by EMILIE ROSE
Her pulse skipped, and if her heart could sigh, it would. Those were the perfect words to end a perfect night. How could she walk away in two weeks?
And that was when she realized she’d done the worst thing she could possibly do. She’d fallen totally, irrevocably in love with Adam Drake.
* * *
MADISON DIDN’T WANT to go home, she realized with a sinking stomach as they pulled into the crowded airport parking lot Tuesday night. That was a first. She loved the sanctuary of her farm and practice.
Last night had been wonderful. After their date Adam had taken her home, then straight to his bedroom, where they’d made love the first time with explosive passion, then again so tenderly she’d had to hide tears in her pillow afterward. She’d lain in his arms all night, too tangled up in emotions to sleep.
She’d fallen in love, a state of vulnerability she’d sworn to never enter again. But being in love with Adam was a no-win situation. Even if he wasn’t a Drake, a relationship between them would never work. He loved his job at Mercy Hospital. And she wouldn’t leave Quincey.
Her marriage had taught her that long-distance relationships were a struggle. How long would it be before the cost and inconvenience of getting together would outweigh the pleasure? How long before he resented the time she spent on her practice instead of with him? Or could they make it work? The odds were against them, but could they beat them?
Adam reached across the console and squeezed her hand. “It’s going to be a long five days.”
They’d made love again this morning and his gentleness had soldered him so deep into her heart she might never recover. Then over breakfast Adam had revisited the request she’d strategically dodged last night. He’d managed to persuade her to continue coming to Norcross for as long as Danny needed her.
Determined to soak up every moment of his company, she covered her doubts with a forced smile. “I can’t wait until Sunday.”
He leaned over to kiss her. She met him halfway. His lips were firm, his tongue slick and hot. The carnality of his mouth contrasted with the chasteness of the distance the console and the public location forced between them. She was limited to combing her fingers through his thick hair and cupping his strong jaw.
Kissing in the car was something most teenagers did, but she never had. His thumb stroked erotically over the pulse drumming at the base of her neck. She wanted it lower. She needed his hands, his mouth on her breasts, on her body, the way they’d been this morning before work. She craved—
A hard pounding on Madison’s window startled them apart. Helen stood on the opposite side of the glass, glaring in. The shock on her face echoed through Madison. She’d seen that expression on Helen before, and it filled her with trepidation.
Adam cursed under his breath. “Stay in the car. I’ll handle this.”
He exited the vehicle and circled to Madison’s side, planting himself between Helen and Madison. “Mom, calm down.”
“I will not calm down.” Helen leaned around him to point at Madison through the glass. “You already stole one of my sons from me. You can’t have the only one I have left!”
“Madison didn’t steal anyone, Mom. Andrew’s death was not her fault. It was an accident. Nothing more. You need to move on.”
“She was driving and he’s dead. That’s all that matters. Now she’s trying to make you move away.”
Madison had never had anyone defend her before, and the fact that Adam did so now surprised her, but she had to fight her own battles rather than let him ruin his relationship with his mother.
Dreading what was to come she opened her door. “I’m not trying to take Adam from you, Helen. I know he loves his job too much to leave Mercy.”
He shot her a quick, questioning glance. “Tell her what Andrew did to you, Madison.”
He didn’t know what he was asking. Madison shook her head. “Adam, don’t.”
“Tell her or I will.”
“Please don’t,” she begged him.
“Don’t tell me what?” Antagonism dripped from the words.
“Andrew sabotaged her birth control and got her pregnant intentionally to keep her from joining Dad’s practice. The reason they were arguing the night of her graduation party was because he got drunk and bragged about what he’d done.”
Helen paled and staggered back a step. “No. You’re lying.”
Her hoarse, whispered words were almost inaudible with the surrounding airport noises.
Madison had to stop Adam before he did irreversible damage. She grabbed his arm. “Adam, the past is over. Let it go.”
His hard face didn’t soften. “Andrew is the one who lied. Repeatedly. He had to be the center of attention and Madison had outshone him at the office. The only way he could stop her was by eliminating her as competition.”
Trembling and pale, Helen shook her head. “You’ve concocted this...this tale to turn him against his own brother. I’m sorry you ever came back.”
Helen stormed back to her car, which was parked a half dozen spots away behind a minivan.
Madison had a feeling she was going to be sorry, too—for a very long time. The last thing she’d intended was cause Helen more pain or drive a wedge between mother and son, but it was too late. Returning to Norcross would only exacerbate the situation. She’d have to say a final goodbye to Adam tonight. The realization opened a deep well of pain inside her. She wanted to run, to hide, to escape and lick her wounds in private.
She faced him. “You should follow your mother. She’s very upset. But if you would, please, rent me a car before you go. I don’t have a credit card.”
He stared after Helen’s departing taillights. “She’s irrational now and won’t listen to reason. She needs time to calm down. I’ll talk to her tomorrow night.”
“You shouldn’t have told her.”
