Raine stared at him, stunned. Of all the things she might have thought Gabe would say, that wasn’t one of them. “You’d raise my baby?” she breathed.
“To the best of my ability. The people in Tyler would accept it. I’d see to it that they did. There wouldn’t be any problems for the child.”
“You’ve thought this all through?”
“I didn’t have much else to do after three o’clock yesterday afternoon.”
“Except try to stay alive!” she retorted.
“I told you it wasn’t that bad.”
“I didn’t believe you!”
He frowned, not comprehending her quick spurt of anger. “You don’t like my proposition?”
Raine jerked her hand away and stood up. She couldn’t stay still. She walked across the room and back. “I don’t like the way you dismiss the dangerous conditions you work under. You might be used to them, but I’m not! I was afraid— I was afraid that you—” Twice her voice faltered, broke off. She couldn’t put into words what had caused her such terror.
He frowned. “I did a stupid thing. But I thought Mrs. Franklin...”
Raine threw her hands up in frustration. “Are you trying to kill yourself in order to get away from me? Is that it? Well, Gabe, there are easier ways! If you want to end this marriage, it’s simple. Tell me! We can have it annulled, get it dissolved. These past few weeks can be erased as if they never were. I don’t care what people think anymore. I’m strong enough to handle it now. They can talk all they want, but I’ll keep my head up. I don’t have to have a husband. Not even you!”
Gabe sat forward. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re not making sense.”
“This isn’t a real marriage!”
“It was never meant to be.”
“You don’t want to be a father to another man’s baby!”
“I just told you...” He stopped. The redness on his face and hands, caused by the fire, had grown no worse. But at that moment the ruddiness seemed to increase as blood drained from the uninjured portions of skin. “Is that what you want?” he demanded, his voice raspier than before. “Is this your way of telling me that you’re ready to chuck it all in? He’s come for you, so—”
“I’d never chuck!”
“That’s what you’re doing!”
“And what are you doing to me?” she returned. “You seem to assume that I’d choose my career over my baby! I’m the one who’s going to carry it for nine months and then give birth, remember? If I hadn’t wanted the baby, I wouldn’t be doing this.”
“So the answer is no.”
“Yes...no...yes!” she shouted, slightly confused about which answer was correct. “I’m not going to leave the baby with you, because I’m not going to leave!”
Gabe became very still, his squall of anger depleted. He looked at her blankly. “You’re not?”
“I sent Joel back to New York alone. I told him I wasn’t going to come with him.”
“But I thought—”
“You thought wrong.”
Gabe ran a hand over his short hair and Raine saw that it was shaking. At that moment, as she was once again witness to his vulnerability, her anger was forgotten. She fell to her knees in front of him and gathered his hands into her own.
“Gabe,” she pleaded, brushing his fingers with her lips. “I don’t want to argue. Not about something unimportant. I was so worried about you. If anything had happened...”
Gabe moved like a man in a dream. He loosened a hand and cupped the back of her head. “What, Red?” he murmured. “What would have happened if?”
Raine looked at him. She couldn’t hold back any longer. She had to tell him the truth. “I’d have died,” she said simply.
Gabe’s blue gaze moved over her, as if he were seeing her clearly for the first time.
“Why?” His question was almost a whisper.
Raine’s heart thundered. “Because...I love you.”
Gabe closed his eyes and, barely perceptibly, rocked back and forth. Then he moved forward until their foreheads rested against each other.
Raine’s uneven breaths sounded loud to her ears. They seemed to fill the room. Then they were silenced as he tilted his head and captured her lips in a gentle, exploratory kiss that went on and on and on....
A happiness Raine had never experienced before exploded within her, causing her to bubble over with laughter and tears when they finally broke apart.
Gabe, too, slid to the floor—his thighs against hers, his hips against hers. Then he started to kiss her again. Gently at first, then finally with open passion.
A wellspring of long-suppressed feeling suddenly opened up in Raine. She loved him! She loved him in a way she had never known existed before. Totally, completely, ultimately.
