by Leanne Banks
An hour later, Felicity had hugged the kids as they left for school, stared at the same page of a book for twenty minutes, and she was still reeling from Brock’s words. She had thought he’d taken a step toward her last night. Had she been so wrong? Had her instincts been that far off?
She glanced up to see Martina walking down the steps with her luggage. Surprise rippled through her. “You’re leaving so soon?”
Martina nodded. “After my announcement this morning, I need to give Brock and Tyler some time to adjust. Toast,” she said, moving toward the kitchen. “Toast and tea.”
Confused, Felicity followed her. “Your announcement?”
“You haven’t heard,” Martina said, putting bread in the toaster and grabbing the kettle of hot water from the stove. “I’m sure you will. I’m pregnant and have no intention of revealing who the father is, let alone marrying him.”
Stunned, Felicity simply stared. “Oh.” She saw the ragged defiance on Martina’s face and felt a connection with her. Felicity was defying her own odds by loving Brock. “You must have your reasons.”
Martina relaxed slightly. “Thank you. I do.” She put a tea bag in a mug, poured the hot water over it, then snatched the toast. “Before I leave, there was something I wanted to do with you.”
“Learn a little song on the piano?”
Martina smiled. “No, although I’d like a rain check for that.” She took a bite of toast and swallowed it. “I want you to drive me into town and bring your checkbook, birth certificate and another ID. In Texas, it’s always good when a woman has her own set of wheels. It keeps a man on his toes, and my brother has had it too easy too long with you.”
Felicity felt a rush of excitement. “You’re taking me to get a license.”
“Actually you’re gonna drive, so we’ll both be sure you can get back. It’s the least I can do for someone who has worked miracles in this household.”
Four hours later, Felicity and Martina sat in a diner on the corner of Main Street and, with a soda, toasted Felicity’s driver’s license and the purchase of her first car, a white Bronco. “It was worth the line at the Department of Public Safety to see the look on that salesman’s face when you said you were buying with cash and if he didn’t want to sell you a car, you would find someone who would.” She chuckled. “Now, you will truly be able to drive Brock crazy.”
Felicity’s euphoria dissipated. “I wish you weren’t leaving.”
Martina sobered. “I never had a sister, but if I could have wished for one, I think I would have wished for you. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be able to call you sister someday,” she said with a half smile that reminded Felicity of Brock. “In the meantime, I need to go, but I will be back.”
“Brock will worry about you. So will I.”
“Brock always worries about me. He thinks it’s his job. Maybe you can distract him.”
“Sometimes I’m not sure. It’s like he’s got this wall around him, and I try to tap at it and I make a little progress, but then he rebuilds it.”
“Sometimes tapping doesn’t work. Sometimes you just have to burn the barrier down to the ground, and if there’s anyone who can do that for Brock, it’s you.”
Despite a busy day, Brock made it home for dinner that night, but Felicity was nowhere in sight. He wondered if he should apologize for his runaway mouth, but he still felt the weight of the damn Logan Curse hanging around his neck. His resentment against his heritage burned like a branding iron. Now Martina was affected by it, too. The brat had skipped town this morning, but at least she’d shown enough consideration to call and tell him she’d arrived safely in Dallas.
He didn’t see Felicity that night or the following morning, but he carried her image with him throughout the day. He wondered if he always would. After a Cattle Ranchers’ Association meeting, he arrived home and scouted the downstairs living areas for her. Fighting a hollow disappointment when he didn’t find her, he decided to take a long shower and go to bed early.
After his shower, he dried off and looped a towel around his waist. He opened the bathroom door into his bedroom and stopped at the sight of lit candles all over his room. He inhaled the scents of vanilla, cinnamon, and Felicity. His gaze shot to his bed and he saw her sitting with her legs crossed, her expression expectant. His heartbeat picked up. He was so relieved to see her a shudder rippled through him.
“What’s this?” he asked, waving his hand at the candles.
“It’s a special occasion,” she said, her eyes mysterious. There was a determined, provocative air about her that plucked at something deep inside him. She stood and moved toward him. “Are you glad to see me?”
Her gaze dared him to tell the deep, dark truth. Tired of denying himself, he took a deep breath. “Yes.”
