by Cindy Dees
Her kitchen was shamefully bare of food, but he found eggs, some cheese and the remnants of a few vegetables in the refrigerator and whipped up omelettes for them. Over the meal, she kept sneaking looks his way that looked like a mixture of disbelief and relief. He’d take that as a good sign.
After supper, he ordered her into the bathroom for a long soak in the hottest bath she could stand. In particular, he wanted her to soak her neck and try to keep the muscles from stiffening up too badly after her car accident. As it was, he suspected she’d be pretty sore for a few days.
She emerged a while later, rosy pink, wisps of her hair curling around her face, wearing a pair of fuzzy pink pajamas that made her look about eight years old. He was ready and waiting with the next salvo.
“Here.” He held out two pills in his hand with a glass of water.
“What are those?” she asked.
“Muscle relaxants. Consider them a preemptive strike against the discomfort to come from your wrenched neck.”
She took the pills without argument. Must already be starting to feel a little creaky. He held out the mug of hot chocolate he’d made for her next.
That, she was suspicious of. “What’s going on here, Finn?”
“I’m trying to make you as comfortable and relaxed as possible before we talk.”
“Oh.” Caution blossomed in her eyes as she studied him over the rim of her mug.
“Sit down,” he ordered gently. He noted wryly that she chose her father’s old armchair across the room from the sofa, which was left for him to occupy.
“Finn—”
He raised a hand. “Please, Rachel. Hear me out. I think you owe me that much. I heard you out the other day.” She subsided.
He took a deep breath. He’d been rehearsing this speech for the past several days. But now that the moment was here to deliver it, fear twisted in his gut. So damned much rode on him getting it right.
“Rachel, I love you.”
She lurched at that and he thought she made a tiny sound of distress, but he pressed on. “I always have loved you. And I expect I always will love you. You’ve been part of the fabric of my life forever. You’re a part of me.”
She shifted restlessly and he waited for her to settle once more before continuing. “I fought that fact for a long time. But it was no use. I love you and nothing’s going to change that.”
“But, Finn, I already explained that love isn’t always enough.”
His jaw clenched, but he forced it to relax. “Yes, you did. You also said you had to learn to love yourself before you could love anyone else or let anyone else love you. And I can see where you might feel that way. I happen to agree with you, in fact.”
That sent her eyebrows up behind her hot chocolate.
“And I’m willing to wait for you to work through that.”
“But I have no idea how long it might take.”
He shrugged. “Take as long as you need.”
“But you can’t know that you won’t meet someone else in the meantime. Or maybe you’ll lose patience or just…get over me.”
He laughed, but there was no humor behind it. “I can assure you, I’ve tried everything to get over you already. That’s not happening.”
“So even you agree that we’re not good for each other, then?” she challenged.
“When I thought you’d betrayed us, I might have agreed with that. But now that I know what really happened, I’m convinced we’re perfect for each other. Admit it. You know I’m right.”
She stared into her cup for a long time. Then she raised sad eyes and said, “Love isn’t the only requirement for a relationship to work. The timing has to be right. The right place, the right time in life. And then, of course, the love itself has to be healthy and good for both people involved.”
“How can love not be good for a person?” he exclaimed.
“Trust me. Loving you over the past fifteen years all but destroyed me.”
Pain sliced through him. “Rachel, there was a terrible misunderstanding. That’s resolved now. Our love doesn’t have to hurt anymore.”
She sighed. “Along with love’s power to make people feel good comes great power to harm another person. Can you honestly say you’ve felt great this past week? Wes said you were a wreck. Love did that to you.”
“I’ll admit, love is a risk. Maybe the biggest risk any person ever takes. But that doesn’t mean we should run away from it.”
He barely heard her whisper, “But I’m not that brave.”
That pulled him up off the couch and across the room to kneel in front of her. “You’re one of the bravest people I know. You’ve faced the loss of your dad, taking care of your mom, being alone, financial burdens, taking care of this place by yourself—heck, you’ve faced the whole damned town of Honey Creek and not flinched.”
