Salvation in the Rancher's Arms(93)

She started to shy away, afraid to hope, but courage found her in the nick of time. “What did you want?”

He curled her hand in his and lifted it to his mouth, kissing the sensitive skin on the inside of her wrist. “You.”

“You had me.” Thoroughly. Completely. In a way that left her body singing and her mind reeling.

He chuckled and the spark ignited in his eyes. The hope she’d kindled deep in her breast flamed to life.

“It wasn’t just your body I wanted, although—” he looked at her, all of her, his gaze a physical touch “—it is a delectable little body.”

She blushed. “What else did you want?”

He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Your mind. I love the way it works.”

“What else?”

His mouth hovered over hers. She ached for him to take it, to taste him once again, to be swept up in the pleasure his kiss could bring. But he did not oblige. His smile deepened and that was almost enough, to see the worry and the pain beaten back until it barely existed.

He moved past her mouth, pulling the blankets down to her waist. He lifted the front of her nightdress where the buttons had come loose at her neck. A thrill burned through her body as his mouth pressed down over her heart.

“I want this most of all,” he whispered against her skin. “Tell me it’s mine. Tell me I haven’t ruined things past fixin’.”

Rachel sifted her fingers through Caleb’s thick hair and urged him back up. Her hands explored the planes and angles of his face, the straight line of his nose, his prominent brow. There was so much about this man she loved—inside and out. Yet words failed to adequately describe the overwhelming emotions he brought to life within her.

She pulled him down and savored the moment when their lips met and their breath mingled. She relished the sensations that coursed through her as he answered her kiss with his own, his lips gentle and coaxing, teasing and true. Every emotion she had kept locked inside poured out of her into her kiss, every answer he needed given through taste and touch.

“I love you,” she whispered as his mouth explored the line of her jaw. The pulse at her throat beat wildly. Again, words paled in comparison with her feelings. How could something so simple convey everything he meant to her? He had lifted her up, restored her sense of self, put to rest all her fears. He had cared for her and stood by her and made her feel loved and special and important.

He had made her believe she deserved to feel all of those things. She couldn’t imagine her life without him.

“Please stay.”



Caleb lifted his head and gazed down into the face he had come to love with such completeness it should have frightened him. It didn’t. The only fear was in losing her, in walking away and never holding her in his arms again, or knowing the pleasure of her kiss, or delighting in her sharp mind and beautiful smile.

In Rachel he had found a woman of courage and strength unlike any he had ever known. She was a wonder to him. A wonder he wanted to spend the rest of his life discovering.

“On two conditions,” he said, stretching out on the bed next to her.

Rachel rolled on her side to face him, one hand slipping beneath her cheek. “Conditions?”

“That you agree to love, honor and obey—”

“—cherish,” she said, talking over him.

He smiled. “Guess that last one was too much to hope for.”

“Do you want an obedient wife?”

“I’d rather have you.”

“I’m already yours. What’s the second condition?”

“We tell Ethan to start calling us Ma and Pa. He needs a proper family. I don’t want him thinking we’re just people who took him in and can send him away when we see fit.”

“Agreed,” she whispered, a sheen of tears covering her eyes. “Now kiss me before I embarrass myself and turn into a watering pot.”

“Happy to oblige.” He gathered her in his arms and kissed her until they were both breathless. Until the noise and hustle of the outside world fell away and only the two of them remained. He kissed her until the sense of home he’d always longed for filled him, settled in and took root, and he knew it would be a long time past forever before it let him go.

“I love you, Rachel Sutter.”

“Beckett,” she said, lavishing little kisses across his face. “Rachel Beckett. You might as get used to calling me by what’s going to be my proper name.”

“Rachel Beckett,” he said, finding her mouth once again.

It sounded like home.