Stunned, she stopped dead in her tracks and immediately tried to reject the idea, giving herself all the reasons why her imagination had to be working overtime. She wasn’t one of those women who fell in love at the drop of a hat—she didn’t trust that easily. Especially after all the trouble she’d had with James. He’d made her so gun-shy that she would have sworn it would be years before she even looked twice at another man, let alone dropped her guard long enough to fall in love with one.
But she hadn’t counted on meeting anyone quite like Hunter. From the very beginning he’d treated her differently than James or any other man ever had. He was honest and straightforward and didn’t play games. Even when he couldn’t hide the fact that he was attracted to her, he’d fought against taking advantage of the circumstances or her. And just that easily he’d stolen her heart.
She loved him. She still didn’t know how it had happened—she just knew she didn’t want to lose him. And she could. Circumstances had thrown them together, but now that Laura was safe, they would each go back to their own lives. He had a construction company to get back to, one that took all his time, and he’d said himself that the last thing he wanted or needed right now was a woman. If he still meant that, there was a good possibility that she would never see him again.
She paled at the thought, but just then Lucas Greywolf came striding toward her, his rugged face set in grim lines, and a fist closed around her heart. “Laura? Is she all right? Oh God, she’s not—”
“She’s going to be fine, Naomi,” he said gently. “I’ll admit it was pretty dicey when we first started bringing her body temperature up, but she’s a strong little girl. She hung tough. We’ve got her in pediatrics ICU right now just as a precaution, but if she continues to improve the way I expect her to, we should be able to move her to a private room by this evening. Would you like to see her?”
He didn’t have to ask her twice. “Oh, yes!” Tears welling in her eyes, she started to follow him, but she’d only taken two steps when she remembered James. She turned back to the waiting room to find him standing hesitantly in the doorway. He’d heard the entire conversation with Lucas but had made no effort to intrude.
Another woman might have left him there, but in spite of all that he had done, she couldn’t be vindictive just because he had. “She’s your daughter, too,” she told him quietly. “You have a right to see for yourself that she’s all right.”
More humble than she’d ever seen him, he made no attempt to hide the tears in his eyes. “Thank you. I won’t stay. I just want to see her.”
Nodding, she turned back to follow Lucas.
As Lucas had predicted, Laura was moved to a private room by that evening, and she was doing much better. Although she was exhausted from her ordeal, the color was back in her cheeks, and she looked like any healthy three-year-old. She probably could have gone home, but Lucas thought it was better not to take chances, and Naomi agreed with him. When she took Laura home, she wanted her to have a clean bill of health, and if a night in the hospital would assure that, then so be it.
That didn’t, however, mean that she was prepared to let her baby out of her sight anytime soon. She, too, stayed the night. Afraid that Laura might have nightmares about her night in the blizzard, Naomi hovered close, but her fears proved groundless. With Chester, her dearly loved teddy bear, clutched tight in her arms, she drifted off to sleep without so much as a whimper.
Relieved, Naomi expected to sleep just as soundly. The day had been a traumatic one, a roller-coaster ride from one emotion to the next. When the nurses brought a cot into Laura’s room for her, she was sure that the minute she got horizontal, she’d be out like a light. But her mind was too busy to let her rest, and hours after she’d turned out the lights and stretched out with a weary sigh, she lay awake, unable to stop herself from thinking about Hunter.
Where was he right now? she wondered. Had he made it back to the line cabin where they’d made love? Was he thinking about her and the two of them together? Or had it meant so little to him that he’d already put it from his mind?
Her heart cringing at the thought, it was a long time before she finally slept.
Lucas was back in the morning to check on Laura and pronounced her ready to go home. Laughing and crying at the same time, Naomi impulsively hugged him. “Thank you so much! I don’t know what I would have done without you and your wife yesterday. You saved her life.”
