Mari wrapped her arms around herself and rocked slowly side to side.
Luke fished in his pocket for his handkerchief, then held it out to her. When, finally, she took it and wiped the wetness from her cheeks, he cleared his throat. “But you know what? I was selfish. I didn’t want to bring all that up. I didn’t want family sins and obligations to come between us. I’ve spent a good portion of my life cleaning up after my family, and this time, for these few short days, I wanted some time for myself. I wanted this time with you.”
He took a step toward her and spoke from the bottom of his heart. “I love you, Maribeth McBride. I’m in love with you.”
“Oh, Luke.”
“And you know what else? I think you’re in love with me, too.” He paused, waited for her to respond with more than his name, only Mari remained silent.
“Dammit, Maribeth.” He reached for her again.
“No!” She pushed him away, turned away from him. She paced back and forth across a plot of land no bigger than a grave. “It’s over. All of it. Kat has been found. My goal is accomplished. My sister and I will leave for Fort Worth first thing tomorrow morning. We’ll work out a story on the way home. Emma will have told everyone that Kat eloped, so we’ll just tell them she’s now a widow. Her husband had an accident. A tragic accident. He’s been hit by a train. Maybe gored by a bull. Something really awful.”
Everything inside Luke went cold. He wanted to grab her, to physically stop her. You’re not leaving me! He managed to keep his fists clenched at his sides as he flatly said, “No. You’re not traveling alone.”
“I won’t be alone. Kat will be with me. We’ll be fine.” Mari gave a harsh little laugh. “The only time we’ve been in trouble is when we tangled with members of your family. Rory and Murphy are both in jail, so they’re no threat. Do you have any other brothers I should know about?”
“Stop it!” Luke braced his hands on his hips. “Just stop it.”
“It’s an honest question. After all, Luke—you, Murphy, Rory…your family hasn’t exactly been good news for mine.”
“Don’t lump me in with them,” he snapped, temper and nausea rolling in his gut. “I’m not my brother, and I’m certainly not Finn Murphy. I’m happy to own up to my own sins, Mari, but I’ll be damned if I’ll pay for theirs.”
The deepening dusk cast shadows across her face as the gentle evening breeze gusted, lifting errant strands of long golden hair to dance around her. Impatiently, she pushed them behind her ear. “I don’t want you to pay for anything, Luke. I just want you and your brother and your brother-in-law to leave me and my family alone. This is a big state. All I ask is that you stay away from Fort Worth. Keep your murders and robberies and spying and lying away from us and our home, for your own sake, if not for mine. If you or any of your kin are within spitting distance when my father learns this story, he’ll kill you. Frankly, I don’t want that on my conscience.”
“So that’s it?” Luke drew back his leg and viciously kicked a loose stone, sent it flying over the side of the bluff. “I’m supposed to just walk away from you? From us?”
“There is no us!” she cried. “There can’t be. Your family…my family…” She shook her head.
“Dammit, Mari.” He took her shoulders in both his hands, barely restrained himself from shaking her. “This isn’t about our families. This is about you and me!”
She wrenched away from him, raised both hands to her head, shut her eyes and shouted, “No! You don’t understand.”
“Then tell me,” he implored, shaken by the misery in her countenance, a misery reflected in his heart. “Explain it. Make me understand. You love me, don’t you?”
“Yes!” The word ripped from her soul. “I love you! But it can’t matter, not now.” She opened her eyes, and her beautiful damp blue eyes begged him to hear her. She fisted her right hand, thumped it against her chest. “It is about family, Luke. That’s who I am, who we are. It’s who we’ve always been. We’re the McBrides. Kat is my sister, and she needs me now, like never before. Right now, she has to come first.”
A lump of emotion had lodged in his throat. She had told him she loved him but that it didn’t matter? Well, it goddamned mattered to him. “You’ve been a McBride, but you’re grown now. You’re a woman. It’s time you let go.”
“Luke, please.”
“I want you to be a Garrett, Maribeth.” He took a step toward her, reached for her. “I want you to be my family. I want you to marry me.”
