The Heart of a Hero (21 page)

Nicholas felt a grin tug free. “A quality that has given him nothing but fits for the last three and a half years.”

That got him a laugh. “Yes, I do believe that’s what I most admire about my daughter-in-law.” Rana walked up the steps and opened the door, but then turned back to him, the porch light revealing her scowl. “And when you do catch Julia, I suggest you
encourage
her to follow her passions without trying to
direct
them.”

She disappeared inside, and Nicholas stared at the closed door for several heartbeats before finally getting back in the cart, wondering if he shouldn’t warn Titus that the queen of
his
castle was preparing a rebellion—one that Nicholas suspected had the potential to make the wars of the gods seem like minor skirmishes.

He drove toward the conference pavilion, undecided how to handle Julia if she wasn’t ready to go home, since he agreed that her abrasive independence was what had first attracted him to her. Well, along with her seemingly endless energy. Only that energy was obviously flagging tonight, and Julia’s stubbornness—as well as her apparent need to prove to
herself
that she had what it takes to be a good event planner—could very well end up being her downfall.

For every warrior knew that more battles were lost from sheer exhaustion than lack of planning, which meant he wasn’t being overprotective by insisting she go home and get some sleep, but merely giving her the benefit of his experience. Nicholas stopped in front of Julia’s darkened office windows and strode to the door, only to find it locked. He pulled down the note taped to the glass and stepped out into the moonlight to read it.
Thank you, but I took myself home.

He slowly folded the note, undecided whether he was impressed by Julia’s own little rebellion or disappointed, as he had planned to kiss the lovely lady
without
their both ending up naked in under ten seconds.

He stilled when he suddenly caught the scent of what felt like desperation coming from the general direction of the event planner’s cottage, then shoved the note in his pocket and tore off at a run. He cut across the common green and ducked into the trees without breaking stride, trying to discern if it was coming
from
Julia or aimed
at
her, only to pull up short when he reached her cottage and saw the porch and interior lights on, everything looking peaceful. His attention was drawn to the edge of the clearing when he heard muttering and saw Julia half-buried in a thick stand of bushes—his pounding heart skipping a beat when he realized she was cutting long thin branches and tossing them out into the driveway.

Tomorrow, he decided with a silent growl, he would encourage Julia’s passion for her job
after
she got some sleep. He silently walked up and caught the next branch she tossed out and tossed it past her deeper into the woods.

“Oh!” she gasped as she whirled toward him. “Darn it, Nicholas;
whistle
when you approach someone.” She turned back and cut another branch, but tucked it under her arm instead of tossing it out. “Please go away. I’m busy.”

“You have five healthy young assistants to do that.”

“No, I have four healthy assistants,” she said, tucking another branch under her arm. “Anna ran out of the office to—yesterday with a bad case of morning sickness,” she growled, continuing to hack off more of the bushes. “And the four I have left will be busy hunting down food and beer and wedding rings and flowers and a marriage license and a bunch of hiking gear, all while trying to figure out how to invite a resort full of the wealthiest people in the world to attend a bonfire on top of a mountain in November to cook friggin’
hot dogs
on a goddamn
stick
.”

Nicholas stopped her by clasping her arms from behind, then gently turned her around and silently folded her into his embrace.

“I . . . I can’t do it,” she whispered hoarsely, burying her face in his shirt. “I can’t make everyone’s dreams come true.”

“Yes, you can.”

“It’s supposed to s-snow.”

“It will hold off until after midnight.”

“Reverend Peter said he won’t marry anyone who won’t sit through his classes.”

“One of my men, Rowan, is also a . . . man of the cloth.”

He felt her wipe her eyes on his shirt just before she tilted her head back. “You can’t just swoop in and fix everything. You’re the director of
security
; it’s not your job to do mine.”

“I am aware of that.” He brushed back her hair—that had been elegantly styled with two seashell combs he recognized as belonging to Rana—and kissed her forehead before clasping her to him again. “I’m merely pointing out that for every problem you encounter there’s a good chance someone working here might have or be a solution. Like your rings; did you know Sally does all the horseshoeing, and that she also forges the iron and silver jewelry sold in the gift shop?”

Julia tilted her head back again. “She does? For real?”

Nicholas bent and scooped her off her feet and started for the cottage. “And did you know Aeolus’s pastry chef makes marshmallow hearts every Valentine’s Day?”

“From scratch?”

“From scratch.” He walked up the porch steps and set her down. “Giselle makes them by the hundreds every year. Now, are you going to bed and not setting foot outside again until at least nine
A.M.
?”

