by Debra Webb
Pain exploded inside her head. Lauren groaned. The room shifting and, blackness threatening, she felt her way to the hall. If she could only make it to the bed. The pain roared ferociously, stripping her of the last of her strength. Lauren sagged against the wall and slid to the floor. She pressed her forehead to her knees and prayed for the blackness to swallow her, bringing with it blessed relief. Sarah was in good hands with Rosemary. Lauren willed herself to give in to the pain. Stop fighting, she chanted silently.
"Lauren."
Her name sounded a long way off, though Lauren sensed that it came from right beside her. She didn't dare speak or move her head or even open her eyes; the pain was too great.
"Lauren."
It was Gray's voice. Lauren struggled to lift her head, to open her eyes. She needed to tell him…to tell him…what? She couldn't think.
Suddenly she was moving, he was moving her. It hurt…she didn't want to move. She mumbled a protest, but if he understood he paid no attention. Lauren's heavy lids opened a crack, but she felt more than saw that he had carried her into her bedroom. She sank into the softness of her bed. He covered her and Lauren retreated into the darkness.
Chapter Fourteen
Lauren struggled upward, out of the darkness. Hurry! She had to hurry. She pushed through the thick layers smothering her. Sound. She could hear distant sounds. She was getting closer.
Lauren's eyes opened slowly to the semidark room. Her room, she was in her room. Long moments passed before the ability to move returned. Lauren felt groggy and heavy against the mattress. She turned the hot, hollow mass that was her head, and her sluggish gaze settled on a familiar face.
Rosemary sat in the chair next to Lauren's bed. Her eyes were closed. Lauren wondered if it was night and Rosemary was asleep. How long had she been out? She remembered waking up several times, but the pain had sent her immediately back into the darkness.
Lauren licked her dry lips. "Rosemary," she mumbled in a rusty voice.
Rosemary jolted to attention. She scrutinized Lauren's face and then smiled. "You're back."
"Sarah?" Lauren asked. She had to know that Sarah was all right.
"Don't worry, honey," Rosemary replied softly.
"Sarah is fine."
Lauren smiled faintly. "Good."
Rosemary knelt beside the bed and smoothed Lauren's hair back from her face. Her hands felt cool against Lauren. "Can I get you anything?"
"Gray," she murmured next. "Where's Gray?" She remembered he had been there at least once when she'd surfaced from oblivion.
Rosemary's smile dimmed. "He was really worried about you. He stayed right by your side for most of the night and today, too."
"Where is he?" Lauren insisted. She had to warn him that Buck had done something. The test results had to have been tampered with. She had to tell him…that she loved him.
"He's at the bunkhouse," Rosemary began. "He's leaving, Lauren."
Anguish stabbed Lauren's heart and twisted. "But he can't go. I want him to stay." She struggled to a sitting position.
"Wait, honey, you're still weak." In spite of her scolding, Rosemary helped Lauren to her feet.
"I have to stop him," Lauren said weakly.
"He won't leave without saying goodbye. Take it easy and let me get you something to drink." Rosemary smiled, then hugged Lauren close. "I'm so glad you're not going to make the same mistake I did."
Lauren had made the last mistake she ever intended to where Gray Longwalker was concerned. He may have changed his mind about the unexpected marriage proposal, but she didn't care. Lauren would take a relationship with Gray any way she could get it.
"There's something else," Rosemary said with a sigh.
Lauren's gaze latched on to hers. She wasn't sure she could tolerate any more bad news.
"Buck is fit to be tied." Rosemary shrugged. "I wouldn't let him see you, and he's a little less than pleased with me."
Glee at Buck's displeasure gave Lauren's resolve a shot in the arm. "Don't worry about Buck," she assured her friend. "I intend to take care of him personally."
* * *
SARAH TWIRLED GRAY'S HAT in her little hands. Her green cast was now covered in her schoolmates' autographs. He could hardly bear the solemn expression on her face. But he had to go, for the time being. He knew with every fiber of his being that the test results were wrong. But Gray couldn't do anything about that at the moment. That was his attorney's job. Sarah would be safe with Lauren until he could prove his right to his child in the courts. The thought of leaving Sarah was more painful than anything he had ever suffered in his life.
