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

by James, Sandy

  Lucas must have passed Janos’s test because her brother’s expression suddenly softened again. “You promise to always take care of her?” Janos asked, his voice husky with emotion.

  How odd gypsies are. Her mouth formed a wry grin. Janos had attacked Tamas when he found she’d once been intimate with him, but now her brother was literally handing her over to Lucas. She half expected Janos to demand a gypsy’s bride price for her.

  Perhaps the Romungro in him knew, just as she had always known. All Janos seemed to want was a simple promise that held the weight of a wedding vow.

  “Yes,” Lucas replied without a moment of hesitation, and she felt her heart leap with joy. “I’d die before I let anyone hurt her.”

  “You realize this can’t be that easy,” Janos said to her with a scolding glare. “You’ll have to tell our parents. And you’ll have to tell Tamas.” Then he gave her a lopsided smile and shook his head. “I’m not sure who’ll be the angriest.”

  “I won’t come back here as long as Tamas is here,” she blurted out before realizing what a messy peck of trouble she’d inadvertently revealed. Janos was Romungro, and he was her brother. That combination gave him way too much insight into her mind, and she knew just how serious her mistake was when his eyes grew stormy, almost black, in response.

  “What did he do to you?” Janos demanded as he clenched his fists at his side. “If he hurt you, I’ll—”

  She had to stop this. Ashamed over what had happened, Joy wanted to keep the whole episode from Janos and Lucas, but she knew she had to say something. Leveling a stern scowl at her brother, she said, “You’ll do nothing. Do you hear me? It was between him and me, and I’d appreciate it if you’d stay out of it.”

  Janos didn’t even blink at her subtle warning. “I’ll kill him if he laid a hand—”

  Joy shook her head. “You won’t touch him, Janos. It’s between Tamas and me.”

  Lucas placed a strong hand on her shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze. “I’ll take care of her, Janos. Tamas won’t bother her.”

  Joy looked over her shoulder at Lucas and was surprised to see a well-controlled rage in his eyes. This whole thing was obviously a long way from over.

  Why didn’t I keep my mouth shut?

  Janos seemed satisfied with everything Lucas said. “They’ll be back soon, you know. Plus Andras’s wedding is less than two weeks away. They’ll expect you to be there.”

  For a moment, Joy wasn’t sure if the comment had been directed at her or Lucas.

  She was just about to say she would find a way to go when Lucas said, “I’ll talk to your parents the next time we see them. I’ll make them understand that this isn’t some...infatuation. Your dad is going to have to accept it. I’m not Romungro. I can’t ever be Romungro. But I want to make a life with Joy.”

  Janos raised an eyebrow at his sister. She instinctively knew he was asking if she felt the same, that he wanted to know if this was serious and not some insane fling. She nodded. That also seemed to satisfy him.

  “I’ll handle Tamas. That is if he shows up anytime soon. We’ll just tell him...you’re out sketching.” Janos winked at Joy. “I won’t let any of them know where you are. That’ll be up to you. You do realize that you’ll have to tell them eventually. And Papa’s explosion will make Hiroshima look like a day in the park.”

  She didn’t want to think about that now. There had been enough confrontation lately, and Joy needed some peace. She needed freedom to be herself. And she needed to be with Lucas. “What will you say if Mama or Papa calls?”

  A mischievous smile crossed his face. “You’re going to be a very busy lady. Working at a dinner party. Reading a palm. Washing dishes. You name it, you’ll be out doing it.”

  Joy wasn’t convinced, and Janos must have noticed because he came to her and gave her a quick hug. “It’ll be all right, Jozsa. I’ll protect you from all of them until you’re ready. But God help you when you do tell them.”

  She hugged him back then stood on tiptoe to kiss her brother’s cheek when he turned her loose. Lucas gave Janos his cell phone number before Joy led the way up the stairs to her apartment.

  As soon as they stepped inside, the cats crowded around the couple, meowing for attention. Chuckling at the animals, Joy watched Lucas reach into the cabinet to get their food before he poured the kibbles into the bowls. He suddenly stopped and picked up a crumpled dishtowel from the tiled floor.

  “Joy?” He held it up to show her the dried blood stain. “What in the hell happened here last night?”

