Shoreline Drive (12 page)

Ben groaned, stomach flopping at the very idea of going out on one of the small powerboats locals used for quick trips back and forth to the mainland. “No, I don’t need it. I’m fine.”

This time when he moved to sit up, Merry helped him. “You got kicked in the head by a horse! You’re not fine.”

“It was a glancing blow,” Ben told her, blinking to focus his gaze on the circle of people standing around them. “I feel like Dorothy waking up after her dream of Oz. How long was I out?”

“Only a few minutes,” Merry admitted. “But you were fully unconscious. You need to go to the hospital.” Worry tightened her voice to a thin thread, and Ben felt something warm and precious uncurl in his belly.

“No hospital, no ferry, no water taxi.” Ben was as definitive as he could be, considering the fact that he was pretty sure he couldn’t stand under his own power yet.

“Why are you being so pigheaded about this?” Merry gave an exasperated huff.

“Oh, Benji specializes in pigheaded,” Jo said with a smirk that somehow managed to look fond. “He’s never taken a day off since he got to Sanctuary. Rain, snow, hurricane, a bad case of walking pneumonia—nothing stops Dr. Fairfax from making his rounds.”

“Somebody has to keep Sanctuary going. It’s not like there’s a long line of people clamoring for the job. Trust me, the minute we get another vet on the island to take care of the housepets, I’ll start taking time off.” Ben grimaced, subtly flexing his leg muscles to check how shaky they were. “And don’t call me Benji.”

“Well, if you won’t go to the hospital,” Merry said, standing up and dusting herself off, “I’ll just have to take care of you.”

Ben glanced up at her in alarm. “What, right now?”

She arched a brow and crossed her arms over her chest. “Don’t worry, I won’t judge you for leaving your porn out or having stacks of empty beer cans around the place. I know it’s your bachelor pad.”

“Was my bachelor pad,” he corrected, just to see the disconcerted smile tip up the corners of her pink mouth. “And I’m not worried about you seeing my house. It’s perfectly presentable.”

Okay, not the complete truth. Ben was worried—but he was also not fool enough to pass up this golden opportunity to move his plans forward.

“Then it’s settled.” Merry sounded a little nervous, but the smile she sent her mother’s way didn’t show it at all. “Mom, my car is over at Ben’s office, and I guess I’ll need to pack a quick overnight bag, plus some things for Alex.”

Ben let his attention drift while Merry and her mother hashed out the details—who’d drive, how to pick up Merry’s car from the vet office, blah blah blah. He studied the other people who’d gathered around to gawk at the spectacle of Dr. Ben Fairfax laid out on his back with the beginnings of what promised to be a truly spectacular black eye.

Sam Brennan raised his brows in a silent acknowledgment of Ben’s good luck in landing a woman like Merry. Considering Sam’s heroic rescue efforts, and the fact that Merry was currently arguing with her mother about how long she’d be staying at Ben’s house, Ben felt magnanimous enough to nod a silent thanks up at the big guy.

Beside him was a tall kid who looked vaguely familiar, like everyone who lived on Sanctuary was familiar even if he’d never bothered to speak to them. From the way the kid looked up at Sam Brennan with hero worship in his eyes, and the similarity in their coloring, Ben deduced that this was the cousin’s son Brennan talked about earlier.

And beside the kid was Taylor McNamara, Jo’s right-hand helper at the barn. She was watching Brennan’s young relative with a naked interest that Ben was pretty sure would humiliate the crap out of her if he held up a mirror.

“Oh, wait. Merry, you and Alex can’t go stay at Ben’s house!” Jo said suddenly, jolting Ben out of his contemplation. “In all the excitement, I completely forgot. Your sister is coming home tonight!”

Ben’s heart sank. There went his plan to use this visit to ease Merry and Alex into living out at his farm. But Merry and her sister were crazy close; he’d seen the wistful look on Merry’s face when she got off the phone with Ella. There was no way Merry would want to miss Ella’s homecoming.

Damn it. If there was anyone alive who could talk Merry out of this whole modern-marriage-of-convenience caper, it was her big sister.

Ben gritted his teeth and got his feet under him. He set his jaw against the sick, swirling pain in his head and stood up. “No worries. We’ll all hang out and welcome Ella and Grady back to the island together. I’ll bring the beer.”

