NFH 03 Checkmate (34 page)

"It doesn't matter any longer, because I
don't want it," he confessed, unable to stop himself from reaching
up with one hand and cupping her beautiful face.

"Then what do you want?" she asked, moving
closer until their lips were only a few inches apart.

"You," he simply said.

"Why?" she asked, looking a little
confused.

"Because I'm in love with you, Rory," he
answered, wondering if she was going to try and kick his ass for
saying it again.

"You love me," she said, not asked as she
leaned back, robbing him of her touch, but he let her go. What
other choice did he have? He knew Rory well enough to know that if
he pushed her for something that she didn't want that she'd push
right back. For the first time since he met her, he was terrified
of pushing her.

"Yes."

"I'm not sure how I feel about you, Connor,"
she admitted as she stood up and stepped away from him.

"Do you hate me?" he asked, gripping his
knees as he struggled to stay where he was and not do something
foolish like beg her for a chance, a chance that he probably didn't
deserve, but wanted desperately.

"No," she answered, walking away from him
and heading for the patio. "I need some time to figure this all
out, Connor. I have a lot of things to think over."

"Take as much time as you need. I'll be here
when you're ready," he said, knowing as soon as the words left his
mouth that he'd just lost her for good.

Oh fuck that.

* * * *

Time.

She needed time to think and sort through
everything, she reminded herself as she fought the urge to run back
inside and throw herself into Connor's arms. A couple of hours ago,
she knew where she stood with him. It hadn't mattered that she'd
been falling for him, because she'd known that she would never be
able to get over what he did.

Now..........

Now she didn't know what to think about him.
For the first time since he came into her life she didn't think
that she hated him, at all, not even a little bit. Actually, she
was terrified that she wasn't just falling for him anymore, but was
more than a little in love with the man. Before she did anything
that she might regret later, she needed to be sure that what she
felt was real.

She should kick his ass for confusing her,
she thought as she opened the sliding glass door and stepped into
her room. Why couldn't she just hate him? It made everything so
much simpler to-

"Veto," Connor said as he scooped her up in
his arms, took her out of the house and placed her bottom on the
patio railing before she could put up much of a protest. He settled
himself between her legs just as quickly, placing his hands on her
hips to steady her and hopefully stop her from falling over the
side. She’d never been afraid of heights before, but after falling
into that cellar and breaking her arm, she could now say that she
had a very healthy respect for heights.

"Veto what?" she asked absently, reaching up
with her good hand and placing her hand on his bicep to help steady
herself as she fought against the urge to look down.

"Space, time, a break, whatever the hell you
want to call it, Rory. It's not happening. I've waited too many
years to have you in my arms and I'm not about to let you go over
some bullshit."

"Wait a minute," she said, frowning up at
him as his words registered in her mind. "You can't veto a
break!"

"Yes, I can," he said, leaning in and
brushing his lips over hers in that soft, fleeting gesture that she
both loved and hated. Loved, because it made her feel precious and
hated because those kisses always left her wanting more, a lot
more.

"Since when?" she demanded, resisting the
urge to hit him with her cast when he pulled his mouth away.

"Since now, Rory. You're not allowed to run
away, because you're too afraid to face what's going on between
us."

"I'm not afraid of anything," she said
evenly, using the same response that she used to use when they were
kids and he tried to taunt her into doing something asinine, kind
of like now.

Taking a chance, a real chance, on him was a
huge risk not only because they could wind up killing each other,
but if things didn't work out between them, which was a real
possibility given their history, she could wind up hating him for
breaking her heart. This was a really bad idea, she berated herself
inwardly as she looked into his beautiful emerald eyes and worried
her bottom lip between her teeth. She should just push him away and
end things right now before she got in over her head, but really,
when had she ever done the smart thing when it came to Connor?

"I don't think this is such a good idea,"
she said, needing to at least pretend to show good judgment and
think it over, but unfortunately common sense and good judgment
were usually never around when it came to Connor. At least this
time she wouldn’t have to worry about ending up in jail. Well, she
hoped that she didn’t.

“
I think it’s a great idea,”
he said, pressing a kiss against her forehead before he leaned back
and focused all of his attention on her broken hand. When he
gingerly picked up her hand and pressed something onto her ring
finger, she couldn’t help but frown as she looked down, but between
the man’s head and the lack of decent light, she couldn’t see
much.

“
Um, what the hell are you
doing?” she asked when she felt him slide something onto her
finger.

“
Nothing much. Just decided
that you and I are getting married that’s all,” he announced with a
careless shrug of his shoulders as he turned his head and pressed a
swift kiss against her stunned lips.

“
I’m sorry, what the hell is
this now?” she demanded, sure that she’d misheard him.

“
I’m thinking a November
wedding. It will give you plenty of time to plan it and get used to
the idea,” he explained as if it wasn’t a big deal when it was a
very big freaking deal.

“
I can’t marry you, Connor,”
she blurted out, really not knowing what else to say and wishing
that she’d said it with a little more finesse. Then again, she
should have known that Connor wouldn’t take it
personally.

“
Yes, you can. All you have
to do is show up, sign the license, and say ‘I do’” he mused as he
leaned in to steal another kiss.

“
No, I can’t,” she
stubbornly said, leaning back away from him, but it wasn’t all that
far considering that he had her sitting on a narrow
railing.

“
I tell you what, Rory,” he
said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close until she
had no other choice but to put her hands on his shoulders to help
support herself and when she did, her breath caught in her throat
as her eyes landed on that tiny diamond decorating her
finger.

It was so beautiful.

“
You give me until November
to prove that we belong together and if you still don’t want to
marry me by the time the manor is done then we’ll call it
off.”

