Her Bodyguard (33 page)

The wind whipped the hem of his long, black duster as he stepped forward into the rain. No phantom, this, but a man. Her man.

Mari felt the wildness of the storm sizzle through her. Her man, her bodyguard, her lover had come back to her. Cold rain pelted her skin as she dashed off the porch to meet him halfway. With a strangled cry, she leaped into his outstretched arms.

His mouth descended upon hers in an instant, pulling a desperate whimper from her throat. They kissed as if the surrounding storm had unleashed within them. Violent. Endless. Beautiful.

“Mari,” he murmured against her lips. Dragging her back into the shelter of the gazebo, he kissed her again. Then again. His mouth moved across her skin, nibbling on her chin, her throat, her earlobe. “Mari. God, how I’ve missed you.”

“You came back.”

“Of course I came back.”

“But I sent you away.” A sob tore itself from Mari’s throat. “I told you I wouldn’t marry you.”

Luke drew away just far enough to stare down into her face. He tenderly drew his thumb across her cheek. “Sugar,” he chided. “Why would you think I’d give up after the first try? I love you, Maribeth. Now and always.”

She collapsed against Luke’s chest. Incredible joy dissolved her into a mixture of tears and laughter. He loved her. He still loved her. He’d come back for her.

He cupped her chin in his hand and lifted her gaze to his. Even in the shadowy moonlight, Mari could still see the fiery emotion brimming in caramel eyes. With a tentative smile, he asked, “So, then. I’m guessing you still love me, too?”

Though he tried to hide it, Mari knew Luke sought reassurance. Like her, he needed to know her true heart.

Needed to hear her say the words. The hopeful note in his voice touched her heart and brought fresh tears to her eyes. “Of course I do, you confounded man. Just don’t ever leave me again.”

His smile widened. Kissing her forehead, he brushed aside her tears with his thumb. “Never again. I promise.” He sought her mouth again, and their kisses melted into a frenzy of urgent desire.

Luke drew her against him, his arms holding her captive in his embrace. “Tell me again,” he whispered against her lips. “Please, honey.”

“I love you.” Moving in a slow circle, they danced to the rain’s gentle music as the storm thickened then slacked around them.

“Again, Maribeth. I’ll never get tired of hearing it.”

Sweet, needful yearning filled her. She wanted him. Wanted nothing more than to sink onto the soft grass of the gazebo floor and yield her body and soul to the man who’d already snared her heart.

“I love you, Luke Garrett.” Affirming her words with her hands, her mouth and the insistent press of her body, Mari knew he’d be powerless to resist. She wanted him, and she wanted him now.

“Ah, hell, sugar,” he said as his hands worked free the buttons on her bodice. “Tell me your daddy isn’t standing with shotgun ready at the kitchen window.”

She tugged his raincoat off. “Only my sisters are home.”

“How’s their aim?” Cool air caressed her heated skin as his hand cupped her breast. Luke nipped her skin at the base of her throat, his tongue swirling circles upon her skin. He stroked her nipples gently, rolling them between thumb and forefinger. Bending to take one in his lips, he gave it a strong, demanding suckle.

Mari’s head lolled back. “Emma is an even better shot than Papa,” she managed to say. “Oh, yes, there, right there.” She reveled in pleasure as he feasted. Her voice hitched higher, “If Em wanted to kill you, you’d already be dead. Kat, on the other hand, can’t hit the broad side of a barn.” She yanked his shirt free from his pants, tore at the buttons.

“So I have a chance of getting out of here alive?” He mumbled against one breast while his hand toyed with the other. “I’d be damn sorry not to finish this.” Recapturing her nipple, he drew it into his mouth with a sigh.

Mari laughed as her hands explored the bare skin of his chest. “Don’t worry, Ranger. You’ll live to see morning. I’ll see to that.”

Luke hissed when she dragged a fingernail across his nipples. “Good. That’s good. Ah, God, honey, you’re killing me.”

Again he took her mouth with a vengeance. Fierce, hard. The rain fell around the gazebo in sheets, the sound blending with their whispered moans and murmured promises.

Mari’s body ached for him, needles of pleasure reaching every muscle, every bone. She wound her arms around Luke’s neck and kissed him ravenously, with as much demand as he kissed her.

He coaxed her to the grass, his lips never leaving hers. His body enveloped hers in another embrace. The heat and power of his erection pressed against her belly and Mari lost herself in the moment.

