Lindsay McKenna (28 page)

Shock rolled through Cat. She put her hand on Sandy’s shoulder as Sandy sobbed against her son. They were good tears. Tears of happiness, not sadness. Talon’s eyes were moist and she loved him so much in that moment as he held his frail mother in his arms. Gus had just given them all a better life with her incredible generosity. As she looked over at Val, Griff and Gus, who were all smiling and who also had tears in their eyes, Cat had never felt so happy. Or so hopeful.

She slowly stood up, set the check on the coffee table and walked over to Miss Gus. Leaning down, Cat kissed the woman’s cheek and whispered, “You
are
the best guardian angel in the world, Miss Gus.”

She squeezed her gently and added, “I love you so much. I never knew my grandparents on either side of my family but if you don’t mind, I’m going to adopt you as my grandmother?”

Gus pursed her lips and studied Cat. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, child.” She patted Cat’s cheek. “I’ve had my eye on you for a long time. And that’s why I wanted you workin’ at the Bar H. You’re special, Cat. You’re responsible and you’re loyal. I think Talon’s getting one heck of a wife and partner at his side.”

Cat smiled tearfully and pressed one last kiss on Gus’s wrinkled forehead. “You are incredible, Miss Gus. Thanks for letting me have you as my grandmother. That’s worth more than any amount of money....”

* * *

“I’
M
STILL
IN
SHOCK
,” Cat admitted, lying in Talon’s arms on her couch in her condo. Night had fallen and she was exhausted by the day’s unexpected events.

He kissed her hair. “You? So am I. I don’t know if my mother will ever get out from under the shock.” And then he smiled.

“So much has happened,” Cat whispered, her arm around his waist, content to be held by him. “And then Gus tells your mom that she’s hired a group of men to repair not only the inside of your ranch house, but put on a new roof, new and improved double windows... Wow!”

“And tomorrow,” Talon said, “we can all go home.” He eased her away, studying her in the soft light from the kitchen. “And I haven’t even officially asked you to be my wife. My partner. Will you?” Because he couldn’t conceive of anything more right in his life. Searching Cat’s shadowed eyes, which suddenly grew moist, her lips parting, Talon leaned down, kissing her slowly, deeply and with all the tenderness he had. Her mouth was soft and he could taste the salt of her tears as they silently ran down her cheeks. Sliding his hand across her jaw, he wanted to convey, with everything in his heart, what he held for her alone.

They’d come so close to losing each other. He knew it would take him time to deal with the ramifications of what had almost happened.

As he moved his mouth across hers, cherishing her scent, her tears and love he could feel radiating from her heart to his, Talon had never felt so grateful. Cat was here, in his arms. He would marry her. And he would love her. Now he knew what love was. What it felt like. How it breathed new life and breath into his shattered, grieving heart. Cat had replaced his loss of Hayden with new, beautiful promises of life to come. Her love was helping to heal his tortured past, helping him to realize how much good was left in his life. When she had come into his life, when she had looked down at him, sick and dying, Talon had not known how important Cat was going to become to him.

Time and space had shown him love. And Cat loved him without reservation, without games or manipulation. She was loyal in ways he’d never seen in a woman before. But it was her love that melded that loyalty to his grieving, broken heart. She was healing him by simply being with him, never mind the great sex they shared. As Talon eased from her wet, lush lips, he studied her slowly opening lashes. Her eyes were a deep blue with gold in their depths. That was her love reflected in them for him and he knew it.

“Well?” Talon asked her huskily, sliding his fingers through her hair at her temple. “Want to marry me? Be my best friend? My partner? Share our happy and our sad days together?” He saw her face soften with love for him.

“I can’t even think of life without you in it, Talon,” she whispered, leaning her cheek into his palm.

“You sure this is what you want?” Because Talon knew she was a career woman, no question.

Nodding, Cat sat up and faced him, their knees touching, her hand on his thigh. “The moment I saw you out in that blizzard, Talon, I felt my heart burst open. It surprised the hell out of me. I’d never felt like that before toward any man. There was just something about you....” Cat gave him a smile and then looked over at Zeke, who lay nearby, his head lifted, watching them intently. “And Zeke, here, touched my heart, as well.”

Tears burned in his eyes. One day, Talon would tell her about Hayden, the brotherhood, the love they’d shared as friends. Cat would keep the secret and by telling her, it would ease some of his horrific shock and trauma, too. Talon knew that about Cat. She wasn’t a paramedic for nothing. She was a healer, pure and simple. Now she was infusing him with life once again.

“You know, that morning you found me out on the highway? I’d given up, Cat. I fell and I was lying there, feeling what little energy I had left flowing out of me. Zeke knew it. He was lying by my side, trying to warm me, trying to give me his strength, but I’d already given up.” He picked up her hand, pressing a kiss to the inside of her palm. Her fingers were long and tapered. Fingers that had the ability to lift him out of a special hell that had taken him down and was on its way to killing him that cold, snowy morning. His voice thickened. “Someday, babe, I’m going to tell you the rest of the story...when I’m ready...and you’re going to understand just how much you brought me back from the edge of that grave I was ready to lay in.”

