Up In Flames
Page 31
Mick said to Faradon, “Get out. And don’t let anyone else in.”
Half grinning, shaking his head, Faradon said, “Right.”
The door shut behind the detective, and Mick forced himself to loosen his arms from around Delilah. The small building was dim, crowded with boat trailers, ski equipment, tools. Mick bent, touched his nose to hers and whispered, “Let me get you dry, okay?”
She nodded. “I’m all right now.”
“I know you are.” He strangled on the words and had to stop, had to draw in a shaky breath. His hands trembled as he stripped away her sodden blankets and started to work on the fastening of her loose jeans.
“I lost my shoes in the river,” she said.
Mick wondered if she was in shock. He needed to get her warm and dry, needed to get her to a hospital.
He needed... Swallowing hard this time didn’t help. He hated it, hated himself, but tears clogged his throat. He felt unmanned, vulnerable.
Without the gentleness that he intended, he removed her clothes and turned to rummage through the bundle inside the slicker. He found a loose jacket, two more blankets.
“Lift your arms,” he murmured, and she obliged. The jacket, apparently donated by one of the officers milling around outside, hung to her knees. Mick shook out another blanket, this one thankfully dry, and draped it over her.
Delilah clutched the edges together and said, “It’s not really cold. I mean, it must be eighty-five outside. I’m just chilled....” Her teeth chattered, making her explanations difficult.
“Shh,” Mick said, and stripped off his own shirt so he wouldn’t get her wet. There was nothing he could do about his pants. He sure as hell wasn’t going to run around bare-assed. He pulled one slicker over Delilah’s head, then another over his own. “Let’s get you to the hospital so you can be checked over,” he said, deliberately concentrating on only one thing at a time.
Her fingers clutched at his arm, gripping the slicker with surprising force. “Mick, I don’t...I don’t want to go back out there yet.”
His heart hit his stomach with her trembling words. He turned to her, opened his arms.
And she launched herself into him. “I was so—so scared,” she said on a wail.
Mick wanted to absorb her into himself, to surround her always and keep her from ever being hurt again. Those damn tears got him again, and he squeezed her tighter, assuring himself that he had her, that she was okay.
Rain drummed on the metal roof of the shed and wind howled through every crack and crevice in the aged boards.
Then Delilah said something that made his knees give out. “I thought I’d lost you.”
“What?”
She sniffed, shook her head while tears mingled with the wetness on her cheeks. Her words were broken, scattered and rushed. “I saw the blood on your forehead and I thought you might be dead or dying. You’ve already been hurt so much because of me.” She leaned back to gently touch his face. “Are you all right? Truly?”
Mick dropped to his knees and stared up at Delilah, not caring that he cried, having totally forgotten about his own cut head. “You almost died,” he groaned.
“Oh no. I knew what I was doing.” She smoothed his sodden hair, her hand tender, loving. “I was afraid at first. Terrified really. But I kept thinking about you. I kept thinking what if I survived and you didn’t? When I realized it was you in the river with me, I went weak. I was...well, I was doing fine until then.”
Mick pressed his face into her belly. The chill had left her body and she felt warm, smelled musky and damp, and he knew he couldn’t stand it, knew he was going to embarrass himself.
He held her tighter but it didn’t help.
Faradon rapped at the door. “You two about done changing?”
“Go away!” Delilah yelled impatiently. “We’ll be out in a minute.”
Faradon grumbled something, but he didn’t open the door.
Mick felt her cool hands cup his face, but he couldn’t let her go, couldn’t unclench his muscles. He hated feeling like this, powerless and weak and... He opened his hands on her behind and squeezed her closer, grinding his face into her, trying to absorb her.
He heard Delilah’s smile as she said, “I love you, Mick Dawson. More than anyone or anything, now and forever.”
He drew a shuddering breath and rubbed his face over her belly, on her borrowed blanket, drying his eyes and attempting to regain control. He had to get hold of himself. He had to...
“Tell me you love me, too,” she whispered.
“I do,” he said without hesitation. Only a trace of tears remained in his raw voice, not that he gave a damn. Delilah deserved to know everything about him.
“You do?” she asked.
“So much it hurts.”
“I don’t want you to hurt.”
“Then don’t ever leave me.”
“Never.” She slipped to her knees in front of him, still cupping his face. She kissed him, then kissed him again. She even smiled. “Will you stop calling me Delilah and call me Del?”
His shoulders shook. “No.”
“Oh.” She sounded surprised and disgruntled, and that went a long way toward helping him regain his discipline. Even at the worst of times, she amused him.
Finally she asked, “Well then, will you marry me?”
He actually laughed, but it turned into a groan. “I was going to ask you, you know.”
“Sorry.”
He touched her face, her sodden, tangled hair, her small breasts and narrow hips and long thighs. “God, I love you, every inch of you. I’ll always love you, I swear it.” When she gave him a brilliant smile, he added with more strength, “You’ve stolen forty years off my life with that last damn stunt!”
Her smile never wavered. She stood and held out her hand to him. As if he needed her assistance to stand!
