The Damaged Heroes Collection [Box Set #1: The Damaged Heroes Collection] (BookStrand Publishing Mainstream)

by James, Sandy

  Setting the giant bouquet of fragrant roses on the kitchen counter, Laurie balanced the box on her hip and searched the flowers for a card. Her sixth sense had already told her they came from Ross, but she wanted to see the message. Perhaps she’d gotten through to him after all.

  Finally fishing the card out, the message wasn’t exactly what she’d expected.

  Be ready at eight. Ross

  She couldn’t contain a laugh. So very much like the man to demand rather than ask.

  Maybe she would find a clue in the box. There were no markings on the outside, but when she pulled off the lid, the tissue paper inside bore the name and logo of Neiman-Marcus. Laurie stared at it for a second and wondered what Ross was planning. She finally lifted the paper and gasped at what she saw.

  A pale pink dress rested beneath the tissue. Tiny bits of sequins and pearls had been sewn into the bodice and they gleamed and twinkled as the light hit them. Laurie gently lifted the garment from the box.

  Holding it in front of her, she turned this way and that as she watched the full skirt with its layers of netting swish around. The dress was enchanting—worthy of a real life princess.

  All of a sudden, Laurie’s heart seized in dread. It couldn’t possibly fit. Men never understood things like the proper size of a woman’s wardrobe, especially if the size was double digits. She almost didn’t have the nerve to look at the tag because she couldn’t bear the disappointment of not being able to wear it.

  Don’t feel sorry for yourself, Laurence. Big girls don’t cry. How many times had boys said that to her in high school?

  Laying the dress across the back of the sofa, she took a couple of steps back and just stared at it for a minute. Her heart felt near to bursting at the idea of Ross planning an evening special enough that he wanted her to wear something this delicate and beautiful. But the dress would surely be too small. Neiman-Marcus dresses weren’t usually made for fuller-figured women like Laurie.

  Oh, well. It’s the thought that counts. But she was lying to herself. I can find something else to wear.

  Laurie let her fingers slide over the beaded bodice to grasp the tag hanging under the arm. She blinked a couple of times, thinking she had read the numbers incorrectly. Size fourteen. How could he possibly know? Her cheeks grew hot at the idea Ross had guessed her correct size. It was akin to using her real weight on her driver’s license.

  She snatched up the dress and ran up the stairs to her bedroom. Throwing off her robe and jerking her dorm shirt over her head, Laurie stepped into the gown. A small note slipped out of the layers of the skirt and fluttered to the floor. She picked it up.

  I figured with all the shoes in your house, you could find some that matched.

  Laurie laughed at his humor as she fastened the dress. A perfect fit. The bodice pushed her breasts up high enough they almost overflowed. The off-the-shoulder style complimented her lightly muscled shoulders and arms. The skirt billowed as she twirled in front of her full-length antique mirror. She felt utterly feminine.

  Evidently, tonight she would get to play the lead role in a private performance of Cinderella.

  Chapter 10

  What a night! Fortune hadn’t been by to see me in weeks, when all of a sudden he surprised me after the last show. He whisked me out to his car and drove so far out of the city that I didn’t know where we were. When he stopped, there was nothing more than a huge open field. Fortune took out a picnic basket and blanket and spread them out in front of the car so that the headlights acted like spotlights. We had a wonderful meal and talked about so many things. Fortune’s real name is Timothy Joseph Miller, but everyone in his hometown calls him T.J. And he told me he’s from a little town in Montana called River Bend.

  T.J. talked about the war and how it changed him. He took to bootlegging because some of his war buddies pulled him into the business. He didn’t want to go home when he got back from overseas. He couldn’t explain exactly why, but I could see the hurt in his eyes when he talked about his family. And I can tell he is ashamed of what happened to him in the war and what he does now. He wants out.

  He told me he loves me. My heart belongs to T.J. now.

  Ross pulled up in a stretch limousine a few minutes before eight. He walked up to the door, took a deep breath to bolster his confidence, and rang the bell. He hoped to hell Sheila had been right, that he hadn’t blown his chance to make things up to Laurie. The woman was all he could think about, all he wanted, all he would ever need.

