She looked back up at him, trying to keep it together and failing miserably. “But the case—the job—”
Tom shook his head. “For so long, it was personal. I had to prove I belonged by being better than everyone else, and then, when Stephanie died, I... I didn’t have anything left. Everyone in my family had passed. I was a long way from home. All I had was the job, and I gave it everything because it was the only way to make things right.”
She didn’t like the image of him all alone. “Is that why you’ve been radio silent for so long? You’re making things right?”
Tom pulled her into his arms. He looked tired. Was that because of the job or because of her? “I’m not going to let anyone intimidate or threaten you, Caroline. That’s a promise. But I don’t have to give everything to the job. Not if it keeps me from you.” He rested his free hand on her belly. “Not if it keeps me from this. I’ve missed you so much, Caroline. You mean everything to me and I’ve let you down. If you give me another chance, I won’t let you down again.”
She swiped madly at the tears rolling down her cheeks, but they were replaced too quickly. “I missed you, too,” she sobbed. “I’ve missed you so much.”
Unexpectedly, he fell to his knees. “Caroline Jennings, will you marry me? Because you will always be more to me than a case or a job. I love you. I have from the very first. And I want to spend the rest of my life proving it to you.”
She tried to look stern, but it wasn’t happening. “I don’t want this to happen again,” she told him, starting to hiccup. “I don’t want you to disappear for days and weeks on end. I don’t want you to leave me alone, wondering...”
“I won’t. It was a mistake to do so. But,” he went on, climbing to his feet and holding her hands in his, “I have one thing I need to tell you.”
She groaned. “What now?”
“I spoke with Terrence Curtis.” She gasped, but he just kept going. “He admitted that he convinced you to amend the charges and that you had no idea he had an ulterior motive. He also told me to tell you that he’s proud of everything you’ve accomplished since then. You were one of his best students.”
“You tracked down Mr. Curtis for me?”
Tom had said he would protect her. She’d always assumed he meant physically—safe from bad guys and evildoers.
But this? This was her reputation. Her career. And he’d protected it.
“I wanted it on the record that you hadn’t intentionally or maliciously broken the law. Carlson won’t be pressing charges, either.”
“What about...”
“Moffat? We’re building the case. We know who he is and who he’s working for. We’ve got him—thanks to you.”
She stared at him, because that was all she could do. There weren’t any words.
He was back to grinning wildly at her. “Say yes, Caroline. Be my wife, my family. Our family,” he added, stroking her stomach. Instantly, the air between them heated, and she felt that spark catching fire again as his hand drifted lower and then higher. She burned for his touch—but with fewer clothes. A lot fewer clothes.
“I took a couple of days off,” he murmured. “Let me show you how much I love you.”
“Yes.” Yes to it all—to his touches, to his proposal, to his love. “I love you, too. But I’m going to hold you to your promises, okay?”
“I’m counting on it.”
She couldn’t stop the tears, but she smiled anyway as she pulled him into her. “Good. Because I feel it, too. And I’m never letting you go.”
Epilogue
Once upon a time, Tom had considered tracking down criminals and arresting them to be difficult but rewarding work. It involved a lot of sleepless nights and hours of patiently waiting for a few moments of intense activity—the arrest—and then, much later, the payoff, a guilty verdict.
All in all, it had been remarkably good training for being a parent.
“Never thought I’d see the day,” James Carlson said. Carlson was speaking to Tom, but his gaze was fastened on his wife.
Maggie sat next to the fire pit with Rosebud Armstrong, Celine Rutherford and Caroline. The women were laughing and chatting, all while Maggie rubbed her pregnant belly. Everyone was hoping to make it through this Memorial Day barbecue without the untimely arrival of the second Carlson child.
“See what?” Tom kept an eye on Margaret as she picked up leaves and handed them to Caroline. Tom knew his thirteen-month-old daughter could sit in one place for a while sometimes—but not when Carlson’s two-year-old, Adam, was chasing the Armstrong boys around. The twins, Tanner and Lewis, were almost seven and didn’t have time for a two-year-old. Instead, Rosebud and Dan’s kids were splashing in the spring-fed pool. Poor Adam kept getting soaked, but instead of fussing, he was giving as good as he got, giggling the whole time. Dan Armstrong was nearby, keeping the kids safe in the shallow water.
Margaret watched the whole scene with fascination, and Tom knew it wouldn’t be much longer before she tried to follow the older boys into the water. It didn’t matter that she could barely walk, much less run. She’d be after them in moments, shrieking with joy. She was such a happy baby. Just looking at her made Tom’s heart swell with joy.
