Once Neil was out of the truck, he dashed to the porch and stood waiting for the car to stop and the driver to emerge. A nearby yard light illuminated the path to the house, but the foul weather made it difficult to distinguish the figure approaching. Until that person reached the steps and then he was so shocked he dropped his briefcase.
“Raine! Is that you?”
She was bundled in a dark coat and a matching fur-edged cap. She was hugging a shiny Christmas package and her teeth were chattering.
“Yes. It’s me.”
Hurrying toward her, he grabbed her by the arm. “Watch the steps. There’s sleet.”
“I know,” she exclaimed. “It’s freezing! I was afraid the roads were going to become slick.”
Once Neil had her standing safely on the porch he gathered up his briefcase and quickly unlocked the door.
“Sorry,” he said, “I just now got home from work. But the house is warm.” He shoved the door open and ushered her in. “How did you know where to find me?”
“Linc gave me the directions to get here,” she replied.
A dim night-light illuminated a small living room with wooden floors, braided rugs, leather furniture and a fireplace at one end. Near the windows she could see a blue spruce decorated with silver tinsel and hanging ornaments. There were no gifts underneath the tree, but she quickly changed that by walking over and placing her package under the drooping boughs.
After he’d switched on a couple of lamps, he shucked his jacket and tossed it on the end of the couch. Across the room, kindling and firewood were already stacked in the fireplace. Squatting on the hearth, he struck a long match and stuck it to the under pieces of kindling. The pine quickly ignited and once he saw the flames licking up the logs, he straightened to his full height and turned to face her.
Still shivering, she took a few halting steps toward him and blurted, “I’m—sure I’ve surprised you. I should have warned you I was coming.”
Neil’s heart was pounding, his throat tight as he walked over to where she stood. She looked incredibly beautiful with black fur framing her tanned face and her brown hair glistening with bits of ice. All he wanted was to close the few inches between them and gather her into his arms. But first he had to know if she’d come to New Mexico to see him or her brother.
“This is—more than a surprise,” he admitted. “I was expecting to see one of my clients with an emergency.”
Her gaze clung to his as she reached to unbutton her coat. “This is an emergency. I—”
“Just tell me one thing, Raine. Are you here in Aztec because of me? Or your brother?”
The wary shadows in her eyes turned soft with yearning. “For you,” she whispered.
Hope, relief and hungry need rushed through him like a hurricane and he groaned as he reached for her. “Raine. Oh, Raine.”
She stumbled eagerly into his arms and their lips came together in a desperate reunion that had her clinging and arching her body fervently into his. The physical contact shoved away all the questions rolling around in Neil’s head. For now it was enough that she was here in his arms.
Unable to temper his craving, his mouth ravaged hers until her lips were swollen and he was gasping for air. As he regained his breath, he quickly went to work removing her coat. After tossing it toward the couch, he led her over to the fire, which was now snapping with orange flames.
“Are you still cold?” he asked.
“No. But Neil—”
“Later,” he mouthed against her lips. “Tell me later. Right now—just love me. Love me.”
His urgent pleas were like golden sunshine raining down on Raine. She opened her lips and melted against him. “That’s all I want.”
Reaching up, he removed her hat, then slid his fingers into her glossy hair. She clasped his face with her hands and kissed him with a hunger that took his breath away. Raw need wrapped around him and he tried to touch her everywhere, kiss her lips, her face and hands.
The zipper in her dress was in the back. In a matter of seconds Neil had the clasp tugged to her hips and the dress off her shoulders. By the time he lay her down on the braided rug, she was completely naked and as he stood to remove his own clothing, his eyes drank in the sight of the glowing flames sparking amber lights in her hair and stroking golden fingers across her belly and breasts.
And moments later, as he knelt over her and entered her warm body, Neil suddenly understood the true meaning of coming home. In Raine’s arms, he felt whole and full. The ache in his heart was gone. Joy buzzed along his veins and sang in his ears like a Texas mockingbird.
“I love you, Raine. Now and for all time,” he whispered against her cheek.
His declaration stung her eyes with emotional tears and as they slid down her temples and into her hair, she vowed in a husky voice, “And I love you, Neil. I had to tell you. I had to feel you like this—again.”
If he’d had any lingering doubts in his head about her intentions, they were all washed away with her words and for the next several minutes, he thought of nothing but the hot, delicious thrust of her hips, the sweet, honeyed taste of her lips and her hands moving up and down and over his heated skin.
Quickly, effortlessly, she took him to an incredible place that no woman had ever taken him before and as he floated and floated among the sparkling clouds he thought his heart would burst. He could hear himself crying her name like a mantra until it became impossible to speak and he fell against her in weak, sated exhaustion.
Later, after their ragged breathing smoothed back to a normal pace, Neil rolled to his side and pillowed her head on his arm.
“I thought you said you didn’t want a man in your life,” he said with wry humor. “Guess this means you’ve changed your mind.”
Languidly Raine reached up and traced her fingertips along his cheekbone. “Forgive me for that, Neil. I was so upset. I’d just learned my father was an adulterer. And that the second man my mother intended to marry was worse than devious. He was a crook and probably several other things to go along with that.”
