As he held her, she began to understand the depths of what had happened. His brother, his beloved brother, was truly on the edge of death, and yet he’d left the hospital to come to her aid. Travis had come. Ryder and Maddox had come. These men, who claimed to have no room in their lives and hearts for anyone except their brothers, were liars.
They had room. They just didn’t know it. They were born protectors, each and every one. They thought they had space only for each other in their sphere of protection, but they were wrong, and they’d already proved it.
And Chase…her dear, sweet, Chase. He’d been her protector since the very first moment, and AJ had known that.
Tears brimming in her eyes, she pulled back from Chase enough to look at him. His blue eyes were weary, and his face was lined with a lifetime of worry. She smoothed her fingers over his dark whiskers, each coarse strand like a promise of his strength. He’d been broken by women, and she knew he might never be able to cross that line and give her what she’d wanted: the superficial trappings and declarations of love.
But he gave her more. He gave her actions that spoke far more than words would ever speak. He was the man she’d been waiting for all this time. Did he love her? Or had his frantic, heroic rescue been because of the baby who reflected his own past?
She didn’t know, but she needed to find out. If there was a chance, she would be brave enough to take it.
Chase frowned. “You want to leave?”
She shook her head. “I want to stay and talk to him.”
The intensity of relief and gratitude that flooded his face made her heart turn over. This man cared, more than anyone would ever know, except, perhaps herself.
“But before I do,” she said quietly, soft enough that the words were for him, but not so quietly that the rest of the room couldn’t hear. She wasn’t going to hide it, and she wasn’t going to protect the others. “I have to tell you something.”
She felt the attention of the room shift onto her, and Chase stiffened. She saw his jaw tighten, and his eyes cooled, putting distance between them. God, she knew it was a risk, but she was going to say it anyway. “I know that we got together because of the baby,” she said. “I know that changes now that Alan’s dead, but I just want you to know that I’ve fallen madly, deeply, truly in love with you. I don’t need Alan and his threats to make me want to marry you. I think you’d be the most amazing father this child could ever have, and its uncles would be more than a mother could ever ask for. I would still marry you, if you wanted, and I would marry you for real.”
Chase’s face went impassive as he blocked his emotions from her.
Was he afraid of what she offered? Or did he want nothing of it? She stood on her tiptoes and clasped his face, forging onward with what she needed to say. “I know you might not love me like I love you, but I want you to know that you are worth all my heart. I love you, and my love will be with you no matter where our lives lead.” There was utter silence in the room as she pressed a kiss to his mouth.
He didn’t kiss her back, and her cheeks were flaming as she pulled back. His eyes were searching hers, brimming with emotions so turbulent she couldn’t decipher them. She waited for a heartbeat, but he said nothing.
She turned away, feeling like her heart was shattering as she walked past the towering, silent masses of Stockton muscle and sat down on the edge of Steen’s bed.
No one said a word as she leaned forward and placed her hands on Steen’s cheeks. She leaned over and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “If you die now,” she said softly, “you’ll miss out on the chance to know what it’s like to be truly loved by someone who will treat you well. And somewhere out there is a woman who needs you to hold her at night, to protect her, and to love her. If you die, then she’ll never have the chance. She needs you, Steen. She needs you to get out of this bed, get out of this prison, and to rescue her, because there’s no one else who can do it except for you. She’s out there, right now, in this very moment, and she needs what only you can give her.”
She took his inert hand and sandwiched it between her palms, pressing tightly. “Do you feel this?” she asked him. “This is what it feels like to be safe. She needs that from you, and she will be the one who will save you right back.” She pressed a kiss to the tip of his finger, and couldn’t stop the tears that started to fall. “Don’t miss out, Steen. Life is so short, and opportunities are so fleeting. Don’t miss her.”
She bowed her head, trying to fight back the sobs. It was as if all the emotions that had been trapped inside her since her parents’ death, AJ’s death, the battle with Alan, and her feelings for Chase had suddenly surged to the surface, no longer willing to be crushed by sheer willpower.
