Wyoming Strong

by Diana Palmer

  “I’d love a little girl with eyes like my best girl here,” Wolf mused.

  “And I’d love a little boy with eyes like Arctic ice,” she replied.

  “I’d love twins,” Gabriel said.

  “What?” Sara asked.

  “One of each. And it could happen. We have twins on both sides of the family.”

  “Well!” Wolf said, and his smile was ear to ear.

  “So you let me know how things go, okay?” Gabriel asked.

  They both smiled. “Of course,” Sara agreed.

  * * *

  THE JOURNALISTS FINALLY went away, but not until the summer flowers were thinning and dropping off their stems.

  A new national political scandal drew them all back to Washington, D.C.

  “And it’s about time,” Sara remarked when they watched the news.

  “Yes. What did the obstetrician say?” Wolf asked, smiling. “I should have gone with you, but you wouldn’t let me.”

  “It’s all women,” she said with mock jealousy. “I’m not letting a gorgeous man like you within sight of them.”

  He pursed his lips. “They’re all pregnant, aren’t they? Not much risk they’d want to run off with me.”

  “I want to run off with you every time I see you,” she said, with her heart in her eyes.

  He drew her close and kissed her. “I’ll go anywhere you like. Whenever you like.”

  She drew a pattern on his shirtfront. “Do you think I’m sexy like this, all swollen and everything?”

  “You take my breath away,” he replied huskily.

  “Grayson went into town to buy groceries,” she told his shirt. “She’ll be gone for an hour, at least...!”

  He’d picked her up in midsentence and carried her straight into the bedroom.

  “Well!” she exclaimed as he put her on the bed, locked the door and started throwing off clothes.

  “You said the magic words,” he told her. He was totally nude. He walked to the bed, magnificent in his arousal, and efficiently stripped her.

  “What magic...words?” she managed as his mouth found her.

  “Grayson left the house.” He smoothed his mouth over the inside of her thighs, loving the soft moans she made. “She inhibits me at night. We need to build her a damned house so I don’t have to be quiet when we make love.”

  “Wolf!” she cried out as his mouth made bright lights explode behind her eyelids. She arched with pleasure.

  “That’s exactly my point, that sound you just made.” He chuckled. “I like it when I can make you scream.”

  “Oh, my...gosh!” she cried out, arching.

  “Another case in point.” He slid up her body, his mouth on her breasts. But he jerked back unexpectedly.

  She saw why and laughed. “Oh, darling, I’m sorry. I forgot to tell you...they leak sometimes now.”

  He was brushing a small spray off his cheeks. He chuckled.

  “You’re not upset?”

  He pursed his lips. “I think it’s extremely sexy,” he murmured. He shifted his hips and moved her long legs aside. “Know something else I think is extremely sexy? Hmm?”

  “What?” she asked breathlessly.

  He moved down, easing inside her. She made another sound, a high-pitched, shivery one as he shifted his hips from side to side and moved closer.

  “That little sound you just made,” he whispered. “Would you like to make it again, you think?” He repeated the motion, dragging a moan out of her. He laughed like a devil.

  “I can’t...match you,” she gasped.

  “You’re getting there,” he whispered. He moved closer, loving the way her body clenched around him, intensifying the pleasure. He groaned. “Yes. Do that...!”

  “Teach me!”

  “I’m...working on it,” he bit off. “But not now...!”

  “Of course not now,” she moaned.

  He drove for satisfaction, his body hard and a little rough, his hips moving down against hers in a quick rhythm that sent her right up to the ceiling in an explosion of such joy that she sobbed and sobbed and finally cried out endlessly, her nails scoring down his lean flanks as she endured the agony of fulfillment.

  He went with her every step of the way, feeling her pleasure, sharing it, finally stiffening as he felt his own fireworks. He gasped at the last as his body seemed to melt completely down into hers in a welding of passion that never seemed to end.

  He was shaking when he finally collapsed onto her.

  “It just gets better and better,” she whispered, dazed.

  “And better.” He brushed his mouth over her soft lips. He moved again and groaned.

