Men Made in America Mega-Bundle
Page 216
Antoinette couldn’t comprehend his words. Why had he come to Bayou Midnight to find her? How had he even known she was there? His answer gave her hope, but she’d learned the hard way just how foolish hope could be where her relationship with Sam was concerned.
“What’s going to happen to Leonce?” she asked to cover up her feelings.
“I don’t know.”
“He didn’t set any of the fires, Sam. He knew what was going on, but it was Leonce who saved Laurie’s life. He went to New Orleans to stop his friends, but it was too late. Then, when he rescued Laurie and she saw his face, he realized he was involved, too.”
“He was a fool not to come to me.” Sam banged his spoon on the pot of soup. “I could have prevented all this from happening.”
Antoinette imagined she knew what Sam was feeling. As deeply as he loved his family, he felt guilty for what had happened. She tried to reassure him. “Leonce saved my life as well as Laurie’s. I think all along he acted in ways he thought were the most moral. He hated what Omega was doing to Martin and to his friends, and he carried his loyalty too far, but he didn’t commit any crime himself except withholding evidence.”
“If that’s all true, and I suspect it is, he’ll probably get off. Especially since he turned himself and the others in.”
“I’m glad. For Didi’s sake, and for your family’s.”
“Didi’ll stand by him, no matter what. We all will.” Sam poured the soup into a bowl and brought it to the table. He sat down across from her and propped his chin on his hands to watch her eat. “Do you remember the night we had dinner and I told you that anyone who commits a crime doesn’t deserve a second chance?”
“I remember you saying that good is good and bad is bad and that motives mean nothing.”
“I was wrong.” Sam hesitated. “And it’s not the only thing I’ve been wrong about.”
Antoinette concentrated on the soup, savoring the flavor as if it were homemade. She wanted to ask him what else he’d been wrong about, but she wasn’t sure she’d like his answer. Instead, she finished her soup. Without a word Sam refilled her bowl, and she finished the second bowl in silence.
“Do you want anything else?”
A cigarette, but she didn’t ask, knowing it was useless. Besides, she didn’t want Sam to know she’d begun smoking again. It was almost like proclaiming how much stress she’d been under since he’d said goodbye.
“I’m fine.” She pushed her chair away from the table and stood, unsure what was expected of her now. Her eyes fell on Sam’s bandaged shoulder, and she used it as an excuse to begin a different conversation. She had a feeling it was going to be a long night, and she wasn’t ready to go back to bed with him. They had just made love, and yet she wanted to be in his arms again. Her pride wouldn’t let her admit that to him. “You never did tell me how you hurt your shoulder.”
“I got shot.”
She sat abruptly, her knees caving in. She hadn’t felt this faint on the island. “Sam!” she wailed.
“Does that mean you care?” he asked, the corners of his mouth lifting in something that resembled pleased relief.
She couldn’t believe he was smiling. What was there to smile about? She ignored his question. “Who shot you?”
“Nobody you know.” He couldn’t seem to stop smiling at her. She had been so upset at the thought of his being in danger. Even though he’d just made love to her, he hadn’t been sure she still loved him. Now he knew she did. He suspected his silly smile was permanent. He didn’t care. “It was your fault, you know.”
“No!”
He stood, coming to her side to kneel and take her into his arms. “I was thinking about you, and I let my guard slip. I’ve been thinking about you day and night since the last time I saw you. I’ve been a basket case. If you don’t take me back, I’ll have to quit the force. I’m no good to anyone anymore, Antoinette. Love me, marry me, so I can get on with my life.”
At first she wasn’t sure she’d heard him right. She’d been expecting anything except this. Sam was asking her to marry him so that the thought of her would stop interfering with the job he loved! She gave him a hard shove and stood. “As proposals go, that’s one of the crassest I’ve ever heard!” Antoinette was pleased that her surge of anger had strengthened her knees. She marched out to the back porch and stared out the windows, her arms folded in front of her.
Sam followed, clasping his arms around her waist. He refused to let her pull away. “Now what do you expect from a man who never intended to ask anyone to marry him?” he asked, his voice a silken caress against her ear. “If I’d had any warning you were going to be here, I’d have practiced. But I called you all day yesterday and last night, and I couldn’t get you. I had all kinds of things to say, wonderful, romantic things, but they just slipped away when I ended up having to rescue you tonight.”
Antoinette took a deep breath to steady her voice. “Sam, you’re wallowing in guilt. I absolve you. None of what happened is your fault. I chose to come back here to see Didi, and I chose to meddle about Martin and to snoop around the boathouse this morning. It’s my own fault I got into trouble, and I do not hold you responsible.”
