Thoughts of their dinnertime conversation filtered stubbornly through his pain-filled brain…pleasant dreams of children between them, a loving home, time spent with the family he’d always wished for.
Could it ever happen? Would she be able to forgive him for the way he’d turned her life upside down and stolen the very last shred of hope from her for respectability? Because he damn sure wasn’t what you’d call respectable…not anymore.
The day Dawson Ridgeway had stolen the Double D, Nick’s respectability had blown away like a tumbleweed when he’d had to figure out a way to take care of the family. That’s when he’d discovered just what kind of money he could make as a fast gun for hire.
Once the ranch was lost, Everett Diamond had taken his own life. Nick had found him still holding the shotgun, the barrel in his mouth, his brains on the wall behind his desk. Nick’s mother, Anne, had died five years earlier of a weak heart.
At the age of sixteen, Nick, Jake and Brett had to scrounge for bread to eat and rags to wear until they could hire out for work. But Nick had managed to hold what was left of his family together until they’d reached adulthood…and all those years, he’d kept one desire burning inside all of them: to take back what was theirs—the Double D—no matter what they had to do to get it.
Looking up into Liberty Dawn Diamond’s worried blue eyes, Nick knew his heart had been captured by his own plan. He would do whatever it took to give Libby the respectability she wanted so badly…along with the dreams they’d unwittingly shared.
He’d made a good start on it with a surprise he’d meant to tell her about over dinner. But, for now, it would have to wait.
****
“No bathing yet,” Dr. Lattimer warned as he packed his bag and prepared to leave. “Only a sponge bath for the next couple of days.” He gave Libby a look over the top of his glasses.
“I could send my nurse over to do it, but we’ll be traveling out to the Johnson’s within the hour. Their baby’s on the way, and there’s the magic of a coming snow in the air. We’ll want to get there before that starts.” He smiled at Libby’s shocked silence. “Liberty, this is what married people do for one another. A sponge bath will be the very least of your uh…discoveries…about one another tonight.”
She nodded and looked away.
“Don’t do anything that hurts, Nick. If you do too much, these stitches will pull right out. I’m sure you’ll figure out—a way.”
“Thanks, Doc. Lemme pay—”
“Forget it. I was just glad to know Ridgeway got the worst end of it. You broke his left hand, and I believe he has a concussion. I sent him over to Doc Talent’s. Told him I had another emergency.”
“The baby?” Jake asked.
“No. I figured you’d be along any minute, and sure enough, you were.” Doc shook his head. “Reminded me of when you boys were younger. It’s a wonder you’re all still here.”
Jake opened the door for the doctor. “Prob’ly wouldn’t be, if it wasn’t for you, Doc.”
Doc smiled. “Liberty, I believe you got the better man. But you are not pregnant. I’ve seen enough in my profession to know you are not with child. I don’t know what happened, but whatever it was, I’m certain this one—” he nodded at Nick, “will make you a much better husband than Carlton Ridgeway. You and Nick are kindred spirits…don’t know why I didn’t see that before.”
“Doc, tell Mama—” Libby’s voice trembled. “Tell Mama I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
The doctor waved a hand in dismissal. “Your mother is already fully recovered from her fainting spell, and has begun planning your children’s names. Your father—he’ll come around.”
She nodded. “Thank you, doctor.”
“I’ll let the front desk know to send up a large basin of warm water and some more firewood,” he said, then closed the door behind him.
“I better get goin’ too,” Jake muttered. “The night’s gettin’ on.” He winked at Nick, and smiled as Libby glanced away. “Check on you tomorrow, brother.”
“Not too early, Jake.”
Jake laughed and headed for the door. “Y’all be careful tonight, whatever you do.” He met Libby’s eyes once more. “Miss Liberty, don’t hurt my brother, now, you hear?”
“No. Oh, no, I won’t—” she started to reply. Jake’s meaning sank in, and she blushed. “That is—I’ll take good care of him—” Again, she broke off, flustered.