But he couldn't take her with him yet. His chest tightened at the thought of Lauren marrying Buck. Buck was the real bad guy here. Somehow he had convinced Lauren that marrying him was the only way to keep Sarah, and then he'd had the test results altered. Gray knew the Buckmasters well enough to know that they would stoop to any means to get what they wanted. He just couldn't figure out why Buck would want Sarah. Did he believe she was the key to possessing Lauren? Was this what Mrs. Jennings had tried to warn him about the day he arrived? Blood isn't always thicker than water. Gray knew that better than anybody.
How could he walk away, knowing what Lauren was getting into? Gray cared for Lauren in ways he had never thought himself capable, and he knew she cared for him. There had to be a third angle here, something he was missing.
"But I don't want you to go," Sarah mumbled, her head hung in disappointment. "You promised to take me to the rodeo and to teach me to ride all by myself."
Her words stole his breath. Gray crouched down to her level. How could he explain the games adults play and make her understand? He couldn't. "I'll be back, Sarah, you have my word."
She looked at him, tears shining in her sad eyes. "You promise you won't forget about me?"
Gray felt the sting of his own tears. He forced a smile for his daughter. "Sarah—"
"You don't have to worry, sweetie, Gray will never forget you."
Gray's head went up at the sound of Lauren's weary voice. What was she doing out of bed? He stood, uncertain of what she intended. Was she here to see that he cleared out? Whatever her reason, he yearned to touch her.
Sarah rushed over to hug Lauren's legs. "You feel better now, Mommy?"
Lauren patted her on the head. "Lots better now." She lifted her gaze to Gray's. "I need to talk to you."
Gray couldn't imagine what she would have to say to him now, but he would listen. Pride would not prevent him from following his heart as it had so many times in the past. "Sarah, why don't you take that bag out to my truck." He gestured to the small saddlebag.
"Wait, sweetie," Lauren said as she all but crumpled into the nearest chair. "Come over here and sit in Mommy's lap."
Sarah looked from Gray to Lauren, then obeyed her mother. Gray stood stock-still, waiting for the other shoe to drop. He couldn't read Lauren's feelings. But he could feel her trepidation or maybe resignation.
Lauren smiled at her daughter and gave her an affectionate hug. "Sarah, you don't ever have to worry about Gray forgetting about you, because you're too special to him."
Sarah's eyes lit up. "I am?"
Lauren nodded. "That's right. You know how Elly and Missy have a mommy and a daddy?"
Sarah nodded slowly. "But I don't."
"Yes, you do," Lauren said, her voice quavered.
Gray's heart surged into his throat. What was she doing?
"I do?" Sarah's eyes widened.
"Gray is your father, and he loves you very much." Sarah peeked shyly at him, then turned back to Lauren, her face expectant. "He would have come to see you a long time ago but he didn't know you had been born. He came as soon as he found out."
"Nobody tolded him about me?"
Lauren shook her head slowly, unshed tears brimming in her troubled eyes.
Sarah frowned up at Gray. His gut twisted with anxiety. Was she disappointed? Would she still want to be with him now that she knew the trut
h? How could he expect a child to understand her father not coming to see her in all these years?
"How comed you didn't tell me?"
"I wanted to, Sarah, but—"
"I asked him not to," Lauren interrupted. She swiped at her cheek. "I was afraid you would love him so much that—" her voice cracked "—you wouldn't need me anymore."
"You're silly, Mommy," Sarah said, making a funny face. She hugged Lauren. "I love you bunches and bunches." She bounced out of Lauren's lap then. She set her little hands on her hips and peered up at Gray. "If you're my daddy you have to stay." Before he could respond, the child made a mad dash for the door. "I'm gonna go tell Aunt Rosemary that I got a daddy, too."
Gray released the breath he'd been holding. When he'd composed himself, he turned to Lauren. She stood now, only a few feet away, twisting her hands nervously in front of her.
