Once he had her, he didn’t want to let go, and they stood there, rocking slowly together in the falling snow, until Tommy got jealous and jumped on their legs. He yapped and made a soft whine.
Mattie chuckled and eased away. “Who is this?” She knelt, smiling, to rub the puppy’s head.
“Tommy.”
“What a cutie,” she said in a sweet dog-voice. Tommy fell instantly in love, and jumped up to lick her face.
Zeke knew just how he felt. “You want to go in and have some coffee?” he asked, trying to remember to be civilized.
“Sure.” She stuck her hands in her pockets. “I hope this isn’t a bad time or anything. I didn’t have any way to call and warn you.”
“No time would be a bad time,” he said. “I’m glad you’re here.”
She smiled, but there was something hesitant still. He didn’t want to acknowledge anything uneven just yet, though. It was enough to just have her here. “I have a surprise for you. Come on.”
Mattie followed him in, and the smile on her face was worth the hassles of the wiring when he flipped the switch and a lamp at the table side came on. “Ta-da,” he said with a flourish, gesturing. “Lamps. Radio—” He flipped it on, and just as quickly off when the sound intruded. “Even a fridge. So you can have real milk in your coffee.”
She laughed. “I’m amazed you could get so much done so fast.”
Fast. It seemed like a hundred years since he’d seen her last. A thousand. “Let me take your coat.”
Admiring the new appliances, she absently took it off and looked up to give it to him, her eyes shining. Below the coat, she wore a soft, gauzy blouse with long, romantic sleeves and a scoop neck. Her waist was accentuated with a belt made of silver conchos, and swinging from her ears were silver feathers. He lifted an eyebrow. “You got you some new clothes.”
“Yes, I did.” She grinned. “Do you like them?”
“Look like you were born and raised in the West.”
She smoothed her palms on her jeans. “Thanks. The amazing thing is, I have more than just these. A whole closet full of clothes.”
The silky fabric of her blouse clung to her breasts with a loving hand. The jeans hugged her generous hips. “Puts a man in mind of things other than coffee,” he said, and was amazed to hear his voice was hoarse.
“Does it?” she said in a near whisper.
“I’d sure like to kiss you.”
“I wouldn’t mind,” she said, and swallowed.
He tossed her coat on the chair and moved swiftly to take her face in his hands and press his mouth to hers. Her hands fell on his wrists, and when their lips met, she made a tiny little sound, almost pained.
He got dizzy. Dizzy as if he’d been on a merry-go-round for ten minutes, so dizzy he nearly swayed. And it made him dip again, taste her gently, sweetly. “Oh, Mattie,” he sighed and pulled her close to kiss her properly. “I missed you so much.”
It seemed right, natural, to lead her into the new bedroom, with its wide views of the mountains, now obscured with falling snow. A room he’d built with her in mind, a room with thick braided rugs on the floor and a nice lamp.
But he trembled as he unbuttoned her blouse, for there was too much inside of him. Too much. He skimmed off her blouse and touched her breasts and waist, kissed one pert nipple as gently as he could. And pulled her close again, feeling her nakedness against him.
“I love you, Mattie,” he whispered against her ear.
The words released something, and he said it again. “I love you.”
“Zeke,” she said in a strangled voice, her fingers clutching his body. He felt a wash of moisture on her face and lifted her chin to kiss the tears.
“I love you,” he whispered, and lifted her gently in his arms. They made love slowly, with a savoring hunger born of weeks of longing. He took the time to kiss the round of her shoulder and the crook of her arm, the gentle rise of her belly and the curve of a thigh.
Even their climax seemed calm and full and deep, rocking and rippling, not wild or fierce. As they lay together sated, Mattie said, “I love you.”
He braced himself on his arms and kissed her, his hair falling around their faces like a curtain. “Will you stay?”
She hesitated. “We need to talk, Zeke.”
The tone of her voice sent a bolt of fear through him, but he didn’t want to give this up yet, this feeling of being whole; of the world, for one brief instant, being right. “Not yet, Mattie. Let me just love you.”
