His father had been a bastard.
Rick was pure evil.
Stunned, Maddox finally realized what Hannah had meant when she'd told him that she knew what real monsters were, and that he wasn't one of them. He knew, because for the first time in his life, he was staring into the eyes of a creature that was truly evil.
Rick limped down the steps, the gun still pointed at Maddox. "Get back in the truck, Hannah. We're going for a ride."
Hannah's gaze flicked to Maddox, and then to the side, where Brody and Roger both lay. Maddox knew that Rick would not take that gun off him until they had driven out of sight. He also knew there was no way for him to get to Rick before he could get a shot off.
He risked a glance to his side, and he saw Brody was still down. His chest was moving, and Maddox knew he was still alive, but he would be of no help. Roger was groaning, and he knew Roger would be up in a moment.
It was up to him. Only him. And there was only one way he could do it.
He had to go all out. One strike was all he would have. He would have to harness all his strength. He'd have to show Hannah what he was truly capable of.
He met her gaze, and she smiled at him. Smiled. His heart froze, and then suddenly, it began to beat. She loved him. She saw the blood. She saw the carnage, and she still loved him.
Suddenly, the weight of a thousand nightmares lifted from his shoulders. With a crow of victory, he launched himself at Rick. The monster swung fast, and pulled the trigger, but before the sound had even finished echoing, Maddox hit him. They landed hard, and Maddox slammed his knee into the bastard's throat, leaving him gasping as he rolled off him and leapt to his feet, spinning around to check on Rick's brother.
Roger was reaching for his gun. He rolled onto his back, taking aim as Maddox reached him.
He kicked the gun out of Roger's hands and then incapacitated him with a swift kick that left a satisfying crunch. Blood spewed out on the snow, just as it had so many years ago. He looked at the brothers, both of them unconscious, disarmed, and helpless…and he stopped. He didn't kick them. He didn't keep going. They were taken out, unable to hurt his woman, and he didn't want to hurt them anymore. He blinked, stunned by the revelation, but before he could process it, Hannah was racing across the driveway toward him, shouting his name, her arms outstretched. The woman he loved was running toward him, instead of away.
Toward.
Maddox braced himself as she threw her arms around his neck and flung herself at him, burying her face against his chest. Maddox bent his head, pressing his face against hers, breathing her scent, her warmth, her love. With his hands still behind his back, he couldn't hold her. All he could do was stand there as she held onto him.
"God, Maddox, don't ever get shot again, okay?" She pulled back, tears streaming down her face. "Don't you dare tell me you don't love me, okay? I can't take it. I really can't." She gripped his shirt, staring up at him, tears staining her cheeks. "We need you. Don't you understand? We all need you. Me, Ava, your brothers. Everyone."
Maddox stared down at her, at the love burning in her eyes. There was blood on her shirt, and she was trembling from the cold, or the shock, or some combination, but there was no mistaking the expression on her face.
She'd seen his truth. She'd watched it. And yet, she was still standing there, loving him.
In that moment, the shackles that had trapped him his entire life suddenly dissolved. Just like that. One moment there. The next moment, gone. He took a deep breath, a breath deeper than any he'd ever taken in his life. "You see me," he said softly. "I can tell you do."
"Of course I do." She gripped his shirt. "I've seen you the whole time. You're the one who hasn't seen you." She searched his face. "What do you see now when you look at yourself, Maddox?"
He smiled. "I see a man who loves the most amazing woman, and her daughter."
The smile that lit up her face made him want to get down on his knees in surrender. "You love me?" she whispered.
"Of course I do. How could I not?" He bent his head and kissed her, the most tender, most gentle kiss he could deliver, needing to kiss her, needing that physical connection of beauty.
It was a long moment before he broke the kiss, but he barely pulled back, searching her face. "You're really not freaked by what you saw me do?"
She laughed softly. "Maddox, you saved my life, and Brody's. How could I be scared of you?" She tugged on his shirt. "Ava and I need strength in our lives, Maddox. We need your strength, as well as your gentleness. Come home to us, Maddox. Please?"