  A lanky blond answered the door then he leaned against it and wolf-whistled. Ross wasn’t sure if he was supposed to go in or if he should acknowledge the skinny guy with the goofy grin. At least the man appreciated a tailor-made tuxedo when he saw one.

  “Is Laurie ready?” Ross finally asked, fearing he sounded too much like a teenager picking up his date for the junior prom.

  “Yeah, she’s ready. But a patient called. She’ll be down in a minute. Would you like to come in?”

  Ross frowned, but he took a few long strides into the room.

  The man peeked outside, probably to look at the limo. As he closed the door, he sent a furtive glance at an Indian woman Ross assumed was Deepika. “Putting on the full court press, aren’t you?”

  Before Ross could answer the ridiculous question, he saw Laurie. His breath caught in his throat, choking off his air. She stood on the top step, staring down at him like Juliet on her balcony waiting for Romeo.

  Mine! The primitive man inside him flared to life. This woman belongs to me.

  The bodice of the dress fit perfectly and hugged all of her luscious curves. Sheila had been dead-on accurate when he’d tried to tell her Laurie’s shape. He could recall almost every detail of the way she felt in his arms, and Sheila had worked in a women’s clothing store when she was in college. Together, they had made an excellent choice. Laurie looked enchanting, weaving a spell he never wanted broken.

  Her blonde hair was swept up and loose tendrils escaped the shiny barrettes to curl around her cheeks and ears. She favored him with an intoxicating smile as she descended the staircase. Ross walked over to take her hand when she reached the last few steps. Raising it to his lips, he brushed a kiss across her soft skin. She blushed in response.

  The blond man had joined Deepika on the couch and he called over to them. “Hey, Laurie. You gonna introduce your date to your folks?” Deepika stifled a laugh and fed him a piece of popcorn from the big bowl resting on her lap. Then she let her finger stay over his mouth for a moment in silent censure.

  A wave of envy flowed through Ross as he wished he had that type of connection with Laurie, a bond where they could communicate without words.

  Taking Ross’s hand, Laurie led him over to the couple. “Ross Kennedy, this is my roommate, Dr. Deepika Sen, and my partner, Dr. Andrew Greve.”

  “Are you both therapists?” Ross asked.

  “No bloody way I’m a therapist. I specialize in emergency medicine,” Deepika answered. “Andrew and Laurie are the counselors.”

  “Ross is an attorney,” Laurie commented with a note of pride in her voice that warmed him.

  She still cared.

  Feeling a big awkward, Ross finally said, “Shouldn’t we be on our way?”

  Laurie looked to Andrew. “You’ll take my calls?”

  Andrew nodded. “Don’t forget the meeting with the Social Security rep tomorrow morning.”

  “I’ll remember.” Smiling, she pointed toward the TV. “Monty Python?”

  “Hell, yeah,” Andrew answered. “Holy Grail.” He snapped his fingers. “A classic.” Deepika shoved another kernel of popcorn in his mouth.

  Laurie stared at the two of them and breathed a sigh. She envied their closeness. She’d all but resigned herself to never having that kind of relationship. Her intuition told her Ross could be “The One.” But she was too afraid to listen as her sixth sense called to her, afraid she might be wrong for once.

  “Enjoy the movie,” Laurie said as she picked a cro
cheted shawl up from the table. Wrapping it around her shoulders, she let Ross take her hand and lead her to the door.

  Just before she stepped out of the house, Laurie heard Andrew talking to Deepika. “They grow up so fast.” Deepika laughed in response.

  When she saw the limo waiting outside, Laurie’s heart skipped a beat. “I can’t believe you did all this for me.”

  A smile lit his handsome face. “The night’s just begun.”

  The uniformed driver opened the door and Laurie and Ross crawled inside. An open bottle of champagne sat chilling in a silver ice bucket. After they’d taken their places and the limo eased into motion, Ross filled a glass and handed it to Laurie before he prepared one for himself.

