Betting the Rainbow (Harmony) (26 page)

Chapter 43

R
ONNY WOKE ONE SORE MUSCLE AT A TIME.
S
UNLIGHT BLINKED
in between the curtains across the front window. She thought it was a very good thing that Austin’s house was in the middle of nowhere because anyone walking by could have glanced in the window and seen her in her birthday suit.

Laughing, she almost wished her mother would pick this morning to drop by. But that wasn’t likely and she couldn’t imagine Dallas Logan arriving anywhere quietly.

A bird flew close enough to land on the porch railing. He seemed to look in, hoping for a snack he could steal.

Ronny rolled to grab a blanket. When she did, her body tightened as if she’d just come from a workout.

She’d never dreamed making love would be so physical but every night seemed to be wilder and more wonderful. She’d better start carbing up before bedtime or working out, because loving Austin Hawk would give her a heart attack before she turned forty.

She shoved her hair out of her eyes and looked over at him. He slept on his stomach, the scars along his shoulders showing in the sunlight. She hated that he’d known such pain, but he was right, they were just part of him. He was built strong. No one would ever call him a ladies’ man. They wouldn’t see the beauty of him like she did. They’d never see how hard he tried to be gentle and loving or how totally he loved her. Austin Hawk was a man who ran full speed into what he believed in, no holding back.

He couldn’t seem to understand that she loved him just the way he was, scars and all. His grumpy nature that she saw through. His sharp orders that he snapped when he thought he was just asking. His kindness. His caring.

Poking his arm, she waited.

He didn’t move.

The worry that he might be dead wasn’t there like it had been those earlier nights when she’d just slept beside him. Maybe because last night and the night before and the night before that he’d proved to her that he was very much alive. Even after they’d made love, he’d hold her so close, as if what they had was so good he feared it might vanish if he didn’t hold tight.

She poked him again.

“I’m alive, Ronny,” he mumbled. “Stop poking me. That one-second poke only works on roadkill germs.”

“I know,” she answered remembering how kids in school used to say that if you poked a dead animal longer than one second, dead germs would jump on you. “I just like poking you to make sure. The only time you’re completely still is when you’re asleep.”

He rolled over and grabbed her, rolling her beneath his body. “You still love me this morning? You’re not leaving or waking me up to say good-bye?”

“Yes, I still love you, and no, I’m not waking you up to say good-bye.” He felt so warm above her. Her very own cuddle blanket made of rock. “But, you’ve got to go a little slower and easier on me. I’m sore all over this morning.”

“Me? You’re the one who wouldn’t stop last night.” He moved his fingers along her side, reminding her of how she’d begged for more and every time he’d been willing to grant her wish.

She smiled, remembering. “Well, that’s true, but I’ve been waiting a long time, and I think it may take years for me to get enough.”

“Good, that settles it. I’m applying for that job in town.” His words were muffled against her throat as he kissed his way down her body.

“What job?” She pulled his face up to hers and for a second they both smiled, knowing he’d finish what he’d started as soon as they talked.

“The firehouse has extra funds and is planning to hire a real fire chief. Hank says he’s retiring as the volunteer chief, so the job’s available as soon as I want to apply and can muster out of the army.”

“But Hank loves that job. He’s been the chief for as long as I can remember.”

“Loved,” Austin corrected. “He loved the job. But now he wants out. He told me that Alex is quitting being sheriff to run for county judge, and of course she’ll get it since half the voting population of Harmony is either Matheson or McAllen. So, he claims someone will have to stay home with the kids and run the ranch.”

“But . . .”

“Four months from now they’ll have their first. A boy. Hank says they’re naming him Warren after her brother who died.” Austin smiled down at her with pride. “Don’t tell me I knew something about the people of Harmony that you didn’t know.”

She shoved him. “Roll off me. I can’t think naked. This is too much to think about.”

When he let her go, she jumped out of bed and slipped into his shirt. Then she began to pace, feeling like something wasn’t right. “I feel like Harmony is changing. Really changing. It doesn’t seem natural. Everything is always the same in Harmony. We could put it on the welcome sign. Nothing much ever changes here.”

He watched her, looking fascinated as always.

She didn’t look at him. She had to piece everything together.

Finally, he said, “I have to go back to the fort for a few months to muster out. You wouldn’t want to come along with me as my wife, would you? We’d have a few dinners to go to, but mostly we could just relax, maybe see Washington, or take the train over to New York for a weekend. It would be a great honeymoon.”

She looked up. “I came back to Harmony for some peace, to settle down, to feel at home. Becoming someone’s wife wasn’t in my plan. Never once in the past year have I thought about getting married, and never have you, I’m guessing.”

“But you love me and you attack me on a regular basis. I think that means you should marry me. I’m not sure, though; we could always ask your mother.”