Someone moved, and she looked up into Zane’s face.
He’d sat down across from her, and she realized he’d heard everything she’d said.
“You tried to use a woman to save him? And love?” He sounded pissed, but also disbelieving.
“Yes.” She kept holding Steen’s hand.
“A woman is what destroyed him. That’s what women do.”
She met his gaze. “Don’t be an ass, Zane. Not all women are evil, and you know it. So back off and let your brothers live a real life, even if you won’t do it yourself.” She knew it was probably a mistake to stand up against one of Chase’s beloved brothers, but she didn’t care. Someone had to, and it was going to be her, because they needed a protector, and she was going to claim the role.
***
Mira had just called his brother an ass?
Yeah, she had.
Chase grinned at the sudden irritation on Zane’s face, and his brother looked over at him. “For real?”
“Yeah.” He started walking across the room, ignoring his brothers, heading right toward her. Mira glanced over at him, and her eyes widened when she saw him coming.
Travis and Maddox moved out of his way, and he reached her in several short strides. He pulled her hand free of Steen’s and knelt in front of her. The words that hadn’t come before were tumbling through him, alive and vibrant, desperate to be spoken. “You’re right,” he said.
She frowned, her beautiful, tired face wary. “About what?”
“What you said to Steen.”
Disappointment flickered across her face, and she lifted her chin. “It’s what I believe.”
“Well, it’s true.” He pressed a kiss to her palm. “I’m not going to lie, Mira. My brothers and I are fucked up when it comes to women.”
She gave him a look. “Yes, I know that.”
“But you’ve broken through that.”
She blinked. “What?”
He chuckled, suddenly feeling the happiest he could ever remember being in his life. She loved him. “I’ve been waiting for you for ten years, Mira. Not just the fantasy woman, but the real life woman who leaves her coffee mug on the bathroom counter, and gets cranky when she gets hungry. I love the woman who can call my brother an ass when he’s being one. I love the woman who’s brave enough to ignore a room full of cynical Stocktons to give my brother the one message that none of us would have been able to give.”
Some of the wariness left her face, and he saw hope in her beautiful eyes. Hope that he loved her back?
Hell, yeah, he did.
He shifted his weight so that he was on one knee, and he took her other hand, so he was holding both of them. He wanted this moment to be perfect, but he wasn’t a poet, and he wasn’t a romantic. All he could offer was himself. “I offered to marry you to protect the baby, but it was always about you. As Zane told me a thousand times, there were other ways to help you, but marrying you was the only one that felt right, because it was the only one that was right.” He put his hand on her belly. “I love you, Mira, all on your own, and I’ve fallen more in love with you every day that we’ve been together. I want to be your husband, to be this baby’s father, and to be a family.”
Tears shimmered in her eyes. “But what about your brothers?”
<
br /> He didn’t even bother to look at them. He’d gotten his answer when Maddox and Ryder had headed toward the ranch at his request. It might be rocky, but his brothers would accept her because he loved her. “They’re good.”
She started to look toward Zane, but he caught her chin, directing her back toward him. “No, sweetheart. This is about us. You and me. It’s no longer about anyone else.” He took the plastic straw that he’d filched from the hospital tray and bent it into a disjointed circle. “I promise I’ll get you a real one as soon as we leave here, but I want this done right.” He held it up. “Will you marry me, Mira Cabot? I can’t promise to be poetry and romance, but I promise you that I’ll stand by you and love you every second of every day for the rest of my life. I love you with every last bit of my heart and soul, and I offer you my everything.”
For a long moment, she said nothing, her eyes searching his desperately. He let her see the truth of his words, his promise of everything he was capable of giving. Would it be enough for her?
The silence in the room was overwhelming, everyone focused on her.
