Sudden Engagement

by Julie Miller

  “Can you brace your foot on anything?”

  An awful clamor of compressed stairs snapping in two rushed toward them. Bricks popped free of their mortar and joined the gathering downpour of wood and plaster and metal.

  “Ginny!” A deep voice from her subconscious mind shouted her name, dared her to be strong.

  Memories of the fourth-floor collapse were playing tricks with her brain now. The floor beneath her stomach tilted and Ginny slipped an inch closer to the edge of the broken stair.

  “Hold on to one arm with both your hands,” she ordered.

  “I can’t.”

  “Do it!”

  “Ginny!”

  She ignored the familiar, masculine voice and stretched her fingers out to reach the neckline of Sophie’s dress. A chip of wood splintered off the edge of the stair and they dropped another inch. Crushing a handful of silk and sequins in her fist, Ginny heaved.

  Glass shattered like an explosion somewhere below them. The muscles in her arms and back burned with the stress of holding on to Sophie. She was going to die in the building that had already claimed so many lives.

  But at the very last, Ginny would have her justice.

  “Did you kill Zeke, too?”

  “Yes!”

  “You sent me those threats?”

  “Yes! All of them. Your sister ruined my life. You were going to ruin it all over again.”

  Ginny closed her eyes against the pain and prayed. “Peace, Amy.”

  “Ginny! Dammit, angel, answer me!”

  That’s when she heard the distinct sound of sure footsteps amid the crumbling dust of the building around them.

  With nothing left to lose and everything still to gain, she braced her feet and pulled again. Sophie grabbed on to a broken railing. Then the landing itself. And then Ginny pulled her up over the edge and the two women collapsed.

  Their respite was brief. The floor jerked and dropped half a foot. The landing split, with Ginny on one side and Sophie on the other. The floor sank like the letter V, and they slid toward the widening gap.

  “Climb, Ginny! Climb! Get off the stairs!”

  The voice shouted from above. Not a memory. Not her mind playing tricks on her.

  “Brett?”

  He leaned through an archway to the floor above them. “Right here, angel. Climb up to me. Hurry.”

  On their hands and knees, Sophie and Ginny climbed. Like an evil spirit hunting them down, the stairs seemed to fall away beneath their feet. Arms reached out and pulled Sophie through the doorway.

  But the final step broke before Ginny could reach it. She leaped for the door, raked splinters into her hand as she slid past it. “Brett!”

  Her shoulder jerked in its socket as something caught hold of her. She dangled six stories above the crashing, crushing vengeance of the Ludlow Arms.

  “I’ve got you, angel.”

  She watched the blank air beneath her feet fill with a rising mushroom cloud of dust and debris. But it never reached her.

  Strong, loving arms lifted her to safety.

  She was only vaguely aware of the surrounding warmth, the resolute strength, the needy grasp of the man who carried her with unerring balance and expertise through the collapsing fury of the Ludlow Arms. Another man led Sophie by the arm. An angry roar chased them through the foyer, spat dust and debris into her eyes and ears and nose.

  And then she breathed fresh air.

  The familiar blink of red, white and blue lights made her realize she was outside. Someone was shouting. People were running back and forth. The adrenaline faded, and shock gave way to confusion. Only the comforting, blessed awareness of being carried in Brett’s arms made any sense.

  “Dammit, Brett. Don’t let them do this to me.”

  Ginny turned her head at Sophie’s plea. The woman in red got her own set of handcuff bracelets and was stuffed into a patrol car.

  Brett’s low-pitched anger rumbled beneath her ear as he unleashed his anger at Sophie. “I tried to take care of you. All the guilt, all the anger—all these years. I loved Mark like a brother. That made you family.”

  “Then take care of me,” Sophie pleaded.

  “Take care of yourself.”

  Ginny stirred from her secure haven and tried to see his face. She wanted to soothe the hurt she heard in his voice.

