Savior in the Saddle (21 page)

Suddenly, it felt like Christmas morning.

“Y’all need me to bring you anything?” Pete asked.

Willa shook her head, but she didn’t take her eyes off Brandon. “It’s really over. No more danger. No more hostages. I’m free.”

“The danger and hostage parts are true. But what about your memory?” Pete asked.

She paused a moment, as if going through her thoughts. “Everything seems to be there. I’m free,” Willa repeated. “For the first time in months, I’m really free.”

Yeah. And that hit him like a sucker punch.

Brandon was sure he wasn’t smiling, and that warm Christmas glow faded as quickly as it’d come.

Willa was indeed free, and that meant she could and probably would be leaving soon. Of course, that left Brandon with a huge question.

Was he going to let her go?

It took him about a split second to come up the answer to that.

No. He wasn’t going to let her go.

Well, not without a fight anyway.

“I know I said I might not make a good father,” Brandon heard himself blurt out. Not the best start he could have had for what would be the most important next few minutes of his life.

“But I’d like to try,” Brandon added.

Willa blinked. Stared at him.

“Uh, I should probably go,” Pete mumbled. And he didn’t wait for either of them to acknowledge his exit. Being the smart man that he was, Pete left Brandon to fumble around with what he wanted to say to Willa.

“I’d like to try to be a good father,” Brandon amended. He shook his head. That still wasn’t right. “I’ll do everything within my power to be a good father.”

“To Hannah,” she supplied, making it sound like more of a question than clarification.

“Hannah.” He huffed. And then cursed when Willa looked hurt from that huff. “No. I didn’t mean it that way. I used the name, Hannah, to make the baby more personal to Dr. Farris, so she wouldn’t shoot you. It’s a hostage negotiation technique to personalize the crisis situation.”

Great. Now, he was babbling.

“But I do like the name Hannah,” he added when Willa just stared at him.

Still babbling.

So, Brandon changed tactics. He cradled the back of Willa’s neck and pulled her closer. He kissed her. Really kissed her. He put his mouth to hers and took in the softness of her lips. Her taste. That taste soothed him, fired his blood and reminded him just what was at stake here.

Everything
was at stake.

“I’m in love with you,” he said against her mouth.

He braced himself for her shock and expected her to pull back and stare at him some more. After all, he’d given her no indication of that love. Hell, he hadn’t realized himself until he saw Dr. Farris point the gun at her. Then, in that moment, he knew this wasn’t about protecting Willa and the baby.

It was about loving them.

Willa didn’t pull back, but he felt her smile form on her lips. “You love me?”

Well, this answer was easy. “I do.”

“Good.” And she kissed him long and hard and stopped only when both of them remembered they needed to breathe. “Because I’m love in with you, too.”

The breath he’d just taken in stalled in his throat. His entire body seemed to stop, so he could grasp what she’d just said.

“You love me?” he clarified.

“God, yes. I thought that was way too obvious.”

Now, it was his turn to smile against her mouth. But Brandon did ease back because he wanted to see her face. Her eyes. That incredible smile. Willa took his breath away again, and he didn’t care if he ever got it back.

Maybe it was because he was totally lost in the moment that he didn’t hear the footsteps until they stopped right next to him.

Brandon caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and automatically reached for his weapon. But no weapon was necessary. It was Dr. Ross Jenkins, the surgeon who had been operating on Cash.

Both Brandon and Willa got to their feet, and Brandon tried to interpret the surgeon’s poker face. He couldn’t. He could only stand there and wait.

“Sergeant Newsome took three bullets to the chest cavity. He’s lucky. Damn lucky. Other than a collapsed lung and some broken ribs, he should be fine.”

The relief was instant, and Brandon grabbed Willa and hauled her into his arms for a celebratory kiss. Cash was going to be all right. Dr. Farris hadn’t succeeded in any part of her plan to kill all three of them.

“I’ll keep him sedated most of the day,” the doctor continued. “No visitors until tomorrow. So, you two might as well go home.” His attention dropped to Willa’s belly. “Do I need to call in the OB?”

“No,” Willa quickly answered. “No contractions. And Hannah’s kicking like crazy. She’s fine.”

The doctor nodded, pulled on his surgical cap and ambled away.

Willa smiled again, but there were tears in her eyes. “Cash is going to be okay,” she mumbled.

Brandon understood those tears. They were of the happy variety. And even though the timing wasn’t the best, he decided to see if there was another level of happy to be had here.

But before he could utter a word, Willa pulled back her shoulders and stared at him. “Are you going to ask me to marry you?”

He had been about to do just that, but Brandon hadn’t expected her to jump the gun. And he couldn’t tell if it was a question she wanted him to ask. The tears were still there in her eyes, but she was no longer smiling.

She was waiting.

It was a risk because if she said no, she might feel too awkward to hang around. She might say they needed space, time or some other thing that Brandon was sure he didn’t want.

He wanted Willa.

He wanted their daughter.

And he had never been so sure of anything in his entire life.

To increase her chances of saying yes, he snapped her back to him for a kiss. He made it long, French and hopefully as mind-numbing as he could manage. Willa added some mind numbing moves of her own and pressed herself against him. Hard against him. In such a way that reminded him that he could spend at least part of Christmas day making love to her.

But first, he needed to ask the question.

And get the answer.

He caught on her shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes. “Willa, will you—”

“Yes,” she interrupted. She grabbed a handful of his shirt and dragged him right back to her.

But Brandon wasn’t sure exactly what question she was answering. “Yes?” he quizzed. He stepped back a little so he could keep a clear head.

Her smile returned. So did the kiss. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Brandon. I’ll be your wife. Your lover. The mother of your children. Yes to all of it.”

That was the only answer he wanted.

So, Brandon pulled her to him and kissed the start of their new life together.

ISBN: 978-1-4268-7511-3

SAVIOR IN THE SADDLE

Copyright © 2010 by Delores Fossen

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