“Oh, I flinched, all right. I just didn’t let anyone see it.”
He smiled gently at her. “Let me help you. Let me shoulder some of the burden for you. No, with you. I want to be there for you, Blondie.”
“But you don’t even live in Honey Creek. You’re a busy doctor. Your patients need you. Let’s be real, Finn. You can’t commute between me and your real life in Bozeman. Besides, you hate this town. You and I both were desperate to get out of Honey Creek. I couldn’t ask you to come back. And I can’t leave. Not until my mom—” Her voice broke.
“We’ll work it out. Just tell me you’re willing to give it a try.”
“I—” She fell silent. Eventually, she murmured, “I can’t make you any promises.”
It was better than the outright rejection he’d expected. He took the mug out of her grasp and set it aside. He took both her hands in his and captured her gaze, gently forcing her not to look away.
“Know this, Rachel Grant. I’m not going anywhere. I’m here to stay in your life. I’ll wait for you as long as it takes for you to be ready to love me. I love you, and we are going to be together.”
“Are you planning on stalking me?” she asked with patently false flippancy.
“Nope. I’m not getting far enough away from you to follow you. I’m going to be right here.”
She frowned skeptically.
That, he’d expected from her. He’d laid down the gauntlet. Now it was up to him to follow through on his big words and show her just how much he loved her.
“You probably ought to crawl into bed, sweetheart. You look like you could use the rest. I’ll be on the couch tonight, and I’m a light sleeper. No one’s getting past me to bother you. Okay?”
She nodded thoughtfully and retreated to her bedroom.
Rachel slept deeply that night, although she figured it had as much to do with the pills Finn had given her as it did feeling safe for once. When she woke up in the morning, delicious smells were coming from her kitchen. That man was going to fatten her up but good at this rate. She realized she was smiling for the first time in a long time.
So. Finn was planning to wait for her, was he?
One part of her was deeply skeptical. That would be the part that remembered him abandoning her without so much as giving her a chance to explain herself. But another part of her, a tiny kernel deep inside her heart, was…hopeful. If only he were telling the truth. She’d give anything for that to be the case.
When she strolled into the kitchen a few minutes later, Finn was dishing up biscuits and sausage gravy and a fresh fruit compote that looked scrumptious. “Where did all this food come from?” she exclaimed.
“I made a quick run to the grocery store before you woke up. I had Wes come over and sit in front of your house while I was gone.”
Horrified that he’d put the sheriff out like that so she could have a nice breakfast, she opened her mouth to protest, but he waved her to silence. Frustrated, she sat down and dug into the delicious fare. She insisted on doing the dishes after breakfast and shooed him out of the kitchen to go take a shower. She opened her refrigerator to put away the leftovers and was stunned to
see the thing jammed with food. Suspicious, she opened the pantry. It was fully—fully—stocked. Finn must have bought her three months’ worth of food.
Bemused, she let him drive her over to the nursing home to visit her mother, as was her daily habit before work. He let her go in alone to see her mother, which was probably best. Strangers seemed to bother her mother, who worried that she was supposed to recognize them and didn’t.
When Rachel came out to the front desk to rejoin Finn, the nurses were all smiling broadly. Clearly, he’d been working his considerable charms on them.
The floor supervisor handed her a sealed envelope, and Rachel winced. This month’s bill for her mother’s care. At least she would get her second paycheck from Walsh Enterprises today, and it should cover this bill plus a little.
She tucked the envelope in her purse and let Finn escort her out to his truck and drive her to work. He’d tried to talk her out of going to Walsh Enterprises, but she wasn’t hearing of it. She needed the paycheck too much.
“Don’t be alone and don’t leave the building unless I’m with you, okay?” he asked.