Jake opened the door with a laugh. “That’s just what I’m countin’ on, Mrs. Diamond.”
****
Despite Libby’s best efforts to remain aloof, the sponge bath was awkward. It wasn’t as if she’d never seen a man’s naked chest before. Plenty of the ranch hands around the community of Hollow Springs worked in the heat of the summer with no shirt, but donned them hastily when visitors came. She’d traveled many a mile with her father as he made his benevolent calls on church members.
But she’d never seen anything below the belt. Anything as forbidden as a man’s— No matter, she told herself brusquely. She’d be seeing Nick Diamond’s privates one way or the other tonight. And didn’t Papa always say “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”?
She smiled at that thought, busying herself with the basin of warm water and the rag she held at the ready.
Nick regarded her through heavy-lidded eyes. For a moment, he almost seemed to smile.
She knelt quickly beside him, the basin on the night table nearby. She’d already cleaned the blood from his face and neck, and as she knelt, wondering where to wash next, he held up his right hand.
“Can you…get this blood off my hands, Libby?”
“Of course,” she said, relief evident even to her own ears. Hands. Hands would be easy. Or, so she had thought. But as she began to wash his right hand, sliding the washrag over the dried blood and cleaning his fingers one by one, the churning, breathlessness fluttered in her belly, and her legs tightened against themselves.
She took a deep breath, and rinsed the rag quickly, giving careful attention to it.
“Somethin’ wrong, Libby D.?”
Oh Lord. The raspy hoarseness of Nick’s voice poured over her like warm honey, caressing her in every secret velvet place of her body and her soul. How could a man’s voice call up such feelings? Cast such a spell over her?
She managed to shake her head, but knew better than to try to speak around the lump in her throat.
His steady perusal didn’t make her task any easier, she thought, glancing at him quickly as she began to wash the blood from his hand again.
There was no doubt, he’d rightfully earned the reputation of a fast gun, but by the calluses on his work-rough hands, he’d done other things, as well.
She washed his bruised knuckles gently, then moved to carefully wash between his fingers.
“It’s not my hands that’re hurt,” he said, a teasing note in his tone. “You gonna spend all evening up here? Uh—on my hands, I mean?”
She gave him a blank look, pretending to misunderstand his innuendo. “However long it takes. And your hands are hurt. You probably just can’t feel it because of your other aches.”
“That’s for sure,” he muttered, shifting on the bed. After a moment, he said, “Libby, you weren’t really in love with Ridgeway, were you?”
She shook her head. “No. I wanted to be—oh, I wanted it badly. But, you heard what he said—in the church. I guess I always knew he wanted my dowry—not me.” She glanced up to meet Nick’s eyes as she turned to rinse the cloth and start on his left hand. “He’s not the marrying type, and I’m hardly fool enough to believe I would be the one to come into his life and change it so completely because of his love for me.”
She smiled at the thought. “I believe Mama and Papa knew it, too. But I was becoming an embarrassment to them—their spinster daughter.”
Nick gave a short laugh. “How old are you, Libby? Twenty?”
“Not yet. Not for another month. February 14th. Papa wanted to name
me Valentine, but Mama insisted on something else. He picked Liberty.”
“Bet he didn’t know you were going to live up to your name.”
“Nick.” She laid the cloth down a moment, leaning toward him. “I’m very outspoken.”
“So’m I.”
“And I—I’m very determined about things—”
“But not spoiled, right?”
“Oh, no. That would be wickedly sinful.”
His hand was at the back of her neck urging her closer. “Mm. We have a problem then…”
Nick’s lips touched hers gently. She leaned forward even more, and his teeth closed gently on her lower lip. She sighed into his mouth as he deepened the kiss, then reluctantly eased away after a moment, leaving Libby awash with a sense of frustrated, unfulfilled longing for more.
His eyes were hot with desire.