  He settled in next to her and wrapped one arm around her shoulder as he watched the scenery slip by and sipped his champagne. Laurie took a few drinks of her own, waiting for Ross to say something. To say...anything. Yet he seemed content to ride along in stoic silence. Her curiosity finally got the better of her. “Where are we heading?”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  She turned to stare at him. Where was the begging for forgiveness for being a callow cad? Where was the humble apology?

  Then she realized—this was Ross being apologetic. The man probably had an inability to even let his mouth form the word “sorry.” Type A personalities tended to have a hard time admitting a mistake. At least if he couldn’t say it, Ross could certainly show it. He’d obviously gone to a great deal of effort to arrange this special evening for her. The thoughtful gesture seemed better than any apology. Whether he realized it or not, Laurie showered him with forgiveness. “I love surprises,” she finally said, settling back into the cushy seat.

  They rode while listening to some quiet music and sipping their champagne. Ross’s hand absentmindedly stroked Laurie’s bare arm and shoulder where her shawl had dropped away. Such a simple gesture, but she felt special. She’d never seen a man look so good in a tux.

  Laurie watched the sights along the interstate as they headed toward the Windy City. Seeing the slow and steady approach of the illuminated skyscrapers never failed to enchant her. She always found it a bit odd that she craved the bustle of Chicago yet still enjoyed the isolation of the Circle M. Maybe being born a Gemini caused the dichotomy of her taste in locale. She relaxed and enjoyed the feel of his warm fingertips caressing her skin.

  The limo finally pulled up in front of the Chicago Stock Exchange Building on LaSalle Street. After the driver came around to open the door, Ross exited and then helped Laurie from the car. Leading her into the elegant gilded elevator, they quickly rose to the fortieth floor. The doors opened onto Everest.

  Laurie had read a Chicago Tribune story about the restaurant just days before. It was considered one of Chicago’s most elegant establishments, and the newspaper’s reviewer had claimed getting reservations was next to impossible.

  The hostess talked quietly to Ross for a few moments, grabbed a couple of menus, and led them into the restaurant. She pointed out the extraordinary view of the city as they passed through the main dining room. Laurie was enthralled by every part of the experience. They finally stopped at a private dining room.

  He did all of this for me?

  Ross ordered for them, and Laurie suppressed the desire to giggle at his pronunciation of the French entrees.

  “So what do you think?” he finally asked when they were alone.

  “It’s beautiful, Ross. Everything’s beautiful. I don’t know how to thank you.”

  An enormous smile spread across his face. “It was the least I could do. I mean, you didn’t bill me for our session the other night.”

  “You mean you didn’t get it yet? I sent it days ago.” When Ross threw her an incredulous stare, Laurie laughed and raised her glass in salute. “Consider it pro bono.”

  He smiled, held up his glass, and clinked it against hers. “You know, you were right,” Ross finally said.

  She hadn’t realized how much she needed to hear him say it. “About?”

  “I didn’t really love Katie. It was more like...an obsession. I hate to lose. And when I lose to a guy with that much money, it makes me nuts.”

  Laurie frowned before she could stop herself. One hurdle at a time. “We all have our hang ups. Your stumbling block is money.”

  Ross appeared lost in contemplation for a moment. From the pained expression on his face, it wasn’t a pleasant thought going through his head. “I must look like a hypocrite to you,” he finally said. “I hate people with money, yet here I sit at a fancy restaurant in a tailored tux. It’s not the money, you know. It’s that some people didn’t earn it.” He stopped his train of thought, took a long pull off from his wineglass then continued. “It’s one of the reasons I brought you here. I knew you’d appreciate it. I mean, you probably have student loans out the wazoo. You share a house with a friend. And I saw your car. People who have everything handed to them wouldn’t truly appreciate a place like Everest. But I knew you would.”

  Laurie barely contained the sob that wanted to escape. The guilt felt suffocating, smothering. She wanted to blurt out the whole lie, but she feared it would ruin the magical night. Even knowing the weight of the remorse she’d have to carry around, she decided to bide her time and wait for a more mundane evening to spill her guts, hoping he would be able to forgive her as easily as she’d forgiven him. She finally nodded. “I understand.”