  Brett turned and Ginny clutched at his jacket, holding on against the dizziness pounding inside her skull. “Shh, angel. I’ve got you. I’m not letting you go.”

  She surrendered to the comfort of his voice and turned her cheek into the black wool of his jacket and pressed her ear to his strong, steady heartbeat, taking strength from his strength.

  Learning love through his love.

  Another man in a tuxedo got into the front seat of the car where they sat. When did Captain Taylor start wearing tuxedoes to work? “I’ll drive you straight to the hospital.”

  The fact that everyone was so dressed up made her curious. She murmured against Brett’s nubby label. “Did I miss the party? You all look like somebody died.”

  His arms tightened around her. His shaky voice rumbled inside his chest. “No, angel. Not this time. I didn’t fail you this time.”

  GINNY KNELT IN FRONT of the rose-colored marble marker and traced her fingertips over the Rafferty name.

  “I did it,” she whispered. The early-morning chill of spring blew a gentle breeze across her cheeks. “Amy’s killer is in jail and she’ll stand trial for three counts of murder and one attempted murder.”

  She brushed a fallen leaf away from the base and laughed, talking to the stone the way she would an old friend. “Once we put Captain Taylor on the case, we found Charlie Adkins hiding out in an alley over in Independence. Our old man knows how to get things done, that’s for sure. Charlie still won’t talk, but he’s willing to write a deposition for our case.”

  She breathed in deeply. She clutched at her chest and cringed against the protest of sore muscles. For twelve years, she’d made this vigil to her family’s graves each time she took on a new case, each time another life was lost. Promising with each visit to bring justice to the world.

  Now that Amy and her parents had been vindicated, the visit took a more personal turn.

  “So many people got hurt along the way. So many innocent people paid a terrible price. But I’m trying to make it right. I’m trying to understand the gift you gave me, Amy.”

  She fingered the silver bracelet adorning her left wrist beside the plastic hospital band from her release less than an hour ago. Ginny closed her eyes and pictured a clear image of her young, beautiful sister. The remembered laughter made her smile.

  “You led with your heart to the very end.” She opened her eyes and looked at Amy’s name. “Somewhere along the way I forgot how to use mine. I got hurt, and then I lost so much, and it just didn’t seem like I could find my way back anymore.”

  The tears started then, and Ginny let them come. She cried for her family and sweet old Zeke Jones. She cried for Mark Bishop and all the pain his family had endured. She cried for the families who had lived and suffered at the Ludlow Arms.

  She cried for Brett. For the guilt he hadn’t deserved. For the hero she knew him to be.

  She cried for herself. For the trusting young girl she’d once been, for the frightened woman she’d become.

  The roar of a truck engine echoed through the hills of Mt. Washington. Ginny smiled and dried her tears.

  The truck careened around the hairpin turns of the cemetery road. The high screech of brakes scattered birds from the trees. She stood and watched a robin fly back to its nest. The sound of a slamming door startled her, but she didn’t turn around.

  She waited for the deep, dark voice to find her first.

  “I stayed with you all night at the hospital while they stitched you up and made sure you weren’t seeing double. This morning, my brother convinces me to get a cup of coffee. I go back to your room, and you’re gone. Damn lucky I know a few cops who
can find out where cab companies drop their fares.”

  Brett splayed his hands on his hips and leaned over her in that arrogantly masculine stance that she found so blatantly sexy. His rumpled tux with the tie long gone and the collar unbuttoned added a boyish touch that endeared him all the more.

  She looked up and smiled. “I had something I needed to do.”

  “I would have brought you here.”

  “I know.” She reached out and spread her palm in the middle of his chest, absorbing his heat, his strength and the steady beat of his heart deep into her soul. “I had some thinking to do, and I don’t always think clearly when you’re around.”

  The gruff line of his mouth softened. “Is that so?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Ooh. Snappy comeback.” He smiled and her courage doubled.

  “Thank you for saving my life.”

