Leah laughed in agreement. Even though it was nearly midnight, her day wasn’t over yet. As Vick headed upstairs, Leah made her way to King’s office. He’d been in there since their company had left. He hadn’t come out for supper, and when she’d thumped the door and asked if he was hungry, he’d said, “Go away and leave me alone.”
She opened the door without knocking to ask permission to enter. She had a feeling it wouldn’t be given.
King jerked upright in the chair behind his desk when he heard the snick of the door closing. “Oh. It’s you.”
“Who were you expecting?”
“Most people know better than to knock when that door’s closed.”
“I didn’t knock. I came right in,” she said with a tentative smile. She had mixed feelings about her stepfather. He was a hard man to love, gruff and undemonstrative. He’d risked everything that should have been hers in a bid to regain a lost son, but she could hardly blame him for that. And she would always be grateful to him for giving her a home and a family.
King’s face looked like a stone monument that was beginning to crumble at the edges. She was worried about him. His heart wasn’t in the best shape. He’d also suffered a cancer scare recently. The disease hadn’t been in remission for long, and she was afraid that all the stress he was under would bring it back. The silver wings that used to make him look so distinguished had disappeared into a head of hair that had gone completely white, or gray, or silver, depending on the light.
King made a disgruntled sound, but he didn’t send her away.
“Have you figured out a way to stave off disaster?” she asked.
“No.”
No explanation, no apology, no excuses. Just an admission that Angus had finally won.
She’d never seen King look so defeated. “You should go to bed.”
“Sleep isn’t going to solve my problem.”
“No, but exhaustion isn’t going to help, either.” She walked around the desk and laid a hand on his shoulder. It was the first time she’d ever touched him in an effort to offer comfort. It felt strange. Awkward. She didn’t know what to do next.
King put a hand up and patted hers. Then he stood, and her hand fell away. “We’ll manage, girl. Something always comes along to save the day.”
She took a step back to let him edge past her. “I’ve got a call to make. I’d like to do it in here, if that’s all right.”
He raised a curious brow but didn’t question her. “Make yourself comfortable. Won’t be much longer you’ll have a chance to sit in that chair or make decisions about this ranch.”
A moment later he was gone, closing the door behind him.
Leah had never been so aware of the fragility of her hold on the life she loved. She’d wanted family around her at Christmas, so she’d finagled and cajoled until she’d talked Eve into bringing her husband and children to dinner. Leah had mentioned to Matt what she was trying to arrange, and he’d done the heavy lifting to get Pippa and her husband to the table. She’d had no idea Taylor was pregnant. That revelation had been an unexpected result of her machinations.
In the end, King had been surrounded by his children and grandchildren—perhaps for the last time—at the hundred-and-fifty-year-old table in the dining room. And she’d had the comfort and joy, however brief and fleeting, of having her family together at Christmas, in the home where they’d all grown up.
Leah didn’t underestimate the looming disaster. The deceptive friendliness evidenced at the dinner table between Grayhawks and Flynns might dissipate as quickly as smoke in the Wyoming wind if Angus managed to tighten the noose he’d slipped over King’s head.
If King defaulted on the note he’d signed for the 250,000 acres of land in Argentina, and the bank foreclosed on the assets he’d pledged as security for the loan, she would lose the one thing that gave her life purpose—the ranch. Taylor would lose the corporate plane that provided much of her income. Vick would lose the home base that gave her the freedom to roam the world saving endangered species. And Eve would lose a family that was likely to scatter to the four winds, once the ranch was no longer the center of their lives.
It was hard to sympathize with Matt’s situation, when he was doing his best to steal Kingdom Come out from under her, but if King lost everything, so did Matt. And if Matt lost his bid for the ranch, Pippa might lose her father, who could very well head back to Australia.
The solution then, to avoid all this calamity, was to save King.
Leah had only one play to rescue her father, and she’d decided to make it. It might not work, but she had to try.
She pulled her cellphone out of her jeans pocket and dialed a number she’d deleted from her phone, but which she knew by heart. It took several rings to be answered.
“Leah? Is that you? Is everything all right?” Aiden asked in a sleep-husky voice.
“I need to see you.”
She heard the sheets rustle and something thump on the carpet before he said, “It’s nearly midnight.”
“I know. I need to see you. Can you meet me?”
“Where?”
“The usual place.” When they’d been seeing each other clandestinely, they’d met near an isolated stock tank halfway between their two ranches.
“The road to the ‘usual place’ must have a foot of new snow and drifts a lot higher than that,” he said. “It’ll be damn near impossible to get there.”
She wanted to meet on neutral ground. She wanted to meet somewhere freezing cold, where the air would cloud with each breath, so there’d be no chance of intimacy. She knew as well as he did that getting to that stock tank was going to be a pain in the ass. She was testing him. If Aiden didn’t love her enough to get up in the middle of the night and meet her somewhere inconvenient, he didn’t love her enough to do what she was going to ask him to do.
She waited to see what he would say.
After a ten-second silence he said, “Dress warm. I’ll be there in half an hour.”
