Lone Star Reunion

by Joss Wood

  His life had been safe. But, God, so boring.

  He didn’t want that. He wanted to watch his grandmother fuss over her new husband, and he wanted to get to know this man who’d looked for him for the better part of three decades. He wanted his woman, his child, the two most important things in his life.

  Because while he loved this land, loved The Silver C, the love of his life was probably packing up her car and heading south.

  Daniel looked at Hector and lifted his shoulders and his hands. “I’m running out on you again but it’s not because I want to, but...”

  Hector smiled. “But there’s a girl leaving, and you want to stop her.”

  Rose and her big mouth. Daniel smiled. “I intend to make that girl your daughter-in-law.”

  Hector grinned. “Sounds good to me.” He pulled a card out of the top pocket of his suit and handed it to Daniel. “When you are ready, come to Houston, bring Alexis, meet my family. Or come alone, whatever...”

  Daniel took the card and nodded once before scuffing his boot over the short dry grass. He cleared his throat, pushing down the emotion that threatened to strangle his words. “Thanks for looking for me.”

  Hector squeezed his shoulder again. “It’s what fathers do. Go get your girl, son.”

  Son. Daniel heard the word and closed his eyes. He was finally someone’s son. It felt good, wonderful. But it would be freakin’ fantastic to be Alex’s husband and the peanut’s dad.

  * * *

  Alex recognized the sound of Gus’s ancient ATV and wondered how much longer he’d continue to nurse that ancient beast. It sputtered and belched smoke and was in the shop for repairs more often than it was on the road. Gus had access to three brand-new ATVs a couple of steps from his front door but his loyalty to that old, paint-deprived quad bike remained constant.

  Her grandfather was the most loyal of creatures. He’d loved Sarah—of that she had no doubt—and he’d treated her like a queen, but when he was with Rose, he glowed. Her hard, tough, frank-as-hell grandfather was putty in Miss Rose’s hands. He loved her to the depths of his soul, beyond time, for eternity.

  Rose, she was surprised to find, seemed to love him just as much. Rose was now Gus’s world and Alex was happy for him. Happy that he’d spend the rest of his life loving and being loved.

  She couldn’t help feeling a little envious, but she shrugged it away, thinking that love like that perhaps now only existed for people of a certain age, a particular generation. She and Daniel were modern people, living in a modern world, and they’d been conditioned to be selfish, to be self-obsessed. How could true love flourish in a society that was so materialistic, self-loving and narcissistic? It was all about them, only about them. She was a classic example because she’d been so caught up in her own drama, in thinking how badly Daniel had treated her in failing to make the doctor’s appointment, that she’d brushed aside his explanations. Her feelings, her heartache had been all she’d been worried about.

  Daniel meeting his dad had been a damn good excuse to miss her doctor’s appointment, and if she hadn’t reacted so selfishly, she might not be sitting in the chair on Sarah’s deck, her car fueled and packed, ready to make the journey to Houston and a new life.

  She was thoroughly ashamed of herself. And now, more than anything, she wanted to know how he was dealing with his father’s reappearance. What did Daniel think of his dad? Was the reality of meeting him as an adult as good as the dream he’d had of him as a boy? But no, because she’d acted like a selfish brat, he was dealing with this all alone.

  Alex sighed as she heard Gus’s footsteps on the wooden stairs that led to the tree house. Her grandfather’s shadow fell over her and she lifted her head and greeted him. Gus nodded, dropped into the Adirondack chair next to her and propped his old boots on the railing. His pushed his ancient but favorite Stetson back with one finger like she’d seen him do a million times before. Old ATV, old boots, old Stetson, Rose.

  The man never gave up on the things he loved. Alex bit her lip as the thought struck home. Gus didn’t give up; few Slades ever did. So why was she?

  Gus cleared his throat and Alex turned her head to look at his profile. “Do you remember when Gemma died?”

  Alex jerked her head back, surprised at his question. That was the very last thing she expected him to say. “Sure. I remember getting the news. I thought my world had stopped.”

  “Do you remember the funeral?”

