Once Burned (11 page)

“Yep.”

“Um… wow. No wonder I feel like jelly.”

“We did play around for quite a lot of that time, so it’s not as impressive as it sounds.”

“Hush up. Now is not the time for modesty, stud.”

Henry laughed again. Then he climbed out of bed to clean himself up only to return moments later to turn down the covers. Gently, he lifted Lindsay onto the cool sheets, slid in beside her, and yanked the blankets over them to ward off the chill that descended as the heat of their lovemaking faded. Lindsay shifted onto her side while Henry reached to click the lamp off. When he fit his knees in behind hers and tucked his arm around her waist, she sighed happily.

Worn out by the day’s excitement and—she hoped—contented by holding her close, Henry dozed off. She lay awake with her head pillowed on his arm, which couldn’t be comfortable for him, and listened as his breathing slowed and deepened, soothed by that simple sign of life. She felt entirely relaxed and secure in his embrace, and she thought of their deal to remind her of what it was like to be someone’s woman if only for a little while. It had become so much more, leading to this perfect moment when she wasn’t just
someone’s
woman but
Henry’s
. They could only go forward from here because there was no going back. She couldn’t just forget this bond, whatever it was, and hoped he was serious about wanting to remain friends. Henry had altered her expectations about relationships, shown her what they
should
be, and anyone who could do that was worth holding on to however she could.

She knew she should
try
to get some sleep, and she was certainly tired enough, but she wanted to linger in this moment and enjoy the warmth of Henry’s skin against hers and the cozy heat he’d kindled in her heart. In the long run, it would do her far more good than even the best night’s rest.

Tomorrow can take its sweet time getting here.

SOMETIME IN THE MIDDLE of the night, Henry snapped awake to the cries of a young boy in the thrall of a nightmare. It was a dream, he knew, but he couldn’t shake the panic of hearing his son screaming for him and not being able to get to him. He tried to sit up, but his right arm was pinned beneath his sleeping partner, so he lifted his head and looked around. All was dark and quiet, and the dim light of the waning moon illuminated objects he recognized as belonging to his house in Northstar, not the one he’d shared in Denver with Mel. The cool blue glow also caressed the woman in his bed—a woman with a taller, leaner body than Mel’s and long, naturally red hair instead of Mel’s stylishly frosted blonde pixie cut.

Not Mel. Lindsay.

The realization brushed away the lingering fog of the dream, and he wondered how long it would be until the habits and instincts triggered by Dylan’s birth fell dormant. Seeking any form of reassurance, he shifted a little closer to Lindsay. The tension flowed out of him, and he sagged into the mattress, reassured by the feel of her naked body against his and the memories of all that had led them here.

Comforted by Lindsay’s presence, sleep soon reclaimed him.

When he woke again to bright morning, his shoulder ached from being twisted into the same position for hours on end and his arm tingled. The softness of the woman curled with her back to him kept him from trying to move it to get blood back to his limb, and for almost half an hour, he endured it to watch her sleep. He was certain he’d never been as mesmerized by Mel as he was by Lindsay. Everything about her—her honesty, her passion, her vulnerability, even her stubbornness and independence, and definitely her lithe body, her keen blue eyes, and her mane of shimmering dark copper—captivated him and had from that first moment when she’d confidently introduced herself at the Bedspread Inn.

If he had ever doubted that she would fit Pat’s description of a good woman, he didn’t any longer. There was something incredible about her that calmed him even when he didn’t want to be calm. He’d noticed that almost immediately when she’d come to dinner at his parents’ after their Virginia City date.

How much of an idiot was he being for holding to the deadline of their arrangement?

Probably a giant idiot,
he admitted. But Mel’s deception was still too fresh, and his dream proved it.
But we promised to remain friends, and who knows what might happen down the road.

Lindsay stirred, though whether because she was simply ready to greet the day or because she’d sensed he was no longer asleep, he couldn’t say, but when she turned to study him over her shoulder with concern darkening her eyes, he suspected it was the latter.

“Good morning, gorgeous,” he murmured reassuringly.

Her lips curved. “Good morning, handsome,” she quipped.

God, he loved her quick wit and added that to the long list of other things he loved about her.
Yeah, I’m a dumbass.

“You up for round two?” she inquired. “One more to hold me over until… whenever.”

“I think I might be able to muster the energy.”

This time, Henry didn’t try to draw it out, and their joining was just as hot with that incredible sense of
connectedness
. He wished he could stay with her all day right here in his bed, but that wasn’t in the cards, so with the heat of their passion barely cooled, he rolled out of bed to start breakfast. It wasn’t quite nine in the morning, so they still had plenty of time before they had to drive to Butte. He figured if they left by half past noon, that’d get Lindsay to the airport well ahead of the minimum requirement of one-hour prior to take off.

