He found Caleb’s secretary standing behind her desk in the reception area, packing a large cardboard box. She glanced up and gasped.
He tried a friendly smile. “Alice, isn’t it?”
Alice didn’t smile back. Instead, in a clear attempt to show the evil man before her exactly how she felt about the current situation, she adjusted her thick-lensed glasses more firmly on the bridge of her pointed nose and dropped a bronze paperweight into the box—hard. “We have until nine,” she announced loftily. “Certainly you can wait until then.”
He spoke gently. “Alice. You were never asked to leave.”
“I prefer Ms. Pockstead—and I’m Mr. Douglas’s assistant. He goes, I go.”
Justin nodded. “Ms. Pockstead, I completely understand.” He waited while she threw a stapler and a red coffee mug with dancing white hearts on it into the box. Then he cautiously cleared his throat. She sent him a hot glare. “What is it?”
“I wonder, is Caleb in?”
For that, he got another gasp of outrage and a tightly muttered, “The unmitigated nerve of some people…” She tossed some pencils and a ruler in the box, simmering where she stood.
Justin moved a step closer and injected a note of command into his next question. “I asked you, is he in?”
Ms. Pockstead picked up a letter opener and stabbed the air in the direction of the hallway that led to Caleb’s private office. “See for yourself.”
“Thank you.”
She muttered something. It wasn’t, You’re welcome.
The door to Caleb’s office stood slightly ajar. Justin hesitated in front of it. There was silence from inside the room beyond.
But he couldn’t stand there forever. With some reluctance, he lifted a hand and tapped lightly.
“What the hell now?” grumbled the gruff voice from the other side. “It’s open.”
Justin flattened his palm against the door and pushed it inward.
Caleb sat at his desk surrounded by open, half-packed boxes. He appeared, at the moment, to be doing nothing about filling them.
He glanced up. Something sparked in his eyes—and then went cold. “Justin.”
“Hello, Caleb.”
They regarded each other. Justin had no idea what, exactly, he should say. He got the impression Caleb was having the same problem.
Finally, Caleb put out a hand at the guest chairs facing the desk. “Sit. If you’ve a mind to.”
It seemed like as good a suggestion as any. Justin strode over, moved a box to the floor, and took one of the chairs.
They looked at each other some more. Eventually, Caleb inclined his head at the boxes surrounding him. “Sitting down on the job, I’m afraid. But I’m working on it.”
How to begin, Justin was thinking.
Hell. Where to begin…
Caleb must have been pondering the same questions, because, again, he spoke first. “Katie said she told you…everything.”
Justin found the best he could manage right then was a nod.
Caleb nodded, too. A lot of nodding going on. Oh, yeah. They were a couple of nodding fools.
Caleb said, “Well, then. It’s all out in the open.” He grunted. “I have to keep reminding myself how that’s good. I…” He paused, seeming to seek the right words. Evidently he found them, or close enough. He said, “I understand now, why you did what you did at the meeting last week. Given the circumstances, I’ve got no damn problem with it.” He raised both hands, indicating the office—the whole ski resort project. “In a half an hour or so, it’s all yours.” Justin started to speak, but Caleb cut him off before he got a word out. “What you did to Katie, though. No damn excuse for that.”
“I know,” Justin said.
Caleb stared at him, narrowed-eyed. And then he grunted again. “Hope you do. You threw away a good one. The very best, as a matter of fact.”
“You don’t have to tell me.”
“Hell. I guess I don’t. I can see it in your eyes.” He sat back. “You love my girl, don’t you?”
Justin reminded himself that he was through with lies. He gave Caleb the painful truth. “Yes. I do. I love her.”
Caleb pondered that for a moment, then he shrugged. “Well. Evidently you’re not as big of a fool as I’d been thinking—and don’t go imagining you’re the only one who’s trifled with a good and loving heart. I’ve done the same thing, as you damn well know.”
Justin said nothing. He was realizing that here was another way he was like this man who’d fathered him.
“Your mother,” Caleb said softly. “She was a good woman. A good woman done wrong. She couldn’t…get past that, what I did to her, that’s all.”
Justin waved a hand. “She’s gone now.”
“Don’t judge her.”
“I’m working on it. Your…wife?”
It took Caleb a moment to answer that one. “Addy and me, we’ve been together too long to give up now. She’s not happy with me. But I’ve got hopes that someday…” He let that sentence finish itself. “Riley, though. I don’t know. He’s not in a mood for forgiving.”
“Give him time.”
“Time.” Caleb chuckled, a dry sound with no real laughter in it. “Well.” He stood. “Better get this junk packed up.”
Justin stood, too. “Put it back where it came from.” Caleb blinked. And Justin continued, “I put my man on something else. This is your project and you’re fully capable of seeing it through to a successful conclusion. I’m leaving it to you, where it always belonged. And I’ll be pulling out completely, as soon as I find some other solid investors to step in and fill the gap.”
Caleb sank to his chair again. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I do—and don’t even think of trying to turn me down. I’m out. And you’re going to be needed here.”
Caleb looked up at him. “Don’t pull out. Stay in.”
