“I’ve sworn to uphold the law, Shea, and you know I take my job seriously. But there are times when you have to obey a higher law, and this is one of them. What you did with those children was the right thing.” He shook his head and cleared his throat. “It took a hell of a lot of guts to do it, and I’m proud of you.”
A lump of tears grew and swelled in her throat. “Thank you, Dev,” she whispered.
She turned to Jesse. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I couldn’t.” He tightened his hand on hers. “I wasn’t sure Carly would write the article, and I wasn’t sure if Focus would run it. Hell, I’m still not sure if it’s going to make any difference.”
“It will.” It had to make a difference. “It has to, Jesse.”
He smiled and brought their joined hands to his mouth. After brushing her knuckles with a kiss, he let her go. “I have a meeting in a few minutes,” he said. “May I come out to the ranch later?”
“I’ll be waiting for you.”
Their eyes met and held, and then he nodded. “I’ll be there.”
Shea watched him leave the restaurant, feeling dazed. “I feel like I’ve fallen through the rabbit hole.”
Devlin laughed. “Serves you right. That’s just how you make me feel most of the time.”
Instead of responding, she leaned against the cushion in the booth. Finally she looked over at Ben. “What’s going to happen with you, Ben?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” he asked cautiously.
“They talk about Rafael in this article. There are going to be all sorts of reporters sniffing around him, wanting to ask him questions.”
“They won’t get to him.” Ben’s voice was quiet, but completely confident. “Rafael is too fragile right now to deal with this. As long as everyone in the town understands that, he’ll be fine. No one will bother him.”
“Carly wrote an article about that for this week’s Sentinel ,” Devlin said. “She spelled it all out. No one’s going to tell a soul who Rafael is or where to find him,”
Shea nodded. “Good. I think Rafael is happy, Ben.”
“I intend to make sure he stays that way, for as long as he’s with me.”
Shea started to ask him what he meant, ask him if he was going to adopt Rafael, but she stopped when Ben stiffened. She didn’t have to turn around to see that Janie Murphy was behind them.
Janie hurried away to the kitchen, and Ben stood up. “I’ll go back to the office. Someone has to do some work around here.”
Shea stood up to leave, too. “It seems I have a date out at the ranch.”
Before she could leave, Dev stopped her with a hand on her arm. “I like Coulton, Shea. I didn’t think I ever could, after what he did to you, but he’s all right.”
The lump in her throat grew again. “Thanks, Dev. Thank you for telling me that.”
He nodded. “I want you to be happy, Shea.”
“I know.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
Her brother leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Now see if you can make it back to the ranch without forcing one of my deputies to give you a speeding ticket. I’ll talk to you later.”
Her mind raced as she drove sedately back to the Red Rock. Who was Jesse meeting? And what was it about?
Her hands grew damp on the steering wheel as she thought about their “date.” What would he say to her? And more importantly, what would she say to him?
Chapter 17
Time stretched and dragged for the next three hours. Shea couldn’t bear to sit and wait, but she was too distracted to concentrate on the chores she tried to do- For the first time in her memory, the Red Rock wasn’t her all-consuming passion. She could think only of Jesse, and what he might say to her.
And what she had to tell him. There had been too many lies between them, and she’d decided on the way home from Cameron that she owed him the truth about how she felt. So she paced in the yard and the barn, trying to find ways to keep her mind and her hands occupied while she watched the drive for a plume of dust.
She was essentially alone on the Red Rock, and Jesse would be here very soon.
Wandering into the house, she saw the copy of Focus that she’d dropped on the floor earlier. Picking it up, she settled into the swing on the front porch and reread the article that Carly had written.
In spite of the knot of anxiety that grew in her stomach, she couldn’t help but smile at the story. Carly had deliberately made it inflammatory, and Shea imagined she could hear the howl of thousands of voices raised in outrage across the country. Carly had made it sound as if the government was bullying small, helpless children, terrorizing them for no good reason and refusing to let them join their relatives in this country. It was an article designed to stir up an uproar.
As she finished the article, she heard the sound of a truck pulling into the yard. The magazine dropped from her suddenly nerveless fingers as she watched Jesse’s familiar form climb out of the truck. Her heart began to pound in slow, deliberate thuds that she was sure he could hear. Hoping her cheeks weren’t flushed, she stood up to greet him.
“Hello, Jesse.”
“Shea.” He stopped at the bottom of the porch steps. “May I join you?”
“Of course.” She stepped to the far end of the swing and sat down. Her heart dipped with the swing as Jesse took a seat at the other end. For a moment, they simply looked at each other. Jesse’s face looked peaceful, and his eyes had lost the hardness that had filled them when he’d left Cameron a week ago.
“Jesse,” she began.
At the same time, he said, “Shea.”
They both stopped, and Shea felt stupidly awkward. Determined to keep her cool, she gripped the arm of the swing and said, “There’s something I need to tell you, Jesse.”
His face tightened, and for a moment he looked vulnerable and uncertain. Then he nodded.
“Fair enough. But first let me tell you why I came out here. I thought you deserved to know what I’ve been doing.”
