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.“That’s premature.She ran.I finally tracked her down, but now I have to convince her that I want to get married without having her think it’s only because of the baby.”“I don’t envy you the job,” Pierce replied, his black eyes twinkling.“I had my own rocky road to marriage, if you recall.”“How’s the baby these days?” he asked.Pierce laughed with wholehearted delight.“We watch him instead of television.I never expected fatherhood to make such changes in me, in my life.” He shook his head, with a faraway look claiming his eyes.“Sometimes I’m afraid it’s all a dream and I’ll wake up alone.” He shifted, embarrassed.“You can have the time off.But who’s going to handle your job while you’re gone?”“I thought I’d get you to put Colby Lane on the payroll.” He held up his hand when Pierce looked thunderous.“He’s stopped drinking,” he told him.“Cecily got him into therapy.He’s not the man he was.”“You’re sure of that?” Pierce wanted to know.Tate smiled.“I’m sure.”“Okay.But if he ever throws a punch at me again, he’ll be smiling on the inside of his mouth!”Tate chuckled.“Fair enough.I’ll give him a call before I leave town.”Colby was quietly shocked to find Tate not only at his door the next morning, but smiling.He was expecting an armed assault following their recent telephone conversation.“I’m here with a job offer.”Colby’s dark eyes narrowed.“Does it come with a cyanide capsule?” he asked warily.Tate clapped the other man on the shoulder.“I’m sorry about the way I’ve treated you.I haven’t been thinking straight.I’m obliged to you for telling me the truth about Cecily.”“You know the baby’s yours, I gather?”Tate nodded.“I’m on my way to Tennessee to bring her home,” he replied.Colby’s eyes twinkled.“Does she know this?”“Not yet.I’m saving it for a surprise.”“I imagine you’re the one who’s going to get the surprise,” Colby informed him.“She’s changed a lot in the past few weeks.”“I noticed.” Tate leaned against the wall near the door.“I’ve got a job for you.”“You want me to go to Tennessee?” Colby murmured dryly.“In your dreams, Lane,” Tate returned.“No, not that.I want you to head up my security force for Pierce Hutton while I’m away.”Colby looked around the room.“Maybe I’m hallucinating.”“You and my father,” Tate muttered, shaking his head.“Listen, I’ve changed.”“Into what?”“Pay attention.It’s a good job.You’ll have regular hours.You can learn to sleep without a gun under your pillow.You won’t lose any more arms.” He added thoughtfully, “I’ve been a bad friend.I was jealous of you.”“But why?” Colby wanted to know.“Cecily is special.I look out for her, period.There’s never been a day since I met her when she wasn’t in love with you, or a time when I didn’t know it.”Tate felt warmth spread through his body at the remark.“I’ve given her hell.She may not feel that way, now.”“You can’t kill love,” Colby said heavily.“I know.I’ve tried.”Tate felt sorry for the man.He didn’t know how to put it into words.Colby shrugged.“Anyway, I’ve learned to live with my ghosts, thanks to that psychologist Cecily pushed me into seeing.” He scowled.“She keeps snakes, can you imagine? I used to see mine crawling out of whiskey bottles, but hers are real.”“Maybe she’s allergic to fur,” Tate pointed out.Colby chuckled.“Who knows.When do I start?” he added.“Today.” He produced a mobile phone and dialed a number.“I’m sending Colby Lane over.He’s my relief while I’m away.If you have any problems, report them to him.”He nodded as the person on the other end of the line replied in the affirmative.He closed up the phone.“Okay, here’s what you need to do…”Two hours later, he was on a plane for Nashville.The flight had been delayed due to snow and sleet, and he was impatient.He was irritated beyond belief by the time the flight disembarked at the Nashville airport.He went straight to the rental car desk and got a four-wheel-drive vehicle.Then he set out, in the snow, for Cullenville.The museum was easy to find—it was right downtown, past one of the town’s two stoplights.There he asked for directions to Cecily’s house and was told that she had a rental house two doors down.The museum secretary looked at him with pure awe.“Are you a relative of her late husband?” the woman asked.His eyes widened.“I beg your pardon?”“It must be so hard for her, pregnant and just widowed,” the middle-aged woman continued.“We’ve all done what we could to make her happy here.Mr.Johnson, the curator, is a widower himself.He’s already sweet on her.But you’re probably anxious to see Mrs.Peterson.Shall I ring her and let her know you’re coming?”Tate’s eyes were blazing.“No,” he said with forced politeness.“I want to surprise her!”He stalked out, leaving the rented vehicle where it was as he trudged through the small layer of snow and glared contemptuously at the cars sliding around in the street as they passed.This little bit of snow was nothing compared to the six-foot snowdrifts on the reservation.Southerners, he considered, must not get much winter precipitation if this little bit of white dust paralyzed traffic!As for Cecily’s mythical dead husband, he considered, going up the walkway to the small brick structure where she lived, he was about to make a startling, resurrected appearance!He knocked on the door and waited.There was an irritated murmur beyond the closed door and the sound of a lock being unfastened.The door opened and a wan Cecily looked straight into his eyes.He managed to get inside the screen door and catch her before she passed out.She came to on the sofa with Tate sitting beside her, smoothing back her disheveled hair.The nausea climbed into her throat and, fortunately, stayed there.She looked at him with helpless delight, wishing she could hide what the sight of him was doing to her after so many empty, lonely weeks.He didn’t speak.He touched her hair, her forehead, her eyes, her nose, her mouth, with fingers that seemed bent on memorizing her.Then his hands went to the robe carelessly fastened over her cotton nightdress and pushed it aside.He touched her belly, his face radiant as he registered the very visible and tangible signs of her condition.“When did we make him?” he asked without preamble.She felt her world dissolve.He knew about the baby.Of course.That was why he was here.He met her eyes, found hostility and bitter disillusionment in them.His hand pressed down over her belly.“I would have come even if I hadn’t known about the baby,” he said at once.“The baby is mine.”“And mine.”“Audrey is not getting her avaricious little hands on my child…!”His hand held her down firmly.“I am not marrying Audrey,” he said through his teeth.“As if I would! She’s in a treatment center.She was bombed out of her mind on drugs.She confessed that she’d planted all the stories in the tabloids and blamed you.”“Wh…what?” she stammered, horrified.Tate let out a long breath.“Cecily, she’s unbalanced.She was spewing lies and the media gobbled them down whole.I never had plans to marry her, regardless of what I let you think.I rejected her and she was out for revenge.It was never more than that [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]