Another Man's Wife

by Rebecca Winters

  By the time he’d grabbed a burger and pulled into the driveway, it was nine-thirty. Before he climbed out of the car, he phoned Laurel but got a busy signal.

  He felt for his tie lying on the other seat and hurried into the house, deciding the phone in the den would be a better connection anyway.

  It felt good to get out of his suit jacket and shirt. He tossed them over the back of the couch. He hadn’t even had a chance to grab the phone when his cell rang.

  Laurel? His pulse raced as he said hello.

  “That was fast.”

  “Rick…”

  “Sorry to disappoint you.”

  Nate frowned. “Who said anything about being disappointed?”

  “Look, Nate. You don’t have to pretend with me. I know you’re feeling bad right now. With Dad in Texas and me in New York, there’s no one at home to talk to, so I thought I’d check in.”

  “Thanks.” Nate cleared his throat. “Have I ever told you how glad I am you’re my brother?”

  There was an abrupt silence. “Now you’ve got me scared. You haven’t been getting friendly with Jack Daniel’s, have you?”

  Nate could still feel Laurel’s body wrapped around him. Friendly didn’t quite cover it. “Let’s just say not with Jack.”

  “Hell—I shouldn’t have gone to New York. For several reasons it might’ve been a mistake.”

  “What’s wrong? No, wait. I’ve got something I have to do, then I’ll call you back.”

  “That’ll give me time to book a flight home in the morning. I’ll expect to hear from you in twenty minutes.” His brother ended the call.

  Anxious to reach Laurel before it was too late to call the Marsden home, he punched in their number. Someone picked up after the first ring.

  “Hello?”

  “Laurel?”

  “I wanted it to be you. Did you try to call earlier?”

  “A few minutes ago.”

  “Joey was on the phone with Kyle and didn’t realize I was waiting to hear from you.”

  Nate still had a hard time believing all that breathless emotion was for him.

  “How are you feeling? How’s Becky?”

  “We’re both fine. Did you accomplish whatever it was you needed to do?”

  “Yes.” Oh, yes.

  “I wish you were here now.”

  The taste of her mouth still clung to his. “It’s probably better that I’m not.” He managed a grin. “Maybe you’d have to be a man to understand.”

  “Women understand these things, too.”

  She was a woman—in every sense of the word. Her loving response had changed the rhythm of his heart forever.

  “Do you think you’ll be recovered enough by the weekend for me to drive you and Becky to my house at Copper Mountain? I think Brent and Julie need a break from me and my constant visits.”

  “I already have a lot of mobility. By Friday I know I’ll feel like getting out. There’s nothing I’d love more than to see your home.”

  “Then we’ll shoot for Friday and see what happens.”

  “Does that mean you’ve changed your mind about coming by tomorrow morning?”

  “I’ll be there at ten. If you don’t know that by now, then you don’t know me at all.”

  “I love you, Nate,” she cried. “I need you here so I can show you how much.”

  After all the pain, Laurel was actually saying those words to him. He still couldn’t believe it.

  “Until tomorrow,” he said softly before hanging up.

  This was the first time in nine years he was waiting with excitement for tomorrow. Not since before that traumatic day with the Pierces—when he’d been forced to hide his feelings for Spade’s wife—had he known true happiness.

  RICK WAS IN THE MIDDLE of making a stir-fry when his cell phone rang. He took the frying pan off the burner to answer it.

  “Hello?”

  “Rick?”

  “Hi, Dad.”

  “You’ve been on my mind. How are things going in New York?”

  “Actually I’m back home. I flew in this afternoon. Nate picked me up at the airport a little while ago. Now we’re at the house.”

  “That was a quick trip. Tell me about your visit with the man at Trans T & T.”

  “Ira Sharp turned out to be a good contact. He took me to dinner with the CEO and three of the board members. It was all very positive. They said they’d draft a contract and courier it to me in about a week. Of course that’ll only be the first step. Their lawyers will have to talk to Mayada’s.”

  “The important thing is you’re happy with it, son. As for their company, I never had any doubts they’d pick you up. Lucky Hawkins is one of the hottest properties on the racing circuit and they know it.”

  Except that Rick was no longer sure of what he wanted to do; he might have approached the Trans T & T people for nothing. But all he said was, “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  “You’ve always had it. Now let’s get to the real reason you left New York so fast. I know Nate’s in bad shape.”

  For once in our lives you’re wrong, Dad.

  Nate was walking around in a euphoric daze, but Rick had been sworn to secrecy until his brother decided to tell their father what was going on.

  “We talked after he got out of his meeting with Colonel Harker yesterday,” his father continued. “It was a one-sided conversation. Nate closed up on me as only he can do. Pam understands the situation. Since she wants to spend time with her cousin who’s going to be in the hospital for a while, she’s urged me to return home.

  “I was calling to let you know my flight will be in tomorrow morning at 11:45. The three of us could fly down to Cabo for a few days, do some deep-sea fishing.”

  “It sounds like a great plan, Dad, but I think Nate ought to hear this. Just a minute and I’ll get him.”

