Cry Mercy, Cry Love

by Monica Barrie

  Heather felt herself pulled in opposite directions. She wanted no further pain and hurt, and to do what Reid wanted meant just that. She also wanted to be with him, to believe him and love him. She was afraid of being alone with him, afraid she would give in to whatever he wanted. She was frightened of the return of a pain worse than what she was already living with. She wanted to be safe and secure and not have to worry about what would happen tomorrow.

  “I can’t,” she said at last. “I need some time to think. So much has happened...” She also knew she needed to be strong to avoid more hurt.

  “Damn it, Heather! Why won’t you listen to reason?” Reid growled.

  Again, Heather felt his hands on her shoulders pulling her roughly against him. His mouth was on hers, and his hands pressed iron hot, into her soft skin. His lean, hard chest pressed against her own, forcing an onrushing tide of desire to flow over her.

  Her breath fled when his mouth reached hers. Memories of their nights of lovemaking poured through her mind, weakening her resolve. She tasted the sweetness of his lips until her world exploded inside her head.

  Fighting for her life, Heather drew away from him.

  “No more,” she pleaded as she tried to control her raging emotions.

  “You love me. It’s that simple. Now you’re coming with me,” Reid told her in a steel-tinged voice. His hand on her wrist was an unyielding band.

  “No!”

  “Yes!” Slowly, Heather felt herself pulled along. When they crossed the office, Heather knew they were going to Gwen’s private entrance, not to the door to the gallery. Heather tried to twist free of Reid’s grip, but it was too powerful to fight. As she did, she heard Polaris’s low growl of warning, which turned into a confused whine at the sight of her and Reid.

  “Sit!” Reid commanded the dog. “Stay.” Heather heard another low whine of protest but did not hear Polaris move. Then the door latch clicked open and she felt the cool night air rush across her face and shoulders.

  “Please, Reid, let me go,” she pleaded. “My shoes!” she cried as she stepped on a small pebble.