She immediately beamed him a huge smile and nodded—making Nicholas reach in his pocket and pull out his phone. He slid a finger across the screen, tapped an icon, and lifted it to his ear—all without taking his eyes off the lovely lying lady. “Micah, dress warm and come to the event planner’s cottage,” he said into the phone, twisting slightly when Julia gasped and made a grab for his hand. “And bring Dante. You’re both on guard duty until nine
A.M.
”

“You can’t do that!” she cried when he shoved the phone in his pocket.

“Ah, but I can,” he said softly, crowding her up against the door and palming her flaming cheeks in his hands. “Because I’m the director of security.”

“I . . . I’ll stay inside. All night. Until nine
A.M.
”

“Yes, you will.”

“You can’t really expect me to get any sleep knowing those men are sitting out here in the cold. They’re predicting
snow
.”

“Would you feel less guilty if I told you that Micah is the one who actually shot you—twice?” he murmured just before he kissed her, sweeping his tongue inside her lips the instant she went from resistance to acceptance, only to lift his head the moment he felt her eager participation. He reached behind her and opened the door, gently backed her inside, and kissed her again. But apparently having caught her second wind, not only did she go straight to eager participation, she popped the top button on his shirt.

Nicholas broke the kiss, wondering if
he
wasn’t the idiot, and leaned his forehead against hers. “Remember the feel of me moving inside you when you pleasure yourself tonight before you go to sleep,” he softly growled, stepping back and grinning at her slackened jaw, then closing the door on her gasp.

Chapter Seventeen

Julia’s nose woke up first, her eyes blinking open two seconds later to see a tall cardboard cup waving just inches above her. She reached for it with a thankful moan.

Peg straightened away, not relinquishing her prize. “You’re not getting this perfectly brewed black tar I cajoled Vanetta into making until you tell me why the guard at the upper booth wouldn’t let me in your driveway. Which, I might point out, forced me to park at the barn and sneak down through the friggin’ woods, only to be stopped at your porch by
another
guard, who told me he’s under strict orders to, and I quote, ‘not let Julia step so much as a toe outside until nine
A.M.
’”

Julia sat up and brushed her hair off her face, positioned the pillow behind her, and reached out again. “So how did you get in here—drop-kicked him, I hope?”

Peg still refused to hand over the coffee. “No, I gave him and his buddy out back the
four
cinnamon buns I’d brought and asked if their orders included
me
not going
inside
.” Her big blue eyes lit with laughter. “So what’s up? Why is the director of special events under house arrest? Did you finally lose it and bludgeon your bubbly little bride to death with your tote?” She gasped, her eyes widening as she clutched her jacket. “Nicholas! He tried to nail you again and you really did smack him.”

Julia grabbed the second pillow from beside her and pressed it to her face. “No, I nailed him first,” she muttered. “Friday night, outside on his deck hanging over a cliff, right in front of God and probably some poor scandalized eagle sitting in a nearby tree.”

Julia tightened her grip on the pillow when she felt it being tugged, only to have Peg finally just give it a yank and pull it away. Then she wisely replaced the pillow with the coffee. “Wow, you’re not on a stupid roll anymore, Jules; you’re actually smartening up.”

Julia took a long guzzle of the tepid coffee, glaring over the cup at her too-happy friend, then wiped her mouth with her pajama sleeve. “Yeah, I’m so smart now that I’ve decided to go with you to Pine Creek.” She took another sip, then shook her head. “But I’ll follow you in my truck so I can come back Friday morning. Some executives from an Italian technology firm are here for their annual meeting, and my predecessor promised them a small, elegant cocktail party in the conference pavilion.” Julia halted her coffee halfway to her mouth when she saw Peg clutching her jacket again, looking horrified. “What? Why aren’t you jumping up and down and shrieking with excitement? I thought you wanted me to go to Pine Creek.”

“Are you crazy?” Peg whispered. “You can’t have drinks with Seamus now; you had sex with Nicholas. Twice.”

“But that’s exactly why I have to go. I need to
stop
having sex with Nicholas, and that’s not going to happen unless I start seeing other men.”

Peg sat on the bed with a sigh. “Damn, Jules, did you hear anything I said on the boat Friday morning? These big strong scary men—Seamus MacKeage included—are atavists.” She shook her head. “I know you know the definition, but do you know what it
really
means?” She held up her hand when Julia tried to say something. “It means you could strip naked in front of Seamus and dance a jig, and all he would do is throw a blanket over you, toss you over his shoulder, lug you back here, and drop you at Nicholas’s feet—along with the suggestion that Nicholas keep better tabs on you.”

