Sarah's Secrets

by Lisa Childs

  “You bitch!”

  A stinging slap whipped her head back against the cement wall, sending stars dancing behind her eyes. But when he headed down after the note Jeremy had left on his pillow, she didn’t wait to orient herself again. She climbed frantically for the next flight, clawing at the railing as black spots invaded her field of vision.

  Her breath echoed off the cement walls, short, frantic gasps for air as she ran. At the next landing, she threw open the door, and bright sunlight blinded her. She’d reached the roof. Exactly where he wanted her.

  An old helicopter sat on the landing pad, the blades circulating with whooshes of air and deafening noise. No one manned the controls, the cockpit sat empty. The pilot must be waiting somewhere…for her.

  She whirled back to the door that hadn’t shut yet behind her. But the doorway filled with Donny’s angry face, his hand shaking on the gun. “You lying bitch!”

  And he raised the gun.

  Sarah flinched, expecting the pain but knowing with the noise of the chopper that she’d never hear the shot. But nothing happened. She opened her eyes to a flurry of movement. Royce slammed the door against Donny’s arm, knocking the gun to the ground. Where had he come from?

  Before her cousin could reach for it, Royce kicked the gun back, toward Sarah. She dropped to a knee and grabbed it, the metal slick with Donny’s sweat. Before she could lift the barrel, Donny shoved against the door, trying to overpower Royce. But Royce shoved him back inside the stairwell. Locked together, they rolled down the first flight of stairs.

  “Royce!” Screaming his name again and again, Sarah scrambled after them, finding them in a tangle of arms and legs on the next landing.

  Donny struggled once more, but Royce’s battered fist silenced him.

  “Royce, are you all right?”

  Royce surged to his feet and reached for her, dragging her into his arms. Sarah burrowed into his chest. “Sarah, did he hurt you?”

  She shook her head, rolling her cheek against his strong shoulder. Donny had scared her. Maybe he’d even hurt her a bit physically. But he hadn’t done anywhere near the harm Royce could do to her…emotionally. She loved him. And she opened her mouth to tell him so just as the stairwell filled with a SWAT team.

  ROYCE PACED the hallway outside Sarah’s bedroom door. She hadn’t gone back to Winter Falls. Yet. But she would. Unless he stopped her.

  Filling in the details on Donny’s crimes had taken too much time. The day had slipped into evening. Evidence had been accumulated. Before she’d gone off to make medical arrangements for Donny’s daughter, Sarah’s statement had been taken. And when Donny had come to, he’d given a full confession…with a little persuasion from Royce.

  After the confession, Royce had dealt with the impatient media. Then he’d reported the good news to Jeremy’s worried uncle, who had had some information of his own. Dylan had found his wayward deputy sleeping off a drinking binge over losing the object of his infatuation.

  Royce could hardly fault the young guy because he knew how it felt to be infatuated—and more—with Sarah. What would he do if he lost her now?

  “Royce…” Sarah drew open the bedroom door and leaned against the jamb. Her silk nightshirt molded to her soft curves, dipping out at her breasts and in at her slim waist and ending mid-thigh. She bent a bruised and dimpled knee and arched her back.

  His mouth went dry. “Sarah, he did hurt you.”

  She lifted her knee, the shirt sliding farther up her slim thigh. “Just a skinned knee. I can handle it.”

  “I can’t.” He reached for her, closing his shaking hands over her bare shoulders and drawing her against his tense body. He had to hold her. And never let her go.

  He lifted her in his arms and headed for the narrow flight of stairs to his private rooms.

  “Royce…” Her breath whispered against his throat.

  “Sarah, I have to have you…” Forever.

  The door stood open as he’d left it when he’d retrieved his gun to begin his search for Jeremy. He stepped through and knocked the door shut with his back. Then he slid her down his body, the silk sliding over denim, as he set her on her feet.

  His mouth found hers, brushing over her soft lips again and again. He slid his hands from her shoulders down her slender back to cup the soft mounds of her derriere and lift her against him.