  “Not until we’ve talked. Afterward you can do whatever you want,” he told her as he lifted her and carried her bodily across the parking lot.

  ~~~

  Heather leaned against the leather headrest, trying to sort out the thoughts that paraded through her mind. Twenty minutes passed since they’d driven from the parking lot—twenty minutes of listening to the wind rush past the windshield.

  Drained emotionally and physically, she was too tired to fight anymore; she just wanted this ordeal over. Yet, at the same time, she wondered what Reid had in mind. She thought she knew him well. She was not afraid physically, which was why she had not called out for help.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Someplace where we won’t be disturbed.”

  “So you can take full advantage of me?” she asked, her voice laced with a sarcasm she hadn’t meant.

  “If that’s what you want to think,” Reid said tersely.

  “Talk to me now,” she asked.

  “No, I want to look at you, I want to hold your hand, and afterward…Reid stopped short of saying what was on his mind, but the way Heather shifted in the seat told him she had understood.

  Heather could not respond to the last statement. She knew what he meant. Yes, she wanted to make love to Reid for the rest of her life, but his actions had put a stop to that possibility. Why couldn’t he have been more honest with me? Why hadn’t he said anything after they had become lovers? His pride, Gwen had said. Damn his stupid masculine pride!

  “How much longer?”

  “Half hour,” Reid said as he glanced quickly at her and then back to the road. The speedometer needle was resting on ninety and had been since they’d left Santa Fe. The highway was deserted and Reid wanted to get to his destination as soon as possible. His confident hands held the Mercedes’ wheel in a sure grip. His driving wasn’t reckless; whenever he saw headlights approaching, he slowed until the car passed.

  Reid was tired; it had been a long day and he knew it would be an even longer night. But, when it was over, he hoped to be proven right in what he’d done.

  “Reid?” Heather asked in a faraway voice.

  “Yes?”

  “What kind of car is this?”

  Reid smiled at the question. “A Mercedes. Why?”

  “I’ve never ridden in a car like this. It’s so quiet and feels so solid. I didn’t know you could rent this type.”

  “You can’t around here.”

  “Oh...” Heather waited but Reid did not elaborate. The smooth ride and the constant hum of the wind had a calming effect on Heather’s mind. Without realizing it, she fell asleep.

  Nearing their destination, Reid slowed the car and glanced at Heather. He had been aware of the change in her breathing and had known she’d fallen into a light sleep.

  Reid slowed the car further and turned off the main highway fifteen miles outside of Albuquerque. He knew this road like the back of his hand and could not stop the smile spreading across his face as he drove. Five minutes later, he pulled the silver car to a halt in front of a small cabin.

  Reid leaned across the seats and gently turned Heather’s face to his. He kissed her lips lightly and drew away.

  The changing rhythm of the car and the distinct difference of the new road’s surface had awakened Heather, but she did not let Reid know it. She kept her breathing at a steady pace and even when the car stopped did not betray herself. Reid’s fingers on her chin startled her, but his lips were soft and gentle. Slowly, she let her breathing return to normal.

  “We’re here,” Reid said.

  “Wherever here is.” Silently, Reid got out of the car. Heather’s door opened and she took his hand as she, too, stood. Beneath her feet was the velvet softness of sodded grass. Heather was very conscious of Reid’s hand on her elbow and the heat from his touch. The occasional meeting of their hips as he guided her added a strange, almost ethereal quality to the night. Reid stopped for a moment and the sound of a lock opening reverberated in the still night air.

  Stepping inside, Heather became immediately aware of the dormant quality of the air. Not dormant but unused, she thought as her finely tuned senses filtered everything. This place had been aired out recently, but the older heaviness had not yet gone.

  “Are you going to tell me where we are?” she asked with a hint of impatience in her voice. It had been a long day and a long night. She had been up and down enough times in one day to fray the staunchest of nervous systems, and Heather readily admitted she was not in that class.

  “Heather,” Reid said as he took her hand in his. “First, understand I love you.”

  Heather nodded her head slowly, again trying to fight this new assault to the emotion brought on by his words. His hand pressed hers tightly.

  “Would you like a drink?”

  “No!” Heather yelled loudly. “What I want is for you to stop torturing me. Tell me what you have to say. Just stop this insanity. Where are we?”

  “Sit,” he said.

  “My name is Heather, not Polaris!”

  “On the couch, not the floor,” he retorted.

  “Reid…” she said ineffectually as she gave up and sat.

  “We’re at Broadlands.” Heather’s breath caught at his words, confusing her. Why had he brought her to his ranch? No, not his ranch anymore, she thought sadly. Heather heard Reid begin to pace in front of her as she sat back. She knew he was getting ready to speak, and she had every intention of listening. She needed to hear his words now, almost as much as she needed to touch him and feel the fire he could create within her.

  “You know most of the story already. When I got out of the service, I came home a different man from the one who had left. I needed time to adjust and to understand what had happened to my ideals and me.

  “But when I got home and tried to tell Patrick about my experiences, he turned a deaf ear to me. H
e told me I had made a decision, one he had not agreed with, and now I had to live with it. In the meantime, he expected me to forget the war and get back to working on the ranch.

  “I tried, but it was no good. Every morning I woke from the same nightmare. Every night I went to sleep knowing what waited for me. It was no good trying to talk to Pat. All he was interested in was the ranch.

  “I had lost all my feelings for the ranch and decided to try to find myself. I signed over my part of the ranch to Pat with the understanding that when I had come to terms with myself I would return. I guess I knew that would never be. I no longer wanted the easy things, the things given to me because of my birth. I believed I didn’t deserve them and I think Pat felt the same way. He wouldn’t talk to me for four years, and when he finally did, it was because of Gwen, and we had another bad fight which turned into an even deeper division between us.”

  Reid paused for a moment and Heather had a chance to think. His words tunneled into her mind, building a foundation for her to start to understand him. She knew what he was doing was not easy; that much she was able to tell from his voice.

  “I founded the New Life Foundation with Mike Bloom. I gave them the trust fund my father had left me. It was enough to start the Foundation and it helped me to think I was making up for some of the pain I had caused.

  “I gave the Foundation every penny I had and started out as a plain cowboy with no background other than what I had invented. It was an easy life—there were no problems, no headaches, and no responsibilities to anyone other than myself and the ranch owner I was working for.”

  “But it wasn’t enough,” Heather stated.

  “No, it wasn’t. I learned I liked responsibility, but not the kind forced on me, like the ranch, and the men who were in my platoon. I enjoyed the responsibilities I earned by working for them. I built myself from cowboy to foreman, and I was happy. Then I met you.”

