Chapter 20 #2
She cut him off. “I do! If you have decided to break it off with the countess, then that is the right decision, especially as you intend to provide for both her and the child.”
He reached for and found her hand and he refused to let it go.
“I came here with supper, but that was only an excuse to call. I needed to see you and tell you everything, and I needed to know that you do not think badly of me for what I have done. You have no idea how relieved I am. Your opinion means everything to me, Maggie.”
She wet her lips. “I am glad you are not marrying her.” Then, “I can help with the child, if you ever need my help that way.”
He was overwhelmed. She would help him, never mind that his child belonged to another woman. “Come here,” he said. It was reflexive on his part—he put his arm around her and leaned down to claim her lips.
She froze.
He hesitated, teetering there on the brink of a second kiss. But this would not be casual or impulsive; this kiss meant everything. He looked into her eyes. “May I?”
She hesitated and then nodded.
He put both arms around her, found her lips and gently opened them.
His heart felt as if it had expanded impossibly, with more profound emotion than he had ever felt before.
He felt her hands on his shoulders, her response to his lips, and urgency exploded in him.
Because he had never felt such frantic need before, he quickly pulled away.
Maggie stared, dazed.
He felt as stunned as she appeared. “The countess was right to be jealous of you,” he finally whispered. “Because it has always been you that I want, not her.”
Leigh Anne was in the girls’ bedroom with both girls and Mrs. Flowers. Katie had put her own linen nightdress on and Mrs. Flowers was preparing Dot for bed. Leigh Anne sat in her chair, close to the bed, a book in her hand. As always, she would read to them for a few minutes.
But she strained to hear the front door opening downstairs.
It was almost eight. Rick often worked late, but Leigh Anne could not help herself now.
She had been listening for the front door for hours, waiting for his footstep, for his news.
At first the act had been subconscious, but now she was very aware of what she was doing.
When he had left that morning, he had told her he would meet O’Donnell and give him the money.
He had also said he would telephone the house the moment it was over.
There had been no call. Leigh Anne had called headquarters herself a few hours ago, and she had been told that Bragg was in the field.
She hadn’t left a message, but Sergeant Shea had called the house recently to tell her that Bragg was on his way and she was to know that all was well.
What did that mean? She tried to reassure herself.
She could not help but think that if all had truly gone well, Bragg would have called to tell her himself.
Still, she knew the life he lived. Anything might have happened to prevent him from either meeting O’Donnell or calling her to tell her what had happened.
Likely some police affair had prevented him from picking up the telephone.
“Mama?” Katie shyly approached, her eyes dark and huge and searching. “Why are you so sad?”
“Darling, I am not sad,” she cried, smiling brightly.
She reached out for her and Katie slipped awkwardly into her arms. Once, Leigh Anne had despaired to try to embrace her daughter from the special chair.
Now the embrace was firm. She understood the slightly awkward manner in which they had to cling, but dismay and despair did not fill her heart in response.
An image flashed in her mind, as it had all day, of her husband smiling down at her, his eyes dark with desire as he moved over her, in her, straining with her to reach that miraculous place of completion, of wonder, of love.
Warmth tingled through Leigh Anne’s body, causing her skin to turn hot.
She released Katie, smiling a little, still dazed whenever she dared to recall what had happened in their bed last night.
But her body was a traitor to her mind. She knew she was crippled and ugly, yet her body begged her for his.
The front door slammed.
Leigh Anne started. “Katie, darling, help me into the hall!”
“It’s only Papa,” Katie said.
“Hurry!” Leigh Anne cried. Her heart raced even more quickly now, fear so swiftly replacing the treacherous desire.
Katie wheeled her from the bedroom and down the short corridor to the top of the stairs. Leigh Anne saw Bragg in the front hall. He looked up at her—and he smiled.
Relief caused her to collapse in her chair. It was all right, she thought. It was over.
Bragg came swiftly up the steps.
“Is it done?” she managed to ask, and as she spoke, the butterflies that had nothing to do with fear and everything to do with last night returned.