Finally, she held up her hand. “Yes,” she whispered. “Of course, I’ll marry you. It’s always been you, Chase. Always. Since the first time AJ told me that his new roommate had told him that he should come to football tryouts with him, because his damaged foot would work the same in cleats as anyone else’s. It just took ten years to find you.”
Emotions flooded him, and he slipped the straw over her extended ring finger on her left hand. “AJ, the matchmaker.”
She beamed at him. “He’d be happy right now.”
Chase pulled her into his arms. “He’d be saying, ‘it’s about damned time,’ and I tend to agree.” Then he kissed her, the first kiss of the rest of his life.
When she melted into him, absolute rightness flooded him, and he knew that he’d finally found where he was supposed to be. He’d keep every scar on his body and soul, because without them, he’d never have ended up where he was, with Mira in his arms, loving him every bit as much as he loved her.
Love was a hell of a risk, except when it was with the right woman. Then it was the best, safest, purest emotion a man could ever have.
As for his brothers…well…he had a feeling that their time would come.
***
He needed to do something.
It was important.
He didn’t know what it was, but it was pressing at him relentlessly.
It was difficult.
Impossible.
But he had to try.
Try.
Try.
There were voices in the distance, ones he recognized. And another. A woman. He had to talk to her. There was something he needed to say.
The urge grew stronger, pulsing through him, driving him. He became aware of a great weight pressing down on him, trying to hold him back. No! He screamed his outrage, fighting to get past it. He had to tell her. It had to be now. He felt like he was swimming through mud, fighting for breath that didn’t want to come to him. He could do this. He had to do it.
Light suddenly burned his eyes. It was bright. Too bright. He tried to block it by closing his eyes, but he didn’t want them closed. He needed to see. Shapes began moving, shifting in and out of focus. Shadows mixing with the light. Where was she? He tried to call her, but he didn’t know her name.
Suddenly, a face came into focus in front of him. He recognized it. “Chase?” His voice was raw, and his throat hurt, as if he hadn’t spoken in so long. Was it really Chase there with him?
His brother’s face morphed into shock. “Steen?”
Yeah, yeah, it was really Chase. “Where is she?”
There was noise in the room, and suddenly there were faces crowding his vision. He recognized all of them. Ryder. Maddox. Travis. Zane. Quintin. They were crowding him, grinning those shit-eating grins that he remembered. “Where is she?” he asked again.
There was a shuffle, and then Chase pulled a woman forward. She was pretty. Dark blond hair. Blue eyes. She sat beside him. “I’m Mira.”
Yes. Her voice rippled through him, and he took a deep breath at the familiar sound. Excruciating pain tore through his stomach from the attempt to inhale, and he couldn’t hold back the grimace of agony. He shook his head at Chase’s concerned look, trying to focus on the woman. “I heard you.”
She nodded. “I know.”
“What did you say?” He felt like she’d said something important, something slipping away at the edges of his memory, elusive but critical. Shit. His stomach hurt. And his side. He felt like he’d been sawed in half and left to rot on the side of the road. His vision began to fog, but he fought to stay conscious. He had to talk to her.
She smiled then, a smile so kind that he wanted to smile back through his cracked lips. “When you’re ready to remember, you will.”
“No.” Desperation rushed through him, and he tried to reach for her hand, but he couldn’t seem to move his arm. Pain tore through him again, and he pressed back in the bed, going utterly still as he waited for the pain to abate. Jesus. He clenched his teeth, fighting not to breathe and make it hurt more.
“I’ve got you, bro.” Chase took his arm, moving it carefully until Steen’s hand was in hers.
Steen forced his eyes open so he could see her. “I need to know. What did you tell me?”
She glanced at Chase, then leaned forward. “The day you walk into the kitchen of the ranch a free man, I will tell you.”
“Free man?” he echoed. For a moment, he didn’t know what she was talking about, and then his life came rushing back to him. Prison. The stabbing. He looked down and saw his body bandaged up and tubes coming out of him everywhere. Right. He’d forgotten. All the energy left him, and he sagged back into the bed. The pain from his wounds burned through him, and he wondered whether he’d ever be able to take a deep breath again. .