  Rick put down the phone and dashed out the back door. Nate had already washed their mother’s car. Now he was cleaning the inside, getting it ready to bring Laurel and Becky to the house tomorrow.

  He’d never seen his brother this happy in his life, not even when he’d received a scholarship to the Air Force Academy his senior year in high school.

  “Nate, you’re wanted on the phone.”

  “Laurel?”

  Man, he had it bad.

  “No. It’s Dad. Don’t worry. I didn’t say a word, but you’re going to have to tell him the good news now.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he’s coming home in the morning and wants to take us on a deep-sea fishing trip to Cabo.”

  “You’re kidding!”

  He dropped the rag on the front seat of the car. Rick entered the kitchen first and handed him the cell phone. “Do you want privacy?” he muttered.

  “No. Keep cooking. I’m starved.”

  Rick chuckled as he returned to the stove.

  Nate grabbed a handful of the cashews his brother was about to add to the stir-fry, then put the phone to his ear.

  “Hi, Dad. How’s Pam?”

  “She’s relieved her cousin’s going to be all right.”

  “I’m sure she’s a lot happier now that you’re there. What’s this about a fishing trip?”

  “Does the idea appeal to you?”

  “Any other time I’d love it, but something’s happened that prevents me from going anywhere for the moment.”

  “When we talked on the phone yesterday, you were on your way to see Laurel. I presume this has to do with her.”

  You know it does. “Today I bought a ring. Tomorrow evening I’m going to ask her to marry me.”

  The silence following that statement lasted so long, Nate thought maybe they’d lost the connection. “Dad? Are you there?” His question brought Rick’s head around.

  “Thank God,” his father finally said. “Your mother and I prayed for this day. Congratulations, son.”

  “She hasn’t said yes.” Tomorrow night couldn’t come fast enough.

  “Of course sh
e has. Otherwise she wouldn’t have wanted you at the hospital for the birth of her baby.”

  “She’s Spade’s baby, Dad.”

  “He gave her life, but make no mistake. Becky’s going to be your daughter. You held that child in your arms soon after she was born. That makes you her father—and me her grandfather.”

  He could hear what his dad was saying, but it still felt like some fantastic dream.

  “You can’t imagine my delight,” his father went on. “When Laurel’s wearing your ring and you’ve come down from the heights long enough to remember you’ve got a dad, call me and I’ll fly home to meet her and Becky.”

  Nate shifted his weight restlessly. “If she accepts my proposal, we’ll phone you.”

  “I’ll be waiting. Now—if Rick’s nearby, will you put him on the phone for a moment?”

  He turned to his brother. “Dad wants to talk to you again.”

  Rick nodded. “Check on the rice, will you? Everything else is done.” He hurried over to take his phone.

  “Hi, Grampa,” he said. “Pretty fantastic news, huh?”

  “It is as long as Nate doesn’t cut and run. I recognize all the signs. He’s still terrified to step into Spade’s shoes. I’m depending on you to help him.”

  Nate was watching him with guarded speculation. Rick hadn’t guessed at his brother’s extreme vulnerability behind all that happiness. Yet it had only taken a few cogent comments from their father to show him how fragile Nate felt.

  He smiled into the phone. “Don’t you know that’s what uncles are for?”

  “That’s right, Uncle Rick. You’re responsible for making sure your brother doesn’t fall apart before tomorrow night. Don’t let him be alone. Apply some of those famous Lucky Hawkins strategies you use on the track when you can smell victory but there’s still one final obstacle to overcome.”

  “Okay, I’ll do my best.” Rick glanced over at Nate. “I can hear Pam’s voice in the background. Say hi from both of us. We’ll talk again soon.” Rick turned off the phone.

  “What was that all about?”

  “Dad’s thrilled at the prospect of being a grandfather. To tell you the truth, I haven’t heard him this excited since I won my first junior world slalom championship in Vale twenty years ago.”

  “Hmm.” Nate sounded noncommittal, as if he wasn’t really paying attention.

  “I’ve got an idea. Let’s get out the videos and watch them while we have dinner. I think they’re still in the den. Mom had all the old family ski movies put on cassettes. It’s years since I looked at them. Were we oblivious or what?”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I think Dad and Mom hoped one of us would want to train for the U.S. ski team. I’m pretty sure that’s why they decided to settle here rather than in Sweden. Did you have any idea they cared about it that much?”

  “No.”

  “Let’s take everything into the other room. I imagine there’s at least three hours of footage to get through.”

  Nate helped him carry their plates and a couple of sodas into the den.

  “Not that it would have made any difference if we had known their true desires,” Rick went on. “It wouldn’t have changed anything. I suppose we should be thankful they didn’t tell us. Otherwise we’d have felt guilty…”

  He put his plate down to find the videos.

  “Ah—here’s the first volume.”

  He turned on the TV and put the tape in the VCR slot. Within seconds they were looking at Nate shortly after he’d been born.

  “Fast forward it to the snow scenes,” his brother urged.

  It took a while to get to the place where their parents had put Nate in his first pair of skis.

  “You couldn’t be more than two in these scenes. Look at Mom and Dad taking turns working with you.”

  Pretty soon came the baby pictures of Rick. Sure enough, around two years of age his parents were doing the same thing with him.

