A Fortune's Children's Christmas (27 page)

T
he second he got back to town, Hunter went straight to his office because he knew if he didn’t, he would go looking for Naomi. And that was one thing he was determined not to do. He’d had hours to think about it, long stretches of time when silence and his own thoughts were his only companions as he was making his way out of the mountains, and he knew that somehow he had to find the strength to leave the lady alone. The days and nights they’d spent in the mountains were just moments stolen out of time, a brief encounter between two strangers that wasn’t meant to last. If the intimacy they’d shared was like nothing he’d ever experienced before, his imagination was just playing tricks with his mind. The lady said herself she wasn’t looking for a man, and after getting a firsthand look at Barker, he could see why. He was a bastard. After all that he had put Naomi through, the last thing she would want would be another man sniffing around her. All he could ever be was a reminder of her daughter’s kidnapping, so for both their sakes, it was best if he went back to his life and let her get back to hers.

And that was all right, he thought grimly. He’d been a loner all his life—it was in his blood, a wanderlust that was as much a part of him as the color of his
eyes and the stamp of his heritage on his features. If he’d grown weary of roaming the globe and had found a peace that he hadn’t even known he was looking for here in Wyoming, that was nobody’s business but his own. He had work to do, a business to build and less than a year to do it. He couldn’t do that with a woman constantly distracting him.

But even as he tried to convince himself that things had worked out for the best, images of Naomi stirred in his mind, teasing him, haunting him. Her nervousness when she’d climbed on the snowmobile that first day and hadn’t quite known where to put her hands. The stunned surprise on her face when he’d kissed her the first time. The way she’d given herself to him when they’d made love.

Irritated with himself, he slammed the papers he was sorting down on his desk before he gave in to the temptation to throw them. How was a man supposed to forget those things? he wondered furiously. How was he supposed to sleep at night, remembering what it was like to touch her? Kiss her? Lose himself in her? James might have been her first lover and the father of her child, but everything in him rebelled at the idea of Barker or any other man so much as laying a finger on her. She was his, dammit! And what was his, he kept.

The truth hit him with all the subtlety of a Mack truck, and he sat as if turned to stone, his mind reeling. He couldn’t, he thought, stunned, love her. After guarding his heart well for the past twenty-nine years, he couldn’t have fallen in love with her in a matter of days. It just wasn’t possible. Dammit, he didn’t do this kind of thing! No one got this close to him this
quickly! How had she done it? And what the hell was he going to do about it?

Nothing, he told himself flatly. Not a damn thing. She needed some peace, some time to recover from the emotional rollercoaster she’d been on all week. Laura was going to be okay—he’d called the hospital on his cell phone and checked on her condition the night after she’d been rescued—but neither of them would soon forget the hell they’d been through. Only an insensitive clod would force himself on them now.

But, God, he wanted to go to Naomi! To take her in his arms and hold her just one more time. To kiss her and love her before he had to let her go. He’d never gotten the chance to tell her goodbye, and dammit, he needed that closure. But he wasn’t going to get it. Because if he went anywhere near her, he knew there was no way in hell he would be able to walk away from her.

So he stayed where he was and threw himself into catching up on paperwork. But it wasn’t easy. Every time he dropped his guard the least little bit, he found his thoughts sliding back to Naomi. What was she doing? He knew she’d taken Laura home from the hospital, but he couldn’t imagine her letting the child out of her sight any time soon. Maybe he’d take them a pizza after work…

Suddenly realizing that he was looking for excuses to seek her out, he swore and pushed to his feet. In self-defense, he drove over to the eastern edge of the reservation to see how work was coming on the hamburger stand his workers were trying to finish, strapped on a tool belt and went to work. He threw himself into the physical labor in a desperate attempt
to work the lady out of his head, but it didn’t help. By the end of the day, he’d worn himself out, but the need to see her burned in his gut like a flame that refused to go out. Frustrated, infuriated with himself, he knew he couldn’t put it off any longer. If he was ever going to find any peace, he had to see her, if for no other reason than to wish her luck and tell her goodbye.

Resigned, he started to head home first to shower and change, when he realized that if he showed up on her doorstep all cleaned up and shaved, he would look like a suitor hoping to get lucky. The hell he would! Swearing, he hit the brakes and swung around right in the middle of the street, his truck tires screaming all the way. He had nothing to be ashamed of. He’d worked damn hard today, and any dirt he wore was well earned. If the lady turned up her nose at a little honest dirt, then she wasn’t the woman that he thought she was and he had nothing further to say to her.

Jaw set, a scowl sitting low on his brow, he arrived at her house in a matter of minutes. Reminding himself why he was there, he strode up the steps to the porch and knocked sharply on her front door. This would, he vowed grimly, take all of two minutes.