“It’s really important.”
This time, real alarm sounded and he moved away, erecting defenses against whatever it was. In the instant it took to separate himself, put some space between them, he tried to imagine what could put that tone in her voice. Another man? Some glitch with the trial? A sudden desire to travel and see the world?
Her face gave no reassurance, either. She pulled the covers up around her, and her eyes were big with worry.
“Damn, Mattie, just tell me.”
She swallowed, brushed her hair off her forehead and said, “I’m going to have a baby.”
He gaped at her, not comprehending. Had she been carrying Brian’s child when he met her? No. He remembered that box of tampons she spilled. “A baby?”
She licked her lips. “Yes. I wasn’t going to tell you, because you made your position very clear. And I’m not asking anything of you, either.”
Zeke heard a roaring in his ears. “My child?”
“I didn’t think it was fair to not tell you. I kept thinking of the way you looked with that baby in the bar in Kismet, and it just seemed wrong not to tell you.”
He felt as if he’d had the wind knocked out of him. Urgently, he stood up and grabbed his robe. He tied it firmly. “You’re pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, Mattie,” he said, and sank into a chair, covering his face. “A baby.”
“I’m sorry, Zeke.” She grabbed her clothes from the floor where they had fallen and started yanking them on. “I shouldn’t have come. I’m sorry. It seemed like the right thing to do.”
He looked up, startled. “What are you doing?”
“I’ll just go, um, back to my place. I’m living in town.”
He jumped up, one fear overriding the other. If she left again, he’d face all that bleak loneliness again. “No,” he said, grabbing her. “No.” He pulled her into his arms, holding her so she couldn’t go. “Don’t leave me again, Mattie. Please.”
“Oh, Zeke,” she said, flinging her arms around his neck. She burst into tears. “I never wanted to leave in the first place.”
He closed his eyes and held her close. “Don’t go,” he repeated in a whisper.
“No, Zeke. I won’t.” She held him. “I won’t.”
*
THEY SAT BY the fire in the living room, drinking hot chocolate and eating popcorn. Zeke held her as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to let go, and Mattie stayed close for the same reason. It seemed like a miracle.
After a time, he said quietly, “It scares me, Mattie, the baby.”
She lifted her head. “I know.”
“It’s been the one thing I most regretted, that I wasn’t gonna have any babies of my own.” His drawl seemed deeper, as it always did when references to his childhood emerged. “What if I’m like him, Mattie? What if that meanness is living in me somewhere?”
Mattie looked at him for a long moment, thinking of all the reasons she knew he wasn’t mean, not anywhere in him, not the tiniest portion. “This is a gift, Zeke, from heaven above. If a star fell in your lap, would you give it back to God and tell him you didn’t think you could handle it?”
He stroked her hair. “No.”
“You know what I think?” Mattie said, and touched his face. “I think you’re my reward for making it through. I think this baby is your reward for being so brave all those years.” She touched one of the small faded circle scars. “I think you deserve to have a baby of your own more than anyone I’ve ever
met.”
He yanked her close, burying his head against her neck, but not before Mattie saw the glimmer of tears in his eyes. “You’re my reward, Miss Mary.”
In time, when he’d gained control, he lifted his head. “So you think you want to live with a man like me, huh? Up here in the wilderness without a toilet and no movie house for thirty miles?”
“Yes.”
“You think you’re going to enjoy a life of raising horses?”
“Yes.”
He took a breath. “And you think you want me to be the father of your children?”
She lifted her head, smiling. “Definitely.”
He nodded. “I think we oughta get married, then, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“We do have one small problem, Miss Mary,” he said in his gravelly voice.
“What?”
“You never told me your name. Is Mattie really short for Matilda?”
She laughed. “Will it change things?”
“It might. I don’t know about being married to a Matilda.”
“Look who’s talking, Ezekiel.”
“So it is Matilda.” He chuckled.
“It’s Madeline.”
He went still. “Really?”
