by Saxon, Diane
Loving Lydia
Atlantic Divide Book 1
Diane Saxon
Published 2013
ISBN: 978-1-62210-004-0
Published by Liquid Silver Books, imprint of Atlantic Bridge Publishing, 10509 Sedgegrass Dr, Indianapolis, Indiana 46235. Copyright © Published 2013, Diane Saxon. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Liquid Silver Books
http://LSbooks.com
This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.
Blurb
Hiding from the horrors of her past, the last thing quiet, shy Lydia thinks she needs is a persistent cowboy who not only wants to strip away her clothes but the layers of her secrets too. What Sam wants is more than just skin deep.
Little by little, as Lydia’s past starts to reveal itself, Sam sees a woman who has never been afraid, who was bold and adventurous, talented, and exciting. As Sam discovers the truths Lydia has buried in her heart, her nightmares of the past become stronger and her fear of the future threatens to jeopardize everything.
Dedication
To Andy for saying, “Just do it!”
To Margaret for reading The Princess Bride to me when I was eleven.
To my daughters, Laura and Meghan, for every step of the way.
Acknowledgements
Allie, thank you for the guidance and advice—this wouldn’t be the book it is without you.
Jennifer—for the education.
Prologue
Her eyelids flickered in time with the sharp blue flashes of light illuminating the nursery. She hazily thought that lightning could be so damned irritating. Then again, her fog-laden brain seemed to be telling her lightning was never that blue. It wasn’t lightning then.
So what? she thought as she drifted off again.
“Mrs. Morgan. Mrs. Morgan?” Someone tapped the back of her hand. The voice was insistent. She wanted to be left alone. Why wouldn’t they leave her alone? It was better in the quiet and the dark. The tapping continued and warm hands touched her icy arm.
She tried to open her eyes. She couldn’t. She didn’t really want to. She knew what she would see.
Thick, dark blood. She could feel it slick between her legs, dripping from her hands. Her blood. His blood.
“Mrs. Morgan, can you hear me?”
She pulled her hand away, had no energy to do anything but let it flop down on the floor beside her, palm up, fingers limp.
Her heartbeat slowed, sluggish now as it pumped her lifeblood onto the floor. Her eyelids were heavy, but she needed to see. To make sure. She knew he lay opposite her. Eyes wide and staring. Shock still frozen across his face. Scissors embedded deep in his chest. Blood pooled all around him.
She could hear her twin babies cry. The high pitched mewl of newborns. Both of them squalled at the top of their voices. Her chest constricted. She knew she could no longer help them.
Someone else would have to help them now.
“Lydia! Oh my God, Lydia!” Her sister’s shocked voice pushed through her consciousness. Kate would look after the twins. They were probably hungry by now. How would she feed them? She had no baby bottles or formula. Lydia had fed them herself.
Kate was a doctor; she would figure out a way. They would be safe with her. Lydia had made sure they would be safe.
Her body relaxed. The pain subsided. Black clouds thickened and consumed her, comforting her like a warm, soft blanket.
Sound faded.
Chapter 1
He heard his back pop and grind as the lean cowboy stretched his body in the cramped seating at the arrivals gate of Huntsville International Airport. Sam’s jean-clad legs could almost reach the seats on the opposite side—a couple more inches and he could have propped his feet up quite comfortably. The first mad rush of people coming through the gates had died down, and still he waited.
He watched as a pretty, strawberry blonde—a little on the skinny side—struggled through the gate. Leaning forward, he peered a little closer. She had enormous green eyes, tilted up slightly at the edges to give her a cat-like expression. As she walked in his direction, those eyes scanned the remaining people. A thin worry line marred her forehead.
She shifted the small child in her arms to a more comfortable position. As she pushed a luggage cart with one hand, she glanced down at the dark-haired little boy perched on the end to make sure his feet were still tucked up away from the cart’s wheels.
The cowboy stood up from the plastic seating and moved forward to greet her and relieve her of some of her burden, but as soon as she made eye contact with him, she started to look around her like a scared rabbit. He smiled broadly. She stopped dead in her tracks as he strode toward her; his long legs ate up the distance between them.
*
Dear Lord, why was this man walking straight at her, baring his teeth like some rabid dog? He could have just woken up in a shop doorway for all she knew. His jeans were ripped and dirty, and his dark russet, collar-length hair a mess. A Stetson was balanced on the back of his head. His face hadn’t seen a razor in the last week or more. He looked at her as though she was a long lost friend. As if she should know him. She certainly didn’t.
She knew who she was supposed to meet—her sister. Her heavily pregnant sister. This was not her. Nor was it her sister’s husband, Jack. She’d already met him—he was also tall and ruggedly handsome—but there the similarity ended. Jack was a sheriff. Smart, short-cropped hair, not scruffy like this man.
She only hoped the man wasn’t some vagrant. She’d seen “Taken” and was already on her guard. Funny how life could change a person. She was the sole protector of her twin children. Always had been. She would protect them with her life. Had done so already.