  Her legs wrapped around his waist, and she rocked against the part of him that ached for her.

  “Sarah…” A groan tore from his throat.

  “Royce…”

  He throbbed against her, and her breath caught.

  “Sarah, are you hurt? Are you strong enough? After what happened, I don’t think—”

  She rocked against him again. “Don’t think, Royce. Not tonight. Just feel.”

  Tonight was all he had left with her. Tomorrow she’d return to Winter Falls unless he could convince her to take a chance on him. To trust him.

  His heart ached. And something inside him snapped, some civilized part of him that had always kept things slow and gentle.

  Clothing was pushed aside, hands caressing, grasping, lips nipping and he surged inside her wet heat—standing against the door.

  She moaned his name into his throat, suckling and nipping his jumping pulse.

  “Sarah!”

  She shuddered against him, her cry muffled as she flowed around him. He shuddered, too, and came inside.

  No protection. Of any kind. He’d lost his head just as he’d lost his heart to her long ago. Now he had to make certain she wanted it, that she wanted him. Forever.

  She shivered in his arms and sagged against him. With the care he should have shown her before, he carried her to the bed, still rumpled from their previous lovemaking. Then he wrapped her in his arms, holding her tight against his madly pounding heart. “I love you, Sarah.”

  A long moment passed with no response. When he glanced down, he found her smiling. And sleeping.

  HOURS LATER he opened his eyes to meet the bright-blue gaze of Jeremy. “Hey, kid.”

  A smirk slid across the boy’s mouth. “You were out.”

  Royce ran a hand through his mussed hair. “Yeah, guess I was.”

  “You know what this means, right?”

  With bleary eyes, Royce glanced down at the rumpled covers and his bare chest. The kid wasn’t that young. He knew what had gone on in that bed. “Um…let me hear it from you.”

  “You’re going to have to marry my mom now.”

  God, he loved this kid. “Is that so?”

  Jeremy nodded. “Yup, and if you don’t do it voluntarily, I’ll have Uncle Dylan get out his shotgun.”

  Royce chuckled. “What about your mom? Think this is something she’d do voluntarily?”

  The kid nodded again. “Yeah, she loves you.”

  Royce’s heart surged with hope. He wished she’d told him, or at least, that she’d heard him tell her. “What?”

  “I can tell.” The kid leaned forward from the chair he’d pulled to the edge of the bed. “She’s never, ever looked this way before.”

  “How’s that?”

  “Sappy. Yup, she loves you. No doubt about it.”

  Royce desperately wanted to believe the kid. “Where is she?”

  “Gone.”

  “What?” Why hadn’t he shaken her awake to hear his declaration of love?

  He reached for the covers, about to toss them back when he remembered something else. “Jeez, kid, can you give me a minute? I have to get moving.”

  “I know you caught the bad guy and all, but don’t you think I should still stick close to you?” Those blue eyes twinkled with mischief again. “He might have another accomplice.”

  “The hall is close enough. And you’re safe…unless you keep hassling me.” Royce knew his grin ruined the threat.

  Jeremy’s smile widened. “I guess I’m going to have to start listening to you since you’re going to be my dad and all.”

  Royce’s heart swelled. A dad? H
e would be the one thing he’d sworn never to become. A parent. But no horrific images rolled through his head. Not even fear. Only joy. And love. Love he wanted to share with the boy’s proud, stubborn mother.

  He pointed a finger at the door. “Start listening now. I’ve gotta get dressed and find your mom.”

  “Find me why?” Sarah asked, as she carried a tray through the doorway. She had pulled on a robe over her nightshirt. Silk, of course. Well, she’d be easy to shop for…for birthdays, holidays and anniversaries.

  “Jeremy and I have been talking about you.”

  Jeremy flashed him a thumbs-up as he left the room and closed the door.

  “What about me?” Her chin lifted with pride as she set the tray on the chest at the foot of the brass bed.

