Til Death Do Us Part

by Beverly Barton

  “Laurie Falls? Over in Franklin County? What are you doing there?”

  “I’m living on my farm,” he said. “It’s not big. Just forty acres, and the house needs some work. But I like the place. I want you to see it.”

  “You’re going to live in Laurie Falls? But—but that’s only twenty miles or so from here.”

  “Yeah, I know. That’ll make it convenient for you to visit Aunt Beatrice and Pearl whenever you want, and it won’t be too long a drive back and forth to work.”

  Cleo wondered if she was dreaming, if any minute now her alarm clock would ring and she’d wake alone in her bed. She held the phone with white-knuckled fierceness.

  “Are you all right, Cleo Belle?” Pearl asked.

  “Is that Simon on the phone?” Beatrice glanced from an unresponsive Cleo to Pearl.

  “Cleo, honey, did you hear me? Will you come out to the farm today? We need to talk,” Roarke said.

  “Yes, you’re right. We need to talk.” Cleo sucked in her breath. “Give me the directions to your farm.”

  AN HOUR LATER, Cleo drove her Jaguar up in front of a two-story frame house badly in need of paint. Simon Roarke stood on the wide, wooden porch. He looked wonderful in his faded, worn jeans and cotton shirt. When he walked toward the driveway, the first thing she noticed was that he wasn’t wearing a gun. By the time she opened the car door, Roarke was there to meet her.

  “Thanks for coming,” he said.

  “I don’t understand.” She closed the door and walked away from the car and toward the house. “Why did you buy a farm so close to River Bend, so close to me and…and my baby?”

  “Our baby.”

  She snapped her head around and stared at him. “What did you say?”

  “I said our baby. That is, if you’re willing to stay married to an idiot like me and allow me to help you raise our child.” He looked at her with a mixture of hope and pleading in his eyes.

  “You’ve changed your mind? Six weeks away from me and you suddenly change your mind? What happened? Did you get an attack of conscience and decide that you should be a part of your child’s life after all?”

  “I want to be a part of your life, Cleo.” He held out his hand to her. “I want us to stay married and build a life together. Here. On this farm.”

  She didn’t take his hand, didn’t even look at it. “Why, Simon? Six weeks ago, you couldn’t wait to get away from me and this—” she laid a protective hand over her stomach “—child. What changed your mind?”

  “You’re not going to make this easy for me, are you?”

  “Why should I? You certainly didn’t make things easy for me when you left me.”

  “Will it help if I get down on my knees and beg?” He bent down on both knees and folded his hands together in front of him. “Marry me, Cleo. Marry me for real this time.”

  Her lips twitched with an almost smile. “It seemed pretty real to me the first time,” she said. “Besides, we’re still married, as far as I know. Unless you got a divorce and forgot to tell me.”

  Roarke grabbed her hands. “All right, if the first time was good enough for you, it’s good enough for me.” Still holding her hands, he rose to his feet. “So when can you move in? Today, I hope.”

  “I can’t just move in here with you.” Cleo tugged on her hands, but Roarke held tight. “I have no idea what’s happened to you. Why you—”

  He silenced her with a kiss. She struggled to get away from him. The harder she fought his embrace, the harder he kissed her. When he finally let her come up for air, he looked into her moss-green eyes and smiled.

  “I love you, Cleo. That’s what happened to me these past six weeks. I found out that I love you and that without you, I don’t have a life.”

  “Oh, Simon.” Tears gathered in her eyes. “You love me? You really love me?”

  “With all my heart and soul.” He lifted her into his arms and walked toward the house. “Can you ever forgive me for being such a jerk? I couldn’t let go of the past, of all my old hurts. I was afraid to love you, afraid to reach out and grab the happiness you offered. But with every passing week we were apart, I realized that I was more afraid to go on living without you.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked.

  “Yeah, honey, I’m sure,” he said. “When the real estate agent gave me pictures of this house, in Laurie Falls, so close to River Bend, I knew we were meant to be together here. You. Me. And our baby.”

  He carried her into the house, through the empty living room and down the hall. He kicked open the door to the only furnished room in the house. A huge, antique brass bed dominated the room. Roarke laid his wife on the bed and came down beside her.

  She draped her arms around his neck. “I love you so much, Simon. And I’ve missed you.”

  “Ah, Cleo Belle, I’ve missed you like crazy.”

  He started to kiss her again, but Cleo turned her head to one side.

  “Simon?”

  “Yes?”

  “How do you feel about the baby? I have to know.”

  “I’m scared, honey. I messed up real bad at this father business the first time around and my little girl died. I don’t want to ever fail this child.” He laid his hand lovingly on Cleo’s stomach. “You’re going to have to help me. I won’t ever be able to forget Laurie, and I’ll never completely forgive myself for what happened to her. But maybe, if I’m a good father to our baby, I can somehow redeem myself.”

