Mac's Angels: The Last Dance: A Loveswept Classic Romance

by Sandra Chastain

  Then she heard the sound of another boat approaching from the rear.

  “Hold on, Sterling!” The second boat flew past them, heading directly for Dawson. In it were Conner and Burt.

  By the time Dawson realized what was happening, it was too late. Conner’s boat plowed into the front of Dawson’s boat, sent it into a spin, and hit it again in the rear. There was a gunshot and an explosion that caused a huge wave of water to crash over Sterling and Mac. Mac went under. Sterling caught hold of him and kicked frantically, ignoring the pain in her legs as she moved.

  Moments later Conner had turned and directed his sputtering craft back to where Sterling had grabbed a piece of the wreckage and draped Mac across it. Her legs had stopped hurting. They were now completely numb.

  Conner’s boat reached them and came to a stop. “Need a ride?”

  “Conner, get Mac. He’s been drugged.”

  “Sure thing,” he said, and reached for Mac. “What about it, buddy, did our plan work, or what?”

  “I think it’s more like ‘or what,’ ” Mac whispered, then closed his eyes and went limp. They caught him as he slid back into the water, then pulled him into the boat. Moments later Sterling had joined him and was being covered with blankets and plied with hot coffee.

  “Drink this,” Burt instructed.

  “Not now. How’s Mac?”

  “Half-frozen, but we’re ready to warm him up. We’ve already called the Angel Ambulance Service. Drink!”

  She took a sip, not even feeling the hot liquid as she swallowed it. Burt was wrapping Mac in warm blankets and massaging his hands while Conner coaxed his damaged boat back to shore.

  “Want to tell me how you got here so fast?” she finally asked.

  “We’d have come sooner if it hadn’t been for the bomb.”

  “How’d you know about it?”

  “Mac was wired. We were trying to create a diversion. Then it didn’t matter. Jonah lost the triggering device.”

  “Are you telling me that you knew all about Mac being a prisoner?”

  “Yep. And we knew about your little trip to the garage. We were onto it from the time you got Vince’s message.”

  “You could have made it a little easier.”

  “We did. We turned on the exit light so you could find the door and made sure you had a vehicle to drive.”

  “Why didn’t you say something?”

  “We figured the only reason he had to bring you to the chapel was because he intended to go by boat. We weren’t going to let anything happen to you.”

  “So you let them drug Mac. Didn’t it occur to you that we might drown? Shades of the Titanic.”

  “Well, that wasn’t part of the plan. We were all set to storm the Bastille when Dawson mentioned the bomb in the boat. Then we had to drop back and punt. Good thing you had a plan. What did you expect to do if we hadn’t been waiting in the wings?”

  “Sign up for Danish lessons in heaven, I guess.”

  Conner gave her a hard look. “Do what?”

  “Don’t ask. Just get us to one of Mac’s medical specialists.”

  “Aye-aye, Captain. They’re waiting for both of you.”

  “Where’s Jessie?”

  “Now, that’s the strangest thing of all. We relayed our conversations through the computer in the Blazer. Once she knew the two of you were safe, she drove herself straight back up the mountain. Last I heard she was rapping at the top of her lungs along with Puff Daddy.”

  “Good for her. She did what she had to do. She couldn’t save her mother, but she saved her father. Maybe Jessie will be okay now.”

  They reached the shore and Sterling watched as two paramedics transferred Mac into the back of a van. They started to close the doors when one of them stopped and called out, “Ms. Lindsey?”

  “Yes?”

  “He wants you to ride inside the van. Are you up to it?”

  She was.

  Conner helped her inside.

  “Jessie’s all right,” he said. “Mac’s gonna be all right. What about you, Sterling?”

  “Don’t worry about me, Conner. I’ll find out and let you know.”

  She sat down on a bench beside the gurney where Mac was lying. The doors closed and the van moved off.

  “Sterling?”

  “I’m here.”

  “You’re too far away. Come closer.”

