Tall, Dark...And Framed?
Page 14
“I didn’t want them involved.”
Reading the censure in his expression, Susan tried to allay his worries.
“Rachael came forward on her own. As much as she appreciated your selfless gesture, she didn’t want you to go to prison on her account. Luckily the judge agreed. He also agreed to keep her testimony and her identity confidential.”
“And what about the prosecutor?” Sebastian asked.
Now that Susan understood his sense of protectiveness toward Rachael did not stem from any romantic involvement, she loved him all the more for his concern for the mother and child who had entered and left her life shrouded in mystery. Undoubtedly a man with such strong instincts would make a wonderful father.
“Norman can be trusted,” she assured him. “Besides, neither he nor I know where Rachael and her little boy are off to. Her secret is safe, Sebastian. And so are you—for the time being, that is.”
The fact that the judge had exonerated him didn’t mean that whoever had gone to such lengths to implicate him in a murder was going to let it go at that. Susan felt a shiver run through her at the thought, but Sebastian didn’t allow her to dwell on it for long.
“How can I ever repay you for what you have done for me?” he asked.
She had given him his life back, but he had to wonder what it was worth without her in it.
Susan felt as rebuffed as if he had opened his wallet and offered to pay her off in hundred-dollar increments. His manner was so stiff that she worried that he did not intend to forgive her. Not that she could blame him. How often had he told her that his word should be more than enough if she truly loved him? It appeared that her lack of trust had cost her the love of a lifetime.
Still, that didn’t mean she couldn’t rise above her own grief and offer him the apology he was due. He was a man who hated to be in anyone’s debt, so she gave him an answer that was intended to assuage his wounded pride and absolve Susan.
“You could start by forgiving me for ever doubting you.”
Her voice cracked, and she struggled to remain standing on gelatinous knees. Sebastian reached out for her. His touch burned through layers of clothing like a brand. Helpless, she fell against him.
Strong arms encircled her and kept her upright. Tipping up her chin, he forced her to look into his eyes. She could see his very soul glimmering in the depths of those matching silver moons. It was pure and honest and good through and through.
“I’m the one who owes you an apology, Counselor,” he said with a smile. “Having entrusted you with my heart, I should have trusted you with my secret. I’m sorry, Susan. So very sorry for the pain I caused you.”
For the second time in less than an hour, Susan began to sob. Her tears made dark spots on his suit jacket and soaked through to his heart.
“Don’t cry, sweetheart,” he begged. “Not while I’m trying to propose to you.”
Susan looked up at him in disbelief. Smiling, he nodded his head in affirmation and got down on bended knee before continuing.
“I have never been as lonely or incomplete as when you left me. Under the circumstances, I didn’t feel I had the right to ask you to consider me for anything other than a prison pen pal. Now that you have worked a miracle in my defense, I can’t imagine spending another minute of my life without you in it. I’m asking you to find it in your heart to forgive me and give me another chance at proving my love. Will you marry me and make it a lifetime chance?”
The way Susan saw it, she had two choices. She could pull him to his feet and accept, or she could fall to her own knees and accept. She opted for the latter.
“Yes,” she told him, cupping his face in her hands and smothering him with kisses. “Yes, yes, yes!”
Susan had never known love to spin her round and round in such heady ecstasy. The thought of obtaining this man’s forgiveness had been more than she had allowed herself to hope for. That he not only wanted her back in his bed but completely and openly in his life as his lawful wife was truly the stuff of the fairy tales that she had foresworn not so very long ago. Then again, not so long ago, she might have been caught foolishly trying to analyze happiness rather than simply cherishing it.
Susan was not about to make that mistake again. The only dark cloud left on the horizon was the fact that the real murderer had not been apprehended. With Sebastian officially exonerated, however, it was unlikely he would remain a target. Indeed, if love could conquer the impersonal machinations of the legal system, what chance had a mere human to come between them and happiness? Susan had to believe that someone who could outwit a pack of paid guerrillas could hold his own against some two-bit organizational mole. In any case, she wanted nothing more out of life than to face both its perils and its joys with the man she loved. It was time to accept that the nightmare was over, time to leave the rest of the investigation to the police, to a go-getter prosecutor with a grudge to settle and to Robert Cole, the private investigator whose gut feeling had told him something was amiss.
Before taking Susan home to Rosa and announcing their wedding plans to the world, Sebastian kissed her soundly once again. His lips were warm and sensual and full of promise. The promise of a future based on an unshakable foundation of trust and love—his best possible defense against a life of emptiness and deep regret. Losing the bet that he had posed to the bachelors of the Texas Cattleman’s Club was the best thing to ever happen to him, Seb thought. When the time came, he would gladly raise his glass in a salute to the last bachelor standing, secure in the knowledge that a loving wife and the prospect of a house full of children truly made him the richest millionaire on the face of the earth.
Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Cathleen Galitz for her contribution to the TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB: THE LAST BACHELOR series.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-0335-8
TALL, DARK…AND FRAMED?
Copyright © 2002 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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