“A little confused and sore. How long have I been here?” He could smell her now, that glorious scent of mysterious spices, that fragrance that seeped into his blood and wrapped around his heart.
“Two days. The bullet broke one of your ribs and the doctor did laparoscopy surgery to check things out.”
“And how are things?”
She smiled. “You were lucky. The bullet didn’t do any other damage. You’re going to be good as new in a couple of weeks. Now that you’re awake I’m sure the doctor will let you go home in the next day or so to recuperate.”
“Where’s Joey?”
“With Cassie and Grandmother. I—I needed to be here with you.” Tears misted her beautiful eyes. “You took a bullet for me, Tony. You could have been killed.”
“I’d gladly take a bullet for you anytime. What about Ash?”
“He’s dead and two of his men were shot and two more were arrested. He won’t bother us anymore, Tony. The danger is finally over.”
Tony couldn’t work up a single ounce of guilt over the man he had killed. “And the rest of the men at the ranch?” he asked worriedly.
“Sawyer suffered a flesh wound to the shoulder and Jerod has a concussion. Ash knocked him over the head to get into the house by the front door. Thank God everyone else is okay.”
Thank God. The last thing he wanted was to be responsible for any of the men getting hurt or killed. They had all put their lives on the line by leaving their rooms and confronting his danger head-on.
“Have you been here for the last two days?” he asked.
“I couldn’t leave until I knew you were really going to be okay.”
He searched her features. A woman who didn’t love him wouldn’t stay in his hospital room for two long days. A woman who didn’t love him wouldn’t be looking at him now with tears in her eyes.
“Mary...”
He only got her name out before she stepped back, her eyes dark and guarded. “I’ve made arrangements with Clay to take us home. Cassie has said she’ll watch Joey as long as you need her to. I was just waiting for you to wake up so I could tell you goodbye.”
Goodbye. The word hung heavy between them. He didn’t understand her choice. He would go to his grave believing that Mary Redwing loved him. But he wasn’t going to fight for her anymore.
“Mary, I’ll never be able to thank you for what you’ve done for me. I promised you a paycheck for watching Joey and as soon as I get out of this bed I’ll see to it.”
“Don’t worry about it. Having you...having Joey in my life for a little while is payment enough.” She took another step backward and the mist in her eyes grew thicker. “Be well, Tony, and live a happy life.”
She spun out of the room as if the very devil himself was on her tail. He squeezed his eyes tightly closed. The pain that ripped through him was far worse than any physical injuries he might have suffered.
She was gone and there was nothing he could do about it. By the time he got out of the hospital there would be no trace of her left at the ranch.
It was time for him to move on. He had a life to build with a little boy who needed him. He turned his head toward the window and stared out. The danger was truly over and it was a beautiful day. He’d loved...and he’d lost, but he was alive and he was a strong, proud man who would survive.
“I hear my patient is awake.”
Tony turned his head to see Dr. Wendall Johnson entering the room. “I’m awake,” Tony replied, although he’d rather be in a deep sleep of oblivion right now. “When can I get out of here?”
He had a house to rent and a life to build with the little boy who was now an orphan unless the DNA results came back and proved he was Joey’s father. And if the results came back that he was not Joey’s father, then he would find the appropriate authorities and begin the adoption process.
Hopefully, the fact that he was a single man wouldn’t hurt his chances of adopting Joey. No matter what it took, he’d do it in order to keep the little boy in his life.
With the doctor’s promise that if all went well he could be released the next day, Tony took a nap. When he awakened, he was surprised to see Halena seated in the chair where Mary had been earlier in the day. Twilight was falling outside the window and Halena had on her lucky casino blouse.
“Aren’t you supposed to be playing slot machines?” he asked.
“That’s where Mary thinks I am.”
“So what are you doing here?”
“Can’t I come to visit a friend?”
“Of course,” Tony replied. He struggled to sit up.
“You’re doing okay?”
“I’m sore, but I’m doing well enough that the doctor said I might get to go home tomorrow.”
“That’s good. I’ve grown very fond of you, Tony Nakni.” She leaned forward, her gaze intent. “And the leaves on the trees tell me you love my granddaughter very much.”
Tony released a small, slightly bitter laugh. “You don’t need the trees on the leaves to tell you. I’m more than happy to tell you I love Mary with all my heart.”
“As she does you.” Halena sat back in the chair. Tony stared at her in frustration. “How hard are you willing to fight for her? How much do you love her? A good warrior fights for what he wants.”
“I have fought for her,” he replied. “And she keeps telling me she doesn’t love me.”
“She’s afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
“It’s not my place to say, but if you want to win her heart, then you have to force her to tell you her secret.” Halena rose. “And now Mabel is waiting for me and those slot machines are calling.”
“Halena,” he protested. “What secret? Tell me.”
“Fight for her, Tony,” she said as she flew out the door.
