The sunset was a vivid backdrop to the tall peaks. Tess loved the mountains. Standing on top of one was like standing on top of the world. That was one of the reasons she had chosen to live in Denver, even though the memories of the Andes Mountains sometimes got to be too much for her.
“When I’m over at Mom’s, I love to come out here in the evening and just enjoy the sight. This is what life’s all about. God’s creation,” he whispered close to her.
Tess turned slightly so she could look at him, surprise in her expression.
He laughed. “Don’t look so stunned. I can appreciate beauty as well as the next guy.”
“Why did you play football?”
“I love the game. It gave me a lot.”
“How did you break your leg—playing football?” She made the mistake of letting her gaze trail downward. As she took in his great physique, her face flushed. If she had to use one word to describe his body, it would be powerful.
“I’ve broken a couple of bones over the years, but I didn’t break my leg this time playing football. I haven’t played the game since I retired.”
“What happened to your leg?” She turned and put some distance between them. Suddenly the cool air was warm, too warm. The space between them was filled with yearnings. She balled her hands at her sides, resisting the strong urge to run them over his massive shoulders. His body was a rock-hard force that spoke of his former profession.
“Nothing much. I was helping to roof a halfway house at which I volunteer and fell off the ladder. Now it’s your turn. Why haven’t you seen a game? You admitted to the children today that you know nothing about football.”
“Kids take risks they shouldn’t playing that game. I’ve seen firsthand some of the results as a nurse.”
“Life’s a risk.”
“And life is much too violent without a game like football.” She stared at the sunset quickly fading behind the mountains. She had seen enough violence in her life as an emergency room nurse, then as a Peace Corps volunteer in South America. An act of violence had claimed the man she’d been engaged to marry.
“Are you really being fair to the game?”
His presence behind her pulled her from memories that were always just below the surface. Potent power emanated from him, threatening to overcome any resistance she had. She steeled herself against that lure and said, “In high school I had a good friend who played football.”
“And you never saw him play?”
“My studies were too important to me. He asked me to, but sports wasn’t my thing. His second year on the team, he caught the ball in the end zone for the winning touchdown. Three players tackled him. My friend never got up. He had to be carried off the field and to this day is paralyzed from the waist down.”
“Football offered me a way to go to a good college. It opened up the whole world for me and consequently my family. It has given me a chance to use my status to spread the word of the Lord. Through my foundation I have been able to help a lot of people I wouldn’t have been able to. Football gave me that chance.” Mac came around to stand in front of her.
“What is your foundation?”
“I’ve used my connections in the sports world to raise money for the Christian Athletes Foundation, which I started a few years ago. Through this foundation I can fund certain projects. The Lord has provided for me. I want to provide for others.”
“What kind of projects?”
“One of my more recent ones was establishing scholarships for students who don’t have the money to go to college. I want to make sure others have the opportunity that I had through a good education.”
“Education and football?”
“Yes, and football, but I don’t want to talk about football. Let’s talk about where we’re heading, Tess.”
The way he said her name, like a caress, was a silent plea for her understanding. She couldn’t resist him. She wanted to understand him in that moment more than anything else.
“There’s a connection between us I can’t deny. I think you need a friend more than you care to admit.” He reached up and cupped her face in his large hands, his touch electric. “Go out with me Saturday night. Just you and me. No family between us.”
She laid her hands over his and stared into his silvery gaze, which radiated intensity. She felt lost as sensations she had never experienced washed over her.
“Will you go out with me?”
The question was a whisper between their mouths as he leaned closer to her, his breath anointing her lips. One of his hands fingered her hair then slid to clasp the nape of her neck. She was surrounded by him, his power shoving everything aside as her senses centered on him.
“Answer me, Tess,” he whispered against her mouth.
An emotion deep inside her stirred, an emotion she’d buried forever, she thought. “Yes, I’ll go out with you.”
She waited to see what would happen next, half anticipating him kissing her. His gaze locked with hers, and she felt a part of herself disappear.
“Mac, dinner’s ready.”
He lifted his head and muttered, “I’m gonna have to talk with my sister about her timing.”
Slowly Tess’s senses calmed enough for her to think rationally, to step away from him before she became lost again in his gaze. She welcomed the cooling breeze of evening as her heartbeat returned to a normal pace. He was a force she had never reckoned with or needed in her life. And in a moment of pure insanity she had promised to go out with him again Saturday night.
“I guess we’d better go inside or no doubt my whole family will come out to investigate…the sunset. They feel just because they’re my family they have a right to know every little detail of my life, and then if that doesn’t satisfy them, they make up a few tidbits.”
“And you probably love every minute of it.”
He lightly touched the small of her back as she went through the door. It was a casual gesture, but nonetheless it unnerved her.
In the dining room the adults were seated at the long table. The children were at a smaller table in the living room. All eyes were on Mac and Tess as they entered the room and quietly sat, Mac at the head of the table and Tess to his right.
“Mac, will you do the honor of saying grace?”
