“You’re not thinking Nora’s in any way like Susan, are you?” Gus said.
Sam didn’t know what to say that. He only knew he had been very deeply disappointed by a woman once, when she refused to admit she was wrong in behaving the way she had; she’d chosen her career advancement over her relationship with him, rather than change herself-destructive ways. He didn’t want to be hurt like that again. And he was aware that it could happen. Nora could decide to leave Clover Creek, and her relationship with him, behind for so many reasons, the least of which was that it had all happened very fast. She could refuse to forgive him for the manipulative things he had done to help reconcile her with her father.
And in a sense, she was right. He was the sheriff here, not a social worker…. “You are going to ask Nora to stay now that it’s stopped snowing, aren’t you?” Kimberlee said earnestly. “At least until your romance with her has more of a chance to get off the ground and she finishes designing the new ads and store slogan for Granddad and Gran?”
“In these days of telecommuting, Nora can do that from anywhere,” Sam conceded reluctantly, though he was certain Nora would honor the commitment she’d made to his grandparents. “As for where she is when she does that work, ultimately, the choice is Nora’s.” And the same was true of their romance.
The gallant thing to do would be to let her decide where she wanted to be, and with whom, without undue pressure from him—even if doing so tore him apart, heart and soul. And if, heaven help them both, that was Pittsburgh…instead of Clover Creek… And Sam had to admit that careerwise, Pittsburgh had a lot more to offer than Clover Creek. If she decided he was too “small-town” for her, too “do-gooding” and “interfering,” then he was just going to have to deal with it. And not give her anything more—like hurt, angry words between them—to regret.
Gus looked at Sam and seemed to read his mind.
“I’d still give it all you’ve got in convincing her to stay,” Gus advised sagely. “Even if it means doing something drastic. Otherwise, Kimberlee and I both have a hunch you’re going to be regretting it for a very long time.”
Chapter Fourteen
HALF AN HOUR LATER, Nora and her dad had hashed out everything that needed hashing out and she was about to start banging on the cell bars, demanding to be released, when Sam sauntered in. Though he’d long ago dispensed with his black bow tie, he was still in the tuxedo pants and shirt he had worn to Gus’s wedding. Her heart sped up at the sight of him, and her stomach fluttered with a thousand butterflies. But she knew she had every right to be ticked off at him, and she was not going to let him think he could get away with interfering in her life this way.
“You think I’m going to forgive you for this, don’t you?” Nora said coolly, the depth and breadth of her anger sending her emotions into high gear.
“I came in here thinking the answer to that would be an unequivocal yes,” Sam remarked with a roguish smile as he eyed her determinedly.
Nora folded her arms in front of her and watched mutely as he unlocked the cell door, swung the door open and stepped inside.
“But, after taking one look at your face,” he drawled, his eyes searching hers with laser accuracy, “I think I’ll amend my answer to ‘A guy can dream, can’t he?’”
“Very funny.” Nora situated herself at the back of the cell, as far away from his unnervingly masculine presence as possible. She continued to regard him can tankerously, knowing her pique was her best defense. “And for the record, I am not—I repeat, not—forgiving you for this,” she continued stonily.
“Not even if I tell you the charges of jaywalking were dropped on account of stupidity on the part of the sheriff?” Sam said wryly as he held the cell door open and gestured for Charles to depart.
“Not even then,” Nora said huffily. “And you know why? Because you betrayed me on the worst possible level, and you did it by high-handedly manipulating events so that I had no choice but to make up with my father. Not on my own time table, as it should have been, by all rights, but on yours.”
Charles intervened. “Nora—”
“Daddy, you stay out of this! This is strictly between Sam and me!”
Her father backed up and stepped outside the cell. “You’re right. It’s your life. Your decision. Sorry, Sam.” Charles gave Sam a penitent look. “I’d like to help, but in this instance my hands are tied by a promise I made my daughter—a promise I fully intend to keep. There will be no more interfering on my part.”
“I understand, sir,” Sam replied. He gave Nora a speculative look and stepped toward her, deliberately invading her space. “And your daughter’s right,” Sam continued smoothly, keeping his eyes locked on her face. “This sticky situation does belong strictly to us.”
Uh-oh. Nora knew that look. That look meant trouble. Nora backed up until the backs of her knees touched the edge of the iron cot. “What are you thinking?” Nora demanded, picking up on the glint in his eyes.
Sam shrugged. “That Gus and Kimberlee are right. If I don’t do something drastic to keep you here with me, you might walk out of my life, never to return again. And I don’t want that to happen, Nora. So…” Sam pulled the door shut behind him with a resounding clang that set her heart to pounding all the harder. “I guess I’m going to have to do something to make sure you don’t run away from me. At least not until you and I have a chance to talk.”
Nora stared at Sam, unable to believe his audacity, as he locked the door behind him, removed the key and dropped it into his pants pocket. She turned to her father. If ever she’d needed his help, it was now. But strangely, Charles was motionless. And, worse, looking rather pleased with the whole situation, and her new beau. “Daddy! You’re not going to let him get away with this, are you?” Nora demanded, incensed.
