Annie got her balance, then rubbed at her left shoulder as she looked past Trevor. Angelica Raines was at the open door, the tiny woman immaculately dressed in a simple beige sheath with the flash of diamonds at her throat and ears. Her silvery hair was cut short in a simple bob, and the look on her face was different than any Annie had ever seen.
The woman was always in control, always elegant and contained. But right now high color touched her cheeks and her mouth was rimmed by whiteness.
"Mother, this isn't what you think. I mean, Anne Marie and I are going to be married tomorrow and it isn't as if we haven't been together before." He laughed, a jarring sound. "That's why you've got little Samantha."
Mrs. Raines stared at Trevor and her color deepened. "Trevor, go up to the house, take a cold shower and go to bed."
He hesitated.
"Now, Trevor," she said. "Do it."
He never looked at Annie again before he walked unsteadily to the door, then went out past his mother and left. Mrs. Raines closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them, the look of distaste in her expression enough to tell Annie that she was displeased to say the least.
Mrs. Raines didn't speak as she quietly closed the door then turned to Annie. Her pale blue eyes were guarded, but the woman was in control again.
"I am truly sorry for what my son has done," she said in a well-modulated voice that held none of the flat Oklahoma twang. "I am very sorry."
Annie rubbed at her shoulder. "He's been drinking."
"The way he was before you ran away?"
"Yes."
Mrs. Raines came farther into the room, bringing the scent of very expensive perfume with her. Silently she crossed to the window and looked out. Annie could see past her to Trevor making his way across the grass to the main house. In the distance, the senior Raines was still riding Sammi on his palomino gelding.
Annie waited quietly, never able to shake the feeling that when she and Mrs. Raines met, the older lady was granting her an audience. The only time she thought the woman looked approachable was when she was with Sammi. She saw Mrs. Raines take a deep breath, then turn. "The child seems very happy," she said.
"Yes, she loves the horses and riding."
Mrs. Raines hesitated, then got right to the point. "I was at the door. I heard what Trevor said to you." Annie went around and sat down on the side of the bed, then looked across the room at the tiny woman. "Did you hear everything?"
"I heard enough. Did he force you to come back here?"
She bit her lip. "Mrs. Raines, I came back because—"
"My dear, please, don't try to sugarcoat what my son did. Just tell me the truth. Why did you come back here?"
"Mrs. Raines, the only important thing in my life is Sammi. She's everything to me."
"I know that. I have eyes. I see you with her, how much she loves you and how much you love her. And we love her, my dear, believe me. She's the brightest ray of sunshine in our world. But I need to understand what's going on. Tell me why you left and why you came back."
Annie took an unsteady breath, then told the woman the truth. "Trevor said that if I didn't come back and go through with the marriage that he'd take Sammi away from me and have me locked up for that … accident in the stables."
"Oh, my God." Mrs. Raines came across the room to where Annie sat on the bed. Unexpectedly she sank down by her, and for the first time since they'd met, she touched Annie. Her cool hand covered Annie's in her lap. "Just tell me everything," she said softly.
Annie hesitated.
"My dear, we aren't going to take Samantha, believe me. No matter what happens with Trevor. Now, talk to me."
Annie took what felt like the first free breath she'd taken in a long time. Then she told Mrs. Raines everything except about Quint. When she finished, the older lady drew back and when Annie looked at her, Trevor's mother looked ashen.
"Trevor did all that?"
"Yes."
"I knew he was selfish and immature, but to hurt you like that and to use that sweet child…" She shook her head. "I never, never dreamed he'd do anything like that."
"I couldn't let him take Sammi."
"No, no of course not." Mrs. Raines stood again and crossed to the window. She stood with her back to Annie for a very long time, then asked, "And the man you were with?"
"He's gone."
"Was he important to you?"
"Yes," she said simply.
"Did you love him, my dear?"
Tears burned her eyes and Annie had a hard time forming the single word a second time. "Yes."