Bowing his head, Mac clasped her hand as well as Casey’s, who sat on the other side of him. “Heavenly Father, please bless this food we are about to partake and give us the wisdom to see our path in this life.”
She felt comforted, and strangely a sense of peace descended, his fingers about hers and his simple prayer filling the room with his conviction.
“It’s about time you two came in. I’m starved, and we’ve been waiting ages for you guys,” Casey said as she started passing the platter of ham around.
Mac shot his younger sister a narrowed look. “Watch it, kid, or I’ll forget our conversation this morning.”
“Casey, you didn’t go over to Mac’s to get his help concerning college?” Alice asked, clearly upset by the frown on Casey’s face.
“Yes, I did. He’s the only one you’ll listen to. Besides, it’s his money that’s sending me to college. I thought he should know I don’t want it right now.”
Tess ate her dinner while the rest of the family debated the merits of going to college right out of high school or waiting a year. She loved listening to the bantering among family members. She hated discovering Mac’s generous nature when it came to his family. He had done so much for them, which, against her will, only endeared him even more in her eyes. It was going to be hard to stay away from the man, because she felt the same pull he did. And he was right. She did need a friend. She had avoided getting close to anyone for far too long.
After everyone had shared an opinion on the subject, Alice stood to cut the birthday cake. “Mac, what do you think?”
“It’s Casey’s life. It’s her decision. It’s something, Mom, she has to want to do.” He took a sip of iced tea. “But I want Casey to know right up
front that I believe a college education is the way for her to go when she’s ready. It opens so many doors.”
His mother gave the first slices to Steve and Tess. “Then it’s settled. Casey, you’ll have to find yourself a job if you aren’t going to college right away.”
Tess was amazed at how rapidly everything had been decided after such a diverse and lively debate. In the end it had been Mac’s opinion that counted. She got the impression he had become the father figure for all his brothers and sisters. What a wonderful burden to feel so needed by so many. Again she thought of her plans, which had died that day on the mountaintop in South America, and her throat constricted.
When the dinner was over, Kayla and Casey, Mac’s sisters, started clearing the dishes while everyone else moved toward the living room.
“Can I help you?” Tess asked, needing to feel busy before her thoughts of the past took over.
“Sure. The more the merrier,” Casey said and headed for the kitchen.
Tess picked up her plate and Mac’s. He whispered as he left, “Don’t believe a word they say about me. They’ve been dying to get you alone all evening. You just fell into their trap.”
“Since I don’t listen to gossip, you don’t have a worry,” Tess quipped as she strode away. The truth of the matter was she didn’t want to know anything else about him. The more she discovered the more she liked, and she couldn’t afford emotionally to become involved with anyone, especially him.
It didn’t take one minute for the sisters to start the interrogation. “How did you two meet?” Kayla asked casually as she scraped food off the plates.
“Mac hasn’t been too many places since the accident,” Casey added.
“Sis, give her a chance to talk.”
Tess smiled. Casey obviously didn’t know all the finer points of an interrogation. “We met at the hospital.”
“Hospital?” Kayla’s forehead creased with a frown. “What was he—oh, I know. It must have been when he went to see Tommy.” She looked expectantly at Tess for confirmation.
“Yes, he mentioned a little boy named Tommy.”
“Mac hates hospitals, but he still visits the children whenever he can. Hospitals remind him too much of Dad and Sheila.” Casey cut in with another tidbit of information.
It was clear to Tess that if she ever needed to know anything about Mac it was Casey she should pump for information.
“It was hardest on Mac having to watch Dad die slowly. They were so close,” Casey continued as she opened the dishwasher. “Then of course, when Sheila delivered—”
“Casey, aren’t there any more dishes on the table?” Kayla asked, exasperated at her younger sister.
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Go check anyway. Then see if Mom needs anything. I think we can manage.”
“But…”
Casey’s protest died on her lips at the look her older sister gave her. She went meekly out of the kitchen.
“Casey is the kind of source the National Observer would love to get hold of.” Kayla cast a glance at Tess. “But it is true Mac was pretty torn up about Dad.”
In other words, Tess dear, you’d better have honorable intentions toward the man or get lost. “You have nothing to worry about from me,” Tess answered the unspoken question as she began to load the dishwasher. My intentions are to get lost—just as soon as the next date is over.
Mac peered into the kitchen. “Tess, I’m sorry to interrupt you two getting to know each other, but I have an early day tomorrow. Ready to leave?”
“Yes,” she answered, hoping she didn’t appear too eager.
“Thanks for your help,” Kayla said as Tess joined Mac.
“I figured when Casey came into the living room you were in big trouble,” Mac whispered when they were alone in the hallway. “Kayla fancies herself my protector from the female population.”
“So, you don’t have an early day tomorrow?”
“I always have an early day. I think dawn is the best part of the day.”
“Where’s Amy?” Tess asked, hoping the little girl could act as a barrier between Tess and Mac on the ride to Tess’s apartment. Tess was beginning to feel she needed all the help she could get to stay away from Mac. Her acceptance of a second date was proof she had a hard time resisting him.
