by Diana Palmer
“Yes, I am,” Sandra said. She grinned at Mina. “I can pump Willow Shane there for plots and such, and I can hang out with her commando friends. It’s very exciting!”
“Exciting.” Cort let out a breath. He glared at his father. He glared at Mina. “Maybe I’m the one who should pack and go back on the road.”
“Why?” Vic asked.
“She risked her life and our baby’s life, crawling through a jungle with a bunch of strange men carrying a .45 automatic!” Cort exclaimed, pointing at her. “The leader of the commando group said she actually shot at a guy! Not only that, she was wounded during one mission she went on with them!”
“I was not pregnant when I went to Nicaragua,” Mina raged. “Well, I was, but I didn’t know I was! And how do you think I can research a book on mercs or SWAT teams or feds without talking to them?”
“You can talk to them in the living room!” Cort shot back. “Or in their offices! You have no business in combat situations. You could be killed!”
Mina stared at him. He really did care. He was belligerent because he was afraid for her, and he didn’t quite know how to admit it without appearing weak. It took the fight right out of her.
She went to him and smoothed her hands against his chest. “I’m tired,” she said softly, and laid her cheek against him. “And sleepy.”
His hands reluctantly went to her long hair and threaded through it. The unexpected fragility of her cut through his defenses like a knife through hot butter, and he sighed. “You’ve had a hard night,” he said gently. “And I’ve been a fool. I’m sorry.”
She smiled. “I should have told you. I’m sorry, too.”
“That makes three of us,” Vic added, his arm around Sandra. “But we were damned lucky that Mina’s cohorts were around tonight. She might have been kidnapped, along with Sandra and me.” He chuckled. “Mina threw down on one of the men who was threatening her and Sandra. She got him right in the kneecap. Hell of a shot.”
Mina flushed and laughed softly. “I don’t like killing people. In fact, I’ve never killed anyone. I was scared to death when that man came upstairs and I saw how bombed out he was. Men in that condition are on a hair trigger. He would have shot me.”
“The sheriff agreed,” Cort confessed. “So did your friend Ry. He said the men were high as a kite and hungry for money.”
“It’s not as bad as it seems,” Mina said, snuggling closer to Cort. “You can get blood out of carpet. Honest.”
He burst out laughing. “Okay,” he said. “But no more shoot-ups next to the upstairs bedrooms,” Cort said firmly as he pressed a kiss on her forehead.
“Okay,” she said softly. She hesitated and a mischievous grin claimed her face. “Is downstairs all right for them, then?”
“I’ll lock you in a closet,” he threatened.
She laughed. “I’ll pick the lock and get out. This master thief I know taught me how to break into any house...uh...oh.”
“You know a master thief?” Sandra exclaimed. “Can you introduce me!”
Cort shared a resigned smile with his father over Mina’s head. “Oh God, what have we let ourselves in for?” he groaned.
Vic chuckled. “Some exciting times, I’d venture.” He paused. “Hey, it’s not so bad. If we have any more incursions on the south border, we know who to call, right?”
Cort sighed. “Right.”
Mina lifted her head and looked up at him with sheer delight. “They’re going to teach the baby how to do stealth missions,” she said deliberately.
“I will—” he began.
She kissed him, stopping the words. He hesitated only for a few seconds before he kissed her back. He lifted his head. “Not until they’re in high school,” he said firmly.
“They?” she asked.
He shrugged and grinned. “I have three brothers. Large families are nice.”
She pursed her lips. “Well, I guess a handful, assorted, wouldn’t be so bad. And I can knit, you know. They’ll have unique sweaters, if I can ever learn to read a pattern, that is.”
“I can read patterns, and knit,” Sandra said surprisingly. “I’ll teach you!”
“That’s a deal,” Mina laughed.
* * *
CORT MOVED MINA into his room, suitcase and all. She was worn-out from the violence of the night. He undressed her gently and slid one of her pretty new gowns over her head.
“I like this,” he mused, fingering the pale yellow silk-and-lace garment.
“That’s why I bought it,” she teased, smiling up at him. “I thought you might.”
He sighed. “My wife the commando writer.” He shook his head. “Well, it does explain a few things. Although I’m going to thump Bart for not telling me.”
“I asked him not to,” she confessed. “At first it was because I didn’t like you, and I thought it would be fun to tell you somewhere down the road. But then I fell in love with you, and I didn’t know how to tell you.”
He twirled a long strand of her hair around his fingers. “I didn’t know how to tell you that I owned the biggest ranch in West Texas, while we’re making confessions. I was afraid that you’d back off if you knew I had money.”
“I might have,” she conceded.
“And I might have backed off if I’d known who you really were,” he confessed.
“I’m number four on the New York Times list,” she said. “I’m going to be very rich, at the rate my books are selling.” She made a face. “That’s another thing, I’m obligated to go on tour week after next. I didn’t know how to tell you that, either.”
“I’ll go with you,” he said easily, and he smiled down into her surprised face. “I can work on the laptop while you’re signing. We won’t have to be apart.”
