Fortune's Proposal Page 18
And two, the man’s eyes were unfocused and vacant.
The officer sighed. The man reminded him of his own old man, when the Alzheimer’s had been getting bad.
He stepped closer, keeping his voice easy. “You look like you could use a sandwich. Maybe a cup of coffee.” He glanced back at his cruiser and wished that he hadn’t turned on the beacon. He didn’t want the flashing lights spooking the guy. “If you’re on your way somewhere, I can give you a lift.” Straight to a hospital, he thought.
He glanced back at the old man, surprised to see that he’d begun shuffling his way again along the highway. He looked dead set on leaving behind the last few lights of town, heading on down the dark road. “Hold on there.” He caught up to the wanderer, wrapping his arm around the guy’s arm. He felt sturdier than the officer expected, but this time he was prepared. When the wanderer tried to shove him off, he held fast. “We’re going to get you some help. It’ll be warm. And safe.”
The man looked annoyed. “Leave me alone. I’m in a hurry.” Despite his appearance and his dazed expression, his voice was strong. He looked up suddenly at the sky, his vacant eyes narrowing.
The officer glanced up, too, but all he saw were the blinking lights of a jet high in the sky. He looked back at the man. “I can help you get where you’re going if I know where you’re heading. Home?”
The man pushed at the officer’s hands. “Not home. The baby. I’ve gotta find the baby.”
The officer slowly tightened his grip. The wanderer was easily as tall as he was, but there’d still be no match between them. He began steering the guy toward the cruiser. “Sure,” he soothed. The guy definitely needed medical attention. “We’ll find the baby.”
High above the highway, Deanna sprawled on one of the well-cushioned couches inside the private jet that Drew had somehow managed to procure nearly out of thin air. She still felt breathless from the way he’d rushed her out to the airfield and onto the plane.
She felt even more breathless considering his arms were presently looped around her.
She slowly ran her palms down his forearms, loving the feel of the slightly rough hair against her palms. “We could have waited until morning to return to San Diego,” she told him, not for the first time. Her palms reached his hands and her heart jiggled around when his hands turned so that his palms met hers.
“We’re not heading to San Diego.”
She sat upright, and looked over her shoulder at him. “But I thought—”
“I know what you thought.” He threaded his fingers through her hair, slowly tucking it behind one ear. “But even the best assistant in the world doesn’t know what the boss is thinking every minute of the day.”
She made a point of looking at her watch. “It’s actually the night,” she pointed out drily. Midnight, in fact. And she recognized all too well the glint in his eyes. It was the glint that warned her Drew Fortune was up to something. Something probably brilliant, but still…something. “If we’re not going to back to San Diego, then where?” She supposed Los Angeles wasn’t out of the question. The headquarters of Fortune Forecasting was located there, and by default, both offices had been under his authority since his father disappeared.
“All in due time, Dee.” He tugged her back against him and his lips pressed against the curve of her neck.
Heat streaked through her. They were completely alone in the cabin of the jet. The flight crew, comprised only of the pilot and copilot, were closed behind the cockpit door. Still, she wasn’t entirely sure how she felt when Drew’s hands began working their way beneath the hem of her sweater.
But then his hands reached her breasts and she let out a long, shaking breath as his fingers nimbly traced over the lace cups of her bra.
Who was she kidding?
When Drew touched her, she couldn’t think of anything but more. More of him touching her. More of her touching him.
“That night in the barn was incredible,” he murmured, still dropping kisses along her neck. “You were incredible.”
Deanna’s mouth went dry. Her fingers tightened around his forearms. “So were you.” She sucked in a breath when he tugged the cups of her bra aside and his fingers closed around her bare flesh. She felt suddenly steeped in desire.
He shifted slightly and instead of sitting half reclined on the couch, she found herself lying on it with Drew leaning over her. His brown gaze looked like melted chocolate as it roved over her face. “There was just one problem.”
She curved her hands over his shoulders, trying to tug him back down to her. But he didn’t move. So she levered herself up until her lips reached his. “What was that?”
“No light.”
Her entire body flushed. “I…didn’t mind.” Which had to have been obvious.
He laughed softly. “I didn’t mind, either. But even while you were turning me inside out with the way you were seducing me—”
“—seducing you!”
“I couldn’t help thinking about making love to you like that all over again, with every single light blazing.”
