Texas Heir

by Linda Warren

  “You rest. We’ll be right outside if you need anything.”

  Ruth hugged her with trembling arms and Cari wanted to cling and never let go. But she was so tired.

  She drifted back to sleep.

  She was home.

  THE NEXT MORNING Reed was much stronger. They removed the IV and he was allowed to take a shower and shave. His body was scratched and bruised and ached, but he was alive. So was Cari. He planned to see her sometime today.

  He had a liquid breakfast and he couldn’t seem to get enough fluid. It was strange because he wasn’t that hungry. He just wanted water.

  The doctor arrived and checked him over. He said Reed was doing well and after an MRI of his head, Reed could go home. Since Reed’s head had been injured, the doctor didn’t want to miss anything.

  Reed didn’t have a problem with that. Home. He suddenly realized home was a lonely condo. He could go to his parents’ house but that might be cruel and inhuman punishment and he didn’t know if he was up for it. He’d never felt more alone in his life.

  A nurse came in and checked his vitals and removed his breakfast tray. As the nurse left, Daphne breezed in.

  “Oh, darling.” He sat on the side of the bed and she hugged him, kissing his face. “You’re so much better.”

  “Yes. I’m ready to leave.”

  She frowned. “Is that wise? You’re still very weak.”

  “I’m fine.”

  She kissed him again and her delicate perfume surrounded him. It didn’t ignite his senses the way it usually did. It irritated him more than anything. Breathing fresh air for days, he found the fragrant scent offensive. That would change he was sure.

  “My mother is going ahead with the wedding arrangements and my dress is being flown in from Paris.” She clapped her hands. “I’m so excited. I thought my life was over, but now I have you back.”

  He swallowed hard and said what he had to. “Daphne, I’m not up to planning a wedding, so please stop the arrangements.”

  “What!” Her blue eyes narrowed.

  “I’ve just been through a horrendous ordeal and I need time to get my bearings. I hope you can understand that.”

  “I’m trying.” Her bow mouth formed a pout. “How much time do you need?”

  “I’m not going to be pressured.” The words came out sharper than he’d intended. He took a deep breath. “After cheating death or facing death, however you want to say it, a man takes stock of his life. That’s what I’m doing. My view of my life has changed. I have issues with my father and my mother and I know now I have to sort that out. I have to do a lot of things before I can think about a wedding.”

  “Are you calling off the engagement?” Anger was evident in her eyes and in her voice.

  “I’m asking for time, that’s all.”

  She wrapped her arms around him, kissing his neck. “Okay. I love you so much. I can wait.”

  As she walked out, he wondered what she’d say if he told her he had made love to another woman. Would she still love him? His deceit weighed heavily upon his mind. He’d seen his father deceive his mother for years and he vowed he would never be a man like that. But he was.

  That stung.

  Something else he had to come to grips with.

  CARI WOKE UP feeling refreshed. The fatigue had lifted. The doctor checked her over and said once her bruises, sunburn and blisters healed she would be fine. She was really happy when he said she could take a bath and get cleaned up. He added he would check her again in the afternoon and if everything was okay she could go home.

  Her parents had spent the night with Kitty and the three of them were there early. The nurse wheeled her to a large bathroom and helped her into a tub. The water was cool and a solution had been added to help the sting of the sunburn. While her parents waited, Kitty washed Cari’s hair and cleaned the dirt from under her nails.

  Kitty eyed Cari’s bruises. “Are you in pain?”

  Cari wiggled her legs in the water. “Right now I’m in heaven.” Her body still ached and her blisters burned, but she didn’t want her sister to be concerned. Her family had worried enough.

  She washed the dirt from her weary body and just luxuriated in the water. Leaning her head back, she thought of the last time she was in water—the gully. In Reed’s arms.

  They said everyone had fifteen minutes of fame. She wondered if that applied to love. If so, then she’d had more than fifteen minutes of love. And she didn’t feel badly about taking that time. She should. Reed was engaged to someone else. All’s fair in love and war, though.

  “You have a dreamy look on your face,” Kitty said, carefully cleaning Cari’s nails.

  “Mmm.” Reed’s memory surrounded her and her body was warm and relaxed.

  Kitty dipped Cari’s hand into the water. “Thinking about someone special? A certain man?”

  Cari opened her eyes. “Maybe I’m just happy to be alive.”

  Kitty looked at her. “Was it awful out there?”

  “Yes, but we had each other.” She sat up. “Hand me a towel, please.” It had been a horrific time, but in its own way it had been magical. She’d had Reed. It would be their last time together. She would treasure that.

  Back in the ICU she visited with her parents and they fussed over her. She felt loved. After the nurse attended to her blisters and sunburn, Cari drifted off to sleep.

  REED WAS READY to go home. He sat on the side of his bed in the jeans, white shirt and loafers his sister had brought him.

  “So, where do you want to go?” Marisa asked.

  “I’m opting for the peace and quiet of my condo.”

  “Reed.” She sat beside him and looped her arm through his. “Please come to the ranch and stay a few days. The kids would love it and I could see you every day just to reassure myself that you’re alive.”