“Raine...” he murmured against her ear, his voice unsteady because of his depth of feeling. “Raine...” he continued to say her name over and over as he touched her. And he touched her as a man touches a woman he once thought forever out of his reach—reverently, deliriously, with avid hunger.
Could her mother have been correct? Could Gabe have loved her for a very long time—for years and years and years? Never saying anything because she was too blind to see? The thought made her love him all the more. Made her yield to whatever he wanted. To his questing lips and probing hands. She would have yielded completely, but he stopped.
“I want to do this right,” he said.
Raine tried to pull them back to sanity. “You’re hurt. You’re just out of the hospital. Gabe...this can wait.”
“Like hell it can,” he growled. When he got up, he pulled her with him. Then he gathered her into his arms and lifted her, as if her weight was nothing...only to be overcome by another spell of coughing, which forced him to drop her back to her feet. “Not very romantic,” he said.
Raine smiled. “I don’t mind. I’m just glad you’re safe. And up to now I hadn’t expected rom—”
“Shh.” He stopped her words with his lips. Moments later he murmured, “I can’t...get enough. I’d hoped, but never expected—”
“It was me, Gabe. I didn’t see.”
He held her face between his hands and vowed, “I love you, Raine Peterson.”
“And I love you,” she returned softly, gazing into his wonderfully familiar face. “How—how long, Gabe?” she asked.
“Forever,” he said.
Raine was unsure what he wanted to have happen next. What he had meant by “do this right.”
He seemed equally perplexed. He looked toward the hall, then at the couch, then at her. “I’ve had dreams about this moment, Raine. To tell you the truth, I’m not sure that I’m not dreaming right now. But I hadn’t planned on—” As if on cue he coughed again.
“You should probably lie down,” Raine murmured solicitously. “After everything you’ve been through...” She tucked herself against his side and maneuvered under his arm. “I’ll take you to bed.”
Gabe gave a funny little laugh. “Now I know I’m dreaming.”
They started down the hall. At the door to his room she paused before opening it.
“What did your doctor say?” she asked as they went inside.
“To take it easy for about a week.”
She left him standing long enough to fold down the bed covers, then she went back to assist him.
“I’m not an invalid,” he said.
“Let me take care of you.”
She got him onto the side of the bed, but when she went to draw away, he stopped her.
“Lie with me,” he requested huskily.
“I don’t want to do anything that will make you worse.”
“It’ll be worse for me if you leave.”
“But I’m not leaving,” she
assured him. “I told you—”
“I meant the room,” he murmured, and gave her that special Gabe smile.
His hand slid slowly up her arm, and Raine had to shut her eyes to keep from crying out.
He drew her close to him.
“This feels so strange,” she said.
“We’re married.”
“I know, but it still feels strange.”
“I can make it feel better.”
“Gabe—”
He gave a little turn and she was stretched out on the bed beside him.
“I...love...you.” He gave each word equal emphasis. “Not like a friend, not like a brother. Like this,” he breathed as his lips left a trail of fire down her throat to the burgeoning curves of her breasts.
“Not a brother,” Raine panted, echoing his theme. Her blood had started to sing a new song, one she had never heard before. “Never a brother!”
Gabe was exquisitely gentle as he made love to her. He coughed occasionally, but he wouldn’t let the impairment stop him. It seemed to Raine as if he had to make love to her, not only to satisfy a physical need, but to assure himself that she was his. As if the moment that their bodies merged they would break a seal that could never be set in place again. The world, as they had known it, would be forced to shift in order to make way for a spectacular new universe.
* * *
“IF I DIE NOW, I’ll die happy,” Gabe murmured, spent, shortly after rolling onto his side.
Raine carefully smoothed the light film of moisture from his face and neck and couldn’t resist letting her hand trail over his chest, ostensibly to perform the same service. “I won’t let you die,” she murmured.
“You could be the cause,” he teased.
Raine stretched, enjoying the uniqueness of being in his bed. Who would have thought? Then she cuddled against Gabe. His long, leanly muscled body was very pleasing to her. She loved the way it moved, the way it felt, the way it looked.