“
Oh?” she asked distractedly
as she grudgingly accepted the fact that she never wanted to take
the ring off her finger. “And how exactly do you plan on convincing
me to marry you?”

“
I plan on making you fall
in love with me, Rory,” he said softly as he leaned in and kissed
her in a way that wasn’t fair.

“
Wear the ring, Rory and if
you don’t fall in love with me by November then we can call the
whole thing off and I’ll never bother you again,” he swore against
her lips.

After more than two decades of being
tormented by this man, the idea of never seeing him again should
make her happy, but it didn’t. She honestly didn’t know how she
would be able to function without him in her life. But did that
mean that she was ready to give him forever?

Everything in her world had changed in such
a short period of time that she didn’t know if she was coming or
going. The smart thing would be to get some space and ignore his
veto, but she didn’t want to do that.

“
You really think that you
can make me fall in love with you in less than five months?” she
asked, trying not to smile and failing miserably when she felt his
lips kick up into that grin that she loved.

“
I know that I can,” he
promised as he stepped away from her only to scoop her up in his
arms, turn and head for her bedroom, but he didn’t get
far.

“
It’s been more than ten
minutes,” Trevor announced dryly as he leaned back against the door
frame, startling Connor, but thankfully he didn’t drop her and she
truly appreciated that.

“
And we’re hungry!” Jason
yelled from what sounded like her bathroom.

“
Who the hell are you?”
Connor demanded as he stood his ground, holding her tightly in his
arms as he glared at her cousin as if the man didn’t have several
inches and fifty pounds of muscle on him.

Trevor’s curious expression turned amused
when his eyes zeroed in on her left hand. “Oh, by the looks of it,
I would say one of your future in-laws.”

Chapter 30

“
Why are you glaring at me?”
Rory asked, giving him a sweet, too sweet, smile as the two men, no
correction, his future in-laws from hell periodically sent him
killing glares as they tore through his kitchen and ate every last
morsel of food.

“
Tell me that you didn’t
break the ban, Rory. Tell me that there aren’t two Bradfords
beating the shit out of each other over the last slice of cheese in
my kitchen,” he pleaded, already knowing and dreading the
answer.

It had been a good fifteen years since he’d
last seen a Bradford, but that was one experience that he would
never forget. He’d been sixteen, pissed and looking for a little
revenge against Rory for the bullshit she’d pulled on him the night
before at the drive-in. Normally, he would have waited until she
came home from her family’s annual summer vacation, but that day he
refused to wait to get his revenge. Well, that and his sixteen year
old hormone driven mind was hoping to see Rory in a bathing
suit.

It was the latter that had him climbing into
the back of Mr. James’ truck and hiding beneath a pile of gym bags
in ninety degree weather, risking an ass whooping by the James boys
if he was caught. Somehow he managed to make it to their
destination, a campsite, without getting caught or passing out from
the heat. As soon as he felt the truck come to a stop and heard Mr.
James order his kids to unload the truck, he jumped out, darted
across the rocky dirt parking lot and dove into what unfortunately
turned out to be a bush concealing a large briar patch.

Once he managed to untangle himself from the
thorns, he followed after Rory, who trailed behind her brothers. It
pissed him off that her brothers hadn’t bothered to even offer to
carry her bag for her and he made it a point to get back at them
later that night by stuffing poison ivy in their bags. He trailed
after them in the woods until they came to a small clearing on the
pond. While they set up, he went and found himself a little hiding
spot. Once that was done, he came back only to get the surprise of
a lifetime.

The once peaceful campsite was filled with
men, very large men and everywhere he looked there was food,
massive piles of it. The tents weren’t up, but they had tables set
up with food everywhere. None of them, not even what he suspected
should have been little boys, were small. He’d always thought that
the James boys were freakishly large, but the men that were beating
the shit out of each other over food had been much, much bigger.
Most every single one of them had been shirtless and all had been
buff, making him feel scrawny and making him wonder if Rory thought
he was scrawny.

Even though he’d never met them before, he
knew that they were Bradfords. The tales of the other side of
Rory’s family were well known. They were often used to scare little
children into behaving. If they didn’t, they knew the Bradfords
would come and eat them. He was ashamed to admit that it worked on
him when he was a kid. He’d even been warned away from Rory on his
first day of preschool by all the other kids. They knew who Rory
was. They’d been warned away from her because of the Bradfords and
because her brothers would beat up anyone that messed with her, but
he hadn’t cared. She’d been the prettiest little girl that he’d
ever seen and he just had to push her and pull on her pigtails.

“
Look, if you expect us to
get in a decent day’s work then you’re going to have to feed us
more than scraps,” the larger of the two men said as he tossed an
empty cereal box on the counter with the rest of the empty
packages.

“
Scraps?” he repeated
numbly. “The kitchen was full of food not even twenty minutes
ago!”

“
That was twenty minutes
ago,” the other one said with a shrug as he pressed a hand against
his stomach and headed for the door.

“
Learn to keep up with the
times, Roomie,” the larger one said with a mocking smile and a wink
as he headed for the door, leaving Connor to process what he’d just
said and when he did, he turned a glare back on Rory.

“
What exactly does he mean
by ‘Roomie’?” he demanded as Rory gave him another cute smile that
set off warnings signals in his head.

“
Well, while you were
grabbing a shirt we talked it over and decided that it would
probably be better if Trevor and Jason stayed with you,” she
explained, looking at him, but not quite meeting his
gaze.

“
Why is that exactly?” he
asked with his jaw set and his hands clenched tightly into fists as
he patiently waited for the woman that he loved to explain why she
just screwed him over.