His troubled gaze held hers. “If we’re going to try to make our relationship work, she’s going to find out eventually anyway.”
She wanted so badly for a life with Adam to be possible. But it wasn’t. They had too much against them. “Adam, there is no us beyond this brief interlude. Long distance relationships don’t work.”
He stared at her for a long time. “If distance wasn’t an issue, would you even be interested in trying?”
She wrapped her arms around her middle, but it did nothing to alleviate the sense of loss engulfing her. She searched for the words to lessen the blow and couldn’t find them. “It doesn’t matter what I want. I can’t come back to Norcross.”
“You’re going to run because of my mother’s outburst?”
“It’s not running. It’s reality. I’m not welcome here.”
“What about your promise to Dad? Does your word mean nothing?” The harsh words lacerated her.
Her head snapped back as if he’d slapped her. “Forcing your mother to play hostess to me when she hates my guts isn’t the right thing to do. It’s an imposition.”
“Call it whatever you want, Madison, and make any excuses you want. I call it cowardice. Let’s go. We’re running out of daylight.”
He stalked toward the general aviation terminal, leaving her to follow. And that was that. She’d finally found a man she could love, trust and respect. And she had to let him go.
She’d gone into the affair with no expectations of forever, so why did the ending hurt so bad?
* * *
HELEN DROVE HOME by rote. She wanted to deny Adam’s claim that Andrew had tricked Madison. But how could she when the heinous thought had already crossed her mind?
Why, oh, why, had Andrew always needed to brag about every little success? By boasting to Madison he’d started an argument that had very likely led to Madison’s distraction that night, making the wreck that had killed Andrew and Daniel partially Helen’s fault.
> If Danny and Adam ever discovered her part in the tragedy, they’d never forgive her. Danny would probably even leave her. Her heart palpitated with panic.
Danny’s doctors had told them the last CAT scan had shown no sign of cancer. Danny’s prognosis was very good. But she could lose him anyway, all because she’d offered motherly advice.
The horrible secret coming to light was all Madison’s fault. If she hadn’t come back—
No, Helen admitted with the weight of the disaster settling on her shoulders. Madison had refused to come back. Helen had browbeaten her into agreeing. If the secret came out and Helen ended up alone, she had no one but herself to blame.
And if Madison and Adam ended up together, she’d lose Adam, too, even if Danny found someone to buy Madison’s practice, because twice now Helen had struck out in anger and said horrible things. Madison had forgiven her once. But her doing so again was unlikely.
Those two times with Madison were the only times in her life that Helen had allowed her mother’s nasty personality to come out of her mouth, and it shamed her. But seeing Madison kissing Adam had been so shocking, so wrong. Madison was Andrew’s wife. She had no business kissing his brother.
No, it was more than that. Madison was the only woman to ever threaten what Helen loved most. All the Drake men loved Madison, and Helen was very, very afraid her husband and sons might love Madison more than they did her.
The motor home came into view. She desperately wanted to keep driving. But she couldn’t. Danny needed her. She’d left him in bed to carry the food to the airport. The food. She smacked a hand against her forehead. She’d forgotten all about the turkey-and-spinach enchiladas she’d made for Madison. The container was still in her trunk.
Her sweat-slickened hands slipped on the steering wheel. Nerves. She was almost sick with them. She parked and decided to leave the food in the car. It would spoil, but she’d rather throw it out than explain to Danny why she hadn’t delivered the food.
Did he know about Madison and Adam’s...involvement? Was that what everyone but her had known about during dinner last night? That had to be the reason behind all those secretive smiles. And the little speech Danny had given her about trying to get Madison to move back to Norcross meant he condoned the relationship.
If she didn’t want to lose her husband and her son, then she had to make sure no one ever learned about the conversation she’d had with Andrew before Madison became pregnant.
And she had to find a way to make Madison forgive her. Again.
* * *
MADISON WASN’T COMING back.
Adam sat on the back patio listening to and empathizing with the bullfrogs’ sad calls. In all the years he’d lived beside the pond he’d never heard them until Madison had mentioned them. She’d opened his eyes to a lot of things.
Like doing the job because you loved it rather than for financial reward or someone else’s approval. Like keeping secrets that tore you up because letting them out would hurt others. Like always taking the high road when striking back would be so much easier.
Despite his mother’s continued bad behavior, Madison had never retaliated. He couldn’t imagine the personal cost of maintaining that smile in the face of so much hostility. And she’d never told any of them what Andrew had done to her—not until Adam had forced it out of her.
He needed sleep, but he didn’t dare close his eyes. Every time he did he saw Madison, pale and shaky at the airport when she’d informed him it was over. He’d asked her if distance weren’t an issue would she be interested in a future with him, and her hesitation had eviscerated him.
He swatted another mosquito. He’d been sitting out here feeding the bloodthirsty insects ever since returning from the airport because she’d slept on the screened porch, and his whole house smelled like her. His sheets bore the scent of the love they’d made. Love. The word hit him like a fifty-pound medicine ball to the belly, knocking the wind from him. He’d fallen in love with Madison Monroe. His brother’s widow. The shock wave of the discovery rocked him.