Mari flinched away from him. She sank to her knees, her answer a wounded mewl, the sound of an animal caught in a trap. Hearing it, Luke knew he’d lost. His arms fell to his sides. His heart shattered at her feet.
“She’s pregnant,” Mari said, her expression stricken, her voice breaking. “Alone. You’re the brother of the man who’s responsible.”
Silence settled between them like death. Luke wanted to rage and roar and lash out against something, anything. Instead, he turned and walked a few steps away. Though he stared at the glorious vista before him, he saw only the dust of dreams destroyed.
After a long moment, Luke closed his eyes, swallowed his pain and locked it away. Then, his emotions numb and under his control, he turned toward Mari.
She sat with her face buried in her hands, quietly weeping. Luke approached her and gently helped her to her feet. He took her in his arms and held her. “All right, sugar. Don’t worry. I understand. I’ll leave it alone. I’ll leave you alone. Everything’s all right.”
“I’m…I’m sorry,” she said, her voice a broken whisper.
“Me, too, Maribeth.” He pressed a kiss against her hair. “Me, too.”
TO MARI’S dismay, Luke insisted on escorting them back to Fort Worth. No matter how much she objected, protested and complained, he remained determined to see his job of bodyguard through to the end. Mari might not have resisted him so vigorously had he not insisted on bringing that low-down, scalawag of a brother along with him. She didn’t care that he couldn’t leave Rory behind for fear that he’d disappear again. So what if the sheriff of Parsonsville refused Luke’s request to lock Rory up until Luke could return for him? Why should she and Kat be subjected to the adulterer’s presence?
Luke promised to make certain his half brother left the McBride women alone, and for the most part, he kept his word. Twice Rory Callahan attempted to talk to Kat, who then curled into herself and wept. Both times Luke hauled the scoundrel away before Mari herself was forced to get physical.
Nevertheless, the two-day trip home to Fort Worth proved difficult. Though Luke maintained a respectful distance, just knowing he was there kept Mari’s heart squeezed in a vise. She couldn’t help but recall his scent, the feel of his hard body against her softness, the husky rumble of his voice as he murmured earthy words in her ear when they made love.
Mari gave herself a little shake. They couldn’t get home fast enough. The sooner he was gone, the sooner she could start getting over him. Mari suspected the task might take an exceptionally long time.
Two days after leaving Parsonsville, Mari watched through the train’s passenger-car window as the Fort Worth skyline came into view. “Almost home, Kat,” she said.
“Thank goodness.”
When Kat lifted her head from Mari’s lap, Mari was heartened to see that the green tint to her sister’s complexion had faded somewhat. The railroad car’s sway had played havoc on her constitution, and she’d spent the hours of travel in pure misery.
“Instead of hiring a driver, would you mind walking from the station to Willow Hill?” Kat asked. “Once my feet hit the ground, I want them to stay there.”
“A walk sounds good,” Mari agreed.
Kat smoothed her skirt, then added, “They won’t be there when I meet the family, will they?”
Mari instinctively checked over her shoulder toward the back of the passenger car where Luke sat beside his brother. Luke caught her look and nodded. She jerked her head around and faced forward.
“Mr. Garrett obviously takes his bodyguard duties seriously.” When Mari limited her reply to a shrug, Kat added, “Are you ever going to tell me about him?”
“What do you mean?”
“The tension between you two is thicker than cold grits. Something happened between you two, didn’t it?”
Mari didn’t know how to respond. She didn’t want to lie to Kat, but neither did she wish to relay the whole distressing story. She knew Kat would feel responsible for Mari’s decision to end her relationship with Luke, and she didn’t need that burden on top of everything else.
Mari was worried about her sister. More than just the stomach sickness, Kat displayed a sickness of spirit. She seemed fragile, as if a wrong word or harsh look might cause her to shatter into a million pieces. Seeing her this way made Mari angry enough to take a knife to Rory Callahan’s two-timing heart.
“Now is not right for that,” Mari finally said, dodging the question about Luke. “Let’s think about home. Emma will be waiting. The McBride Menaces will be together again. What a glorious reunion that will be.”
