She let out her breath, warmth spreading through her as he went on.
“I’ve seen so much ugliness in my life, Kate. Parents torturing children, husbands killing wives. It’s all part of a cop’s life. You learn to deal with it in your own way but it still gets to you, grinds away at your spirit. And then for eighteen months I lived with men who committed crimes heinous enough to put them on death row. Murderers, rapists. Child molesters. The worst of the worst. It’s enough to shake a person’s faith that there’s anything good and decent left in the world.”
His arms tightened and she felt the light, feather-soft brush of his mouth against her hair again.
“On this trip, because of you, I’ve found that faith again. What I saw in that nursing home was beautiful. The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. And it wasn’t just that moment. I saw you show the same loving, healing care to a frightened mother giving birth under less than perfect circumstances and to a frail old man trying to make it to see his granddaughter dance, even though he couldn’t see anything at all.”
“You helped Mariah and Henry too,” she was compelled to remind him.
“Only because you pushed me into it. On this trip you’ve made me better than I am, Kate. I don’t know if it’s because of what happened to you or in spite of it but you’re amazing.”
He rubbed a thumb over her cheek and the tenderness of the gesture weakened her knees. She wanted to close her eyes and lean into him, to stay right here in his arms.
“You’re amazing,” he repeated. “How could I help but fall in love with you?”
His words didn’t register at first but when they did she jerked her eyes open and jumped to her feet. “What? You what?”
He laughed at her stunned reaction. “I know. Shocked the heck out of me too. I wasn’t looking for it but there it is. I love you, Katie Golightly, Kate Spencer, Charlotte McKinnon. Whoever you are, I love you.”
She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, could only stand there on a moonlit Florida night and stare at him. “You can’t love me!”
“And yet I do.”
“How can you possibly, after I dragged you across the country on this wild goose chase and have spent the whole week moaning and complaining about my poor, pitiful life?”
He laughed again and reached for her hand. His fingers caressed hers and sent twirly, twitchy little nerve impulses up her arm. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that’s all you’ve done.”
Heat soaked her cheeks as she remembered trying to seduce him, as she thought of the passion they shared and her own voraciousness.
The impact of his words finally fully hit her and she sank down onto the chaise lounge again.
“You love me.”
“I said so, didn’t I? Why is it so hard for you to believe?”
“I never thought I would hear you say that. I…I suppose I can’t believe it because I’ve loved you forever,” she finally admitted and had the satisfaction of seeing him blink in surprise.
“You have not.”
“Well, at least since the first day we met, when you were sitting in that diner with those cops. I remember it vividly. It was the middle of the night and Taylor and I walked in after studying and you were so thrilled to see her. I never had a brother and seeing how much you obviously adored your little sister was the first thing I loved about you. The more I learned about you, the more I came to love.”
He reached for her and kissed her, and the emotion behind it had tears stinging her eyes again.
Several moments later, they were both breathing heavily and her body shimmered with tenderness and desire, all the more acute because she knew they couldn’t act on it. Not tonight, while they were guests in her parents’ house.
With a groan that told her he was every bit as aroused as she—and understood it couldn’t lead anywhere tonight—Hunter wrenched his mouth from hers. “We have to stop now or I won’t be able to.”
There would be other moments, she thought as joy winged its way through her. Moments when they would be free to touch and taste and explore. That knowledge lent an edge of sweet anticipation to her frustration.
“If you loved me for so long,” Hunter said gruffly, “why didn’t you say anything?”
She shrugged. “A few reasons. Dru, for one thing. She was a biggie. You started dating her right around that time and a few months later she announced to the world she was pregnant. You were trying to get her to marry you and I was so angry with her for the way she acted I wanted to punch out her pretty white teeth.”
She grew quiet. “And then she was killed,” she said softly.
“And I was arrested and charged with her murder. I don’t blame you for wanting nothing to do with a convicted felon.”
“That had nothing to do with it! Nothing. I never once believed you were guilty. You know that. I would have poured out my feelings at any moment to you but you didn’t even want your sister to visit you in prison. How could I suddenly show up with some story about how I was crazy about you? I would have looked like those desperate women who suddenly claim undying love for men behind bars.”
They were both silent as Kate pondered the amazing twists and turns in their lives that had led them here, to this moment.
“So what now?” he asked. “I’ve never done this before so I’m not quite sure what comes next.”
She linked her hands through his. Here it was, then, the peace she had traveled across the country to find. They had both been through tough times, but somehow they had managed to come through the other side to find each other.
“Let’s go home,” she said.
EPILOGUE
“Are you sure you’re up to this?”
Six days later, Christmas eve, they sat in Hunter’s Grand Cherokee gazing out at Lynn McKinnon’s cedar-and-glass house, smoke curling from the chimney and Christmas lights gleaming merrily through the fluttery snow.
Full circle, she thought.
Two weeks earlier they had stood together on Hunter’s deck while mountain snow swirled around them and now here they were back under the same conditions.
The same weather, maybe. But everything else had changed.
She squeezed his fingers. “Lynn’s expecting us. I don’t want to hurt her feelings.”