If what they’d had was just sex, he’d have politely accepted the end, the way he had with Ann. No hard feelings. No pain. But that wasn’t the case. Because of Madison, he’d learned the difference between making love and having sex.
Long-distance relationships don’t work. Her words echoed in his head.
Logically, he agreed. He couldn’t keep flying back to North Carolina every weekend. Not only was the fuel cost high, but the other owners of the plane were beginning to complain about Adam commandeering it so often. They had cut him some slack because of his father’s condition, but that wouldn’t last.
Life without Madison seemed unpalatable. But so did this pain, this emptiness, the sense of being off course and not knowing how to get back on track.
She wouldn’t leave Quincey. He didn’t want to leave Mercy. If he wanted a future with her, then one of them had to make the sacrifice. Madison’s pets, her clients, her friends had been there for her when his family had not. He wouldn’t take her support system away from her. That meant he’d have to put Mercy and all the work he’d invested in the hospital behind him.
He could do that. He would put Madison ahead of his career any day—even if it meant taking a backward step to a smaller facility. That might not garner his father’s approval, but impressing his dad wouldn’t give Adam a fraction of the satisfaction that holding Madison in his arms at night or seeing her smile first thing in the morning did. He was not his father or his brother. He would not be blinded by ambition, and he wouldn’t sacrifice her happiness for his own.
Filled with a sense of purpose, he rose and headed inside. Sleep now, then first thing in the morning he’d put his plan together. And once he did, he was going after the woman he loved.
* * *
BEFORE HE COULD pursue his future, Adam had to clear up the misconceptions of the past.
He tossed the papers on the table of the motor home. “I hired an accident investigator to look into the wreck six years ago. The fatalities weren’t Madison’s fault.”
“I never thought they were,” his father protested.
Adam eyed his mother. She fidgeted under his hard stare—as she should. “She did. Mother, before you lose your temper and unjustly accuse someone again, you need facts, not misinformation. Because of your attack last night, Madison’s not coming back.”
Danny bolted upright. He shot a scowl at Helen, then refocused on Adam. “Maddie promised me eight weeks.”
His mother paled, then tossed her hair. Had he seen relief in her eyes? “She’s left us before. It’s not like this is the first time. We’ll get by. I’ll call the veterinary service.”
Fury burned in Adam’s chest. “Tell him the truth, Mom.”
Panic filled her eyes. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Madison left six years ago because you told her to go.”
“What?” his father asked.
“After Andrew’s memorial service, Mom told Madison that the sight of her made her sick.”
“Helen!” His father looked dumbfounded. “You’re the reason Maddie left?”
“I was hurting, and I—”
“Do you think she wasn’t hurting, Mother? She lost far more than you did. She lost her husband and her baby and her family—us. You lost one son.”
“I—I—”
He didn’t let her finish. His disgust of the situation and his part in it robbed him of compassion. “Madison lay in that hospital alone, laboring and delivering Daniel stillborn, then mourning him and Andrew. Alone. None of us visited her. She depended on strangers to relay updates on Andrew because none of us bothered.”
Danny looked shocked. “I never thought to... I kept waiting for Andrew to prove the doctors wrong and wake up. That boy was too damned ornery and hardheaded to die. I kep
t hoping for a sign....”
“We all did, Dad. All these years I’ve faulted Madison for abandoning us and her responsibilities. I had listened to Andrew’s lies, and I believed she was cold and selfish. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Madison did the right thing in leaving because we Drakes kept hurting her. We abandoned her long before she left us. And Andrew—”
Anger snapped off his words. It took a moment to regain his composure enough to speak.
“Andrew didn’t deserve a generous, caring woman like Madison. Maybe I don’t, either. But I love her. And I want to marry her if I can convince her to give me a chance. If either of you can’t accept that, then you’re going to lose your second son. Because I’ll walk out that door, and I won’t bring her back for more abuse from you or manipulations by you.” He glared at his mother, then his father.
“I’m looking for a position near Madison, and I’m going to beg her to make a place for me in her life. Whether or not she and I ever see you again depends on your actions, Mother—whether you can make peace with her. And if she can forgive the wrongs this family has committed against her. Frankly, I wouldn’t blame her if she never spoke to any of us again.”
He turned his attention to his father with years of pent-up frustrations. “Dad, I’ve spent my life competing with Andrew to win your approval. I’m done. The only person I have to impress is me. And Madison, if she’ll have me.”
“You have my approval, Adam. You always did. Was I disappointed that you didn’t join the practice? Of course I was, and I didn’t handle your decision well. But while I was hurt that you didn’t want to work with me, I respected you for forging your own path. I am proud of you, son. You’ve done well.”
Adam searched his father’s face and saw sincerity in his eyes, but the accolades he’d been waiting for most of his life did nothing to alleviate the emptiness Madison’s departure had created. “Thanks, Dad.”
