A watery late-afternoon sun shone down from the skylight. Slowly that light turned misty, then the gray-silver of dusk. They loved, then loved again. They shared kisses that scalded and kisses that healed, caresses drenched in earthiness and embraces silkened with tenderness. They climbed and re-climbed a ruby red cliff of rapture, seeking to please each other, seeking to give, then give more. Rebecca could have sworn he touched her soul. She had never felt more free with another human being. With all her heart, she hoped the power of love would help him feel the same way.
Afterward, she remembered crashing in his arms, with her pulse still thudding like thunder. But she was unaware of falling asleep until she woke later.
Groggily she realized that it was full night, now, and the scratchy wool blanket had disappeared. Gabe had pulled a soft sheet over her, and switched on the bedside lamp. He was lying beside her, wide awake, his eyes on her face, on her.
A frown was embedded in his brow. Not a scowl. Just a grave, concentrating expression that Rebecca had seen a dozen times before. She was well aware that Gabe had always depended on himself to handle and solve problems on his own, and all the unanswered questions between them suddenly loomed in her mind.
She reached up to gently smooth that frown from his forehead. She was scared to speak, but more scared not to. Either she trusted him with her heart, or she could hardly ask him to take that same perilous risk. “I’m going to have your baby, Gabe,” she said quietly.
She expected wariness. Instead, his eyes seemed to fill with a shimmering, glowing light. “Thank God. If we have a houseful of miniature Devereax, maybe there’s a chance of keeping you so busy you won’t have time to get in trouble. Except for trouble with me.”
She raised up on an elbow, not fooled by the devil’s attempt at humor. “This can’t be a marriage proposal. The last I knew, you were dead-set against marriage. Families. Babies.”
“Yeah, well, falling in love with you forced me to rethink that. I was never against any of those things. I was against making a mistake, and I can’t lie to you, shorty—I’m a bad risk. I don’t know half as much about trust and love as you do.”
“I think you’re the best risk I’ve ever known. I already know you’re not going to cut and run if there’s trouble.”
“You’ve got that right.”
“I already know we’re going to fight.”
“I figured that out, too. For a long time, I mistakenly associated fighting with automatically hurting someone else. But we’ve always fought, Red, and for some damn reason I even love going to war with you. I can’t swear we’ll always agree, but my intention would never be to hurt you. I want you to be strong on your own terms. Those terms don’t have to be mine. I love you, Rebecca.”
He peppered her face with soft, slow kisses. Kisses filled with promise. Kisses filled with that new, soft light in his eyes. “I’m going to keep doing this until you give me a clear-cut yes,” he warned.
“Then you’re asking to suffer for a long time, because I’m not about to give you an excuse to stop.”
“You gonna be this ruthless after we get married?”
“I plan to be this ruthless for the next fifty, sixty years. You asked for trouble, Devereax. Trust me, I intend to give you plenty.”
“I do trust you.”
She knew. She could see it in his eyes. And her heart suddenly brimmed to overflowing. “You can have your clear-cut yes,” she whispered. “Yes, yes, yes. I used to dream of the right kind of love, Gabe. I never was willing to settle for less, but I never expected to find it. Until you. However…”
“However?”
“However, how the patooties are we ever going to get home if you threw away the car keys?”
“It’s possible that I have another set of keys.”
“Being a logical, rational man, I would assume so,” she teased him.
“Actually, I’ve recently taken up trusting my instincts and intuition. I know that sounds crazy….” He paused. “Well, no, you wouldn’t think that was crazy, since you’re the one who taught me to trust, shorty, but…”
“But?”
“But there are a few repercussions to behaving impulsively.”
“You don’t have a second set of car keys?”
“Yeah, I do. At home. But not here.”
“Are you trying to tell me we’re stuck in this cabin alone together?”
“Yup.”
“Really stuck here? Indefinitely?”
“Yup.”
“Good,” she murmured, and reached over to turn out the light.
Epilogue
Kate was rarely frazzled. She’d been down too many life trails to ever have much throw her. She’d survived a plane crash, threats to her life, sabotage, enemies ceaselessly jealous both of her and of the fortune it had taken a long life to win. She had endured. She knew herself to be strong. Another hurricane was simply water off a duck’s back.
But a wedding in the house was something else.
She stood on the balcony, wringing her hands, overlooking the yard. The expansive lakeside estate outside Minneapolis was home, and a mighty far cry from the orphanage where she had grown up. Still, there was no way Kate could make things perfect enough—not today.
She studied the yard, searching for any detail she could have missed. Buckets of camellias lined the white-carpet path for the bride. A summer breeze drifted from the lake, ruffling leaves, carrying the whispered perfume of flowers in the air. Guests were already congregating, taking their seats now, the women dressed in pastels and summer whites, their laughter and the murmur of their conversation audible even from the distance of her balcony.
She heard happiness in those voices. Still, her gaze scanned faces for evidence of that happiness, too. Nick and Caroline, Kyle and Samantha, Rafe and Allie, Mike and Julia… For a moment, she didn’t see Luke and Rocky, but then she caught the couple, holding hands, ambling back from a lakeside stroll before taking their seats. Adam and Laura, Zach and Jane, Rick and Natalie, Grant and Meredith…to a stranger, undoubtedly all those names and faces would be nothing but a confusing jumble.
