by Ann Major
“You came back,” Mia whispered, still not quite believing he had.
“If you’ll take me back.”
“If?” Relieved to be alive and in his arms, she rested her cheek against his strong chest. “You didn’t leave me this time.”
“I was a damn fool to think I could live without you ten seconds much less a lifetime. No matter what you did. And you didn’t do anything wrong. It was me…crazy jealous all the time…I don’t have an excuse really. If you told me to get lost now, I wouldn’t blame you.”
“I’m not giving you any excuse.”
“I don’t want to mistreat you like I was mistreated as a kid, and that’s what I was doin’ when I drove off. Not listening, not trying, just walking out. Then it struck me—hell, darlin’, what kind of crazy guy thinks a classy gal like you would sink even lower than a Knight and want a certified lunatic bastard like Morales?
“And there’s something else…something that doesn’t make any sense at all. The whole time I was driving, I felt your pain. It’s like you’re a part of me or something…like you were calling to me.”
“I was.”
He stared at her in wonder. “The farther I got from you, I could feel you crying out to me to come back.”
“Because I was. I was terrified.”
“I felt the same thing after you left me in Vegas,” he whispered.
“I think I was…calling out to you then, too. For years and years, I willed you to come back. I—I can’t believe you heard me.”
“I was too stubborn to really listen and believe what I was hearin’. But you were always there like a ghost haunting me.”
“I’ve always wanted you. You know that.”
“Someday I hope I’ll be the man you deserve.”
“You already are. You always have been. It’s you who must learn to believe that.”
“I left you and you nearly got killed.”
“But you came back.”
“I thought I needed to be rich and famous to deserve you.”
“What do those things matter when you’re at home with the person you love? In bed with him or her? Or playing with your children? Or simply sharing a meal together? Other things matter in the quiet times, don’t they?”
“I think I was scared of loving you. My mother left me, you know? Deep down I was afraid you’d leave, too.”
“So you had to leave first?”
“Maybe.”
Shanghai wrapped her more tightly against his body. “I don’t want to be like her, either. I don’t want to do what she did to me to anybody else. She made me love her and then she walked out on me when I needed her the most. I don’t want to do that to you—ever.”
Gently Shanghai kissed her, and she felt her fears of abandonment and loneliness start to dissolve.
He wasn’t leaving. He was staying. He loved her. He really loved her. Just like she’d always dreamed he would. His arms around her were real and solid, just as his warm mouth was real.
When his lips finally left hers, she stared at him for a long moment. Then Delia began butting her head into the wooden floor and spoiled the mood.
“If she keeps doing that, she’s going to hurt herself,” Mia said. “Hadn’t we better do something about her? Call somebody maybe?”
“I’ll have to carry her out to the truck. Then we’ll drive her up to the big house. The ranch phone lines are all busy, and nobody’s cell phones will answer, either. I know because I tried to call the ranch and Cole and you the whole time I was driving back.”
“My cell phone disappeared hours ago.”
“I’d bet a bundle Delia took it. I told you we should have turned her in to the authorities.”
“I was so naïve to think anyone in Tavio’s compound was my friend.”
Negra strolled into the living room and meowed.
“Except for you, precious,” Mia said.
“That Cessna Skyhawk Cole’s so crazy about was a real Trojan horse.”
“Except for Negra.”
“That cat is utterly useless.”
“No, she isn’t. She loves me. Cats don’t lie. But a lot of things between human beings aren’t what they seem,” she said.
“I love you, more than that damn cat does. I know that’s real at least.”
“At last,” she murmured, not in the least worried that he could be jealous of her cat.
His mouth slanted across hers again. His kiss was long and deep, and she felt it all the way to her bones.
Watching them, Negra went over and sniffed a golden object that lay forgotten on the floor. Shaking her head, she lay down and rolled over on her back beside the gun. She stretched languidly and began to purr.
As her people continued to kiss, her purr turned into a roar as if she sensed that all was finally right in her world.
Epilogue
Mia flipped through the little book, which started off with drawings and photographs of Shanghai riding bulls, that she’d begun for Vanilla when she’d first come home.
“Why, it’s lovely. I love that picture of you and Vanilla and me underneath the spur tree when you handed her your spurs. Vanilla will love it, too, when she’s older and understands. Why, you’ve even put in some wedding pictures. I can’t believe you took the time to get all these pictures printed.”
“Do you like the one of Benjamin sticking out his tongue?”
“Yes.” She laughed.
“I thought Vanilla’s story needed a happy ending,” he said.
“She’ll love it.” Mia closed the little book and set it on the dresser. “I can’t wait for the two of us to sit down with Vanilla and read it to her.”
“Me, either.”
“But if we don’t hurry we’re going to be late for the barbecue.” She blushed, remembering how they’d spent the afternoon. “What will everybody think?”
“The truth,” Shanghai replied quietly.
The truth was they’d made love all afternoon while Sy’rai had supervised a hired sitter to care for Vanilla at the big house.
“We’re newlyweds,” he said. “They’ll understand.”
She put her hands on her waist and spun before the mirror in their bedroom at Black Oaks to make sure she looked all right.
