Embattled Home (18 page)

Chad could have wept tears of gratitude at her no-nonsense words. Instead he clenched his jaw and looked away as he fought to control the wild emotion slamming through him. The touch of her fingers on the most sensitive part of him sent goose bumps racing across his body.

“Can you tell me about the mechanics of the amputation? Is this just one bone or…”

Clearing his throat, he turned back to her. “I didn’t directly step on the mine. Another Marine did. But I was part of the blast. The docs on the ground where I was had gotten really good at wound care. I was shipped to Landstuhl within hours, then to Walter Reed. I had a lot of burn issues, too. The leg was easy compared to the burns.”

Chad knew he was rambling, but he felt like he needed to give her as much info as he could while she was interested.

“Basically, they clean up the mess and cut above the injury site. The ends of the bones are trimmed and in my case, they grafted a small piece of bone between the ends of the tibia and fibia to stabilize them. Then they reattach the muscles to the end of the bone and wrap the skin around everything.”

Her fingers traced the scar of the reattachment and he paused. She looked up at him and he had to clear his throat. “After several weeks of healing they start to fit you for a prosthetic. I’ve got half a dozen legs at home, but I prefer the one I wear now.”

Lora released his leg and he let it withdraw beneath the water, but she didn’t retreat across the tub like he expected her to. She pushed to the shaped bench to his left, just a couple of feet away. The deep green of her eyes seemed languid here beneath the subtle lighting, but he didn’t see anything unsettled in her expression. She didn’t seem to be disturbed by his body.

Gratitude filled him.

“You are one of three women who have ever seen my leg and not been offended or repulsed,” he told her softly. “The other two are in that house.”

Her eyes flicked to the ranch house then back to him. “I appreciate you telling me. And showing me. That had to be hard.”

Chad tried to be unconcerned but he didn’t think he pulled it off.

“Now are you going to show me the good part?”

His gaze snapped to her face as his heart leapt in his chest, but before he could say anything she burst into tears. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that,” she gasped. She buried her face in her hands and wept.

Chad didn’t know what to do. He wanted to draw her into his arms and hold her tight to let her know that they were okay, but he didn’t know how she’d react. Instead, he reached out his bad hand and rested it on her shoulder. Lora wept all the harder and seemed to crumple in on herself, but then she turned and seemed to want him to hold her. Chad opened his arms, but stayed where he was. If she wanted comfort he would give it to her, but he wouldn’t force it on her.

Lora seemed to need it badly, because she kind of fell against him, burrowing her face into his neck. Chad cupped her shoulders as gently as he could, scared that she would feel trapped and pull away. But she stayed where she was, sobbing her heart out.

“Hey, you’re okay,” he murmured. “It’s okay, Lora.”

She shook her head against him. “I’m not okay. I want so much but I’m terrified. Of you and my need. I’m scared of men in general. But I want to be strong like Cheyenne. I want to live the life I’ve dreamed of for my daughter, but I can’t just shove everything aside.”

He leaned his head to the side to try to catch her eyes, but she avoided looking at him. “Hey, nobody’s asking you to shove everything aside. Certainly not in a night. You just met Cheyenne and let me tell you, she’s been working on this version of herself for several years. I think you’ve done excellent for tonight. I’ll hold you as long as you want me to, but that’s all. I got excited when you wanted to see my good part” She snorted and clutched him tighter around the neck. “But I knew you weren’t ready. You’ve already given me so much tonight.”

Tightening his hands on her shoulders for the briefest second, he relaxed back against the edge of the tub, still cradling her carefully. They stayed like that for a good while. Lora relaxed into his arms to the point that he thought she’d fallen asleep, but eventually she moved.

“I’m turning into a prune.”

She pulled back enough to look into his eyes, then very deliberately moved forward enough to brush her lips against the corner of his mouth.

Chad forced himself to hold as still as possible. But one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do was not turn his head that fraction of an inch to meet her lips. Body straining, he breathed through the need as she pushed to the other side of the tub.

Chad knew he had to get out first, but he was so hard it was uncomfortable to move. When he pushed out of the water, her eyes followed him, as if she were fascinated in spite of herself. He caught the widening of her eyes when she caught sight of his erection behind the soaked cotton of his briefs, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Swinging his legs out, he lowered himself to the bench, draping himself with a towel. “Can you give me just a minute?”

Lora nodded her head, submerged up to her chin in the water, her eyes wide. The tears were gone, but she still seemed fragile.

Chad patted himself dry, talking his body into calming down. He’d had Lora in his arms for the first time and it had been incredible, but torturous. Slamming the door on those thoughts, he shimmied out of his cold underwear. He’d have to go without until they got back to the house. Standing on his right leg he patted himself with the towel again and dragged his jeans up over his damp hips. Glancing over his shoulder, he caught Lora staring at his ass. He took a single hop to sit on the bench while he put his prosthetic on and grinned at her, letting her know he’d caught her looking. Seating his leg into the cup, he rolled his pant leg down and stood to put on his shirt. “You can look all you want.”

Even beneath the dim lights he could see the blush that stained her cheeks. And that was enough. Walking out to the opening of the gazebo, he gave her his back, arms crossed over his chest.