To Nora’s mounting frustration, her father lifted both his hands in surrender. “I’m staying out of it, remember, honey?” Charles traded amused glances with Sam. “Guess I’ll see you in the morning,” Charles said as he headed jauntily down the corridor. “I’ve got to go find Geoff.”
The door to the outer office shut softly behind him.
Nora turned back to Sam. For the first time since that morning, the two of them were really, truly alone. As always, the sexual electricity crackled between them, as vibrant and dangerous and hot as any winter fire. And Sam Whittaker, damn his treacherous soul, did not appear to mind that fact one bit!
Looking as if he were enjoying every delicious moment of tension between them, Sam kicked off his shoes, stretched out on the cot and folded his hands behind his head.
Nora drew what was left of her pride around her like an invisible force field. She didn’t care how sexy Sam Whittaker was, or how much passion he stirred up inside her. Darn it all, she was not going to fall victim to a meddling, controlling, overprotective man again! “Now what are you doing?” Nora demanded.
“I’m getting comfortable,” Sam replied, with a determination that had her pulse jumping. “I think it’s going to be a long wait for that temper of yours to cool down enough for us to be able to talk in a reasonable manner, so I advise you to kick off your shoes and do the same.”
Nora stomped closer, her high heels clicking on the concrete floor. She removed the tuxedo jacket she’d drawn about her shoulders and let it flutter onto his abdomen. “This is not funny, Sam.”
“I agree.” He left the jacket where it lay and nodded at her, still regarding her with predatory grace. “It’s not.”
Nora drew a deep breath. Now that she had finally given him back his jacket, she was cold again, in a way only his arms would warm. “I want out of this cell.”
Sam’s laugh was low and wicked and determinedly male as he flashed her a wolfish grin. He tossed his jacket aside and patted his pants pocket. “You know where the key is.”
Nora did an about-face, and marched away from him until she stood against the opposite wall. Pivoting around to face him again, she leaned back against the pale green cinder-block
wall and folded her arms tightly beneath her breasts. “I don’t care how long we stay in here. I’m not coming over there,” she announced with a defiant toss of her head.
Sam shrugged his broad shoulders and rolled onto his side. “Have it your own way.”
“You are stubborn as a mule,” Nora fumed, as she began to pace back and forth in irritation.
“I’m stubborn!” Sam echoed incredulously, arrowing a thumb at his chest. He vaulted to a sitting position on the metal cot, leaned forward urgently. “Let me ask you something,” he said as he got slowly, deliberately, to his feet. “Do you always want to be right, or do you want to be happy?” He strode forward, closing the distance between them in two quick strides. “’Cause the way I see it, we’ve both made mistakes here.” Hands cupping her shoulders warmly, he held her in front of him, and continued passionately, “I never should’ve called your dad without your permission, and you never should’ve interfered with the workings of this sheriff’s department by intercepting those messages, or accused me of wanting you only for the reward money, ’cause I know you know in your heart it’s not true.”
He pulled her closer, so that they were touching, in one long warmth-inducing line. “I want you, all right, but I want you for you,” he confessed with gruff honesty.
He studied her bleakly, a muscle working in his cheek. “The question is, are you going to hang on to your grudges, which are only bound to get worse with time, or are you going to get in there and roll up your sleeves and get to work to fix what’s wrong with us? Because I can’t do it alone, Nora,” Sam confided ruefully. He released her abruptly and stepped back. “No one can. All relationships are two-way streets. All relationships require people to grow and change and own up to their mistakes.”
He paused, his eyes gleaming moistly, as the tense seconds drew out between them. “The bottom line is, do you have it in your heart to forgive me?” Sam queried bluntly as he reached into his pocket, removed the key to the cell and folded it ever so gently into her palm. He swallowed hard, and his voice dropped another devastating notch. “Or are you going to keep on running away?”
“That was quite a speech,” Nora said in a low, trembling voice.
“I know,” Sam replied with mock gravity as he cupped her chin between his thumb and forefinger and turned her face to his. Without giving her a chance to say anything, he lowered his lips to hers and delivered a slow, devastatingly thorough kiss that told her volumes about the passion he felt for her, and perhaps always would, and nothing of what was in his heart.
He tangled one hand in the softness of her hair and rubbed the other palm possessively down her spine. “I had an hour or so to perfect it while you were talking with your father.”
Nora recalled Sam’s words to her before he’d left her alone with her father. …I thought we had all the time in the world to be together. Not a day goes by that I don’t miss them or regret the things we never had time to say and do.
That was the way she felt about her and Sam. But the bottom line was, though he’d indicated he wanted to be with her in the physical sense, he hadn’t said he loved her yet. And without love, Nora knew, it was not realistic to believe they’d ever make it over the long haul.
She cared too much about Sam to want to hurt him, and she was too practical to want to hurt herself.
“There were also a ton of questions in there,” Nora continued, knowing they had one more very important bridge to cross. She linked hands with Sam and held on tight, hoping with all her might things would turn out right. “I guess I should answer some of them.”
He looked down at their hands and tightened his grip on her fingers. “That would be nice, I agree.”