"Did he love you?"
"I thought … I don't really know. He left so abruptly."
"He was in jail?"
She didn't see any reason to lie, so she told Mrs. Raines about Quint. When she finished, the older woman finally turned to Annie. "And Samantha, does he care about her?"
She thought of his last look at Sammi, the expression on his face. "Yes, I think he does."
Mrs. Raines came back to the bed but didn't sit this time. She stood over Annie and when Annie looked up, the woman smiled at her, a smile touched with sadness. "I was hoping that we could be a family, you and Trevor and my husband and me, and mostly Samantha. We truly love her, you must know that."
She didn't doubt that. "I know."
"She's very important to us, dear, but if I had known what Trevor…" She closed her eyes for a moment, and Annie thought the woman looked old. Beyond the elegance and control, the woman was in pain, a pain Annie finally knew came from Trevor.
For the first time since Quint had walked out, Annie felt as if the world wasn't on its ear. It was unsteady, but not about to crash. "He said he'd take Sammi away, that I'd be locked up and never see her again."
"Let's get something very clear. I apologize for what my son has done to you, and I promise you that he was not speaking for this family. You're Samantha's mother. That's the way it should be and will always be. All I ask is that you allow my husband and me to be grandparents to her."
It couldn't be that simple. "What about Trevor?"
Her mouth thinned. "We will take care of Trevor."
"But I signed an agreement with him—"
Mrs. Raines touched Annie on the cheek. "Oh, my dear, forget about anything you agreed to with Trevor. Trust me, nothing he said or did is important now." Her hand was unsteady. "Just make the life you want for you and the child. And let us be a part of it."
The life she wanted? "I don't know…" Her words faltered, then she managed, "If that new life could be with Quint, would it matter to you?"
"As long as he's good to Samantha, that's all that matters. Now, figure out what that life is going to be. This life is too short to be proud or to let anything get in your way."
Annie could see the old steel coming back in the woman, both in her tone and the way she held herself. "You're right. Life is short."
"You'll be leaving, won't you?"
"Yes, I need to."
"I know. Just promise me that you'll always let us be part of the child's life."
"I promise you that."
"I'll go and find my husband and Samantha, then have her things packed. Do you need a ride to the airport?"
"Yes, if it wouldn't be too much trouble."
"The car will be ready. May I ask where you're going?"
"Santa Barbara, California."
* * *
Getting through the days was hard for Quint but not as hard as the nights. When sleep started to come, images of Annie came with it and the memories of the short time he had with her tore at any peace he managed to gather around him.
He'd worked at his brother's body shop since arriving in town, putting in long hours and putting off that time when he had to leave and go back to the small apartment he'd found near the harbor. Sometimes when he couldn't face the emptiness, he got in his car and drove.
He'd found Annie's picture in the car after he left her, and he kept it in the console compartment. He never even looked a
t it again, but every time he got in the car, he knew it was there.
It was almost seven-thirty on a Friday evening when he finally walked out the door of the body shop and locked up after him. He was the last one to leave, the way he usually was, and as he turned the key in the lock, he knew that he wasn't going back to the apartment tonight. A drive up the coast would numb him a bit before he faced the emptiness.
He turned, the tangy scent of the nearby ocean hanging in the cooling air. He started across to where he'd parked the Corvette under an old pepper tree, the shadows almost hiding the black car. As Quint headed for it, his stride slowed when he saw a sight he knew couldn't be real. Had his dreams suddenly come to life? Sitting contentedly as you please in the car was Annie.
* * *
Chapter 16
« ^
Quint stopped five feet from the car, closed his eyes, then took a deep breath and opened them again. Annie was still there, watching him, waiting for him. It was as if he were thrown back in time to that moment when he ran out of the truck stop after the fight. Annie had been waiting in the car for him, expecting him to take her off into the night.