  “Marisa, to tell you the truth, I’m a little confused at the moment. I guess it’s aftereffects of the trauma or something, but I’m trying to come to grips with everything that has happened.”

  She tightened her arm. “This has deeply affected all of us and it has changed Mother and Father.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Father locked himself in his study and wouldn’t come out and when he did he snapped at everyone. Mother was just the opposite. She couldn’t let herself believe you were dead. She embraced the Michaels family wholeheartedly and loved Ruth’s stories about cooking for her children. That’s why she had to bake cookies for you. She had to do something motherly, something that was lacking in her own role as a mother.”

  “She actually baked the cookies she brought this morning?”

  “Yes, and as Ellie said, it was a sight to see.”

  They laughed together as brother and sister who knew the idiosyncrasies of their parents.

  “I have a better idea,” Marisa said, her voice excited. “Spend some time with Mother and Father. They’ll make sure you have privacy and it may be what you need to heal some of the wounds you have from the growing-up years. It’s time to forgive and forget. I did and I know you can, too.”

  He looked at his beautiful sister. “But you never forget, do you, sis?”

  “I do my very best.” She smiled brightly. “I have Ellie, Jack and the man of my dreams. Forgetting is easy. I just have to let myself.”

  “Then I will, too.” He figured it was time to get through all the manipulation and control of his childhood. Once he did that he knew he could sort out the rest of his life. At the moment that was causing him the most confusion.

  The rest of his life. He wondered what that was.

  Marisa slipped off the bed. “Great. Mother’s having a dinner party tonight just for family and we’ll all give thanks for seeing your handsome face.” She kissed his cheek. “I’ll see you then.” She pivoted at the door. “If things get too much with the parents, you’re always welcome at the ranch.”

  “I know, sis.” He winked. “I’m really old enough to stay by myself.”


  “But not right now.” She stared straight at him with a look that dared him to deny it.

  “Okay. Maybe not right now.”

  “I’m not trying to control you,” she added for clarity.

  “Never in a million years.”

  They smiled at each other and Marisa left. Reed eased off the bed and glanced at the clock on the wall, wondering when the nurse was going to bring his release papers.

  Soon he would be with his family. And Daphne.

  First he had to see Cari.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Cari and Marisa hugged for a long time.

  Finally Marisa drew back. “You look so much better today.”

  “Conscious and clean I always look better,” Cari joked. It was the best she could do, even with her friend.

  “How are you?”

  Cari managed a smile. “I’m going home this afternoon.”

  “Where would that be?”

  “I’m going to my parents’ for a couple of days to recuperate.”

  “That’s good. Your family will enjoy having you.”

  “Yes, I need them right now.” Cari scooted up in bed. “How’s Reed?”

  “He seems fine. I just left him and he’s waiting for Daphne. She’s chauffeuring him to my parents’.”

  Daphne. The other woman. Her stomach tied into a knot.

  “Hey. What’s that look about?”

  Marisa knew her too well, but Cari wasn’t ready to share.

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “Not yet,” she murmured, and she wasn’t sure if she would ever be ready. It seemed ironic that she’d survived to come back to the same old broken heart.

  Marisa hugged her again. “When you want to talk, I’m always here.”

  “I know,” she whispered, and tears clogged her throat.

  “Your parents have had a profound effect on my mother.” Marisa was wise enough to change the subject.

  “How?”

  “Ruth and Sam came to my parents’ house while we waited for updates about the crash. My father was his usual grouchy self, but my mother was quite taken with yours, especially hearing about all the things she does for her children. Ruth taught her to knit and Vanessa insisted on making cookies even after we’d heard the news that there were no survivors.”

  “Oh.” Cari was saddened, but she couldn’t let herself sink into that frame of mind. “My parents came to the Preston estate?” She couldn’t quite believe that. Her father rarely left the farm.

  “Yes. We all needed to be together.”

  Cari was speechless as she realized what her parents and the Prestons had been through. It was such a relief the tragedy was now over and had a happy ending.

  They embraced once more and Marisa left. Cari wondered about life and its twists and turns. She’d survived a plane crash, but how would she survive a broken heart?

  A LITTLE LATER two investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived and asked if she was up to talking about the crash. She told them what she remembered about the actual crash, but several of the details had conveniently disappeared from her memory. Tricks of the mind or mind-protecting defense, Mr. Sparks told her. Some things a person just doesn’t want or need to remember. Cari felt that was very true.

  “Are you up for some hard questions?” Mr. Cober asked.

  She swallowed. “Yes.”

  He flipped on a tape recorder. “You pulled Mr. Preston from the plane?”

  “Yes. I could smell fuel and knew we had to get out. I checked Melody’s pulse and I couldn’t find one.” Cari looked down at her trembling hands and she gripped them tightly. “I couldn’t get to Fletcher. There was so much wire, metal and debris hanging from the ceiling, and the floor was littered with the contents of the plane.”

  A slight pause and Cari managed to continue. “Fletcher must have done a great job of trying to handle the plane because it landed almost like on a runway except on the edge of a mountain. The side of the plane was tilted down slightly and the door was flung off so it made getting Reed out easier.” She paused. “I dragged him as far as I could and then I sprinted back for Melody. The plane exploded and knocked me backward. And…and…”

  Mr. Sparks touched her shoulder. “It’s okay Ms. Michaels. We’ll talk when you’re stronger.”