“I’m sure she would understand. You’re exhausted from all that traveling.”
She laughed. “Right. The traveling. That’s it.”
He looked slightly abashed, which only made her laugh more. They had spent six days on the road, wending their way slowly from Florida to Utah. They probably could have made the journey in half the time barring complications like they encountered on the way east, but neither of them had been in much of a hurry.
They rose late each morning, still warm and sated from a night spent in each other’s arms, then drove until they were tired enough—or hungry enough for each other—that they stopped again for more.
How different their return journey had been! With the simmering tension between them gone and their feelings out in the open, Kate had found every moment one of pure delight, whether they were laughing about a bumper sticker on an eighteen-wheeler or watching Belle chase a ball through the snow in Wyoming, where they had spent the previous night.
She loved Hunter more after those six wonderful days than she ever believed possible.
Part of her would rather go home with him and spend this most magical of nights in his arms, at his quiet mountain home where everything had begun.
But she couldn’t deny the surprising discovery that her heart beat with eagerness to walk inside Lynn’s beautiful home and see again the people she knew waited for her there.
“I’m ready,” she murmured.
Hunter climbed out and came around to open her door, then piled his arms with the presents loaded onto the back seat. They had barely had time to stop at her apartment in Salt Lake City to drop Belle off and pick up her stash of gifts. Kate could only be grateful she had been neurotic enough to wrap all but the ones they bo
ught in Florida before she left—and she had paid extra for gift wrap on all those last-minute purchases.
Soft snowflakes drifted around them as they walked up the sidewalk together. Just for old time’s sake she stuck her tongue out to catch a few, earning a laugh from Hunter.
Kate freed a hand from the packages she carried to ring the doorbell, and a few moments later Gage’s oldest step-daughter, Gabriella, opened the door, her gamine little face lighting up when she saw them.
“Aunt Kate! Aunt Kate! You’re here! That means we can open presents now!”
Aunt Kate. My word. Kate wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that one. She didn’t have time to sort it out before Gaby raced off, most likely to find her younger sister and partner in crime.
She and Hunter stood in the doorway for a moment, then looked at each other and laughed when no one else came to greet them.
Through the entryway, Kate could hear voices and soft holiday music so she decided just to walk in. She belonged here, after all, whether she was ready to accept that or not.
Laughter and heat and delicious smells assailed them when they walked into Lynn’s comfortable-sized gathering room. Pine, roast turkey and some kind of pie—possibly cinnamon apple—were the dominant scents.
No one seemed to notice their entrance and Kate took the opportunity to study this family she was slowly coming to know.
Wyatt and Taylor were nowhere to be found, but Gage and Allie sat on one of the pair of plump burgundy couches arranged around a river-rock fireplace that crackled merrily. They were holding hands, she saw, as they admired the wrapped presents under the tree with Allie’s daughters, who seemed to be pawing through each one for any that might have their names on them.
Kate’s gaze found Lynn and Sam standing together in the open kitchen. Lynn wore a holiday-print apron and her lovely face glowed pink. Probably from working in the kitchen all day, Kate thought, judging by the delicious-looking feast spread on the table; then she saw Sam sneak a kiss on the back of his ex-wife’s neck exposed by her graceful French braid.
Well, well! This was an interesting development. Sam and Lynn had been divorced since shortly after her kidnapping and neither of them had ever remarried. Wouldn’t it be something if they could rekindle their relationship now, after all the years and pain?
As if drawn by radar, Lynn suddenly looked up and found them standing there. She flushed even brighter and stepped away from Sam.
“Kate! You’re back.”
“Just barely. I only stopped home to drop off my luggage.”
“I was so afraid you wouldn’t make it in time. Oh, I’m so glad you’re here!”
She dropped the wooden spoon she held and rushed forward. Kate barely had time to hand her presents into Hunter’s already burdened arms before Lynn swept her into a cinnamon-scented embrace.
As her mother pressed a soft cheek to hers, Kate waited for the familiar discomfort to pinch her at Lynn’s eager affection, but she couldn’t seem to find it anywhere. Instead, she returned Lynn’s embrace, warm affection bubbling up inside her like eggnog.
Sam joined them and Lynn handed her over to him. Again Kate was startled by the contentment stealing over her.
“Do you want the presents under the tree?” she heard Hunter ask Lynn.
“That would be fine, dear.”
He left her side long enough to put their packages along with the rest, to the delight of Gaby and Anna.
“Hunter came with me. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course not!” Lynn assured her. “He’s Taylor’s brother so that makes him practically one of the family.”
And soon he would be more, Kate thought, joy pulsing through her again, but she held that secret close to her heart for now.
“Dinner’s almost ready. I’m just taking the rolls out of the oven.”
“How can I help?” Kate asked as Hunter rejoined her.
“I’ve got it. Just sit down and visit with your brothers.”
“I see Gage but where’s Wyatt? Did we beat them here?”
Lynn gestured absently. “They’re around somewhere. Taylor said they had some last-minute presents to wrap. I think they’re in one of the bedrooms.”