After breakfast, he took her—at her request—down to his parents’ house so she could say goodbye to them as she hadn’t done it properly the other day. They ended up staying for lunch, and Henry sat back to watch and listen as his parents, Nick, and Beth, and his niece and nephew hugged her and expressed a desire to see her again soon. His mother and Beth even exchanged email and mailing addresses with her so they could swap recipes.

Too soon, it was time to head to Butte. On the drive, Henry didn’t say much, content to listen to Lindsay talk about all the people and all the things she was going to miss in Northstar. He hadn’t planned to see her take off, but when he pulled into the short-term parking lot of the Bert Mooney Airport, he found himself wanting so spend every last possible second with her and followed her into the terminal to wait while she checked in.

They sat side by side in chairs facing the broad windows, and Henry draped an arm around her. They talked little, content to gaze out at the towering wall of pine and aspen that was the East Ridge and enjoy this last hour of closeness. They watched her plane land, saying nothing as the people on it disembarked. Long before Henry was ready, the attendant at the counter beside the gate announced that it was time to board the plane. Reluctantly, they stood, and Lindsay wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “For everything.”

“You’re welcome. And thank you, too.” He buried his face against her neck for a moment, then leaned back to study her face and commit every feature of it to memory. “Give me some time, and we’ll see what happens.”

Hope sparked in her eyes, and he knew that she understood what he meant. He needed to put Mel and Dylan firmly behind him, but was leaving the door open to Lindsay and discarding their deadline.

“Say hi to Noah for me and call me when you get home. You have my number still, right?”

“Yep, but I won’t be home until late tonight, though… even later by Montana time.”

“I don’t care.”

She kissed him then, smiling. “Talk to you soon.”

Not soon enough
. He didn’t say it, afraid to put too much pressure on either of them. “Looking forward to it.”

The attendant made the final boarding announcement, and Henry shoed her away so she wouldn’t miss her flight because he couldn’t seem to let her go. She was nearly to the gate when he thought of one last thing he wanted to know before she flew out of his life.

“Lindsay!”

She turned to face him, waiting for him to continue.

“Did I uphold my end of our bargain?”

“Absolutely. And then some. Did I uphold my end?”

“Beyond my wildest dreams.”

She grinned, waved, and disappeared through the gate.

Henry walked over to the window and stood there until her plane took off, then jogged out to his truck, slid in behind the wheel, and watched her plane shrink beyond his sight into the distance.

“I’m really going to miss her,” he admitted to the empty cab. “She’s some kind of special, that woman.”

The drive home was the second loneliest of his life but for an entirely different reason. Instead of an emptiness brought on by the breaking of his heart over the loss of the boy he’d believed was his son, he was filled with yearning, and no amount of trying to convince himself that he’d just gotten caught up in their game could erase it. His family was going to have a field day teasing him about moping around like the proverbial lost puppy, and he didn’t even care. He almost welcomed this new loneliness and even the teasing because it was far preferable to the hurting, angry state he would have been in still if Lindsay hadn’t breezed into his life like a cool zephyr on a scorching summer day. And besides, it was true. He
was
lovesick.

Two hours later when he stepped through his parents’ front door for the second time today to discuss over dinner what his father wanted him to do tomorrow when he jumped back into ranch work, Nick didn’t disappoint.

“You don’t even have to say it,” his older brother said without bothering to greet him first, “because how much you already miss her is written all over your face.”

“I’m sure it is.”

Nick regarded him with brows raised, surprised perhaps by the lack of anger and sarcasm in Henry’s response. Half a second later, he lifted his hands in a show of peace and nodded his head toward the kitchen. “Mom and Beth have dinner almost done, and Dad and Aaron are washing up.”

Henry followed his brother into the kitchen and greeted both his mother and his sister-in-law with a kiss on the cheek. They returned his gesture with knowing smiles.

“Lindsay’s flight get off all right?” Tracie asked.

“Yeah. Sorry I’m later than I said I’d be, but I stayed until she took off.”

“You’re here just in time, so I’m not sure why you’re apologizing.”

“Even if you were late,” Beth remarked, “I’m not sure why you’d be sorry. Seeing Lindsay off properly is about as acceptable an excuse as there is.”

“Don’t start in on me,” Henry said without any heat. “Yes, I miss her already, and I’m not afraid or too proud to admit it. I’d be a fool not to miss her.”

“That’s for damned sure,” Aaron remarked as he and their father joined the rest of the family—except Will and Jessie, who were still playing out in the backyard—in the kitchen.

“I’ll take crap from everyone here but you,” Henry retorted. “Because you have no room to talk with the way you’ve been looking at Ms. Hathaway since Vince and Evie’s wedding.”