“Are you serious? Wait. How would Seamus know to lug me back to . . .” Julia reared back, pointing at Peg. “You told! You told Duncan I had sex with Nicholas.”

“No!” Peg said, jumping to her feet. “I wouldn’t do that to you. But Nicholas and Duncan are friends. And that means if you go with us to Pine Creek, Nicholas will ask
his friend
to keep an eye on you for him, and
that
will tell Duncan you two had sex.”

“Are you serious?” Julia repeated.

Peg waved at nothing. “One of the first things I learned when I married Duncan is that there’s an unwritten code of honor between all these big strong scary men. They band together if there’s trouble, and they look out for one another’s women.” She nodded when Julia went back to gaping at her. “It’s true. Even though Mac initially wasn’t real . . . happy when he found out Alec was courting Carolina last year, and even though Nicholas and Duncan both sided with Alec, those four men still would have laid down their lives for one another—and for one another’s women.”

“But what’s any of that got to do with me? I’m not Nicholas’s woman; we just had a couple of one-night stands. We aren’t even dating. And I told him I don’t ever want to get married again, so he knows better than to ask Duncan to keep tabs on me.”

Peg went back to looking horrified. “You said . . . you actually told Nicholas you’re never getting married again? Wait—he
asked
?”

“No!” Julia sucked in a deep breath and started pressing her thumbnail into the sleeve on her cup. “The subject just sort of came up . . . after. He mentioned something about his mom wishing he’d hurry up and get married, and I . . . um, wished him luck.”

Peg sat on the bed again and took hold of Julia’s free hand. “Does Nicholas have to bludgeon
you
before you get the hint, Jules? There’s not a man alive—big and strong and scary
or not
—who would ever bring up the dreaded
M
-word in the presence of a single available female unless he’s already picturing her wearing his ring.”

“Now who’s talking stupid? We haven’t even gone on a
date
.”

“No, you’ve just had wild passionate sex. Friggin’
twice
.” Peg stood up and headed for the door. “Go on and get dressed while I put on some coffee to replace the one I gave the guard in the booth.” She stopped in the hall and looked back. “The jerk had the nerve to take it and
then
tell me the only way he was letting me in your driveway was if I got Nicholas to personally call and say it was okay.” Her eyes suddenly started dancing with laughter again. “You poor clueless child,” she said, shaking her head. “You don’t even realize what just happened, do you?”

“Oh, please enlighten me, dear older wise one,” Julia drawled.

Peg just as suddenly sobered and walked back into the room. “Ohmigod, you truly don’t know. Julia,” she whispered, “last night Nicholas flexed his
real
muscle.”

Julia stilled at her friend’s seriousness. “What do you mean? All he did was . . . he just locked me . . . Ohmigod,” she whispered on an indrawn breath.

Peg nodded. “He ended the chase.”

“But . . .”

Peg sat on the bed again and took hold of her hand. “There are no buts when it comes to men like Nicholas. Last night he declared—publicly, by involving his guards in your little battle of wills—that he’s bigger and stronger and more stubborn than you, and that he will always have the final word. And you either have the courage to love him
because
he’s so old-fashioned you want to smack him, or you walk away before it really is too late. But that means you walk away completely, Julia; no more maybes or what-ifs or mixed feelings, and no more one-night stands.”

“But that’s what scares me; that I
could
love Nicholas.”

Her friend smiled warmly, giving her hand a squeeze. “But isn’t it a wonderful scary? Doesn’t it make you feel really alive? When you’re with Nicholas, doesn’t your mouth go dry and your insides clench and your heart beat faster?” Peg set Julia’s coffee on the nightstand, then wrapped her in a hug. “Be the girl I grew up with,” she whispered. “Be that brave and daring woman you were becoming, and believe in the magic again. It really is that simple, you know.” She leaned away and reached in her pocket, then lifted Julia’s hand and pressed something warm and smooth into her palm.

Julia felt her eyes start to sting as she closed her fist over the small stone.

“This is what I really came here to give you this morning,” Peg continued thickly, her own eyes welling with moisture. “So that whenever you start feeling scared, you can remind yourself how brave and invincible we both were when we believed.” Peg pulled her into another hug. “I love you, Jules. Now please love yourself enough to love Nicholas.”