  His voice was low and thready. She could barely hear him. Only when he flexed his fingers and motioned to her did she slide down the bench beside his head. She looked at him, so still and cold, and fought for words. But she couldn’t find them.

  “Closer,” he repeated.

  She leaned over him so that he could see her.

  “About that speech …”

  “Speech?”

  “In the boat. About telling me you love me …”

  “Don’t worry, Mac. I was just making it up, stalling for time. I thought if I could get us into the water, I might be able to get you to shore. But I didn’t know whether or not you could breathe. And I had to be able to find you.”

  He coughed, a watery, rattling cough, and turned his head toward her. “You probably could have saved yourself, Sterling. But without you, I’d have died.”

  “Hush now. You’re too weak to talk. Just be quiet.”

  “All right. You talk. Tell me again.”

  “Tell you what?”

  “About loving me.”

  She’d known from the moment they were pulled into the boat that she’d have to deal with what she’d said. But she hadn’t expected it to happen quite so soon. What could she say?

  “Later, Mac. After the doctors check you.”

  “Promise?”

  “I promise.”

  “Who was the mole?” Sterling asked Burt.

  “What mole?”

  “Someone on the inside kept Vince informed. He knew about Mac and me, enough to know that I’d come.”

  “Oh, that mole. That was one of my men. I bring in people now and then, for rehabilitation.”

  “You mean to save them from the mob.”

  “Well, let’s just say that I still have friends in low places who like our little hideout enough to stay and do small favors in return. He was more than happy to pass on what I told him. Now quit worrying.”

  Sterling wasn’t worrying, she was bored and ready to get out of the hospital bed she’d been assigned to. Her little dip in the New Mexican mountain lake had done no damage. But the doctors had X-rayed, poked, prodded, and examined. The MRI she’d undergone this morning was the last straw.

  “Burt, tomorrow’s Christmas Eve, and if you don’t get me out of here by dinnertime, I’ll personally build a bomb and blow the place up.”

  Burt chuckled.

  “I didn’t miss seeing what happened out there, did I? The boat did blow up, didn’t it?”

  He nodded. “The boat did blow up. The gas tank exploded on impact.”

  “And Vincent Dawson and Jonah?”

  “Take a look. It’s very sad.” He handed her a newspaper.

  Inch-high headlines read: DEAD IN FISHING ACCIDENT IN NEW MEXICO—VINCENT DAWSON. INFLUENTIAL WASHINGTONIAN AND AIDE TO PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL DIES IN BOATING ACCIDENT OVER CHRISTMAS VACATION.

  The story went on to explain that both Dawson and a companion were fishing when their boat capsized due to an explosion from a faulty fuel line. Neither man left behind any family. Senator March was in seclusion; his office issued a statement that the holiday this year would be very sad.

  “He’s really dead?” she asked.

  “He’s really dead. Now, Mac has been asking for you. He’s been giving his doctors hell because they won’t let him out of bed. I thought I might smuggle you in.”

  “Forget it, Burt,” Mac said from the hallway. Moments later a wheelchair rolled in, bumping one doorway and then the other. “Go find Elizabeth and Jessie and get started putting up the tree. It’s Christmas.”

  “Elizabeth said I wasn’t to leav
e you.”

  “You’re already henpecked, Burt. Get out of here.”

  “All right, if you’re sure. What about it, Sterling?” Burt stood beside her bed, grinning from ear to ear. “I could always prepare another casserole.”

  “You’ve already done enough cooking,” she said.

  Burt planted a kiss on her forehead, gave Mac a jaunty little salute, and left the room.

  “Close door,” Mac commanded. “And lock!”

  He wheeled his chair as close to Sterling’s hospital bed as he could, leaned down, raised the footrests, and stood.

  “Damn! If your legs hurt as bad as my feet, I don’t know how you ever got away from that bastard in the airport.”

  “What are you doing, Mac?”

  “I’m coming in for a bedtime story. Move over.”

  She pulled back the sheet and slid as far as possible to the side.

  Mac unfastened the ties to his robe, let it fall to the floor, and there he stood, totally, gloriously nude.