"I'm glad you're feeling better." He wanted to reach out to her, to touch her and make her admit what he knew she felt. He wanted more than he had ever wanted anything in the world to believe in her…in them.
"I was wrong," Lauren explained. She took a deep breath and struggled for calm. "I was afraid that you would take Sarah away from me and I'd never see her again. When Don told me that I would have a better chance of winning at least some rights to her by presenting the picture-perfect family setting, I believed him. I was desperate not to lose her." Her lips trembled. "But I was wrong. I had no idea what Buck was capable of. I'm certain he somehow influenced the way the test turned out. But he's not going to get away with it."
Gray studied the determination in her eyes, in the set of her mouth and shoulders. She was serious. "You're going to stand up against Buck, throw away all he can offer you, for me?" He heard the disbelief in his voice.
"Yes."
Gray closed his eyes and steadied himself. In his entire life no one had ever done that for him. After a moment he leveled his gaze back on Lauren's. "Why would you do that?"
"Because you're Sarah's father." She straightened, squaring her shoulders. "Because you're a good man and you deserve better than this."
"I can fight my own battles, Lauren," he countered. Gray didn't want her facing Buck, especially not alone.
"This isn't just your battle, it's our battle. Buck used me to hurt you. I don't understand why yet, but I won't let him use me again."
"Buck has a long-standing grudge against me," Gray told her with resignation. "I don't think anything is going to change that."
"Because you're his half brother?"
"You figured that out, did you?" he asked, a bit surprised.
She nodded. "I want you to stay here, Gray, with us. You may never trust me again or feel about me the way I feel about you, but I don't want you to go. Sarah loves you."
"The people in this town don't want me here, remember?"
"They'll get over it."
"And exactly how is it that you feel about me?" He had to hear her say the words out loud.
"I'm in love with you, Gray Longwalker, and I'm willing to fight the whole town if necessary to keep you."
Before Gray could respond, Lauren left, leaving him to make up his own mind about the future.
Their future.
* * *
LAUREN WAITED IMPATIENTLY in the parlor of Buck's ostentatious Spanish-style mansion. The place was as quiet and stifling as a mausoleum. This was no place to raise a child. How could she ever have considered bringing Sarah here? Lauren shivered and thanked God once more that she had seen through Buck and come to her senses. She shifted and suppressed the need to tap her foot. Though she felt tremendously better now, she had lost a full day already with the debilitating episode of headaches. She didn't want to lose any more time.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, sugar," Buck boomed as he swaggered through the door. "I was on a business call to Houston." He winked. "You know how it is."
Lauren essayed a smile and braced herself for the obligatory kiss. Her stomach roiled at his touch.
"Have a seat, sugar, and I'll pour you a drink. You look as if you could use one." He busied himself at the antique sideboard that served as a bar. "That Rosemary wouldn't let me see you or talk to you while you were feeling poorly." He glanced over his shoulder at Lauren. "I'm a little upset with that woman."
Lauren moistened her lips and drew in a bolstering breath. She couldn't just keep standing here putting it off. "I don't want a drink, Buck. I need to talk to you."
"All right." Buck left the drinks on the bar and crossed the thickly carpeted floor to stand beside her.
"What seems to be the problem?"
"I made a mistake," she told him flatly. "I can't marry you."
Buck lifted one skeptical brow. "A little late for second thoughts, don't you think? After all, we have a contract."
Lauren's temper flared at his audacity. "You tricked me." She lifted her chin in challenge and added, "And you tricked Gray. I don't know how you got the results of that test rigged, but I'm sure Gray's attorney will get to the bottom of it. You'd better hope it isn't against too many laws to do what you've done."
"Now, sugar," Buck's gaze turned hard. "I don't think you have much choice in the matter. A deal is a deal. The whole town is geared up for this wedding, and I, for one, don't plan to let them down. Longwalker and his attorney can't prove a thing. I have friends at LabTech, and friends take care of friends."
Lauren held her ground. "Is that a confession, Buck? I may not be as wealthy as you, but I think my word against yours might be an even match."
