“I don’t want the night to end, Jake,” she groaned. “I wish we could stop time.”
He took her slowly, wanting to savor every lovely moment, wanting to fulfill her every need, wanting the night to last forever as much as she did. Sometimes he wondered how he could literally crave her with just as much intense desire as he’d felt back in that wagon all those years ago. She was his life. She’d saved his life. He loved being inside of this woman who never should have settled for the likes of Jake Harkner. Yet here she was, still wanting and pleasing him after all he’d put her through. He loved returning that pleasure, loved knowing that if the day came when they couldn’t do this anymore, it wouldn’t matter. All that mattered was being together and being able to hold and to touch and to love.
He grasped her hair and kissed her deeply as again he released inside of her with erotic thrusts that made him realize it didn’t get any better than this. He stayed on top of her, and they clung to each other for several minutes until he reached down and grasped the bedclothes from the side and pulled them over them, rolling her over so they were wrapped up in them side by side. Randy smiled.
“I feel like we’re in a cocoon.”
Jake managed to move a hand to her breasts in spite of the tight wrapping. He ran a thumb over one nipple while kissing her forehead. “When we emerge from this cocoon, a beautiful butterfly with ash-blond hair and green-gray eyes and the body of a nymph will show herself.”
“And what will you be?”
He caressed her other breast and smiled. “I’m not sure. Maybe the big, bad lizard, or whatever it is that eats butterflies.” He stroked her hair. “And I could eat you right now. Tell me I didn’t hurt you.”
“Did I protest?”
“No, but in this case, you wouldn’t, and I just felt like I couldn’t get enough of you—like I had to make sure I remember us this way for a long time in case I have to remember us this way.”
“You won’t, Jake. God can’t let that happen. By tomorrow night, we’ll be right back here in this room, doing this again.”
“And the next day we’ll all head back to the J&L and our big house and the great smells of meadow grass and your roses, and best of all, your bread baking in the oven.”
She kissed his chest. “Right now I’d settle for the smell of horse manure if it meant we were home.”
Jake grinned and kissed her hair, her ears, her eyes. “Well, when we get there, you will see rosebushes blooming all around the veranda, just like you wanted. Pepper told me Rodriguez planted those roses for you, and he’s taking good care of them.”
“Rodriguez has a talent for those things.” Randy blinked back tears. “I miss those baby girls so much, Jake. I don’t want to go home without you. They’ll be looking for their grandpa, and they will be so disappointed if you don’t come home with us.” She couldn’t help more tears. “How can I go into that house or sleep in our bed without you?”
“Because we’re always together, even when we’re apart. That’s how it was when I was in prison, and how it was every time I had to ride out on the job in Guthrie, and that’s how it will be this time. Only we have to believe it won’t happen, because Evie is praying her head off, and that’s akin to the Mother Mary Herself praying for us.”
Randy had to smile through tears. “You keep saying she couldn’t be from your seed, Jake, so maybe she’s the product of immaculate conception.”
That got a good laugh out of him. He rolled her back over, unwinding the bedcovers. “There was nothing immaculate about it, Mrs. Harkner.”
Randy studied the rare smile. “All your seed is good, Jake. Just look at Lloyd and the boys and those precious little girls. We have a wonderful, devoted family, and it’s all from you. You be proud of that tomorrow. And you remember that nothing they say in that courtroom will sway one family member from how much they love you. They won’t hear anything they don’t already know.”
He sighed, kissing her lightly. “Who do you belong to?”
“Jake Harkner.”
“Every bit of you, inside and out. Yo te amo, mi querida.”
“And I love you, Jake. This is where I feel safe. I want to fall asleep right here in your arms.”
He sat up long enough to reach down for an extra blanket at the foot of the bed and drew it over them, pulling her into his arms, not about to let her see the tears in his own eyes. He’d given thought to trying an escape tomorrow if things went bad, but he couldn’t do that to her. No more running. Tomorrow things would be over—one way or another.