  “I’m giving you a son,” she said. “I had the ultrasound done yesterday. He’s perfect in every way and—”

  Roarke kissed her again, and within minutes they lay naked atop the new beige sheets. They made love with a fast, furious frenzy the first time. But the second time they didn’t hurry, as they learned each other all over again, pleasuring each other with slow, tormenting deliberation.

  When the sun went down, they raided the refrigerator, the only appliance in the enormous farmhouse kitchen. And after they dined on milk and cereal, they returned to their bedroom and made love again.

  At dawn, Roarke woke Cleo, wrapped her in the top sheet and carried her out onto the front porch. He sat down in the wooden rocker and held her in his lap. She laid her head on his shoulder and kissed the side of his neck.

  “I wanted us to share the sunrise together on our first morning here at our new home.”

  “I love you, Simon Roarke.”

  “And I love you, my darling Cleo Belle.”

  EPILOGUE

  SITTING IN A wooden rocking chair on his front porch, Simon Roarke watched his sons, six-year-old Johnny and three-year-old Jimmy, frolicking in the front yard with the family’s Irish setters, Brady and Corey. The sun lay on the western horizon like a scoop of orange sherbet, the edges melting into a pool of luscious colors. The evening breeze cooled the summertime heat, but did little to lessen the humidity.

  Cleo walked out onto the porch, carrying two glasses of lemonade. She handed one to her husband, then sat down beside him in a matching chair. Rocking slowly, she sipped the cool, tart liquid.

  Roarke leaned over and kissed her. She sighed, deep in her throat. “What was that for?” she asked.

  “That’s for being the most wonderful woman in the world and making me the happiest man alive,” he said.

  Cleo smiled broadly, and for one split second Roarke’s heart stopped beating. Every time he looked at his wife, she took his breath away. Every time he touched her, he wanted to make love to her. And every time he thought about how much she’d given him, he ached inside with a pleasure almost too great to bear.

  In the seven years since their hasty marriage of convenience, Roarke had gone from being a lonely, cynical man who lived his life on the edge, to a contented family man, a gentleman farmer living the good life that had once been only a dream for him.

  “Who’ve you been talking to on the phone for so long?” he asked.

  “Aunt Beatrice for a while, and then Pearl.”

  “What great news did th
ose two have?”

  “It seems Daphne got married again. To a European count this time.”

  “What does this make—husband number four or five?”

  “Four, I think,” Cleo said. “And Marla is pregnant. Isn’t that wonderful? I think she and Trey are making a good life for themselves now that Trey’s working at McNamara’s again and they’re living back at the house with Aunt Beatrice and Uncle Perry.”

  “I agree, honey. I never thought Trey would change. But I have to admit that he’s a different man from the one who tried to sabotage McNamara’s.”

  “I’m glad he accepted Uncle Perry’s marriage to Aunt Beatrice. I was afraid he and Daphne would both create problems.”

  “Daphne can’t cause too many problems thousands of miles away, and I don’t think you have to worry about Trey anymore.”

  “Oh, Simon!” Cleo gasped.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked anxiously, then relaxed when she smiled at him.

  Laughing, she took the glass out of his hand and set her glass and his on the small, wooden table at her side. She reached out, grasped his hand and laid it over her protruding belly.

  He grinned when he felt his child move inside Cleo. “She’s got some kick, hasn’t she? She’s going to be a feisty little gal, just like her mama.”

  “Only two more months to wait for Miss Sara Ann Roarke to make her debut.” Sighing contentedly as Simon rubbed her tummy, Cleo looked at her strong, healthy sons, both of them tall and big for their age. She knew they would grow to be large, handsome men like their father.

  Johnny, their eldest, named after his paternal grandfather, was the spitting image of Simon, except for his auburn hair. Brown-haired Jimmy, their younger son, named after Cleo’s dad, took after the McNamaras, with his fine, delicate features and his striking green eyes. They were perfect children at moments like this, and normal little heathens as a general rule.

  Cleo was glad that their first two children had been boys. Simon would have had a more difficult time becoming a father again if they’d had a daughter the first time. Losing Laurie would always be a sorrow in Simon’s soul, but realizing what a good father he was to the boys had helped him forgive himself and ease some of the guilt he’d always feel over his daughter’s death. Now, after so many painful years of remorse and regret, he was ready to open his heart and love a new daughter. Sara Ann could never replace Laurie, but she would bring her father the joy only a little girl could give him.

  Simon and Cleo were happier than either had once thought possible. From their deep and passionate love, they had created three children and shared a marriage that would last a lifetime.

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-1389-0

  ’TIL DEATH DO US PART

  Copyright © 1996 by Harlequin Books S.A.

  The publisher acknowledges the copyright holder of the individual works as follows:

  BLACKWOOD’S WOMAN

  Copyright © 1996 by Beverly Beaver

  ROARKE’S WIFE

  Copyright © 1997 by Beverly Beaver

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