“Rhetta Madeline O’Neal. Irish as they come.”
“Madeline was my sister’s name,” he said hoarsely, pressing his lips to her temple. “The one who died.”
Mattie leaned into him, pressing her cheek to his neck.
“If the baby is a girl, maybe we could call her Madeline, if you wouldn’t mind.”
Mattie didn’t bother to stop the tears. “That would be fine.”
He stroked her arm gently. “And what was your foster brother’s name? The one who taught you to play pool?”
“Jamie,” she whispered, hearing his acceptance of the child they’d made.
“That would be nice for a boy.”
“Very nice,” she agreed and let him gather her up close.
Silent, contented, they watched the fire flicker as snow fell from a peaceful mountain sky.
-The End—
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If you enjoyed Breaking the Rules, be sure to check out these emotional, award-winning contemporary romances by Barbara Samuel:
In The Midnight Rain
Rainsinger
Secret Thunder by Patricia Ryan
Copyright © 1997 Patricia Ryan
Cover Credit: Patricia Ryan
Follow the Sun by Judith Arnold
Copyright © 1994 Barbara Keiler
Cover Credit: Patricia Ryan
Trust in Me by Kathryn Shay
Copyright © 2003 and 2010 Kathryn Shay
Cover Credit: Patricia Ryan
Breaking the Rules by Barbara Samuel
Copyright © 2011 by Barbara Samuel
Cover Credit: Sharon Schlicht @Littlebytes Design
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Meet the Summit Authors
The Summit Authors are eight of today’s most successful, innovative independent authors. All of our members have written for top New York publishers and achieved national and international recognition. Our bestselling, award-winning novels include contemporary, historical, and paranormal romance, women’s fiction, and mysteries. To keep up with all of our latest books and exciting new projects, visit www.summitauthors.com
Judith Arnold is a USA Today bestselling, award-winning author of more than 90 novels, with more than 10 million copies of her books in print. Her writing has been called “enchantingly charming,” “quietly lyrical,” and, according to Publishers Weekly, “scrumptious.”
Wendy Lindstrom is a RITA Award-winning author of “beautifully poignant, wonderfully emotional” historical romances. Romantic Times has dubbed her “one of romance’s finest Americana writers,” and readers rave about her enthralling characters and the riveting emotional power of her work.
Julianne MacLean is a USA Today bestselling author praised by readers and reviewers alike for her “smart, thrilling, sizzling” writing. Her 15 historical romances have been published internationally by three major New York publishers.
Patricia McLinn is a USA Today bestselling author of 30 “powerful, compelling” contemporary romances cherished by readers worldwide for their memorable characters, sensuality and emotional intensity. There are more than 4 million copies of her books in print.
Julie Ortolon is a USA Today bestselling author who has earned raves from Publishers Weekly and Booklist for her sparkling romantic comedies filled with passion and heart. Her novels regularly appear at the top of the ebook bestseller lists.
Patricia Ryan is a RITA Award-winning author known for breaking boundaries with her “fresh, swift and sexy” page-turners that blend romance, history and suspense. Her 28 books have been published in more than 20 countries.
Kathryn Shay is a USA Today bestselling author and has more than 5 million copies in print of her 47 published novels. Her contemporary romances have been serialized in Cosmopolitan magazine and featured in The Wall Street Journal and People magazine.
Shelly Thacker is a RITA Award finalist and national bestseller who has earned lavish praise from Publishers Weekly, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Detroit Free Press and The Oakland Press for her “innovative, addictive, erotic” historical romances.
If you enjoyed these stories, check out these other great books with “Bad Boy” heroes:
Loverboy by Judith Arnold
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Hale’s Point by Patricia Ryan
Lucien’s Fall by Barbara Samuel
No Place Like Home by Barbara Samuel
Better than Before by Kathryn Shay
Promises to Keep by Kathryn Shay
Serenity House Trilogy by Kathryn Shay
Hidden Cover Firefighters series by Kathryn Shay
Run Wild by Shelly Thacker
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