  “Mac, do the doctors know where you are?”

  “Probably everybody on the mountain knows where I am, Sterling. And you know what?”

  “What?”

  “I don’t care.”

  “Lights dim!” Sterling said.

  “Sorry, darling, your voice patterns aren’t programmed into the hospital yet. But you have the right idea. Lights dim!”

  The room grew dark.

  Seconds later the merry sounds of Christmas jingled through the intercom. “You better watch out—”

  “Cancel that order,” Mac barked. “Lights out.”

  An hour passed before he and Sterling settled into each other’s arms, sated and dreamy. “When I think how close I came to losing you,” Mac said.

  “And I you. How did they get you, Mac? Vincent and Jonah?”

  “I made it easy for them. When they sent you the first message, Conner and I made our plan.”

  “What first message? The only one I saw was the one that said they’d captured you.”

  “There was another, one that said they had captured Erica. They’d only let her go if I gave them you.”

  “On, no! Is Erica all right?”

  “She was always safe. They just disabled her telephone and computer so that she had no contact with the outside world. As soon as the phone went, she moved to a secure place. The men who’d disabled her equipment were captured and held. Let’s just say they weren’t happy when it was me instead of you on the first trip.”

  Sterling tried not to notice what he was doing with his hands. “What made you think you could fool them?”

  “I never thought I would. But I thought I could buy Jonah off. I didn’t count on Vince coming along.”

  “Doesn’t make any sense that he was.”

  “He was paranoid. The only way he could be certain that you were really dead this time was to see it. When I turned up, he had to devise another plan.”

  “But didn’t he think that some of your men would stop him?”

  “I’m afraid he overestimated my importance. He actually thought that they’d send you out to free me. But you, my dear Moneypenny, made your own plan. It was truly heartwarming to know how you really feel about me. One woman took her life to punish me and here you come, Miss Red-White-and-Blue, true to her man, ready to give her life to save mine.”

  He kissed her, tenderly and completely, erasing the sharp rebuke she’d been about to make.

  Instead, she settled for “Ummm, Yes.”

  Much later he continued. “Once you recover from your surgery, we’re going to take Jessie to school and then we’re going on a long honeymoon. There are so many places I want to show you.”

  “Hmm … Wait a minute. What surgery?”

  “The doctors think they can remove the bullet, Sterling. There’s a new technique we’ve been experimenting with here in the research center. They won’t promise that you’ll ever be able to climb Mount Everest, but they believe they can stop the pain.”

  “Mac, you’re a dear, sweet man, but no. I know you think you have to make everything right. But you can stop that now. My life is perfectly fine just like it is.”

  “Dear? Sweet? Remember who you’re talking to. This is 007 and any secret agent worth his salt is sexy and dangerous.”

  “It’s more than that, Mac. Don’t you see. You’re confused. You couldn’t help Alice and you’ve spent your life making up for that.”

  “That’s absolutely true,” he agreed. “And I’m going to keep right on running Shangri-la. But you and I, we’re right together. And I’m not going to let you go. If you want to live somewhere else, we will. Just don’t be afraid, I’ll be here with you—all the way.”

  “It isn’t that, Mac. It’s just that I never expected to live a normal life. I’ve come to terms with my handicap and the life I live. I don’t think I can chase a dream and fail. I couldn’t survive that again.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I had that kind of dream once. Dreams don’t last. You can’t count on anything but yourself. This has been special, Mac, but I’m leaving—this afternoon if possible. Will you tell Conner to wait for me?”

  “Conner went back last night.”

  Mac nuzzled her face, turning it up so that he could kiss her. “Sterling, I’m sorry, but I’m pulling rank. You aren’t leaving Shangri-la until I say so. And that isn’t going to happen today.”

  The lights suddenly came on.

  The music began once more.

  And the door opened.

  Mrs. Everett strode in. “Mr. McAllister, there’s a phone call for you.”

  “There is nobody I want to talk to bad enough for you to interrupt. How the hell did you get in here anyway?”