Buck stepped intimidatingly nearer. "I don't think you quite grasp the magnitude of the situation, sugar."
"I will not marry you, Buck." Lauren didn't flinch. She would make this right. This was a free country, he couldn't make her marry him.
"We have a contract," he said furiously.
"So sue me," Lauren retorted. "I don't know what you hoped to gain by doing this, but I'm certain that you didn't go to all this trouble just to have me as your wife."
"I told you this crazy scheme wasn't gonna work."
Startled, Lauren glanced at the door to find Willy staring wild-eyed at her.
"Shut up, Willy," Buck commanded.
"I won't shut up," he shot back as he stalked across the room. "You went about this all wrong, big brother. Start thinking with your head instead of your—"
"I said shut up, Willy!" The threat in Buck's voice made Lauren jump. He looked ready to kill his younger brother.
"Just tell her what you want and what you'll do if you don't get it," Willy ground out. "That tactic worked just fine with that tramp Sharon."
Fear crept into Lauren's chest. "What about Sharon?"
Willy smirked. "She was easy. I just let her know that if she ever told Longwalker about that little girl of his that I'd see that she was sorry. Children come up missing all the time."
Outright panic slammed into Lauren then. "Why would you do such a thing? My God, Willy, do you know how that sounds?" The sneer on his face told her that he knew exactly how it sounded.
"Let me handle this," Buck snapped.
"You've screwed it up bad enough. It's my turn now." Willy turned his attention to Lauren, and she trembled inside. "That crazy old man of ours went and changed his will a few years back—"
"That's enough, Willy." Buck snagged him by one arm. "Don't say another word!"
Willy jerked out of Buck's hold and glowered at him. "The old man's conscience got to him, and he left one third of everything to that kid of Longwalker's. The fool thought that would make up for the way he'd treated Longwalker and his mother." Fearlessly Willy held his brother's gaze, daring him to try and stop his tirade. "In three more months, when the will comes out of probate, we'll have to turn over one third of everything to that kid. Unless, of course," Willy turned his haughty gaze to Lauren then, "you marry Buck and then everything will stay in the family."
Lauren couldn't respond at first. Her shock was so complete that she could only gape at the two men. "
This whole thing has been about your father's estate?" Lauren heard the stunned disbelief in her own voice.
"Don't listen to him, Lauren," Buck put in quickly.
"This is between you and me. My father's will has nothing to do with it. I'll admit that keeping things in the family is the reason I started this, but I have come to care for you."
Lauren shook her head. "I won't marry you, Buck." She backed away a step. "Tell your attorney to check with Don about what we can do to resolve this. I don't want anything to do with Buckmaster money, and I'll do whatever possible to rid Sarah of any connection to this. Sarah is a Longwalker, not a Buckmaster."
Before either of them could say anything else, Lauren dropped the engagement ring Buck had given her onto the nearest table, turned and hurried away. She had to tell Gray the truth about why Sharon had kept Sarah from him. She had to find out if there was any hope for the two of them.
For Sarah's sake.
* * *
LAUREN RUSHED into her empty house. Gray's truck was gone. As was Rosemary's car. Where was everybody? Surely nothing had happened. She shivered at the possibility. She hurried to the kitchen to check the message board. Rosemary always left her a note if she had to leave for some reason. The telephone rang just as Lauren picked up the note. Rosemary had taken Sarah to town to run a few errands. At least she knew where Sarah was. But what about Gray? Lauren pulled the receiver from its base before it could ring the fourth time. "Hello."
"Lauren, this is Bill."
Dr. Prescott? Lauren frowned. Why would he be calling? It wasn't time for her to see him again. The medicine, she realized then. He would have the test results. "You have my new prescription ready?"
"Not exactly," he said hesitantly.
An uneasy feeling stole over Lauren. "What's wrong?"
"Lauren, because of the possible side effects of this medication, the lab checked for the presence of HCG."
Lauren's frown deepened. Was there something else wrong with her?
"I don't know any other way to say this," he told her. "Lauren, you're pregnant. When did you have your last cycle?"