“Really. You don’t have to—”
He waved a hand. “No arguments. Not until the bastard’s caught.”
She sighed. Okay, so it felt nice knowing that someone big and strong was looking out for her.
“Are you busy for lunch? I have an errand I need to run and I thought you could come along if you like,” he suggested casually. “Uhh, okay.”
“I’ll be here at noon,” he said. Something thawed a little in her heart. He did, indeed, seem committed to being around for her as long as it took to prove that she could count on him not to leave again.
When she got to her cubicle and bent down to put her purse under her desk, the nursing home bill fell out. She picked up the envelope and opened it idly. And stared. There must be a mistake. The outstanding balance on the account was zero. Zero. It should be close to fifty thousand dollars. She picked up her desk phone.
“Hi, Jason. It’s Rachel Grant. I think there’s been a mistake on my mother’s bill.”
The floor supervisor at the nursing home laughed heartily. “I was wondering when you were going to open that envelope. It’s no mistake.”
“I don’t understand.”
“While you were in visiting your mom this morning, Finn Colton paid off your mom’s account.”
Rachel gasped. “But it was thousands of dollars!”
“He stood right here and wrote a check for the whole amount. Must be nice to have that kind of money, huh?”
Rachel mumbled something and hung up the phone, stunned. It was too much. She dialed Finn’s cell phone.
“Hi, Blondie,” he answered cheerfully.
“You shouldn’t have, Finn. I’ll pay you back. I insist.”
“Ahh. The nursing home bill. Marry me and we’ll call it good.”
“Finn!” she said on a gasp. “You can’t buy me like that!”
“I know I can’t. But I told you I was going to help shoulder your burdens. Get used to it.”
“We’re going to talk about this when we get home tonight.” she said darkly.
“I like the sound of that. When we get home. Let’s do that every night.”
“Finn Colton, you are the most exasperating man on the planet.”
“Yup, and you love every bit of me.”
“I—” She opened her mouth to deny it, but the words wouldn’t come out.
“You’re welcome,” he said gently. “It was my pleasure to pay your mom’s bill. She was more of a mother to me over the years than my own mother. It was the least I could do to repay her for her kindness.”
Rachel stared at the wall of her cubicle. What was she supposed to say to that?
“Have a nice morning, and I’ll see you at noon. Lunch. Don’t forget. I love you,” Finn said.
She hung up, stunned. Her mountain of debt. Gone. Just like that. The load off her shoulders was unbelievable. She’d had no idea how much it was weighing her down until Finn had lifted it away from her. She was going to find a way to pay him back, though. She hated the idea of being beholden to anyone like that, even if it was Finn, and even if he did have a great explanation for his act of generosity.
Craig Warner’s secretary delivered a mountain of payroll records to her from Lester Atkins with instructions to report to him by the end of the day with an audit report. She spent the morning digging through the dust-dry records, sure that the assignment was petty revenge from him for her not getting his precious contracts signed.
The clock registered five minutes till twelve and her stomach started to flutter. She left her desk a few minutes early and headed downstairs to the front door. Sure enough, Finn’s pickup truck was there and he was leaning against its side, tall and rugged. Lord, he was handsome. Smiling, she stepped out into the brisk sunshine.
He leaned down to kiss her cheek and her pulse leaped as he held the passenger door open for her. He pointed his truck toward the highway and she frowned. “Where are we going?”
“Bozeman.”
“What for?” she asked.
“I have to check in briefly at my hospital. It won’t take more than five minutes. But I have to let them know I’m extending my leave of absence for a while. And then I have another errand.”
The drive to Bozeman was pleasant. The easy camaraderie they’d shared all those years ago when they’d been young and in love came back to them, and they fell into their usual pattern of fun banter and wide-ranging discussions. She enjoyed his quick mind and his knowledge of seemingly everything under the sun.