She tossed a pillow at him.

As he ducked, he tumbled off the bed.

When he crawled back under the sheet, he said, “I’m calling your mother and talking this over with her. I bet she’ll agree with me. You should marry me. You can’t just keep on using me like I’m your own private sex toy.”

Ronny jumped back in bed. “All right, I’ll marry you, Captain, but you can never tell my mother about the attacks.” She grinned. “It would give her a heart attack to know what her daughter plans to do every day before she eats breakfast.”

“My lips are sealed. No one would believe me anyway. Shy, silent Ronny Logan. The whole town loves and watches over you. They’ll never know what you did to me last night and hopefully every night for the rest of our lives.” He raised an eyebrow as if her words were just catching up with his brain. “Or what you’re planning to do before breakfast? Did you just say that you planned to attack me before breakfast?”

She was back to her shy self, as ladylike as ever. “I’m sorry. I should be careful about your leg, but I forgot about it last night. I wouldn’t want to hurt you again this morning.”

“I see what you mean. From what I remember about last night, it could have fallen off at some point and I wouldn’t have noticed.”

She laughed her light little laugh. “If you marry me, it might be like it was last night fairly often, though I’ll try to take it easy on you some nights. Maybe only do it once, or twice.” She slipped her hand beneath the sheet.

“I’m betting on it, pretty lady.”

He pulled her to him and kissed the top of her head. “When we marry, you could use the cabin for your office, but you’re staying here with me.”

“In the third-floor bedroom.” The idea of waking up to a view of the lake sounded like heaven.

“I don’t care which bedroom. Just as long as we’re in the same one.” When she rested her head on his chest, he continued to plan. “I’ve got quite a bit of money saved up. We could have a grand honeymoon. Go around the world if you like.”

“I’ve done that. I’d like to come back here for the last of our honeymoon.” Her hand moved across the hair on his chest as if she were petting a bear. “We could spend our days making this house into a real home and our nights making love.”

“Sounds good to me. I’ve traveled all I want to for a long while. I’d like to watch fall settle over the lake.”

“Me too.” Her hand moved lower.

He lost interest in the conversation, but she told him about the curtains they’d put over the windows and the new furniture they’d buy and how she wanted to remodel the kitchen.

Finally, she lost her train of thought as he began kissing his way down her body.

“Tell me about it later,” he ordered. “I’m busy right now.”

She didn’t seem to mind the order at all. She knew he was concentrating on loving her.

A few hours later when they were dressed and eating breakfast in the kitchen, they decided to move their bed to another room.

The plan was simple. They’d move the bed to every room in the house and then make love. Once they’d finished, they’d decide which room would work best as their bedroom.

Only they didn’t agree. So they had to start all over again with the test.

The next morning when Austin suggested they do the same test with every piece of furniture they bought, Ronny threatened to move back to the cabin for some rest.

He gave in and they cuddled in for a nap, but even while she slept she knew he never stopped touching her.

If happiness could be measured in a bucket, hers was running over.

As Austin slept, she thought of her first love. If she hadn’t loved Marty so much, she might not have been able to love Austin enough.

He hadn’t known how to be romantic even in asking her to marry him, but she didn’t care. They matched and that was all that mattered.

Chapter 44

DECEMBER

NEW YORK CITY

K
IERAN AND
D
USTI’S DATE FINALLY HAPPENED WHEN SNOW
was falling in Central Park. He took her for a carriage ride around the park with cups of hot chocolate in their hands and a warm rug over their legs. Dusti was so excited to see him she barely saw all the beauty around her. They’d talked almost every day since Vegas and she’d continued to send him pictures of her world in Harmony. Her fears that they’d have nothing to say after he taught her to play were unfounded.

When the carriage finally stopped, they had dinner in a little side-street café where the waiter fussed over them as if they were family.

Kieran looked different in his winter suit and long coat. He looked like he belonged in New York. She thought of how he’d dressed in Vegas and realized he’d looked like he belonged there too. She realized that this man across the table from her was a man of the world and she was simply a girl from Harmony. They shouldn’t have worked, but over the months of talking they’d become best friends.

He’d kissed her lightly at the airport, but the time apart had left him shy once more around her.

They talked of the poker game and his grandmother as they ate. They talked of Harmony and all the people he’d met.

“Everyone asks about you when they see me now. They think of you as my man.”

“I
am
your man,” he said between bites.

She nodded. “I thought you might have forgotten about the date. It’s been almost five months and you rarely mentioned it when you called.” Her bedroom wall was covered in the postcards he’d mailed from all over. She knew he’d been busy.

“I was waiting for the right time. August and September you were moving Abby into the dorm at Tech and getting used to handling all the work by yourself. It wouldn’t have been fair to pull you away then.”

