Harlequin Superromance March 2014 - Bundle 2 of 2: The Secrets of Her Past\A Real Live Hero\In Her Corner (24 page)

Her heart stalled, and all of Adam's cautions about strangers came rushing forward. She backed toward the truck.

“Madison, it's me.”

Adam.
Her heart did a crazy leap at the sound of his voice. “What are you doing here?”

“We need to talk.”

“It's one in the morning, Adam.”

Frustration crossed his face. “Give me five minutes.”

They stood awkwardly on the porch. She ought to send him away. But she couldn't. She wanted to brush the worry from his brow and take him to bed. Most of all, she wanted to just hold him. But that would only add new lacerations to her already bleeding heart.

“You could've waited inside.”

“I'm not entering your house uninvited even if you did leave the door unlocked again.”

She bristled at the chastisement. “Quincey's safe. I told you that.”

“For my sake, would you please exercise a little caution?”

For his sake? Did that mean he still cared? And did it matter if he did? The same problems still kept them apart.

She pushed open the door and gestured for him to precede her. “Why are you here, Adam?”

“There's an opening at one of the hospitals in Raleigh. I'm hoping to talk to the hiring supervisor tomorrow and see if I can get an interview for the position.”

Confused, she scanned his face. “Why leave Mercy? For more money?”

He crossed the kitchen and stopped in front of her, then he lifted his hand and stroked her cheek. Her insides swooped like a barn swallow. She couldn't stop herself from leaning into his touch and greedily gobbling it up. The look in his eyes stole her breath.

“For you. I tried to let you go. But I can't.”

His words weakened her resolve to do the right thing. “One person sacrificing his or her happiness for the other doesn't work, Adam.”

“I won't be sacrificing. I loved the challenge of turning Mercy around. I can find that challenge elsewhere. Madison, I'm in love with you. I want to marry you.”

Her knees nearly buckled. She was so tempted to say yes, to forget the cost if she did. “You can't. You don't know the whole story.”

“Then tell me.”

Her mouth dried and her pulse pounded her eardrums. “The night of the wreck, my last words to Andrew were that I wished I'd never married him and never gotten pregnant. If he had survived I would have divorced him.”

“As you should have after what he'd done. He betrayed you, Madison. My family, myself included, seems to have spent a lot of time hurting you.

“Now let me tell you my story. At first I was blinded by deceit. Then I became intrigued with a woman who cried with a stranger over the loss of an old dog. I was fascinated by one who'd risk getting struck by lightning to shower her love on a bunch of rejects nobody else wanted. I learned to respect her when she repeatedly ignored a firestorm of negativity to help a man to whom she owed nothing. But I fell in love with a woman who bottled up all the pain she'd been dealt just to keep from hurting others. You're a very special lady, Madison Monroe, and I don't want to contemplate a life without you.”

He was saying all the right words—words that filled her heart so full of hope it almost burst. Then denial kicked in. So she squashed the hope. “You can't turn your back on your family. The day will come when you'll resent me for coming between you.”

“This is not about my family. This is about you and me. You never have to see my mother again if you don't want to. I won't expose you to her venom.”

He didn't know what he was saying. She shook her head. “The first rule of veterinary medicine is that a cornered or hurt animal often strikes out at anyone close by—even someone trying to help them. Your mother was hurt and striking out. I was the closest target. I don't have to like it, but I do understand her behavior.”

“You're being more generous than she deserves.”

“She's your family, Adam, and family is important. You'll never know how important until they aren't there to love, to hate, to argue with, to hug. Never willingly cut those ties. They may not be there when you wake up and want to go back.”

“Like yours wasn't?”

She nodded.

“Madison, I need to know if you feel anything for me or if I was just scratching an itch for you.”

The insecurity in this usually confident man's face was hard to take. And she'd put it there. She had to ease his mind, even if it opened her up to more pain.