The staff of the Bozeman emergency room eyed her speculatively enough that she grew uncomfortable, and Finn didn’t help matters when he looped an arm around her shoulders and dropped an absent kiss on top of her head while they waited for his boss to leave a patient to speak with Finn.
As advertised, the stop didn’t take long. Finn’s boss commented that he was glad Finn was finally taking some of his accumulated vacation time and to go with his blessing.
They got back into Finn’s truck, and Rachel frowned at his palpable excitement. “Where are we going?”
“To pick up something I ordered this morning,” he answered mysteriously.
“What have you done now?”
He merely grinned…and turned into a car dealership.
“Finn…”
“Shared burdens, kid. Deal with it.”
And before she knew it, the keys to a brand-new loaded-to-the hilt, four-wheel-drive SUV were handed to her. And, no surprise, the title was handed to her as well. The vehicle was paid in full, of course.
“I’m going to kill you, Finn,” she muttered direly.
“I look forward to you trying,” he grinned back unrepentantly. “I’ll follow you back to Honey Creek. And I’m still meeting you when you get out of work to follow you home.”
“After this long lunch and given the amount of work on my desk, I’ll be late tonight.”
“What time should I be there?” he asked.
“Say, six-thirty?”
“Done.”
Shell-shocked, she got into her brand-spanking-new SUV and headed back to Honey Creek. The vehicle drove like a dream. It was smooth and powerful and wrapped around her as comfortably as the man who’d bought it for her. She was not letting him buy her affections, darn it. She’d find a way to pay him back for this, too, she vowed grimly.
True to his word, Finn watched her walk into the Walsh building and blew her a kiss when she turned around to wave goodbye. As campaigns went to blow her away, his was proceeding very nicely. And that alarmed her. Things were moving too fast for her to process. He was intentionally sweeping her off her feet, not giving her any time to think. The man was a bulldozer. A really, really sexy, thoughtful bulldozer. But still.
She dived into her work with a vengeance but it was still nearly six o’clock before she finished the report Lester had requested. She printed it off on her computer and
grabbed the papers. If she were lucky, he’d already left for the day. She’d just put the thing in his in-basket and pack up to meet Finn. Darned if her tummy didn’t go all aflutter at the thought of seeing him again. After she kicked his butt for all the things he’d done for her today, she was imagining all kinds of ways to demonstrate her gratitude.
A smile on her face, she passed the empty desk of Craig Warner’s secretary. Drat. A light was on in Warner’s office. She sighed and knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” Atkins’s voiced called out.
“Rachel Grant, sir. I’ve got your payroll report.”
“Come in.”
She stepped into the office. Lester wasn’t sitting at the desk like she’d expected. He was standing over by the wet bar. One hand was awkwardly behind his back and he had a strange look on his face.
“Lay it on my desk,” he directed.
She crossed the room while he watched and did as he’d ordered.
“Turn around,” he barked, startling her.
She whirled to face him. What was wrong with him? And then she saw it. The gun pointed at her. Terror erupted in her gut and her knees all but collapsed out from under her. Belatedly, Finn’s warning never to be alone came to mind. Of course, she wasn’t alone now. Apparently, she was in the company of a certified lunatic.
Atkins ranted, “You think you’re so smart, don’t you? Finding those discrepancies in the Walsh Oil Drilling documents. And then you had to go and tell the damned sheriff about them. Ruining all my plans, are you? Well, I won’t have it. I won’t stand for that. I’ve worked too hard for too long to let some filthy little slut like you wreck it for me now.”
She stared. What on earth was he talking about? Was he the insider behind the embezzlement after all?
“What’s going on with the Hidden Pines deal?” she blurted. “Are you involved with that in some way?”
He jolted and the gun wavered dangerously. Yikes. Maybe bringing up Hidden Pines hadn’t been such a great idea. But if she could get him talking…keep him talking…she glanced at the clock on the wall—6:02. Lord. Almost a half hour before Finn was supposed to pick her up. Could she keep Lester occupied for that long?