“It’s nothing, Hen. Just a little bit of curiosity.”

“And
that
is why you have not room to talk—because you’re a bigger fool than I am. But I don’t want to talk about you and Skye. I want to talk about what work Dad and Nick want me to do this week on the ranch because, to be honest, I’m ready to get to it.”

“Fine by me.” Without being asked, Aaron slid plates out of the cupboard and took them and the requisite silverware into the dining room to set the table.

Henry turned expectantly to his father and older brother, but neither John nor Nick spoke up. Instead, they studied him with the same quizzical expression. He folded his arms across his chest and waited for one of them to say what everyone was obviously thinking. Before he’d met Lindsay, this tribunal would have annoyed the hell out of him, tightening the muscles in his back and shoulders, but he was surprisingly relaxed and without even a drop of impatience willing them to speak up.

“Lindsay was good for you,” Tracie said gently. “Even if your arrangement
was
only temporary.”

“Of course she was. She’s an incredible woman unlike any I’ve dated before.”

John snorted. “That’s for damned sure. I can’t believe you’re going to just let her leave close the door on—”

“For now, yes, I am. She was a great distraction from Mel and Dylan, but I still have to deal with that. And until I do, I don’t want that tainting anything I could have with Lindsay. I think she understands that and that I need to find the part of my identity that used to be wrapped around Dylan.”

“I hope you’re not making a mistake,” Nick murmured. “But I guess we’ll see if distance makes your heart forget or grow fonder.”

“I guess we will.”

Tracie pulled the last pot off the stove, and Beth finished tossing the salad, so Henry headed out to the backyard to bring his niece and nephew in to get washed up.

“Where’s Lindsay?” Will asked.

“She had to go home to Washington, bud. Remember?”

“Will she come back?”

“I hope so,” Henry replied before he could stop himself. He ruffled Will’s mop of blond hair and smiled fondly. Both Nick and Beth were clearly represented in the six-year-old’s features just as Aaron and Erica were both evident in Jessie, and Henry wondered why he hadn’t noticed the absence of himself in Dylan.

The answer was simple but agonizing.
I didn’t want to
.

“Did you really mean it when you said you’re not going back to Denver again?” Jessie inquired as they walked toward the back door hand in hand.

“I did. I don’t have any plans to go anywhere this time.”

“That means we’ll get to play lots, right, Uncle Henry?”

“You bet it does.”

She bounced in front of him with her hands held up, silently commanding him to pick her up. He obeyed, happy to indulge her, and she threw her little arms around his neck. With her hitched on his hip, he took Will’s hand and squeezed. He’d thought he had seen them both and gotten to know them well enough, but in this moment, he understood that he hadn’t spent as much time with them as he should have. If there was one good thing to come of thinking Dylan was his son it was the way it had settled his mind on children. He’d never been opposed to having kids, but neither had he been sure he wanted them, and now he was.

Once he stepped inside, he set Jessie on her feet and told her and Will to go wash their hands for dinner, then ventured back into the kitchen to help serve the food. After everyone was seated and grace had been said, they ate.

“So, Dad, what do you need me to do this week?” Henry asked.

“If you wouldn’t mind, the hoist truck needs a tune up, and the damned round bailer is acting up again. We’ll be haying the lower fields this week and stacking Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And at some point in the not-too-distant future, you and Nick probably ought to get some firewood cut for you.” John paused to level a questioning gaze on his wandering son. “If you’re planning to be here through the winter.”

Henry winced. “That’s the idea.”

“I thought maybe we’d ease you back into ranch work, but you said you were ready for it, so I’ve got plenty of jobs lined up for you.”

“I appreciate that, Dad. It’ll be great to be out working with my family again.”

“We’re glad to have you back home, too, Henry,” Nick replied. “It’ll be good for us all to reconnect as a family.”

Henry nodded, glancing between his brothers. Between Beth’s rape, Erica’s death, and now Henry finding out that Dylan wasn’t his son, their family had been shaken up quite a lot since the boys had left the nest and headed off to college, and though time had healed a lot of the grief and pain, the scars were still there, and Henry should have been here for his brothers instead of off obeying his wanderlust in Denver.

“I’m glad I came back,” he whispered too quietly for anyone to hear.

After they finished eating, Henry helped his brothers with the dishes, reminded by the joking and teasing of the good old days before any of those tragedies had rocked their family. It was nice to know that, no matter what happened in his life, he could count on the love of his family. When the dishes were done, Nick, Beth, and Will headed home. Aaron left soon after with Jessie, and Henry lingered for a few minutes more, but it was close to nine, and the promise of hearing Lindsay’s voice again began to make him anxious