“She’s staying with her grandma tonight. So it’s just you and me.” He winked at her as he turned to say his goodbyes to his family in the living room and kiss Amy good-night.
Mac hardly gave Tess time to say her own goodbyes before he whisked her away from his large family. In the small car she was reminded of his powerful presence, which saturated every inch of the interior.
“I’d forgotten how overwhelming my family can be to a newcomer.”
His family overwhelming? There’s no way they compare to him. “Protective is a better word.”
“We almost scared off Mary when Justin first brought her around to meet the family.”
“I’m not easily scared,” she said, then wondered why she had.
He looked at her, his gray eyes penetratingly enticing. “I can see that.”
The words, spoken in a husky timbre, tore at her already battered defenses. His study of her was so blatantly male that an ache deep inside threatened to rip the last of her defenses to shreds.
“You more than interest me, Tess. You’re intriguing. One part of you is so innocent. The other I suspect has seen things that would make my stomach wrench. We’d better go. This certainly isn’t the time or the place for this discussion.”
Discussion? More like a temptation to forget everything she had promised herself, Tess thought and clasped her hands so tightly her knuckles turned white. But still she felt his lure—a lure that spoke of happier times, if only she could forget and forgive herself.
The drive to her apartment was done in silence. All of a sudden Tess felt physically and emotionally exhausted. She was beginning to wonder if she would have enough energy to walk to the front door.
At her apartment, Mac stood between her and the door. “I’ll pick you up at seven. Dress casual.”
“I can meet you at the restaurant.”
“Is there a reason you don’t want me to pick you up here?”
“Makes it seem like a date when aren’t we just two friends going out to dinner?”
He stepped closer, slowly raising his hand toward her face. “Friends do go in the same car to places. And while we’re on the subject of Saturday night, I’m paying for dinner. No Dutch treat, if that was what was going to pop into your head next.”
“Fine,” she murmured, deciding her brain had stopped functioning. She couldn’t move an inch, so entranced was she by his presence. There was nothing friendly about what she was feeling.
When his fingers finally touched her cheek, she wanted to lean into him and seek his support because her legs felt so weak. For a few blissful seconds she wanted to forget her past, but reality was always just under the surface, ready to invade her thoughts. She felt again the pain of losing Kevin, of holding him in her arms as he lay dead. She felt again the anguish she had experienced when she had survived and no one else had.
Finally sanity returned, prodding Tess away from Mac. She fumbled for her key. “Thanks for a nice evening. It’s late, and I do have an early morning.” The words tumbled out in a coherent pattern that amazed her because inside she felt as though she were trapped in an English garden maze, lost and alone.
She finally found her key in the bottom of her oversize purse and quickly inserted it into the lock. “Good night. Thanks again.”
Mac laid his hand over hers, the touch warm, intimate. “We’re still on for Saturday?”
She needed to say no. She said yes, turned the knob and escaped inside. Leaning against the closed door, she listened as he left. With each step he took, she felt more alone, the way she wanted it ever since Kevin’s untimely death. Then why did it bother her that such a nice man was walking away?
Chapt
er Four
Mac listened to the recording for a second time as though that would erase the words on the machine. “Mac, this is Tess. I’m sorry I’ve got to cancel our date this evening. Something has come up.”
He frowned, rubbing the back of his neck while he played the message a third time. Yep, he was sure of it. Something was wrong. He could hear it in her voice. That settled it. He was going over there, and if she answered the door, he would act as though he hadn’t received her message. The quaver underlining her words drew him to her. He had to go and make sure she was all right.
The pounding in Tess’s head matched the pounding of her heart. She reread the letter from Kevin’s mother, the fine, neatly written words leaping off the page as if the woman was in the room with her, shouting at her. Tess squeezed her eyes closed, remembering the last time she had seen Kevin’s mother, at his funeral. She had created a hysterical scene in front of everyone in her congregation, wanting to know why Tess had survived when her son hadn’t.
Tess’s hand shook as she carefully placed the letter on the coffee table then switched off the lamp next to the couch. Relieved that the shadows of dusk crept into the room, she stretched out on the sofa, hugging one of the throw pillows to her chest. The letter had restated the woman’s ramblings at her son’s funeral. Again.
Tess stared at the ceiling until the blackness totally swallowed the light and she couldn’t see anything. She kept her mind blank, needing to think of nothing at the moment. But slowly thoughts slipped inside to torment her. The rebels had left her to die, but she hadn’t. She had survived when no one else had.
For the past two years she had run from what had happened at the mission, but it was becoming more difficult to hide from the memories, to forget—to forgive. Weariness weaved its way through her, making her eyelids droop. Her grip on the pillow eased as the lure of sleep engulfed her.
Tess threw her head back and took a deep breath of the crisp mountain air, clean, fresh. Not a cloud in the sky, and the temperature a perfect sixty-five. What a glorious day! She looked at the ring on her left hand, its diamond glittering in the sunlight. In a few short months she would be married.
Family for Keeps & Sadie's Hero Page 4