  “Mr. McAllister, I can go anywhere in the mountain I want to go.” She picked up the robe he’d discarded and laid it on the bed. “And I’ll give you about two minutes to get your bare bottom covered and into this chair.”

  She turned her back and began tapping her foot.

  Sterling giggled.

  Mac swore.

  “You’re down to one,” she said. “And your caller is waiting.”

  “All right. I’m coming.”

  He slid his feet over the edge of the bed, touched the floor, and swore again. As if he were walking on hot coals, Mac groaned and cursed while he put on the robe and sat down.

  “This better be worth it, Elizabeth.”

  “It absolutely is,” she said, giving Sterling a wink as she swung him around and headed through the door.

  The call was from Conner.

  “How are you?”

  “You interrupted—what I was doing for this?”

  “Yep and because I thought you and I’d better have a little talk.”

  “About what?” Mac barked.

  “About Sterling and your intentions. She has no family, so that just leaves me.”

  “My intentions are to hang up this phone and get back to what I was doing before you called.”

  “Hold on, Mac. Be serious. Sterling is important to me. You have never been serious about a woman before. Are you now?”

  Mac started to drop the phone, then stopped. Conner deserved an answer. “You’re right,” he said. “After I married Alice I tried to be what she needed. But no matter what I did, she was never happy.”

  “I know. And I know what it is to lose someone. When my brother died, I went a little crazy. You brought me to Shangri-la and turned your doctors loose on me. It worked.”

  “But it didn’t work for Alice. I couldn’t keep her safe. She killed herself and she almost killed Jessie. I thought I’d never get over that, until Sterling came along.”

  Conner’s voice remained compassionate. “If you mean that, Sterling is the one you ought to be telling, not me.”

  “I intend to. When she came down that dock, I thought I would die. Then she saved my life, and because of her, Jessie is going away to school. I can’t imagine life without Sterling. She’s valida
ted everything I’ve done. Without her, there is nothing.”

  “That’s all I wanted to hear,” Conner said. “She needs you, Mac, but you’re going to have to convince her.”

  “Any suggestions?” Mac asked.

  “Nope. You’re on your own. Send me an invitation to the wedding.”

  Sterling didn’t leave the compound. Instead, the next day, she found herself drinking hot cider and wondering where Mac was as she watched Jessie, Elizabeth, and Burt put the decorations on the new Christmas tree they’d set up in the family room.

  Nobody mentioned Mac, and Sterling spent an hour biting her tongue to keep from asking where he was. Finally, with all the lights and decorations in place, the star was added to the top of the tree.

  “What, no angel?” Sterling quipped.

  “Mac’s orders,” Burt replied. “He’s the head angel around here. Even if he did stand us up.”

  “Yeah, where is he?” Jessie asked, allowing disappointment to creep into her voice.

  Burt took the light cord and held it up. “Just be patient. All things come to he or she who waits. Lights off!” Once it was dark, he plugged in the Christmas tree lights.

  A chorus of ahhs filled the silence, interrupted by the sound of sleigh bells. The holographic wall came on and a picture of the rooftop and the starlit sky came into view. In the distance, from behind the mountain, a light moved through the sky, closer and closer, until it landed.

  A sleigh, pulled by snorting reindeer, rolled into view and Santa, sporting a red suit, white hair and whiskers, and a fur-trimmed hat waved and got out.

  “Ho! Ho! Ho!”

  “I’m not believing this,” Jessie said. “Santa Claus?”

  The figure lifted his bagful of packages and walked out of the picture.

  Sterling studied his awkward gait. Where had Mac found a picture that moved, a man who—“Mac?”

  The door suddenly opened and Santa came inside. “Ho! Ho! Ho! I’ve got my list here and I’m checking it twice.”

  “Daddy!” Jessie moved into her father’s arms, laughing and crying. “I can’t believe you did this.”

  “Believe it, Jessie,” he said, holding her close, his eyes closed. “Why shouldn’t Santa come and bring special gifts to the people he loves most?”