“Tell me something,” she said, lifting her hand to his shoulder. “Have you ever felt lonely for me?”
Brock’s stomach tightened. He thought of last night and the day before when he’d spent the entire day longing for her. He thought of the empty days and nights when she’d been in New York. He thought of all the days before he’d even met her that he had longed for someone like Felicity, and his mouth went dry at the ominous realization of how important she was to him.
“Yes,” he finally said. “I think I’ve been lonely for you most of my life.”
Her eyes widened and turned shiny with unshed tears. “Don’t be lonely for me again, Brock. You never ever need to be.”
He pulled her against him and inhaled her scent. He wanted to inhale everything about her so he could feel her all the time. He nuzzled her hair and glanced at the flicker of the dozens of candles. “What is the special occasion?”
She pulled back slightly and looked at him with a love so fierce it burned. “We’re going to break a curse tonight,” she said and sealed her intention with a kiss that rocked him to his soul.
She made love to him like a firestorm, burning away his doubt and lighting every dark corner inside him. With her hands, tongue and body, she made him want until he could barely stand it. A seductive tease, she tenderly, yet mercilessly drove him mad.
Their bodies slick with sweat, hearts pounding against each other, breaths coming in fits and starts, he turned the tables and teased her the way she had him, toying with her sensitive body, taking her to the edge with his tongue. It wasn’t enough to take her to the top once. He took her again and again until she pleaded with him to come inside her. Brock did and with the joining, he could almost swear he heard mountains crumble. Afterward, he wrapped her in his arms, and they slept that way through the night.
When Brock awakened the next morning, Felicity was still in his arms, her legs entwined with his, her breath flowing in a soft rhythm against his neck. He couldn’t remember when he’d awakened with a heart so full of hope.
Pulling back slightly, he looked at the way the sunlight shining through his curtain danced over her. He kissed her head. Maybe, just maybe, the curse was truly broken.
Thirteen
Felicity awakened to the sight of a bluebonnet next to her cheek on Brock’s pillow. Her heart took a dip. She sat up in bed and her body immediately reminded her of their powerful lovemaking the night before.
Brock loved her.
Her life had never been more right. She picked up the bluebonnet and smiled.
After a light breakfast, she showered, dressed, and studied her book on charitable trusts. Brock might think she was silly, but Felicity wanted to see him, to make sure she hadn’t dreamed last night.
Fixing a picnic lunch, she asked for the calmest horse in the stable and with directions from a ranch hand, she set out to surprise Brock. It was a glorious day, warm and bright with sunshine. Sally, the mare, was gentle, and Felicity was bubbling over with the prospect of seeing Brock again. Humming, she didn’t see the rattlesnake until they were almost on it.
Her heart lurching into her throat, she tried to guide the horse away, but the rattler jerked. The horse reared high and Felicity clun
g to the reins. The mare reared again, neighing, then bucking. Felicity lost her grip, and went airborne.
She cried out, desperately reaching, then hit the ground. Everything went black.
Brock stood in the hospital emergency waiting room unable to shake the image of Felicity lying in the grass so utterly still. The ride to the hospital had been interminable.
This couldn’t be happening, he thought. The threat of the Logan Curse taunted, but he brushed it aside. Felicity wouldn’t want him thinking about some damn curse right now.
Tyler approached him with a concerned expression on his face. “You can see her, but she’s still not conscious. No broken bones, but she took a hard knock on the head.”
“Will she be okay?”
“The longer she takes to wake up, the more we have to think about complications,” Tyler said, leading Brock to the examination room.
Brock had thought his stomach couldn’t sink lower than when he’d seen her on the ground. “What complications?”
“Hemorrhage, coma,” Tyler said in a low voice. “It’s too early for that, though. You’ve gotta think positive.”
He walked through the doorway and felt his heart stop again at the sight of her. She looked as if she could wake up any minute and smile at him. Brock willed her to do just that, but she continued to lie perfectly still.
“Have a seat,” Tyler said, scooting a chair closer to the bed. “You want some coffee?”
Brock sank into the chair, his gaze still fastened on her. “No.”
He felt Tyler squeeze his arm before he left the room, and Brock rubbed his face, sick with regret. What a fool he’d been, wasting precious moments when he could have been happy, when Felicity could have been happy. He’d been too guarded to let her in.