“Sometimes we get lucky,” he said simply, patting her shoulder. “That’s what makes our job worthwhile. We’ve got kids of our own—we weren’t going to let you lose her if there was any possible way to save her. And don’t forget,” he added, “you had more than a little bit to do with the fact that she’s here today. If you hadn’t hired Hunter and gone after her, this could have turned out to be a real tragedy.”
“I know,” she said huskily. “It scares me just thinking about it.”
“Then don’t,” he advised. “It’s over with and she’s safe. That’s all that matters. Take her home and love her. She’s fine.”
Taking his advice, Naomi did just that. Since she’d left her car at her house, she had to call a friend for a ride, and by noon she and Laura were walking through their front door. Within minutes, Laura was parked in front of the TV watching her favorite show, “Barney,” and it was almost like she’d never been gone. Almost, but not quite. It would be a long time before Naomi forgot the nightmare of the last few days.
Still, she tried. For the rest of the day, she enjoyed her daughter. She made her favorite lunch and afterward, cuddled her and Chester in her lap while she read Laura’s favorite story to her. They laughed and giggled and finally Laura settled down to sleep. It was a long time before Naomi could bring herself to lay her daughter down. She loved her so much. If anything had happened to her…
Reminding herself that nothing had, she returned to the living room and had just started to pick up the toys Laura had dragged in there to celebrate her homecoming when there was a knock at the front door. When she opened it, she wasn’t surprised to find herself face-to-face with James. After he’d seen for himself that Laura was all right yesterday, he’d stepped out into the hall, where the tribal police were waiting for him. Officer Hank had warned him not to leave the area until Naomi decided if she wanted to press charges against him. She’d known then it was only a matter of time before he approached her.
“Can I come in?” he asked diffidently.
Hesitating, she almost told him no. What he’d done to her and, most especially, Laura, was unforgivable, and she had nothing to say to him. If she decided to have him arrested, she owed him nothing, least of all a warning.
But he had that look in his eye, the one that warned her he would not be easily put off, and she knew she couldn’t avoid him forever. “This isn’t going to help your cause,” she said coolly, “but if you’re determined to speak your mind, you have two minutes.”
His hands balled in the pockets of his jacket, he didn’t advance into the living room, but stopped just inside the foyer. “I…I just came by to…I needed to talk to you, to explain…”
“James—”
“No,” he said quickly, “I have to do this. I did this. I screwed up. And I’m the one who has to make things right. Not that I ever really can. I could have killed her, dammit! Do you have any idea what that’s doing to me?”
It was tearing him apart—anyone with eyes could see that. Sinking down into the closest chair, she said honestly, “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. If you have an ounce of feeling for your daughter, I imagine you feel the same way.”
His expression stark, he looked her right in the eye and said grimly, “I feel like a piece of trash, and I have no one to blame but myself. I was so obsessed with you, so determined to make you pay for refusing to marry me, that I didn’t even stop to think what I was doing to Laura or you. I put her in jeopardy and scared the hell out of you, and you have every right to hate me. I wouldn’t blame you if you press
ed charges. Words can’t make up for what I put you both through, but I can only apologize and promise you that nothing like this will ever happen again.”
If she hadn’t known what a miserable excuse for a human he was, she might have believed he was a changed man. But the last time she’d trusted him, it had almost cost her daughter her life. Never again. “I haven’t decided what I’m going to do,” she said flatly. “So if that’s all you have to say—”
“Wait!” he cried when she rose to her feet. “I have something I need to give you.”
Naomi looked at the cassette tape he held out to her like it was a snake coiled to strike. “What is it?”
“My taped confession. I want you to have it.”
Confused, she stared up at him searchingly. “Why?”
“Because this was the only way I could think of to assure you that I’m never going to bother you or Laura again.” At her skeptical look, he said, “I don’t blame you for not believing me, but it’s true. If you don’t press charges, I’ll leave the state, and I won’t be back. If you’re ever afraid I’ll go back on my word, all you have to do is take this tape to the police in any city in the country and I’ll be picked up.”
