. He was a natural leader, everyone in the room deferring to him as if he was their reigning regent. And she supposed, in a way, he was. Declan was quiet; Ortega was too, but his silence seemed to be borne of an assertive confidence rather than the nerves of inexperience. Jace argued rather aggressively with Braxton over the best approach for infiltrating a government-owned establishment. After careful consideration, Cade agreed with Braxton, eliciting a near meltdown from Jace, who seemed to be the only one moderately interested in taking a stand against Cade. A stern, nearly deadly look from his boss had Jace firmly back in his place. Kara had laughed quietly to herself at how fucking whipped everyone was in Cade’s presence. She could guarantee Cade would never get that kind of blind obedience from her. She would fight him every fucking step of the way.

Forming a routine of evasion, Kara waited until the din from downstairs had dissipated before making her way down the stairs and toward the kitchens. The remnants of that morning’s breakfast smelled delicious, and she was sure Mrs. Hughes would have saved her some leftovers.

“Kara,”the kind woman greeted her warmly as she drew a piping hot tray of scones out of the oven.“I was expecting ye. Those boys dinnae leave a crumb left on that table, ravenous bastards, so I made a fresh batch just for you.”

“They smell divine.”

“I have fresh pots of coffee and tea as well. Which would ye prefer?”

“Coffee would be lovely, thank you,”Kara replied as she added jam and cream to two scones. She was so hungry that she might actually finish the whole tray before the morning was over. Mrs. Hughes handed her a steaming cup of coffee, which Kara accepted gratefully. Her time spent with the kindly cook was definitely her favorite aspect of captivity. In her daily life, Kara didn’t have many people outside of work to share her time with, so finding a friend at Ashford Manor had been a welcome surprise. And she had to admit, Mrs. Hughes’sgossip and whit were stellar.

“So, where are the boys off to this morning?”Kara asked conversationally as she sipped at her coffee.

“Lord if I know. They’re always up to some mischief,”Mrs. Hughes answered, tossing her arms up in the air as if to wash her hands clean of their shenanigans.“They’ll all be back by supper time though. Mr. Ashford has already made a specific request. Spaghetti bolognese. An unusual suggestion for him, but I’ve given up trying to keep up with his culinary interests. He tells me what he wants, and it gets made.”

It might have been an atypical request for Cade, but spaghetti bolognese was Kara’s favorite meal. One of the few consistencies in her life growing up had been Spaghetti Sundays, and it was always a family affair. Even after her parents’ passing, Kara honored their memory by continuing the tradition, slow-cooking spaghetti bolognese every Sunday according to her grandmother’s authentic Italian recipe. The Mancini’s, her mother’s family, did not fuck around with their pasta sauce. But how could Cade possibly know that? Certainly it was just a coincidence?

“What day is it, Mrs. Hughes?”Kara asked hesitantly, an eerie sense of apprehension washing over her.

“It’s Sunday, love. Why do you ask?”

“No reason,”Kara replied quietly, trying to mask the tremble in her voice as she swallowed down her uneasiness. Sunday.Spaghetti Sunday. Perhaps it wasn’t a harmless coincidence after all.

Disturbing Kara from her minor episode of panic, the doors of the kitchen swung open unexpectedly. Kara jolted, just barely managing to keep ahold of her coffee cup, as a villainous, devastatingly dashing, all too familiar figure strutted purposefully into the suddenly too small space she shared with Mrs. Hughes. Cade looked at Kara expectantly, a smug smile on his face.

“Miss Caine,”Cade greeted in a tone that was so uncharacteristically pleasant, Kara immediately felt a strange sense of unease.“I’d rather thought I might find youhidingout here, no doubt engaging in the daily gossip with our good cook, Mrs. Hughes.”Cade’s tone was playfully chiding.

“Let her alone, ye devil,”Mrs. Hughes admonished with a swat of the cloth she was using to dry her hands.“She’s got no need to be wasting away her day with the likes of you lot carrying on with your business and ramblings. She’s more than welcome in my kitchen, and I’ll not have ye scaring her off, pushing her about like ye do everyone else in this damn house.”She eyed Cade sternly as though he were still that little boy running around her kitchen with mud on his trousers and mischief in his smile. He might have grown, and he might not dabble in dirt anymore—at least of the earthen variety—but that mischief in his smile never left.

“My, you’re cheeky this morning, Mrs. Hughes,”Cade remarked with a laugh, his gaze warm as he looked down on the small statured Scotswoman.

“I’m always cheeky, boy. You just haven’t made your way to the kitchens in a while to be reminded of it.”

The subtle reprimand of her tone left Cade feeling a twinge of guilt. She was accurate, of course; he had been rather busy as of late, and the difficult situation with Kara made things even more complicated.“You’re quite right, Mrs. H. Consider me well reminded. Would some of your favorite port from my next trip to Lisbon make it up to you?”

“Ye dinnae need to be getting me anything. Just show your face down here every once in a while so I can remember why I left your mother, crossed an ocean, and took up residence in this bloody country,”Mrs. Hughes responded gruffly, a layer of fondness hidden beneath her brusque words.“But ye ken I’d never say no to port,”she added with a wink.

“Of course,”Cade answered with a chuckle.“Now, I’m afraid I’ll have to steal away Miss Caine.”

Having been so caught up with the unusual interaction between Cade and his cook, Kara startled at being thrown back into the conversation. There was something so easy, soendearingin his manner as he talked with the older woman. Cade exhibited a warmth, a tenderness almost, that she’d never witnessed before. In all honesty, she hadn’t thought a sociopath like Cade would have been capable of such genuine humanity. It perplexed her as much as it gave her hope for a possible escape.

“Me?”Kara questioned with squeak, wary of the darkness of his intentions. After a couple days of peace, Kara had begun to grow comfortable, forgetting the purpose of her temporary residence at Ashford Manor. Would he demand the book? Threaten her? Torture her?Killher?

---