by Lily LaVae
He left her alone in her room. As he went to his own, the small pile of clothes lay on the floor just where they’d been dropped. He still couldn’t believe what had started with a kiss had escalated so quickly. He’d let it, thinking she wanted him and was now just like any other woman he’d been with. That wasn’t true though. Yes, she’d been untried, but that wasn’t the only thing he couldn’t forget. It was like they were perfectly matched, he’d known just what to do to drive her over the edge and she’d done just the same to him. There was more to them than he’d ever had before. Now, he needed to hold on and not let go, at least until he convinced her she felt what he did.
11
It had only taken a month, but she’d finally found a decent apartment and a car that worked, most of the time. She shifted the elderly compact car into reverse and backed out of her parking spot. Today would be the day, the day things were so good that she wouldn’t think about Clint Sage, or where he was, how he was doing, or if he ever thought of her. Because she doubted he did.
He had a million women to choose from and their relationship had been so brief. She pulled to stop in front of the post office and hoped her car would start again after such a short drive. Sometimes, it didn’t. She had five minutes until the post office closed and her paperwork for her visa needed to get in the mail. It had been difficult to concentrate on it when every time she looked at the paperwork she thought of him. Not just his muscles or their last dance, nor how he’d made her feel—as she’d hoped—but his smile, how he’d protected her when the car stopped so quickly, and his tender touch over the scars on her back.
Life hadn’t been easy. She watched the sparkle of the diamond Clint had given her glint in the sun. No matter how bad life had gotten, or how hungry she’d been, she’d never been tempted to sell it. It was her last connection to the man who just wouldn’t let her heart go.
She shoved open the post office door and rushed inside. “Good afternoon, Sharron.” She greeted her favorite postal worker. “Can you weigh this for me and let me know if I’ve put enough postage on it?” The thick envelope held many double-sided pages.
“This is your application? How exciting!” Sharron collected two more stamps from her and affixed them. “Say, you had someone come in here yesterday, looking to pay ahead on your P.O. Box. I told him to go away. I’d never seen him before. Thought I should warn you.”
Sick dread pooled in the pit of her stomach. She hadn’t heard from her brother since her wedding day. If he’d somehow gotten free and had stayed in the U.S., he may have found her. She certainly hadn’t been able to go far. Only to a small suburb of Cheyenne.
“Thank you. I’ll be careful.” Her hand shook as she collected the envelope and slid it into the outgoing slot.
As she went outside, she took in every car and person in the street. After a month of being on her own, she’d grown complacent. She’d trusted Clint had taken care of her brother and she’d stopped being careful. It wasn’t like Clint was going to look for her. She’d thought she was safe, but apparently not.
On the way to her car, she slid her keychain from her purse and slipped her finger though one of the rings. In a pinch, she could hit her brother across the face with it and stun him enough to get away if she had to. Her heart pounded in her ears by the time she reached her car. At home, she could lock the door and keep the world out. She slid into her car, locked the door, and turned the key. It chugged, but wouldn’t start.
“No, not now. Please not now.” She tried again, and again, but it was no use. She could either stay locked in the car and hope someone would stop by to give her a jumpstart, or she could walk home. Why couldn’t her life be as charmed as Clint’s? Because she’d left him behind in a hotel room, along with her heart.
Clint watched Rhetta from across the street as she lay her head against the steering wheel of her old Ford. It was the first time he’d laid eyes on her in a month and he couldn’t get his fill. He wanted to run across the street, tug her right out of her car and into his arms, cradle her and protect her from whatever had caused her frustration. He’d been unable to focus on anything else since she disappeared.
He’d gotten out of bed the morning after their fight and she’d been gone. Vanished. He hadn’t heard her leave. When he’d checked with the front desk and asked to see camera footage, he’d witnessed her leaving at about 1 A.M., but her trail had gone cold. Finally, he’d resorted to Neil once again and they’d found an apartment in Ranchettes, just outside of Cheyenne. He’d visited the post office the day before just to see if it was really her. Margaret Hawk wasn’t actually that individual of a name. The woman at the post hadn’t been helpful, but he’d waited, just to be sure.