  He covered her hand with his and held it over his heart. “I wasn’t about to let you stand me up on our date. When I saw that burial chamber at the Ludlow Arms, I…” Her hero faltered. Ginny reached up and cupped his cheek in her hand. “I didn’t think I could get to you in time.”

  “But you did.” She tunneled her fingers into his hair and held his gaze. “You didn’t fail me, Brett.”

  It took a while for her words to sink in. When he finally accepted them as the truth, he asked, “So where does that leave us?”

  “Back where we started.”

  Her gaze dropped to his chest. She’d rehearsed this on the cab ride over, but now, with Brett here in person, standing chest and shoulders above her, the words escaped her.

  “Uh-uh, none of that.” He captured her chin between his thumb and forefinger and lifted her face. “You don’t look me in the eye when you’re getting ready to tell a lie. If you’re trying to tell me we don’t mean anything to each other, that the engagement is off, forget it. I love you. Whether you want to hear that or not, I still do. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

  “I don’t want to get rid of you.”

  “You seemed anxious enough to leave me when you ran away from the hospital.”

  The accusation stung. He loved her. And yet…Ginny tucked that wayward curl behind her ear and stepped away. She clearly had a lot left to learn about leading with her heart.

  “Dammit, Brett, I love you, too. But I don’t know how to tell you. I don’t know how to make you believe it’s not part of this stupid charade. How do I make you believe me?”

  Her plea for help met with stony silence. At least there was no applause for her mistake this time.

  “I think you did fine just now.” That rich, deep voice shivered along her spine. It warmed her enough so that she found the courage to turn and face him. “The only thing that could make your profession of love more convincing is for you to come over here and kiss me.”

  “That’s it? It’s that easy?”

  Those blue eyes sparkled with a perennial challenge. “You haven’t kissed me yet.”

  “Brett—”

  She’d only taken half a step toward him when he scooped her up off the ground and crushed her against his chest. Ginny looped her arms around his neck, tangled her fingers in his hair, and kissed him with every ounce of feeling she possessed.

  Minutes later, breathless and rumpled and achy with the passion he stirred in her, Ginny touched her feet to the ground. She wrapped her arms around Brett’s waist and pressed a kiss to his chest.

  “I have a proposition for you.”

  His arms encircled her, sheltering her near the heat of his big heart. She felt the laughter in his chest and snuggled closer. “Is it as crazy as when you marched into my construction site and asked me to marry you?”

  “Crazier.”

  “You worry me when you start thinking like that.”

  Ginny tilted her neck all the way back and looked straight into his eyes so he’d know she meant what she said.

  “Will you marry me, Brett? For real?”

  He pulled her left hand from his waist and held it up between them. The sun caught in the sapphire and sparkled, almost as bright as the love in Brett’s eyes. He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed the ring. The scruff of his beard danced across her knuckles and her knees felt weak.

  “If you marry me, it’ll be a big affair,” he warned her with a smile. “Lots of family, food, friends, fun.”

  “I can handle it. I have new friends I want to get to know better, friends I’ve yet to meet. I love your family.” Because of Brett, she’d opened up her heart to life, to friends, to love. She wondered if he understood the miracle he had brought into her world. “I owe all that to you. I gave up my faith in love. But you proved me wrong. I believe in love now because I believe in you. Because you love me.”

  He lowered his head and claimed her lips, taking his time to show her just how much he loved her.

  When he lifted his mouth, he grinned. Ginny knew she was in trouble. “Wait a minute. You just said I proved you wrong. Are you saying I was right?”

  She swatted his shoulder in a playful shove. “Don’t let it go to your head, Taylor.”

  “You’re the only thing that goes to my head, Detective.”

  Brett Taylor was a man of action. He proceeded to demonstrate exactly what he meant.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-6747-7

  SUDDEN ENGAGEMENT

  Copyright © 2001 by Julie Miller

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  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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