by Unknown
And she knew instantly, she’d never walk away from him.
A piece of Lacey’s emotional wall ripped away as if a storm had lit into her, shredding her defenses. Oh, God. If he touched her, she thought she just might shatter into a million pieces.
Outside these doors, Rafe waited for her, the man whose child she carried, the only man she’d slept with for weeks, the man she’d thought, believed, was her husband up until yesterday when Karen dropped her little bomb on the three of them.
“Lace, don’t go out there.” Danger gripped her shoulders and Lacey knew if he turned her to face him, he’d kiss her, and if he did, she didn’t know if she’d have the will to turn and leave.
She bit her lower lip. Damn, he sounded as uncertain and torn apart as she felt.
God, what a mess.
How had they made such a muddle of their lives?
How could she go out there and face Rafe? Tell him she’d made a colossal mistake?
How could she not?
Some mistake, she thought bitterly. Boy, when she made one, she made a lulu. But she refused to take the easy way out, refused to let a good man believe she loved him when she knew she didn’t. He deserved the truth.
Lacey smothered the urge to laugh hysterically. Was it possible to be in love with two different men at the same time? No. No. She couldn’t think like that. She had to make a choice. Tears wet her lashes and slid down her face. Oh, but she’d made her choice, and regrettably, someone was going to be hurt.
Gently, Danger turned her to face him. “Don’t cry, sweetheart.”
“I can’t go out there and face Rafe like this. He’ll want to know what’s wrong. I don’t know if I can tell him…tell him…I’m still in love with you. He doesn’t deserve that.” Her voice broke on a choked sob and she buried her face against his chest.
“Lace,” he whispered, dragging his fingers through her hair. “I am so, so sorry. I’ve put you through hell, and it never seems to end.” He drew away and tilted her head. Pressing a light kiss to her brow, he leaned back and searched her eyes. “I love you. None of us deserve what they did to us.” He slid his arms around her waist and held her close. “I love you. You have to believe that. I know I screwed up, but I swear to God I’ll never hurt you again.”
Lacey trembled. “You don’t intend to make this easy for me.”
“No. I have as much to lose as Rafe. Don’t leave me again,” he pleaded. “I’ve never begged in my life. I know I was filled with pride and anger…accusations, but I’ve changed. I know what I lost. I never wanna lose it again. I’m begging you to give us another chance. We deserve a second chance. ”
Nope, not easy at all.
Lacey studied his face. What she read there melted the ice that’d encased her heart for so many months. She’d never seen Danger look vulnerable or afraid, but at this moment, his gray eyes were soft, fluid, and soulful, filled with yearning. His voice sounded raw and echoed the mournful ache she felt deep in her soul. She’d never expected to hear this man grovel for anything, especially for a second chance with her.
He drew a deep breath and slowly released it. “I’m nothing without you, Lace. You’re my soul mate. Don’t you see? Without you, my life has no meaning. It’ll be one long existence in hell.”
Hot tears rolled down Lacey’s cheeks. They’d made an utter mess of their lives, she thought, but if she followed her heart, she’d ruin Rafe’s. Enough people had been hurt from the chaos of her and Danger’s mistakes.
Lacey nibbled on her lower lip.
Was it fair to Rafe to let him continue to believe she loved him? She didn’t think she could live a lie, but neither could she bear to break his heart.
How had she ever ended up in Rafe’s arms? His bed?
Danger’s fingers bit into her shoulders. “Don’t. I know what you’re thinking, Lace, but it wasn’t your fault. None of it was your fault.”
“I let Rafe seduce me,” she said on a shaken note. “I have to accept the blame for that.”
“No. I allowed Rafe to persuade you into his bed, if there’s blame to be placed for that, then it’s all mine. I knew he loved you. I can’t blame him for wanting or loving you.”
“Smitt…did terrible things to me—”
“That wasn’t your fault either.”