  Tamas happened. Drunk and stupid Tamas. She shook her head. “It’s not my blood, Lucas. Please let it go.”

  His eyes still burned with that regulated anger. Joy crossed the small room to lay a reassuring hand on his arm. Her fingers caressed his scars, a subtle reminder of his own secrets. “I’m fine. It’s...over. Please just let it drop. Promise me.”

  Lucas’s gaze met hers. She tried to tell him without words that none of it mattered now, that she was going home with him. With a curt nod, he tossed the towel toward the sink and picked up her red bag.

  “Fine. I promise I’ll let it drop. For now. But you’ll tell me later.” It was a command, not a question.

  Sure I will. Maybe on our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. “Can we come back for my cats later? I need to get things ready for them back at the house, but I can’t leave them here too long.”

  “Why not put them in the barn?” he asked as he handed her the art bag. “I could use some mousers.”

  She shook her head as she watched the animals pushing against each other to find just the right spot to eat. “They’re housecats. Way too spoiled to hunt mice. Maybe we’ll take them out there and introduce them to nature, but I wouldn’t expect them to hunt too many mice.”

  Lucas helped her pack some clothes. Her bedroom reeked of the perfume she’d hurled at Tamas.

  His foot crunched some glass. “What’s this?”

  “I dropped a bottle of perfume. I just didn’t have a chance to pick it up yet.”

  “Sweetheart, I know a lie when I hear one. Why won’t you tell me what happened last night?”

  “Because it’s over. Please, please let it go.” So close to a clean break from Gypsy, Joy didn’t want Lucas’s anger to keep them there a moment longer.

  He turned his thoughts over for a good long minute before he finally nodded.

  After packing most of her clothes, Joy gathered her art supplies into her bag. When she was done packing, they piled the few things she was taking next to the door.

  As Lucas carried an armload to the Saturn, Joy took one last look around, wondering when she would be back. Or if she would be back. She noticed the blinking light on her answering machine. Probably the art school.

  With a resigned sigh, she decided to let that sleeping dog lie. There would be time in the future for things like college. Maybe next year.

  After they finished carrying everything to her car, she asked, “Where now? Home?”

  “Home,” Lucas repeated. “Our house.”

  “Our house.”

  He nodded his approval.

  Chapter 19

  Surrounded by so many people, people who weren’t family, Joy felt like an outsider. She nibbled at a piece of bread, trying to control a small wave of nervous nausea as she listened to the busy chatter of Lucas, his family, and his friends.

  “I think it’s wonderful,” Samantha said, slapping Lucas between the shoulder blades hard enough to make him drop his French fry. “Lucas needed someone to help take care of him. You know how men are. Like lost little sheep. Can’t take care of themselves.” Sam winked at Joy while Lucas threw Sam a chastising glare that made Joy shove another piece of bread into her mouth so she wouldn’t laugh aloud. Sam didn’t seem very intimidated by Lucas’s frown.

  “Lost little sheep, huh? And who was it that called from Ohio in tears when she couldn’t find the Delaware County Fairgrounds?” Brian chimed in. Adopting a falsetto t
o his voice, he teased, “Brian, honey, I’m lost. Where do I go?”

  Sam shifted her glare from Lucas to her husband as Brian let his eyes roll to stare innocently at the ceiling. Stifling another laugh, Joy saw that Samantha was more amused than annoyed. The normalcy of the whole situation was soothing, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

  Her stomach had been a mass of anxious knots as she worried over how Lucas’s family would react to her moving in with him so quickly. Had Janos suddenly shacked up with some girl that no one in the family knew well, Joy would never have been so accepting. Gypsies didn’t move in with people. It just wasn’t done. But she was finding out that life was very different in Lucas’s world. There weren’t any strict rules on unmarried men and women being together. No chaperones, no arranged marriages.

  The tension unwound, her anxiety relaxing, as Joy spent time with the people Lucas held dear. Grateful that Sam and Brian took the news well, she glanced around at everyone who sat at a long table in the middle of the mall’s food court, nursing what was left of their fast food lunches. Chelsea sat in a wooden high chair, and Reed was parked next to her in the same type of seat. Their mothers ate and chatted as they fed the children. Lucas, Seth, and Brian talked harness racing, and Joy realized that she knew very little of what Lucas’s world was really like. She would ask him to teach her everything. She wanted to know it all.