THE RINGING PHONE had woken Aiden from a sound sleep. He almost hadn’t answered it. He’d looked at the time and groaned, then recognized Leah’s number and answered. As he sat up, he juggled the phone and dropped it. The last time they’d spoken, she’d told him their marriage was over. She’d ordered him not to call her anymore and told him she wouldn’t be contacting him. Her lawyer would send him the annulment papers. He’d spent the holiday in the depths of despair.
And yet, with Christmas not quite over, she’d extended an olive branch, offering to meet with him in the middle of the night. When he hung up the phone, Aiden had more questions than answers. Had she changed her mind? Was he going to get another chance to plead his case?
Something must have happened. He had no idea why Leah wanted to meet in the middle of nowhere on a frigid, moonless night, but nothing was going to keep him away, not even the occasional four-foot drifts he suspected were blocking the road.
To make sure he didn’t get stuck in the snow, Aiden drove a pickup with a snowplow blade attached to the grille. If he ran into deep snow, he could plow himself a way through to Leah.
A smile flickered across his face when he arrived at the stock tank and saw that Leah had driven a pickup with a snowplow attached as well. She was sitting in the cab with the engine running to stay warm. The instant he arrived, she shut it off and stepped outside.
He left his lights on so he could see where he was going and trekked through two-foot-deep snow to reach her. “It would be warmer to have this conversation in your truck.”
“This won’t take long,” she said. “Do you still want me for your wife?”
“Do you need to ask?” When she made a face he said, “Yes, of course. Always.” He felt his throat knot with emotion. He didn’t believe she’d ever stopped loving him. She’d simply stopped trusting him, because he’d lied to her—by omission. If she gav
e him a chance, he’d spend a lifetime proving he was the honorable man she’d thought he was when she first fell in love with him.
“You can have me,” she said. “But there’s something I want from you first.”
His heart was suddenly thundering in his chest. “Name it.”
“I want you to get Angus to call off his vendetta against my father. He can start with easing his choke hold on the banker who holds King’s note on the South American land.”
Aiden’s heart beat even harder, this time with panic. His father had spent half his life getting his foot on King’s neck. He wasn’t about to ease up on the pressure, not for anyone or anything.
“You’re asking the impossible, Leah.”
“If you want me in your life, you’ll make it happen. That’s all I came to say.”
“Wait!”
He caught her by the arm as she turned away, and the deep snow caused her to stumble and nearly fall. He took a step and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.
She hid her face against his shearling coat, refusing to look at him.
“Leah,” he pleaded. “Look at me. Please.”
She lifted her face to his, and he saw the pain and fear in her eyes. His throat ached with unshed tears. He’d come here with such high hopes. Her request had dashed them.
“Ask me for something else,” he said.
“There’s nothing else I need.”
“What about me, Leah? Don’t you need me even a little bit? Would it be so terrible to let me help you carry some of the burdens you bear?”
“You can help me most by changing your father’s mind.”
“You really do want a Christmas miracle, don’t you?” He felt helpless against the pleading look in her eyes. He sighed and said, “I’ll try, Leah. That’s all I can promise.”
He felt her body lose its rigidity, as she sank against him. Two bulky coats separated them, but his memory was good enough to remember every sylphlike curve of the woman in his arms. Aiden slowly lowered his head, to give Leah a chance to turn away if she didn’t want what was about to happen. He was a starving man, and she was a feast he’d been denied too long.
His gloved hands framed her face as he plundered her mouth, taking the sustenance he craved and giving back the nourishment she seemed to need every bit as much.
She pulled away far too soon, her plumed breaths rapid and uneven. “Aiden. Please. I can’t…I don’t…”
She pulled completely free and stared up at him with all the confusion she felt showing on her face. He reached out to caress her face, but she brushed his hand away.
“All right, Leah. I can wait.” It might be a very long wait, if he couldn’t change his father’s mind. “Just don’t forget how much I love you. Don’t forget how much I need you. Don’t forget how good we are together.”
Her chin quivered as she said, “Merry Christmas, Aiden.”
He swallowed over the knot in his throat and answered, “Merry Christmas, Leah.”
He watched her struggle through the deep snow back to her truck. It started up with a roar, and she backed her way out and took off, her spinning wheels throwing up sheets of powdery snow. He got one last glimpse of her tear-streaked face in his headlights before she was gone.
He got back in his truck and headed home, slamming the steering wheel with frustration as he realized the task she’d set for him. “Why is she doing this?” he ranted. “She might as well have asked me to hand her the deed to the Lucky 7. I have about as much chance of tearing that out of my father’s unshakable grip as I have of accomplishing the impossible task she set for me.”
What plea could he make that would sway his father and convince him to forgo his revenge?
Tell him the truth. Tell him you want your wife back in your arms.
Unfortunately, even though his happiness depended on having Leah in his life, he didn’t think that argument would hold much sway with his father. Angus would applaud the fact that he’d gotten one of King’s Brats out of his son’s life.
What else could he say? What else could he do? How in heaven’s name was he going to thwart his father’s revenge?
