Pulse Points

by Mary Lynn Baxter

  This is not supposed to be happening. He’s not supposed to know Brock is his.

  “Right this way,” Dr. Keith said, gesturing with his hand.

  The silence was thicker than the humidity outside.

  Kasey kept her gaze off Tanner who stood slumped against the wall in the waiting room, his arms folded across his massive chest, watching her. They were apparently between visitation times as the area was deserted. She didn’t know whether she was happy about that or not. She wanted to confront Tanner, yet she didn’t.

  “I’m not going anywhere, Kasey.”

  Rage heated her entire body. She turned and glared at him, finally able to unleash her pent up emotions. “How long have you known?”

  “Since a couple of years after you and Mark married.”

  Once again shock and outrage robbed her of words.

  “I suppose your next question is how I knew.”

  She could only nod, still incapable of speaking. The hits kept on coming, she told herself, feeling her panic mount, assured that a final and lethal blow was imminent.

  “Mark told me,” Tanner said without emotion. “Go figure.”

  “Why?” Kasey asked in a hoarse, unnatural tone, no longer stunned by anything Tanner might reveal.

  “We happened to meet at a bar one evening. I’ve forgotten exactly how it came about. Anyhow, we started drinking and catching up on old times. Mark got stinking drunk.” Tanner paused and sucked in a breath. “That’s when he told me that you had betrayed him with some no good son of a bitch.”

  Kasey opened her mouth but nothing came out. That was when she began to shake uncontrollably.

  Tanner’s eyes darkened and for a second, she thought he might close the distance between them and reach for her. She stepped back.

  Obviously picking up on that gesture, his face turned stark white before he added, “Mark claimed that SOB took advantage of your virginity, and that if he ever found out who he was, he’d kill him.”

  Kasey hadn’t realized she had stopped breathing until the room began to spin. She groped for the back of the nearest chair and clung to it.

  “Kasey.”

  She heard the frantic concern in Tanner’s voice and watched as he took several forward steps. She held up her hand. “I’m all right.”

  “Dammit,” he hissed, “you’re not all right. Sit down. Please.”

  Because her legs refused to hold her upright any longer, she complied.

  “Not a pretty story, huh?” Tanner’s tone was bitter as his gaze rested on her.

  “I never knew,” she whispered. “Mark never once let on that he felt betrayed.”

  “That’s because he loved you.”

  “Nothing is ever that simple.” Her bitterness rivaled his.

  “Apparently it was for Mark.”

  “What about you, Tanner?”

  “What about me?”

  “Don’t you dare play that game with me.” Kasey’s voice lashed him like a whip. “Have you laid in wait all these years for the perfect opportunity to claim Brock?”

  Tanner let an expletive fly, then defended himself. “You know better than that.”

  Bitterness tinged her laugh. “I don’t think so.” Tanner had used her all right, only not for the reasons Gallain had suspected. “You hired me to get access to my son, didn’t you?”

  “No, dammit, I didn’t.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “If I didn’t love you so much, I’d walk out of this room right now, and you’d never see me again.”

  Kasey’s next breath caught in her throat, and she stared at him. She didn’t know what she expected him to say but it wasn’t that. Caught off guard, she fought for a suitable comeback.

  He took advantage of her silence and hammered on, “When we made love and Brock, unbeknownst to me, was conceived, I had no means of supporting a wife, much less a child, or—” He stopped suddenly and took a harsh breath.

  “Or what?” she demanded

  “I would’ve married you in a minute.”

  “Because I was pregnant.”

  “That, and the fact I think I fell in love with you that night, only I didn’t know it until I saw you at Shirley’s funeral.”

  “That’s crazy,” she whispered.

  “It might be crazy, but it’s the truth.”

  “This is not about us, it’s about Brock,” she countered fiercely. She didn’t want to hear him tell her he loved her nor did she want to love him back. On the contrary, she wanted to hate him for the threat he had become.

  “So what about Brock?” he asked in a weary tone. “Take your best shot, get it off your chest.”

  “Are you going to turn him against me?”

  “God, Kasey, how could you ask me that?”

  “It’s easy.” Her voice broke. “You have to want to be a part of his life. But he is my life, my greatest treasure.”

  “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Tanner paused, then crossed to her and dropped to his knees, though he refrained from touching her. “I have no intention of ever telling Brock the truth. Mark is the one who raised him and deserves the honor of being called Dad.”

  Kasey’s teeth began to chatter while tears splashed down her face into her lap. Still, he didn’t touch her. He just looked at her through pleading eyes. “I have a confession to make, though, because I don’t want any more lies between us.”

  Another jolt of fear shook her. What now?

  “Don’t look at me like that, Kasey,” he said thickly. “I’ve kept up with Brock from afar through the years, seeing to it that he got a scholarship to Baylor. Surely you can’t begrudge me that.”