  “We need to get you a cell phone,” Lucas said, reaching over to drape his arm across the back of Joy’s chair.

  “A cell phone? Why?”

  Sam shot her an incredulous open-mouthed scoff. “How can you survive without a cell phone? Mine’s permanently imbedded in my ear.”

  “I know what you need. Sam, I’ll get you a Bluetooth for Christmas,” Brian said with a chuckle. “Then it really will be.”

  Sam shook her head and laughed as she handed Chelsea a piece of fruit. The fair-haired toddler took the apple slice and threw it at Reed who kicked his legs and laughed in response. “Chelsea, stop torturing Reed,” Sam scolded before turning back to Brian. “No, thanks. It’s bad enough as it is. I don’t want to look like some...some...yuppie. Stupid little metal piece sticking in my ear. No way.”

  Joy loved the easy repartee that accompanied lunch. Their friendly teasing spoke of family and went a long way in making her feel welcome. The only type of family Joy had known had been close and loving, loud and affectionate. But she never knew what life was truly like outside the gypsy circle. The revelation that gypsies weren’t the only ones who could feel this type of unity made her immensely happy.

  Seth broke through her thoughts. “Did Lucas tell you about Chris’s bachelor party?”

  Katie furrowed her brows and punched him on the shoulder. He rubbed the spot as he gave her a glare in response. “Lucas doesn’t have to go,” she scolded. “He should stay home now. You should stay home now.” Shaking her head as she fed Reed a piece of cheese, she grumbled, “Bunch of men drooling over some scantily clad woman. You’re all just overgrown horny teenagers.”

  Seth’s face flashed mock horror. “Not go to Chris’s bachelor party? Sacrilege! We have to give the guy a great send off before he wraps that ball and chain around his ankle.”

  “You call me a ‘ball and chain’ one more time, Seth Remington, and you’ll be sleeping with Spun Gold in his stall,” Katie said in a voice Joy could tell was merely teasing. The pretty redhead gave Joy a sweet smile. Joy smiled back. “That’s one of Seth’s favorite horses. Sometimes he’s nicer to Gold than he is to me.”

  “Sorry, Boss.” Seth leaned over and gave his wife a quick kiss. “Lucas has to go to the party. Besides, no strippers.” Then Joy saw him wink at Brian.

  Samantha must have seen the wink as well because she seemed to sense a male conspiracy. “There sure as hell better not be strippers.”

  “Now, Sam,” Brian said as he patted her hand. “It’s a bachelor party. Of course, there will be...” Her stern look silenced him. “Fine. No strippers.” Leaning back in his chair, he mumbled something about marriage taking the fun out of life, but Joy noticed he was still smiling.

  Lucas pulled his arm from her chair, dropped his hand over hers, and interlaced their fingers. “I need to go get a new,” he wrinkled his nose, “suit. Can you believe they’re making me wear a monkey suit for the wedding? I’d rather go in jeans. Or since the reception is at the track, how about colors?”

  “Colors?” Joy asked, feeling ignorant every time racing came up in the discussion.

  “Colors,” Seth replied as his hand idly stroked Katie’s upper arm. “Those jumpsuits we wear when we drive.”

  Joy nodded her understanding. “I’ll bet you’ll look handsome in a suit, Lucas. Something...in a light color. Gray would be good.” He leaned in to give her a kiss, and she savored the attention.

  “What are you going to wear to the wedding, Joy?” Sam asked.

  Joy had simply assumed Lucas would go alone. After all, she had never met the bride or groom. Gypsies took weddings very seriously, and a marriage was a community event. The idea of an outsider attending the ceremony was unheard of. “I...I don’t know. I wasn’t really invited...”

  Lucas squeezed her hand. “You’re invited. You’re going with me. Do you have a dress to wear?”

  Joy glanced down at her gypsy shirt and skirt and wondered what was wrong with what she had on. “I...guess. I don’t really have—”

  Lucas silenced her with another kiss. “How about Sam and Katie do something useful and take you clothes shopping? You can get a nice dress for the wedding.”

