“Appears so. But I can tell you, it wasn’t all hearts and flowers. There was an altercation.”
“About what?” she asked as she pulled the lap-and-shoulder belt across her body.
Seeing her distraction, Nate took the latch from her hand and clicked it into place for her before heading in the direction of the hospital, where they would deliver his mother’s dinner and check on his father’s condition one last time that night.
“No idea,” Max said. “But it got heated enough that the cops were called about a disturbance in a meeting room there—yelling and what could’ve been a fistfight. My cop pal didn’t know for sure because by the time officers arrived, everybody’d gotten their stories straight and couldn’t imagine how hotel security could’ve possibly mistaken their audiovisual presentation for a real live dustup.” Max snorted in what sounded like amusement.
April might have laughed, too, at the thought of a bunch of rich old white guys—as they almost assuredly would all be—whaling away at each other over who would get the fattest slice of government pie. But there was nothing remotely funny about Nate’s father’s current condition, or the possibility, however slim, that someone from the group might have decided that Wheeler’s rise to the US Senate might give Correctional Solutions an unfair competitive advantage.
Once she thanked Max and ended the call, Nate was quick to ask, “Bad news?”
“More like confusing news,” she said. “That was my PI friend again. He’s told me the Austin police are close to an arrest in the Villareal case.”
“That cop—the beating victim’s brother?”
She shook her head, though she could tell Nate was too intent on the icy road to see. “I guess so, but I’m not sure.”
“But if the officer’s really the person who sent Cobb to our wedding, this could be an end to it, right?” Nate said. “At least, if Cobb’s caught—and he’s not the only thug this guy sent.”
“That’s still a lot of ifs, Nate,” she said, “but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.”
“I’ll rest better when those bastards are all behind bars. And you and I are safe to figure out a future.”
He glanced her way as he said it, the Christmas lights from a shopping center they were passing reflected in his eyes. But she saw hope there, too, as well as a bone-deep need to put the nightmare events of the past two days behind him. It was enough to convince her not to mention what Max had said about Nate’s father’s recent activities in Austin. Enough to want to spare him the worry that the man he most loved and respected had been brought down by corruption.
Or was she instead afraid that Nate would push her away forever if she said one more word that questioned his father’s integrity?
* * *
After stopping by the hospital, Nate suggested that April might want to change hotels after her earlier experience. “Not that I think you’ll have any more issues with this Kevin Wyatt, but you’ll probably sleep better.”
As the pulled into the Restway’s parking lot, April groaned aloud. “To tell you the truth, I’m so darned tired, I don’t even care. He’s cooling his heels in jail, isn’t he?”
“We don’t know for certain how long they’re going to hold him unless you go in to press charges,” Nate said, wishing he’d gotten the chance to ask Brady what he’d found out about the arrest.
“I’ll call tomorrow,” she promised. “Maybe that will finally convince him to get the help he needs. But you’re right. We should move tonight. I’ve had enough nasty surprises to last me for a good, long time.”
Knowing how exhausted she was, he said, “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything.”
In less than an hour, they had moved into a hotel a few miles away. When the only available room proved to be a top-floor suite, Nate didn’t quibble about the price, telling himself that after all they’d been through, they deserved a little extra comfort. Besides, after seeing how much better his father’s color had looked, Nate felt optimism surging through him—the hope that all of them would live to put this nightmare behind them.
Nate locked the door behind them and set down each of their bags.
“This is nice, Nate, really,” April said, her gaze drifting around the generously sized room, with its sitting area and marble-topped bar, before coming to rest on the king-sized bed. “But I’m a little... Maybe they’d bring up a roll-away if we called to ask.”
Seeing the worry in her eyes, he said, “I can sleep on the couch, April. There’s plenty of room there, if that’s what you want.”
“Or I can sleep there. After all, I’m shorter. And you’ve been paying for—”
“Take the bed,” he told her. “I’m not arguing about this.”
April smiled, then shook her head and muttered something about “stubborn cowboy chivalry.” But after kicking off her shoes and settling on the bed, she sighed, her eyes sliding closed and her head nodding as he unpacked a few items from his suitcase.
Judging her to be asleep, he headed for the bathroom to brush his teeth. When he came back out, he spotted April still lying in the same position.
Still sleeping, he supposed, until she suddenly sat up with a gasp, her hand darting toward her belly.
“You okay?” he asked, going to the bedside. “You aren’t—aren’t having any pains, are you?” Between the stress and her exhaustion, could she be having issues with the pregnancy?
The thought struck him like a kick to the ribs, the possibility that she might lose the child he’d never known how much he’d wanted. That he could lose his only claim to a woman he’d taken for granted for far too long.
“No, not that.” She looked up at him, a look of wonder lighting her face. Making her absolutely gorgeous, whether or not she would believe it. “It’s the baby, Nate. I feel him. Just a flutter now and then, but I’d swear it’s getting stronger each time.”
“Can I—do you think I could feel it?” he asked, sinking down to sit beside her. He raised his hand, but she shook her head before he dared to touch her.