  Alex shook her head. “Not so much, actually. I remember the coffin, the flowers, Sarah holding my hand.”

  Gus stared at the barren winter landscape beyond the river. “We woke early that morning, the day of the funeral. Sarah looked into your room but you weren’t there, and we couldn’t find you. We looked everywhere. You never took your hound with you that day. You two were never apart and that scared me.”

  Olly had died in her arms only a few months later after being kicked by a horse. It had been another loss in a string of losses. “I eventually saddled a horse and told your dog to find you. We went for miles and I eventually found you in the top paddock, the one that borders the Clayton land.”

  The one where she first kissed Daniel. Yeah, she knew it well. “It was the farthest point you could go without crossing onto Clayton land, and you were standing right on the boundary line.”

  Alex tried to remember but nothing came back. “I don’t remember any of this.”

  Gus rubbed the back of his neck. “You told me that you were running away, that you couldn’t go back. That going back would make it too real.”

  That sounded like her.

  Gus slid down the seat, rested his head on the back of the chair and closed his eyes. Alex waited for him to continue but he just sat there, soaking up the winter sun. She flicked his thigh and he cranked open one eye. “What?”

  “Aren’t you going to tell me that I run away from stuff I don’t want to have to deal with? That I did it ten years ago when I left Daniel—”

  “In fairness, I did encourage you to do that,” Gus said, his eyes still closed.

  “So why aren’t you pointing out that running away is what I do, that it’s the way I deal with life when things get hard? That I push people away when I think they can hurt me? Why aren’t you telling me that?”

  “You seem to be doing a right fine job working this out on your own, sweetheart. Seems to me that you don’t need my input.”

  Alex glared at him before dropping her gaze to her hands, which were dangling between her thighs. Running, hiding, staying away—emotionally, as well as physically—was what she did. She dipped her toe in and yanked it out when the water got deeper, the current stronger. As Daniel suggested, she played in the shallows, too scared to take a chance.

  “I’m so scared, Grandpa,” Alex whispered, her voice so low, she wasn’t sure he had heard her small admission.

  “So?” Alex looked at him and he shrugged. “Be scared. Be whatever you need to be, but instead of running, be scared while you stand in one place, while you try something new.” Gus stood up and pinned her to her chair with his don’t-BS-me blue eyes. “I loved your grandmother, Alex. I really did. But a part of me always regretted walking away from Rose, for missing out on fifty years with her. Regret is a cold hard companion I don’t want you to live with. Daniel is a good boy—”

  Alex couldn’t help putting her hand on her heart and feigning shock at his praise of a Clayton.

  Gus blushed and waved her mockery away. “Yeah, yeah. But he is a good man—he’s loyal and hardworking, and God knows you two burn hot enough to start a wildfire.”

  Alex grimaced. That wasn’t something she wanted Gus noticing. Gus bent down to kiss her cheek. “Don’t run this time, Lexi. Stay still and see what happens. Gotta go. Need to check on the calves in the stable paddock.”

  He had hands and Jason to do that for him, but Gus would ride back on th
e wheels-on-death because he wanted to. No, because he needed to. Alex watched the best man she knew walk away, his back still strong, his gait still steady. He was hard and tough and frank, but her grandfather had an enormous capacity for love. For his family, both present and past, for his land and for his beloved Rose. He’d lived and loved and cried on this land. He tended it and it repaid him by providing a good livelihood for his kids and grandkids. His beloved wife and children and pets were buried in the family graveyard, and every inch held a memory. The land was an intrinsic part of him, just as Clayton land was a part of Daniel.

  And they belonged here. Both of them, on this land. Together.

  It was time, Alex thought as she stood up, to put this latest, most stupid Clayton-Slade feud to bed.

  Her car was filled to the brim and Alex knew that if anyone saw her driving it, they would immediately assume she was leaving Royal and the gossip would fly around town. She and Daniel had created enough gossip lately, so she decided to quickly unpack her vehicle before tracking down Daniel.