He did.
He still felt wobbly, but as long as he didn’t think about the moment that he’d seen that car go into the river...
He shuddered, took her slender hand and let her help haul him to his feet.
She put an arm around him and leaned her head into his shoulder. “I lost fifty years, leaving you behind in that car, bleeding. Nothing has ever scared me like that.”
They headed for the door together. Just as Mick opened it, someone shouted, “I’ve got one of ’em!”
They followed the spotlight, and saw several cops converge on a man trying to crawl onto the muddy, thickly weeded shore. He was promptly handcuffed.
It wasn’t until the next day that the police finally found the other man’s body and confirmed his death. But they had two of them, Rudy Glasgow and the driver. They also had fingerprints, both from the apartment next to Delilah’s and the gun she’d retrieved from the car.
It was over.
* * *
Del flitted from one person to the next. She loved being in a large family, even if most of that family was male and not really family at all. They felt like family, treated her as such, and they loved Mick to distraction. That in itself made her more than a little fond of them.
At the moment, Angel and Celia were perusing Mick’s new bookcases, now holding her books. Del had pretty much taken over his house. His spare bedroom served as her office, and he’d already had an extra phone line put in.
The kids were all outside playing, but they could be heard through the open windows. Every minute or so one of the adults went to check on them.
Dane and Alec were seated on the couch, Josh and Zack in adjacent chairs, all of them watching a sports channel. Now that Del was used to them, Dane no longer seemed so imposing and Alec was nowhere near as frightening. But they were still fascinating characters.
Grinning, Del dropped down on the seat between them, using each hand to pat a hard masculine thigh. The two men looked at her warily. “Now that I’ve finally finished my current book and got it all turned in,” she said, “I’ve been thinking of doing a book about two PIs who—”
“If either one of you wants to remain in my good graces you won’t tell her anything about anything...dangerous.”
Alec saluted Mick with his cola. “Sorry, but Celia knows everything dangerous involved in my job, and she’s been chewing Del’s ear for the past hour.”
True enough, Del thought, appreciating both Celia’s forthright information and the way everyone had taken to calling her “Del,” once she’d explained that she only used the name “Delilah” for writing.
Everyone except Mick, that is, who swore he loved her name as much as he loved her. The charmer. He even claimed “Delilah Dawson” had a very nice ring to it. Del couldn’t wait for that to become her name in fact.
Dane nodded. “Yep, I’m afraid you’re preaching to the choir here, Mick. You should have gagged the women, not us.”
Mick groaned with heartfelt sincerity. He’d promised to be understanding about her research, though Del knew he wanted to keep her in a cotton-lined box so she didn’t so much as stub her baby toe.
Del pulled his hand away and tipped her head back to see him upside down. “How’d you sneak in here behind me?”
Mick rolled his eyes. “Sweetheart, when your brain is plotting, a herd of buffalo could tramp through and you wouldn’t notice.”
Since that was true, she said instead, “But I thought you were outside playing with the kids.”
“They did me in. They’re vicious little brutes who keep singing about how I was saved by a woman.”
Del frowned, feeling a good dose of jealousy. “What woman?”
Mick leaned down to kiss her. “You.”
“Me?” He nodded, and Del said, “But I didn’t save you.”
The awful nightmare of the car wreck, of Mick’s head injury and her dousing in the river was two weeks old now, but she still shivered whenever she thought of how close she’d come to losing him.
Angel sidled up behind the couch, too, and hugged Mick. Celia joined her, resting her hands on Alec’s shoulders. Zack and Josh twisted in their seats to face Del. She felt hemmed in by them all—but now the feeling was nice, sort of comforting.
She was surrounded by friends and family.
Mick smoothed his hand over her hair, something she was now more than familiar with. “Of course you saved me,” he said. “You love me, right?”
“Absolutely.”
“There, you see?” Alec chimed in, nudging her with his rock-hard shoulder. “You saved Mick from being a cynical fool who didn’t believe in love.”
Del looked at Mick again. With the way these people adored him, she found that hard to believe. “You didn’t believe in love?” she asked skeptically, but at the same time she thought it probably explained his reticence in admitting his feelings to her. Now, of course, he told her how much he cared in a thousand different ways—including the simple words I love you.
Mick just smiled.
Dane nudged her next, almost knocking her into Alec’s lap. “You saved him from being a control freak, too.”
Del righted herself and laughed; Mick was still very much a controlling man, and she doubted that would ever change.
Zack said, “You saved him from living his life like a monk.”
With a very slight blush, Del said, “Okay, you got me there.” Everyone laughed.
Mick was a voracious lover, and he couldn’t seem to keep his hands off her. Which she appreciated because she loved when he touched her. He’d also become a voracious reader. He’d devoured her books and claimed he couldn’t wait for the next one. She’d been nearly beside herself with his praise.
Josh tossed back a drink, then asked, “So when is this wedding we’re all anticipating?”
Mick frowned at his friend, but said, “I just got the church reserved for the first Saturday of next month.”