Clint tapped his driver on the shoulder. “Just wait here. I’ll be back in a minute.” He’d insisted on renting a Suburban instead of driving his usual vehicle. When Rhetta’s brother had escaped briefly in the beginning, he’d been sure her brother would target him. So, instead of using his armored car, he’d rented various vehicles so the one he used daily was never the same. Stephan had been recaptured about a week later and deported back to Ukraine, and Rhetta hadn’t been with him. For that he was thankful.
He opened the door and stepped out into the sunshine. Rhetta had yet to take her grip off her steering wheel, nor lift her head. He quickly crossed the street, his heart racing. This was the moment he’d been waiting for. Would she run from him again, or welcome him back? He stepped on the curb and came up alongside the car, tapping her window lightly. Rhetta jumped and hit him with her big dark eyes. First shock, then surprise. She reached for the handle of the car door and he moved to let her out.
“Clint…I didn’t expect to see you here.” She tucked her now-short hair behind her ear, her hand trembling slightly.
“Rhetta, you look amazing.” He should’ve thought of something better to say. He rubbed the tension behind his neck, hoping he didn’t blow the biggest meeting of his life. “I’d like to have that talk with you, if you’ve got a few minutes?” Damn, he was blowing it. “I missed you.”
She laughed, a little nervous choking giggle. “My car won’t start, so I guess you’ve got all the time in the world.” She reached into her car and grabbed her purse.
That wasn’t the response he’d wanted to hear. She didn’t even sound all that glad to see him. Had he made a colossal mistake? “I can have it towed, it you want?” Would even that offer of help set her off again?
She immediately stood back from him, her eyes flashing. “I don’t need you to take care of me. That’s not what I wanted from you.” She walked off down the sidewalk, arms crossed, almost stomping.
“Wait!” He jogged to her and gently stopped her. “You’re pinning me with something and I have no way to fight what I don’t know. I’m trying to help you. Why is that such a bad thing?”
She stepped back from him. “Because if we’d married before you knew about my brother, you wouldn’t have been marrying me just to take care of me. I’m not some child looking to be coddled. I wanted to be married so my name would change and then I could be free, an equal. I wanted to be someone my husband could be proud of, to love, to cherish, not to cover up and hide away at some ranch he never visits.” The bitterness hit hard in his chest.
That had never been his plan. If she’d have agreed that day to marry him, not a day would’ve passed where they wouldn’t have been together. “If you’d chosen to marry me that day, I wouldn’t have sent you away. I wanted you with me. I’ve gone crazy worrying about you this last month, especially when your brother got loose for a while. I didn’t want to think about the fact that you would’ve been safe with me if I hadn’t left you alone that night. If I hadn’t let you slip away.” He’d kicked himself a thousand times for walking away and not just wrapping her in his arms and taking her with him to his bed that night, sleeping next to her wrapped in his arms.
“There was only one thing that could’ve stopped me from leaving and it would never happen. I had to
go.”
“What was it? Because I was ready and willing to tell you I was falling hard for you. Now that I haven’t seen you for a month, but literally worried about you every single day. I’ve missed business meetings, blown off clients, all because my head isn’t in the game…it’s been with you. Always you.”
Her face softened, and she relaxed slightly. “Why couldn’t you have said that in the car? I didn’t want you to stop our wedding. I didn’t want to leave you. I just didn’t want to be your mistake.”
Hell if he was going to let her get away again. “The only mistake I made with you was telling the driver to turn the car around. Come back with me?”
“I can’t.” She laughed, and he couldn’t figure out why that was funny. “My car won’t start.”
“Leave the car. We’ll take mine.” He took her hand and led her back down the street and across to his Suburban. He’d let her plan their wedding, or date, whichever she wanted to do. It didn’t matter. She was back and he was never going to let her go.
He opened the door for her and watched her long legs fold as she slid down the seat. He’d missed every part of her. He got in and closed the door as she leaned against him. “I have to admit, my head’s been with you the whole month, too.”
That was all the invitation he needed. His most important meeting, had been the most successful of his life. “What about your heart, Rhetta? Where was that?”
Her cheeks warmed under his hands as he pulled her closer.
“It’s been with you too.”
“I love you, Rhetta Hawk. What do you say to a Vegas wedding?” he whispered in her ear as he nibbled on the tender lobe. “Say, in about two hours.”
She giggled. “Quick and dirty, just the way I like it.”
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