“And you thought I could be like them?” he asked in disbelief.
“No. Of course not. But you’d told me you were leaving. And you’d insisted you didn’t want to have a wife or family. I felt like everything I’d ever hoped or imagined about men was suddenly crushed.”
Neil looked at her with regret. “Raine, I’m so very sorry that the truth wasn’t all you’d hoped it would be—that I wasn’t what you’d hoped for, either.”
She rested her palm against the side of his face. “Don’t be sorry. Mother made me see that her troubled life with my father and Jaycee were mistakes that she had made. And now that I’ve had time to think clearly, I know that you could never be like the men who hurt my mother.”
Surprise lifted his brows. “Your mother talked to you about this?”
Raine smiled drowsily. “She actually encouraged me to come here to see you. She thought I ought to tell you that I love you. And thankfully, this time, I took her advice.”
Clearly amazed, Neil said, “I can’t believe it.”
“She’s changed, Neil. Thanks to you. And so have I.”
His hand slid possessively from her shoulder to her hip and back again. “In what way?”
She rolled forward so that the front of her body was nestled against his. Her fingers played with the hair on his chest. “I’ve spent all my adult life dwelling on the past. I’d always believed that if I could only find my father, then all my doubts and insecurities would disappear. I used to picture him returning to my mother and together they would both teach me how to become a woman, a wife and mother. But now I understand that’s something I have to learn on my own. And I’m not afraid of the future now, Neil.”
Bending his head, he rubbed his cheek against the top of her hair. “Raine, that day I left you on the Sandbur, I believed I could come back home and my life would return to how it was before we met. It hasn’t worked that way. I’ve been in such a wretch
ed mess that my secretary threatened to quit tonight. I’ve turned into such a bastard that she can’t stand me and I honestly can’t stand myself—without you.”
Tilting her head, she pressed a kiss on his chin. “All day, on the way up here, I wondered and tried to imagine what I would do if you didn’t want to see me. But I had to take a chance, Neil. I’ve been terribly miserable without you.”
Rubbing his cheek against hers, he admitted, “Tonight, Raine, before I left the office, I’d already decided I was going to fly down to San Antonio in the morning and try to set things right between us. When Connie pointed out that I was acting crazy, I realized she was right.”
“Hmm,” she purred with happy contentment. “You’re secretary threatened to quit and Nicci was threatening to pour castor oil down me.”
He laughed and shuddered. “I hope she doesn’t try that on her real patients.”
She chuckled with him, then eased her head back far enough to gaze into his blue eyes. “Oh, Neil, I loved you long before you left the ranch. But I was too afraid to tell you. I figured you wouldn’t want to hear it. You’d told me several times that you weren’t a family man and I—well, after the impulsive affair I had in college, I was afraid to love, afraid I’d be hurt. But I fell in love with you anyway and I didn’t know what to do. I’ve behaved like a ninny.”
His fingers stroked down her hair and onto the soft skin of her back. “I’ve been pretty stupid myself, Raine. For years now I wouldn’t let myself forget my parents’ unhappy marriage. I hated my mother for it and blamed her for my father’s death. It was easy to blame all my insecurities on her. Especially when my best friend had terrible issues with his own mother. Linc and I were comrades in misery—wronged by our mothers, and determined to never make the mistakes our father’s had. But then Linc met Nevada and he changed.”
“He married her,” Raine replied. “And from what he tells me, he’s very happy.”
Both his hands were on her shoulders now, holding her close to his heart. “I talked to him yesterday and he said he’s planning to fly down to Texas over the holidays and meet his mother. I think basically he’s already forgiven her and he’s happy to have her back in his life. That hit me hard, Raine. It made me think. If he has the courage to forgive Darla then surely I could find the courage to ask you to marry me.” He eased her back on the braided rug and then stroking the tumbled hair off her face, he asked, “Will you marry me, Raine?”
He was saying the words she never thought she would ever hear and they rang in her heart like church bells on a clear Sunday morning.
“I’m still wearing your ring, Neil,” she murmured softly. “I wanted it to be real then and now it will be.”
A smile crooked his lips as he lifted her hand to see his diamond glittering on her finger. “What about the Sandbur?” he asked. “You have lots of relatives there. You might not want to make your home up here with me.”
“I have lots of relatives up here, too,” she reminded him. “Especially a brother that I’m eager to get acquainted with.” Catching hold of his shoulders, she tugged him closer and whispered, “But you’re the only reason I need to move to New Mexico. You and the children I hope we have soon.”
Love was in his eyes as he brought his lips down to hers. “Welcome home, darling. And Merry Christmas.”
She smiled against his kiss. “Oh, yes, my love, this Christmas is going to be the merriest of all.”
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1757-7
A SOUTH TEXAS CHRISTMAS
Copyright © 2006 by Stella Bagwell
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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* Twins on the Doorstep
† Men of the West
Table of Contents
Letter to Reader
Title Page
Books by Stella Bagwell
About the Author
Dedication
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Copyright
Table of Contents
Letter to Reader
Title Page
Books by Stella Bagwell
About the Author
Dedication
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Copyright
A South Texas Christmas Page 21