“All right.” She took a deep breath, prepared for anything. Her fear that Jesse would arrest her had eased since she’d seen the article in Focus, but she still had no idea what he intended. For all she knew, he could be planning on solving the problem in Cameron and moving on to his next assignment.
“I’ve been on the phone to my boss in Washington for most of the afternoon,” he said without preamble. “He’s seen the Focus article, and he’s furious. He’s promising me all kinds of grief the next time he sees me ”
“I’m sorry, Jesse.” Impulsively, she leaned over and touched his arm. “I know how important your job is to you.”
He reached for her hand almost absently and twined their fingers together. Shea told herself to let him go, but Jesse didn’t seem to realize that he was holding onto her. “I’m not worried. Sam’ll get over it. I’m the best agent he has, and he knows it.”
He tightened his hold on her hand and swiveled to face her. “I didn’t tell you that to make you feel sorry for me, or because I’m afraid it’ll affect my job. I told you because I think it’s a good sign.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think it means that Sam has been getting pressure from someone higher up the chain of command. Carly’s article doesn’t make the Bureau look good, Shea. Sam told me that the phone calls from the citizens have already started. And if they’re calling us, they’re calling their congressmen, too. Before the week is finished, there’s going to be a huge stink in Washington about your children.”
Shea sat back in the swing, stunned. “What does that mean for the children?”
“It means that if anyone tries to send them back to San Rafael, they’re going to be lynched by an angry mob of citizens The same mob Carly stirred up with her article.” He grinned at her. “I never thought I’d say it, but God bless the press. They’re going to save us on this one.”
“So Rafael’s safe? And you won’t have to try and round the other children up?”
“No one in Washington will be willing to touch the children. And Rafael is going to have a long and happy life in the U S of A.” He shot her a quizzical look. “Aren’t you interested in what’s going to happen to you?”
“Of course I am. I just needed to know about the children first.”
“That’s why I told you about the children first. I knew they were more important to you than whether you were going to be spending the next twenty years in prison.”
His eyes softened until they glowed a gentle green. He brought her hand to his mouth, and let his lips linger there. Need stirred inside her, but she tried to ignore it. There was too much unsettled to allow herself to give in to the passion that coiled inside her.
“So what is going to happen to me?” Her voice sounded breathless and unsteady.
“Absolutely nothing. Sam told me that he wouldn’t dare recommend we arrest you, after that article in Focus.”
“How can you be so sure? I committed a crime, Jesse. I smuggled those children into the country.”
“It was a crime of the heart, Shea. No one wants to prosecute you for loving too much.”
She slumped back into the seat of the swing. “So it’s all over?”
“That depends on if you intend to stop bringing in the children.”
“I can hardly continue now. I’ll be watched more closely than a hawk watches a mouse. It would be too cruel to bring children here, only to have them sent back.”
Jesse smiled and leaned toward her. “I also spent part of the afternoon with Damien Kane. I know him slightly, and I know he has connections in Washington. So we had a talk.” He brought his other hand up and touched her face. “It seems that you helped his wife, Abby, when she was alone and needed help. And he’s a man who doesn’t forget that kind of thing. We pooled our contacts and came up with some interesting names. When I left him, he was on the phone, talking to someone at the State Department. I think you’ll find it much easier from now on to get visas for the children who need to be reunited with their relatives in this country.”
“Are you saying that I don’t have to stop bringing the children into the country?” she whispered.
“I’m saying that you don’t have to do it on the sly. As soon as Damien and I get the kinks ironed out, the kids can come into the country legally.”
Shea stared at Jesse, stunned. He’d just handed her everything she wanted. Or almost everything, she corrected painfully. Because he hadn’t offered her the one thing she wanted more than anything.
He hadn’t offered himself.
She hadn’t expected him to, she reminded herself. Jesse had a job he loved, and it wasn’t on the Red Rock Ranch. He had more important things to do than spend the rest of his life on a ranch in Utah.
“Thank you, Jesse,” she said, her throat almost closed with emotion. “Thank you for everything.”
“I didn’t do squat,” he said bluntly. “Carly wrote the article, and Damien is the one who made the phone calls to the State Department.”
“But you orchestrated all of it. Carly wouldn’t have written that article if you hadn’t asked her, and Damien wouldn’t have thought to work on the visas without you, either.”
“It was the least I could do. I owed you.”
“You don’t owe me anything, Jesse.”
He stared at her, a strange light in his eyes. “You don’t think so?”
“I know so.” Her voice was firm. She didn’t want him carrying regrets about her through the rest of his life. “You were doing a job. I understand that now.”
“I lied to you.”
“I know you did. And your betrayal hurt. I won’t deny that. But I was lying to you, too. I hadn’t told you what I was doing with the children. We both thought we were doing the right thing.” She tore her gaze away from his face and looked at her beloved ranch, the scenery dissolving into a blur. “I can’t be angry with you for doing what you thought was right.”
“You’re more generous than most people would be.” His voice sounded heavy, as if he had a hard time forming the words. “Why is that, Shea?”