  She wouldn’t take all her worldly possessions back up to her room, as that would take far too long, so Alex decided to dump them in Gus’s spacious hall until she returned. She parked her car as close as she could get to the front door of her childhood home, exited her car and walked around to the other side. She had a heavy box of books in her arms when she heard the low rumble of a powerful pickup. Turning, she squinted into the sun and saw the dusty white truck with The Silver C’s logo on the side panel.

  Alex held the box, conscious that her mouth was as dry, as Gus would say, as the heart of a haystack. Watching as the truck stopped next to hers, Alex stared wide-eyed as Daniel flew out of the car, his face radiating determination and a healthy dose of kick-ass. He was at her side in two seconds and then the heavy box was yanked out of her hands and tossed, with very little effort at all, into the back of his truck. The corner of the box hit a fence post and the box split open, spilling books over the bed of the truck.

  Before she could protest, Daniel grabbed her biceps and slammed his mouth against hers in a hard kiss, but as Alex started to sink into the kiss, he whipped his mouth away. Holding her arms, he easily lifted her away from her spot by the door and grabbed a suitcase and a toiletry bag, tossing both into the bed of his pickup.

  Since that was exactly where she wanted her stuff, Alex watched him, her shoulder pressed into the side of the car as he emptied her car in a matter of minutes. She wished he’d taken a little more care in moving her potted plants, but she was sure they’d be okay.

  When her car was completely empty—Daniel had even chucked her bag and phone onto his passenger seat—he stormed back to her and placed his hands on his hips, his chest heaving.

  “You are not going to Houston,” he stated, his voice gruff.

  She’d gathered that already. Alex just resisted throwing herself into his arms and it took everything she had to lift an insouciant eyebrow. “You kidnapping my stuff, Clayton?”

  “I couldn’t give a damn about your stuff,” Daniel muttered. He jerked his head toward the pickup. “Get in.”

  There was something wonderful in seeing her man slightly unhinged, Alex thought. She was quite curious to see what he’d do if she dissented. “And if I don’t?”

  Alex expected him to toss her over his shoulder, to bundle her into his car, and she was turned on thinking about Daniel going caveman on her. But instead of utilizing his physical strength, he lifted his hand to gently touch her face. “I need you, Lex. Right now, I need you to get into my truck because I have things to say...”

  “Like?”

  Daniel rested his forehead on hers. “I want to tell you that I need you, period. In my bed, my house, my damned life. Nothing makes sense without you.”

  Alex turned her cheek into his hand, refusing to drop her eyes from his. This was Daniel, naked and exposed in a way she’d never seen him before. “We make sense, Alexis. We made sense ten years ago, but we were too young and dumb to know it. We made sense three months ago, but we were too scared to acknowledge it. You and I, we’re two puzzle pieces that interlock. You’re...”

  Alex felt the moisture on her face, saw the sheen of emotion in his eyes. “What am I, Dan?”

  Daniel held her face within both of his hands as her heart slowly slid from her chest to his. “You’re everything, Lex. You’re both my future and my past, my baby’s mother and the beat of my heart. Please don’t go to Houston. Stay here with me.”

  “Okay.”

  Daniel yanked his head back, a smile hitting his eyes with all the force of a meteor strike. “Are you being serious?”

  Alex nodded. “When you roared up, driving like a crazy man, I was actually unpacking, not packing. I was coming to look for you.”

  Daniel’s thumb skated over her cheek. “Why?”

  Alex gripped his shirt, bunching the fabric in her hands. Preparing to jump, she gathered her courage. “I want to stay. I want to be here with you. Raising our children together.”

  More shock. Daniel looked down at her stomach and jerked his head up. “We’re having twins?”

  Alex laughed. “Not this time. I was talking about the future, the future I see with you.”

  “Damn. Twins would’ve been fun.” He brushed her hair off her forehead, his expression tender. “How do you see our future, Lex?”

  “Pretty much as you said earlier. I know that I have some issues, Dan, but I don’t want to live my life fearing something that may not happen. I’d rather have any time I can have with you than no time at all. I’m not saying that I’m not going to be insecure, to worry. I probably will but I’ll try not to be ridiculous about it.”