  “You...can?” she asked.

  He lifted his head and looked into her eyes, letting her watch them as his body swelled and swelled inside her.

  She opened her mouth at the sensations it produced. “You...”

  “Yes.” He bent and kissed her softly as his hips began to move. “I’m much more potent than I usually am. It’s all those little screams,” he said wickedly, “that you don’t dare let out when Grayson’s just down the hall.” His hips moved sharply, and he groaned. “Oh, damn,” he muttered, shaking. “It’s too soon...!”

  “No, it isn’t.” She moved with him, her body attuned to his, feeling his pleasure climb and climb as her own body arched to meet each quick, hard thrust. “Do it,” she whispered. “Do it, do it, do it...!”

  He cried out as the pleasure took him, drowning, burning, hurting, it was so good. He arched over her and shuddered, feeling her eyes on him. He opened his and looked at her, watched her watching him. The ecstasy was so overwhelming that he almost passed out. He shivered once, twice, and felt her go rigid under him.

  A long time later, he rolled over, still joined to her, and fell onto his back, pulling her with him.

  “You watched,” he teased.

  “Yes. It...makes it...I don’t know, more...”

  He chuckled. “Yes. More. I like to watch you, too.”

  “No more bad memories?” she asked at his broad, damp chest, where her cheek was pillowed.

  “None.” He kissed her hair. “How about you?”

  “No more bad memories.” She sighed and closed her eyes. “I didn’t know it was possible to be so happy.”

  “Neither did I.”

  She drew in a long breath. “There’s a car coming up the driveway.”

  “Guns is home. Quick, let’s get dressed and look like we’ve been playing checkers.”

  She laughed out loud. “You wimp!” she accused.

  “I’m afraid of Grayson,” he teased.

  “You are not.”

  They got up and dressed. When Grayson started inside, they went out the back door to help her bring in the groceries.

  Or they started to. Sara got to the lowest step and suddenly went down in a dead faint.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  WOLF WAS FRANTIC. He carried her to the sofa and started calling doctors in the other room while Grayson ran for a damp cloth and put it on Sara’s forehead.

  Sara started to fuss for a second, and then opened her eyes and shook her head.

  Wolf came back a minute later, looking grim. “I called an ambulance. They’ll have her obstetrician meet us at the emergency room.”

  “I just fainted,” Sara protested weakly.

  “Better safe than sorry,” Wolf replied, brushing back her long hair. “Humor me. I’m terrified.”

  She looked up, prepared to smile. But his face was pale. His eyes were alive, full of emotion.

  “I’ll be all right,” she said huskily, holding his hand very tightly.

  He didn’t look relieved. He really did look scared to death.

  * * *

  DR. HANSEN WAS there waiting for them, with another doctor, who also examined her. There were questions and notations taken, while Wolf held her hand and looked scared out of his mind.

  “It’s going to be all right,” Dr. Hansen assured them. “Dr. Butler here is
going to monitor her blood pressure and keep a check on that heart issue”

  “What heart issue? What about her blood pressure?” Wolf exploded, with blue eyes full of horror.

  “Calm down, Mr. Patterson,” Dr. Hansen said gently, putting a hand on the older man’s shoulder. “It isn’t dangerously high blood pressure, and the heart defect shouldn’t be a danger at all. She just has conditions that need monitoring, that’s all.”

  “If you think she has serious issues, maybe we should consider going to a bigger hospital in the city,” Wolf said.

  “No,” Sara said icily. “No, I will not!”

  “Sara,” Wolf groaned, “please, you have to listen to the doctor!”

  “That isn’t going to be necessary,” Dr. Hansen said gently. “I promise you it isn’t. We have a wonderful hospital here. It’s small, but our obstetrics ward has won awards. We have some of the best nurses in the state. You’ll be in good hands.”

  “She won’t be at risk?” Wolf asked tightly, his eyes still showing traces of fear.

  “No. You have my word,” Dr. Hansen said. “And I don’t give it lightly.”

