She shrugged. “It’s okay. This job stinks anyway and I love a grand gesture. It’s so romantic. What do you want the letter to say?”
He rattled off the information to her. Her fingers flew across the keyboard. “I changed the wording a little to make it sound more believable.”
With an official stamp across the bottom, no one would know that it was a bogus letter. He should feel guilty for deceiving Sabrina, but he didn’t. Not at all. “This looks so great I could kiss you right now!”
She turned purple and grinned. “Good luck. I wish I could find a guy willing to create a fake grant to pay my way through school.”
Tony winked and floated down the hallway. He dropped the envelope in a mailbox outside. No use sending a letter from the college if the postmark didn’t match up.
Now to go back to Salt Creek and let Sabrina know he was staying and there was nothing she could do about it.
Tony marched up to Sabrina’s porch. Her car was here and this time, she was going to listen to him. He pounded on the door.
“I’m right here,” Sabrina yelled.
The brush of her body as he stepped inside sent electrical shocks through him. Was it any wonder he’d never been able to connect with anyone else in the last ten years? Just being in the same room with Sabrina now was enough to make him lose his train of thought.
She crossed her arms. “What is so important that you have to break down the door?”
Tony cleared his throat. “I think you may be under a false impression.”
She frowned. “I don’t think so.”
“I was offered a promotion, but I never accepted it. I’m not taking it. I already turned in my resignation.”
Her face remained neutral and Tony held his breath. Did she need more?
He stepped toward her. “Did you hear me? I’m not leaving.”
“I heard you.” Her voice was clipped. “You’re making a mistake.”
“Loving you could never be a mistake.”
She blinked. “Are you sure? I mean, about staying?”
“Absolutely. I’ll never make the same mistake I did ten years ago.” He did what he’d been wanting to do since she opened the door. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
A loud moan came from the sofa. “Come on, guys. Gross. Are you going to be kissing all the time?”
Tony laughed. “You better get used to it. I plan to spend a lot of time kissing your mom.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
A SCRATCHING NOISE woke Sabrina up. She lifted her head off the pillow and listened. Crickets chirped and somewhere near the barn, an owl hooted. Scratch.
She froze. Something was outside her window. Slowly, she turned her head. The pale moonlight cast shadows across the yard. A figure crouched by her window, messing with the screen. Her heart raced and she eased out from under the sheet.
The figure paused. It lifted its head and peered at her. “Hi, Bree.”
She collapsed onto the bed. “What are you doing? You gave me a heart attack.”
Tony grinned, mischief dancing across his face. “Got a minute?”
“Hang on.” Tossing the covers off, she pulled on her robe and walked to the window next to the one he was fiddling with. “This is the window with the broken screen.”
Within moments, the screen popped out and Tony crawled through the window. He sat on the floor next to the bed, in the corner farthest from the door. That way, if her dad opened the door, he could duck down and hide. Just like in high school.
“You’re crazy.” She leaned against the bed next to him. “Why’re you here?”
He shrugged. “I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about my future the last few days. Since it’s your future, too, I thought we should discuss it.”
Sabrina studied his face. He looked...drained. “Does this have something to do with the job at the children’s home?”
Like so many nights before, he sat next to her on the floor but didn’t touch her. “Yes. Are you still afraid that I’ll regret leaving the force and resent you for it?”
Sabrina pressed her lips together and nodded. Despite the warm summer breeze coming through her window, she shivered. “I don’t want you to be stuck in a job you hate because you feel like you have to stay.”
“What if I told you that I’m not taking the job for you? I’m going to accept the job for me.”
The urge to run her finger along the scar on his jaw had her gripping her hands together in her lap. “I don’t understand. What do you mean?”
“I mean, the kids at Little Mountain need me. And I need them.” The words were spoken lightly, but they rang with conviction.
The passion in his voice sent tingles up her arm. “I think you missed your calling. You should’ve been a counselor, not a policeman.”
Tony chuckled softly. “The kind of kids I want to help would never go to a counselor of their own free will. The judge can order them to see one, but they’d never really open up. Everything stays locked up in here.”
One hand came up to rest on his chest. Sabrina covered it with her hand. His heart pounded below her fingertips. “You used to be the same way. What changed?”
He took her hand in his and traced his finger over her palm. His voice was thick with emotion and heat rolled off his body in waves. “You know the answer to that.”
Yes, she thought she did. But she needed to hear it, anyway. Shivers raced up her arm from the touch of his hand on hers. “Tell me. When did things change?”