“Luke,” she whispered, pleading. “Luke, I need…please, can you…”

“Hush, now. I’ll take care of you.” He raised her skirts and his hand froze against her bare hip. “Damn, Maribeth. Where the hell are your drawers?”

She laughed. “I was getting ready for bed. I decided to get some air.” She nuzzled his neck, breathing in his scent “Of course, I didn’t expect to be ravished in Mama’s gazebo by my former bodyguard.”

He placed his hand boldly between her legs, wringing a surprised cry of pleasure from her. Stroking her most intimate place, he informed her, “I’m still your bodyguard. I will be until the day I die.”

He bent and kissed her mouth, her jawline and her eyelids while his hand worked magic against her tender skin. “Mari, honey?” he breathed. “I don’t think this is gonna happen slowly.”

“No,” she told him. “It won’t.” Mari couldn’t resist touching him. He was here, and he was hers. Fast, slow, it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered, except that they loved each other. The rest could take care of itself.

Running her fingers through his hair, she nuzzled his neck, his shoulders, his chest as he pushed down his open trousers and kicked them away. When she reached down and closed her hand around his length, Luke cried out hoarsely and thrust into her palm.

Mari stroked him, feeling a woman’s triumph over her man. His velvet body responded, swelling in her hand. When she daringly leaned down and touched her tongue to the tip, his control snapped. With a thump, Mari landed on her back in the grass. She stared up into Luke’s slightly shocked and feverish face.

“That would finish things for us both, little lady.”

“But I want to.”

“Hell, I want you to, too.” Luke strangled out a laugh. “Just not tonight. And not in the shadow of your father’s house, that’s for damn sure.”

Taking his revenge, Luke returned his hand to her wet heat. He explored her, teased her, made her mindless. Mari bucked toward his touch, tossing against the damp grass, pleading senselessly, calling his name and God’s in one agitated breath. Finally, with one long, satisfying thrust, he claimed her.

Mari almost cried in relief as joy and fulfillment raced to every last nerve ending in a perfect blend of bliss. For a few exquisitely beautiful moments they lay connected, body and soul. Their lips brushed, sweetly at first, then built a momentum that their bodies soon followed.

He took her quickly, finding the easy rhythm that true lovers share. He withdrew and delved again. She met him, urged him. No words were spoken, the language of their loving enough. The pace became more desperate, seeking what they both needed from each other. Rapture. Release. Renewal. They were together again. Nothing on earth would keep them apart.

Luke’s breathing grew ragged against her neck, as his strokes became short, rapid. Her fingers threaded his hair and traveled down to his shoulders where the muscles rippled and tensed. Sensing he was close, too, Mari tilted her hips and angled her thighs to spread further, allowing him greater access. The slight movement was enough to drive him deeper, provoking her release. She cried out as the first tremors ripped through her.

“That’s it, Mari, come with me,” he coaxed in a raspy whisper.

The storm inside the gazebo broke as Mari shattered completely in Luke’s arms, surrendering to his seductive plea. Her body arched, her spirit soared, her soul sang. It was magic, pure and simple. As the rain continued to fall, Luke followed her over the edge with a guttural cry. He swelled and stiffened, then poured himself into her keeping. With a sated sigh he collapsed atop her, his head pillowed between her neck and shoulder.

When their breathing slowed and their heartbeats returned to normal, Mari reached up and brushed a lock of damp hair from Luke’s brow. This was the best part of making love, she decided, the quiet time afterward. The precious lull that followed the exhilaration when a woman doesn’t know where she ends and her man begins. When she cannot fathom his heartbeat from hers. When she wants nothing more than to fall asleep in his arms so she can wake to be loved again.

He was still inside her, holding her close when she smoothed his hair again. Kissing his temple, she closed her eyes and pressed her cheek against his. She’d found a love to last a lifetime, and in that, Mari knew, she’d finally found a part of herself.

“I love you,” he told her, his voice a low rumble like faraway thunder. “I don’t deserve you, but I don’t care. I’m not letting you go, Mari-mine.”

“I love you, too. And you deserve me. We deserve each other. We should be happy.”

“I’m happy,” Luke said with a satisfied yawn, as he slipped from her, rolling onto his side. “They say that love makes a man insane, and now I’m inclined to believe it. For I’m nearly naked, loving you in the rain, half-expecting a bullet to graze my bare ass, but I’m happier than I’ve been in all my sorry life. If that isn’t crazy in love, I sure as hell don’t know what is.”