  He let out a breath. His eyes went to Sara and lingered there. “All right.”

  “Your blood pressure is quite good,” Dr. Hansen said. “Almost textbook readings. And you look radiant.” He grinned. “Go home and comfort your husband before we have to admit him as a patient!”

  She managed a smile, but she was worried. Was he looking for a way out? Did he want her to have a termination? Was that why he asked the doctor those questions? She was silent and somber all the way home.

  Grayson met them at the door. “How are you?” she asked worriedly.

  “I’m fine,” Sara said, but she wasn’t smiling.

  “Grayson, can you drive into town to the pharmacy and get one of those expensive blood pressure cuffs?” Wolf asked. “While you’re about it, see if you can find a decent salt substitute.”

  He dug some bills out of his wallet and handed them to Grayson.

  “I’ll be back soon,” Amelia said. She smiled at Sara. “It’s okay. We’ll take good care of you.”

  Sara just nodded.

  But when Amelia was gone, she turned to Wolf with haunted eyes. “You don’t really want the baby, do you? I wasn’t smart about precautions. I didn’t know anything. I should have...!”

  He picked her up and sat down with her on the sofa. His face was hard as stone.

  “I’m so sorry,” she began, bursting into tears.

  He drew her close, shuddering as he felt the tears against his hot throat. He held her very close, his arms enfolding her, cradling her. There was a faint tremor in them.

  “Okay,” he whispered. “This is where we lay all our cards on the table.” His arms tightened. “I want the baby. It will be the joy of my life. But not without you, Sara. I can live without a baby. I cannot, will not, live without you!”

  She caught her breath. He was saying something she could barely believe.

  “When I thought you had the termination, because you saw me with that woman at the symphony, I was certain that you could never forgive me, for making you do something that would hurt you so much.” His arms tightened, almost bruising her. She didn’t even feel the pain. “So I strapped on a gun and went to find Ysera. I would have let her kill me, because I couldn’t live, didn’t want to live, without you in my life.”

  “Oh, my God,” she moaned, shaking.

  “I’ve done nothing but hurt you, from the day we met. It was because you were beautiful and sweet, and I wanted you until my heart ached. But I didn’t think you could fall in love with an older man, who had so many scars on his body, in his heart. Ysera had humbled me, used me, humiliated me. I was stinging from all that, the night we were first together.” His eyes closed, and he shivered. “I had you, figuratively speaking, over and over again. I made you climax and I watched, then I let you watch me. I had no idea what you’d gone through in the past. I was so drugged on you, so much in love with you, even then, that I couldn’t...stop,” he ground out. “I’d never felt anything like it. Then you ran, and I knew how far I’d fallen.”

  She touched his face tenderly, not speaking, just looking at him. His eyes were wet. She kissed them dry.

  His cheek nuzzled hers. “So I got drunk. Drunk as any man ever did. I couldn’t live with what I’d done to you. Knowing what your stepfather did to you almost killed me.” His arms contracted. “I got Emma Cain here, because I was afraid you might do something desperate. And I knew then, that if I lost you, I couldn’t live.”

  “You never...said anything,” she began.

  He drew in a breath and looked down at her, his eyes naked of camouflage. “I’ve loved you,” he whispered with breathless tenderness, “as long as I’ve known you. Wanted you. Needed you. But I hit rock bottom when I had to let you go. Ysera would have killed you. I had to stop her. Any way I could. I hadn’t planned to go after her myself, but once I thought you’d lost the baby, and I thought I’d lost you, life had no meaning for me.”

  She bit her lower lip.

  He kissed it, softly. “So I went to war, hoping to die. I don’t remember much of it. I felt as if someone hit me in the back, hard, and I started blacking out. I heard my gun go off. I remember seeing a streak of blood on Ysera’s mouth...”

  “You said I looked like her, once.”