Justin frowned. “That’s probably a bad idea.”
“No. It’s a good one. An excellent one. Stay in. We’ll make a little money together. We’ll give a shot in the arm to the local economy and we’ll…start getting to know each other.”
“You want that?”
“Yeah, I do. I want that a lot.”
“Let me think about it.”
“Take as long as you need. Just be sure the answer’s yes.”
Caleb called him at home at seven that night. Skipping right over anything resembling hello, he said, “So. You made up your mind yet?”
Justin couldn’t hold back a chuckle. “I thought I was supposed to take all the time I needed.”
“You’ve had time enough. Say yes.”
He’d already decided, anyway. “All right. I’m in.”
“Good. You have a nice night, now.” And the line went dead.
Justin took the phone away from his ear and stared at it, shaking his head. Then, gently, he set it down.
He turned for the table where the remains of his solitary dinner waited to be cleared off. The job only took a few minutes.
Then he went out to his study, where he booted up his laptop and settled in for a few hours of work on a new project he was putting together.
The doorbell rang at five to eight. He hit the save key and got up to answer.
The last person in the world he’d ever expected to see was waiting beyond the front door.
“Katie.” Damned if his heart didn’t do a forward roll.
She looked up at him, brown eyes gleaming, soft cheeks flushed. There was snow on her shoulders, sparkling in her chestnut hair. She brushed at it. “Caleb said you wanted to see me.”
His mind was a fog of hope and yearning. “Caleb…”
Her sweet face fell. “He…was wrong?”
“No,” he said—so forcefully that she jumped back. He tried again, more gently. “No. Caleb was absolutely right.”
“Well. So, then?” She managed a hopeful smile. “Do you think maybe I might come in?”
He gaped at her, and then, at last, he
remembered to speak. “Yeah. Absolutely. Come in.”
Chapter Seventeen
He took her coat, his heart racing like a runaway train at the mere fact that she’d handed it over.
Because, after all, if she let him take her coat, that meant she would stay, didn’t it? At least for a little while.
He shook the remaining snow off it, set it on the entry hall chair and led her through to the great room. “Sit down. Please.”
She perched on a long sofa. “I…” She seemed to be doing a lot of swallowing. He understood. His throat kept locking up, too. She tried again. “Emelda tells me you made a generous donation to the Historical Society—very generous, is what she said.”
He looked down at her, astounded. Amazed. Was there ever a woman so damned, incredibly beautiful?
No. He was sure of it. She was one of a kind.
“Justin?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re staring.”
He gulped again. “Uh. Sorry. Listen, want some coffee? I made it an hour ago, but it should still be okay.”
Her gaze scanned his face, sweetly. Hungrily.
Or was that just him seeing what he wanted to see?
“Coffee,” she repeated.
“Yeah. You think?”
“Yes. Okay. I’ll have some.”
“Stay right there.”
She let out a nervous little giggle. “Well, Justin. Where would I go?”
He raced for the kitchen, poured the damn coffee—two mugfuls, since it seemed a little rude to let her drink hers alone. He remembered she liked cream and splashed some into hers. Then he rushed back to the great room, coffee sloshing across the Kelim area rugs as he went.
When he got back to her, she was standing at a narrow section of wall between two wide windows, looking at…
Damn. She was never supposed to see that.
He’d never dared to imagine she’d set foot in his house again, or he wouldn’t have put the thing up.
She turned to him. “Justin? That’s the fake license. From that day at the town hall.”
“Uh…” He scooted over and plunked the mugs down on a low table. Coffee, still sloshing, dribbled down the sides.
“It is, isn’t it?”
He rubbed his hands together, brushing off the coffee he’d spilled on them. “Well, yeah. That’s what it is.”
She came toward him. He watched her as she moved, devouring her with his eyes. When she stood about a foot from him, she asked, “Where did you get it?”
Her scent swam around him. His fingers itched to grab for her. To keep them busy, he gestured at the table. “Coffee. There you go.”
“Justin.” Her voice was so soft. And the tiniest, most radiant smile had begun at the corners of that mouth he wanted so badly to kiss. She touched his arm. He felt that touch all the way down to the center of his soul. “Where did you get it?”
“Josiah Green.”
“Our fake minister?”
“Turns out he wasn’t a fake. A little eccentric maybe, but not a fake.”
“You’re kidding. The real thing?”
He managed a nod.
“He gave you the license?”
“He did.”
“But why?”
His throat loosened a little and he told her about Green’s visit, about the things the old guy had said.
She hadn’t removed her hand from his arm. Her touch burned him. He was going up in flames.
She said, “Caleb says you love me. Is that true?”
Struck mute again, he could only nod.
“Oh, Justin…”
He knew she needed more than that. Hell, he needed more than that. “I… Katie, I know the things I did were wrong. Unforgivable, even. I know I blew it. Lost you. Lost the best thing that ever happened to me. That’s why I had that fake license framed. I hung it on the wall, where I’d see it all the time. Where I’d remember, what might have been. If only I hadn’t—”
“Justin.”
“What, damn it?”
“Close your eyes.”
“I don’t—”
“Just do it. Close your eyes.”