“What…problem?” Libby managed to ask.
“I plan to spoil you the best I can, Lib. If we’re gonna make this work—that’s part of what I want.”’
“No one’s ever said that to me before.” Libby could feel the blood thrumming through her body with pleasure and excitement.
“Do you feel wickedly sinful yet?” There was a warm light in his eyes, but also a questioning—as if he, too, wondered if their relationship would last past one night.
She nodded, unable to speak. Nick Diamond was someone she could be happy with—and who knew how long it might last? But she wanted at least this one night with him, and she had told him the truth about being determined. She was that. Nick was her husband. If she was going to feel wickedly sinful, she might as well do it up right.
****
Libby stood up slowly and began to unbutton her fitted blue jacket that she wore over a white blouse—her bridal change of clothing that had been hastily sent from the parsonage to the hotel after the wedding. No doubt, her parents were waiting to see what the morrow would bring before packing up the rest of her wardrobe, Nick thought.
“I’ve—never undressed before a man, Nick,” she said softly. “But I truly imagine this must be another step toward sin, because of the way I feel right now.”
“Nothing ‘sinful’ about it, Libby,” he answered, swallowing hard. “We’re legally married. But I’d say before you unhook that skirt, you’d better make damn sure you plan to stay that way. Once we make love, an annulment will be impossible.”
How could he let her go, now, even if it was what she wanted? In the next instant, relief blossomed in his chest.
“I don’t plan on getting an annulment.” Her fingers held the unhooked skirt in place for a split second before she let it pool around her feet. “That is, unless you want one.”
Nick shook his head, trying to sit up. He pulled another pillow behind his head to get a better view. Her fingers trembled, and he wanted to say something to her—something reassuring—but the words stuck as his breathing picked up.
Libby had begun to undo the buttons on her blouse, now. She didn’t meet his eyes. He kept silent, but was aware of their breathing—both rapid, both unsteady.
And he was sure that when she did look up at him, she’d easily read the pure desire written all over his face. He burned for her.
The blouse fell to the floor, and his breath escaped in a rush. Libby stood before him in her chemise, the pale skin of her shoulders lit by the glow of the lamps in the darkening room.
“Are you sure you want to be married to me, Libby? After tonight, it’s forever.”
She smiled at him uncertainly. “Having doubts, Nick?”
“Huh-uh.” He held his hand out and she took it, stepping closer to the bed. “It’s just…I don’t want you to feel as if you have no decision.”
She cocked her head. “I am making my decision right now. If you will stop trying to talk me out of it.”
With that, Nick came to his feet, his hands going to her shoulders. The stitches pulled, but he kept his gaze locked with hers.
“I’m not trying to talk you out of it, Lib. Never—that. I just don’t want you to be sorry. I want you to want me, the way I want you—and I know it’s too early—we don’t know each other, truly. We’re strangers, but—”
“I do.” Her palms came up to frame the planes of his face, her thumbs gliding gently over his cheekbones, carefully tracing a tender bruise under his left eye. “I do want you.” She came into his arms, lifting her lips to his.
He whispered, “You deserve better than me. You don’t love me.”
She smiled as his mouth hovered above hers. “But I could, Nick Diamond. Truly, I could.”
****
And, she decided in that very same instant, he could love her, too, if she didn’t give up in her will to see this through. Now, she had something she had never known she wanted with all her heart until this very moment in time—a rough, hard-edged man who she trusted to give her a better life than she ever dared hope for. Someone who defended her to the man she’d expected to wed, right up until the moment Pastor Tyler had asked for objections. Someone who had taken care of her, easing her fears with his teasing and truthfulness, his firm touch and his quick smile. Someone who’d unwittingly saved her from a life she’d already come to dread, even as she walked down the aisle to make her vows.
Could it be that Nick could come to love her, as well? She wanted that, more than anything else.
He shouldn’t be up out of bed. She pulled away from him carefully, ending the kiss.