But when she opened the door to him, the words that he had already worked out in his head just seemed to vanish on the wind. She smiled at him in delight, and he felt like the sun just broke through the evening clouds. “Hunter! I was hoping you’d let me know when you got back. Please, come in. Have you eaten? Laura and I just finished, but I can heat you a plate in the microwave if you’re hungry.”

The only thing he was hungry for was her, he
thought, stunned by the force of his need for her. God, she was beautiful! Why was it always a surprise to him just how gorgeous she was? The first moment he’d seen her, she’d knocked him out of his shoes, and this time was no different. He took one look at her and wanted to reach for her, to enfold her in his arms and never let her go, to tell her how he’d inexplicably lost his heart to her.

But all he could think of was the hell she’d been through with Barker, and the words just wouldn’t come. Instead, he said stiffly, “No, thanks. Actually, I just dropped by to check on Laura. I heard she was released this morning.”

Her smile dimmed slightly at his tone, but if she wondered what his problem was, she didn’t say anything. “Yes, she was. She was very lucky. She’s in her room right now playing. Would you like to see her?”

He should have told her that wasn’t necessary and gotten the heck out of there, but she held the door open to him, and he couldn’t resist the invitation. Before he quite knew how it had happened, he was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with her in the hall outside Laura’s room, watching the little girl play with that ragged teddy bear of hers. Lost in her imaginary world, she appeared healthy and whole. With time, the nightmare her father put her through would hopefully fade completely from her memory.

Barker deserved to be shot for the chances he’d taken with her, but according to the gossip going around town, Naomi had yet to press charges against him. And for the life of him, Hunter couldn’t understand why. He knew she didn’t still care about the
jerk—she wasn’t the type of woman to give herself to one man when she still had feelings for another. And even if she had some lingering fondness for Barker, that would have died the second he endangered Laura. So why hadn’t she had the jackass arrested?

He told himself it was none of his business, but the minute they returned to the living room, he heard himself say, “I heard Barker’s still on the loose. I thought you’d have locked him up by now?”

“I though about it,” she admitted. “But he promised he’d never bother us again—”

“And you
believed
him.”

“Not at first,” she said, smiling at his outraged tone. “But then he gave me this.” Retrieving a cassette from the stereo, she held it up. “It’s a taped confession. If he ever comes near me or Laura again, he knows I’ll go straight to the police with it.”

“And Barker voluntarily gave that to you?”

Nodding, she told him then of her visit with James and his unexpected offer to get out of her life. “I know you probably think I’m crazy to trust him, but he’s not a stupid man. He knows that even without the tape, he would be looking at serious jail time if I decided to press charges. And his freedom means much more to him than I ever did, thank God. He won’t be back.”

So it was over. She had Laura safely home again, and she no longer needed him. He’d known it would come to this—he just hadn’t expected to feel like his heart was being ripped out by the roots. Needing some air, he headed for the door. “Good. I’m glad it worked out for you and Laura’s okay. I’ve got a pile of paperwork waiting for me at the office, so I’d better get
out of here and let you get back to whatever you were doing.”

Alarmed, Naomi had the horrible feeling that he was walking out of her life for good, and she didn’t know why. She just knew she had to stop him. “Wait! We never discussed what your fee was for finding Laura—”

That
stopped him in his tracks. “I don’t take money for helping people.”

Caught up in the heat of the blistering look he shot her, she quickly apologized. “No, of course not. I didn’t mean to insult you. I just…”

“What?”

Floundering under his fierce look, she struggled for words and would invariably say the wrong thing. “I just owe you so much.”

“And you think that’s what I want from you? Gratitude?”

He was so indignant that if the circumstances had been different, she would have been hard-pressed not to smile. But suddenly they were discussing much more than gratitude. She felt like she was standing on the edge of a cliff and a step either way could be the wrong one. What was he asking of her? Was he saying that the only thing he wanted of her was love? She desperately wanted to believe that, but what if she was wrong? What if all he wanted was friendship? Telling him she loved him would be one sure way to lose him. But then again, if he wanted her love and she just offered friendship, the result would be the same.

Torn, she hesitated, but even as she wondered if she was doing the right thing, she knew she had to tell him how she felt. Love was meant to be shared.

Taking a chance, her heart cringing at the thought that she might be wrong, she took a step toward him. “I will always be grateful to you for finding Laura for me,” she said huskily, “but what I feel for you has nothing to do with that. After I discovered what a heel James was, I thought I would never again trust another man enough to fall in love with him. I was wrong.” There! She’d all but spelled out how she felt about him. And he just stood there! Suddenly afraid she’d blown it, she said hesitantly, “Hunter? I’m sorry if this isn’t what you wanted to hear, but I love you. I thought you should know.”

That was as far as she got.