“It was—”
“Listen to me,” he said, tightening his grip on her shoulders. “What Smitt Davis did to you wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t mine. If we hadn’t discovered those bodies in that cave we would never have come under his radar. That brought us to here. We were involved, got involved in his business. He objected. We paid the ultimate price.”
He rubbed her shoulders, trying to soothe her. “He was an animal, Lace,” he continued, “who’d stop at nothing to hurt the ones he went after. Let it go. We both have to let it go, let Joseph go.”
Tears spilled down her face like rain drops down a window pane. She couldn’t breathe. Her skin tightened. Everything inside her stirred, giving the pain bottled up inside her new life. “I don’t know if I can,” she said softly. “I don’t know if I want to.”
“I love you, Lace. I need you in my life. I think you love and need me too. We can make this work, but we have to fight for it. We have to put the bad things in the past and leave them there.” He hesitated, busied his hands with brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I believe you want this second chance to make a life together as much as I do. If we want it to work, then we have to accept our part of the blame, admit we made mistakes, then lay it all to rest and begin fresh.” He rubbed her arms. “Please, give us a chance.”
Lacey locked her fingers in the front of his shirt. “Don’t do this to me. Don’t ask me to stay.”
She lifted her face to his.
Danger dipped his head. “I’m not asking, Lace,” he said huskily, “I’m begging. Hell, I’ll get down on my knees if that’s what it takes…just don’t walk out that door with the intention of never coming back.”
His mouth settled on hers, tender, warm, and delicious, a slow melding of their lips and tongues. Lacey surrendered, helpless to refuse him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, dug her fingers in the hair at his nape and returned the kiss with the wild fever clawing through her blood.
Danger growled softly against her mouth, gave a gentle breath of relief that she’d surrendered, and pulled her closer into his arms. He cupped her bottom, lifting her, holding her tight and deepened the kiss.
This—this was what she’d yearned for—waited for—ached for…
Lacey melted against him.
Her heart pounded so fast she thought it would explode. Her body ached for this man. It had been so long—forever, since her husband touched her. She’d existed on a starvation diet, ravenous for the feel of his hands on her body, hungry for his mouth on hers, famished for the feel of his body joined with hers.
His tongue plundered her mouth in a hot, ruthless, take-charge exploration. “I need you,” he whispered against her lips. “Please. It’s been too long since I touched you.”
How his words echoed her thoughts. This moment was inevitable. He wasn’t letting her through the door until he made her his, staked his claim, renewed his claim. It was what she’d waited so long for, and now that the moment had arrived, she couldn’t step over that line a second time.
Behind her, Lacey heard the soft snick of the lock on the door, and knew if she let this happen, there’d be no turning back. She desperately needed this, needed the touch of her husband’s hands and mouth on her body, and needed him filling her.
Danger lifted her shirt over her head and flung it aside. In seconds, her jeans and thong lay to one side, tossed away in his impatience to assert his possession and right to make love to her. His mouth drifted over her, whisper-light touches along sensitive areas, pulsing places that ached with need. He paused to lick the sensitive spot below her ear, to slowly nibble a path to her aching breasts.
“I–I don’t think we should do thi
s.” Lacey tried to catch her breath, but everything was happening so fast.
“You’re my wife, Lace. I want to make love to you. I need you, need you in my life. It might not be right, but it sure isn’t wrong, not when we want each other so badly. Don’t turn me away.”
Each kiss, each light caress fed the fire burning inside her. She savored it all in slow motion. How could she refuse him, not when as he stated, they wanted each other so badly?
Lacey wanted him to hurry, yet she needed him to slow down, give her time to think, but there was no way in hell he’d do that.
She felt her bra unsnap and the straps loosen around her shoulders. Quickly he tossed it on top of her discarded clothes. His lips glazed a path to her nipples. Danger sucked on one, drawing on it hard.
Lacey flinched.
“Hurt?” Danger leaned back.
“No.”
“Good.”
He returned to her nipple, taking it inside his mouth, rolling his tongue over it, sucking, licking, sucking, and biting.