AFTER HE’D GOTTEN the news that Tag was pregnant, Brian had watched the rest of the Broncos football game, but he had no idea whether they’d won or lost. He’d been in shock, and then completely distracted trying to figure out what he should do next. When the chatter and hubbub in the room indicated that the game was over, he’d said good night to everyone and gone upstairs, supposedly to bed. But he hadn’t gone to sleep.
He’d tossed and turned, knowing he should call Tag but resisting the urge. After all, she hadn’t told him she was having his baby. He’d heard the news from his brothers! As far as Tag knew, he had no idea she had his child growing in her belly. She’d been nowhere to be seen when the most momentous event of his life—learning he would become a father—had occurred.
Why hadn’t she told him when she found out she was pregnant? Why had she kept it a secret? Why hadn’t she called him as soon as she left her father’s dinner table, having dropped that earth-shattering bombshell, to tell him the news herself.
You’re not innocent in all this. Why haven’t you spoken to Tag since you walked out of her house in the middle of the night? Why did you cut her out of your life? What is she supposed to think when you left and never came back?
He’d been planning to return. He’d just been waiting until he could prove her wrong. He’d wanted to pass that physical test with flying colors and show up on her doorstep knowing that he was a firefighter again.
He’d wanted her to be proud of him.
When he’d woken up this morning, Brian had made a phone call, but not to Tag. He knew he was being a stubborn ass, but she had just as much responsibility to call him as he did to call her. If that was the pot calling the kettle black, or a case of cutting off his nose to spite his face, then so be it.
The person he’d contacted was Chief Warren, and he’d asked her for a favor. Since there was no snow forecast, he wanted to take the Work Capacity Test today, a week early, instead of waiting until after the New Year.
Ever since the chief had agreed to clear the test site of the snow that had fallen overnight, and schedule his assessment this morning, a herd of wild mustangs had been stampeding in his stomach. Fear wasn’t a strong enough word for the emotions churning through him. Terror was more like it.
What if he couldn’t do it? What if his leg failed him after all?
Brian found Aiden with his head in his hands at the breakfast bar in the kitchen and said, “You don’t look like you got any more sleep than I did last night. Something wrong?”
Aiden lifted his head and waved a dismissive hand. “Nothing you or I or anybody else can do anything about.”
“You’re the best I know at resolving difficult problems. What’s your plan?”
“Don’t have one. Yet.”
“You’ll figure it out,” Brian said. “You always do.” He was too nervous to eat, or to give any more attention to whatever was troubling Aiden, even though he knew he should do both. He poured coffee into a thermal cup he usually took with him in his pickup, took a sip, and hissed when he burned his tongue.
He was a moment from being out the door, when Aiden gave him a shrewd look and asked, “Where are you off to this morning, as if I didn’t know.”
Brian started. “How did you find out I arranged to take my test early?”
Aiden stopped his coffee cup halfway to his mouth. “You aren’t on your way to see Tag?”
Brian shook his head.
“Then you spoke to her last night?”
Brian shook his head.
“You haven’t talked to her yet?” Aiden said incredulously.
“No. I thought I’d wait—”
“Your lady tells you she’s p
regnant, and you blow her off?”
“Tag did not tell me she’s pregnant,” Brian retorted. “I had to hear it from Connor and Devon.” Every time he thought about how he’d been ambushed, it made him mad all over again. “And I did not blow her off. I want to know whether I’m going to be able to keep working as a firefighter before I talk to her about what comes next.”
“What comes next is that you’re going to tell her how you feel about her and how glad you are that the two of you are going to have a baby. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200, just get your butt over there and do it!”
“She’s going to have to wait until I take this test,” Brian said stubbornly.
“Do you love her, Brian? Are you happy about the baby?”
Brian was surprised Aiden had asked so directly. He opened his mouth to say “Of course I love her!” and discovered his throat had swollen closed, preventing speech. He felt tears sting his nose and well in his eyes.
Aiden’s hand squeezed his nape.
He glanced at his brother and saw that Aiden understood the power of the emotions he was feeling.
Of course I love her.
He’d always wanted kids, but having them was something he’d imagined happening “sometime in the future.” The future had caught up to him. Tag was pregnant.
“Good luck,” Aiden said. “I know you can do it. And go see Tag!”
Brian wished he was as certain he was going to pass as Aiden seemed to be. Go see Tag. He couldn’t afford to think about anything right now except the upcoming test.
He’d worked hard. He was fit and ready. He should be able to complete the difficult tasks required in the time allotted. Knowing he’d trained for every situation was how he’d managed to fight all those fires in hazardous conditions without panicking. He had to ignore the rising fear that threatened to paralyze him and just do the job.
Because he’d changed the date and time of the test, Brian wasn’t expecting to find anyone at the fire station except Chief Warren. He was moved almost to tears when he discovered that firefighters from every shift were there in full gear. They competed ferociously against one another to have the best score in the firehouse. They’d come to badger him, to hassle and plague him, as a means of goodwilled encouragement.
Surrender: A Bitter Creek Novel Page 27