  Heather heard the words and a chill ran along her spine. She held her breath, waiting for him to continue and trying to push aside the pain she felt for him with each admission he made.

  “The moment I saw you, I knew I should have turned and run. I couldn’t. You were too beautiful. I took the job, but I tried to avoid you. It was plain to see the ranch needed guidance and I threw myself into it. Every day I saw you, and every day I fell more and more in love. It was then I began to regret what I had cast aside ten years ago.”

  “But if you hadn’t, you would not have met me.”

  “Yes I would. I don’t know how, but I think we were destined to meet and fall in love.” Heather refused to let the tears his words called up escape. She must listen carefully and be rational. Too much was at stake for her.

  “My biggest mistake was not being honest with you, in letting you find out the truth before I could tell you.”

  “Why did you wait?”

  “Because once the lies started, they kept building up. I was going to tell you the truth, and I was going to ask you to marry me just before Gwen came to the ranch. Up to that point, I was still a ranch owner, even if I had turned my back on it.

  “But Gwen had come to tell me that Patrick was in deep trouble. Gwen and I decided we owed our father our loyalty even if we didn’t agree with Patrick. When I came back to the ranch after seeing Patrick, I was exactly what I had told you I was. I no longer owned anything. I was just a foreman.”

  Heather let out a deep breath and stood. She had listened to Reid and absorbed everything. Now she was mad.

  “So you couldn’t trust your emotions, could you? You couldn’t come to me and tell me what had happened. You had to stand on your arrogant male pride and be the brave man who turned away my love. Just who the hell do you think you are, Reid Hunter?”

  “Just a man,” he said.

  “No, you’re not just a man. You’re my man!” Heather stated before she could control her tongue. She stopped then, her hand covering her mouth as if she were trying to put the words back.

  “I didn’t want people to talk about you, to say I married you for your ranch.”

  “I don’t give a damn what anyone has to say. I never did and I never will. I fell in love with Reid Hunter, not what Reid Hunter does for a living, not what the size of Reid Hunter’s portfolio is, nor what Reid Hunter’s past was. I fell in love with you because you are…you. Can’t you understand that?”

  “I did, twice. The first time was when I understood what you had said to me. I know what the one thing is that I have that’s most important to you, that’s more important than my being your social equal. And I realized it again last night when you hung up on me and I found myself losing you.”

  “You did?”

  “Yes. My love and need for you! When you hung up on me, I told Tom I was leaving for a few days and he was to assign whomever he damn well wanted to take charge of the ranch. Then I went to Tahoe and chartered a private plane. I landed in Albuquerque this morning.”

  Sitting was the only thing that Heather could do. She didn’t trust her legs to support her as she heard Reid’s revelations.

  “After listening to what you had to say, I knew if I wanted you I had to do more than just come after you. I had too many things still hanging over my head.

  “When I landed in Albuquerque, I came here, to Broadlands. I met with Pat, and we spent the morning yelling and screaming at each other. When it was over, I apologized to him—not for leaving in the first place, but for not being able to tell him why.”

  “That must have been hard,” Heather said, knowing the strength of Reid’s will and imagining that of his twin brother’s.

  “Yes it was, but it was necessary. He’s my brother, and I wanted a brother again.” Heather felt the sting of tears in her eyes, but this time did not fight them.

  “Pat and I built this cabin,” Reid said in a soft voice. “We built this one for me and another for Pat over the first two summer breaks from college. These cabins were our own, the first things we’d ever done without our father’s help. We used the money we earned working as cowhands on the ranch.

  “Pat and I talked about all of this today. Just before I left for Santa Fe, Pat asked me to come back.”

  Heather waited again, knowing intuitively what Reid had told Pat.

  “I thanked him. Then I told him I have a new home, if everything works out. Then I drove to Santa Fe.”

  “I’m glad,” Heather said.

  “That I came to Santa Fe?”

  “That you came home and found you had a brother again.”

  “Heather,” Reid began. Heather heard the change in his voice and felt her body react to it. “Will you marry me?”

  “You’re not afraid of what people will say?” she asked, half in jest, half in truth.

  “I only care what you have to say.”

  “No more pride? No more cowboy creed? No, don’t answer that. I don’t think you would be Reid Hunter without those things,” Heather said. She knew she was talking a lot to cover her sudden nervousness. She needed to talk in order to think.

  Then she could no longer talk or think as Reid pulled her to her feet and kissed her. Her arms went around him and pressed him tightly to her. The kiss lasted an eternity, until Heather could not think but only feel.

  Reid lifted her, carried her across the room, and up several steps. His lips stayed glued to hers as he moved. She felt the softness of a feather mattress beneath her when Reid finally loosened his grip.

  “This dress should be declared illegal,” he murmured in her ear as his hand slipped under the silk and cupped her breast. Fire, heat, and desire ebbed and flowed through her as his hands renewed their acquaintance with her body.

  Heather smiled as Reid’s lips went to her neck and her fingers wound through his hair. This is where she wanted to be—this is where she belonged.

  Reid undressed her quickly, and when he finally joined her on the bed, his body was as bare as hers. Heather kissed him deeply, tasting his lips and then moving her tongue along the side of
his neck. It was as if she could not get enough of his taste and she knew she never would. She would spend a lifetime trying.

  Suddenly Reid was poised above her, his mouth inches from her ear, the heat from his body searing hers along its length. Her hands were on his back, urging him to her, but he held back.

  “Answer me!” he said in a low, steel-tinged voice.

  “I thought I had,” she told him as her hands stroked his back.

  “Say it!”

  “Yes! Yes! Yes!” she cried. Then they became one.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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  From the author

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for reading Cry Mercy, Cry Love. I hope you have enjoyed it, as much as I did when I wrote it, and I would love to hear from you about your reading experience.

  If you like this book, and would like to lend me your support and help, please spread the word about Cry Mercy, Cry Love. Please tell a friend and share it with the world by writing a review on the website where you purchased your book. Nothing fancy, just say what you think—even just a sentence or two.

  Reading your reviews, and receiving emails from my readers is important to me and I have included some convenient links for you below.

  Thank you for taking the time to read Cry Mercy, Cry Love.

  Important Links

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  About the author

  Monica Barrie is a multi-published author of contemporary and historical romances. She is also geriatric social worker, wife, and mother. She lives in New York with her husband David Wind, a multi published author himself.

  Monica is re-releasing many of her Contemporary and Historical romance novels.

  ***

  For more information about Monica Barrie, please visit www.monicabarrie.com