  Both women nodded enthusiastically, but Joy wasn’t sure what to do. Romungro women didn’t show their legs in public. They didn’t wear flowery and flowing dresses with low necklines and high hems. She realized Lucas and his friends had not a clue as to any of her customs or any of her traditions. And then there was her scar to consider. She didn’t feel close enough to them yet to start flashing the mark, let alone attend a wedding with her chest bare.

  “Jozsa?” Lucas said with some concern in his voice. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong.” She had made her choice, and she had chosen his world. Now she just needed to find the courage to live in it, bare legs, scar, and all. “Are you going with us?”

  “God, no,” he replied with a chuckle. “No offense, but shopping for women’s clothes is...” He shuddered for effect. “Don’t you want to go with Katie and Sam?”

  Joy nodded, realizing she would probably need their input. Knowing she also enjoyed their company helped curb some of her apprehension over finding something appropriate to wear for the wedding. “I’ll go with the ladies.”

  Lucas smiled. “Seth, Brian, and I can head to the men’s clothing stores.” He stood up stretching those long legs and pulled her to stand. “Cell phone first. Clothes second.”

  Samantha watched Lucas and Joy holding hands as they walked away. Turning back to everyone seated at the table, she said, “Lucas has it bad this time.”

  Brian nodded with a somber expression that did little to soothe Sam’s concern. “I’ve never seen him that infatuated with a woman. Not even Lisa.”

  “That’s no infatuation,” Seth commented. “I’d bet my best racebike that Lucas is in love with her.”

  Katie nodded her agreement. “And I think she’s in love with him too. Why do you think they’re so cautious with each other?”

  “Well, let’s see,” Sam said, trying not to sound too sarcastic. “Lucas is dragging around a ton of baggage from the war and from that stupid, blond little...” She quickly censored her words to spare Chelsea and Reed from learning any new vocabulary at such a tender age. “From Lisa. And Joy ran away from her family who all believe she shouldn’t be with Lucas because he’s not another gypsy. Why on earth would you think either one of them is cautious?”

  “Do you think they’ll stay together?” Brian asked as he took a wet-wipe from the diaper bag and began to clean Chelsea’s sticky hands. “I’d hate to see Lucas
get hurt again.” His gaze swept toward the kiosk. Sam followed suit as she watched Lucas and Joy peering into the glass display case. “And I think this one could hurt him. Bad.”

  Sam sighed. “I’d bet they’re both too afraid of getting hurt to be open with each other.”

  “Why are some people so afraid to say what they’re feeling?” Seth asked as he lifted Reed from the highchair. When all three people at the table scoffed at him, he narrowed his eyes. “What?”

  Sam couldn’t resist a taunt. “You were so open with your feelings, weren’t you, loverboy?”

  “That was...different,” Seth replied.

  “No, it wasn’t,” Brian said. “But it all boils down to the fact that people have a hard time saying what’s in their hearts.”

  Katie nodded as she took Reed from Seth and set her son in his stroller. “If you put your heart on the line and those feelings aren’t returned, it’s devastating. Lucas has been hurt once already.”

  “I don’t think Joy will hurt him,” Seth said with his typical cocky tone that often made Sam want to smack him. “I think she’s been good for him. Just look at how he’s opened up. No more long-sleeved shirts. No more sullen silence. He’s back to being himself, and I think she’s the reason. I just hope he opens up to her more than he’s opened up to us.”

  * * * *

  Lucas had dragged Joy to a little kiosk, and the man working there set her up with a pink cell phone that she knew was much more than she needed. It would take her years to learn to use all its functions. As if she would ever need all its functions. Lucas wouldn’t even entertain her paying for the gizmo, insisting she would be a cheap addition to his account. They stood at the kiosk for a few minutes as Lucas programmed several numbers he thought were important into the little pink cell.

  Pushing Reed and Chelsea in strollers, Katie and Sam met them at the booth, and the women led Joy off toward a store that had skinny mannequins wearing brightly colored shirts and pants. They prowled through the racks of clothing, pausing to hold up different things they liked. Joy rejected most of what they suggested. Not that the clothes weren’t pretty. She just couldn’t see herself in any of those outfits.