Nora tilted her face up to his and kept her eyes on his. “You’re right,” she murmured contritely. “We both have made mistakes. And I have been running away from my problems up till now. It’s time that stopped. But as for me staying here or us rolling up our sleeves to work on our problems, I have to ask you, Sam, is simple desire and maybe even friendship enough to make this relationship of ours work the way we both want and need it to work to be happy?”
A mixture of disappointment and displeasure gleamed in Sam’s golden-brown eyes. “You’re comparing us to you and Geoff, aren’t you?”
One of them had to be sensible, and Nora loved Sam too much to give him less than he deserved. “Geoff and I tried to base our relationship on a friendship that went way back. Even if he had been honest with me about the prenup, even if he hadn’t worked for my father, it still never would’ve worked.” And the last thing she wanted was to enter into another engagement for all the wrong reasons.
Sam’s lips tightened. “You said it yourself—you didn’t have passion with Geoff.”
“True,” Nora acknowledged slowly. “But I’m not sure passion or friendship is enough to build an enduring relationship on, never mind a marriage, and that is where we’ve both said we want to go, isn’t it, Sam? To the point in our lives where we can marry the person we love and settle down and have a home and family with them?”
Sam’s expression turned gruff, unrelenting. “I don’t deny that’s where I want to be.” He was silent a moment, the uncertainty he felt showing on his face. He appeared to be weighing all the options, just as he did when confronted with some of the more difficult situations he ran into on the job. Nora hated to think that she was just another problem he faced, but it was possible, and she needed to be realistic here, for both their sakes.
“Is it only the lack of true love between us holding you back, or is it something else, too?” he asked eventually. “Like the fact you’re still looking for work in your field and I live in a very small town?”
Her heart pounding, Nora shook her head. “I love Clover Creek, and there are a ton of business opportunities here. Quite frankly, I would view starting my own advertising agency here as a challenge.”
Briefly Sam seemed to hearten, but his next question was laced with wariness. “How would your father feel about that?”
Nora sighed. “I think he finally understands, as much as I love him and want to be close to him, it’s also time I made my own way in the world, apart from his influence and connections.”
“Then what’s holding you back?” Sam asked casually.
You, Sam, Nora thought. And the words and feelings you haven’t expressed and might not even have for me.
Keeping her emotions in check with effort, Nora shrugged and, disengaging her hand from his, turned away from his probing gaze. “You’ve said it yourself. Clover Creek is a small town. I’m not sure how a long-term love affair would go over here.”
Sam sighed and smoothed a hand through his hair. Pragmatic as ever, he replied, “Probably not well, if you want to know the truth. That’s why we’d have to get married if we’re going to be together.” He paused and shrugged his broad shoulders apologetically. “It may sound old-fashioned, but I’ve got an example to set for my sister and the kids here. And I wouldn’t want to do anything that would hurt or embarrass my grandparents.”
He still hadn’t said anything about love! For all she knew, he was still regarding her as one of the part law enforcement, part social work cases he dealt with on a daily basis.
“And then there are children,” Sam continued sensibly, settling back on the cot. Taking her wrist in hand, he guided her onto his lap. “We’ve both said we want them. For that reason alone, we should be married.”
He was trying to get what he wanted out of life and problem-solve for her at the same time. And while she admired his deeply ingrained gallantry, it still wasn’t enough. “I’ve disappointed you again, haven’t I?” Sam guessed softly, turning her to face him as a world-weary light came into his eyes.
Nora shrugged. Aware that she was treacherously close to tears, she allowed stubbornly, “I just don’t think any of what you’ve just cited is reason enough to make a lifelong commitment on.”
“Then what is?” Sam studied her. Recognition dawned in his eyes
. “Wait a minute.” He tugged her against him. “You’re not hesitating because you’re uncertain of my feelings for you, are you?”
Nora flushed. As difficult as it was, it was time to put all their cards on the table. “Look, I know you feel guilty about what happened between us, the fact I had never been intimate with a man before. You indicated as much at the time. I know you’re Mr. Responsibility personified, and I also know you desire me, on a daily, hourly basis, at least for the moment, but—”
Sam pressed a silencing finger against her lips and interrupted gruffly, “Wait just a doggone minute here. I readily admit I wish I’d known about your lack of experience ahead of time, but what I feel for you now has nothing to do with guilt over what happened or any misguided responsibility on my part. And furthermore, I don’t just desire you or like you or have fun with you. I love you, Nora, heart and soul.”
Nora’s heart soared as all her dreams came true. “Then why didn’t you say so?” she whispered, as tears of joy filled her eyes, and relief flowed through her in great calming waves.
“Because I thought you knew!” Sam replied hoarsely as he gently stroked her face. “And because I didn’t want to pressure you. You had enough, coming from your dad. I thought it might be too soon to be talking about all this, coming on the heels of your almost-marriage to Geoff.” He studied her upturned face, shook his head and grinned again. “Guess not.”
Nora wreathed her arms around Sam and held him tight, the warm strength of him a balm to her soul. “Geoff was never in the running for love of my life, Sam. You are. And for the record—” she drew back to kiss him tenderly, putting everything she felt into a gentle, lingering kiss “—I love you, too, heart and soul.”
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