LEAP OF FAITH (12 page)

“They’re all from women!” Adam teased.

 “That’s not true,” Gage protested, “my partner brought in a card and so did the Chief.”

Adam started counting. “Sixteen vases of flowers, nine balloon arrangements, and twenty-three cards. Imagine what this room will look like when word actually gets out that you’re here. I’ll bet some of these are even from the nurses.”

“Nah,” Gage grinned, “their cards aren’t fit for family viewing.”

Abby shook her head. “When are you going to find a good woman and settle down, Gage? All this running around, breaking hearts, never taking any relationship seriously. I’m surprised you haven’t been shot by a jilted lover.”

“I never jilt my lovers!” Gage proclaimed, looking genuinely offended. “I happen to be very considerate when I break it off.”

Nick snorted. “You don’t stay with a woman long enough to call it a break up.”

Abby sat back and listened to her brothers throw insults back and forth for a few minutes before jumping in to save her twin. “I don’t know what all of you are being so self-righteous about anyway. Not one of you is married or even in a long term relationship.” She smiled at Gage. “Have your fun now. When the right woman comes along, you’ll have it all out of your system and be ready to make a commitment.”

Gage groaned. “Please don’t use that word in my presence.”

“Commitment?” Abby asked innocently.

He took one of his pillows and threw it at her. It missed and hit her mother instead. 

“Uh, oh,” he muttered.

Anne brought the pillow back and placed it under his head. “You’ll break those stitches open,” she warned, and then shooed everyone from the room. “Time to let Gage rest so he can come home.
"
”

They all shuffled out and divided themselves between the two cars they had taken. Abby rode home with her parents and Nick.

“I’ll bet they can’t keep him there but one more day,” she said.

“I know,” her mother agreed, “but at least he’ll have me and Maggie to take care of him for a few more days. He’ll take the pampering for a day or so before insisting on going back to his own house.”

“I’m sure he’ll have a number of women playing nurse maid to him when he goes home so don’t look so worried, Mom.”

Sam took his wife’s hand. “He’ll be fine, sweetheart. When he does finally meet the right woman, he’ll forget any of the others even existed.”

“Like father, like son?” Anne said softly.

Sam knew better than to bring up his own roguish past. “Have I mentioned lately how much I love you?”

***

Jack hung up the phone. He’d just agreed to meet with his editor, Julia Metzger, the following day at the local bar and restaurant in town. She traveled through this area once or twice a year and always insisted on meeting with him to get a sample of what he was working on. The first time, she’d actually made the trek up the mountain but after experiencing the rough ride to his cabin she insisted that Jack make the drive into town. Their second meeting took place at Lou Lou’s, the one and only restaurant and bar for miles around. He’d warned her it was nothing more than a hole in the wall where the locals gathered for lack of anything else to do, but she didn’t care.

“Fair warning,” he told her, “they rarely see a new face in there so expect to be ogled.”

“Nothing can be as bad as that horrid road up to your cabin. Besides, it will do my ego some good to know I can still attract a man.”

Jack had laughed. “You’re gorgeous, Jules. You just like knowing you can have your choice of men.”

“But I don’t want other men. You know I’m holding out for you, Jack,” she had drawled.

“You would chew me up and spit me out. Besides, you know I’m not the marrying type.”

Julia Metzger hadn’t missed a beat. “I’m not looking for marriage, Jack, just a torrid love affair. A few nights of uninhibited sex, is that so much to ask?”

“And then I would lose the best editor this side of New York.”

“That’s true,” she said with an exaggerated sigh. “In that case, I don’t suppose you have any hunky friends looking for a good time?”

When Julia first became his editor, Jack was both shocked and a little embarrassed by the innuendos and the casual way she discussed sex. After she’d made one of her outrageous propositions for the third time, he came right out and told her he wasn’t interested. Julia had laughed and patted his hand before advising him she never had affairs with her writers.

“It’s not good for business,” she said earnestly. 

Baffled, Jack asked, “Then why do you do it?”

“I just get a kick out of watching you blush.”

Once he realized all her bold talk was exactly that, he relaxed and they’d had a great working relationship since. She was going to be passing through around four o’clock the following afternoon and he was looking forward to the meeting. He was confident Julia would be extremely pleased with the love scenes he’d written instead of scolding him as she usually did for skimming over the good parts. With any luck, he would be reenacting those scenes in a few days when Abby returned.

After hearing from Abby and being reassured she was okay, he’d put in a good day’s work, but now that he’d put his novel away for the night, he was beginning to feel like a caged animal. He wanted to stretch out on the lounge on Abby’s deck with her curled up in his arms. He liked the way her body formed to his and hearing to the excitement in her voice when she talked about her novel.

Jack strolled out to his own balcony. It was the first time he could recall not being able to fully appreciate the quiet solitude of it. He didn’t want to be alone anymore. He wanted Abby to come home to him and never wanted to let her go again. He stood there for a while feeling tired and irritable. 
What the hell was happening to him?
 

He’d never needed anyone’s company before and had avoided relationships at all costs. When the sexual need became too strong, he looked up one of the women who had slipped him their phone number during a writer’s seminar or a book signing and arranged for a date. He didn’t believe he was particularly charming or interesting, but he never seemed to have to work very hard at getting a woman into bed. When the need had been met, he’d make up some excuse about an early morning appointment and leave. Then he would toss their number. 

Jack didn’t think Abby would be particularly impressed with the calloused way he’d treated women in the past. Hell, he sure wasn’t proud of it, but to him it had been nothing more than a means for satisfying a need and he saw no reason to hang around until morning and chance an emotional scene. He never made promises, never told any of them he loved them, and he certainly never had unprotected sex. 

