Cupping her cheek, Gib whispered, “My love for you will never change, Dany. No matter what you tell me, or what’s happened, we can handle it—together.”
Drawing in a painful breath, Dany absorbed his warmth and love. It gave her the necessary courage. Her voice came out low and broken. “When I ran away—and I did, Gib—I was hysterical. Part of it was because of losing my home, losing everything I’ve ever known. I could have stood that if I’d had you, but at the time, I didn’t.” She touched his hand and he instantly gripped her fingers. “I loved you. I’ve loved you from the first moment I saw you running down the driveway toward me after my mother was killed. You were so strong, so sure and capable when I felt like I was none of those things. At first I was wary of you because you were an American. And later, as I realized how I felt, I was afraid you were like the other GIs.”
Gib nodded. “That’s been our largest hurdle—the GI image.”
“I was such a coward about it, Gib. Look how I’ve hurt you…myself…”
“You’re many things, Dany, but not a coward,” he told her roughly. “A coward wouldn’t have carved out a neutrality between so many enemy forces. A coward wouldn’t have fought for her land when it was going to be stolen from beneath her. A coward wouldn’t have taken her people out of harm’s way and then stood her ground when the attack came.” He inhaled brokenly, aching for Dany, for her warped perception of herself. She didn’t realize how much she’d accomplished alone and unaided in her lifetime. Gib promised her silently that if she would stay, if she wouldn’t run from him again, he’d show her just how unique and wonderful she really was.
“Well—” Dany sniffed, wiping her eyes “—I felt like a coward. I loved you and left. I didn’t trust you enough to stay.”
“You left because you thought I didn’t want you anymore,” he told her huskily, threading his fingers through her hair. “If you’d known differently, Dany, they’d have had to fight you to keep you away.”
She managed a small smile. “That’s true….”
“You did what you had to do to survive, honey.” He pressed a kiss to her temple.
Taking in a ragged breath, Dany held his narrowed gaze, burning with love for her alone. “There’s one more thing, Gib. One more…” Her voice trailed off.
Worriedly, he framed her face with his hands. “What’s wrong?” he demanded, fear starting to pound through him.
She managed a slight grimace. “Not what’s wrong—what’s right.”
Puzzled, he reached upward and kissed her compressed lips. There was such anxiety in Dany’s eyes. “Just tell me, honey. I told you before, I love you. We’ll handle whatever it is together. Are you sick or something?”
She shook her head. “No, not sick.” When she saw Gib’s eyes turn a dark golden color, as they had when he’d loved her that night and the morning after, Dany found the courage she’d been seeking. The words slipped reverently from her lips. “I’m pregnant, Gib. I’m nearly three months along. It happened when we made love at the hotel in Saigon….”
Gib lay stunned. Dany’s face was translucent, almost madonnalike. Her eyes were huge and luminous, her lips parted, as if silently pleading with him not to reject her because of the baby she carried. How could he? His fingers tightened on her face and then he released her. For an instant he saw terror enter her eyes.
“Come here,” he quavered, and swept her into his arms, crushing her against him. Burying his face in the thick black silk of her hair, he held her for a long, long time, just savoring her nearness and absorbing her admission. “You’re going to have our baby. Oh, God, Dany, I love you. I love both of you so much.” He kissed her hair, temple, cheek and, finally, her mouth.
A moan of surrender, of love, welled up through Dany as she felt his strong mouth capture hers. He kissed her with such touching hunger that she responded effortlessly, drinking deeply from his proffered love. Breathing raggedly, she couldn’t get enough of him, of his mouth, the taste of him, the smell of him. His hands, trembling, explored her as if she were some fragile, exquisite vessel that could break at any moment.
The joy that swept through her, the realization that he was euphoric over the idea of the baby, made Dany feel faint with relief. Gradually, they eased apart. Dany saw the happiness in Gib’s hooded eyes.
“Boy or girl?” he wanted to know, kissing her lush, wet lips.
“I feel like it’s a girl,” Dany whispered, smiling into his eyes.
“Sure?”
“I just have this feeling.”
“Women are good with intuition.” He smiled unsteadily, tears in his eyes. “I love little girls.”
“Oh, I’m so glad! I thought…maybe you’d want a son first….”
Gib sighed and gently stroked her flushed cheek. “I don’t care if it’s a boy or girl, honey.” He shook his head in stunned amazement. “Wait until my family hears about this. Tess will go crazy. She’s been ragging on at me to get married, settle down and have a brood of kids. She’s kid crazy, you know.”
Dany gently touched Gib’s cheek. “I want lots of children, too. I’m just like Tess.”
His smile grew. “Marry me, Dany.”
“When?”
“Now. We’ll get Dr. Froelich to hunt up a preacher for us. We’ll be married right here.” He caressed her hair. “I don’t want another minute to go by without you knowing that I’m never going to abandon you, Dany. You or our baby. Understand?”
Joy shimmered through Dany as she absorbed his words. “Yes…I understand.”
“Never again will you be alone, honey. Pretty soon, they’ll transfer me stateside, and you’re coming with me. We’ll both heal together at the Ramsey ranch. You can learn to love the harsh Texas land as much as you loved the land here in Vietnam.”
She smiled gently and leaned down, kissing him. “Now that I have your love, the land isn’t that hard to leave behind, Gib. Isn’t that odd?”
He shook his head, contentment overwhelming him, taking away his pain. “Not odd at all. The love you had wasn’t ever returned by your parents, Dany. Ma Ling loved you, thank God. She was your only lifeline in that sense. All that love in you, you turned into a positive—loving the land, because it gave back to you. The land was the only constant that never played games with your heart. It was the only thing that was as loyal as you were. That’s why you couldn’t sell the plantation.”
“And if I’d realized you loved me, that you weren’t going to abandon me, I’d probably have sold it,” Dany whispered, understanding as never before how she had, in an unconscious way, connected with the land like it was a pseudomother.
“That’s right.” Tiredness swept through Gib after the months of strain and tension. “At least there’s one happy ending in all of this—we had the courage to admit our love for one another through some hellish odds.”
“There aren’t many moments of true glory in a wartime situation,” Dany agreed softly.
Pulling Dany against him, he closed his eyes and sighed. “This is all I need: you beside me.”
Gib knew his life was going to be rocky because of his lost limb. But then, he reminded himself as Dany stroked his cheek, they had stood by each other through the terrible storm of war, carnage and destruction, and had emerged wounded, but victorious. Their reward for facing such personal and overwhelming odds was each other. Forever.
*
If you’re looking for romance, suspense and a tough-as-nails hero, don’t miss these great titles from the thrilling Shadow Warriors
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ISBN: 9781460394779
RIDE THE TIGER
Copyright © 1992 by Lindsay McKenna
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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