“Wake up, Felicity,” he said, taking her hand in his.
He’d been half-alive before Felicity had burst into his life. She’d shown him everything good about himself and made him want to be better than he was. She had loved him even when he rejected her.
His eyes burned with remorse and he did something he hadn’t done in years. He prayed.
“God, let her live so I can tell her I’m sorry. So I can tell her I love her a dozen times a day for the rest of my life.” He closed his eyes and felt a tear stream down his cheek. “So I can show her how special she is.”
The darkness of the curse taunted him again, but again, Brock fought it off. He was not going to let her go.
“Wake up, Felicity,” he said, his voice husky to his ears. “Wake up, and let me love you for the rest of my life.”
He stared at her face, and her eyes fluttered open. He blinked to make sure he hadn’t imagined it. Her gaze was cloudy, but her eyes were open.
His heart leapt into his throat and he jumped from the chair to stand beside her. “Felicity!”
Disoriented, she furrowed her eyebrows. “Brock?”
He squeezed her hand. “I’m here. I’m right here, and I’m not leaving.”
“What—” She shook her head and groaned.
“Stay still,” he said, gently touching her head, feeling his eyes well up again. “You hurt your head.”
“The snake,” she murmured. “Did the snake get the horse?”
Brock worried she was suffering from delusions. “What snake?”
“The snake that scared the horse.”
Realization trickled through his panicked mind. “No. Sally’s fine. You got the raw end of the deal.”
She closed her eyes and smiled wanly. “I wanted to surprise you with lunch. I loved the bluebonnet. It made me think of your eyes.”
His chest tightened when she stopped talking. “Don’t go to sleep,” he said.
With obvious effort, she dragged her heavy lids open. “Why?”
“You scared the hell out of me. I was afraid of losing you.”
“Silly,” she said, closing her eyes again. “You’re stuck with me.”
Brock breathed a little then, but he didn’t budge from her side the rest of the day, waking her frequently per the doctor’s orders, even when she got cranky.
“My head feels like elephants are stomping through it. Why can’t you let me rest?” she asked.
“Because the doctor wants to make sure you have all your faculties,” Brock quoted.
“I forgot how irritating doctors can be. Can’t you take me home?”
“Soon,” he promised.
She sighed. “I want you to take me home, rid me of half of my money and—” She broke off, biting her lip.
“And what?”
“Never ever stop loving me.”
Within twenty-four hours, Brock took care of her first two requests. After he brought her home, he arranged for a reputable attorney to make a house call. Although Felicity was much poorer by the time the man left, she grinned from ear to ear.
“Thank you, Brock. I can’t tell you how important this is to me. Now my inheritance will do some good and I can get off the rich-lady list. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said distractedly. He had one more matter to handle, and the thought of it made him sweat. The thought of not doing it, however, was untenable. “The other night you and I started the process of breaking the curse. I want us to finish it.”
She pushed herself up among the pillows in his bed and met his gaze. “How?”
He took a deep breath and sat next to her on the bed. “I want you to marry me.”
Surprise, joy and confusion widened her eyes. The confusion made his gut knot.
“You don’t have to marry me for me to love you and stay with you.”
“I know, but I want to be connected to you in every possible way. I want you to belong to me, and I want to belong to you.”
“Are you sure you want me to be your official crazy-making woman?”
“As sure as my name is Logan.”
“I never felt like I belonged to anyone or anything until you. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
His joy complete, Brock pulled her to him. This Manhattan troublemaker had taken him by storm, brought music back into his home, and broken the Logan Curse, at least for him. Thank God, he thought and knew he was holding a piece of heaven in his arms.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5411-8
HER FOREVER MAN
Copyright © 2000 by Leanne Banks
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 300 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of Harlequin Books S.A., used under license. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
Visit us at www.romance.net
‡ Sons and Lovers
* How To Catch a Princess
* How To Catch a Princess
* How To Catch a Princess
† The Rulebreakers
† The Rulebreakers
† The Rulebreakers
** Fortune’s Children: The Brides
‡‡ Lone Star Families: The Logans
-moz-filter: grayscale(100%); -o-filter: grayscale(100%); -ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share