“You’re beautiful,” Shanghai breathed.
Mia laughed at her reflection and his. He was standing behind her, buttoning his long-sleeved shirt and jamming it inside the waistband of his jeans. His movements were jerky; his dark face tense again at the thought of facing her family.
The annual Kemble family reunion was this Saturday, which was Memorial Day weekend. Thus, the Golden Spurs was jammed with more than a hundred Kembles or descendants of Kembles. Private planes and jets lined the family airstrip. SUVs and luxury cars jammed the big parking lot behind the house.
Some of her cousins would stay a whole week for what the family called Summer Camp and enjoy ranch life. Some had flown or driven in for a day or two.
“Too many Kembles for one lone Knight without armor to fend off,” Shanghai had said earlier.
“What about Cole? He’ll be there.”
“Since he’s the main guy running the ranching operation, I’d say he’s one of you now.”
“So are you.”
Now as she watched a muscle tick along his jawline, she wished he could relax tonight. Her family would like him if he’d only be himself.
“Am I as beautiful as Lizzy?” she whispered, determined to distract him.
“I see all your old demons are wide-awake and on the attack,” he teased.
“Yours, too.”
His gaze met hers in the mirror. “Mine, too,” he admitted. Then he grimaced. “Old habits die hard.”
“My family won’t attack you, you know,” she murmured.
“But they’ll think things.”
“So?”
“You’re right. After all the headlines, we should be used to people thinking all sorts of things.”
“Leo told me we’d be
tter settle down and become an old boring married couple. He says he gets in a bad mood every morning when he opens his paper and sees the Kemble name or the Golden Spurs Ranch mentioned unless he sees Terence Collins’s byline.”
“Terence has been wonderful. He’s called several times to make sure I’m all right.”
There’d been stories about Tavio being captured at Black Oaks. About Shanghai’s retirement, too. Recently there had been some extremely disturbing stories about John Hart, as well.
Delia, who was still in custody, had accused Hart of murdering Tavio to stop him from telling the authorities that the agent had been working for Morales. Hart had been suspended without pay pending an investigation into Tavio’s death and the drug busts Hart had been involved in during the last few months.
Mia spun again, causing her pale-green dress, which was made of a light silky fabric, to float above her thighs and show off her legs.
“Do I really look okay?” She fluffed her hair and then let it spill over her shoulders like a flame.
“I’d rather take you to bed again than go to that damn barbecue.”
Her cheeks flushed a deeper shade of pink as she remembered all the things he’d just done to her in bed. Her eyes glowed. “So you do think I’m pretty?”
“If you were any prettier I’d be lying on that bed with a sheet over my face dead of a heart attack.”
Fire raced through her veins as he came up behind her and circled her waist with his large, wide hands. Then he eased her bottom closer so that it nestled against his fly, which was swollen with need for her again. “To me, you are the most beautiful woman in the world. But then you know that.” He swatted her derriere affectionately and let her go.
“Not so fast! Who put you in charge?”
She squirmed against the bulge in his jeans—just to torture him, too.
“Tease!” he rasped.
She turned around and cupped his dark face between her palms. Basking in his love, she sighed happily. “I can’t believe this.”
“Sometimes I still can’t believe you love me, either,” he said. “Being with you like this is everything. Because it feels true.”
“For me, too,” she whispered.
“The fans in the arenas, they may scream and clap, but they’re strangers. The truth is you’ve always been special, and you’ve always made me feel special. Fans can’t begin to touch the way you’re looking at me right now.”
“With my heart in my eyes?”
He leaned forward and brushed his lips across her brow.
“You gave me that same look when you were ten, when you came over to Black Oaks to find out about Spot and he ran up to you wagging his tail. For years I tried to forget that look on your face. You had it in Vegas the next morning after we made love. It scared the hell out of me. I thought I knew where I was going. I wanted to be a big rodeo star. Somebody in my own right. With a name as big as Kemble. Then you came along and derailed me. I was such a big fool I hid from the truth.”
“You seemed so cold.”
“’Cause I was afraid. ’Cause I was bumbling through life with my heart and mind set on all the wrong prizes. I was like a blind man. Snorting-mad, just like a big, dumb bull that has to charge everything that moves.”
“I felt so lost…like something was wrong…like nobody would ever love me. My daddy…”
“Your daddy wasn’t your real daddy as you well know by now. Caesar Kemble was a hardheaded cuss, darlin’. Same as my daddy was. Maybe worse. They did a number on us. The sooner we forget that, the better. I’m going to spend the rest of my life making you know how special you are.”
“Oh, Shanghai.”
He kissed her lips softly. “I am yours. Believe it. I’ll always be yours.”
The grounds around the big house were all lit up with thousands of white twinkling lights in the trees. Sy’rai and Kinky and the rest of the hands along with the family had been working a week to get the place cleaned up. Three immense yellow-and-white tents had been set up on the front lawns along with a dance floor and a Western band. Banquet tables brimmed with barbecue and all the fixings.