“I should have trusted you.” She didn’t trust herself to look at him. “I knew what kind of a man you were. I should have known you would never hurt my children. How can I blame you for not trusting me when I didn’t trust you?”
Silence thickened the air between them, and Shea held tightly to the arm of the swing. She didn’t dare look over at Jesse. He would see the truth in her eyes, the truth of her love for him, and she wasn’t sure how he would respond.
“You wanted to tell me something, too,” he finally said.
Her gaze flew involuntarily to his. Hazel eyes watched her with a gentleness she’d never seen on Jesse’s face before. Gentleness, and something more. Her heart began its painful thudding again.
“I’m not sure it matters anymore,” she whispered.
“Try me and see.”
He watched her steadily, and she took a deep, trembling breath. She loved Jesse, but she hadn’t trusted him. Now it was time to put her love to the test. Did she have the courage to tell him how he felt, not knowing what his answer would be?
She had no choice. She would never forgive herself if she let him walk away without knowing she loved him. So she took another breath and said, “I wanted to tell you that I loved you. I didn’t want you to leave without knowing that.”
He closed his eyes, and a wave of panic gripped her heart. Then he opened them, and she couldn’t mistake the love that shone on her.
But instead of the words she wanted to hear, he said, “I’m the last person you should love, Shea.”
“According to whom?” She lifted her chin and refused to look away.
“According to me. I betrayed you. I used you and lied to you and ended up betraying your trust in me. How could you love me?” The hope in his eyes belied his words.
“I guess I’m just a sucker for a pretty face,” she murmured, encouraged by the love she saw in his eyes.
He jumped up from the swing and moved to the rail, staring out at the Red Rock. “Can you ever forgive me, Shea?”
“There’s nothing to forgive. I told you, I understand now that your job was as important to you as saving the children was to me.”
“You have such a generous heart,” he whispered. “I can’t believe you’ve given it to me.”
“It’s yours, Jesse, for as long as you want it.”
He turned around slowly. “How does forever sound?” He reached for her and pulled her roughly into his arms. “I love you, Shea,” he said against her hair. “I didn’t know what love was until you showed me. The last week has been nothing but hell for me. I was sure you wouldn’t be able to forgive me.”
“I love you, Jesse. How could I not forgive you?”
“It can’t be that easy.”
She leaned away from the haven of his arms to look up at him. “I didn’t tell you what I was doing. I didn’t trust you with my secret. Have you forgiven me for that?”
“Of course I have.”
She smiled at him then, feeling the last band around her heart loosening. “See how easy it is?”
“You make everything easy, Shea,” he whispered. “I fell in love with you before I even realized what was happening. I think I fell in love with you the first time I drove into the yard and saw you wrestling with that steer.”
Moisture gathered in her eyes, but she grinned at him. “And I fell in love with you when you gave me that cocky smile and dared me to hire you.”
He bent and kissed her again, and passion rose, hot and urgent. It had been far too long since they’d touched each other, far too long since they’d kissed.
Jesse apparently felt the same, because his hands gripped her tightly and his mouth was hard and demanding on hers. When she curled her hands into his back, she heard his groan vibrate through her mouth.
Slowly he pulled his mouth away from hers. “We have to stop now, or I won’t be able to stop.” His voice was low and husk
y, full of need.
“There’s no reason to stop. We’re alone here. There isn’t anyone else around.”
“Are you sure?”
She pulled his mouth back down to hers. “I’m positive.”
He kissed her again, passion raging wildly between them, then moved away and took her hand. “Let’s go upstairs.”
They hurried through the door, clinging to each other, and managed to make it to Shea’s room before their trembling hands began to pull at each other’s clothes. Shea couldn’t get the buttons on Jesse’s shirt undone, and finally he ripped it over his head. When they were both naked, standing in the golden light pouring through the window, he reached out and touched her cheek. “You’re even more beautiful than I remember.”
“I’ve missed you so much, Jesse.” She captured his hand in hers and held it to her face.
Then there was no more time for words as they melted together, tumbling to the bed. Jesse’s touch trailed fire everywhere, until she burned for him. And she couldn’t get enough of touching him. Everywhere her hands lingered, she felt his muscles tense and quiver.
Finally, her heart thundering, her body aching for him, she pulled him to her. “I can’t wait any longer, Jesse.”
He covered her mouth with his as he joined their bodies together. “I’ve been waiting forever for you, Shea,” he whispered. “And now I’ve come home.”
Pleasure built in waves, until she thought her heart would burst with it. And when she tumbled over the edge and shattered into a million pieces, she felt Jesse fall with her, whispering her name.
It seemed like hours later when they moved again. “I love you, Shea,” he said, pulling her close and wrapping his arms around her. “I feel like the luckiest man on earth. I have everything I ever could have hoped for, and some things I didn’t even know I wanted.”
“I never knew I could feel this way.” She closed her eyes and tightened her arms around him again. “I never want to let you go.”
“You’ll never have to, I promise.”
A ragged edge of anxiety fluttered inside her. She hesitated, unwilling to spoil the moment, then blurted out, “What about your job? Aren’t you going to be gone for long stretches of time?”
The Fugitive Bride Page 24