  “We have plans for your life, Sarah.”

  She narrowed her smoky eyes. “You and my son? What are these plans?”

  Letting the covers drop away, he stood up and slid his arms around her waist, anchoring her close against him. Always. “A shotgun wedding.”

  “What?”

  “That boy’s pretty smart. Says you have to make an honest man out of me now, after having your wicked way with me.”

  She laughed. “You are the most aggravating—”

  “And you love me.”

  “Oh, yes, Royce, I do love you…so very much.”

  He cupped her chin, tipping it up until her gaze met his. “I love you, too, Sarah. I know all your secrets and love everything about you.”

  She sighed, a catchy breath of air that tickled his throat. “Royce…”

  “I was lying to myself before. I have something left. My love. And all of it is for you and Jeremy.”

  Tears sparkled in her gray eyes.

  “And I hope you were lying to yourself when you said you don’t expect promises anymore, Sarah, because I want to make you a lot of promises. The first…marriage. Marry me, Sarah.”

  Epilogue

  As far as shotgun weddings went, it was lovely. Although she’d never technically agreed. Her fingers tightened on Jeremy’s arm, as he walked beside her down the aisle, giving her away.

  Her matron of honor already stood in front of the altar. Lindsey Warner-Matthews. Thin again after the birth of her child. Glossy black curls framed her delicately featured face. Despite the complaining about having to wear a dress and heels, she looked beautiful in her champagne-colored silk gown.

  Evan and Dylan stood on the other side of the altar, behind the groom. She couldn’t look at the groom yet. Her heart warned her to look everywhere else. Not at Royce. Or her knees would weaken with desire, and her son would have to carry her the rest of the way down the aisle. Or Royce would have to sweep her into his arms again…as he often did.

  Evan and Dylan defined handsome in their black tuxedos. Had Royce worn his, or as threatened, a shirt and his disreputable jeans? A smile teased her lips, but she resisted the temptation to peek at him and glanced around the church instead.

  She had no biological family there but Jeremy. Maggie was in Milwaukee, recovering from a kidney transplant for which Sarah had found a willing donor and a legitimate surgeon. The girl would be fine, and Pamela had promised to bring her to visit. But more than blood made a family, and Sarah looked at the people who had become hers.

  The front pew held the guest of honor. Actually Will and Retha Warner held her, but the retired sheriff, Buck Adams, and Sarah’s own soon-to-be father-in-law, Donald Graham, leaned over from the second pew and fussed over the wiggling bundle of joy. Serena Matthews, Dylan and Lindsey’s beautiful baby girl.

  Sarah wanted another baby. Boy or girl, didn’t matter. But she wanted Royce’s baby.

  And so, too, did Royce.

  She couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe the promises he’d made her. She couldn’t believe that he’d offered them, but she believed that he’d keep them.

  She loved Royce, but more importantly, she trusted him. Because he loved her, too.

  She glanced at her son, at the smile that lit up his face and bright-blue eyes. He stopped at the altar and turned to Royce, the smile growing bigger.

  “Who gives this woman?” the minister asked.

  Jeremy cleared his throat and steadied his voice. “I do.” His smile flashed again.

  Royce stepped forward and lifted Sarah’s veil. She blinked back tears and focused on his handsome, cleanly shaven face. He had shaved, but he’d not found time for the haircut.

  He’d only gotten back in that morning from tracking down someone’s missing child. He’d found her alive.

  Sarah had not come alive until after he’d found her. She slid her fingertips up the broad shoulder in the black tux until she tugged at the soft hair brushing his collar. “You should have skipped the shave, too,” she whispered.

  “Sarah…”

  When Jeremy turned to take a seat, Royce caught him around the shoulders. “You’re in on this, too, son. You’re part of this. Your adoption papers will be signed at the same time as our marriage license.”

  Another promise kept. She had no doubt he’d keep them all.

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-4086-5

  SARAH’S SECRETS

  Copyright © 2003 by Lisa Childs-Theeuwes

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