“I’m almost glad Papa and Mama are away,” Kat told her. “It will be so hard to face them. They deserve better than to have me return from the dead a fallen woman.”
“Don’t,” Mari snapped. “Stop that right now. You are no fallen woman.” That would be me. “We’ve been through this before, Katrina. You believed yourself married. The shame isn’t yours, it is his.”
“I wish I could believe that,” her sister murmured.
“I was such a fool. I should have suspected something was wrong. Sometimes things he said just didn’t add up. But he dazzled me.”
Mari knew about being dazzled.
Conversation waned as the train whistle blew, the brakes squealed, and the McBride sisters returned to Fort Worth. They gathered their belongings and waited their turn to disembark. Mari couldn’t help but glance to the back of the car where Luke waited with Rory. For once, Luke wasn’t staring at her, but looking through the window, his attention focused on the platform.
He was the first person off the train, dragging his brother with him. Mari was taken aback by his quick departure, and to her dismay, tears stung her eyes. I thought he’d at least say goodbye. Don’t I at least deserve that?
They moved toward the door, then abruptly, Kat stopped. “What if somebody recognizes me? Oh, Mari, I don’t think I want to walk after all. In fact, I don’t think I want to get off this train. Let’s just ride on to Dallas, shall we? We can visit our grandmother. Monique would like that.”
“Calm down, honey. Everything will be all right. I promise.”
“I’m scared.”
“Don’t be.” Mari waited a moment. “You’re alive, Kat. That’s the best news our family could ever receive. Do you honestly think a little scandal could dampen it?”
Her sister smiled wanly, then nodded. “Still, let’s go home the fastest way.”
“I’ll hire the fastest driver in town.”
A few minutes later, among the last people to exit the train, she discovered that Luke had already accomplished the task for her.
He waited for Kat and Mari on the platform. Rory was nowhere in sight. “I have a wagon waiting to take you to Willow Hill. Not much of one, I’m afraid. The train from Dallas arrived a quarter hour before us and somebody else had already hired most of the drivers.”
Mari drew a deep breath. “Thank you, Luke.” She held out her hand for him to shake. “It’s been a pleasure to—”
He mouthed a curse and glared at her. “I will see you to your front door.”
“But—”
“I’d wired ahead, and one of my men took Rory into custody. It’s just me, Mari, but I will see you home.”
He escorted the women to a waiting wagon. Before leaving the train, Kat had pulled on a wide-brimmed, face-concealing bonnet, and now she walked with her head down. An acquaintance attempted to waylay Mari, but she simply waved and kept on moving. The ride to Willow Hill took just over ten minutes.
“Home,” Kat said, as they drove up the hill toward the house their father had designed and built when she was a child. “It feels like forever since I’ve been here. I’ve missed it.”
“Willow Hill has missed you, too. It was a sad, empty place this summer, Kat, but I suspect that’s about to change. As soon as the family gets home from Europe, it’ll be like Christmas in October.”
“You think they’ll be home that soon?”
“Definitely. Emma will have sent word. I have no doubt they’ll be home as fast as physically possible.”
The wagon turned into the circular driveway at the top of the hill and rolled to a stop near the base of the steps leading up to the broad front porch. Luke paid the driver and sent him on his way. At Mari’s curious look, he said, “I’ll walk back. Need to stretch my legs.”
He assisted first Kat, then Mari to the ground. Kat stood beside the wagon and silently faced the house. Mari had a lump the size of a walnut in her throat when she turned to Luke.
This time, he headed her off. “Don’t argue,” he said, his jaw set. “I’m delivering you to your door, by God.”
He was a dog with a bone, and Mari knew that the quickest way to see this painful moment finished was to let him have his way. She nodded, and when he offered her his arm, took it.
It was the first time she’d touched him since their return from Inspiration Point. His muscles were tense, his manner grim. The sandalwood scent of his shaving lotion teased Mari’s nostrils.