She arched her body against his. “You’re hard,” she mumbled.
The gentle pull on her nipple sent a spasm through her belly. Her womb clenched with urgent need.
“Yeah. Damn hard.”
Danger fumbled with his zipper, then lifting her, stabbed at her hot swollen channel, and finally, God—finally, he settled inside her, hot, hard, and seated so deep she cried out at his possession.
And time ceased to exist.
Lacey wrapped her legs around his waist and gave into the passion, the thrill of his possession. Danger had always been a passionate man, and this time was no different. His mouth was everywhere, skimming her throat, grazing her nipples, sucking them until they seemed to scream with need.
All the while, he thrust in and out of her, long, slow strokes, that drove her to the brink of madness, to the brink of climax. He tormented her with deep plunges, then his barely-there-inside-her, teasing strokes, building the fire that threatened to burst out of control.
Lacey clawed his shoulders raw, flung her head back against the door and rode wave after wave of trembling pleasure. His moans filled her mouth, and with one last deep penetration, followed her over the edge.
He buried his face against her throat, his breaths ragged. “God, I’ve missed you,” he whispered.
“I’ve missed you too,” she said on a soft note.
Danger’s hands shook as he tucked strands of her hair behind her ears. “I’ve always, always loved your hair. I know I said so many awful things to you, but there’s nothing I want to change about you.” He searched her face, his gaze steady. His eyes sparkled with a hint of tears. “Never change, Lace, not for me, not for anyone.”
She swallowed hard, fighting the tears that threatened to flow. These days, it seemed all she did was cry. “I don’t intend to. I’m just me,” she said a bit helplessly. “This is what you get.”
“This is what I want, and I want it for the rest of my life.” Reluctantly he pulled out of her. Danger pressed his forehead against hers, his chest rising and falling, his breaths raspy. “You felt good. So damn good and right in my arms. It’s where you belong, Lace. It’s where you’ve always belonged. Stay with me? Say you’ll stay with me?”
Lacey grabbed her clothes off the floor and stepped into the pale blue thong. Her hands shook so badly she could barely pull it in place “This wasn’t right, Danger. It isn’t right.”
He grabbed her by the upper arms and forced her to look at him. Her breasts shook, drawing his gaze before he returned his full attention to her. “You’re my wife, Lace, everything about what we just did was right. It’s everything else before this and in between that was wrong. I won’t lose you again. If it means stealing you from right under Rafe’s nose,” he shrugged. “I’m not the kind of man who plays fair. You’re mine. I want him out of our lives. I want you in mine where you belong.”
She pulled free of his grasp and stepped into her jeans. “You’re certain you want me back?”
He gave her a crooked grin. “I think I just proved that.” Danger tugged his zipper in place. “Give me a sec, and I’ll prove it again.”
Lacey swiped her hair out of her eyes and frowned. “You need to understand, Danger, when I said this is me, I meant I haven’t changed. With the exception of a few bruises to my soul, and some new scars, I’m basically the same woman you married. Sometimes I do crazy things, and those crazy things always drove you insane.”
He took her hands in both of his. “I’ve missed all the crazy things you do. I’ve been so damn bored without you, so stop trying to discourage me. I’m not going anywhere, Lace. I’m never going to be so foolish as to let you go again.”
“I love my career. I take pictures, and I’m damn good at it. There will always be assignments with other males where we camp out in the rough. Though I might cut back some to stay home more, I won’t give up what I do for you, or anyone.”
Danger squeezed her hands. “It wasn’t you who needed to change, Lace. It was me. I have. I learned that without you, I might as well be dead because my life is empty when you’re not in it. I missed the sound of your voice and laughter. I’ll never doubt your word again. I’ll never take someone else’s word over yours again. I swear.”
“What about…this baby? I won’t risk my child’s happiness if you can’t accept it.”