“Ten years ago, I was sitting in a jail cell in Lampasas, mad at the world. I hated Salt Creek. I hated the fact that no matter what I did, all people saw was a troubled kid with no parents. And I didn’t help things. I was belligerent and angry. It was too easy to believe that I’d been the one stealing things from stores in town.
“Then an officer unlocked the cell and said I was free to go. I had no idea you told the police I’d been with you all night.” He squeezed her fingers in between his. “No one had ever stood up for me before. You put your reputation on the line for me.”
“I couldn’t stand by and let you go to jail for something you didn’t do.” Sabrina’s heart caught in her throat. “And everyone would’ve known nine months later, anyway. That was the night Levi was conceived.”
He shifted his body to face her. Brushing her hair from her face, he ran his finger along her jawline. “I’m sorry you had to go through all that alone.”
She raised her chin. “I wasn’t alone. You were there every time I looked at Levi. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. You deserved to know. I was just too scared. We both left because we were too afraid of the consequences of our actions. You didn’t want me to give up school and I didn’t want you to feel obligated to marry me.”
His eyes tightened. “Was the thought of marrying me that horrible?”
The pain in his eyes was visible, even in the dark, moonlit room. “No. But building a life with someone who didn’t love me was.”
“You don’t still believe that, do you? Don’t you know that sticking up for me that night, putting yourself on the line for me, changed the entire course of my life? I didn’t deserve you, but I was going to do everything I could to become a man who did.”
Her throat tightened. She wanted to believe him. She wanted to know that he loved her wholly. Fully. With no strings attached. “I’m not sure. In the back of my mind, I’ll always wonder if you’re only around for Levi.”
He wrapped both arms around her and hugged her tight. “Then I’ll do whatever I have to do to prove you wrong. I love you, Bree. I never stopped.”
She shook her head. “I won’t say it. As soon as you hear that word, you freak out and leave. You know how I feel. I don’t have to say it.”
“That’s good enough for me.”
> The warmth of his body wrapped around her like a cocoon. Brushing her lips across his was natural instinct. His response was immediate and he captured her lips, deepening the kiss.
Her pulse exploded and she wrapped her arms around his neck to hold him close.
It was Tony who broke the kiss. “You look exhausted, so let’s tuck you into bed. Then you can tell me about Houston.”
She wanted to argue, but the yawn that watered her eyes was enough to convince her he was right. She crawled under the sheet on her bed and he snuggled beside her...on top of the covers.
* * *
POUNDING ON HER BEDROOM DOOR woke her up. She bolted up out of bed. What time was it? Her robe twisted around her. Why was she in her robe? Oh. Tony. Her gaze shot to the window. Sliding out of bed, she checked the window screen sitting neatly in its frame.
On the edge of the window sill perched three rocks. Three. Not two, like he’d leave when they were in high school. A smile broke out across her face.
“Mom,” Levi called from the door. “We’re hungry.”
Straightening her robe, she danced to the kitchen to make breakfast.
Levi, dressed and ready for the day, peered up at her from the table. He wrinkled his nose at her. “You look awful. Are you sick?”
“She probably had a hard time sleeping.”
Sabrina jerked her head to the door frame separating the kitchen and living room. Tony’s one-sided grin warmed her all the way to her toes. Her hand flew to her hair. It was a tangled mess.
He stepped forward and handed her a small paper bag. “I think you look beautiful.”
“What’s this?”
“Breakfast.” He leaned against the counter. “I had the feeling you might oversleep today.”
“Thanks.” The rich aroma of fresh-baked blueberry muffins filled the room when she opened the bag. She inhaled deeply. “Mmm...your grandmother’s muffins.”
He jerked to attention. “I’ll have you know, I made them myself.”
Levi giggled. “No, you didn’t. Abuela made them.”
“Tattletale.” Tony slid into the kitchen chair next to him.
Tony stared at her for a split second and her pulse raced. Her chest swelled as his gaze penetrated right through her. He sauntered across the room to her. “There’s something I need to know. And I need you to be completely honest with me.”
“Okay.”
“Was my being a police officer a problem because it was in San Antonio? Or would you be opposed to my being a policeman anywhere?”
“Don’t ask me to decide your future, Tony. I don’t want to stand in the way of what you want.”
He rubbed his chin. “You’re stuck with me, no matter what, but I have two job offers now and I need you to help me decide which one I should take.”
Two job offers? She didn’t know he’d been looking anywhere else. Was he already having second thoughts about working at Little Mountain? She let out a long, slow breath.
