Page 105 of Dangerous Games (Tempting SEALs 2)

"He didn't believe you belonged to him." The words stopped Clint as he headed for the door. He froze in his tracks for a long second before turning back to her. "What did you say?" He shook his head in confusion. She squared her shoulders and for the first time that he could remember, she looked him in the eye. Not that the look was in any way comforting. There was no regret there, no warmth. Just the same cool gray gaze he had always known.

"He didn't believe you belonged to him." There was a curious light in her eyes, almost one of interest, as though she wondered how he would react.

He didn't react at all. He didn't give a shit one way or the other what the bastard thought of him, but he was curious as to whether or not he shared blood with the man he had known as his biological father.

"Did I?"

"Of course you did. I may have been a whore, Clinton, but I was a careful one. You were his."

The mocking quirk at the corner of her lips no longer had the power to hurt him or to make him angry. It served instead to emphasize the fact that she really didn't give a damn.

"So why did he believe otherwise?"

She sighed as though tired, turning away from him and pacing to a tall shelf on the other side of the room. There, numerous picture frames graced the shelves. There were a few family pictures, but most of them were of Raven, Raven and their father, Raven and their mother. There were very few of Clint.

"I never claimed to be a good mother." Her lips flattened as she stared back at him. "But lately, as I've realized how quickly age is creeping up on me, I've regretted many things. I let him believe it, because it hurt him. It hurt him the way it hurt me each time he went to another woman. Each time he came home and spent his nights away from the house. So I let him believe it."

"You let him beat the hell out of me."

"You survived."

He had the impression she would have rolled her eyes if she weren't too scared to.

"I survived?" he snapped. "I could barely move for days, damn you. He took that fucking belt of his and beat the shit out of me and you didn't even care enough to keep him from catching you whenever you screwed around. I was a child."

"And you're a man now," she shot back, as cold and unfeeling as she had ever been. "Your father was raised to believe the strap was the only answer to anything. He never broke your bones; he didn't leave scars. It wasn't my fault he blamed my infidelities on you."

"It was your place to protect your children." H

is fists clenched at his sides, not because he wanted to strike her, but because in that moment he realized how much of his life he had wasted caring one way or the other why his parents had done anything.

"He was a hard man, but he provided for you." She finally shrugged. "You and I, we were never close. Even when you were a baby, you didn't care much for me." Her lips twisted bitterly, accusingly. "You didn't want to be held and cuddled like Raven did. You were always content to be alone, unless you needed to be fed or changed. You didn't want a mother; you wanted a caretaker."

He blinked back at her in surprise.

"You're as crazy as he was," he finally said softly, not really surprised or shocked.

"I'm not crazy, Clinton." Her smile was mocking. "I didn't want children; your father did. He forced me to conceive you, and then he convinced himself you didn't belong to him. I didn't claim I was right or wrong, but I knew he would never kill you, nor maim you. You grew up fine."

He grew up to hate his parents; he grew up with a cynicism and distrust that had shadowed his every move, his every relationship.

"You're more like him than you know." She crossed her arms over her breasts and watched him with calculated interest. "A Navy SEAL. He lived for the service, for his men. You even look like him now. He would have been proud of you had he lived."

Joy-joy. The distaste Clint felt as he watched her filled his mouth with a sour taste. This woman had borne him, nothing more. She hadn't been a mother then, and she wasn't a mother now.

"So, are you marrying the Chavez girl?" she asked curiously. "She's been flipping her tail around you for years. Did you know she came to see me the other day?"

He watched Linda closely. "No, 1 didn't know that." "Yes." She smiled coolly. "She was upset. She tore into me quite furiously, actually. I'm surprised you told her about the beatings. You were always very aware of family loyalty, even as a child. You've changed over the years."

"Family loyalty," he murmured mockingly. "There would have to be a family first, Mother."

Her lips tightened in irritation. "As I said, she was upset. Very protective." Rather than the sneer he expected, there was a slight softening to her lips, a glimmer of respect in her eyes. But her next words came close to pissing him off. "Did she finally manage to get you to knock her up? Is that why you're getting married?"

He shook his head, admitting that maybe he was in shock. His mother had more nerve than he gave her credit for.

"She isn't pregnant," he said, dazed when he knew he shouldn't be.

The knowledge that Morganna had been there shouldn't have surprised him. He should have expected it. She was like a tigress. It didn't matter that in this, he needed no protection; he had been defending himself against his family most of his life.

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