Do you take this rebel - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,74

to save yours, too.”

Then he gathered Cassie into his arms and mounted his own horse, heading for home as quickly as the weather permitted. She moaned softly while he rode. She was obviously in pain, but she was alive, and for the moment that was all that mattered. Once he got her to a hospital, he would will her back to life.

The next hour was the longest of his entire life as Cassie fought her way back to him. When her eyes finally blinked open, her gaze wandered around until it locked on his.

“I knew you’d find me,” she whispered hoarsely and then closed her eyes again.

The next time she awoke, Cole was asleep in the chair beside her bed. His eyes snapped open when he felt her fingers against his cheek. Her color was better, her eyes clear.

“How do you feel?”

“Alive,” she said. “And grateful. Every time I tried to move, my arm hurt. I kept fainting.”

He sighed when he met her gaze, then did what he’d vowed to do when he thought she might be lost to him forever.

“Good, because I have something to tell you, and I need to do it now, before I lose my courage. If you want your freedom, Cassie, I’ll give it to you. Jake will stay with you.”

She stared at him with an expression he couldn’t read, so he plunged on.

“I didn’t give you a choice about marrying me before, so I’m giving you one now. I love you. I want you to stay, but if you want to go, there will be no custody battle.”

There was no mistaking the sheen of tears in her eyes then, and for an instant he was terrified that his gamble wasn’t going to pay off, that she would go.

“You love me?” she said, and there was a note of wonder in her voice.

He shrugged. “Always have. I guess I always will. I just lost sight of that for a time.” He studied her intently. “So, Cassie, will you go or stay? You can have some time to think about it.”

“I don’t need to think about it, not even for a second.” A smile blossomed on her face, then spread. “Since I think we’re about to have another baby, it looks like I’d better stay.” She rested her hand protectively on her stomach. “Now I can’t wait to know for sure.”

“And if you aren’t pregnant, will you still stay?”

“Yes, of course, because I love you and this family of ours. I was just beginning to wonder if you were ever going to figure out that we all belong together. I’d pretty much concluded that the media had gotten it all wrong all these years, that you weren’t half as smart as they were always writing.”

“I was smart enough to marry you,” he said. “And to keep you.”

She touched his cheek, her eyes shining. “Love me, Cole. Right here, right now.”

He laughed at the urgency in her voice. “Sweetheart, you have a broken arm, bruised ribs. You were half-frozen when I found you.”

“Then you can warm me up,” she said.

Cole couldn’t resist the invitation. He closed the door to the room, then deliberately turned the lock. Then he nudged her over in the hospital bed until he could sneak in beside her and love her the way she was meant to be loved, with total concentration and finally, at long last, with his whole heart.

Epilogue

“Jennifer Davis, what have you been doing? Rolling around in the mud?”

Cassie stared at her four-year-old daughter with dismay. They were having a party in twenty minutes, and Jenny was covered from head to toe in dirt. It was all over her clothes, even in her hair.

“I’ve been baking cakes,” she announced happily. “For Grandma. See.”

Cassie followed the direction of her daughter’s gesture and groaned. There were, indeed, a half dozen “cakes” on the backyard table, each with a candle stuck crookedly into the mud. The vinyl tablecloth was a mess.

“I’m sure Grandma will be thrilled,” she said. “Now get in here and let’s see if we can clean you up.”

Jennifer darted through the door and straight into her daddy’s arms. Cole scooped her up before he realized the condition she and her clothes were in.

“Sweet heaven, now you need a bath, too,” Cassie said. “What am I going to do? The guests should be here any minute. Mother will be mortified if Dr. Foster finds half of her family looking totally disreputable.”

“I don’t think your mother’s going to be all that worried