  “And instead of getting frustrated, I’ll just hold you tighter and tell you that I’m never going to let you go.”

  He was gruff and bossy and powerful and sometimes annoying, but he was also perfect. She tipped her head back. “I love you, Daniel. I’m crazy in love with you.”

  Daniel’s smile was pure tenderness. “I love you, too, sweetheart.”

  Alex’s mouth lifted to meet his and she tasted love on his lips, relief in his touch, happiness dancing across his skin. She was feeling pretty damn amazing herself. The kiss deepened, became heated and Daniel pulled her into his hard body, chest to chest, groin to groin. Tongues tangled as love and belonging and desire merged into a sweet, messy ball. This was the start of a new chapter and Alex couldn’t wait for the rest of the book.

  Daniel’s hand came up to cover her breast and it took all her willpower to pull away from his touch. She gestured to the busy stables to the left of the house, blushing when she saw Gus and Jason leaning against the wall, unabashedly watching them.

  “Jerks,” she muttered.

  “On the plus side, I didn’t get my head blown off,” Daniel murmured, laughter coating his words.

  “Actually, Grandpa quite likes you,” Alex told him. “He’d like you more if you married me.”

  Daniel jerked back, frowned and then released a strangled laugh. “I’m not sure what to say to that.” He rubbed his jaw. “How do you feel about that?”

  “Getting married?” Alex cocked her head to the side, pretending to think. “I think that sounds like a fine idea.” She grinned at his astonishment and held up her hand to keep him from grabbing her again. “Slow down, cowboy, I’m not getting engaged with tear tracks on my cheeks and blue rings around my eyes and with my male relatives watching us like hawks. But do feel free to propose in the high meadow, preferably with a lovely ring and a bottle of champagne.”

  Daniel pretended to consider her statement. “Hmm, the ring I can do. But it’ll have to be nonalcoholic champagne, and whose land will it be on?” He smiled and Alex’s heart flipped over.

  “Ours,” Alex said, the words catching in her throat. “Yours, mine, ours.”

  Daniel nodded, raw, unbridled emotion in
his eyes and on his face and in his touch. Alex watched his eyes as he bent to kiss her, silently saying a heartfelt thank-you to whatever force had brought them to this point. They were going to have a hell of a life and she couldn’t wait for it to start.

  “Hey, you two, what’s the status?” Alex jumped, startled, and she turned to see her Gus a few feet from them, waving his phone in the air. Since when did he carry a phone? Alex wondered. “Rosie wants to know.”

  Daniel gently banged his forehead on her collarbone. “God.”

  “Everything is sorted,” Alex told Gus, making a shooing movement with her hand.

  “Rosie, let’s hallelujah the county! Call everyone—we’re going to paint the house. And the porch.” Gus flipped his phone closed—so old she was surprised it still worked—caught Daniel’s eye and gestured to the truck. “Well, come on, then. This stuff isn’t going to move itself. Take it into the house and we can have a chat about what comes next.”

  The last thing she wanted to do was to talk to Gus, or anyone. What she really wanted to do was to divest Daniel of his clothes and make love to him as his future wife.

  Daniel looked from her to his truck, adjusted his ball cap and shook his head. “As much as I appreciate the offer, sir, I’m going to stick to my original plan.”

  “And that was?” Alex asked as his hand enveloped hers.

  “To kidnap you and your stuff.” He flashed a grin at Gus as he wrapped an arm around her waist and easily carried her to his truck. He bundled her into the passenger seat and saluted Gus. “I try to learn from my elders, sir.”

  Epilogue

  At six months pregnant, Alex required a wedding dress with an empire waistline but, catching a glance at her reflection in the gleaming glass door as she stepped out of the TCC function room, she saw that she still looked pretty amazing. The dress’s bodice gathered into a knot behind her breasts and the chiffon overskirt, which was dotted with embroidered roses, flowed to the floor. She was, as everyone kept telling her, glowing. Alex knew that had as much to do with her husband of two hours as it did her pregnancy.