“I’d love that,” she said with genuine feeling.
He smiled slowly. “I would, too.” He slid his lean hand over her stomach. “I love this,” he said very quietly. “I never thought of myself as a family man,” he added. “I played the field because I didn’t really want to settle down. But when you came along, my whole attitude changed.”
“What about Ida?” she asked suddenly.
He sighed. “Her first husband was gay and she didn’t know. He killed himself and left her a fortune. Her second husband abused her in terrible ways. She didn’t want to take a chance on a third, so she developed this wicked reputation that puts men off. She pleaded with me not to give her away and I haven’t.”
She relaxed. “I did wonder,” she said. “She’s so beautiful. I never thought I could compete with a woman who looked like that.”
“You’re beautiful to me, Mina,” he said quietly. “It’s what’s inside you that makes you beautiful. I can’t even describe what it is. But I’m damned glad that you found something in me to love.”
She snuggled close to him. “You have more good qualities than you realize.” She yawned. “I hope our son looks like you.”
“He may be a she,” he pointed out.
“You have four brothers,” she returned.
“You do have a point.”
“But we’ll love whatever we get.” She drew back, worried. “You don’t really mind, do you? I mean, it’s a big step just getting used to being married. Is it too soon for a baby?”
He shook his head, and there wasn’t a trace of doubt or reticence in his lean face. He touched her cheek gently. “Vic and Sandra are going to love being around for the whole process. So am I,” he added on a chuckle. “I’m looking forward to every minute of it.”
“No regrets at all?” she prompted.
“Just one,” he replied. “I wish I hadn’t taken you to Lander. You should have had a proper wedding night.”
“I don’t mind,” she replied, and meant it. “The way I felt about you, it was as natural as falling into water.” She flushed a little.
“It was the most incredible experience of my whole life.”
He pursed his lips and looked down at her pert breasts, a little fuller from her pregnancy. “Want to see if we can manage another incredible experience? Or do you need sleep more?”
She shook her head. “I’m not really sleepy anymore.”
He chuckled. “Neither am I.”
Her hands went to his tie. She removed it and unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it away from his broad, hair-roughened chest. She removed his belt. But her hands hesitated.
“Chicken,” he teased.
“Come on, now, I’m new to this,” she chided.
He picked her up and put her gently under the covers. “Fair enough. I’ll do the rest.”
He took off the rest of his clothes and joined her on the bed, and her arms opened to welcome him.
It was a feast of the senses. There wasn’t an inch on her soft body that he didn’t touch with his hands and his mouth over the heated minutes that followed.
She caught her breath as the delicious sensations washed over her, lifting to meet his lips, hungry for more.
“You’re getting better at this,” he whispered against one taut little nipple.
“I’ll get even better as we go along,” she said, and then gasped as he found a very tender spot with his hands.
“The mind boggles,” he teased huskily.
She tried to tell him that it was far more sensual than the first time, but she was suddenly overwhelmed by a flash of pleasure so intense that she cried out.
“Oh, you like that, do you?” he whispered. “How about this?”
She cried out again. Her harsh moan whipped the fire of his own hunger, and the gentle teasing gave way to a monstrous need.
“Tell me if I’m too rough,” he managed as he moved over her.
“When were you ever rough?” she returned, shivering as she felt him moving slowly, sensually into her body.
“I’m starving,” he whispered unsteadily. “I don’t want to hurt you or the baby.”
“You won’t. Oh, you won’t. Please, Cort, please, please...!”
His hips pressed hers into the mattress in a quick, smooth rhythm that very quickly brought her to ecstasy, but before she could relax, he started all over again. Each sharp movement of his body made her quiver with excitement. She looked into his pale brown eyes and felt herself begin to melt under him.
“It wasn’t...this intense before,” she choked.
“We weren’t this involved before,” he returned. He kissed her hungrily. “I love you,” he whispered gruffly. “I’ll never stop. Never...never...never!”
He ended on a harsh groan followed by a convulsive shudder that brought her own shivering body to another pinnacle. She cried out and her nails dug into his long back as she moved with him harder and harder until she thought she might pass out from the force of the pleasure.
“Oh... God...” he bit off, and actually went into convulsions.
She buried her face in his hot, damp throat and went every step of the way with him, shivering wildly as she followed him into the fire.
* * *
A LONG TIME LATER, he rolled off her and onto his back, still shivering in the aftermath.
“Are you sure I wasn’t too rough?” he whispered.
“I’m sure.” She curled up close to him, damp with sweat and throbbing with ebbing delight. “I never felt anything like that, not even the first time!”
“Me, neither,” he confessed. He was still trying to get his breath and his heart was shaking him.
She lifted herself up on his chest so that she could look into his eyes. “Did you mean it?”
He traced her cheek. “Did I mean what?” he asked with a lazy smile.
“What you said.”
“That I loved you?”
She nodded.
He chuckled. “Why else did I marry you?” he asked. “If I only wanted sex, I could have seduced you and walked away.”