“Yes.” His gaze slipped over her face, lingering very briefly on her mouth, and then he turned to Katie.
“Hello! Am I in time to tuck you and your sister into bed?” he asked, lifting her into his arms. He smiled at Leigh Anne over Katie’s shoulder.
“I’ll put the girls to bed. Then let’s have a drink,” he said.
She knew he was prepared to discuss whatever had transpired with O’Donnell, but the look in his eyes also told her that he was thinking about last night, too.
She knew he was thinking about making love to her again, and she felt her cheeks heat.
How could this be happening? This was not the plan!
She was not a seductress anymore—she was not about to delude herself—but the ache in her had grown, and so had a thick and familiar excitement.
Leigh Anne watched him take Katie into the bedroom and she heard him quietly speaking with the girls, his voice soft, strong, caring.
She wheeled herself into the bedroom, the task no longer as difficult as it had once been.
The bandages she had wrapped on her hands made it much easier, as well.
She rolled her chair directly to the bureau, and as she did, there was no way she could avoid the reflection of the woman in the mirror there.
The woman was breathtakingly beautiful, her pale skin flawless.
Two spots of pink brightened her cheeks, and her eyes were bright with the same heat, too.
No one looking at that dark-haired beauty would ever know she was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
Leigh Anne looked away. She knew she was a fool, but she reached for the bottle of eau de parfum, anyway, adding a drop to her wrist and cleavage. Her hand was trembling.
Leigh Anne glanced up at the mirror again.
Rick stood in the doorway, watching her intensely.
His eyes smoked and he launched himself forward, closing the door, his strides unhurried.
He paused behind her, their regards locked in the mirror, and clasped her shoulders gently.
She shivered, the caress sweeping through her like a hot wave.
“It is going to be long time before he ever bothers us again.”
“What?” She wanted him to tell her that O’Donnell was never coming back.
“I arrested him,” he said, staring at her in the mirror. “I had to follow the law, Leigh Anne. I actually thought about killing him. I couldn’t do it—I couldn’t commit murder—and I couldn’t be a party to extortion, either. I’m an officer of the law.”
“You arrested him?” she cried in dismay. “What if he isn’t convicted? What if he is released on parole. What if next time he abducts or hurts the girls?”
“That is a lot of ‘what ifs,’” he said. He wheeled the chair around and then knelt so they were face-to-face.
“And what if I had paid him, and in a month or two he decided to come back and extort us yet again? He is in jail. He can’t interfere in the adoption now, not from a prison cell with these charges hanging over his head.
He will be convicted, because he is guilty.
He is going to get ten to fifteen years.
And if he gets out on parole, if he dares to ever approach us again, I will deal with him then as I dealt with him now. Please trust me,” he said soberly.
“I do trust you,” she whispered, and it was the truth. “I am still afraid, Rick.”
He suddenly cradled her face in his hands. “I know you are. So you have to make me a promise, a pledge. If this man ever approaches you again, you will come directly to me. I don’t care what he says, you come to me. I can manage a thug like O’Donnell.”
She nodded, aware of a tear falling. “I wanted to tell you, I really did.”
He softened. “Leigh Anne, I know how hard these past months have been. But isn’t it time to let go of doubt and fear and actually live? We have so much to live for.”
She met his amber eyes, her heart and body begging her to agree. For she knew exactly what he meant. If she dared to have the courage, she wanted a genuine marriage, too.
A real life, a real family and a real marriage with this noble man.
She wet her lips. “I am not brave. If I were brave, I would have never left you all those years ago.”
“The past doesn’t matter—we need to live in the present and plan the future. And you are very brave,” he murmured, his tone turning thick. “If you don’t know it, I do.”
She knew he was going to kiss her. She shook her head in a hopeless warning she knew he would not heed. “How can you still want me that way? How?”
“Because you are so incredibly beautiful. Because you are my wife,” he returned, “and because I love you. I need you, Leigh Anne, but you already know that.”
She did. She saw the passion in his eyes, on his face, and she heard it in his tone. “I’m not ready,” she tried.
“I don’t believe you,” he whispered, and he brushed her lips with his.