  “No.” She gathered herself. “I want to tell you so you can find out what happened for Melody’s and Fletcher’s families.”

  “Our findings indicate the plane took several lightning strikes.”

  “The thunderstorm was growing severe and we could see a lot of the lightning.”

  “The mountain areas of west Texas, especially the Davis Mountains where we located the remains of the plane, create very large thunderstorms that loom above the altitude that most commercial and private aircraft cruise. Navigating around these storms can be risky and pose the threat of lightning strikes. Under the circumstances, Fletcher did very well controlling the plane. His skill saved your lives.”

  “But it didn’t save his.” Her voice was barely a thread of sound and she realized she didn’t want to talk anymore.

  “You’re a very brave woman, Ms. Michaels. You didn’t panic. You did what you had to.”

  “Thank you.”

  “We’ll be in touch.”

  She nodded as they walked out.

  The plane crash was heavy on her mind. She tried to shake it, but she had a feeling it was going to be with her for the rest of her life.

  She glanced up and Reed stood there. Her pulse leaped at the sight of him. Shaded honey-colored eyes stared at her and they reflected a shared pain that only they knew about. His hair was neatly combed and a tiny scar marred his sunburned left temple. The clean-shaven lines of his strong face were back.

  As was the CEO.

  Her boss.

  But somewhere in west Texas they had crossed a line that would change their relationship forever. She didn’t regret it. She just had to find a way to move forward.

  “How are you?” he asked, his voice like velvet against her skin. She trembled from the sensation.

  “Fine,” was all she could say, though she wanted to ask questions. About Daphne.

  “You look much better. I was so worried at the end. Help came just in time.”

  Her eyes held his and she felt that magnetic pull of the senses. She resisted, as did he.

  “Your beard is gone,” she said to relieve the tension, but it only seemed to increase it. She could actually feel the caress of his beard against her bare skin.

  “Yes.” He rubbed his jaw. “I feel human again.”

  She bit her lip and fought all the emotions in her. “So do I.” She drew in deeply. “I had a wonderful bath this morning.”

  They were talking like friends, acquaintances. That’s exactly what they were. Two acquaintances who had made love in the most amazing way. They had lived in the moment and now they were back in the real world.

  Reed cleared his throat. “I’m going to stay at my parents’ for a couple of days and I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye.”

  Goodbye.

  Goodbye had a finality to it that she didn’t want to hear.

  “Did the doctor say when you could leave?”

  She swallowed the blockage in her throat. “Probably later this afternoon.”

  An unbearable silence followed.

  “Cari, I know you think you have feelings for me.”

  Oh, wow. It was going to be one of those “it’s not you it’s me” kind of conversations. That made her angry.

  “I don’t think, I know.”

  “Cari.” His eyes pleaded for her to understand. In a small way she did.

  “We shared a horrific and magical time out of time. That belongs to you and me and no one else. I’m not asking or expecting one thing from you, so don’t try to tarnish what happened with guilty feelings. We didn’t know if we were going to live or die, so I think we’re allowed to be human.”

  R
eed stared at Cari, a woman who made him stronger just by being in his life, and wondered why he couldn’t admit what he felt for her. Maybe because it was tainted with deceit. Or maybe as he’d told Daphne, he needed time to come to grips with what he was feeling.

  For Daphne.

  And for Cari.

  Time would tell if his feelings were real or only a result of their near-death experience. The last thing he wanted was to hurt Cari. He didn’t want to hurt either woman.

  “I have responsibilities…”

  “I know. Don’t beat yourself up over this. We have a tomorrow and I’m grateful for that. I know you are, too. I wish you nothing but happiness.”

  Reed couldn’t take his eyes from her face and the sadness in her dark eyes. She meant every word she was saying. Was she for real? Every woman he’d ever known had always wanted something from him. He was an heir to a fortune and that increased his attraction tenfold. All of his life he had dealt with it and it had always felt like a burden. To Cari it didn’t seem to matter. Maybe he’d lost his razzle-dazzle if he’d ever had it, except in her mind.

  He took a step farther into the room. “If you need anything—”

  “I won’t.”

  He shoved his hands into his pockets. “You’re not going to let me finish a sentence, are you?”

  “Probably not. I’m in a feisty type of mood.” Her eyes shimmered like the west Texas stars and he felt their warmth in places he shouldn’t. But it was all he could feel.

  “I think in some way I’m always going to be bound to you.”

  She winced. “Oh, that sounds painful.”

  “You know what I mean.” Their easy banter was coming back. Sometimes it seemed as if they could talk forever.

  “Yes, I do.”

  He stepped a little closer to the bed. Her skin was sunburned, but he knew it was silky smooth to touch. She was hollow-eyed and thinner, but she still had that intriguing appeal that had always captivated and irritated him at the same time.

  Unable to resist, he touched her red cheek. “Thank you for saving my life.”

  “Consider it part of my job description.”

  He nodded, knowing why she was being flippant and also knowing he had to get out of this room.