Cat held his hand, hearing the rawness in his low tone, seeing the terror banked deep in his eyes. “I sensed it, Talon. I knew....”

Nodding, he stared at her in the gathering silence. “You’re healing me, Cat. You have from the start.” Talon shook his head, giving her a wry look. “I never knew what love was. I really didn’t. Until you came along. Until you showed me every day in so many small and large ways. I honestly don’t feel I can breathe a full breath unless you’re there beside me. You taught me so much about loving another person. That it’s real, that it really exists...”

She smiled. “Your mom loves you, Talon. Your father, Gardner, loved you. You know what love is. Maybe, as a SEAL, you lost that? Maybe you’ve come home, reclaimed it.”

He slid his fingers through her hair, gently settling it on her shoulder. “You
showed
me love, Cat. And what’s amazing about it is you had nothing growing up. You, least of all, knew what love was.”

“You can’t steal love out of a heart, Talon,” Cat whispered, giving him a warm look. “It’s always there. I might not have known family love like you did, but when I became a paramedic and could help others, I understood what love was. And I could love that person who was injured and traumatized. I saw what love could do to equalize the situation, to ease their pain and fear.”

“You eased mine,” Talon admitted, his voice a rasp. Her eyes were soft with moisture, her lips curved gently with compassion. “I think I’m the luckiest damned bastard on this planet to love you, Cat. You feed me hope, babe. Hope I thought was torn from me and would never come again.”

Cat slid her arms around his shoulders, seeing the ravages of things that had happened to him, bad things, which he’d never given voice to. “That’s what love is all about, Talon. It feeds us, helps us survive, gives us hope and, best of all, dreams for the future.”

Talon framed her face with his hands, drowning in the tender look of her eyes. “You not only saved my life, you saved my soul, babe. I’ll never forget what you’ve done, Cat. I’m going to wake up every morning looking for ways to love you.”

Tears fell from her eyes as she stared at Talon. “I want to be your wife, Talon. I want to be an equal partner at your side.” Cat grazed his cheek, the stubble making her fingertips tingle. “Life is never easy, but the love we have is so beautiful and strong, that we’ll take it all in stride. Okay?”

“Okay,” Talon managed, pressing his brow to hers, grateful beyond any words he could say. “I don’t know who’s going to be happier. Us or my mother.”

Laughing softly, Cat eased back and smiled. “She knew we loved one another long before either of us did,” she confided. “And I think that not only having her home back, but us living there, being married, is going to give her a strength, a return of a dream she thought had died a long time ago.”

“You’re a dream catcher. You know that?” Talon kissed her smiling mouth and drowned in her shimmering gaze. “You’ve not only infused me with my dreams, but you gave my mother back her dreams, too.”

“Your mom isn’t out of the woods yet. I want to be there for her, too. With my knee out of commission, hanging around the house, painting the rooms and stuff, I think will be good for Sandy. Maybe after a while, we can plan a winter wedding. That would give Sandy time and space to adjust. She could help pick out the wedding dress, the flowers. I know that would fulfill a dream she’s wanted for you for so long.”

“I like the way you dream.” Talon gently turned her around so her head lay on his shoulder, his arms coming around her. “Are you okay with my mother in the same house?”

“Totally. It’s a big house, Talon. And Sandy isn’t going to be the mother-in-law from hell with me. We’ve had a seven-year friendship and we respect one another.” She shook her head and moved aside to meet his gaze. “Like Miss Gus said earlier, we’re going to be one big, happy family.”

“I think so, too,” Talon admitted, meeting her smile. “You’re an easy keeper, babe.” He held Cat close. In the next few summer months, all their lives were going to change for the better.

Zeke rose up on his feet and came over, laying his head on Talon’s thigh, looking up at them. He whined, his big, whiplike tail wagging back and forth.

Cat smiled and petted Zeke’s black head. “You need to repair that white picket fence, Talon. He needs a place to call his own, too.”

Gus had mentioned the fence around the main ranch house was partly down, badly needing sanding and a new coat of paint. “It will be one of the first things I fix over there,” Talon promised her. Kissing her brow, he murmured, “I remember reading that real estate magazine, the photo you had circled, and you had drawn in a white picket fence around it.” Talon watched her eyes go soft. “You are going to get your wish, babe. And Zeke can hang out with me as I repair and paint it. And it can be his yard that he’ll share with you.”

Cat nuzzled her face into the crook of his shoulder, contentment flowing through her. “That sounds wonderful,” she said, and sighed.

Zeke whined and his tail wagged even more enthusiastically than before.

* * * * *

We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin ebook. Connect with us for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!

Subscribe to our newsletter:
Harlequin.com/newsletters

Visit
Harlequin.com

We like you—why not like us on Facebook:
Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks

Follow us on Twitter:
Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks

Read our blog for all the latest news on our authors and books:
HarlequinBlog.com

ISBN: 9781460318119

Copyright © 2013 by Nauman Living Trust

All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical,
now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.

www.Harlequin.com