“You’re all invited,” Del announced, “as long as you know it won’t be too fancy. No tuxes, and definitely no long white lace gowns.” She pulled her jeans-clad legs up onto the couch and hugged her knees. “I hate dressing up.”
“I’ll be lucky to get shoes on her,” Mick teased, and Angel promptly corrected him. She’d been with Del when the dress and matching shoes were bought.
Del noticed Josh heading for the kitchen, his head down, his hands shoved into his pants pockets. She smiled at Mick, rose from the couch and went to her friend. She found him standing at the sink, watching the children play through the window. “Josh?”
He turned to her, but said nothing.
“You’re happy that Mick’s marrying me, aren’t you?”
He looked surprised, then wary. “Why?”
“Because you’re one of his best friends. I don’t want to come between you.”
That made him laugh. “You belong between us, honey. Mick’s a lucky guy, and yeah, I’m happy for you both.”
“I hesitate to point this out, but you don’t exactly look happy.”
“No?” He studied her face, his green eyes dark, his slight smile crooked, chagrined.
She shook her head. “Morose might be a better word.”
Mick’s arms slid around her, lacing over her stomach. “Defeated might work, too,” he said gently.
Josh snorted.
Mick tightened his hold, surprising Del, then said, “There are plenty of women out there, Josh.”
“Yeah?”
Zack stepped up. “That’s right, and I intend to find one.”
All eyes turned to him. Del grinned. “You’re bride hunting?”
“Why is that such a surprise?”
Josh said, “Because you seldom date? Because you’re the quintessential bachelor? Because no woman will ever come before Dani?”
Del slugged Josh, making him jump and rub his shoulder while grumbling.
Still frowning, she said, “No good woman would want to come before his daughter! Children should always be first. At least until they’re self-sufficient. Besides,” she added, patting Zack’s chest and smiling, “Zack has enough love for a wife and several children.”
“One daughter is enough! All I want now is the wife to complete the set. After all, Dani is crazy about you, Del. It made me think about what she’s missing.”
“Like what?” Mick asked. “You take great care of her.”
“I try,” Zack admitted, “but she needs a female role model. Someone quiet and intelligent and sincere.”
“And sexy?” Mick asked.
Zack shrugged. “I’d rather she was domestic, if you want the truth.”
“I wish you luck,” Josh said with mock sincerity.
“I don’t need luck, because I already have a plan. And I’m starting tomorrow.”
Mick and Josh groaned, but Zack just smiled, confident in himself and his eventual success.
The rest of the family filed into the kitchen, including the children. Zack scooped up his daughter, hugged her tight.
“Time for us to go,” Dane announced. “Tomorrow is a school day.”
There were kisses all around, and everyone gradually left except Zack and Josh. Zack’s daughter had fallen asleep on his shoulder, her blond curls disheveled, her mouth smooshed on her daddy’s shoulder.
Zack pulled Del close with his free arm and gave her a smacking kiss on the mouth. “Congratulations again on the engagement,” he whispered. He patted her cheek and stepped aside.
Josh set down his drink and reached for Del, catching her shoulders in his hands. He gave her the softest look she’d ever seen from him, leaned forward—and Mick’s hand was suddenly between them, covering her mouth.
Mick bared his teeth at Josh and said, “Out.”
Laughing, Josh pushed him aside and kissed Del on the forehead. “Your future husband is a jealous lout, did you know that?”
She waved his comment away. “Nonsense. He knows I’m crazy about him.”
Josh and Mick exchanged a certain look that Del
didn’t understand in the least.
Shaking his head, Josh gave her a squeeze. “I’m glad you’re so happy.”
Holding his daughter to his shoulder, Zack grabbed Josh’s collar and hauled him toward the door. “Let’s go. Dani is starting to snore, and you’re pressing your luck.”
After they’d gone, Del asked Mick, “Okay, what was that all about?”
“What?” he asked, pretending innocence.
“That business with Josh. What’s wrong with him?”
Mick looked briefly harassed. “Nothing that he won’t get over,” he said, and it almost sounded like a threat.
Before she could ask any more questions, he took her hand and herded her toward the bedroom.
“What do you think about Zack wanting a wife?” she asked.
Mick lightly pushed her down on the bed, then covered her with his body. He touched her cheek, her chin, the corner of her mouth. “I think he’s a little jealous, too.”
“Too?”
Mick kissed her. “Everyone knows I’m the luckiest man alive. When I think about the fact that you’re mine, I almost can’t bear it, it’s so incredible. I want to tell the whole world.” He smiled. “I love you, Delilah Piper.”
“I’m lucky, too,” she said softly. “I have you. And I did tell the whole world.”
Startled, Mick leaned back. “You did?”
“Wait until you see the dedication in my next book. It’s to my very own hero, the finest man alive.” She cupped his face. “And everyone knows that’s you.”
Mick frowned for just a moment, then his frown lifted and he shook his head. “Damn, I do feel like a hero. After all, the hero always gets the girl in the end, right?”
Del laughed. “In my books, he sure as heck does.”
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9781460330128
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