Merry was there beside him in a flash, her slender arm sliding around his waist and steadying him. When he inhaled, he could smell the clean green-apple scent of her hair. “Careful,” she cautioned. “And also, don’t be crazy. We can see Ella and Grady tomorrow! You need to go home and rest.”

“Maybe Grady could stay with you,” Jo suggested, clearly still hung up on the idea of having both her girls under one roof again. Not that Ben could blame her. “That’s a best friend’s job, right, Ben?”

“No. That’s a fiancée’s job,” Merry said, and relief flooded through Ben. “I know Ella will understand that I can’t make it tonight. Tell her I’ll talk to her tomorrow?”

Hmm. Maybe Merry didn’t want to hear what her sister would have to say about this engagement, either.

Feeling more hopeful than he had in a long time, Ben allowed Merry to help him gather up his medical kit and write out prescriptions for Java’s care in a slightly shaky hand.

Merry and Alex were coming home with him. In spite of the ache in his head, nothing had ever felt more right.

Chapter Nine

It took way longer to actually get Ben moving toward home and rest than Merry wanted. First he insisted on being driven back to his office to call in his orders for the antibiotics and ointments he needed for Java’s treatment. Then there was the trip to Jo’s house to pack Alex’s diaper bag, his toy bag, and, oh yeah, a few changes of clothes for Merry.

Now they were finally all strapped into her car and trundling way out to the far end of Shoreline Drive. Her precious baby boy was bundled into his Snap ’N Go car seat behind Ben. Silent, stern-faced, sharp-tongued Ben Fairfax … the man she was going to marry.

Nerves prickled at her, but she shoved them down with the ease of many years of practice. She’d made her choice, and there was no point worrying about it now.

If this turned out to be yet another in a long line of huge mistakes, well, Merry would just pack Alex up and hit the road. She’d done it before when she was on her own; she could do it again.

A pang hit her chest at the idea of leaving Sanctuary Island. She’d been happier here than anywhere she’d ever lived.

But her happiness was nothing compared to keeping Alex safe and giving him what he needed to grow up better than Merry had. And one of the things she hadn’t had was two loving parents.

So here she was.

“Turn here,” Ben said abruptly, pointing at a roughly carved sign tacked to a pine tree. The words
ISLEAWAY FARM
were etched and shaded with black lettering, charming and rustic. But that wasn’t the only sign.

As Merry slowed the car to accommodate the rocky gravel of the winding driveway, she saw at least five signs warning against trespassing on private property. “Not a big fan of company, are you?” she asked, sneaking a sideways glance at his drawn, tense face.

Looking as if the day had worn him out more than he’d like to admit, Ben tipped his head against the passenger seat’s headrest. “I don’t mind certain people’s company,” he allowed grudgingly. “But most of the world is better experienced at a distance … not on my front porch. And there are other considerations.”

“Like what?” Merry asked, to keep him talking. She didn’t want him falling asleep before she could maneuver him out of the car and onto a horizontal surface.

“You’ll see in a minute,” he replied with a drowsy, secret smile that did strange things to her insides.

In the backseat, Alex started up one of his achingly adorable nonsense conversations that mostly consisted of repeating “Ba!” over and over. Merry couldn’t wait for the day when he actually connected what he was saying to a real thought, but she knew he wasn’t quite there yet.

Ben, on the other hand, sat bolt upright in his seat and swiveled to stare into the back of the car. “Is that his first word? Stop the car! We should be recording this!”

“Relax.” Merry laughed a little, warmth tingling through her. Ben might not like most of the world, but he sure liked Alex. Not surprising, since her baby boy was practically perfect in every way. But it still made her happy. “He’s only four months old! He doesn’t know what he’s saying, he’s just talking.”

Cocking his head down, Ben gave her a severe look from under his dark brows. “Maybe most four-month-old children—and in fact, most adults—talk just to hear themselves speak, but Alex is different. He’s smart. Look at him! He’s trying to communicate with us.”

Merry flicked a glance at the rearview mirror. Her smart kid was scowling fiercely, almost growling “Ba!” at his own sock-clad feet as they kicked in the car seat. His arms were outstretched, chubby fingers spread to try and catch the elusive feet waving through the air, without a lot of success.

“What do you think he’s trying to say?” she asked Ben, amused.