“Hi.” His voice was much softer than she had expected it to be. Sort of crooning gently to her as he dipped his head slightly, and it crossed her mind he actually might be shy. What a strange thought.
“I’m Sam. I’ve come to give you a lift.” At least he’d stopped baring his teeth at her, and he had started to look a little doubtful.
“It is Lydia, isn’t it?” His eyebrows lifted in inquiry, and the smile spread across his face again, this time without the teeth. A deep dimple appeared on either side of his wide mouth.
Oh heavens, how did he know her name? Did people know who was on the passenger list? Was it that easy to get information? Perhaps if she ignored him and watched for her sister, but she didn’t want to take her eyes off him in case he grabbed her bag, or worse still, one of the children.
*
Lydia looked terrified. Her enormous green eyes stared at him as though he’d hypnotized her. She hadn’t moved an inch since he’d walked over to her, but her little boy gazed up at him from the end the luggage cart, his thumb in his mouth, his big green eyes, so like his mother’s, heavy with exhaustion.
As Sam glanced down at him, the child scrambled up, ran around to his mother, and clung to her leg.
“Mummy, I’m tired. I wanna snuggle.” Her attention was instantly on the little boy, her hand touched his head, and her fingers ran through his thick, dark hair.
“Hold on sweetheart, I need to find Aunt Katie first. Can you see her?”
He pushed his chubby cheek against her jeans, clung tighter to her leg, and shook his head.
�
�No.”
His little rosebud lips started to turn downward and his thumb found its way back into his mouth. He hitched in a small breath, Sam thought the definite sign of the start of a major tantrum if his mother didn’t nip it in the bud. She crouched down and shifted her sleeping daughter across her knees so she could free up one arm to encompass her little boy as he tucked his face into her neck. Her frantic eyes darted around as though she thought major warfare was about to break out.
Sam followed suit and hunkered down beside her.
“How about if I put that stroller together so that you can give the kids and yourself a rest? You push them and I’ll push the luggage cart?”
She turned her head to look at him. Her beautiful green eyes were cold and deadly. Her voice was low and flat.
“I’ll tell you what you can do. You can push off and leave my children and me alone. If you don’t move right now, I’m going to call security. I’m pretty sure that they won’t look very kindly on you accosting a woman and her children. Now get out of my face.” She all but snarled the last few words as her cheeks flushed crimson.
Sam stood up and took a hasty step backward. He had second thoughts about getting so close in the face of that kind of greeting. He wasn’t going to get close enough to get beaten by her, either. He was sure she was capable of it. He felt the vibrations of her anger as she watched him, like a mother wildcat determined to protect her young.
He worked with animals every day of his life, and he knew the protective instincts of a female were the most dangerous on earth. He held out his hands in supplication as he took another cautionary step back.
“Okay. Calm down, Lydia. I need you to calm down.” He couldn’t imagine what his brother would say to him if he turned up back at the ranch without his sister-in-law, but he could hardly force her into his car. Someone was going to skin him alive today, that was for sure, unless he resolved the problem pretty darn quick.
“Jack sent me. Kate’s gone into labor, and they had to go to the hospital. She said she sent you a text.” As she narrowed her eyes, he rushed on. “I guess you haven’t received it yet? Have you checked your phone since you arrived?”
She considered him, eyes scathing.
“Do I look like I’ve had the chance to check a phone?” Her eyebrow quirked up in the same manner her sister, the good doctor’s, did just before she was about to slay Jack. He was in deep trouble.
“Okay. I’m gonna put the stroller together, and you can put the kids in there, where they’ll be safe and comfortable while you check your messages. I won’t come near you until you check your phone. I promise.” He took one more step back, slid the stroller off the luggage cart, and started to assemble it.
He’d never put a stroller together before, but he’d saddled horses since he was six and figured it couldn’t be that difficult. He was wrong. Double stroller meant ten times the struggle. He squinted sideways at Lydia and watched as she closed her eyes in frustration.
“You’ve got it the wrong way round. Tip it over. Put your foot on that metal rod and push while you pull the handle toward you.”
He did as he was told, and miraculously the stroller unfolded in front of his eyes. Pleased with himself, he grinned as he glanced at her. She looked unimpressed.
“Just flick the clip over now, so that it’s secure.” She stood up with the little boy, who once again clung to her leg. She didn’t look strong enough to carry the little girl as well, but she never flinched.
“Just step away from the stroller now, please, while I put them both in.”
He did as he was told. There was no point in him causing a problem. He was sure she meant it when she said she would call security, and it was going to be far too much hassle.
He’d been awake since five o’clock that morning, branding cattle and rounding up the ranch’s horses to start the breeding process over. All he wanted to do was pick up the lady, her kids, dump them in his truck, and drive home for a nice cold beer and a medium rare steak. With Kate in the hospital, it seemed like he would have to cook too.
He was having second thoughts about his initial attraction to the cute little strawberry blonde. Perhaps he’d give her a pass before she killed him right there and then.