And yet…how many times had he made love to Abby before she brought up the subject of protection? And if she hadn’t said anything, how long would it have taken him to realize he hadn’t asked or taken any precautions? She’d turned his whole world upside down, and Jack was happier than he could ever remember being in his entire life. 

I love her
. 

He stood up, thoroughly broad-sided by the rogue thought that had whispered through his head. Jack Burton in love? He wasn’t even sure he knew what love was. But if it was a gawd-awful ache in your heart when she was gone, or the feeling of elation when the phone rings and it’s her voice you hear on the other end, then damned if he wasn’t head over heels in love with her. 

Jack found himself smiling. He
did
love Abby. He loved her so much he could barely breathe when he thought about it. He didn’t know if she was in love with him, but when she came back he was going to do everything possible to make sure she got there. Jack was abruptly yanked out of his reverie by the ringing of his cell phone. He made a dash for the bedroom and grabbed it off the charger.

“Abby?”

“Were you expecting someone else?”

“Just you, honey. How are you doing? Any dizzy spells, nausea, feeling overly thirsty?”

“Jack Burton, you’ve been surfing the internet again, haven’t you?”

“Yes,” he admitted, “and I’m already gathering recipes for meals high in iron.”

“So, if I milk this, I can get you to do the cooking?”

“Nah, that’s a woman’s job.”

A low growl rolled in the back of Abby’s throat. “You’re going to pay for that remark.”

Jack laughed. “I’m thinking of a whole mess of things to say that will work you up.”

“Now, why would you want to do that?”

“So I can help you work out the tension, of course.”

“Why do I get the feeling I’ll be going straight from the jeep to the bedroom when I get there?”

“Because you’re a very smart woman. How’s your brother?”

“You mean when am I coming home?”

“Am I that transparent?”    

“Yes, but I adore you for it. Gage is already grumbling to get out of there, although God knows why. He’s got every nurse in the place hovering over him and offering their services. If I had to guess, I’d say he’ll be out by tomorrow night and then he’ll stay at Mom and Dad’s for a few days. If he does get released, I’ll try to arrange for a flight back the day after tomorrow.”

“I can’t wait to see you, Abby.”

“I can’t wait to be seen,” she said in a sultry, sexy voice.

Jack growled softly. “You’ll be lucky if we make it all the way to the bedroom.”

“Maybe I’ll stay away for a few more days,” she teased, “this phone sex is kind of exciting.”

“Don’t think I won’t leave this mountain and come after you, sweetheart.”

“I would be disappointed if you didn’t”

“So, tell me about that family of yours.”

Abby kicked off her shoes and stretched out on her bed. “It could take a while with this motley crew.”

“That’s what I’m counting on,” Jack said.

***

By the time Abby and her mother arrived at the hospital the next day, Jenna and her brothers had already been there and gone. Gage was sitting up in bed looking restless and irritable. She exchanged a knowing glance with her mother. He wanted out and was apparently meeting with opposition.

“Can’t you do something, Mom?” he grumbled. “Think how much faster I’ll heal with you and Maggie looking after me.”

Abby grinned at her brother. “Boy, you sure know how to play
that
violin. Here, let me finish it for you. But, Mom, I just need my family around me,” she whined. “Maggie’s cooking will do so much more for me than this awful hospital food. You wouldn’t have to wear yourself out running back and forth to the hospital. I’m your
son
; doesn’t that
mean
anything to you? How did I do?” she asked, taking a bow for her star performance.

Gage chuckled. “Not bad. It tugged at the heart strings, slipped in a little guilt, and definitely stirred that maternal need to protect and nurture.”

Anne shook her head reprovingly, but the soft smile pretty much said it all. She would have him out of there within the hour. Forty-five minutes later, they wheeled Gage to their mother’s car. Twenty minutes after that, Abby was helping him into the house.

“I took a bullet to the chest, not the leg,” he mumbled testily.

“Shut up and lean on me,” she ordered, which only encouraged Gage to put much more of his weight on her than was necessary. Abby glared at him. “Behave or I’ll tell Maggie you’re dying for her split-pea soup,” she threatened, smiling smugly when he obeyed with a surly grunt. She steered him toward the back of the house but Gage stopped short, jerking her back into him.

“Where are we going?”

“Mom said to put you in Adam’s bedroom.”

“I don’t want Adam’s bedroom, I want my own bedroom,” he argued.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake, your bedroom is upstairs and Mom doesn’t want you over exerting yourself.”

“I want my own room,” he insisted stubbornly.

“Well, I’m taking you to Adam’s room and that’s final.”

“I’ll tell Maggie what you do with her desserts,” Gage said, his eyes dancing with mischief.

She looked at him in horror. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“I might.”

“Fine, but if you open those stitches, you better hope Scott is in town because I’m not giving you another drop of my blood!” She helped him up the stairs and into his recliner, slapping the remote control for the television in his hand. “I hope you’re happy. I’m going to get in trouble for this, you know.”

“I love you, Abby.”

“Damn it, Gage, you
know
I hate it when you do that!” Now she couldn’t be mean to him. 

“I mean it, Abby. I love you.”

Her heart melted. “I know you do. I love you too.” She turned to go but stopped in the doorway and looked back at her brother. “I still think you’re a jackass.”

Gage chuckled. “I know.”

Abby left him happily flipping channels and went to look for her dad. With Gage at home and on the mend, she was ready to head back to the cabin and knew her dad could get her there much faster than if she booked a flight with a commercial airline. She found her mother coming out of Adam’s room with an unhappy frown on her face.