“No, Adam, you weren't just scratching an itch. I tried to convince myself that was all it was. Neglected hormones running amok, or something like that. Then I blamed the attraction on your resemblance to Andrew. But it was neither of those. What I feel for you is so much more.

“I admire your integrity and the way you put your family first.” She took a deep breath. If she said it, she couldn't
un
say it. But it was a risk she had to take. “And I love you too much to take you away from them.”

Air hissed between his teeth. “You love me?”

She stared into those hope-filled blue-green eyes and prayed he could see the truth in hers. “Yes, Adam, I love you. But even if we could work out our family issues, you've invested your heart and soul into Mercy. I would never ask you to walk away from that.”

“Where I work doesn't matter as long as I can come home to you each night. We're a team, Madison. We're best when we work together.”

She stared at him, soaking up the words and the conviction behind them and the serrated edges of her heart started to seal, giving her a sense of hope. And then the realization that
she
was the problem, not his family, sent her into a mental spin.

The only way she could have what her heart most desired was by leaving Quincey. She tested the idea and it didn't fill her with panic. Instead, it filled her with a sense of freedom. Then she figured out why.

“Quincey is my hidey-hole, my safe spot where I curled up to lick my wounds and heal. Thanks to you, I don't need to hibernate anymore. I think I'm ready to rejoin the world. If I move to a bigger practice I can help more animals...but I can't leave my clients here in a lurch.”

“Madison, I'm not asking you to move. I'm telling you I will.”

“It's because you're not asking that I'm volunteering. There's bound to be another small-town vet like me who's struggling to make ends meet and won't mind coming in a few days a week to supplement his or her income and care for my patients. As soon as I have Quincey's pets covered I'll join you in Norcross, and you can stay at Mercy.”

“But you love it here. What about your friends and your critters?”

“Adam, one thing I've learned is that when you find love you need to hold on tight and never let it slip away. I'll visit Piper and June, and I'll find homes for my critters. And then you and I can be together.”

A slow grin spread across his mouth. “You're a very smart lady, Dr. Monroe. I love that about you.”

“And you're a very generous man. I love that about you.” She stepped into his arms, ready to face tomorrow and determined to find a way to make this work.

“I'll make you a deal. You look for your veterinarian. I'll look for a job closer to Quincey. We'll take the first opportunity we get. Either way it's a win-win situation if we get to be together.”

He was willing to make sacrifices and so was she—they'd be equal partners in love and in life. And that was exactly what marriage should be.

“Then, yes, Adam, I'd love to marry you.”

* * *

P
OUNDING
WOKE
M
ADISON
from a deep, satisfying sleep. She stirred and it all came rushing back. Adam on her porch. His proposal. Making love.

The knock sounded again, harder this time, clearing the remaining fog from her brain.
At her front door.
Friends came to the back. She checked the clock. 6:00 a.m. Then she eased out of Adam's arms. Cool air from the ceiling fan teased her bare skin.

“What is it?” he asked in a sexy, sleepy voice that made her warm and tingly all over.

“Probably a client with an emergency patient.” She pulled on the first clothes she could find—the scrub suit Adam had removed last night.

He sat up, scrubbing sleep from his eyes like a two-year-old. “This happen often?”

The sheet fell to his waist and her mouth watered. “Often enough. Go back to sleep. I'll be back as quickly as I can.”

Finger combing her hair, she shuffled to the front door and interrupted the third set of knocks by yanking it open. Helen—the last person Madison expected to see—stood on her welcome mat with Danny behind her.

Only a disaster could bring them to her doorstep again. “What's wrong?”

“We need to talk to you,” Helen said, then her gaze went over Madison's shoulder. “Both of you.”

Madison turned to find Adam had followed her. Thankfully he'd put on his wrinkled clothes. She stepped back and opened the door. “I'll start the coffee.”

“Why are you here?” Adam asked.

“Because I have the answer to all of our problems.” Helen looked quite smug when she said it, but there was also a light of excitement in her eyes and none of the animosity Madison had expected.

