The Summerland (31 page)

He could see the look in her eyes, the confusion of being hit hard and fast with too many facts. They didn’t need to complicate matters even more by addressing their relationship, even if all he wanted to do was take her in his arms and absorb the absolute rightness, the comfort and commiseration he knew would be offered.

“I don’t know Bill.” Arden spoke softly, slowly, looking him straight in the eye. “Where am I staying? I know that things haven’t been very easy for us lately, but up until yesterday I wouldn’t even have thought that was a question. Apparently it is now. What I’m not sure of is why.”

Bill’s back straightened, annoyance forming like a thunderstorm in his eyes. “You’re going to make me spell it out, aren’t you? You would. You’re a great one for talking. I didn’t think, after what we shared, after the things we learned about each other in the past few weeks that you would be this mean, this spiteful, but I guess I was wrong. Again.” He was leaning forward over the table, his own anger and frustration thickening the air between them. Arden met him head on.

“Yeah, I think I am going to make you say it. Especially since I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about. So, go ahead, spill.” Arden pushed back from the table, arms crossed, foot tapping.

“For God’s sakes woman, I fed your sister to a serial killer on a silver platter. I gave him everything we had, all of it, and then went as far as to have him collaborate with Josie and you. How do you think that makes me feel? If Samantha hadn’t finished him off, how likely do you think it is that Josie would have been his next victim? Or you? Pretty goddamn likely.” He shuddered, pacing his side of the room in furious, choppy steps.

“
So now, as of tomorrow, I’m out of a job I love. I’ve also probably lost the only woman I’ve ever loved,” he stopped long enough to glare at her, “and Samantha is gone again. And I mean gone, like in ‘poof.’” He paused taking in a breath, the inside of his mouth suddenly dry as a desert.

“How am I supposed to react to all of that Arden, huh?” He raked a hand through his hair viciously, his frustration a tangible thing. “Am I supposed to walk up to you and say, forgive me for putting you in league with a serial killer, so sorry I couldn’t seem to extricate your sister before she offed the creep, now let’s pick up where we left off?” He snorted in derision at his own statement.

“
I don’t think so. And even if we were to try to work it out, to work on an ‘us,’ how long would it be before this whole mess started to become an issue? I’ve invested too much in you, too much in us to watch it go down the shitter. I just can’t do it again. I’d rather be alone.” He stopped, looking suspiciously at the smile beginning to cross her face.

“What the hell are you smiling for?” He snapped.

“You’ve been thinking about this, haven’t you?” Arden asked, in a quiet, controlled voice.

“Hell yes I’ve been thinking about it. I can’t stop thinking about it.” Bill began to get angry all over again, at himself, at circumstances, at Arden for standing there looking so damned good, so damned right when everything around him was going to hell in a handbasket.

“As someone who over thinks, overanalyzes everything to death, I have four words of advice for you. Stop thinking so much.” That slow, lazy smile that had started out small now spread into a full grin.

Bill looked at her as if she were totally insane, but then again, she felt that way. The utter terror that struck her when he started talking about ending them still shivered down her spine. Utter terror that she would never see him again, never again be held in his strong, sure arms, never again feel the comfort and harmony and downright carnality of their lovemaking. She’d be damned if she’d let that go, let him be virtuous. Screw that.

“Stop trying so damned hard to be noble. Take it from me, it isn’t worth it. I’ve been doing it for the last thirty years and I’ve come to realize that nobility only gets you so far, then it gets you screwed. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately and I’ve come to a conclusion.” She walked around the edge of the table, removing the last physical barrier between them. “Are you ready to hear this? Well, ready or not, here it comes.

“
You need to stop thinking, and just know this. I’ve decided that you and I are going to live a long, hideously frustrating and incredibly happy life together. Because we love each other and because we’re just too damned stubborn and pissy to let the world get us down.” She stepped to him, putting her hand on his arm, ignoring the fact that he continued to just stand there, still and hard as a statue.

“Because I’ve finally figured out that for once in my life I deserve to be happy. Don’t try to be a martyr here Bill, because I won’t be kind or nice when it comes to snapping your out of this.

“I’m sorry, really sorry, about your career, about what that will do to your life. I know how important it is to you and it sucks that this whole boondoggle is going to end it for you. But you’ve got your ranch and your cats and your pride, and you’ve got me, good or bad.” She grinned crookedly. “Or at least you will in a few years when the Air Force decides to let me go.”

“I’m not going to lie to you, what happened here probably will have something to do with the rest of our lives, but goddamn it, it brought us together, and I can’t bemoan fate for doing that.” She pushed away from him, putting space between them and her heart in her eyes.

“
So, what do you say, L.A. man? Are you gonna take a chance on being happy?”

Initium

Twining her hand in Bill’s, Arden stood on the veranda of the Homestead, a steaming cup of coffee in the other hand, watching the sun come up as her mind roved over the last three years, ten months. Since that Halloween night years ago Arden had been all over the world. She’d been transferred to Travis Air Force Base in northern California to be closer to Bill. Considering what had happened with her sister, the powers that be in the Air Force decided it was probably a strategic move. While there she was promoted to the rank of Major. With that promotion came a deployment for six months to the Middle East as section chief for the Air Force News.

Those forty-six months had crawled by on tortoise feet, torturing both Arden and Bill until the day had finally arrived. Her retirement ceremony was as low-key as Arden could possibly make it, but Bill had conspired with her peers to send her off in fine military fashion. She’d shed a tear when the Presidential citation was presented to her, commending her on twenty years of dedicated service to her country. Then she and Bill Ashton strapped into the ‘Cuda and drove the three hours to Reno.

Still in her dress blues, she became Arden Henning-Ashton at three-thirty in the afternoon in the Heart of Reno Chapel, with Doug Brewster and Josie Galloway acting as witnesses.

This morning, she’d snuggled into the warmth of her husband’s embrace, listening to the pre-dawn rustlings of her first day of ranch life.

Now, as she stood on the porch, soaking in the utter peace of a perfect sunrise and the love of a good man, she concentrated on an exercise Josie had taught her, and that she’d been practicing for some time.

Casting her mind free of her body, she went in search of her sister. Instead, Samantha found her. The greetings they exchanged were wordless, conveying only that each was healthy and happy and pleased to see the other. Saying goodbye for the last time, Arden drifted back to herself, turned to her husband, and beamed a smile to put the sunrise to shame.

The End

####

About the author: I’m a great believer in Fate. Yeah, with a capital “F”. And I write in those terms. Why? Probably because my beloved husband said he fell in love with me the first time he saw me. You might ask if it was a two-way gig… In a word, uh-uh. Not that he wasn’t fine to the extreme, but I wasn’t looking for forever, but rather a fun vacation experience. Yeah, so now we’ve muddled our way through over twenty years of marriage, and I have to admit to his superior intuition on that one!!

So if you’re looking for Alpha heroes who just happen to “know” their life-mate when they see them, don’t be overly surprised.

I write paranormal romance as TL Schaefer and erotic romance as Keira Ramsay. Why the split personality? Because I started out as TL Schaefer, and didn’t want to confuse the heck out of the folks who loved that stuff when I went to the “dark side”.

If you like your heroes in uniform (be they cops, firefighters, or military) and your heroines with a bit of quirk, then wing by my website (
www.tlschaefer.com
) and check out an excerpt or two to whet your whistle!

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