Staring down at the tape, Naomi wondered if she was a fool to want to believe him. He deserved to be in jail for what he’d done, but he was Laura’s father, dammit! She didn’t want revenge, she just wanted to be left alone to raise her daughter in peace. Was that so very much to ask? Not the gullible young girl she had once been, she warned, “If this is another one of your tricks—”
“It’s not. I swear!”
He couldn’t have been more sincere if he’d sworn on a stack of Bibles, but she wasn’t taking any chances. Taking the tape from him, she strode over to the stereo and popped it into the cassette player. The confession he’d promised was damning. Naomi listened to every word. Afterwards, in the silence that followed, her voice was grim as she said, “If you really intend to leave the state, I won’t stop you. But just because I’m not pressing charges now doesn’t mean I won’t in the future. Because of you, Laura nearly died. If you ever come near either one of us again, I won’t hesitate to see that you’re locked up for the rest of your life if I can manage it.”
It wasn’t an idle threat, and they both knew it.
“I wouldn’t expect any less of you,” he said somberly, “but that won’t be necessary. My bags are already packed and in the car. Goodbye, Naomi. Kiss Laura goodbye for me.”
And without another word, he turned and walked out of her life.
Nine
The second he got back to town, Hunter went straight to his office because he knew if he didn’t, he would go looking for Naomi. And that was one thing he was determined not to do. He’d had hours to think about it, long stretches of time when silence and his own thoughts were his only companions as he was making his way out of the mountains, and he knew that somehow he had to find the strength to leave the lady alone. The days and nights they’d spent in the mountains were just moments stolen out of time, a brief encounter between two strangers that wasn’t meant to last. If the intimacy they’d shared was like nothing he’d ever experienced before, his imagination was just playing tricks with his mind. The lady said herself she wasn’t looking for a man, and after getting a firsthand look at Barker, he could see why. He was a bastard. After all that he had put Naomi through, the last thing she would want would be another man sniffing around her. All he could ever be was a reminder of her daughter’s kidnapping, so for both their sakes, it was best if he went back to his life and let her get back to hers.
And that was all right, he thought grimly. He’d been a loner all his life—it was in his blood, a wanderlust that was as much a part of him as the color of his eyes and the stamp of his heritage on his features. If he’d grown weary of roaming the globe and had found a peace that he hadn’t even known he was looking for here in Wyoming, that was nobody’s business but his own. He had work to do, a business to build and less than a year to do it. He couldn’t do that with a woman constantly distracting him.
But even as he tried to convince himself that things had worked out for the best, images of Naomi stirred in his mind, teasing him, haunting him. Her nervousness when she’d climbed on the snowmobile that first day and hadn’t quite known where to put her hands. The stunned surprise on her face when he’d kissed her the first time. The way she’d given herself to him when they’d made love.
Irritated with himself, he slammed the papers he was sorting down on his desk before he gave in to the temptation to throw them. How was a man supposed to forget those things? he wondered furiously. How was he supposed to sleep at night, remembering what it was like to touch her? Kiss her? Lose himself in her? James might have been her first lover and the father of her child, but everything in him rebelled at the idea of Barker or any other man so much as laying a finger on her. She was his, dammit! And what was his, he kept.
The truth hit him with all the subtlety of a Mack truck, and he sat as if turned to stone, his mind reeling. He couldn’t, he thought, stunned, love her. After guarding his heart well for the past twenty-nine years, he couldn’t have fallen in love with her in a matter of days. It just wasn’t possible. Dammit, he didn’t do this kind of thing! No one got this close to him this quickly! How had she done it? And what the hell was he going to do about it?
Nothing, he told himself flatly. Not a damn thing. She needed some peace, some time to recover from the emotional rollercoaster she’d been on all week. Laura was going to be okay—he’d called the hospital on his cell phone and checked on her condition the night after she’d been rescued—but neither of them would soon forget the hell they’d been through. Only an insensitive clod would force himself on them now.
