Terms of a Texas Marriage(33)

It had been about Alec. All along, it had been about him.

An invisible hand gripped her heart. She couldn’t breathe. Her body began to tremble as she tried to blink back the tears. But they fell down her face, dropping onto the letters clutched in her hand. Even though she’d left Alec with the best intentions, she’d walked out nonetheless. And even though he’d called to check on her, he wouldn’t be back. That truth slammed into her like an airbag deploying in an unforeseen crash. He was gone. Forever. The pain in her heart was unbearable, the sadness so deep, so piercing she knew she would never recover.

Through eyes blurred with tears, she looked at the sparkling wedding ring on her left hand. It seemed like a lifetime ago, the night Alec had slipped it back on her finger and told her to never take it off. At the time, she’d counted the days until her twelve-month sentence would be over, when she would be free of him and could happily throw the ring in his face. But it had become a part of her, as had the man who’d given it to her. Subconsciously she’d never let go of the hope she and Alec could work things out. Now, she faced the grim truth.

She’d failed to keep the greatest gift that fate could bestow from slipping through her fingers. She’d lost the greatest man—the only man she had ever loved and would ever love as long as she lived. A man who but for a ridiculous clause in a two-hundred-year-old contract, never would have entered her life.

The tears streamed unchecked down her face and she had no will to hold them back as another wave of misery overwhelmed her. The tears blurred the image of the beautiful ring as she began to slide it from her hand. If only...

“I told you to leave that ring where it is,” said a deep familiar voice from behind her.

With a gasp, Shea whirled around. Alec stood just inside the barn, looking big and rugged and entirely too handsome. Dressed in jeans and a white cotton T-shirt, he stood with one hand resting on a stall door, the other on his hip.

It took her a few seconds to find her voice. “Alec? What...what are you doing here? What do you...?”

“What do I want?” he asked, stepping away from the stall, his arms falling to his side. “I want to go back in time where the past few weeks never happened. I want to hold my wife in my arms every night and see her face when I wake up the next morning. Emphasis on seeing her the next morning.”

She knew he was referring to the hotel in Dallas when she’d snuck out to come home.

“And I want to see her belly grow with my son or daughter.” She noted a flare in his golden eyes at those words. His mouth then pulled into a serious line. “I’ve shelved the entire project, Shea. My stipulation to continue is it will be built completely across the river in Oklahoma. I don’t intend for one rock, one blade of grass, one single drop of water to be disturbed on this ranch. I’ve spent the last week making damn sure that doesn’t happen. If the investors go for it, good enough. If not—” he shrugged his broad shoulders “—I really don’t give a damn. Nothing is worth losing you.”

A frown crossed his face, his eyes conveying the seriousness of his words, and for countless moments, neither moved. “Why did you leave the hotel? Have I lost you, Shea?”

Shaking her head, she rose to her feet. “You could never lose me, Alec. I love you too much.”

Then she was in his arms—strong, powerful arms that were gentle as he held her tightly against him. She gazed into eyes the color of topaz as he cupped her face and wiped away the tears with his thumbs. His lips, hot and oh so incredible, covered hers and she surrendered to the overwhelming love that had grown for this man in spite of all the reasons it shouldn’t. The warmth and the feel and the taste of him filled her. The wonderful musky male scent of his skin surrounded her as his hard body pressed against hers. She kissed him back with all the love she had, the tears of misery changing to those of pure joy.

Finally, Alec raised his head, but stayed a mere breath away. She touched his face, amazed that she had a chance to love and be loved by such a man.

“Just so we’re clear this time, I’ve been in love with you since the day you walked into Ben’s office,” Alec admitted as she looked into his eyes. “I admit I fought it, even after we were married. I told myself I was slitting my own throat, setting myself up for a hell of a fall because someone like you just didn’t happen to someone like me. I can handle cutthroat tactics, lying, backstabbing from my adversaries, sometimes even my supporters. My world hasn’t left much room for honesty and innocence. Trust is something new to me.” His gaze traveled over her face. “But you’ve shown me I can trust again. I can love. And I love you, Mrs. Morreston, with everything I have inside me.”

A glint of amusement flickered in his eyes, making Shea smile.

“You know, I think I might get used to that name.”

“You’d better,” Alec said, in a teasingly threatening tone. “Because you’re stuck with it for the rest of your life.”

She knew he was telling the truth. This man, this incredible man, truly loved her. He was her husband. Scotty was her son. And it didn’t matter whether they lived in New York or Texas or someplace in between as long as they were together. That realization was sealed when Alec’s lips again came down over hers in a deep, passionate embrace that left no doubts whatsoever.

His lips left hers, kissing his way to her ear. “Mmm.” He growled and nuzzled her neck. “We need to be on our way back to Dallas.”

“Back to Dallas?”

“Mmm. To the hotel. To the bedroom...”

Shea grinned, caught her bottom lip, and shook her head as she backed him through the open door of the tack room and toward the stack of blankets in the corner.

“That hotel is much too far away.”

Alec’s eyebrows rose, then a smile turned up the corners of his lips as he realized her intent and kicked the door closed behind them.

And there was no further talking for a very long time.