  He smiled down at her. “No. There was no resemblance at all. I noticed that the minute I saw her again. She wasn’t beautiful, or kind, or loving, Sara. She was like a cobra. It amazed her that I didn’t respond to her anymore. She couldn’t believe it. She knew there was someone. She made threats.” He couldn’t tell her what they were. His jaw tautened. “I don’t think I meant to kill her. But maybe I did. Even from prison, she could have harmed you.” He searched her eyes. “She isn’t the only person I’ve killed, Sara. That’s part of who I am, what I am. I want you. I love you. But you have to be sure you understand what you’re letting yourself in for. I’m not...”

  She put her mouth over his, so tenderly that it was like a whisper of feeling. “I will never leave you,” she whispered. “I will love you until I die, and forever after. And there is nothing, nothing, you could tell me that would ever change that.”

  He felt such joy that he was almost drunk on it. He pulled her close and rocked her, his face in her throat, his arms trembling.

  “From such terror, hope,” he breathed.

  “Hope.” She clung to him. She laughed. “I’ve never been so happy in my life!”

  “Neither have I. Not even in dreams.”

  She smoothed over his dark hair. “I hope you gave me a boy,” she whispered. “One who’ll look just like you.”

  He drew back. “Sara, the baby...”

  “He’s going to be beautiful,” she said with a smile. “And I’m going to be fine. Really fine. Nobody this happy can die. Honest.”

  He seemed to relax, just a little. “No more salt,” he said. “No more fatty croissants. No more excitement...”

  She stopped the words with her mouth. “I won’t give up making love to you,” she said with a chuckle. “Don’t even bother to ask.”

  “Maybe we can do it less passionately,” he murmured.

  “Bite your tongue.” She nipped his lower lip. “I love how you love me.”

  “I love how you love me back.”

  “Besides, Dr. Hansen says lovemaking is healthy and won’t hurt the baby. I’m taking my tablets. My blood pressure is stable. And we’re having a baby.”

  He sat back in the sofa and smiled with pure possession. “All right.”

  “Just like that?”

  He kissed her. “I never argue with pregnant women.”

  “And we’ll see about that,” she teased.

  He grinned and kissed her again.

  * * *

  LATE THAT NIGHT, she got out her laptop computer and plugged it in, in the guest bedroom, one of two that was unoccupied. Grayson had the other
one.

  “Do you mind?” she asked Wolf. “I need to send an email to Gabriel.”

  “I don’t mind,” he said a little too quickly. “I need to send a couple myself. Thirty minutes?”

  “Thirty.”

  * * *

  SHE FELT GUILTY as she pulled up her game and opened it. She hoped he would be on. Sure enough, he was.

  Rednacht whispered her. How has it been?

  Very rough, she replied. But things are better. So much better. I never knew it was possible to be so happy and have so much to look forward to.

  There was an lol and then a reply. It’s the same with me. I have a family now. I can’t believe it. I feel like I won the lottery, only better.

  She hesitated. I have something sad to tell you.

  I know what it is. You’re giving up the game.

  I feel that I should. I don’t want to have secrets from him.

  Will you tell him about me? he asked.

  Yes. You’ll tell her about me, too, right?

  Yes, he agreed. Secrets have no place in a good marriage.

  I’m very happy for you, she said.

  I’m very happy for you, too.

  I’ve enjoyed every minute I’ve spent with you online, she typed. Thanks for getting me through some of the roughest times of my life.

  You did the same for me. I’ll miss you.

  I’ll miss you. Goodbye, my friend, she typed.

  There was the faintest hesitation. Goodbye, my friend.

  She logged off, tears rolling down her cheeks.

  She shut down the computer and walked into the living room, the peignoir of her pale pink nightgown trailing behind her, her long hair flowing like black silk down her back.

  Wolf was standing by the window, in just pajama bottoms; Amelia had long since gone to bed and left them alone.

  He turned, broad-chested, beautiful to look at. He was sad.

  He moved closer. “You’ve been crying,” he said. “What happened?”

  She took his hand and tugged him to an armchair. She pushed him down into it and crawled into his lap. “I have a confession to make.”

  “You’re running away with Psy because you can’t stop listening to ‘Gangnam Style’ on YouTube,” he guessed.