But, God, he wanted to go to Naomi! To take her in his arms and hold her just one more time. To kiss her and love her before he had to let her go. He’d never gotten the chance to tell her goodbye, and dammit, he needed that closure. But he wasn’t going to get it. Because if he went anywhere near her, he knew there was no way in hell he would be able to walk away from her.
So he stayed where he was and threw himself into catching up on paperwork. But it wasn’t easy. Every time he dropped his guard the least little bit, he found his thoughts sliding back to Naomi. What was she doing? He knew she’d taken Laura home from the hospital, but he couldn’t imagine her letting the child out of her sight any time soon. Maybe he’d take them a pizza after work…
Suddenly realizing that he was looking for excuses to seek her out, he swore and pushed to his feet. In self-defense, he drove over to the eastern edge of the reservation to see how work was coming on the hamburger stand his workers were trying to finish, strapped on a tool belt and went to work. He threw himself into the physical labor in a desperate attempt to work the lady out of his head, but it didn’t help. By the end of the day, he’d worn himself out, but the need to see her burned in his gut like a flame that refused to go out. Frustrated, infuriated with himself, he knew he couldn’t put it off any longer. If he was ever going to find any peace, he had to see her, if for no other reason than to wish her luck and tell her goodbye.
Resigned, he started to head home first to shower and change, when he realized that if he showed up on her doorstep all cleaned up and shaved, he would look like a suitor hoping to get lucky. The hell he would! Swearing, he hit the brakes and swung around right in the middle of the street, his truck tires screaming all the way. He had nothing to be ashamed of. He’d worked damn hard today, and any dirt he wore was well earned. If the lady turned up her nose at a little honest dirt, then she wasn’t the woman that he thought she was and he had nothing further to say to her.
Jaw set, a scowl sitting low on his brow, he arrived at her house in a matter of minutes. Reminding himself why he was there, he strode up the steps to the porch and knocked sharply on her front door. This would, he vowed grimly, take all of two minutes.
But when she opened the door to him, the words that
he had already worked out in his head just seemed to vanish on the wind. She smiled at him in delight, and he felt like the sun just broke through the evening clouds. “Hunter! I was hoping you’d let me know when you got back. Please, come in. Have you eaten? Laura and I just finished, but I can heat you a plate in the microwave if you’re hungry.”
The only thing he was hungry for was her, he thought, stunned by the force of his need for her. God, she was beautiful! Why was it always a surprise to him just how gorgeous she was? The first moment he’d seen her, she’d knocked him out of his shoes, and this time was no different. He took one look at her and wanted to reach for her, to enfold her in his arms and never let her go, to tell her how he’d inexplicably lost his heart to her.
But all he could think of was the hell she’d been through with Barker, and the words just wouldn’t come. Instead, he said stiffly, “No, thanks. Actually, I just dropped by to check on Laura. I heard she was released this morning.”
Her smile dimmed slightly at his tone, but if she wondered what his problem was, she didn’t say anything. “Yes, she was. She was very lucky. She’s in her room right now playing. Would you like to see her?”
He should have told her that wasn’t necessary and gotten the heck out of there, but she held the door open to him, and he couldn’t resist the invitation. Before he quite knew how it had happened, he was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with her in the hall outside Laura’s room, watching the little girl play with that ragged teddy bear of hers. Lost in her imaginary world, she appeared healthy and whole. With time, the nightmare her father put her through would hopefully fade completely from her memory.
Barker deserved to be shot for the chances he’d taken with her, but according to the gossip going around town, Naomi had yet to press charges against him. And for the life of him, Hunter couldn’t understand why. He knew she didn’t still care about the jerk—she wasn’t the type of woman to give herself to one man when she still had feelings for another. And even if she had some lingering fondness for Barker, that would have died the second he endangered Laura. So why hadn’t she had the jackass arrested?
A Fortune's Children Christmas (Anthology) Page 27