Now her insides felt like melted chocolate.
She glanced again at the closed door to the cockpit. The cabin was by no means brightly lit, but it was also not in the least bit shadowy. And the couch was inviting…
His eyes darkened. “I really love the way you think,” he murmured, and slowly pressed his mouth to hers, kissing her so deeply that colors began exploding inside her head. “But not here,” he said huskily when he finally did lift his head.
She just looked at him, uncomprehending. “What?”
“Not here,” he murmured, dropping another much more chaste kiss on her lips. “First we need this.” He worked a hand between them and her adrenaline shot up a few thousand notches.
But he didn’t do anything but pull his hand out from between them a moment later.
And when he lifted himself off her altogether and moved off the couch, she frowned, reaching out her arms for him again. “Where are you going?”
“Not far from you.” He smiled faintly. “That’s a promise.” He closed his hands around hers and only then did she realize he was holding something else besides her. “This is what I realize we need.” He nudged her ring finger and she stared in shock at the two platinum wedding bands that he slipped over the tip of her finger. The metal felt warm from having been in his pocket.
Hardly daring to breath, she looked from the matching rings to his face. “Drew?”
“Turns out, I find myself in need of a wife.” His expression was uncommonly uncertain as he knelt beside the couch.
“You don’t say.” Her voice was faint. Probably because her heart had lodged itself several inches above where it belonged.
“I do.” The corner of his lips kicked up, making her heart swell a little more. “But I also know that not just anyone will do.”
She swallowed, incapable at that moment of a response.
His voice dropped a notch. “It takes a specialized person to make the terms of some deals come together just right.” He slipped the two wedding bands off the tip of her finger, and then held the smaller, narrower of the two up between them.
His hand was shaking.
She didn’t even try to stop the moisture collecting behind her eyes from spilling over. “What kind of terms?”
“Nonnegotiable, I’m afraid.” He cleared his throat softly. “As long as we both shall live.”
Her heart seemed to leave her chest altogether. Pure joy was suddenly the organ that pumped blood through her veins. “I think that is acceptable.”
His gaze met hers. “Are you sure, Deanna?”
She lifted the larger, wider ring out of his hand and held it up between them.
Her hand was shaking.
“Nonnegotiable,” she said softly. “I will laugh with you. I will cry with you. And as long as I have breath in my body, I will love you. Is that agreeable to you?”
“More than.” His voice sounded raw. “Too bad
my father won’t be around to see what he brought about.”
She leaned into him and slowly pressed a kiss to his forehead. Then his lips. “Your father will see. On this earth or not, he’ll see.”
He was silent for a moment. “I don’t know if I believe that.”
“Then I’ll believe it enough for both of us,” she whispered, “until you do.”
His gaze met hers and she knew she was looking into the eyes of a man who knew what it was to love deeply.
To love her.
“Will you marry me, Deanna?”
Tears slid down her cheeks. “Yes, please.”
His lips slanted. “We’ll put this in place, then, until we get it done officially in a few hours.” He slowly slid the wedding band onto her ring finger where it fit perfectly against her beautiful diamond.
“Okay.” Her voice was faint as she pushed his ring onto the hand he held out for her, too.
She had to take a moment just to revel in the breathtaking sight of a wedding band—from her—on his bronzed finger. It was almost unbearably sexy.
Then his words belatedly sank in. “A few hours?”
“Flight plan is Las Vegas. I have it all planned out.” He lifted her hand and kissed her finger over the rings, then pressed her palm flat against his chest where she could feel the heavy throb of his heartbeat. “Unless you really do want a wedding with all the frills.” He grimaced a little, still Drew, no matter what. “I suppose for a short while, I can wait.”
She started smiling and wondered if she would ever stop. “Well, good for you,” she murmured and she slipped her hand behind his neck and slowly drew him to her. “But I can’t wait.”
And a few hours later when their plane landed in Las Vegas, they didn’t.
Special thanks and acknowledgment to Allison Leigh for her contribution to The Fortunes of Texas: Lost…and Found miniseries
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7939-5
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†Men of the Double-C Ranch
**Montana Mavericks: Striking It Rich
‡Family Business
††The Hunt for Cinderella
*Back in Business
§Fortunes of Texas: Return to Red Rock
‡‡The Baby Chase
§§The Fortunes of Texas: Lost…and Found