“Truly?” she asked, encouraged.

‘Truly.”

Crazy in love, was he? Mari waited a defining moment, drew a deep breath, then asked, “In that case, Luke Garrett, will you marry me?”

His head shot up. “What did you say?”

“I love you, too, Luke Garrett. Will you marry me?”

He sat all the way up, totally silent, completely still, staring at her. Nervousness had Mari reaching for her soaking wet dress. She slipped it over her head and tugged it into position, then busied herself by fastening her buttons.

When he still didn’t speak, Mari filled the yawning silence with babble. “I figured it’s my turn to ask. I mean, it’s only fair. I had it all planned out. I intended to make you a special piece of chocolate and I thought I’d bring it and a nosegay of flowers—although, come to think of it, I changed my mind about the flowers. I decided on brandy instead of flowers. And here we are and I don’t have either chocolate or brandy…shoot…I don’t even have flowers. But it seemed like the right time. Was I wrong?”

Standing, he cleared his throat as he reached for his pants. “No.”

“All right. Well…” She paused, chilled by both her dripping dress and the delay in his response, and watched him pull on his britches. “Was that a ‘no’ to the first question or to the second one?”

“Oh.” He picked up his shirt. “The second one. Definitely the second.”

“Good, then.” On the verge of wringing her hands, she laced her fingers and rested her hands in her lap. “Yes, well…?”

“Wait a minute. I’m confused here.” Luke shrugged into his shirt. “I wasn’t sure you’d even open the door to me when I called at Willow Hill. I certainly never anticipated, um—” he gestured around the gazebo, smiled slightly “—this. And I’d have bet my life that you would not have asked the question you just asked.”

“If I was wrong?”

“No, the other one.”

“You mean the one you haven’t answered yet.”

“Yes.”

“All right. Yes, to which?”

His lips twitched with a smile. He extended his hands toward her. When Mari took them, he pulled her to her feet. Without releasing her, he said, “Both.”

“Oh.” Then, she smiled back at him. “
Oh!
”

“That’s what I say.” Luke lifted her hands to his mouth and kissed the center of first one palm, then the other. “I’ll be proud to marry you, Mari McBride. It’s why I came back to Fort Worth. I was…I am…determined to make you mine. I, too, had a plan.”

“You did?”

“Uh-huh. I intended to prove to you and your family that I am dependable, trustworthy, and totally in love with you. I wasn’t going to rush it. I wouldn’t lose my patience. And I swore that I absolutely, positively wouldn’t attempt to seduce you back into my bed—no matter how badly I wanted you there.”

“I like my plan better,” she said, her lips lifting in a wicked grin.

“It definitely has some stellar points. Although, something tells me we’ll need to keep those particular points private if I stand any chance of romancing your family. I still will need to win them over, right? The McBrides don’t want an outlaw for an in-law, correct?”

Mari smiled. “That hasn’t changed.”

“So what did change, Maribeth? Why did you do me the honor of proposing marriage to me?”

Straining to see him clearly in the deepening shadows, Mari spoke in a solemn tone. “My family didn’t change, Luke. I changed. I realized the truth in what you tried to tell me that day at Inspiration Point. I am a woman grown. It is time for me to make a woman’s choice, to make a family of my own. If I must choose between you and the McBrides, then I choose you.”

“I don’t want it to come to that,” Luke said. “It won’t. I’ll win them over, Mari. Believe me. Believe in me.”

“I do.” Love filled her heart, and with it, confidence. How could anyone not see the goodness in this man? “I think you will win them over, most of them, anyway. The boys won’t be a problem—you’ve a notorious reputation, and they’ll love that. Mama and Emma understand love, so I imagine they’ll come around in a short amount of time. And Kat, well, it’s going to be hard for her, but I think she’ll try. She may need to do a bit more growing up, but I have faith in her—and in you. Papa, however, is another nut to crack. I don’t know that he realizes it, but you are so much like him. I worry that it will take a very long time for him to accept you.”

“And you’re all right with that?”

“Oh, I’ll never stop trying to change his mind. We’ll see which of us is more stubborn in the end.” She touched his face. “I love you, Luke Garrett. I want to make a family with you. I want you to be my future.”