Tony sat down at the dining room table next to Levi. “This morning the sheriff’s department offered me a job as a deputy.”
Levi took a bite of his muffin. “Does that mean you’ll be a cop again?”
“I still plan on being involved with Little Mountain, just not full-time.” He pulled Sabrina down into his lap. “Unless you have any objections. The sheriff’s department is better pay and better benefits. But I won’t do it if it makes you nervous.”
She ran one hand up his arm to rest on his shoulder. “Will you be working undercover?”
He shook his head.
“Will you be taking unnecessary risks?”
“Never.”
The love shining in his eyes was enough to chase away her fears. “Okay, then. As long as you promise to come home to me every night, I think I can live with it.”
“Sabrina,” he whispered in her ear.
“Yes?”
“I need you to take a risk for me.” His breath tickled her neck. “Ask me to stay. Please.”
She pressed a kiss to his lips. “Stay. Forever.”
EPILOGUE
TONY SEARCHED the room. Everywhere he looked he saw friends and family. Sabrina and Abuela set trays of food out for hungry teens while Levi, Kyle and Scott hung up mini graduation caps all around the recreation room.
“You look like the cat who ate the canary.” Sabrina sidled up to Tony and wrapped her arms around his waist.
He laughed and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I feel like one.”
“Dad, can you bring in the cake for Abuela?” Levi called from across the crowded room.
His heart swelled each time he heard that word. Dad. “I’ll be right there. Do you mind?”
Sabrina laughed. “Why do you get to do the fun stuff and I get to referee Dad and Papa’s checkers war?”
“Someone has to take care of those men. Now that you’re a full-fledged nurse, that honor falls on you.”
“I guess it does.” She grinned and tapped the cap and tassel she hadn’t taken off her head since the graduation ceremony at the college that morning. “Although Abuela is a little too anxious for me to start working.”
Tony reached down to rub Sabrina’s enlarged belly. “Can you blame her? She can’t wait to take care of this little girl while you’re at work.”
“Thank goodness Little Mountain is okay with me continuing to work part-time.” Sabrina sighed. “I couldn’t stand being away for more than that.”
He understood. After missing out on Levi’s first ten years, he didn’t plan to miss anything with this one. Even diapers.
Jarrod and Marissa meandered across the room. Marissa gave Tony a big hug. “You’ve done a great job organizing the graduation party.”
Jarrod took a sip of his punch. “I see Kyle made it home from college for the special occasion.”
“Yes. And it’s taking everything I have to convince him to stay at school when the baby’s born.” Sabrina wrapped her arm around her husband.
Marissa patted Sabrina’s stomach. “Can you blame him? He’s lived with y’all for the past two years. He sees her as his sister.”
A few minutes later, the Butlers went to visit with another couple, leaving Sabrina and Tony alone.
“By the way.” Sabrina wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“I called the school to find out the address of NGU Industries. I wanted to send them a thank-you letter for the grant they awarded me, the one that covered my tuition. I talked to a very sweet woman who kept telling me how lucky I was.”
“Huh.” Tony nodded. “That’s weird.”
She slapped his chest. “What does NGU stand for?”
“Never Give Up.” Taking her face in his hands, he kissed the tip of her nose. “You’ve made all my dreams come true. I just want a chance to redeem myself by making yours come true.”
“You’re redeemed,” she said, just before she kissed him.
* * * * *
Look for the next Harlequin Heartwarming romance from debut author
LeAnne Bristow, coming soon!
And if you love secret baby stories and
romances with rugged heroes, read
Tara Taylor Quinn’s HER SOLDIER’S BABY,
Leigh Riker’s THE RELUCTANT RANCHER
and Lee McKenzie’s TO CATCH A WIFE.
Available now from Harlequin.com!
Keep reading for an excerpt from SANCTUARY COVE by Kate James.
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Sanctuary Cove
by Kate James
CHAPTER ONE
RAIN BATTERED THE sidewalk as Emma paused under the canopy by the entrance to the post office. She pulled the hood of her windbreaker low over her forehead and made a quick dash to the parking lot. Even so, she was drenched by the time she climbed into her SUV.
Poetic justice, she thought, that the sky had burst open while she’d been inside, arranging to send the signed agreement of purchase and sale back to Richard. That last tenuous link to her former fiancé was now irrevocably severed. As of the end of the month, the house she and Richard had planned to live in after they got married would belong to someone else.
Her Texas Rebel Page 23