“Not yet,” she said. “He’s still too tiny. Maybe in a month or two—I don’t know. I’ve never done any of this before.”
He smiled. “Well, don’t look at me to be the voice of experience. The only little ones I know about tend to bark or whinny.”
When she laughed, he put an arm around her shoulder, the enormity of his relief making him careless as he squeezed her in what could have been a friendly hug.
Could have been but wasn’t, as she looked up at him with worried eyes. Beautiful, brown eyes, with their long, dark lashes. Desire stirred as he wondered how those lashes would feel as they brushed against his heated skin.
“I really want you, April,” he admitted, the words out before he could think them through, shaken loose by the pounding of his heart. “Want you, want this—want my best friend for my lover.” For now and forever...
He felt her body tense, felt her gaze searching him for any sign that he was lying. And knew to his core that of all the seductions he’d embarked on, this was the only one that mattered. As well as the first aimed at a woman’s heart, not just her body.
Reaching up, he smoothed a lock of sleek, auburn hair behind her ear, leaning close to whisper, “Only this time, I mean to be stone-cold sober, so I can remember every second of it...and every gorgeous inch of you.”
She shivered at his words, whether in horror or desire, he had no idea.
“Nate, your father...” she began. “He might’ve—”
“You heard the surgeon. He’ll be breathing on his own tomorrow. He’ll be our family’s second Christmas miracle.” He remembered how badly he’d frightened his friends and parents last December—how scared he himself had been, not of dying so much as the possibility that he would spend his life dependent on others, a burden to his parents rather than a help as they aged.
He pulled her close enough that he could feel her heart pounding against his chest. Close enough that all he would have to
do was tip his head an inch or two to claim the kiss he ached for.
She opened her mouth to say something, but Nate beat her to it. “Or maybe it’ll be the third,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper, “that is, if I get to count you, too.”
She sighed and said, “I want this, Nate. I want to believe you.”
“Then you’ll have to take a chance, too, or you’ll never know for sure.”
Their gazes met, so close now, so intense, that he felt the desire arc between them. Or maybe he was crazy, imagining she would ever dare to trust him. Imagining he hadn’t just set himself up for more rejection.
Imagining until she pushed forward just enough to bridge the gap between them.
* * *
She should have told him, April knew. Should have shared what she had learned about his father before she got in any deeper.
But seeing the vulnerability in Nate’s eyes, hearing him put his pride on the line, stopped her. Or maybe it was the dim memory of the way he’d used that taut, hard body that made her need to find out if they’d really been as good together as she suspected.
As their kiss caught fire, she realized she’d been off—way off—in her expectations. Because the word good didn’t begin to encompass the desire blazing through her for his hands, his mouth, his body to move with her, over her...inside her.
She had a moment’s misgiving, worry that her changing shape might be a turnoff to a man more used to a flat stomach and perfect, plasticized breasts. But the speed with which he had her top and bra off, the hunger as he cupped and suckled, had every last doubt burning off in the white heat of their frenzy.
Her hands curled into fists full of his shirt, which she tugged until he paused to strip it to reveal a lightly haired chest so chiseled, a six-pack so well defined, she could scarcely believe it existed outside of fantasies.
But it was the smoldering heat in Nate’s eyes, a heat that lasered straight through every last layer of her self-doubt, that assured her that this time, there would be no stopping what was happening between them. No stopping the inevitable, no matter how much either one of them might regret it later.
She reached down to grasp the silver buckle of his belt and said, “The rest, Nate. Please, now.”
“Yes, ma’am. If that’s what you want.” A wicked grin split his face as he undid the keeper and pulled the leather strap free. “Every inch and every atom are now at your disposal.”
Pulling the belt from his hand, she tossed it onto the floor. The rest of their clothes followed suit as every other worry faded to the background...
Including the one that should have concerned both of them most.
Chapter 9
His mistake had been in trusting others, the man behind the desk realized. Trusting led to failures like the last attempt. Or excuses, such as those made by his contact when he’d insisted the target die before the coming holiday. The harder he had pushed, the more money this so-called professional had attempted to extort from him.
But regardless of how much he’d thrown at the problem, no one could be found to get the job done in a timely manner. “It’s the Christmas season,” the man had whined. “People have families, shopping, too. Can’t your problem keep until after the new year?”
Ridiculous, the sniveling over sentiment. Or maybe it hadn’t been that, but instead a test to see how desperate he was to get this unpleasantness dealt with before someone put it all together. And before the first of the year, when the trial would begin.
Where he would be the scapegoat, while his betrayer would be rewarded...
A betrayer who wouldn’t live to revel in his destruction, to dance away, into the spotlight...
Even if the man behind the desk had to see to it himself.
* * *
Nate was in the chute, climbing aboard a writhing, snorting mass of muscle that wanted nothing in this world except to cast him from its back and stomp him into the dust of the arena. The roar of the crowd captured his attention, the people screaming for him, three women in the front row blowing kisses his way.