“I thought you might,” she replied with a shy smile. “I mean, it was pretty intense, what happened in Lander, but I wasn’t sure you really felt anything more than desire.”
“You grew on me from the first time I saw you,” he returned. “The women who passed through my life weren’t interested in things like knitting and romance novels,” he teased.
She made a face. “I can imagine what they were interested in.”
He nodded. “Diamonds and fur coats,” he said. “It was nothing but casual encounters. I never risked my heart. Not until I came up to Wyoming, disheartened and jaded, feeling more like a walking wallet than a man.”
“Jake McGuire told me once that he felt that way, too. Don’t look like that,” she chided. “You know I only thought of Jake as a friend. If I’d known him a hundred years, I’d still have felt that way.”
He sighed. “I wasn’t as jealous of him as I was of Bart, until he told me that he thought of you as a sister.”
She smiled. “He did. We never had even a spark of interest.”
He rolled over and studied her flushed face. “I’m still amazed at what you managed to do for Dad and Sandra,” he said.
She laughed. “They’re very much alike. Your father just needs more attention than he thinks he’s getting. If he goes to a psychologist, I think he and Sandra can work out all their problems. He really loves her. It shows, too.”
“I guess it does.”
“I’m just glad that the guys were here when the drug runners came over the border,” she said. “I couldn’t have taken on two of the would-be kidnappers.”
He made a face. “I suppose your friends aren’t so bad.”
She grinned. “You’ll get used to them. I have to have research associates, you know.”
He sighed. “I guess so.”
“I’ll make sure you get adequate compensation,” she said, drawing one silky bare leg against his.
His heart jumped. “You will, huh?”
“I truly will.” She drew his face down to hers and kissed him slowly. “I can start right now, if you like.”
He smiled back. “I do like...”
It was the last thing he said for a long time.
* * *
CORT FLEW UP to Catelow to help pack the rest of Mina’s things and bring them back to Latigo. Some would have to be shipped as well.
Fender was waiting for them when the limousine deposited them at the ranch house.
He grinned. “Congratulations,” he said, shaking hands with Cort.
“Thanks.”
“Everything going okay?” Mina asked as Cort helped her out of the car.
“Going fine,” he said. “We had a small wolf issue, but Bart called the wildlife people and relocated two of them to the mountains.” He grimaced. “I still feel guilty about that old wolf.”
“Which old wolf?” Mina asked.
“Well, I was hoping for a job here and I saw the wolf attack the cow who’d just given birth. I tracked it and shot it. When I got to it, I noticed that it had been ripped open down its belly and the wound had never healed. It was pretty sick. I felt like it was more of a dignified end than letting it suffer.”
Cort nodded. He’d told Mina about the condition the wolf was in. “I mentioned it to her and Bart,” he confessed.
“It’s not a big deal,” Mina told Fender. “I’m just glad to know what happened to it and why. We never knew who shot it.”
“Well, see, I wasn’t sure what the law was about wolves and I didn’t want to get in trouble in case it was illegal.”
“We can shoot them if we have to, but the kill must be reported. In fact, Bart did report it to the proper authorities, and there was no action taken.”
“I’m glad.”
Mina smiled at him. “I hope you’ll stay on here as livestock foreman,” s
he told him. “Bill will work full-time as ranch manager, but he’ll need help.”
Fender smiled. “Ma’am, I’d be more than happy to stay. This is a good ranch.”
“Thanks,” she told him. “And if you ever need help and you can’t find me, you call Bart.”
“I’ll do that. Anything I can help with?”
“I’ll need to give you a list of things that I’ll have to have shipped to Latigo,” she told him. “But for right now, I’m just packing personal stuff.”
“Just let me know. I’ll be around,” he promised.
* * *
“WHAT ABOUT YOUR FATHER?” Cort asked when she’d finished getting her things together and making a list of furniture she wanted sent to Texas.
She turned. “What do you mean?”
“Your cousin said your father wanted to talk to you.”
She hesitated. She drew in a long breath. “I’m not ready yet,” she said after a minute. “One day, but not yet.”
He touched her soft cheek. “Whatever you want, honey.”
She smiled up at him. “Maybe when the baby comes.”
He smiled back. “That sounds like a good time.”
* * *
THEIR LITTLE BOY was born just at Christmas, a month early, and he was named Jeremiah Riddle Grier, for his maternal grandfather and his father, whose middle name was Riddle. There was a crowd on hand for the birth, including all three of Cort’s brothers and their families, along with the commandos and Bart.
Mina had never been so happy. She and Cort were over the moon.
* * *
TWO MONTHS LATER, there was a christening, followed by a catered barbecue feast for the attending guests. The whole Grier family came back for it. Even Cousin Rogan and Jake McGuire showed up.
Cort was so pleased with his heir that he didn’t protest the guest list. One unexpected addition to the group was Jerry Fender, who flew from Catelow down to Latigo for the event—minus his dog Sagebrush, who was staying at the ranch with Bill McAllister.