As if on cue, Taylor and Wyatt wandered into the room. Taylor could usually be found elegantly groomed, every hair in place and her makeup beautifully applied. Now, though, her hair looked a little messy, her lipstick a little smudged and her eyes had the glow of a woman who had just been well and truly kissed.
Wrapping presents. Right, Kate thought, hiding her grin as Taylor caught sight of them, her brother and her best friend. She let out a distinctly inelegant whoop.
She slipped from Wyatt’s arms and rushed to them, her arms outstretched. When she neared, she came to a dead stop, her eyes wide. Only then did Kate realize Hunter’s fingers were entwined with hers, something that had become almost second nature to them in the last six days.
Taylor’s gaze shifted rapidly from their joined hands to their faces in turn and then her shocked expression gave way to joy.
She hugged them both hard. “It’s about time my brother got some sense,” she whispered in Kate’s ear when she embraced her.
“Everyone is here at last so we can start dinner,” Lynn said. “Sit down, sit down.”
“What about presents?” Gaby whined.
Allie shushed her. “Later. I’ve told you that a hundred times.”
“At least,” Gage murmured with a fond smile to his stepdaughters.
Everyone took their seats and Kate was grateful to see Lynn must have quickly set an extra place for Hunter—either that or she had suspected all along that Kate would bring him.
When everyone was gathered around the big pine table, Sam cleared his throat. “This is the most wonderful of Christmases. To have everyone together again seems like a miracle.”
Everyone’s gaze subtly shifted to Kate. A few days earlier she would have squirmed under their attention but now she only smiled.
“Before we say grace,” Sam went on, “Lynn and I have an announcement.”
He looked as nervous as a boy on his first date, she thought, as her father lifted her mother’s hand above the table. “Lynn and I are, um, getting married again. Valentine’s Day.”
Both he and Lynn looked anxiously at their assembled family as if they thought they had dropped a bombshell on everyone. No one looked particularly surprised, though Kate might have been if she hadn’t observed that furtive kiss in the kitchen.
With a sound of disgust, Wyatt reached into his pocket and pulled out a bill, then slapped it onto the table in front of Gage. “There you go. Twenty bucks.”
“You bet on whether your parents would get back together?” Taylor asked, her voice outraged.
“No. We both figured out that was a given a long time ago. Gage said Valentine’s Day. I thought Mom would hold out for a spring wedding.”
Her big, tough FBI agent of a brother pocketed the money, a grin on his handsome features. “What can I say? I’m a romantic.”
Wyatt snickered at that but subsided at a stern look from Taylor.
Kate remembered Hunter’s proposal the night before when they had been throwing snowballs at each other outside their Wyoming hotel and her joyful acceptance. She thought of sharing the news with her family but decided she wanted to treasure it to herself for a while longer.
She was glad she said nothing when Allie spoke up quietly.
“We have news too.” She reached for Gage’s hand. “We’re having a baby, due in June.”
There were general exclamations of delight at the table.
“We might have a brother,” Anna said.
“See, Mama,” Gaby added, “I can too keep my mouth shut sometimes. I didn’t tell anyone, not even Grandma Lynn.”
Everyone laughed, but Taylor and Kate both honed in on Allie at the same time.
“Who’s your OB?” Taylor asked.
“How is your pregnancy affecting your blood sugar?
” Kate asked, concerned over Allie’s diabetes.
“Does your doctor anticipate putting you on bed rest for the last trimester?” Taylor asked.
Allie looked a little overwhelmed by all the questions.
“This is what happens when you have two doctors in the family,” Wyatt said with a laugh.
“And a nurse,” Gage reminded them. “Allie knows how to take care of herself.”
“The food’s getting cold,” Sam spoke up in his quiet way. “You can jabber all you want about babies and weddings while we’re stuffing our faces but let’s say grace so this feast your mother spent all day working on doesn’t go to waste.”
Kate smiled a little at Hunter’s disconcerted expression when everyone reached around the table to hold hands with those on either side of them, but he reached for Taylor’s fingers with his left hand and Kate’s on his right.
She was seated next to Lynn and her mother’s hand was smooth and soft, though she laced her fingers through Kate’s tightly as Sam began to pray.
Her father’s prayer was beautiful and heartfelt. He gave thanks for all the blessings the family had seen through the year, for new loves and second chances, and especially for the miracle of their little girl’s return to them, after so many years of searching for her.
His voice broke a little at that point and he paused. Kate peeked under her eyelashes to find that tears seeped from both her parents’ closed eyes—and even Gage and Wyatt looked suspiciously teary.
She was weeping a little, too, she realized, and her tears dripped even more freely when in his deep, quiet voice Sam gave thanks for those who had cared for her while she was away from them, who had showed her love when her family couldn’t.
She thought of Maryanne and Tom, and at that moment she finally realized how truly blessed she was.
How many people had been gifted with two sets of loving parents? When she and Hunter married in a few months, she would have two kind, loving men to walk her down the aisle, two mothers to fuss over her gown and her veil. Even though Hunter’s parents were dead, their children would still have two sets of grandparents to love them and spoil them.
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