Arms folded, she faced him. “I want some questions answered, Mike. You owe me that much.”
“I owe you a lot more than that,” he said sincerely. “But you really need to sit.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to sit. I want you to talk to me. Please.”
“I think you better sit, Sarah.”
Sarah froze at the sound of the familiar voice behind her. Dear God, it can’t be…it can’t be…
Her heart hammered against her ribs. Breath held, she turned slowly.
Caleb.
The room started to spin. Mike grabbed her as her knees gave out. Caleb moved beside her, taking her in his arms. Gently he set her on the chair.
“I’ll come back in a little while,” Mike said, closing the door behind him.
Caleb. It really was him.
She stared at him, but she couldn’t speak. He was alive. Wonderfully, beautifully, incredibly alive. She smelled the spicy scent of his after-shave, felt the rough skin of his hands on hers as he knelt beside her.
Her fingers shook as she touched his freshly shaved cheek. “You’re not dead.”
He smiled slowly. “No, Sarah. I’m not.”
“But, how…what—”
He cut her words off with his mouth, kissing her deeply, passionately. She clung to him, still afraid to believe it was true, that he was real. Afraid that he was a dream inside the nightmare she’d been living.
He pulled her tightly against him until she slid off the chair and onto the floor with him. They knelt, torso to torso, her arms wound around his neck, her breasts pressed against his strong wide chest. She kissed him back, letting him feel what words could never say.
She cupped his face in her hands, then slid them down between them, needing to feel his body. Her fingers grazed the bandage under his shirt, and she pulled away breathlessly.
“Victor shot you,” she whispered, lightly touching the bandage.
Nodding, he covered her hand with his. She gloried in the feel of his heartbeat under her fingers.
“The bullet passed through me without hitting anything vital. I’ll have some recovery time, but I’ll be fine.”
Caleb watched the play of emotions that raced across Sarah’s face. Disbelief, relief, and the one he’d been most afraid he wouldn’t see: love. Her eyes and skin glowed as she looked at him. He saw everything there, everything he’d ever want and could ever hope to have.
She pulled away suddenly, her expression fierce. “You lied to me.”
“Not exactly.” Caleb winced under the heat of her accusal. “Mike told you I was gone, which was true. As soon as the surgery was finished, I was transferred to a private hospital. That’s where I’ve been.”
She wasn’t to be appeased so easily. “All this time you’ve let me think you dead. Have you any idea the hell I’ve been in for three weeks?”
“I’m sorry, Sarah, I—”
“If one more person says that to me, I’m going to shoot them myself.”
He smiled, but knew enough not to push the issue. “I was drugged pretty heavily the first few days, and when I managed to come out of it enough to ask Mike about you, he told me he’d given you the impression I’d died.”
Fire danced in her eyes. “He more than gave me—”
He brushed his lips against hers, not only to silence her, but because he had to touch her, to taste her. “You’re right. But he was doing what he had to do. He had to get me out of there, quietly, without anyone knowing. He also had to keep the Victor Howard incident quiet, not only because I became involved, but because the FBI wanted to handle the situation themselves.”
Tears filled her eyes. “I thought you were dead, Caleb,” she said, her voice trembling. “I wanted to die, too.”
He pulled her into his arms, let her cry against his shoulder. After a few moments she quieted, and he pressed his lips to her temple.
“When I was on the surgery table, before they put me out completely, all I thought about was you, that if I died I’d never see you again. And yet I knew I could never see you again even if I lived. I wouldn’t risk your life.” He tucked a loose strand of her silky hair behind her ear. “When I came to and was coherent enough to understand that Mike had told you I’d died, I knew it was my chance, my only chance to ever live a normal life.”
She pulled away from him, her brow furrowed. “What chance?”
“To stay dead,” he said softly. “To everyone but you and Mike, of course. He was the one person who could arrange it. It took some convincing, but he finally gave in.” He took her by the shoulders and looked down at her. “Caleb Hunter is dead, Sarah. But this man, the man who loves you, who wants to marry you, is alive.”
She stared back at him, and as his words finally sank in, her lips parted and her eyes widened. With a cry of joy, she threw herself into his arms and hugged him, then quickly let go. “Oh! Did I hurt you? Oh, Caleb—” she stopped. “I don’t even know what to call you now.”
Grinning, he pulled an ID card out of his pocket and handed it to her. She read it and her gaze jerked back to his.
“Hubert Wendell Holmes!”
He shrugged. “You called me Mr. Holmes once, and told me I didn’t look like a Hubert or a Wendell. Unfortunately those were the first names that came to mind when Mike asked me who I wanted to be. Think you can live with it?”
“Can I live with it? I can’t live without it, without you.” Needing to touch him, to remind herself he was alive and it wasn’t a dream, she cupped his face in her hands. “And what about me? Do I have to change my name, too?”
“I was planning on taking care of that,” he said. “How does Mrs. Sarah Holmes sound?”
He grinned, and she touched the creases beside his mouth. “It sounds wonderful, but there’s another name I’m going to have to get used to, as well.”
He kissed her, having a hard time himself believing that she was really his. “And what’s that?”
She pressed her lips to his. “Mommy.”
He went very still, then slowly pulled away from her.
“In about eight months,” she said, her eyes shining.
Stunned, he simply stared at her. A baby? She was having a baby? His baby?
He hauled her into his arms, crushing her to him, unconcerned about his wound. And when he kissed her, he wasn’t sure if the salty tears he tasted were Sarah’s or his. ,
“I assume that means you’re happy,” she said breathlessly when he finally let her go.
He swore softly when a knock at the door interrupted them. Mike stuck his head in, raising one brow at the sight of them on the floor. “There’s someone here who’d like to see you, if you have a minute.”
Caleb frowned, then laughed when Wolf bounded through the door and nearly leapt on top of him, barking and yipping. Both he and Sarah succumbed to the animal’s wet kisses before Caleb commanded him down.
“Forster said there was luggage already packed, so he brought that, too,” Mike said, then closed the door again.
Caleb looked at her questioningly. “Were you going somewhere?”
She shook her head. “They were still packed from the trip to Mexico I never took.”
He thought about that for a moment. “I don’t suppose that little bikini is in one of those bags?”
She smiled. “It is. But if you expect me to wear it, it will have to be soon. A beach ball will have more shape than me in a few months.”
He pressed his hand to her stomach as if he might feel the life growing there. He couldn’t stop smiling. “I love you,” he said and kissed her gently.
“And I love you.”
The words filled him. For the first time in his life, he felt whole, complete. “Where would you like to live?”
“In a cabin, in a cave,” she said, then meshed her fingers with his. “Wherever you live.”
Wolf barked and they both laughed. “And you, too, Wolf,” she added.
Wolf lay down and placed his head flat between his
front paws, watching his master and mistress share a kiss.
“I think he’s lonely,” Sarah whispered when Wolf whined.
“Hmm.” Caleb glanced at the forlorn animal. “You think he should have a mate, Mrs. Holmes?”
Sarah smiled and curled her arms around Caleb. “No one should be alone. Don’t you agree, Mr. Holmes?”
“Absolutely, Mrs. Holmes,” he murmured and lowered his lips to hers. “No one.”
* * * * *
eISBN 978-14592-7903-2
MIDNIGHT BRIDE
Copyright © 1996 by Barbara Joel
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic. mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording. or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office. Silhouette Books, 300 Bast 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the tmagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of Harlequin Books S.A., used under license. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
Printed In U.S.A.
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Table of Contents
Excerpt
Dear Reader
Books by Barbara McCauley
About the Author
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Copyright
Midnight Bride Page 15