  Ross knew that she really didn’t know, and for once, he had the overwhelming need to tell someone the complete story. Other people wouldn’t understand. They would think it was a taint on his family. But Laurie was a therapist. Surely she could hear the whole awful truth and not bail on him.

  He chose his words carefully. “You probably don’t understand, but I need you to. I want to tell you something very few people outside my family know.”

  She looked at him with those soft, blue eyes almost as if she already knew. He wondered if the therapist in her had somehow guessed. Her words felt like a caress. “Sometimes if you tell another person what’s hurting you, she can help shoulder a little of the burden.”

  “I don’t want you to... It’s not fair that I...” Ross took a deep breath and finally told her his deepest, darkest secret. “My father killed himself.” He could hear Laurie sucking in her breath at the shock of the statement. He hoped it came from surprise rather than disgust.

  “Ross, I’m so sorry.”

  “So am I.”

  “Was he sick?”

  He shook his head. “Not a day in his life. It was because of money.”

  “Do you want to talk to me about it?”

  He nodded letting an ironic smile cross his lips. “As long as you don’t ask me how I feel about it.”

  Strangely enough, he wanted to tell her everything. In the years since his father’s suicide, he hadn’t even confided his feelings to his mother or his sister. The need to unburden himself to Laurie was overpowering. What was it about her that seemed so comforting, so soothing? He breathed a sigh and let the story tumble out. “Dad was about to lose his job. Permanently. He’d been with the mill just about forever, even counting the strikes and temporary layoffs. I can’t remember how many pay cuts the man took. But where else was he going to go? He barely had a high school diploma. In Gary, you worked in the mills.”

  Laurie stretched her hand across the table and grasped his. Her touch was warm, soft, reassuring. He drew tremendous strength from the simple gesture. “Ross, it’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

  “No. I want to tell you. I do.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “He knew he couldn’t pay his debts. He was afraid we’d lose the house. Not that it was a great house anyway. I moved Mom out years ago. I didn’t want her there with the memories.”

  Laurie nodded and brushed away a tear that had slipped from her lashes to her cheek. He wanted nothing more at that moment than to take her into his arms and let her help him forget the horrible memories co
ursing through him.

  “The only good benefit of the mills was the life insurance. He just closed the garage door and started the car. I found him.” Ross choked back the lump that had formed in his throat. The guilt was always there, just below the surface. “He never read the policy. The damn insurance didn’t cover suicides. We were left with nothing. You know, I’d have found a way to help. But he never told me how bad it was. He never...” The rest of the memories bubbled to the surface. “The rich kids wouldn’t let me forget how he died. They taunted my sister because she wore my hand-me-down jeans. Just because they had money and we didn’t, they thought they were better than us. And they never earned a goddamn penny of it themselves. If we would’ve had that type of money, my dad never would have...” He let his voice trail away as he tried to harness the other emotion he was having trouble holding at bay. The anger was still difficult to control.

  Laurie jumped out of her chair and quickly moved to his side. She pulled him to stand, wrapped her arms around his waist, and pressed her cheek to his chest.

  Ross leaned his cheek against her soft hair and took comfort from her sweet smell as he let his feelings settle. He’d already cried all the tears he was ever going to over his father. The man had destroyed more than his own life; he’d ruined three other lives in the process. To him, his father’s suicide was an entirely selfish act.

  Laurie sniffled for a moment and then glanced up at Ross with a weak smile. He smiled back and brushed a quick kiss on her lips. “Ready for our next stop?”

  “Ross, you don’t need to—”

  He put his finger to her mouth. “Hush.” The pad of his finger traced the outline of her lips as he held back an almost unbearable urge to kiss her until she couldn’t breathe. But they had one more stop for the evening. Reluctantly, Ross pulled his hand away. “Let’s go.”

  * * * *

  Laurie settled back into the soft leather seat and watched the buildings along Lake Shore Drive pass by. The view of the moonlight on Lake Michigan was magnificent. If the temperature hadn’t been hovering a few degrees above twenty, she would have begged him to stop so they could walk along the beach. It came as a surprise when they finally pulled to a stop in front of the Aragon Ballroom.