Chase leaned over Mira’s shoulder, and Steen noticed that his arm was around Mira’s shoulder and she was leaning into him. There was an intimacy between the two of them that made him think of Rachel, and pain echoed in his chest. “Steen,” Chase said. “You have less than five months until you’re out. This shit will be over, and you can start again.”
“For what? I—” He cut off the familiar refrain when he saw the expression on Mira’s face. “What?” She knew something. What did she know?
“Give it time,” she said softly. “You’ll figure out why you decided to live.” She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek. He closed his eyes, stunned by how incredible it felt to be touched so softly, and so intimately. He went utterly still, afraid to break the spell, afraid to move, afraid of never feeling that kind of touch again. The pain that had been gripping him so fiercely eased slightly, allowing him just enough room to inhale slightly.
“Careful, buddy,” Chase said. “She’s mine.”
Steen opened his eyes as Mira pulled back. She held up her left hand, which had a straw wrapped around her ring finger. “I’m marrying into your family, Steen. Zane is pissed, and most of your brothers are afraid of me. It seems as if you like me, so do me a favor and get healed, okay? I need you at the wedding so that Chase isn’t the only one on my side. Got it?”
“Married?” He looked at Chase, who was grinning the biggest smile he’d ever seen in his life. Even as he studied his brother, he felt weariness stealing over him, and his eyes growing heavy. Shit, he was tired. He needed to sleep. He could feel his body screaming at him to let it heal, and he knew he had to shut it down. His eyelids began to drift shut, and his finger slackened in Mira’s hand.
“Damn right,” Chase said. “I need you there. You coming?”
Forcing his eyes open Steen looked at Mira again, and then he looked at each of his brothers, who he hadn’t seen in years. He’d cut them out when he’d gone to prison, and yet there they were, all of them present, crowding his bed like they didn’t give a shit about what’d he’d done. Only Caleb and Logan were missing. All the res
t were there. Something rolled over inside him, something that had been dead for a long, long time. “Yeah, okay,” he said, returning his gaze back to Chase and Mira. “I’ll be there. At your wedding. But you’re going to have to wait. Gotta get better. I’m not coming in a wheelchair.” Pain stabbed through him again, and he gritted his teeth.
Chase’s smile widened, and the others all seemed to take a universal deep breath. “You promise?”
He met his brother’s gaze, knowing that in their world, a promise meant everything. “Yeah,” he said. “I promise.”
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Sneak Peek: A Real Cowboy Knows How to Kiss
A Wyoming Rebels Novel
It was Steen Stockton.
Erin couldn’t believe the man who was standing before her. After all her years of fantasizing about him, wondering what had happened to him, searching the web for information about his football career after he’d blown out his knee in college, he was standing right in front of her.
An old, faded cowboy hat was pulled low over his forehead, almost shielding his dark eyes from her view. His face was clean-shaven, his jaw angular and refined. He was wearing a black tee shirt, black jeans, and boots that would fit more with a motorcycle helmet than a cowboy hat. His shoulders were still wide and his body angled down to a V toward his narrow hips, but he was lean, too lean, and his cheeks were sunken, as if he’d been in a bad place for a long time. He was pure male, well over six feet tall, and his muscles were hard and cut beneath his shirt, despite his leanness.
He was no longer a boy, but the man she’d envisioned. He was pure, raw heat, with a languid grace that she knew hid his lightning-quick reflexes and innate physical grace. For the first time in years, she felt a pulse of physical attraction. Involuntarily, her gaze flicked to his mouth. His lips were pressed together, as if he were trying to contain the words that wanted to escape. Sexy and silent, just as he’d always been, only now, he was so much more.
In the face of the sheer strength of his presence, she suddenly felt like the ugly, geeky fourteen-year-old again, hopelessly outclassed by the only person she’d ever known who lived life on his terms and didn’t care one bit what anyone else thought of him.
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