“Let’s go to bed,” she whispered in the deepening shadows.
Nick nodded. “Yeah. Okay. Let me—uh—get undressed…the rest of the way.”
Libby, making the best of the situation, gave him a provocative smile. “Need some help?”
He shook his head, but his eyes said yes. He might not want it, but he definitely needed what she’d offered.
“No. I think I can—”
In the next instant, Libby’s hands were at the top of his waistband, her fingers cool against the heat of his skin. His breath hitched in the moment it took for her to unfasten his belt and begin to work the button placket of his denims open.
She looked up into his face. “I want to please you, Nick.”
“You’re doin’ fine, Lib,” he murmured.
“But I’ve never—”
“Shh, honey.” He kissed her tenderly. “Just keep doin’ what you’re doin’.”
“I’m…out of buttons…”
****
The way she looked at him. It made him feel almost as uncertain and innocent as she was. And that almost brought a smile to his lips. But there was nothing humorous about this situation.
In one short day, he’d stolen Ridgeway’s fiancée and married her himself; he’d made promises he’d never intended to make; and worst of all, he’d somehow let his bound emotions run free. It was dangerous for Libby, and for himself.
Love was not something he’d ever planned on when he’d hatched this plan; a future had been out of the question. His selfish idea of revenge had been shortsighted—and had gotten him in a hell of a fix, all right.
And now, God help him, there was nothing for it but to carry this crazy idea of his all the way through—he’d married Libby in front of at least a hundred people. She was his wife.
His wife…
And he wanted her so damn badly he could taste it. From the way she stood looking up at him, her heart in her eyes, the feeling was mutual.
“Libby…” His mouth was suddenly parched.
Her hands moved insistently at his waist, careful of the bandaging, easing his denims lower, until the rough material dropped to the floor.
“Lie down,” she whispered.
With his heart pounding like an untried schoolboy’s and the blood rushing lower, making him harder than he’d ever been for any woman, he had no choice but to do just that.
He watched as Libby drew the material of her chemise over her head, then pushed the rest of her undergarments to the floor until she stood bare before him.
The look on her face said she was shy about this moment—painfully so, despite all her outspoken bravado; but Nick didn’t mistake the desire in her eyes that overrode the awkwardness of their first time together.
He held out his hand, and she took it.
“What do you want, Libby?” His whispered question held a hint of rough wistfulness that he couldn’t hide.
She gently climbed onto the bed, her gaze holding his. “You,” she answered finally. “I want you, Nick. But not just for tonight.”
He pulled her to him, his lips slanting across hers as he shifted to cover her. “You’ve got me, lady. Now, and forever…if that’s what you’re asking for.” He tasted the warm honey sweetness of her mouth, his tongue playing over her lips, mating with hers. The cool silkiness of her soft woman’s body beneath the hard planes of his own fired his desire and his need.
“Even though I’m determined? And willful?”
“Spirited, Libby. And perfect.”
“Oh, Nick.” Her fingers toyed with his hair, her eyes sheening with quick tears. “You think I’m perfect?”
There were no words to answer her. How he’d walked into someone else’s wedding and chosen the woman of his dreams was something he’d never know. He kissed her, giving her the answer she searched for, even as he desperately tried to hold on to his heart.
He hoped she could see how right they fit together—body and spirit. His plan for his revenge had turned into something that had run away with him, out of control, and he couldn’t have stopped it from turning into this crazy love affair even if he’d wanted to. Already, he couldn’t seem to get enough of Libby; couldn’t stop kissing the sweetness of her mouth, her skin, her eyelids, her hair. She was an angel, and she was his—deserving of her or not.
****
Libby arched beneath him as he took her, giving and taking, learning—and loving.
Her heart would never be her own again—not after this night with Nick Diamond.
But as he spilled his seed inside her and then held her close against him in the aftermath of their lovemaking, she knew she owned his heart, as well.
Winter Magic Page 3