A few voices distinguished themselves: his father pleading that he needed him to run the ranch, his mother crying that he’d break himself in two. April was sitting a few rows back, her sad brown eyes doing the talking for her as she clutched a bundle close to her chest. A child Nate wanted desperately to see. A child he started to climb off the bull to get to.
But it was too late. The chute opened, the beast charging out and leaping, plunging, kicking. Caught off guard and off balance, Nate knew he had to hang on—or at the very least not let himself land badly.
Just one more second. Now another. Hold and—
He was spinning through the air, arms flailing, forgetting everything he’d ever known about how to fall. But instead of the train wreck he expected, he wafted gently down to earth, relief flooding through him...
Until he looked up to see the bull barreling toward him—a bull bearing a stranger’s face. A stranger now distracted by April jumping into the ring, dressed in Kara Pearson’s rodeo clown clothes.
Except that April, unlike Kara, had no idea what she was doing as the beast turned toward her. And Nate lay paralyzed and helpless as he watched the monster charge and realized that April still held their child in her arms.
* * *
Startled awake by Nate shouting, “No. No!” in his sleep, April struggled to extricate herself from his arms. But Nate’s hold only tightened, his arms binding her like the strongest lariat. Instead of a rope, though, it felt as if he was using a boa constrictor to squeeze the breath from her.
“Nate,” she cried out, her voice slicing through the darkness. “You’re hurting me. You’re—”
He jerked and moved his arm, relieving the pressure on her rib cage. “What? What’s going on?”
“Nightmare, from the sound of it.” She could still hear him breathing hard, could still feel his heated body, damp with perspiration.
“Nightmare. Yeah. You were—you had the baby with you, and this bull, the one with the man’s face—it was...never mind. You’re here. You’re okay now.”
“Now that I can breathe, especially,” she said, touched by the pure relief in his voice. And a little concerned to think he was still dreaming of the bull riding that had nearly cost him his life. But even if the idea of being with her, building a family together still scared him, he was here with her this moment. With her after they’d made love with a fevered intensity that make her dizzy to remember.
The question was, had it only been a release, an outlet from the enormous stress that both of them were under? Or was it possible their mutual desire—and she had no doubt at all that he had wanted her, at least in the moment—might form the foundation of everything she hoped for?
As Nate sat up against the headboard, she glanced at the clock and saw that it was only four-fifteen. Too early to get up, yet her brain was buzzing, the worries over Nate’s parents, Brady’s investigation and Kara’s situation pushing her further and further from the dark borders of sleep.
“Are you okay?” she asked, doubt creeping into her voice. Because she wasn’t just asking about the nightmare. Propping herself up on her elbows, she added, “Are we?”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her temple. “I want us to be, April. I want that as badly as I’ve ever wanted anything.”
“But?” she added, giving voice to the word she felt crouching in the darkness, waiting to spring at any second.
“But nothing, April. I love you, and I want you in my life. Not just as a friend, either. Those days are behind us.”
She laid her head against his chest, then lifted it to ask him, “Then why is your heart still pounding?” And why can’t I let myself take your words at face value?
“Because I’m worried as hell. And furious to think there’s somebody out there besides Dennis Cobb—some faceless stranger I can’t get my hands on—who wants to take everything away. To take you away, you and the baby both.”
“Did your PI friend really say that? Because before, you told me an arrest was imminent in the hit-and-run. For all we know, the driver was just another thug sent by this bad cop. Which means there could be more.”
She blinked hard, jolted into awareness that she’d been making a dangerous assumption in thinking this was almost over. “Thanks a lot,” she told him. “I was just beginning to think we might get back to sleep tonight.”
“I didn’t bring it up to scare you. But you need to understand, we can’t afford to sit back and assume that law enforcement’s going to keep you safe.”
“I know you’re right.” Her own pulse ratcheted higher, but she told herself that forging a real relationship with Nate, the kind of relationship she wanted, required her to trust him fully. Even with those truths she knew he’d find hard to swallow.
Still, she hesitated, the memory of his reaction to the sore subject of his father’s business dealings too raw. All she really wanted was to be with him, in this moment, without starting up another argument. Without giving him another reason to doubt they had a chance.
But April had worked in the service of truth for too many years to allow her fears to put a muzzle on her. So, girding her strength, she told him, “There’s something else Max told me. Something it’s only fair to let you know.”
She felt Nate’s muscles tensing.
“Watch your eyes,” he said before letting go of her and reaching over to switch on the bedside lamp. “Go on.”
She blinked until her vision cleared, only to see him staring at her so hard it had her skin pebbling with goose bumps. She took in a deep breath and started, telling him about his father’s presence at a meeting of those involved in the private prison industry. And about the alleged fight that had resulted in hotel security calling the Austin police.
“So you kept this from me, why?” he asked. “Because you think it’s some kind of proof my dad’s corrupt?”
“It’s not proof of anything,” she admitted, though surely, Nate must realize how this revelation might be perceived if the media found out his father had been hanging around with his old cronies while he was presumably in talks with the governor about his appointment to the US Senate.
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