“Dammit, Peg,” Julia muttered, hugging her back fiercely. “Don’t make me cry. I don’t have time for a tear fest this morning.”

Peg pulled away after wiping her eyes on Julia’s pajamas and stood up, smiling smugly. “Wow, was that another cuss I just heard, Ms. Campbell?”

Julia threw back the covers and got out of bed. “You’d cuss too if you were facing my day.” She slapped her forehead with her palm. “What am I saying? You don’t need an excuse.”

“I’ve quit,” Peg said, following her down the hall. “With the kids gone to school all day, I’ve gotten sloppy and forgot Charlie has ears. But I had to clean up my act when I heard him say
friggin’
at our campfire Saturday night.”

Julia stopped in the middle of the kitchen and swung toward her. “You’ve already corrupted that beautiful little boy? He’s only
two
.”

Peg winced, giving a sheepish shrug. “That’s the scary part; he used it perfectly. Hero was trying to steal the charred marshmallow off Charlie’s stick, and my sweet baby shook his finger at the dog and said, ‘No, Hero, it friggin’ hot.’” She hung her head. “I’m such a bad mother. I don’t think I should have any more babies.”

“Um . . . didn’t you tell me that because Duncan was sort of an only child that he wants a big family? And that you agreed, because you’re also an only child?”

“We have
five
.” Peg hopped onto a stool at the island counter and rested her head in her hands. “And I’m not going to survive their teens.” She looked up. “Charlotte is twelve but acts sixteen—which, if I remember correctly, was the hardest year on
our
mothers. And Isabel’s only a tween and she’s already giving me attitude. Belligerent boys I can deal with, but what if I have another girl?” She suddenly straightened. “I know: Let’s you, me, and Olivia all have babies together.”

Julia actually dropped the scoop full of coffee grounds on the counter. “What!”

Peg nodded. “That way we can do what Olivia and I do with Ella and Charlie; we’ll throw them all together and raise them up like a little pack of wolves.”

“I don’t have a
husband
,” Julia cried when she realized Peg was serious.

Peg waved that little detail away. “Pffft, I give you one month, tops, before you’re planning your own wedding instead of other people’s.” She canted her head, her smile turning cheeky. “But this time around you might want to rethink the theme. I mean, really, Jules—Cinderella?” She snorted. “I hate to break the news to you, but that particular prince turned into a frog.”

“Margaret Conroy, stop talking.” Julia swept the spilled coffee into her palm and dumped it in the filter. “And for once hear what I’m saying: I am
never
getting married again.”

Apparently undeterred, Peg kept right on talking. “I suppose you can just live with Nicholas, if you don’t mind disappointing his mother and having to figure out how to tell your children why you won’t marry their father.”

“I’m not falling in love with him, either.”

Peg arched a brow. “Need I remind you the chase ended last night? Publicly? How much are you willing to bet that by noon today it’s all over Nova Mare, and by supper tonight it’s all over town?”

Julia set her hands on the counter and hung her head with a groan. “And by nine tonight Nicholas will know he just caught the town slut.”

Peg was standing behind her in half a heartbeat and turning her around, Julia assumed to make sure she didn’t miss her glare. “Nicholas caught the town
princess
.” She suddenly went back to smiling smugly. “And
I’m
planning your wedding.”

“I give up,” Julia growled, spinning away and marching down the hall. She turned inside the bathroom. “And thank you for the friggin’ coffee!” she shouted, just before she slammed the door.

“You’re friggin’ welcome!” Peg shouted back.

Only Julia had barely stripped off and was just about to turn on the shower when she heard a soft knock. “Ah, Jules? The guy out front said he’s not letting me step any of
my
toes outside until nine
A.M.
, either.”

Julia walked over and pressed her forehead to the door. “What time is it now?”

“Eight. And he asked me if you want the half cord of branches I saw stacked on the porch to be taken up to the summit or dropped off at the conference pavilion.”

Julia straightened. “There’s a bunch of branches on the porch?”

“Yup. All with whittled pointy ends. There must be over two hundred. So where do you want him to take them?”

“To . . . I guess to the summit. Peg?” Julia whispered.

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” Peg whispered back—although there was a smile in her voice. “For cussing at me or for being my stupid-talking best friend?”

Julia rested her head on the door again. “Yeah, for that.”

“I wasn’t really leaving just now, you know.” There was a soft thud on the door, as if Peg had also rested her head on the opposite side. “In fact, I’m staying the day so I can help you make some crazy bride’s fantasy come true.”