As the three of them climbed the steps, Kat asked, “How late does Emma stay at the Harrisons’? Will she be home, do you think?”
“I suspect she will. It’s after three, and she’s usually home by then.”
“Good.” Kat drew a deep breath, pulled the strings on her bonnet and slipped it off, then opened the front door. Mari braced herself to say goodbye to Luke, but then a sound coming from inside the house captured her attention.
“Mama!” came the sound of a young boy’s voice. “Tommy won’t give me my slingshot!”
Mari’s brows winged up in surprise. Kat gave a little gasp. Footsteps emerged from the kitchen, and Mari heard Jenny McBride say, “Ten minutes. We haven’t been home ten minutes. What is it with those bo—”
Her eyes lit on the arrivals, and the glass water pitcher she carried slipped from her hand and crashed to the tile floor. Shock stole her breath, and she swayed on her feet amidst a sea of shattered glass. Luke started forward to help just as Trace McBride hurried out of the kitchen saying, ‘Treasure, are you all—oh God!”
Kat stepped forward and offered her parents a watery smile. “Hello, Mama. Hello, Papa. I’m home.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
LUKE KNEW HE SHOULD probably slip on out the door and leave the McBride family to their reunion, but he stayed right where he was. He’d been present at Kat’s “death,” so it felt somehow proper that he witness her resurrection.
Besides, he’d known all along that Trace McBride would demand an accounting of him eventually. Might as well get it over with at once.
Understandably, Jenny and Trace McBride had been shocked silent at the first sight of Kat, but when the prodigal daughter stepped forward and declared herself home, euphoric chaos erupted. Jenny let out a squeal and rushed toward Kat, catching her in a hard hug. Big, tall, stoic Trace had tears streaming down his face as he wrapped both women in his arms, then buried his face in his daughter’s strawberry-golden hair.
Mari watched it all with teary eyes, her smile as wide as Texas. Compelling as the scene was between parents and daughter, Luke couldn’t tear his gaze away from Mari. She’d given her all to make this moment happen. Kat had returned to Willow Hill because of Mari. Family was everything to Mari, and she’d just given them the greatest gift imaginable. How wonderful th
at must make her feel.
Two pairs of footsteps pounded on the staircase. “What’s going on?” the shorter, towheaded boy asked.
The McBride parents released Kat long enough for her to lift her face toward her brothers.
“Holy shit!” the taller boy exclaimed, dashing downstairs.
Despite the excitement of the moment, Jenny McBride retained enough maternal presence to scold. “Thomas Trace McBride. Your language!”
The younger boy held back. In a trembling voice, he asked, “Are you a ghost?”
“No, squirt. C’mere so I can pull your ear.”
“Kat!” he hollered, then joined his family in their celebration, the tears now turning to laughter.
“Where have you been, Kat?” the older boy asked, his question unleashing a torrent of others. Kat glanced to Mari for help. She stepped forward, linked her arm through her mother’s, and said, “It’s a long story. I think Kat might want to rest a little bit before she gets into the whole thing.”
Luke didn’t miss Mari’s quick, significant glance toward her father or the little squeeze she gave her mother’s arm. Her parents shared a glance, then for the first time, Trace met Luke’s eyes and acknowledged his presence with a nod. He guided the group toward the parlor off the entry hall saying, “Why don’t we—”
“Papa! Mama!” A long-legged whirlwind burst into the house yelling, “Emma says she’s got spectacular news. We’re supposed to…” Billy McBride came to an abrupt halt at the entry to the parlor, and his voice trailed off as he caught sight of Katrina. He blinked twice, then all the color left his skin. He wobbled a moment, then slowly sank to his knees. “You’re alive. Oh, God. Thank you, God. I thought…I thought I killed you, Kat.”
Kat knelt beside her brother, hugging him hard.
Emotion clogged her voice as she said, “I’m fine, Billy. Just fine. Don’t worry. I’m so sorry you’ve felt responsible all this time. Mari told me all about it, and you didn’t do anything wrong. All of this was my fault. I’m so, so sorry.”
Her Bodyguard Page 23