  After an hour and a half of nonstop ski scenes, Nate got up and shut off the TV.

  “Hey—we’re only halfway through.”

  Nate turned to him. “I’ll look at the rest later. Laurel’s expecting me to call.”

  Rick watched his brother leave the room. I did my best to keep his mind occupied, Dad.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “I’LL SETTLE Becky in the den, then come back for you. Don’t you dare move.” After a fleeting kiss that left her desperate for more, Laurel watched Nate unfasten the baby’s car seat and carry Becky into his house.

  Laurel couldn’t take her eyes off him. From the moment he’d picked them up at Julie’s, he’d done everything in his power to ensure their protection and comfort. Anyone seeing them would think he was her doting husband…and the loving father of her child.

  She had to admit she’d visualized him as her husband. At the hospital he’d become Becky’s father in her heart. Not in a way that displaced Scott, not at all. Nate could make Becky’s father real to her, could share things about Scott that no one else even knew.

  If she hadn’t forced him to acknowledge that he had feelings for her, she would have lost him forever. Until the other day in her bedroom, she couldn’t possibly have known how deep those feelings were, how long he’d hidden them to preserve the integrity of his relationship with Scott.

  She wasn’t fooling herself. The enormous leap from the place they were now to the place she wanted to be might never happen.

  An honorable man didn’t move in on a buddy’s territory, didn’t get involved with another man’s wife. That was what Brent had said.

  Prophetic words. Nate had held his silence for nine years. Even when there was no further obstacle, he’d still tried to respect Scott’s memory and been ready to walk away with his secret.

  Laurel might have removed the first hurdle, but she knew she couldn’t force anything else. As a wise brother-in-law had told her, if Nate couldn’t learn to forgive himself on his own, then they were better off apart. She believed that, although she hated to admit it.

  She also believed something else. He might resume his career as a pilot, and if he did, she couldn’t live with it.

  Death came in many forms and ways. It was a fact of life everyone on earth had to accept. But answering the door to another commanding officer telling her that her husband had been killed in the line of duty would destroy her.

  If those issues couldn’t be surmounted, then spending any more time together would bring nothing but heartache.

  Almost ill with a combination of anxiety and her uncontrollable desire to belong to him, she decided she would tell him it was too soon to be out, after all. She’d ask him to please drive her back to Julie’s.

  But the words refused to come when she saw him striding toward her with that look in his eyes. The look that said he couldn’t wait for them to be alone…

  Nate’s arm went around her waist, pressing her against him as they walked into the house. He paced his steps to match hers.

  The moment the front door closed behind them, he wrapped possessive arms around her. Emotion turned his eyes a darker blue. “Until a few days ago, I never allowed myself to dream what it would be like to have you all to myself under this roof. Laurel—”

  His cry of longing seemed to come straight from his heart. He bent to touch her mouth with his. For the last few days she’d sensed that he was curbing his passion out of consideration for her condition, out of respect for Brent and Julie’s hospitality.

  This kiss was different.

  It was the kiss he would have given her if there’d been no Scott, no baby. It was a man’s kiss, hot with desire. A kiss that said he wanted her, wanted every part of her body and soul, that anything less wouldn’t do.

  A voluptuous warmth spread throughout her system.

  “Nate.” She gasped at the exquisite pleasure of his hands roving over her body, molding her to his powerful frame. This time there was no baby between them.

  “I love you,” she crie
d against his mouth. “I know I keep saying that, but I can’t help it,” she murmured feverishly.

  She felt a tremor pass through his body before he wrenched his mouth from hers. He put her gently away from him, his glazed eyes revealing the depth of his rapture.

  “I was going to wait until later.” He sounded like he’d been running a marathon.

  “To kiss me?”

  “No.” He grasped her hand. “Come with me.”

  They left the foyer to enter an attractive den with a fireplace and two matching couches. He’d placed the baby in a comfortable-looking easy chair.

  On legs that felt weak, Laurel walked over to reassure herself Becky was still asleep.

  “All’s quiet for the moment,” Nate whispered against her neck. He’d come up behind her to slide his arms around her waist.

  Compelled by overwhelming desire, she turned to kiss him again. A woman who’d just had a baby was surging with hormones. The wonder of Nate’s love sent them flying off the charts.

  He cupped her face before his lips traveled over her cheeks and jaw, her eyes, her mouth. “There’s something I have to get from the kitchen, but I don’t know if I can let you go long enough to do it.”

  “Then take me with you.”

  “No.” He kissed her throat. “You’re supposed to be resting.”

  “You think I could rest after the way you’ve made me feel?”

  Nate smoothed the hair from her temples. “No,” came his impassioned whisper. “But I need you to humor me.” He backed her carefully to the couch so she’d sit down. “Don’t go away.”

  “I’m counting the seconds.”

  “So am I.” He made a swift exit through another door, leaving her a trembling mass of emotion.

  Here she was in his home. She’d been so excited at the thought of learning everything she could about him, but right now she found it impossible to concentrate. All her energy was focused on the door as she waited for him to return.

  An instant later, he reappeared and sat down on the couch beside her.

  “Do you see this?”