Danger cupped the sides of her face and looked her straight in the eyes. “Lace, I don’t care that you’re carrying Rafe’s baby. I told you that. I care that I drove you into his arms, his bed, but that wasn’t your fault. Hell, it wasn’t even Rafe’s fault. I knew he wanted you. I made it easy for him to have you. I swear I’ll love and raise his child as my own…if you and Rafe will let me.”
Lacey moistened her lips. Danger’s eyes flared as they’d always done when she licked her lips and she barely contained a smile. Things were feeling normal again, except for one thing. “This baby means Rafe will always be a part of my life, our life. He’ll want time with his child. I can’t, won’t cut him out his child’s life. I can’t be that cruel to him.”
“Sweetheart, I have no ill feelings toward Rafe. He was there for you when I wasn’t. I might not like that he ever possessed you, but blame lies with me. I don’t like that he’ll still be in our lives, but that’s something I’ll learn to deal with. I swear, I’ll never make him or this baby feel unwelcome.”
Lacey closed her eyes and drew a shaky breath. She forced herself to open them and meet his smoky gaze. The starkness darkened his eyes, but she saw sincerity in the gray depths. She saw pain and pride, but most of all, she saw love in the tender depths reflected back at her.
It didn’t mean they weren’t going to have some rough patches or have to work hard to save their marriage. They were, but if they wanted this, together, they could deal with anything.
“It won’t be easy for us,” she said.
“I know that, Lace, but nothing worth having ever comes without trial and tribulation. If we both really want our marriage, then we can make it happen. Trust me, sweetheart. I swear I’ll make everything up to you if you’ll give me a chance.”
She wrapped her hands around his. “It’s going to be difficult to tell him. I don’t know if I can do it. Rafe’s been good to me.”
Danger threaded his fingers through hers. “I know that, Lace. I always knew he’d take care of you. I’ll tell him, baby. It should be me who tells him. I got you involved with him. Wait for me here.”
“No.” She shook her head. “He deserves to hear it from both of us. I won’t hide in here like a coward.”
“All right. You’re right.” Danger entwined his fingers with hers, then reached past her and opened the door. “Let’s go tell him together.”
Chapter Nine
Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look what they do when they stick together.
~Verna M. Kelly
Northern Montana
West side of Dancing Star
> February 20, Friday
4:45 p.m.
Wild slid off the mare and cast an anxious glance at the darkening sky. Smoky gray clouds boiled in from the northwest in an ominous fubar cluster. Time was running out faster than he could keep up with—another ten to fifteen minutes of daylight was all that remained. A man didn’t want to be caught out in this part of the country after dark with a blizzard beating down on him.
There was no use fretting about something he couldn’t control. The best he could hope for was to be at least half way back to the cabin before it became totally dark. He’d be better off worrying about the storm Jayla brought with her. If she was telling the truth, they were in a real fubar mess.
Had she really witnessed the first lady get assassinated?
If not, she certainly told a convincing tale.
Still, he remembered her on the witness stand swearing he’d raped her. She told a convincing tale then, too. Hell, he didn’t know what to believe. Recalling the stark terror in her eyes and voice, he figured it was smarter to play on the safe side and take her word until he could prove different.
Dropping the reins, he hurried to the twisted pile of metal and jerked open the car door. Wild muttered as he searched for the black kit Jayla told him to find. “Damn woman’s gonna be the death of me yet. Get my insulin. Make me pads. It wasn’t decent, a cowboy making pads.” Thinking of pads caused him to fret, worrying if she was still bleeding, and if so, would she be okay until he got back to her?
What the hell can I do if she is? It’s not like I’ve had medical training.
Insulin. How could she forget something like that? And where the hell was it? He located it under the passenger seat, unzipped the bag and noted several lancets, CBG strips, alcohol wipes and syringes. No insulin.
Where was it?
She said there were two bottles, one with clear liquid and one with cloudy.
Wild searched his mind for what she’d told him, but he wasn’t familiar with diabetes or what a diabetic required.