“I hired some help with harvesting the pecans. We’ve had a good year.” He was right about the time. With Abby gone she’d worked from dawn to dark most days, taking only a few hours off as the leaves turned so she could capture them with her old camera. She photographed the fall parade downtown and the fair with all its light and winter moving across the lake one morning at dawn. Through his camera she’d seen the beauty of her world.

“I thought you might need help when the pictures kept coming. Some nights I wondered if you slept at all. You were running the farm during the day and living in the darkroom at night.

She nodded. “I had to give up my wild life. Between talking to you and pictures, the only partying I had time for was visiting your grandmother once a week.”

“Thanks for doing that. But you didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to. It made me feel closer to you.” She wondered how this man had come to mean so much to her so quickly. He simply understood her.

He winked at her as if reading her thoughts, then changed the subject. “You like your new camera?”

She smiled. “I do, but I still get out the one that belonged to your father now and then and take a few pictures. It seems to capture some great shots.”

He talked on about his dad and how he’d loved to take pictures, but Dusti was only half listening. The date was nice—perfect, in fact, as if it had been planned for months. But it wasn’t what she’d dreamed it would be.

Kieran had kissed her at the airport, but it had been only a hello kiss, and during the ride around the park he’d kissed her again, but it had been only a light kiss that people do when celebrating. Not the buckle-her-knees kind of kiss she’d wanted. She’d flown all the way to New York, not for a date, but for one more kiss like he’d given her in Vegas.

She told herself she didn’t expect him to toss her over his shoulder and run off to the first hotel room, but she’d been waiting for him long enough. She’d done everything short of tripping him and falling on top of him to let the man know she wanted him.

Nothing was working. The food was good. The atmosphere perfect. The night chilly but not too cold. Only Dusti was hot and getting no closer to being satisfied than she was three hours ago when he picked her up.

“I wanted you to see the windows decorated for Christmas. Want to take a walk after we eat?”

“Sure,” she said, thinking a dark alley might be nice.

Only when they left the restaurant, he placed his long coat over her shoulders and started walking. And walking.

She was about ready to tell him to take her back to the hotel when they turned a corner and she saw the lights of a gallery.

“I want to stop in here for a moment,” he said, pulling her through the door.

Two steps inside, Dusti froze. Suddenly, under bright lights, she was surrounded with Harmony. The barn, the dancers, the tables under the trees.

“I didn’t know how to tell you over the phone. I showed your work to a friend of my father’s who owns this place and he loved it. The next thing I knew, it was on his walls. He thinks you are a real find.”

She walked slowly around, looking at the pictures she’d sent to him. The county fair. The town square. The trees outside her window.

Kieran smiled at her. “They’ll go on sale tomorrow if you agree. Five hundred apiece for the little ones. A thousand for the big ones.” When she looked at the one of him standing by the barn, he added, “That one is not for sale. That one is mine.”

She finally turned to him. “You make me feel like a real photographer.”

“You are, lass. As real as they come. The dealer said he’ll handle as much of your work as you can send. He was thinking you might do a Winter in Harmony show next month. I showed him what I call Winter on the Lake yesterday and he said it took his breath away.”

Suddenly she felt like Cinderella at the ball. She knew it would chime midnight soon, but she wanted to enjoy every second until then.

The gallery owner talked with her. People came in and acted excited to meet her. Kieran stood beside her telling everyone she was his girl. His hand never left the small of her back.

When they finally walked back to her hotel, she couldn’t stop smiling. “You pulled it off, you know. You gave me the best date in the world.”

“It’s not over yet.”

When he opened the door for her, he whispered, “But I want you to know this is not one date. The town thinks I’m your man, and that is what I’d like to be. We’re only five hours apart. I’d like you to come to New York every time you have a few days off and I’ll come to see you. We’re not dating. We’re together.”

“Kieran, I don’t belong in New York and you don’t belong in Harmony.”

He unlocked her hotel door. “I know, but I belong with you and you belong with me. We’ll work out the details later. For me home isn’t a place, but a person. You’re that person, lass. As long as you agree, we can be together anywhere and I’m home.”

She stepped into the room. “That sounds like a plan.”

“It’s all been a plan, lass, since the moment you asked me to teach you to play poker. I thought if I could just get close enough to you for a while, you might just fall for me.”

She pulled him into the room. “You’re right about the plan, Kieran, but it didn’t start when I asked you to teach me. It started when I looked across the bar and saw you standing there watching me. And, it wasn’t your plan to get close to me, but my plan to get close to you.”

He pulled her against him and slowly removed his coat from her shoulders. “We’ll argue about it in the morning.”

“Sounds like a plan.” She giggled as the very best part of their first date began.