"I want you to kiss me!" Stunned, shocked, Grady gaped. "You want what?" She gave him a fleeting smile. "I guess that's my answer, huh? She turned toward the door. "Rachel, wait." He lunged to his feet and reached for her. His knee gave again, and again she caogia him. But he caught her, too. Caught her, wrapped his arms around her and held her close. Maybe, he thought, if he kissed her, he could get her out of his head once and for all. The reality of kissing Rachel could be nearly as staggering as his memories. An instant later, when his mouth settled on hers, he knew he'd been wrong. On both counts. Kissing Rachel was even more staggering than he'd remembered. And it wasn't about to get her out of his head. Not now, not ever.
Chapter 1 Reunion
"Are you sure I can't convince you to stay for lunch?"
Rachel noted the sadness and exhaustion in Alma's eyes and smiled. "Okay," she said, relenting. She realized Alma didn't want to be alone while Joe was gone to the store. Alone, she would have too much time to think and worry. "Thanks. But I can't stay long." Her smile faded. "I don't need to be here when Grady arrives."
"Maybe not, honey." Alma placed a work-worn hand on Rachel's arm. "But you're going to have to see him sooner or later."
Rachel sighed and walked with Alma toward the kitchen. "I know. It'll be all right."
"Maybe better here and now than tomorrow during the funeral."
"Maybe," Rachel murmured. And maybe not.
And maybe she was making a bigger deal out of seeing Grady again than she needed to. Besides, wasn't due for hours. Joe would be back from town soon. Rachel would be long gone by the time Grady showed up.
She was sitting across the kitchen table from Alma a few minutes later eating a roast beef sandwich when they heard the front door slam shut and a voice call out.
Rachel stiffened. It had been five years, but she recognized that voice. It was his. Grady's.
It was too early! He wasn't due for hours. What was she going to do? How was she going to act? She wasn't ready to face him.
"In here," Alma called as she rose from the table.
Oh, damn, oh damn. Rachel could hear him coming down the hall to the kitchen.
Her reaction, she knew, was out of proportion. Ridiculous. Grady Lewis was nothing to her. He'd lost the right to be anything more than a bad memory when he betrayed her love and trust five years ago. She would be polite because he was Dr. Ray's son. Aside from her brothers, there was no man on earth she had ever respected more, including her own father, than Dr. Raymond Lewis. For him, she would face Grady and not allow the past to rear its ugly head.
Once Grady had been the center of her world, but now he would mean no more to her than a casual acquaintance. Someone she would nod to if she passed him on the street. Anything else would be inappropriate, considering the reason he'd come home after all this time.
But if he meant so little to her, why was her heart pounding like the hooves of a hundred stampeding mustangs? Heaven help her, her mouth was dry, her palms were damp, and she hadn't even seen him yet.
Surprise, she assured herself. It was only the surprise of his early arrival. She hadn't expected to see him until tomorrow.
She placed the remains of her roast-beef sandwich carefully on the plate before her and pushed herself to her feet. "I'll be going." she said to Alma.
"You can't avoid him for long," Alma reminded her quietly.
Rachel forced a smile. "Of course not. But I'm sure the two of you have a lot to talk about."
Her smile faded. What they had to talk about was the fact that tomorrow they would see Grady's father and brother to their final resting places. That was the only reason Grady had come home after all these years. For the funeral.
Rachel turned toward the door, and there he stood. Grady Lewis had come home. The room suddenly seemed airless as he filled it with his presence. As she moved, she felt as though she were pushing through thick molasses.
He looked different, yet so much the same that it startled her. After the pain of his betrayal five years ago, anger had set in. She had fantasized that he'd gotten fat and bald and lost his two front teeth. Not very charitable of her, but then, she hadn't felt very charitable toward him in years. Hadn't felt anything about him. Not anything at all.
But her fantasies had been wrong. Devastatingly wrong. Grady Lewis was even more...impressive at twenty-six than he had been at twenty-one. His wide, Shoshone cheekbones were sharper, more chiseled, and he was bigger than she remembered. Not taller, but broader in the shoulders, thicker in the chest. He'd lost that lean, lanky look of youth and gained the solid build of a big, strong man.
His hair was shorter. He used to wear it halfway down his back. As a taunt, she'd always thought, a dare. Now that thick black silk barely reached his shoulders. But he was no less good-looking for it On the contrary, he'd become a devastatingly handsome man.
His eyes hadn't changed. They were still the vibrant blue-green of a midday sea, and just as deep. The expression in them just as unfathomable.
Rachel took a small, calming breath. "Hello, Grady."
His gaze held hers for a long moment. Then he looked down at his side. "Cody, this is Miss Wilder."
Oh, God, oh, God, Rachel thought as she looked down at the little boy whose hand Grady held. She could hardly breathe. This was Grady's son. LaVerne's son.
The five-year-old boy held out his hand. "How do you do, Miss Wilder."
As far as Rachel could see, there was no resemblance at all to LaVerne Martin. But for his eyes he'd gotten David's big brown eyes, Shoshone eyes, inherited from David and Grady's mother, Cody Lewis could have been cloned directly from Grady. He looked so much like that rowdy six-year-old she'd met on the playground her first day of school that it took her breath away.
Before Rachel could tumble back into those old memories, she shook the boy's hand. "It's nice to meet you, Cody."