Ben gave her an irritated snort. “Maybe that his feet are too hot. Here, little man.” He reached over the seat back and helped Alex remove his socks. Alex, as if determined to prove Ben right, kicked gleefully and shouted “Ba!” with every evidence of real joy.

“See?” Ben shot her a triumphant look. “Sometimes a man wants his feet bare.”

Merry narrowed a mock glare in his direction. “Is this how it’s going to be? You two boys ganging up on me?”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wanted to call them back. Ben’s connection with Alex was a huge part of the reason she’d said yes to this crazy scheme—she didn’t want to do anything, ever, to shake Ben out of that.

Even if there was a tiny, dumb part of her that wished he’d look at her with the same level of intense interest, pride, and love he reserved for Alex, shining from his gray eyes.

But Ben didn’t appear to be shaken by Merry’s teasing. Instead, a slow, pleased smile creased his handsome face. “Not to worry, Mom. I don’t think there’s much chance of anyone taking your place in Alex’s heart.”

Merry, who hadn’t worried about that for an instant, smiled back. “Even if I smother him and turn him into a momma’s boy?”

Wincing, Ben squeezed his eyes shut. “Not gonna let me forget that anytime soon, are you?”

“Welcome to married life,” she told him. “Where anything you say can and will be used against you the next time we fight.”

“We won’t fight,” Ben protested, blinking owlishly. He was starting to drift again, Merry noted with concern. “That’s the advantage of spelling everything out rationally and logically before the wedding. No misconceptions or disappointments later on.”

Merry hoped that was true, although she couldn’t shed the conviction that no amount of logic or rationality would be enough to prevent Ben from disappointing her someday. Everyone did, eventually—it was better to be prepared.

Before she could come up with a response, the car pulled up to a closed gate stretched across the driveway with yet another
NO TRESPASSING
sign hung on the top rung.

“I’ll get it,” Ben said, struggling with his seat belt. Which gave Merry plenty of time to roll her eyes, put the car in park, and hop out to deal with the gate herself.

“Not exactly how I pictured this,” Ben muttered when Merry got back in the car.

Merry’s heartbeat quickened even as she gave him a casual, “No?”

She liked that he’d thought about what it would be like to bring Alex and Merry home with him for the first time.

“I didn’t think I’d be nearly blinded by a headache,” he griped, then his eyes widened. “Watch out!”

Jerking her attention back to the drive, Merry instinctively wrenched the wheel and slammed on the brakes. The car screeched to a stop, narrowly missing a shocked-looking black-and-white nanny goat.

With an irate bleat, the goat scurried and hopped off the driveway, dainty cloven hooves skittering in the gravel. The goat had only three legs.

Merry blinked. “Is that why you had the gate closed?”

“One of the reasons.” Ben sounded resigned as he rolled down his window. “Go on, Missy! She doesn’t understand about cars. Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine,” Merry said faintly, nudging the car back into a steady crawl across a wide, grassy yard dotted with tall pine trees. She could barely discern the outline of a house through the tree trunks. “Are there … more?”

“Missy’s the only goat,” Ben said, shifting in his seat. “But there are a few others.”

He wasn’t kidding. The drive up to the low front porch took less than five minutes, and in that time, at least seven dogs of varying breeds and mobility mobbed the car, barking their heads off. A giant calico cat with a short stub instead of a tail streaked out of sight under the porch steps, and when Merry parked the car, she was sure she caught the distinctive crow of a rooster coming from behind the house. “You have your own zoo!”

Ben stiffened, pausing in the process of getting himself unbuckled. “No cages,” he pointed out tersely.

“A free-range zoo,” Merry amended, hurrying around the car to help Ben out. He shook her off, though, and instead of arguing, Merry shrugged and bent over the backseat to grab Alex. “He’s going to love this. Do you have any sheep? Sheep are his favorite.”

There was only silence from Ben. Straightening up with Alex in her arms, Merry looked around to see Ben watching her with surprise brightening his eyes. “What?” she asked, fighting the urge to smooth her hair down. That was a lost cause, and had been for the last four months.

Ben stared hard at her, as if trying to read her thoughts. “You’re not … weirded out?”

“By what?”

“All this!” Ben flung his arms out to the sides, and had a passel of excited dogs immediately jumping and pawing at his thighs, eager and enthusiastic about greeting their master after his long absence. “It’s not exactly normal to have this many pets.”