Bulletproof Heart
Page 21
Still smiling, he looked past her. “It’s not exactly my idea. Only half of it is from me.”
She turned around. Reb Tremaine was leaning against the wall behind the door. Time froze as she stared at him. Despite the red scar running horizontally across his forehead, he looked handsome and self-assured. The dark-blue-and-red flannel shirt he wore was open at the collar, revealing the neck of a white T-shirt. His blue, blue eyes regarded her gravely.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Joey said, and slipped out of the kitchen.
The old clock ticked loudly, and as the seconds flew by, she grew aware of standing like a dummy with her mouth hanging open. She gave herself a shake. “What are you doing here?”
“Brought you a present.”
She stepped away from the box. “You shouldn’t have.”
“Do you still hate me?”
She wanted to hate him; she should hate him. She even opened her mouth to tell him she did indeed hate him and he should march his lying self right off this ranch. Words refused to form.
“I have something to show you.” He held up a large white envelope. He dumped the contents on the tabletop. “Will you look?”
She sank onto a chair. She’d missed him with a pain as great as her grief at losing Daniel. Not a day passed when she hadn’t longed for him. Not a night passed when his beautiful eyes hadn’t filled her dreams. Despite his lies, she loved him with all her heart.
She could no more stop loving him than she’d willingly cut off a hand.
Trusting him, though…
He placed a birth certificate in front of her. “John William Tremaine, born March 29, 1964. That makes me an Aries if you’re into that kind of thing. Mom called me Johnny Reb. The ‘Reb’ handle stuck. No one except schoolteachers ever called me John.” He handed over papers and photographs one by one. “Report card from the sixth grade. See, straight As in the third quarter. Here’s my honor-roll certificate. I did well enough in high school to win a scholarship, but that’s the only time I pulled straight A’s.
“And this is my shot record. I hate needles, they give me the creeps. The first time I ever gave blood, I passed out.” He winked at her. “That’s my deepest, darkest secret.”
He held up a photograph and pointed to the people depicted. “Here’s me and Aunt Becky and my cousins Kathy and Virginia. I lived with Aunt Becky for a while.” He pulled out a chair and sat. “And this was my high school sweetheart, Yvonne. We were steadies for two years, but she dumped me after the juniorsenior prom.” He nodded solemnly. “She never returned my letterman’s jacket.”
“I’m sorry,” Emily said.
“That’s life. Here’s my degree from Arizona State. Agricultural sciences with a minor in business administration.”
Emily dropped the papers and photographs on the table. He sat so close she could smell him. He no longer smelled like a cowboy, but she recognized him all the same. Her insides tightened. Every breath caused sweet pain. “What is all this?”
“Me,” he said. “Who I am.” He picked up the photograph of his aunt and cousins, and his eyebrows knitted together. “I’ve been undercover so long I forgot who I was, too. So I quit my job. No more lies. No more pretending. No more lowlifes and hard cases and targets. Just me.”
Unable to bear his gaze, she idly slid the photographs and papers into a pile.
“All I’ve thought about is you. How good we were together. It didn’t feel like pretending because we weren’t pretending. I love you, Emily. Give me a chance to prove it.”
I love you…
“Look at me.”
She lifted her face. He’d cut his hair, so it was shorter on the sides and top. The classy cut suited him. Despite the flannel shirt and blue jeans he wore, he no longer looked like a cowboy. He smiled and her heart melted.
“I never thought about my life before. What it meant, where I wanted it to go. I thought a paycheck was enough. It’s not.”
“What is enough, Reb?”
“You.” He picked up both her hands and brought them to his mouth. He kissed first one then the other. “God, I’ve missed you. I never knew I had it in me to miss someone so much. Or to love anyone as much as I love you.”
She knew he spoke the truth. Naked truth, his heart laid bare and vulnerable.
She also knew she’d always love him, and what had happened in the past would remain the past and could be forgiven. Something warm burst inside her chest, filling her with joy. All the sadness and grief of the past months fell from her shoulders like sun-warmed snow off a pine tree branch.
“If I give you another chance, what do you intend to do?”
He cupped her chin in his large, strong hand and drew her close. “Whatever you want, ma’am,” he whispered silkily. He kissed her, a gentle press of lips to lips, a kiss of hope and promises. “Whatever you say.”
eISBN 978-14592-7584-3
BULLETPROOF HEART
Copyright © 1996 by Jaye W. Manus
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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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Printed in U.S.A.
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Table of Contents
Praise
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Books by Sheryl Lynn
Dedication
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Copyright