He narrowed his eyes, barely able to bear the sight his mind was conjuring up for him. Annie, her hair loose and curling wild, her expression lost in the deep shadows.
"Annie?" he breathed, wondering if the sound of him speaking out loud would make her dissolve into thin air.
"Hi, Quint," she said, and her voice sounded real enough.
As the truth of her presence sank in, the love that he'd thought he was beginning to deal with was there with a force that left him breathless. "You … you're here."
"Yes, and I'm waiting for a ride," she said softly.
His promise to Trevor was something he took seriously. And right after he got here, he had a private investigator in Oklahoma find out about Annie. She was set to marry Trevor in a quiet, private ceremony. The wedding was supposed to be today. "I thought you … were with Trevor, that you were getting married."
"I was supposed to marry Trevor today."
"You didn't take off again, did you?"
"Actually, I did."
"God, Annie, what in the—"
"I couldn't marry him," she said. "I left, but this time I flew. The odds were I couldn't find a poor innocent person driving a terrific black car who could be forced to give me a ride and help me lay low."
She almost sounded as if this were funny to her. "Annie, you can't—"
"Why, because Trevor told you if I didn't go with him and marry him that he'd take Sammi from me and have me locked up?"
He felt rooted to the spot. "What?"
"He told you if you didn't leave me, that he'd take Sammi, didn't he?"
"That doesn't matter right now."
"You lied to me. You told me that you didn't want to be involved, that you were on your own, every man for himself and all that stuff. And all the time, you left because you were afraid that Trevor would take Sammi if you didn't walk out."
"Annie, don't do this."
She climbed over the closed passenger door of the car and came around to where he stood. This close to him, she seemed more delicate than he remembered, but that same scent came with her, fresh, sweetness that touched the evening air. It seemed as if he'd been just biding his time until this moment, but now it was here, he didn't know what to do.
Every part of him wanted to reach out and hold her to him, to remember the feeling of having her in his arms. But this time, if he touched her, he wasn't going to be noble and let her go. Never again. So he pushed his hands behind his back and clenched them into fists.
"I have to do this, Quint. If I don't, I'll probably go crazy."
He was close enough to crazy that he probably wouldn't notice it in her anyway. "You need to go back, Annie. You can't do this."
"What I need are answers. I need to know if you care about Sammi."
The answer came easily. "Of course I care about her."
"Good." She released a soft breath. "Now, I need to know one more thing, and you have to tell me the truth."
"What?" he asked, barely able to take air into his lungs.
"Do you love me?"
He turned from her and uttered a low curse that shattered the night. "Get the hell out of here," he muttered. "You can't take the chance of losing Sammi. I won't let you, not after everything that's happened."
Every defense he had built in him to keep his distance was shattered when he felt her touch him on the back. Even through the cotton of his shirt, the contact was electric, and he jerked forward, then turned on her. "Don't do that again. I told you I'm looking out for myself. And you really are crazy jeopardizing everything by being here."
She came even closer, but even though she didn't touch him again, she was filling his world as surely as he needed air and water to live. "Just answer me, please, do you love me?"
"What do you want from me?" he demanded.
"If you don't love me, say so right now. If you do, I need to know."
He looked up at the heavens, at a dark sky that held no answers for him. Then he looked back at Annie. He wished he could lie, that he could say the words that would send her back to Trevor once again, but he couldn't. He couldn't say he didn't love her when just being this close to her seemed to fill in all the empty blackness in his soul. "All right. The truth."
"Please," she begged softly.
"I love you, Annie. I have since we met, and I've got a sneaking suspicion I will until I die."
She was motionless for a single heartbeat, then she was in his arms. He thought he'd given up on dreams, but this was one dream he wasn't going to question. He held her to him, desperate for the feeling of her body against his, the feeling of her filling his arms, the way she smelled and the softness of her voice against his chest.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she whispered and he could feel her shaking.