He grinned. "Are you going to make me live on the ranch with my brothers?"
"Fuck that." Brody's voice drifted through the night. "She has to come live on my ranch. Mine's bigger. Nicer."
Hannah's heart tightened at the sound of her brother's voice. Slowly, she turned around, to see Brody lying on the ground, a stain spreading on his side. "Brody," she whispered. There were so many things to say. To apologize for not calling him back. To thank him for coming. To tell him about Katie. But only three words came out. "I love you," she whispered.
He grinned, his jaw tight against the pain. "Of course you do. Just because you blew us off for a decade doesn't change anything." He grimaced. "I love you, too, Shorty. We all do."
Maddox gave her a gentle nudge. "Make sure he's not dying. I'm going to get the keys to the handcuffs, and call Dane."
Hannah was afraid to move, so uncertain how to act with Brody. Maddox bent over and brushed a kiss over the side of her neck. "It's okay, sweetheart. Just follow your heart. Go say hi."
She stood there for another moment, waiting while Maddox dragged Roger and Rick further away, dumping them by the house after ensuring they were truly incapacitated, then he jogged inside to get the keys to the handcuffs, until it was only her and Brody in the driveway.
She swallowed hard, then made herself walk over to him. He was on his back, his eyes closed, breathing heavily. Silently, she knelt beside him, her knees cold in the snowy driveway. "Brody?"
Maddox came back outside, his handcuffs dangling from his hand. He snapped a pair on Roger, and then did the same for Rick. "The others are waking up," he told her. "I took off their handcuffs. Everyone's okay."
Relief rushed through her, but before she could respond, Brody's eyes opened, and flickered toward her. They were the same beautiful green as they had once been, so familiar that her heart turned over. "Brody," she whispered, unable to keep her voice from breaking.
"Hey, Shorty," he said, smiling at her. "I missed you. We all did."
Tears filled her eyes as Maddox crouched behind Brody and unfastened his handcuffs. The moment her brother was free, he held up his arms to her, the same way he had when she had said goodbye ten years ago, to head to Boston with Katie.
Unlike a decade ago, this time she didn't hesitate. She leaned forward into his embrace, hugging him tightly. His body was hard and muscular, padded with strength, unlike the scrawny, undernourished teenage boy she had left behind. Tears filled her eyes as his warmth poured into her, a reassuring strength that she had rejected for so long.
She felt Maddox's hand rubbing her lower back, and she smiled, her heart expanding. She pulled back, grinning at Brody as she leaned against Maddox, needing the contact with the man she loved. "Thank you for coming, Brody," she said. "I can't believe you came."
Brody raised his eyebrows at her. "Really? You can't believe we came? You lived with us for a year. How could it possibly surprise you that we would fly out here on a moment's notice when some asshole was on his way to kill you?"
She laughed softly, and inclined her head in acknowledgment. "Okay, I guess I knew you would come." Her amusement faded, replaced by embarrassment and discomfort. "I didn't know how to reach out to you, Brody. I'm so sorry." As she spoke, Maddox wrapped his arms around her, anchoring her against his chest. She took a deep breath, allowing herself to melt into his strength.
Brody smiled. "Shorty, we accept you exactly as you are, and you don
't have to do anything to earn it. Even if it took you fifty years to come back to the family, that would still be okay. Once a Hart, always a Hart."
She smiled. "I was never a Hart. I kept my own name."
"Just because your last name wasn't Hart doesn't mean you weren't one of us." Jacob spoke from the porch, and she looked up, her heart leaping as she looked into the face of one of the brothers she had tried to reject for so long.
"Jacob," she whispered, her heart aching as she said it.
He came down the steps, holding out his arms. She rose to her feet, and suddenly she was running toward him, her arms outstretched. She threw herself into his arms, and laughed as he swung her around, just as he had done so long ago. The next thing she knew, Keegan and Lucas walked out of the cabin, both limping, but grinning widely. They swept her up in a group hug, embracing her so tightly she felt like she would never be able to breathe again...which was okay with her.