His arm came around her and pulled her closer. For a long time neither of them said anything. They just lay there, reveling in what had happened.
Then Raine started to giggle. “I wonder what the gossips would say if they knew.”
“Heaven help us,” Gabe rejoined.
“Mom’s going to know in a New York second.”
Gabe grimaced. “Could we please leave New York out of this?”
“In a second, then. A plain, old, ordinary second.”
“Thank you.”
They lapsed into silence again, until Gabe murmured, “I still want to do this right.”
Raine pushed up onto an elbow to look at him. “You said that earlier. What do you mean?”
Gabe’s clear blue eyes were earnest. “I want us to get married again, Raine. Only this time, we’ll mean it. Before, it was so...”
“Bloodless?” she supplied.
“It might be real in law, but not in spirit. I didn’t feel that you...”
She waited for him to finish, and when he didn’t, she asked, “What?”
“I wasn’t in your plans then, Raine. I was never in your plans.”
Some of the pain that Gabe had suffered at her hands through all the years she’d been busy looking for life in other places had slipped through in those words. The lament of the person left behind.
Raine’s heart ached for him, but there was nothing she could do about the past. There was plenty she could do about the future, though.
“You’re in my plans now, Gabe,” she swore to him. “You always have been, only I didn’t know it.” She laid her cheek against the warm, damp skin of his chest and said, “Yes, we should get married again. Every year at this time, if you like. We’re a part of each other, Gabe. When you hurt, I hurt. When you’re happy, I’m happy. When—”
He cut her off by dragging her up his body. “When I need you...” he murmured huskily.
“...I need—” she started to answer, but his impatience made completing the sentiment impossible.
EPILOGUE
THE CHURCH WAS FILLED with people, all dressed in their Sunday best. The invitation had been extended to everyone in town. Come join with us in a renewal of our vows.
The ceremony wasn’t intended to be formal. Raine wore a beautiful white suit, very stylish, if cut a little loosely. Gabe looked extremely handsome in a dark business suit. Marge and George were beaming, as was Charles Atwood, who had arrived home the week before to the surprising news that there would be another wedding. Richard Jensen was honorary best man and Britt Marshack honorary matron of honor. Flowers decorated the alter and Raine clutched a bouquet.
It couldn’t have been more different from the first hastily arranged ceremony, Gabe thought. And when he glanced at Raine, it was to discover that she was already looking at him.
Love made her eyes glow, and a tender smile transformed her face beyond mere earthly beauty. It was enough to make him catch his breath.
They took turns repeating the words of commitment, meaning each and every one.
Then came the kiss. This time Gabe was ready. He folded Raine into his arms and put every ounce of his love into the tribute sealing their union. He continued to hold her, even as the organ burst forth triumphantly.
It took Richard, for once grinning widely, to break them apart.
Britt laughed, Raine giggled and Richard thumped Gabe on the back.
As they started down the aisle, the countless faces that greeted them were awash with joy, everyone reacting to their obvious bliss.
At the doors they burst out into the sunshine, and Gabe couldn’t resist once again showing the world his happiness. He murmured, “Wait,” to Raine and with an elated grin, planted another huge kiss on her lips.
“Gabe, you’re wonderful!” she breathed when he let her go.
People streaming out around them laughed and made teasing comments. Then they started to throw handfuls of confetti.
Marge kissed them both, as did Gabe’s father. George settled for a handshake with Gabe and a kiss on Raine’s cheek.
An avalanche of good wishes followed them to the rented limousine. The crowd was invited to have cake and punch in the activity building. Gabe and Raine were off for their one-week honeymoon in the Bahamas, courtesy of their friends.
It was far different from the bleakness of the last time.
Far different in their prospects for the future.
Gabe and Raine and the baby.
Together.
Forever.
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9781459255531
DADDY NEXT DOOR
Copyright © 1996 by Harlequin Books S.A.
Ginger Chambers is acknowledged as the author of this work.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance
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Daddy Next Door (Hometown Reunion) Page 20