He laced his fingers in her tangled hair and gently eased her head back until she had to look up at him. The pleasure in her expression couldn't be hidden by the night, and for that moment he let himself fed things that he'd told himself he'd never allow himself to feel again.
"Oh, Annie, of course I love you. How couldn't I? But you can't give up Sammi. And Trevor's going to take her if he even suspects that you're here."
"Kint!"
The sound of the child's voice came from the car, and Quint looked past Annie. Sammi stood on the driver's seat, clutching the doorframe and bouncing on the leather. "You took her with you?"
"Of course I did," Annie said. "I wasn't about to ever leave her. And I told her all about you on the way here. I think she remembered on her own, but I wanted her to know how important you are to me."
"Talk about a bad case of stupidity," he muttered as he let Annie go to cross to the car.
The child stood on the driver's seat and her doll was at her feet. "Sammi," he said.
As soon as he said her name, she held out her arms. "Hold, peeze," she said. "Kint, hold peeze?" He knew he was failing down into a place where he'd never be able to get out, but he reached out and lifted Sammi into his arms. "Kint, fie, airpain, airpain. Up in sky."
Quint turned when he sensed Annie close behind him, and he found her right there, watching him with her child and tears were staining her cheeks. He had no options at all, not one.
"All right. You're here. What's the plan?"
"To be with you, if you'll have us."
"Annie, that's a fantasy. It's a delusion."
"No, this is real. Trevor's parents know all about what he did, and they gave me their blessings. They won't take Sammi, as long as they can be in her life. Now, all that's left for me is to know if we have a life with you."
Whatever dream he was having was a dream he never wanted to wake from. He reached out for her with his free hand. "Oh, God, I've never wanted anything more than I want a life with you…with both of you."
She pressed a hand to her mouth, then quietly buried her face
in his chest. Sammi patted her head. "Mommy sad? Mommy sad?"
Annie took a shuddering breath, then looked up and met Quint's gaze. "No, Sammi, Mommy's not sad. Not anymore."
Quint dipped his head and found her lips with his. Her taste, mingled with tears of joy, filled him and he knew that all the loneliness and sadness in his life had just been banished.
* * *
Quint looked up as Annie walked into the bedroom on the second floor of the old, rambling house in the hills overlooking Santa Barbara. They'd rented it the day after she and Sammi arrived, and it already felt like home.
Quint watched her come toward the bed, her hair loose and curling around her face. She was wearing a short robe, and her feet were bare. As she stopped by him where he sat on the bed, he could feel a response to her presence that never ceased to amaze him.
For the past two weeks, he'd been living his life instead of enduring it. He'd worked and come home and played with Sammi and made love to Annie, and he knew that life couldn't possibly get any better.
She looked down at him in the soft light from the single bedside lamp. "That was Mrs. Raines on the phone. She would absolutely adore having Sammi for a week while we go on our honeymoon. They have big plans for celebrating her birthday a few weeks late. And they'll spoil her rotten."
"What about Trevor?"
She reached out and touched his cheek, the contact as potent as any had ever been. "He won't be there. He's been quietly admitted to an alcohol recovery program, and…" Her fingers traced the line of his jaw. "Maybe they can help him grow up a bit."
"There wasn't any problem when you told them we were married?"
Her finger trembled as it touched his lips. "A bit of regret, but they were fine. And having Sammi with them sort of makes up for a lot of things."
He reached up and circled her waist with his hands and pulled her down onto his lap. As she put her arm around his neck, he laughed softly. "Do you remember the last time you sat on my lap?"
She touched her lips to a sensitive spot by his ear then whispered, "Of course, but this isn't a bus station or a tiny stall that frustrated every natural instinct. We've got a huge bed."
Her laughter sounded like music to him as they tumbled together into the coolness of the linen. "Natural instincts? Amen to natural instincts," he murmured as he found her lips and kissed her with a fervor that just never diminished.
THE BRIDE WORE BLUE JEANS Page 19