She couldn't stop from crying, and when she pulled back, she saw that they were all crying too. "God, you guys are so emotional," she teased.
"Family matters," Keegan said. "You know it does." He ruffled her hair, and then looked over at Brody, who was stretched out on the driveway. He had crossed his ankles, clasped his hands behind his head, and was studying the sky, as if he were camping out for an evening of star-gazing, instead of lying on a snowy driveway, bleeding from a gunshot wound. "You good, Brody?"
"I could use an ambulance, if anyone cares to call one, but other than that, yep, I'm good." He looked at Hannah. "Actually, I'm great."
Maddox walked up behind Hannah and slipped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. With a sigh, she leaned back against him, a deep sense of peace settling in her as she listened to Maddox tease her brothers about how long they'd been unconscious. Brody chimed in from his spot in the driveway, but even as everyone was laughing and teasing, Lucas and Keegan were already at work wrapping Brody's wound and wrapping him in blankets, treating him with the same vigilant care that they always treated each other.
Humor, teasing, and absolute loyalty to each other.
How could she not have felt their love before? How could she have been so unable to feel their support?
Maddox pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Sweetheart," he whispered. "I love you, but if you ever race into a fight scene involving a gun and a murderer again, I'm going to be incredibly pissed. Please don't do it again."
"I promise, as long as you promise not to get handcuffed by a murderer."
He grinned. "Deal. Seal it with a kiss?"
"Of course." She smiled, and she realized she knew exactly why she was finally able to feel the love from her family. It was because of Maddox. He had taught her to trust, to love, and to be strong. She turned in his arms and slid her arms around his neck, beaming up at him. "I'm so sorry that I got mad at you for calling them."
He shrugged. "You should have gotten mad at me. I knew you would. I did it anyway."
She cocked her head. "Is that going to happen a lot? You doing something that you know I won't like, and doing it anyway?"
"If it keeps you safe, yeah." He sighed, and ran his fingers through her hair. "It's who I am, Hannah. I—"
She put her finger over his lips, silencing him. "I know who you are, Maddox, and I love you. Unconditionally. Forever. Without reservation."
He searched her face, and then smiled, a breathtaking smile of such joy and such love that it filled her with the most beautiful sense of rightness. There was beauty shining out of Maddox's face, the beauty that she'd always known was inside him, that he had finally allowed to surface.
He framed her face with his hands. "I love you, Hannah. I love you and that amazing daughter of yours. If you'll have me, I'll stand by you both forever. I'll make sure you're safe every second of every day, so that you both can learn to laugh, to play, and to feel free again."
Her smiled widened. "If I'll have you? What are you asking?"
"I'm asking for forever, sweetheart. I can't go less than all in. I'm not capable of it." He searched her face. "I need you, Hannah. I can't go back to who I was before I met you. All my shields are gone. All my defenses have vanished. I need you in order to breathe. Say you'll be mine, forever."
She smiled. "I'll—"
"Don't answer him," Brody interrupted.
Maddox groaned. "Shut the hell up, Brody."
"No." Brody limped over to her, one arm over each of Lucas and Keegan's shoulders. "Hannah, if the man wants forever, he's got to put a ring on your finger. No promises of forever unless he promises to marry you."
Hannah's heart stuttered. "Marry me? I'm not going to get married. I'm terrified of marriage."
Maddox groaned. "Here we go again..."
She glanced at him. "What does that mean?"
He hooked his arm around her and pulled her close, nuzzling her gently. "It means that I'm willing to do whatever it takes to earn your trust, until you are willing for forever to include two circles of gold. You were afraid of men, and now you trust me. Whatever it takes, however long it takes until you're ready to marry me, I'm in this for the long haul, sweetheart."
Tears filled her eyes. "I don't think I'll ever be ready for that—"
He wiped his thumb over her cheek, smiling gently. "I think you might be wrong about that." Then he bent his head and gave her such a tender, sweet kiss that she thought maybe, just maybe, he might be right.
Chapter 26
The endless Oregon sky was breathtaking, the kind of breathtaking Hannah hadn't been able to feel or see before she'd met Maddox. Today? It filled her entire soul with pure beauty and joy, echoing through the deepest parts of her heart.