Growling low in his throat, he reached for her then and tugged her into his arms. “I love you!” he said fiercely. “I’ve been in hell all day thinking I was going to have to give you up, and I didn’t know how I was going to stand it. Tell me again.”

Laughing, she didn’t have to ask what he meant. “I love you. I think I must have from the moment I first laid eyes on you. It all happened so fast.”

“Not nearly fast enough for me,” he rasped, kissing her hungrily. “I want to marry you. Now. Tonight. Just as soon as we can arrange it.”

It wasn’t a question, but a need, one that echoed in the very depths of her being. She knew others would say they hadn’t known each other very long—they should take the time to get to know each other better before they even considered getting married. But her heart had recognized his, instantly, and love had nothing to do with time. “Yes!” she cried happily. “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

H
is year was up and he’d passed the test.

Standing in the large room at the Fortune corporate headquarters for another Christmas party, Hunter had to admit that for the first time he felt less like a black sheep and more like a part of the family. Success—and more important, marriage—had a heck of a lot to do with that. And neither could have happened if Kate hadn’t taken Fate into her own hands and pulled a few strings in his life.

With Naomi at his side and Laura in his arms, clutching the dearly loved Chester, he watched various family members congratulate Kate on her eighty-first birthday and couldn’t help but grin. She was something else. This time last year when she’d announced the gifts she was giving to him and Chase and Ryder and the conditions that went with them, he’d wondered if the old girl was getting senile. He couldn’t have spoken for his cousins at the time, but the last thing he’d wanted or needed was the responsibility of a construction company that was struggling just to keep its head above water.

How could she have known that instead of hating it, he’d love it? She’d saddled him with ties, knowing full well that he was a man who never stayed any
where for more than three or four months at a time, and dared him to like it. More than once in those first few months, he’d wanted the chuck the whole damn thing. But he couldn’t resist the challenge, couldn’t let down Kate when she believed in him. She’d seen something in him that he hadn’t known was there, and thanks to her generosity, he now not only owned Fortune Construction lock, stock and barrel, but he had everything a man could want right within reach.

Gazing down at Naomi, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that he was the luckiest man on earth. Dressed in a long, green silk dress, she stole his breath every time he looked at her. God, she was beautiful! The day he’d married her, two months to the day she’d told him she loved him, he’d thought it wasn’t possible to love her any more than he already did, but he’d been wrong. The day she’d told him she was carrying his child, love couldn’t begin to describe the emotions swelling his heart. She’d changed his life forever.

Another child to love, he thought, nuzzling Laura’s neck and making her giggle. In another five months, he would have another daughter to love.
He
was now Laura’s Papa—his adoption of her was finalized just last month—and he knew he had his own special spot in her heart. A soft, sweet little arm circled his neck, wrapping him around her little finger, and he wondered how he could have ever thought he wanted to go through life alone.

At his side, Naomi nudged him gently and whispered, “What’s going on? It looks like Kelly’s about to make an announcement of some kind.” Hunter turned to see Kate’s very pregnant secretary step to
the front of the room and nervously clear her throat. With his cousin, Mac, at her side, she faced the entire Fortune clan.

“Please excuse me for interrupting,” she said huskily, “but I have something to tell you all. We want everyone to know. Mac and I are getting married.”

A shocked silence fell over the room. It was Kate, not surprisingly, who recovered first. Stepping forward, she embraced Kelly lovingly. “Married? Why, that’s wonderful! You’ve always been like a member of the family—now this makes it official. Congratulations, you two. This calls for some champagne!”

“Aren’t Chad and Mac brothers? Or do I have it confused?” Naomi whispered to Hunter as the various family members pushed forward to congratulate the couple.

“No, you’ve got it right,” he said grimly.

Hunter knew how hard this announcement must have been for Kelly to make. He remembered just how difficult it had been for her earlier in the year to tell the family about her pregnancy. She hadn’t known what kind of reaction the news was going to generate, but she should have known that the Fortunes took care of their own. And her baby was a Fortune in spite of the fact that his biological daddy hadn’t shown the least inclination to give him—or her—his name.

Irritation momentarily flared in Hunter’s dark brown eyes. He would have liked just five minutes alone with his cousin Chad to knock some sense into him. But it wouldn’t have done any good. Chad enjoyed his bad boy image too much.

Halfway across the room, Kate gave herself a pat on the back for a job well done. She freely acknowledged that she hadn’t been quite sure of her three great-nephews when she’d decided to work a little magic in their lives, and there’d been times over the course of the past twelve months when she wouldn’t have been surprised if the lot of them had told her just what she could do with her so-called gifts. There was no doubt about it—she’d handed them trouble—but they’d all three risen to the occasion, and she was proud of them. They’d matured and grown and, in the process, also found love. And life didn’t offer a greater reward than that.

Now, she thought with a twinkle in her eye, if she could just do something about the great-nieces….