Montoya's Heart
Page 23
Maggie spoke first. “It’s such a beautiful old home.” She sighed as she leaned against Rance’s comfortably large body.
“It is beautiful,” Rance agreed. “But it’s only a house right now. It needs a family to make it a home,” he added as he found the soft curve at Maggie’s waist and fit his hand to it. She seemed to melt automatically into his grasp, and Rance smiled as he steered her back toward the house.
“You know, my ancestor Horace Hightower envisioned it as a place to be filled with children,” Rance said, He stopped for a moment to look up at it. “He did his part to fill it. He had seven kids. But only Morgan survived to adulthood,” Rance commented as he resumed his stroll across the weedy lawn. “Morgan only had one son, Marcus, and a daughter. After them there was Justin, and later my father.” Rance dug in his pocket for a match. “Then there was me.
“I guess Hightowers weren’t meant to be fruitful and multiply, as Horace expected.” Rance continued trying to sound glib as he stuck the match into his mouth. He stopped again and stared up at the old family home.
Then he looked down at Maggie. She wore a puzzled expression, as if he had given her a riddle to solve and she couldn’t figure it out. He’d hoped she would say something, but she couldn’t answer a question that he hadn’t yet asked.
Rance plucked the match from his lips and tossed it carelessly away. “I guess I’m going to be the last Hightower here. I worked to get it back,” he continued cautiously, “but I don’t have a son to hand it down to.
“Unless...” He paused, and Maggie’s face lit up as bright as the setting sun. Maybe she did know the answer. Or at least now she knew the question.
“Unless you’d consider marrying me and letting me be father to your kids.” Maybe he should have gotten down on his knee or produced a ring, but Rance wasn’t exactly used to this kind of thing. He watched a kaleidoscope of emotions flitter across Maggie’s face.
Floundering for a way to make her say yes, Rance stumbled over the right thing to say. “I wouldn’t blame you for being angry at the way I left you after the other night, but if it helps any, I love you, Margaret Rose,” he whispered huskily.
Her reply was as soft as his. “I know that. You can’t spend as much time together as we have in the past few weeks and not get to know a person. God, has it only been a few weeks?” She looked up at him and smiled. “I love you,” she added. Maggie fixed her remarkable turquoise eyes on his and smiled. “Do you suppose you could kiss me right now? I need you to hold me.”
He dragged his lips away a few minutes later, when he felt moisture against his face. Quiet tears ran down Maggie’s cheeks. Rance touched a warm drop with the tip of his finger and carefully wiped it away.
“Is the prospect of a life with me so bad?” Rance asked, hoping the answer would be negative.
Maggie smiled another of her sunshine smiles. “That’s not it at all.” She sniffed and brushed at the drying tears. “I love you. It’s just we’ve been through so much. Who’d have thought we’d have to work so hard to come together? But I’d like nothing better than to marry you.” Her voice grew steadier, surer. “And I’d be proud to let you be father to my children.” She paused then, and seemed a little uncertain about the next thing she wanted to say. She swallowed and drew in a deep breath. “I would like to be the mother of another Hightower child, who would grow up here and learn to love this house as much as you do,” she whispered softly.
Rance’s heart slowed, and his breathing stopped. Was she saying what he thought she was? He stared down into Maggie’s shining eyes. He drew a deep breath and time started up again. “He wouldn’t be a Hightower,” he finally said over the lump in his throat.
Maggie smiled. “Names don’t matter. He or she would be a Hightower where it counts.” She placed her hand on his chest. “Here, in the heart. It isn’t the name that makes this place yours. It’s the way you love it, and all the land that surrounds us.”
“I do love it,” Rance whispered huskily. “Almost as much as I love you.” Then he bent and kissed her again.
Did he dare hope that Horace Hightower’s dream would really come true? Then Rance looked down to the woman in his arms. It wasn’t a dream, it was a promise.
ISBN : 978-1-4592-6550-9
MONTOYA’S HEART
Copyright © 1998 by Bonnie Gardner
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 300 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of Harlequin Books S.A., used under license. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The wait would be worth it, when he finally did make love to Maggie.
Letter to Reader
Books by Bonnie Gardner
BONNIE GARDNER
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Copyright