Hannah hugged her knees to her chest, riveted by the incredible array of pink, orange, and purple illuminating the evening sky across the Oregon high desert. She was sitting on top of a wide, flat rock that was almost twenty feet wide and ten feet high. She, Ava, and Maddox were in the final evening of two glorious months on the Hart ranch, becoming a part of the family she'd rejected for so long. All the rebellious, damaged teenagers who had once saved her had become the amazing, loving family she'd never known how to have.
She'd fallen in love with them all over again, a love that had filled her heart with joy and a sense of belonging and roots that she'd never had before. It had also, however, brought with it new tears, because she could see the shadows in the eyes of every Hart, and she knew that they were all still healing from their assorted pasts. They all needed the same kind of healing she had found with Maddox. She hoped they each would get their chance at the life they deserved, especially Brody, who had more weight in his eyes than all of them put together. She had a feeling he was almost irretrievably broken, and getting closer to the precipice with each day.
Despite the burdens they carried, each one of her seven brothers and two sisters had the most enormous hearts, an unbending sense of loyalty, and a shared sense of camaraderie that shone light into even the darkest of moments. She'd even gotten to see Wyatt Parker, who, like her, had lived with the Harts for a while, but never taken their last name. Wyatt owned a ranch in town with his new wife, Noelle, who Hannah had adored immediately.
The Harts had taken to Ava the same way they'd taken care of Hannah and Katie when they were young, and Ava had flourished under their attention. Even Maddox had been drawn into their family, tempted back into his cowboy roots by her brothers.
Tonight was their last night on the ranch before heading back to Wyoming. Hannah and Maddox had wanted to do something special for Ava, and Brody had directed them to Sunset Rock as the place to go. He'd told them it was the perfect spot on the Hart ranch for an evening picnic, followed by a gorgeous sunset, and capped off by a few hours of watching shooting stars.
They'd arrived in late afternoon, enjoyed an amazing feast, and some Frisbee. After dinner, Maddox and Ava had ridden off to a nearby stream to play in the water, while Hannah had relaxed, relishing every moment of her amazing life. She looked up
at the sky, and smiled, somehow knowing that Katie was looking down on them, smiling. "I love you, sis. I wish you could be here with us." But even as she said it, she knew in her heart that Katie was there, filling them with love. There was still sadness that would never leave, but at the same time, Hannah felt a sense of peace and acceptance.
Life was beautiful. She was so grateful that she and Ava had been given a second chance to find a meaningful life, and find it they had. Life was beautiful. Love was beautiful. Family was beautiful.
A shriek of laughter echoed across the plains, and Hannah turned her head toward the sound. Ava and Maddox were racing toward her on their mounts, both of them laughing and waving their cowboy hats like they were chasing down bandits in the Old West.
The most amazing sense of rightness filled Hannah as she watched her daughter, and the man she loved gallivanting in the rays of the setting sun. Maddox moved with the horse as if he were one with the animal, a truly gifted rider. Ava was a little less graceful, but she was fearless and bold, waving her hot pink cowboy hat as if she were taking on the world.
Keegan had presented Marble to Ava as soon as they had stepped out of Maddox's truck onto the ranch. Ava had been thunderstruck when Keegan had handed her the lead line and told her that the adorable brown and white pony was hers forever. Then she'd walked up to Marble, put her nose against his, looked into his eyes, and started whispering to him.
The bond had been instant, and Marble was coming back home to Wyoming with them. Hannah was pretty certain that she was going to walk into Ava's bedroom one morning and find Marble curled up on the bed with her, both of them sound asleep.
She waved at her daughter. "Looking great, sweetheart!"
Ava waved back, holding both arms above her head, giggling with laughter as they neared.
Hannah rested her chin on her knees as she watched Maddox and Ava rein in, and dismount. Ava handled her pony with confident ease, whispering to him, the same whispers she used to use with Alfred.
A Real Cowboy Loves Forever (Wyoming Rebels Book 5) Page 20