  His voice cracked, and her heart turned over.

  “Say you forgive me for that night so long ago,” he begged, “even though I should never have made love to you. I should—”

  With tears continuing to trickle down her face, she pressed a finger against his lips. “Shush. You don’t have to say anything else. I’m the one who needs to talk, to tell you how much I love you and how thankful I am that you gave me Brock. You’re a good man, Tanner Hart, and you’ve made the ultimate sacrifice for our son. And I can’t think of anyone on this earth who I’d rather have as his father than you.”

  Kasey saw the tears gather in his eyes before he groaned and jerked her out of the chair into his arms, kissing her with a sweet, savage intensity.

  When he pulled back, he whispered, “Will you marry me?”

  “In a heartbeat,” she cried, flinging herself back into his arms.

  He remained cocooned in her warmth. All she had to do was move a fraction, and he would get hard again.

  Reading her thoughts, Tanner chuckled, “I dare you.”

  She gave him a saucy look. “You’re on, smartie.”

  Before he realized her intentions, she shoved him onto his back, then rose above him. He felt his dick swell inside her just as she began to ride him. He latched on to her breasts and lifted his hips off the bed, thrusting higher inside her.

  She let out a cry that matched his before collapsing on his chest.

  A short time later, they sat naked, Indian-style, in the middle of the bed, sipping on wine and munching on cheese. And never taking their eyes off each other.

  They had been married for six months, and he was the happiest man alive and knew Kasey was happy, too. Brock had made a full recovery from his injuries. He had long since returned to Baylor to the classroom and gridiron.

  The election was over and he had won. Though Buck Butler had put up a good front, Tanner’s sources told him his opponent had been a sore loser but was licking his wounds in private.

  The news guru Daisy Greer had also eaten crow. But she had fooled her readers. Tanner suspected he was the only one who picked up on the arsenic covering her candy-coated words.

  But he had the last laugh, having been sworn into the Texas senate, an honor he’d shared with his wife and son.

  And while Kasey had adapted to life as a
politician’s wife, she had maintained her own identity by making the ad agency into a solid and thriving business, though not until she’d gone to court and won the lawsuit against Shirley’s cousin.

  Life was good. No, better than good, Tanner reminded himself. Paul was running his construction business and doing a great job. Irene had opted to move on after learning about him and Kasey.

  Most of all, he had married the woman he loved and was finally getting to know the young man who was his son. He dared not ask for anything more.

  “Well, Mrs. Hart?” he asked when he realized she was staring at him, a puzzled look on her face.

  “Well, what, Senator Hart?”

  He grinned, then said huskily, “For starters, I love you.”

  She leaned over and kissed him. “What a way to wake up and face the day.”

  He tongued a breast. Her deep moan was music to his ears.

  “Tanner, don’t you ever get enough?”

  “Never, my darling.”

  She pulled his head off her nipple then cradled his bristled chin. “It’s almost daylight, my love. We need to finish our midnight picnic and get up.”

  “Aw, do we have to?”

  “You can’t be late for work your first day on the Senate floor.”

  “Oh, yes I can, if it means leaving my precious wife. You’re just too damn sexy for your own good.” Then on a serious note, he added, “When’s Brock leaving?”

  “He’s due back in Waco by noon.” Kasey fell quiet for a moment, looking at him through clouded eyes. “We’ve been married for six months, right?”

  “Six of the happiest months of my life.”

  “Mine, too,” she said sweetly, “even though I didn’t know it would be so difficult being married to a politician.”

  “Ah, no sweat. You’re a natural at it.”

  She smiled. “Thanks for the compliment, but that wasn’t what I was fishing for.”

  “I’m listening.”

  She wet her bottom lip. “I want to tell Brock.”

  His gut tightened. “About me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why, Kasey?”

  “Because he should know,” she said, touching his face. “He deserves to know.”

  “I meant it when I told you I had no intention of him ever learning the truth.”

  “I realize that, but this is something I want. Brock is being cheated, too.”

  Tanner’s eyes probed hers. “Are you sure about this?”

  “As sure as I’ve ever been about anything.”

  Tanner swallowed hard. “Just the fact that you want to tell him is enough for me.”

  “We’ll tell him together.”

  “When?” he asked in a raspy voice.

  “Today.”

  The thought of approaching his son with that bombshell struck terror inside him. “How do you think Brock will react?”

  Kasey didn’t so much as hesitate. “Knowing my son and how he feels about you, I think he’ll feel he’s the luckiest person alive to have another great dad.”

  Tanner’s heart jumped with joy as he smiled, then reached for her. “I love you.”

  “And I love you more.”

  They clung to each other in blessed silence.

  ISBN: 978-1-4603-0631-4

  PULSE POINTS

  Copyright © 2003 by Mary Lynn Baxter.

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