Her mocking comment was forestalled by the waitress. As she took their orders the old-fashioned bell above the entrance door announced new arrivals.

The couple that walked into the room was so unexpected, the sight of them such a shock, that only years of training helped her maintain her composure.

It was all she could do to set her coffee cup on the table and force her fingers not to tremble. In the time she and Jessie had been coming to the café this was the first time she’d seen members of the Maddox family there.

The Maddox Clan headed the Kin, a mountain-based militia group with tentacles reaching from one coast to another. What had begun as a small anchor group decades before her birth had turned into much more before she’d been forced to disappear. So much more that no matter where she’d run, they’d managed to find her.

Moving slowly across the room, the current wife of the head of the Clan, Lucia Neely Maddox, moved gracefully across the floor. Her long dark hair was piled haphazardly on her head and held with a clip. White linen shorts and a matching sleeveless blouse were paired with a pale yellow belt and matching strappy leather sandals. She looked cool and relaxed, and distant. Despite the friendly smile curving her pale-pink lips, Kenni could still see the cool reservation in the other woman’s expression.

Behind her the eldest son of the family moved like a predator, his intense emerald-green eyes narrowed and suspicious as he watched everything while appearing to watch nothing.

Cord Maddox was rumored to be even harder, colder, than his father. He oversaw the Kin in the area and kept up with those in other areas while running his teams with a fierce determination that made a drill sergeant look like a Sunday school teacher.

And he and Mrs. Maddox were headed toward the table where she sat with Jessie and Slade. Now, wasn’t that just what she needed?

“Annie, I was hoping to go to the school and clean out the classroom sometime this week,” Jessie stated, dragging Kenni’s attention to her. “My resignation was official the last day of school.” Her smile was excited but tinged with a hint of regret. “I thought I’d get everything ready for the new teacher they’re bringing in.”

Lucia Maddox and her stepson were right behind them.

“New teachers are always welcome, but we’ll miss you, Jessie.” Lucia Maddox moved to the side of the table, allowing her to face Jessie.

“Luce, how are you?” Pleased surprise filled Jessie’s face.

Rising from her chair, Jessie moved around her husband to give the other woman a warm, welcoming hug. “How are you doing?”

“Fine,” Lucia answered, the warm smile that curved her lips not reaching the somber blue eyes. “Things have just been incredibly busy. I saw Slade’s car parked outside and hoped you were here. I hadn’t seen you in forever.”

“Sit with us.” Jessie waved her hand to the extra chairs at a nearby empty table. “Have a cup of coffee. It’s been ages since we’ve talked.”

“Cord?” Luce turned back to her stepson. “Are we in a hurry?”

She could feel his eyes on her, probing, icy cold. She knew that brilliant-green gaze would be like shards of emerald ice. Suspicion was a part of him, so deeply ingrained that she doubted he’d ever trust anyone.

“I’m sorry, Luce.” Cool and lacking any regret he answered her, his deep voice pitched low. “I have to get those papers back to the house for Dad to go over.” He turned to Slade then. “I hear congratulations are in order, though.” A quirk of his lips hinted at the sincerity of the expression as Cord extended his hand to Slade.

“Thank you.” Slade’s grin was proud as hell.

Yes, the ties that bound Slade, Jazz, and Zack to the Kin were still just as tight as ever, if not tighter. It was there in the undercurrents of familiarity and friendship, as well as a hint of wariness the two men shared with each other.

“Ready then?” Cord turned to Luce, his powerful shoulders shifting, tension rippling beneath them.

“Of course.” A little moue of disappointment shaped her lips as she turned back to Jessie. “I’m sorry, hon, maybe you could come out to the house one morning for coffee? Your friend could come as well. Annie, isn’t it? You’re a teacher as well?”

“I’m so rude,” Jessie exclaimed in horror. “Annie, this is Luce Maddox and her stepson Cord. They live in that big old creepy house everyone talks about farther up the mountain.” The laughter in Jessie’s voice had Luce’s eyes crinkling for a second in amusement. “Luce, Cord, this is one of our kindergarten teachers, Annie Mayes.”

“Mrs. Maddox.” Kenni accepted her handshake, thankful her palms hadn’t become damp with nerves. “Mr. Maddox.”

His handshake was firm, his palms callused. She was careful not to look at him directly, certain if she did then he would see her for the liar she was. Her brothers had always known the second they looked in her eyes that she was lying, or so they had always claimed.

“My father is Mr. Maddox,” he seemed to growl. “I’m just Cord.”

“And ‘just’ Cord will drive like a lunatic if I don’t let him leave,” Luce laughed softly. “Annie, do join Jessie and come for coffee one day. I’d love to visit.”

“Of course,” Kenni murmured.

There wasn’t a chance in hell. She wouldn’t step into that house if her life depended on it right now.

Cord might think she hadn’t seen the dark hint of disapproval in his expression when Lucia made the suggestion, but she had. Not that it mattered; he had nothing to fear where a visit from her was concerned.

Luce said her good-byes and moved ahead of Cord to leave. The brevity of the visit was frightening. They couldn’t stay for coffee but they could stop, come into the café, and make a point of mentioning that she was only there to say hello to Jessie and Slade? There was more to it.

“Well, that’s Luce for you,” Jessie said, shaking her head. “I’d have thought she’d have stayed a minute to chat.”

The worry in Jessie’s voice had Kenni watching her curiously.

“Poor Luce,” Jessie said softly as Cord and his stepmother disappeared from view.

“Poor Luce?” Kenni turned to her, deliberately keeping the inquiry in her tone mild. “Is she okay?”

“I hear she and Vinny aren’t getting along well,” Jessie said. “She should have never accepted his proposal so soon after his wife’s and daughter’s deaths. Now she just seems so unhappy.”

Luce had married Vincent “Vinny” Maddox less than a year after his wife of over twenty-five years and his sixteen-year-old daughter had died. What had the woman expected? Though there were those who swore Luce and Vinny had been having an affair long before her sister, Sierra Maddox, had been killed.

“And there’s nothing you can do to help her either way,” Slade reminded her. “Let the Maddoxes take care of themselves, sweetheart, it’s better that way.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not like Luce listens to anyone anyway.” Jessie shrugged, her gaze resigned.

Thankfully, Jessie dropped the subject of the Maddox clan. It was a subject better left lying at the moment.

Kenni finished her coffee and the sweet rolls she’d ordered as conversation turned to less controversial subjects. Namely, whether or not Jessie could convince Kenni to help her clear out her schoolroom. Before they left the café, Kenni couldn’t help but laugh with Slade as he tried to convince them that cleaning out the classroom could wait a week or two, then groaned in male resignation when Jessie told him to just give it up.

She enjoyed visiting with both of them, though they didn’t talk as freely, nor did Jessie give her quite as much gossip on the locals, with Slade there. It wasn’t often he joined Jessie, though with the pregnancy he had become very protective.

As they left the café Kenni looked around as though simply enjoying the view and the weather. Eyes narrowed against the sunlight as she looked for any possible threats. That earlier sense of being watched returned the second she stepped outside, stronger now than it had been before.