Not to Kate. Each of those faces was precious and dear. Each represented another generation in the Fortune family, the children of her own children, and all the hopes and promises of the future. There had been so many weddings in the past two years…but none so critical as this one, not for her.
Rebecca was the youngest and last of her own children to be married. Kate had despaired of it ever happening. Rebecca had always been the one she was afraid would never find happiness.
Kate had done everything she could think of to make the day perfect. She’d ordered the weather gods to deliver a good day. They’d obeyed. She’d hounded the caterers, rearranged the flowers, checked the table arrangements and decorations at least three times. She’d intruded on the ushers as they dressed and tied all their tux bow ties. She’d fussed with hair and cosmetics and jewelry with all the bridesmaids.
And she’d helped dress her daughter. But when she put the Belgian lace veil on Rebecca’s soft russet hair, tears had welled up in her eyes. She’d stolen in here for a few minutes alone. It was a day of sentiment, a day meant for emotion, but she just needed some moments to compose herself.
She heard the sound of a door unlatching behind her. Without needing to turn around, she knew it was Sterling. She immediately calmed down when she felt his arms gently slide around her waist. She closed her eyes, leaning back against him. It had been a long time—years—since she felt the freedom to lean against anyone.
Soon she wanted to tell the family about her own wedding plans with Sterling. He blessed her cheek with an affectionate, loving kiss. Since she was seventy-one, her days of wildly athletic passion might be done, but Kate strongly suspected that they would have a memorable wedding night on their own terms. She had never expected to find someone to love, not again, not someone she could trust and share with. Not like Sterling.
“You’re nervous, Kate?�
�� He always could sense her moods.
“Not nervous, exactly. But I am a bit exasperated with the bridegroom. That Gabe! I am perfectly entitled to give my youngest daughter a wedding present,” she said irritably.
“So Gabe tore up the check, did he?”
“I offered him the use of the yacht, the plane. He wouldn’t take anything. And he won’t tell me where they’re going on their honeymoon, either.”
“Imagine that.”
“He gave me a hug, told me thanks, but he could take care of my daughter with no assistance. He wouldn’t let me do one damn thing. I may yet knock off his block today.”
Sterling only chuckled. “Seems to me that a man that proud and bullheaded is an unbeatably perfect match for Rebecca.”
“Well, that’s true. But I didn’t make all this money to swim in it. You’d think he’d have the kindness to let me interfere just a little.”
“You’ll have a chance to get him back. You can spoil the grandchildren rotten, Kate. And something tells me there just might be a bun in their oven.”
“You think so?” Immediately mollified, Kate looked at the groom below. Gabe had just shown up, and had taken his place, waiting for his bride. Unlike any normal groom, Gabriel failed to look the least nervous. His shoulders appeared ten feet wide in the white tux, and his manner was totally relaxed and commanding. There was a grin on his face that any mother would take exception to. Gabriel looked happier than a pirate who’d just stolen a boatload of treasure.
It gave Kate great pleasure to recall the last time she’d seen him in her office. He’d been as rattled and shook up as a frantic cougar. And she’d known, right then, that he was the ideal mate for her youngest.
She could almost forgive him for being stubborn as a goat about taking any money from her.
Sterling touched her cheek. “You’ve kept the secret?”
She nodded. “It’s been so hard. I don’t want anything to distract from Rebecca’s day. But I have to admit that keeping such wonderful news quiet has taken all my willpower.”
The whole family was aware that the Secret Youth Formula had been perfected…but only she and Sterling knew that it had now passed the FDA standards with flying colors. Her new brainchild was ready to be marketed.
There was a new fortune to be made, another landmark in the Fortune family dynasty, and Kate couldn’t have been more excited about pursuing it.
Deliberately she touched the charm bracelet on her wrist. Just a few charms dangled there, but she knew she’d see her granddaughter—and even some of her male descendants!—wearing their own charms. It was a sign of their family. She had given the bracelet to Rebecca to wear, had sensed that her youngest had found strength in the talisman. The bracelet had always been a symbol of family, a reminder of love and loyalty and all that family could and needed to be for each other.
But Kate had taken back the keepsake this morning…and given her youngest a gold charm bracelet of her own. Rebecca needed no more reminders, no more token symbols. She was about to start her own dynasty, her own way.
Sterling touched her arm. “Are you ready to go down and give your darling away, sweetheart?”
“More than ready.” She lifted her chin, and took his hand. It wouldn’t do for the mother of the bride to be late.
For a brief moment, though, she considered the time in her life when nothing had seemed more important than amassing power and a fortune. Over the years, Kate had learned to define fortune very differently from the way she once had.
Her children had found happiness. Her family was together. And that was the only fortune that could possibly matter.
THE BABY CHASE
Copyright © 1997 by Harlequin Books S.A.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7326-3
Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Jennifer Greene for her contribution to the FORTUNE’S CHILDREN series.
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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.
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The Baby Chase Page 18