As she moved forward, he saw her eye him with suspicion. He watched her gently place her little girl into the stroller without disturbing her sleep, and then turn her attention to her little boy. He noticed the way she snuggled him into her shoulder for a moment, rocked him back and forward before she placed him in the seat next to his twin sister. His eyes fluttered shut, and his thumb found its way into his mouth as he settled down.
The kids seemed a little old to be in a stroller, but he guessed if she travelled all that way on her own, he could understand why she brought it.
His heart gave a sharp little tug as she gazed down at her twins and tucked a light cover over them. Their eyes closed, faces serene. He thought what cute little kids they were.
As she turned toward Sam, her face was still absorbed with love for her babies. It was filled with gentility now, and Sam knew that was what had hooked him straight away. Perhaps he wouldn’t give up on her yet.
Lydia stepped toward the luggage cart and Sam stepped back, his wide smile encouraging, his dimples winked. She didn’t smile back. Well, why would she? He thought she seemed to believe a complete stranger was trying to pick her up in a busy airport after she’d just spent the best part of ten hours on a plane with two young kids. She must be exhausted. Lines of strain showed around her mouth.
She dug into what appeared to be the kids’ backpack and retrieved a mobile phone that had been slipped into the side pocket. She switched it on and cast him another wary glance as she tapped her foot, impatient while she waited for what seemed like an eternity for it to load up. Various ringtones sounded as it tried to find a new network; her glance flickered between her phone and Sam as though she believed he was going to leap on her.
He was aware how dirty and rough he seemed, but as far as he knew, he didn’t really look like a kidnapper or a serial killer. No one had ever told him that anyway. By all accounts, that’s what she seemed to think. Didn’t she realize that if he had been the vagrant she’d assumed, he wouldn’t still be standing there waiting patiently for her to pick up a message from her sister? He’d have more likely snatched the bag that she’d left unattended and run off through the airport.
As she studied him, he stood perfectly still observing her, hands loose, hooked in the front pockets of his jeans.
Her attention was distracted by more musical notes that emitted from her phone. As she opened the message from her sister, he could see her face fall, and the furtive suspicious looks that she’d been giving him started to look uncertain. Her lips moved silently for a moment, and then her quiet voice read the message.
“In labor, off to hospital now. Jack’s brother Sam will pick u up. I trust him. Sorry. Kate.”
Lydia’s large, shocked eyes met his. He shrugged and turned away from her. Taking hold of the luggage cart, he started to push it in the opposite direction. She grabbed the stroller and trotted after him.
“I don’t know what to say,” she puffed out as she caught up with his long-legged stride.
“Nothing to say.” His voice was calm and quiet.
“But, I was so rude to you.”
“Uh huh.”
She took one hand off the stroller and grabbed his forearm with enough strength to make him stop. He stared down at her hand for a moment, surprised that she had been brave enough to touch him. Lifting an eyebrow, he waited as she slowly removed her hand from his arm.
“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t know who you were.” She fluttered her free hand at him. “You’re not exactly … presentable.” She closed her eyes briefly. She was a funny little thing; in order to apologize, she’d become defensive. Added to that, she seemed to want to insult him. They’d got off to a bad start, and much to his amazement, she seemed to want to make it worse. �
�Sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.”
His grin just spread across his face. He didn’t want to go ahead and laugh out loud at her, but she was just so amusing. He didn’t need her to say she was sorry again though; it was starting to get a little embarrassing. Sam ducked his head and tried to explain his appearance before she got herself tangled up any more.
“Lydia, I was out working at five o’clock this morning, and I just about finished at eight tonight when Jack called me to come and pick you up. I didn’t have time for a wash or a shave, and if that insults your sensibilities, I can only apologize, but I can’t guarantee that it won’t happen again as that’s the kind of life I live. It’s an honest, hardworking living that I earn, but it’s dirty. Right now, I’d just like to get home, eat a really good steak, have a bottle of beer, and fall into the sack, if that’s okay with you.” He kept his voice gentle, but the rebuke was unmistakable. He turned his back and headed for the exit doors, his stride a little slower in order for her to keep up.
“I’m sorry.” She muttered behind his back, obviously even more mortified now that she knew how long he’d been working. It wasn’t as though he had volunteered to pick her up; he’d been roped into it by his brother.
All she’d done so far was threaten and snarl at him. It couldn’t be good for her. As she trotted alongside him, he noticed her hands were starting to shake, and she seemed like she might burst into tears at any moment.
“Don’t be.” He glanced down at her as they rounded the corner of the airport and crossed over the pedestrian crossing into the parking garage. He thought it best to ignore the fact her eyes were filled with tears. She was obviously exhausted from the flight, but it seemed to him his heart had given a nasty little pull at the sight of the glitter in her eyes.
They walked in silence for a few moments, until his long-legged stride took him straight toward a monster truck. The wheels were almost as tall as she was, and she simply gaped as she stared up at the cab.