Guitars and banjos were whining. The barbecue and dance were in full swing by the time Mia managed to drag Shanghai to the party. When they walked inside the tent where the food was, Shanghai’s mouth thinned. Beneath Mia’s hand his forearm felt tense. Then Cole came up and handed him a beer and led him over to a group of Kembles from Colorado. Before long, Shanghai was surrounded by Mia’s relatives from Montana and Utah and Nevada, all of them asking about his bull riding career.
She drifted away to talk to family she hadn’t seen since before Cole’s plane had gone down, and she’d been lost in the gulf. They hugged her and told her how glad they all were she was alive and happy. Tears were shed on all sides. Heartfelt stories were shared.
Soon she realized that the whole time she’d felt so alone and frightened in Mexico, her family had been hoping and praying for her to come back home. She hadn’t been forgotten or abandoned. She’d just thought she was.
Separated from her, Shanghai looked uneasy about his popularity at first. Every so often his eyes searched the throng for her, and when he found her circled by her distant cousins, he flashed her a wide grin that made her heart quicken. Confidence would flood her then, and she’d enjoy her family all the more.
Leo Storm came late and without a date. Despite the heat, he wore a three-piece suit. He pocketed his glasses upon entering the tent, but he looked tired even when he smiled at her mother, who rushed to greet him. Lizzy and Mia joined them.
“Why didn’t you bring a date?” Lizzy demanded.
Leo flushed.
“Oh, Lizzy, you know Leo works too hard to find time for romance,” Joanne chided. “Or even to change into something more comfortable to come to our party.”
“I asked somebody,” Leo countered defensively. “She said no. So here I am, glad to be here. And glad that the Morales crisis is over. Pretty soon it’ll be back to business as usual.”
“Settling family squabbles and fending off lawsuits?” Joanne said.
“I didn’t know when I had it easy.”
Shanghai joined them and circled Mia’s waist with his arm.
“Why didn’t you bring a date? You never take no for an answer when you want something for the ranch,” Lizzy persisted.
Leo shot Shanghai a dark glance before shaking his hand.
“Lizzy!” Joanne’s brows drew together.
“My mother used to say I was stubborn,” Leo said. “Bad trait. Well, the lady in question won’t date me because she’s got a thing for cowboys. I know I should give up, but so far I haven’t.”
“Lizzy, why don’t you quit pestering Leo about his mystery girl and ask him what he’d like to drink?” her mother said.
“An ice cold beer,” Leo replied as a woman in an apron with a silver tray loaded with drinks arrived.
Leo lifted a mug and saluted Lizzy. “Cheers.”
“Your brother tells me you’re in the market for an Arabian stallion,” Shanghai said.
Leo’s slow smile lacked warmth. “Connor talks too much.”
“What about the twins?” Lizzy said. “Has your detective made any progress at all on finding my missing sisters?”
Leo shot her a dark look before he forced a smile. Was it only Mia’s imagination, or was he uncomfortable with her sister’s question?
“It’s complicated,” he said, hedging. “I think we may have located one of them. I’m checking it out—personally.”
“Leo!” Joanne went pale. “Why didn’t you call us and tell us this first thing?”
“I think it’s best to be cautious, not to raise false hopes…on either side. Electra took great pains to be secretive so Caesar would never know.”
“Still, you’ve been awfully secretive as well about telling us you might have found one of them,” Joanne said. “And now your attitude…”
“Merely cautious, I assure you.” Once
again his face was stiff before he caught himself and forced a smile. “Hopefully I will have good news soon.”
Mia was excited about the thought of stepsisters or cousins, and yet maybe Leo was right to be a little guarded and warn them not to get their hopes up until the detective had checked all the facts. There was the danger that if anyone knew that the Kembles were looking for Caesar’s long-lost daughters, a fortune hunter might turn up instead of the genuine daughter.
Under his breath Shanghai whispered in Mia’s ear, “Have I socialized with your family long enough?”
“You get an A+.”
“I’d rather get a reward.”
“Like what?”
“Come with me to the barn.”
“What for?”
He grinned at her shamelessly. “You know.”
“Shouldn’t we go check on Vanilla?”
He nodded. “After the barn. After we’ve kissed for a spell.”
Kissed? She knew what he really meant.
Giggling, she practically ran ahead of him down the wide paths that had been cut through the mesquite and cacti for the golf cart her mother used to do her chores at different locations on the ranch. Shanghai chased after Mia the whole way.
Inside the dark tack room, he gave a low growl, hooked his arm around her and brought her close against his body. When he’d pinned her to the wall and raised her skirt and pulled her panties down, he gently inserted a finger inside her.
“You don’t waste time,” she teased. “What is this slam, bam, thank…”
His only answer was to move his finger inside her slowly, caressing slick vulnerable surfaces until she forgot about talking and simply moaned in delicious delight.
“What about your jeans?” she said in a husky tone a long time later. “I want to touch you, too.”
He held still while she slid his zipper down so that his erection could be freed of the denim. Circling him with her hand, she squeezed before she began to stroke him.
“I want to be inside you,” he whispered, his voice suddenly fierce with urgency. “Now.”
With a broken cry, she let go of him. He shifted his weight, opened her legs wider, stroked her gently for a long moment and then lunged between them. Then that was the last of his gentleness. He was rough and wild, plunging into her again and again until he finally exploded.