He half rose and shouted her name, but she was gone. He slumped back in the bed, more confused than ever. What kind of a secret could Mary possibly have that was keeping her from love?
* * *
Mary sat in her new, bigger and better back porch and watched the raindrops sliding down the windows. The rain had begun just after noon and still continued as day transformed into night.
Tony would be out of the hospital by now. He and little Joey would be in his bunk room at the ranch. Or perhaps Cassie had invited him to stay in the big house, in the bedroom where she and Joey had stayed until he could get settled in someplace else.
She frowned and focused on the blouse she’d been beading. She was waiting on a delivery of river cane from her distributor in Louisiana before she could begin working on baskets again.
Why was she thinking about Tony and Joey? They were so yesterday’s news. It had been well over twenty-four hours ago when she’d told him goodbye.
And the rain kept falling down.
She’d hoped that she and her grandmother might enjoy a movie night tonight, but Halena had gone to the casino again with Mabel. Who knew what time her grandmother would finally roll in?
Mary supposed she could watch a movie by herself. It might help take her mind off the pain that arrowed through her heart. Still, she couldn’t work up enough enthusiasm about the plan to leave the porch.
She’d been stunned when she’d seen the back porch for the first time. The men Tony hired had made it so much bigger, and with the windows she could now work out here even on the rainiest day. He’d had vertical blinds hung that could be pulled to block out the sun if it got too warm, and a new worktable put in place. He’d even bought a big roomy wicker chair with a bright floral cushion that she knew was meant for Halena.
He’d thought of everything...because he loved her.
She got up from her chair. Maybe she’d put a movie on after all. She didn’t want to sit and watch it rain anymore. She didn’t want to think of T
ony and Joey and loss any longer.
She’d just walked into the living room when a knock sounded at the door. Who, other than Halena, would be out on such a miserable night like this?
Tony.
Her stomach clenched. She’d already told him goodbye. Surely it couldn’t be him. Maybe it was a neighbor needing something. Surely it couldn’t be Tony.
She opened the door and there he stood, raindrops pattering on his shoulders and clinging to his dark, long lashes. “Mary, can I come in? I need to speak with you.”
No. She didn’t want to see him. She didn’t want to talk to him. She was over him. “Okay,” she heard herself say. She couldn’t very well keep him standing on the front porch in the rain, she told herself.
She stepped aside and he swept past her, his familiar scent fluttering a new sense of grief through her. Once they were in the living room, he shrugged off his coat and cast it aside, then turned to face her.
“Is Joey all right?” she asked.
“He’s fine, but he misses you.”
She steeled her heart, refusing to be moved by either the thought that the little boy might miss her, or the longing that filled Tony’s eyes.
“Why are you here? We already said our goodbyes.” She crossed her arms, as if to create a barrier against him and against the aching love he evoked in her.
“I’m here for answers.” His dark eyes bore into hers. “I know you love me, Mary. Even your grandmother knows what’s in your heart for me. So, I’m here and I don’t intend to leave until you tell me the secret that is keeping you from me.”
“Secret?” Her blood chilled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He took several steps toward her. “Halena seemed to know and she thought it was important that you tell me.”
“She’s a meddling fool,” she replied. Oh, Grandmother, why didn’t you keep your nose out of this?
“I think she’s a very wise woman. She knows how much I love you and she knows how much you love me.” He took another step forward, standing far too close to her now. “Tell me, Mary. Tell me your secret, make me understand why you aren’t in my arms right now.”
She stared at him. She suddenly remembered the dream she’d had of standing on a cliff as a frigid wind buffeted her. She was about to jump into the dark abyss.
She hadn’t wanted him to know. She hadn’t wanted to see him turn away from her. But Halena had forced her hand by saying too much to him.
“You want to know my secret? Fine,” she snapped. “Follow me.”
She led him into the privacy of her bedroom and then turned to look at him. This was the moment she’d hoped would never happen. But she had a feeling Tony might never go away unless he saw her secret. That would certainly make him hightail it out of her life.
And it would make her hate him just a little bit.
“Mary?” He looked at her curiously.
“When I got ovarian cancer, because my mother and one of my aunts had died of breast cancer, the doctor did genetic testing on me. I found out I had the BRCA gene mutation.”
He frowned. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what that means.”
“It meant I had a good chance of getting breast cancer and possibly dying like my mother. So, I took them off.” A small burst of slightly hysterical laughter escaped her. “I said off with their heads.”
The laughter turned into an unexpected sob. “I don’t have real breasts, Tony. All I have is this.” With a deep breath she grabbed the bottom of her T-shirt and tore it off over her head.
She stood before him defiantly, steeling herself for his reaction.
He stared at her for several long moments. “Mary, Mary.” He shook his head and took a couple of steps toward her. “Did you really believe that I fell in love with your breasts? Did you really think that this would somehow change my feelings for you?”