“You,” Carlson laughed, taking a long pull on his beer as he flipped a buffalo burger.
Tom gave his old friend a dull look. “You see me all the time.” Margaret pushed herself to her feet, almost falling into Caroline’s legs. Although Caroline kept her attention focused on Rosebud—who appeared to be telling a story about the twins’ most recent exploits—she easily caught her daughter and cuddled the baby to her chest.
For years, Tom had waited. He and Stephanie had wanted to make sure they had their careers set before they took time off to have a family, and then...it’d been too late. He’d figured that he missed his window and fatherhood wasn’t in the cards for him.
He had never been more thrilled to be wrong as he was right now.
“No,” Mark Rutherford said, watching all the children, “I know what he means. We never thought we’d see you this happy again.”
Caroline looked up and caught him watching her. And, just like he always had, Tom felt that spark between them jump to life. Every time he saw her, he fell in love with her all over again.
“Yes,” Carlson laughed, flipping another burger. “Just like that.”
Tom didn’t know how to respond to that. He was in uncharted territory here. In addition to being a Memorial Day party, this barbecue at his cabin also marked the end of the corruption investigation that he and Carlson had pursued for years. It also potentially marked the end of Tom’s full-time commitment with the FBI. The job was finally done, hopefully permanently.
Todd Moffat had been arrested, tried and convicted. His employer had been revealed to be Black Hills Mines, a mining company that had been locked in several protracted legal battles with the various tribes over uranium rights. Uranium mining was a dirty business, but there were huge deposits underneath the land that made up many of the reservations in South Dakota. Black Hills Mines wanted the right to strip the uranium out of the ground. Understandably, the tribes preferred not to have their reservations destroyed and contaminated. Moffat had turned in favor of a lighter sentence and everything had fallen into place.
The job was over—for Tom, anyway. He was taking a leave of absence from the agency. He’d continue to be available as a consultant—he was still the best agent to deal with cases that involved tribal issues. But he was turning his attention to the Rutherford Foundation.
They were building a new school on the Red Creek Reservation. Tom was going to make sure it was everything his tribe needed.
So this wasn’t a farewell party. The agency had gotten him a cake for that at the office. This?
This was a welcome home party. Margaret was at a really ama
zing age, and he couldn’t bring himself to spend his nights sitting in a surveillance vehicle in the hopes that the bad guy did something when he could be at home with his wife and his daughter.
However, no matter how perfect this moment or any of the moments in the previous twenty-three months had been, he knew he didn’t have all the time in the world. Maybe he was jaded, but he knew better than anyone else that it could all end tomorrow and he wouldn’t waste another moment on something as impersonal as a career. His career would never love him back. It would never give him a family or those thousands of small moments every day that made up a good life.
Margaret was going to start running and talking soon. And Tom was going to be there to see it with his own eyes. He was going to show his little girl the world—powwows and parties and everything that made him who he was, everything that would make her who she was, too.
For years, he’d made his own family—finding members of his tribe and others who were lost and needed a way home. And he hadn’t given that up. He might have stepped aside from his job, but he would never turn his back on those who needed him. He had a charity to run, scholarships to fund and people to help. But he didn’t need a badge to do that. Not anymore.
He just needed to know that, at the end of a long day, Caroline was coming home to him. She’d returned to her seat on the bench once her maternity leave had ended, and Tom was proud of what she’d accomplished.
Margaret looked up at him and smiled, her fingers in her mouth. She’d probably be up late tonight, fussing at her sore teeth. But right now, she grinned at him and all Tom could think was, there she was—the most perfect little girl in the world.
It was different, the love he felt when he looked at his daughter. It was full of hope and protection and sweetness, whereas when he looked at his wife, it was full of longing and heat and want. But it was love all the same.
“She would have been happy for you,” Carlson said, shaking Tom out of his thoughts. “This was what she’d have wanted for you. You know that, right?”
Tom looked at his wife and daughter and fell in love again, just like he did a hundred times a day. Some days—like right now—he thought his heart might burst from it.
When he’d first fallen for Caroline, he’d struggled to give his heart to her completely. But he knew now—loving Caroline and Margaret didn’t take away from the love he’d felt for Stephanie. It didn’t make him less. It only made him more. So much more.
“Yeah,” he said, staring at the loves of his life. “Yeah, I do.”
“We should get a picture,” Rosebud called out. “Something to mark the retirement of one of the best special agents the FBI has ever seen.”