It took Lora a few minutes to get out and dried off, but he never moved from his position. He breathed in the still night and allowed his body to calm down.

“I’m ready to go back.”

They left their wet things in the laundry room. Lora had rolled the ace bandage to take with her. Before they entered the hallway to the kitchen, she touched his elbow. “I want to thank you for taking me out there. I needed it.”

Smiling, he reached out enough to stroke a finger down her cheek. “I needed it just as much,” he admitted. And it was true. He had.

Mercy was practically asleep on her feet. They’d been at his parent’s house for several hours now and Chad thought it prudent to head back up the mountain. Mama gave Lora a hug and pressed a kiss to Mercy’s head. Cheyenne wrapped her arms around Lora and held her for a minute, whispering something in her ear. When they parted, they both had wide smiles on their faces. Flynn and Rachel met them at the truck.

Mercy fell asleep on the short, rough ride up to the foreman’s house. After he parked the truck, Chad gathered her in his arms to carry into the house. Lora hurried ahead to open doors and pull down the blankets on the bed. Chad settled the little girl onto the mattress and positioned Handsome next to her, but he moved back for Lora to cover her daughter.

She motioned for him to step out of the room and he waited just in the hallway.

“I wanted to thank you again for tonight,” she whispered. “I didn’t really want to go down but I’m so glad I did. Your family is amazing.”

Chad smiled at her. “They love Mercy. She fit right in with the other kids.”

“And she hasn’t had very much of that. I mean, she goes to school, but she has no other family to speak of. I was an only child and Derek was as well. I worry what would happen to her if something happened to me.” Her eyes filled with tears. “It would kill me if they got their hands on her. She’s so good and sweet.”

Moving slowly, Chad swiped her tears away. “They won’t get her. We’ll make sure of that.”

She looked at him, weighing his words before she let out a sigh. “I know,” she whispered. “I’m going to try to sleep too. Thank you, Chad, for everything.”

He watched her reenter the room and close the door softly behind her. Massaging her tears into his fingers, he wished he knew how to proceed. On the one hand he wanted everything resolved, with Lora and Mercy safe. But on the other hand, he wanted the current set-up to continue. Being this close to Lora and her daughter was teaching him how alone he’d been for a long time. He would love to bring them into the family permanently.

Turning down the hallway, he marveled at his own calmness. Given his track record, the thought of being with a woman permanently should have scared the shit out of him.

It didn’t.

A
iden started to
eat actual food. And talk to a counselor. When he realized that was the only way he was going to make it out of the hospital, he demanded solid food. Dr. Hartfield cautioned him to proceed slowly but with his typical bull-headedness, the man stretched the limits. He started walking, which was drama by itself. He was shaky on his feet but refused to be touched by the nurses and orderlies. They finally resorted to getting him a walker to use. Then they had to take the damn thing away because he was up all the time.

The counselor seemed confused as to what to do with him. “He admits to having issues with flashbacks, but refuses to admit his medical or military history.” She shook her gray head. “I’ve prescribed him a low-dose antidepressant, but I can’t do more than that unless he talks to me.”

But he never did. The antidepressant seemed to help his mood, but he refused to talk to the counselor any more.

Duncan could only shake his head. He remembered doing the same things when he was in the hospital, stretching every limit he could. How could he blame Aiden for doing the same?

Several times he felt Dr. Hartfield’s scrutiny on him, but he refused to acknowledge it. They’d had a nice meal together. That was enough.

Aiden seemed curious about why Duncan stayed around, but after the first day he never said anything out right. Duncan encouraged him as much as he could, but made sure to keep his distance. Aiden wasn’t ready to be dug into.

After the third day of steady eating and gaining strength, Aiden got rid of the walker. Duncan knew it was time to talk to him, before he walked out of the hospital without saying a word.

“I want to take you back to Denver,” Duncan told him after lunch.

Aiden gave him a narrow eyed look. “Why?”

Duncan kept his body relaxed. “Because it’s where you were living.”

“Do you actually think I want to go back to that?”

Duncan shook his head. “No, but I can help you get on your feet. You can’t have been content living on the streets like that. The company I own is full of crazy idiots like you.”

Aiden’s eyes flared with heat, then he barked out a laugh. “Is this how you recruit all your people?”

Duncan shook his head. “Actually, I have a file with over a thousand resumes in it of people, former military, that want to be part of my company.”

Aiden’s hard jaw slackened. “Seriously?”

He nodded. “So, what I’m offering you doesn’t happen very often. I suggest you think about it before you refuse it outright.” Pushing to his feet, he nodded to Aiden. “I’ll be back in the morning.”

*     *     *

Duncan did not
have a good feeling as he walked into Aiden’s hospital room the next morning. Kansas City was dreary today, as if warning of impending disaster.

The younger man sat on the edge of the bed as if he were getting ready to take a walk. Some of the flesh had filled in around his eyes and he didn’t look so gaunt anymore. Duncan had seen the doctor down the hallway and knew she would be along as soon as she could break away from her other patients.

“Good morning, Aiden.”

No response.

Dr. Hartfield came through the door grinning. “Good morning, gentlemen. Aiden, how do you feel today?”

“Like I want to leave.”