No one spoke while Madison bustled through getting the brew started. She was grateful for the busywork. Helen and Danny sat at the table. Adam leaned against the door frame, arms folded, his face an unwelcoming mask.

“So...what brings you here so early?” Madison prompted.

Danny grimaced. “We would have been earlier if I hadn't insisted Helen pull over at the rest area for a couple hours. She's a little too fond of driving the 'Vette.”

Adam straightened. “You let her drive the 'Vette?”

His father nodded. “Might want to sit down, son. She has a lot to get off her chest and a doozy of an idea that's so crazy it might work.”

Adam remained standing. The room went silent.

Helen shuffled in her seat and studied her hands, then took a deep breath and looked up. “I owe you a huge apology, Madison. More than one. I need to back up to before you became pregnant.”

Madison didn't want to rehash those bad days. “Helen, I don't think—”

“Please, this is important. I can't live with this on my conscience a moment longer.” Desperation clouded Helen's eyes.

Madison gulped and nodded for her to continue.

“Andrew always came to me with his problems. And...he thought you'd become one of them.”

“He lied,” Adam stated starkly.

“Yes, son, I know that. Now. He blamed Madison for making him look bad at work when he really needed to change his own lazy ways. You earned all those accolades because you never took shortcuts. I know this because your fondest mentor—” she nodded toward Danny “—used to tell me stories of what you'd done and how hard you worked. But back then I didn't listen to your boss. All I did was worry about my boy and how he measured up.”

The torment in Helen's eyes was hard to take. “Helen, you don't have to—”

“Let me finish, Madison. Then if you want me to never speak of it again, I won't. Andrew claimed all you cared about was your career. You put it ahead of everything, including him. I hated seeing him so upset. And then I made a critical error.” She ducked her head and fussed with the seam of her pants. “I told him that would change when the babies came along.

“And then he announced your pregnancy a few months later. From his cocky tone, I suspected even then that the surprise pregnancy might've been a surprise only to you.”

Shocked, Madison searched for words. “You knew?”

“I suspected. Andrew didn't like to lose. And I hated myself for planting the seed. Then when Adam confirmed it...”

The pain in the woman's voice was more than Madison could bear. She placed her hand on top of Helen's. “You can't take the blame for Andrew's actions.”

“I knew my son and his weaknesses. If I hadn't said what I did then—”

“No. Stop.
If
Andrew twisted your words to suit his purposes, that's not your fault. Your comment to him would have been true
if
he'd waited the five years we'd agreed upon. In fact, that's why I wanted to wait until I was established in the practice—so I could afford to take time off with our child. Andrew's choices were
not
your fault,” she repeated when Helen's doubtful expression didn't change.

“How can you be so nice when I've been such a bi—witch?” Tears brimmed in her eyes.

Sympathy wound around Madison like a kudzu vine. “Because I know what it's like to live with guilt. We each have different methods of coping, but we're reacting to the same stimuli—pain and fear. You strike out when you're hurt. I curl into a defensive ball. You pushed me away because seeing me reminded you of Andrew. I buried myself in Quincey, hoping no one would discover I was responsible for my husband's and son's deaths. Guilt tore me up, robbed me of sleep and appetite, and it fixed nothing.

“You have to let it go, Helen. Andrew and Daniel are gone. Nothing you or I can do will bring them back. The only thing left to do is not be afraid to move forward and live your life. And don't be afraid to love again.” She met Adam's gaze and found love, support and approval reflected back at her. “Adam taught me that lesson.”

He crossed the room and took her hand in his. “Mom, Dad, Madison has agreed to marry me. She's going to find someone to operate her practice, and I'm going to look for a job up here. We'll end up wherever the first opportunity arises.”

Danny laughed. “Funny you should mention that. Your mom has the answer.”

Excitement replaced the grief in Helen's eyes. “I do. Madison, if you're willing, I want you and Danny to swap practices.”