Everyone agreed, even though it felt like overkill to Tom. He was still adjusting to this new reality, where he wanted people to take pictures of him and his family—wedding pictures and baby pictures he didn’t hide in a storage closet, but displayed on the walls of his cabin. He’d paved the road down to the cabin and done away with the shrubbery hiding the turnoff. He didn’t have to hide who he was anymore. He belonged, just as he was.
It took time to wrangle all of the kids. Dan had a new tripod for his phone, so he was able to set it up to take a photo of all of them.
Tom’s throat tightened as he watched his family and friends arrange themselves around him. Caroline leaned into him, her touch a reassurance. “Okay?” she asked in a quiet voice meant just for his ears.
He stared down at his wife and knew that later, after everyone had left and Margaret had fallen asleep—at least for a few hours—he’d take the spark that had always existed between them and fan it into a white-hot flame. Because he had known from the very beginning—there she was, the woman he was going to spend the rest of his life with.
He kissed her, a promise of things to come, because he would never be done falling in love with her. “I’ve never been better.”
* * * * *
If you loved PRIDE AND PREGNANCY, pick up these other connected novels from RITA® Award–winning author Sarah M. Anderson.
A MAN OF HIS WORD
Dan and Rosebud’s story.
A MAN OF PRIVILEGE
James and Maggie’s story.
Available now from Harlequin Desire!
And check out these other books from Sarah M. Anderson.
A REAL COWBOY
NOT THE BOSS’S BABY
THE NANNY PLAN
* * *
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Keep reading for an excerpt from HIS EX’S WELL-KEPT SECRET by Joss Wood.
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His Ex’s Well-Kept Secret
by Joss Wood
Prologue
In the presidential suite of a boutique hotel on the Via Manzoni, the most luxurious hotel in Milan, Jaeger Ballantyne ran his hand down a slim female back, the bumps of her spine pearls under satin skin.
The fine cotton sheet covered Piper’s hips and draped her butt. Jaeger couldn’t stop touching her, loving the feel of her warm skin under his rough hand. He’d had women in his hotel room before, probably more than he should have, and while Piper was not the most beautiful female he’d ever had in his bed, she was certainly the most magnetic. Since the moment she’d stumbled into his life a day and a half ago, he’d thought of little else.
Exceptional gems—the cut and sparkle of diamonds, rubies, opals, emeralds and a dozen more—captured and held his attention. Women? Not so much. Like diamonds destined for the mass market, they were generally nicely cut and well polished but nothing exceptional. And when he did find one a cut above the rest, he enjoyed her and quickly moved on.
But for some reason, he kept thinking of Piper as a flawless, colorless diamond, the rarest type on the planet. Ridiculous, because he knew there was always another gem to discover, and he never lost his head over sparkly stones or the sweeter-smelling sex.
Piper Mills made him wonder if walking around headless was a risk he was prepared to take.
He should have been back in New York City already, Jaeger thought, irritated with his overthinking. He’d originally intended to be in Milan only for the previous evening. But when he’d seen Piper at the Milan branch of Ballantyne and Company, her long legs under a short skirt captured his attention. They’d been designed, he was convinc
ed, to wrap around his hips.
The intelligence in her light green eyes intrigued him, and the splash of freckles across her nose charmed him.
Her body had him wanting to make her scream until the whole of Milan knew his name.
Piper had mentioned owning ten blue stones that family legend said were sapphires, but he was too fascinated by her face to pay much attention. Then she smiled and a tiny dimple in her right cheek flashed, and all thoughts of carats and color disappeared. His breath hitched, his vision swam and he knew he was not leaving the city until he’d taken her to dinner.
And to bed.
Fast-forward thirty-six hours and three dates—dinner, lunch and another dinner—and they’d shared some very hot, very fun sex. Jaeger’s thumb ran over her right buttock, flirted with the curve at the top of her thigh and back up again.
Best day and a half of his life, by far.
Jaeger bent down and placed a kiss on the ball of her shoulder, pulling a long curl the color of a newly minted penny off her face.
Piper rolled onto her side, and when Jaeger looked into her eyes, he felt like he was walking in a mysterious forest. Her gaze bounced away from his face, ricocheted off his body and focused on the watercolor painting on the far wall. So the very sexy Ms. Mills wasn’t very good with post-sex conversation. Why did that make him smile?
Piper sat up and pulled the sheet to her torso. “Um...this is awkward.”
“It really doesn’t have to be,” Jaeger assured her.
Piper tucked the sheet under her armpits, pushed a hand through her hair and adjusted the sheet again. “Can we have a quick chat about why I was in Ballantyne and Company?” Piper asked.
Pride and Pregnancy Page 16