“I’m glad.”
“I know you were worried about me, but that’s relief you’re feeling. Not love.”
His arms tightened, and he pulled her hard against his chest. “Once we’re married,” he said evenly, “you will stop analyzing me. I’m going to write it into our wedding vows. Yours are going to say, ‘I, Antoinette Deveraux, promise to love, honor and cherish thee, and also to stop telling thee what thee is feeling. Forever and ever.”’
This was a man she didn’t know. He seemed almost giddy. “Sam…”
“And I’ll answer like this, ‘I, Sam Long, promise to love, honor and cherish thee, and also to never, never doubt the absolute specialness of what I feel for thee and how much I need thee in my life. Forever and ever.”’
“Sam, I wouldn’t put it past you to leave me at the altar!” She waited for him to release her, but instead he began to nibble on her earlobe. “Did you hear me, Sam? You’re going to change your mind again. I feel like a Ping-Pong ball! First you want me, then you don’t want me. You want me, you don’t want me! Stop that!”
“No.” He turned her slowly to face him, his lips tracing a leisurely path along her jaw as he did so. “I admit I’ve been occasionally indecisive—”
“Occasionally!”
“And that I haven’t shown the sense of a damsel fly.” Sam’s gaze locked with hers. He could see that her eyes were suspiciously watery. He saw his advantage and pressed it. “It took getting shot to make me realize what a fool I was. But once convinced, I’m unshakable.”
Antoinette trailed her fingers up his chest, touching the gauze. “I can’t stand the thought of you being hurt.”
He knew he’d won. “I love you. I have all along, but I’ve never loved anyone this way before. Please understand, it just had to sink in. Forgive me. Love me forever. Is that asking too much?”
Her hands crept up to his neck and into his hair. “You called me yesterday?”
“All day.”
“What were you going to say?”
“Just exactly what I just said. Probably with a little more finesse.”
“How do I know you called? This could just be remorse.”
He smiled, cupping her face in his hands. “‘Hello,”’ he said, imitating the pitch of her voice, “‘this is Antoinette Deveraux. I’m sorry I can’t come to the phone now, but if you’ll leave your name and number at the sound of the tone, I’ll return your call as soon as I’m able. Thank you.”’ He stopped, kissing her nose. “Right after you say your name,” he finished, “Tootsie starts to bark. She barks three times, then stops.”
“You did call.”
He kissed her forehead. “Did you really start smoking again because we weren’t seeing each other?”
She sighed. “And you called Rosy, too.”
> “If you marry me, I’ll keep you too busy to think about cigarettes.”
She shook her head, but her fingers tunneled deeper into his hair. “I’m in no shape to make a decision like that.”
“You’re right. What could I be thinking about?” His eyes held hers as his hands skimmed the soft fabric of her T-shirt. At the hem he slipped his fingers under it and began to inch it along her hips.
“What are you doing?”
“Helping you get in shape to make your decision.”
“That’s unfair.” She rested her hands on his arms, but she applied no pressure.
“Absolutely unfair. Do you want me to stop?”
Antoinette examined the direct warmth of his gaze, his pleased smile. Most of all she examined the utterly relaxed lines of his face. Sam Long was a man totally at peace for the first time since she’d known him. In that moment she believed, finally, that he was never going to change his mind again.
And just in case she was wrong, she was going to marry him quickly before he wavered.
“When M’sieu Gator, he learns to fly,” she said, lifting her hands over her head in invitation, “that’s when I’ll want you to stop loving me.”
“Not even then,” he promised as the T-shirt fell to their feet. “Not even then.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-0771-8
Copyright © 2007 Harlequin Books S.A.
The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:
The Redemption of Deke Summers
Copyright © 1997 by Mona Gay Thomas
Found: His Perfect Wife
Copyright © 2000 by Marie Rydzynski-Ferrarella
Arizona Heat
Copyright © 1995 by Jennifer Greene
Deceptions
Copyright © 1986 by Annette Broadrick
Dr. Dad
Copyright © 2000 by Barbara Keller
Send Me a Hero
Copyright © 1998 by Rita B. Herron
Tangled Lies
Copyright © 1984 by Anne Kristine Stuart Ohlrogge
Love by Proxy
Copyright © 1985 by Diana Palmer
The Temptation of Rory Monahan
Copyright © 2001 by Elizabeth Bevarly
Mysterious Stranger
Copyright © 2002 by Patricia Pinianski
Bayou Midnight
Copyright © 1987 by Emilie Richards McGee
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