“Hell.” But he did what she asked.
And as he stood there, blind before her, he felt her warm breath against his neck, felt the living, sweet-scented heat of her.
She whispered, “Personally, I believe. In forgiveness. I believe in hope. And faith. And…”
“Wishes,” he whispered. He didn’t know where that word came from. Or maybe he did.
“Yes.” It came out on a gentle breath. “Yes.” That yes shivered through him. He felt it echo, in the beating of his heart. “Wishes,” she said. “Wishes that can come true. If you…”
“Make them.”
“If you’re—”
“Done with lying. With dirty tricks.”
“Oh, yes. That’s right. Wishes and hope and faith. And forgiveness. I do believe in them, Justin. I believe in you.”
It was too much.
It was everything.
Every wish he never dared to make.
Every dream he’d never known how to believe in.
All of it. Right here.
Everything. Katie.
She put her hands on his shoulders. A shudder went through him. And he felt her lift up, on tiptoe, to place a kiss on each of his lowered eyelids, one and then the other.
And that did it. He couldn’t keep still one second longer.
He opened his eyes and he reached for her.
With a happy, willing cry, she came into his arms.
He lifted her high against his chest and, holding her close, knowing he’d never, ever let her go, he carried her out of the high-ceilinged room, away from all those dark windows, down a long hallway to his bedroom.
They undressed each other, quickly, hands shaking, sharing kisses and nervous, eager glances—soft whispers, and yet more kisses.
At last she stood before him, slim and proud, her body gleaming, pale and pearly, in the dimness.
“Katie…”
She held her head high, and she looked right back at him. “Justin.”
He swept her up again, carried her to the bed and laid her down on it.
And he kissed her. Kissed every fragrant, smooth, beautiful inch of her, lingering at her breasts, her belly, her thighs.
He kissed his way up them, and then he parted her and he kissed her some more, there, at the wet, hot feminine heart of her, as she called out his name, her soft fingers tangled in his hair.
When she came, he drank her, taking her release inside of him. So sweet. So exactly what he’d never dared, till now, to dream of.
She touched his shoulders, reaching, urging him up over her. He settled—so carefully, his body aching for her—between her open thighs.
He looked down at her, met those shining eyes. “Your first time?”
She pressed her lips together and nodded. “It’s what I want, though. You. You’re what I want.”
He didn’t want to leave her. Not even for a moment. But there was protection to consider. “I should…” Her sweet heat was all around him, her body pliant, ready. “We need to…”
She caught his face between her hands. “What Reverend Green said…we’re married. Right? How did you say he said it?”
He groaned. “In the eyes of heaven.”
“Oh, yes. I…well, don’t say I’m crazy. But I like that. I believe in that. And if there was a baby…”
A baby. Incredible.
She asked, so softly, “Would that be all right with you?”
It was crazy. Absolutely insane. But he found that it would. He swallowed. Hard. And he managed to croak out, “Yeah.”
And she wrapped her satiny legs around him. “Then it’s okay…it’s all right.”
He made himself go slowly, pushing in just a little, holding still…waiting.
It was the sweetest kind of agony—the pleasure, within the pain. He held still and he kissed her—eyes, cheeks, nose
, chin. He whispered, “Slowly…slowly…”
She moaned and held him, her sleek body moving, then going still. He pushed in farther—felt resistance and then, at last, the slow, gentle opening.
Welcoming.
It took forever. An eternity of slow, controlled degrees.
Until at last, he felt himself fully within her. “Don’t…move…” he pleaded on a ragged sigh.
But she had other ideas. “I…I have to. Oh, Justin. I need…” And her hips began to rock him. “I need…you. You. Only.”
He kissed the words from her lips and gave them back to her. “Only you.”
The pleasure took over, all the words flew away. They rode an endless, swirling river of it, of pleasure. It sucked him into a whirlpool. He went spinning…
Spinning.
And then it centered down.
Down into Katie. Into the soft pulsing of her heat and wetness all around him.
He let out a cry, tossing his head back. And she cried out in answer.
The rest was soft sighs, tender caresses.
“I love you,” she whispered.
And he could only smile.
It was an hour later when he dared to suggest, “Marry me. Again.”
She looked up at him from under the sable fringe of her lashes. “Yes. I will.”
“Soon,” he demanded.
“Oh, absolutely. And in the town hall. With everyone in Thunder Canyon invited. And the Reverend Green presiding. What do you think?”
“I think, yes. Beyond a shadow of a doubt. No conditions. Yes.”
“Just one thing.”
“Anything. Everything.”
She laughed then, and the sound banished all darkness. It filled up the world with golden light.
“Promise me,” she said. “No free beer.”
So he promised, sealing it—and all the other, more important promises—with a tender kiss.
Epilogue
On the first Saturday in February, Katie and Justin said their vows for the second time, in the town hall. In spite of the blizzard gathering force outside, the old hall was packed. The bride, radiant in white satin, had asked Caleb to give her away. Riley stood up as Justin’s best man. The eccentric Reverend Green, looking pleased with himself and the proceedings, officiated.
Stranded with the Groom Page 18