A trembling began at the center of her as she searched his features, looking for the revulsion she was so certain she would see. All she saw was the sweet gaze of a man who loved her.
He took another step and then covered her breasts with his hands. He ran his fingers over the scars, his gaze holding hers intently.
“Tony.” His name slid from her lips on a sigh of wonder.
“You are so beautiful.”
“I don’t have much of any feeling there,” she said, still stunned by his reaction.
“If you can’t feel me touching you here, then feel me touching you in your heart.” He leaned down and kissed across each scar.
She didn’t feel the sweetness of his mouth on her breasts, but her heart did feel his kisses, heating with the flames of the love that she’d tried to deny.
“Are you real?” she asked breathlessly. “Is this real?”
He raised his head and gazed at her with eyes that spoke of forever. “This is very real. I’m so glad you made the choice you did so that we could be together now and build a future. I want you, Mary. I want you today and every day for the rest of my life.”
His mouth covered hers in a fiery kiss that banished all her doubts, all her fears. He loved her and he thought she was beautiful.
For the first time in years she felt beautiful, scars and all, and what she wanted more than anything at this moment was to lie naked in his arms. She wanted his passion for her...and hers for him to explode.
“Make love to me, Tony.”
“With pleasure,” he replied.
He stepped away from her only long enough for the two of them to completely undress, then they fell into her bed and she was in his arms, her naked breasts against the warmth of his chest as he kissed her long and hard.
“Marry me, Mary,” he said when the kiss ended. “Tell me you’ll marry me.”
A wild exhilaration filled her. “I’ll marry you,” she replied.
He kissed her again and then their hands moved to explore each other with the slowness of discovery that had been lacking the last time they’d made love.
Everything was intensified by the knowledge that her secret was out—he’d seen her scars and he still wanted her, he still loved her.
His hands slid languidly down the length of her, each touch shooting shimmering fireworks through her and at the same time she tangled her hands in his long hair, moved to caress the width of his back and grabbed his firm buttocks.
He was fully aroused but seemed to be in no hurry. She gasped as his fingers danced along her inner thigh and then touched the very core of her.
“Tony.” His name whispered out of her as every nerve in her body electrified.
“You’re in my blood, Mary. I’ll never stop loving you,” he said just before he took her mouth with his once again.
As the kiss went on, his fingers moved faster against her and her heartbeat raced faster as she climbed to a precipice of tension that finally exploded in her veins.
She cried out with the release and he moved between her thighs and entered her. Their gazes locked as he moved inside her, slowly bringing her alive once again.
Their gasping breaths filled the room as she thrust her hips to meet his. Faster and faster...harder and harder they moved until tears of joy filled her eyes and she shuddered with another climax.
He stiffened with his own release and then collapsed next to her. For several long minutes they didn’t speak, they only stared into each other’s eyes and spoke of love without needing the words.
He finally released a deep sigh and reached up and slid a finger down her cheek. “We belong together, Mary. You and me and Joey, we’re all going to be a family.”
“I want that, Tony. I want it more than you’ll ever know.” She frowned. “But you know I’m a package deal. I would never leave my grandmother.”
“How about you don’t go anywhere and you just make room
for me and Joey right here.”
“That would be okay with you?”
He laughed. “Mary, I would live in a tent if that’s what you wanted to do. Besides, I wouldn’t want to miss one of Halena’s hat days or not know what the leaves on the trees were whispering to her.”
Mary laughed and cuddled against him, her heart more full than it had ever been in her life. “Now tell me what our life together is going to look like.”
“I’ll move in here and I’d still like to work on the Holiday ranch if that’s okay with you. I’ll be home in the evenings and on my days off to help you with chores and taking care of the children.”
She raised her head to look at him once again. “Children?”
“We should probably see about adopting a sister for Joey to start.”
“To start?”
He returned her grin. “Who knows how many children we might end up with.”
“And this from a man who professed he didn’t want children,” she teased.
“That was before I knew love. We’re going to have a wonderful life together, Mary.”
She believed him. She leaned over and kissed him, a kiss that held all her love, all her hopes and dreams. He was the man she’d been waiting for, a man who would love her despite her flaws.
He made her feel beautiful and free. She was a survivor and for the first time a true sense of pride swept through her. She had made difficult life choices to be here now, to live life to the fullest with the man who held her heart.
Epilogue
Tony sat on the sofa next to Mary and little Joey was on a blanket on the floor, chattering and kicking his legs as if he knew the next few minutes were very important to him.
Halena sat in the chair facing them, clad in zebra-striped sleep pants and a bright-colored floral house dress. Perched on the top of her head was the sequined red turban Cassie had given her.
The envelope containing the DNA results was in the middle of the coffee table just waiting to be opened.
Operation Cowboy Daddy Page 21