“Zeke?” she said softly.
A raspy laugh, so faint she could scarcely hear it, drifted to her. “Who else are you expecting, the mailman?”
Natalie was so pleased to see him that she just opened her arms. He tiptoed across the room in his bare feet, put one denim-clad knee on her mattress, and caught her close to his wide chest. His arms locked around her, muscle and tendon tightening to a relentless hardness that made her feel indescribably safe. One of his big, work-roughened hands splayed over her back, the tip of his thumb nudging her shoulder blade, his pinky extending well below her bottom rib. When he shifted, he drew her along with him, seeming to expend no effort to lift her.
She pressed her face against his neck, loving the smell of him, a masculine blend of denim, leather, woodsy cologne, and another underlying scent that was exclusively masculine, a light muskiness that made her want to melt and be absorbed by him.
“Oh, Zeke, I didn’t expect you to actually come.”
His silken lips traced the shape of her ear. “Of course I came. Nothing could have kept me away.”
Coming from someone else, that avowal might have been meaningless, but Natalie sensed that Zeke meant it from the bottom of his heart. She’d needed him, so he had come. It was a simple thing—yet so beautiful it brought tears to her eyes. Robert had never been there for her, and over the years she’d come to believe that no man ever would be. Now, suddenly and inexplicably, she had Zeke.
“This has been the longest night on record,” he whispered.
“I can’t believe you climbed up the drainpipe.”
His warm mouth did incredible things to the sensitive hollow beneath her ear. “Drainpipe, hell. It’d never hold my weight.”
“How’d you get up here, then?”
“My secret.”
He fell back against the pillows with her clasped in his arms. A big hand settled over her head, and he applied pressure to nestle her cheek on the hollow of his shoulder. Then he tugged up the blankets to cover her.
“I love you. All evening long, I’ve been trying to remember if I thought to tell you that today.”
“Say it again,” she whispered.
He brushed his lips over her hair. “I love you, Nattie girl. I love you so much my bones ache.”
He felt so wonderful, so big and solid and durable. Natalie trailed her fingers over his hair, testing its thickness, loving the slightly coarse texture of the strands. At his nape, springy tufts tickled her fingertips. She ran her thumb down his neck, tracing the cords of muscle that bracketed his throat. Warm to the touch, his skin reminded her of silk when she ran her hand against the grain.
She sighed and closed her eyes, content to just lie there and let him hold her.
“How are you bearing up?” he finally asked.
“Fair, I guess. Just feeling stressed out and worried.”
“Worried about what?”
“How long have you got?”
She felt his mouth curve into a smile. “Forever.”
She liked the sound of that. Forever. It helped immensely, knowing that she’d never face life alone again. “I’m worried about the club, for starters. On the surface, it seems peripheral, I know. But it is paying my bills. Business will fall off if I’m not there, but I can’t see my way clear to leave the kids tomorrow night.”
He toyed with a curl at her temple. “Maybe we should put the downtime to good use.”
“How?”
“Close the doors for a few nights while I rip that damned wall out. I can get my brothers to help me. Get some advertising started. Get a karaoke machine brought in. When you can go back, the place will have had a face-lift, and your time spent at home won’t be wasted. You’ll have to close the doors during renovations, anyway.”
“You’d do that?”
“Give me the go-ahead, and it’s as good as done.”
“But the money.”
“Don’t go there. We’ll discuss the financial aspects later. I’ll stop by in the morning for your keys.”
It was amazingly easy to snuggle deeper into his arms and leave it at that. He stroked her hair, his touch soothing the knots of tension from her muscles and making her feel deliciously languorous.
“How’d it go with the kids tonight?”
“Awful. Chad is having a terrible time. And my parents acted like total idiots.”
“How’s that?”
Natalie related the events that had occurred in the kitchen. “It’s so stupid. How can two people who love each other so much throw it all away over a misunderstanding? No wonder Chad is feeling so insecure.”
“Insecure?” he echoed.
Natalie told him about the conversation with her son. “I assured him that he and Rosie will never be left alone, no matter what may happen to me, but I can see why he worries. My parents aren’t exactly the epitome of love’s unshakable devotion.”
“I’ll talk to him,” Zeke whispered.
“About what?”
“About never being alone. I’m going to marry his mother. That isn’t a worry.”
Natalie stiffened. As deeply as she yearned to spend the rest of her life with this man, she wasn’t sure now was a good time to broach the subject to Chad. “Oh, Zeke, he just lost his father. Maybe we should keep our relationship under our hats for a while.”
“Trust me,” he said huskily. “I won’t upset him. Don’t worry about that. Okay?”
If any other man had told her that, Natalie might have argued. But Zeke had a wonderful way with kids. He seemed to understand Chad in a way even she couldn’t. If anyone could talk with her son about the future without upsetting him, it had to be this man.
Natalie lifted her head. “Excuse me, sir, but I don’t recall your asking me to marry you.”
“Can’t.”
That wasn’t the answer she expected. “What?”
“Can’t ask. Not yet. I have to ask your son for your hand first.”
“What?”
“He takes precedence over your father,” Zeke said matter-of-factly. “I have to ask him for your hand. If he says yes, we’re home free.”
“That’s archaic. Men don’t ask for a woman’s hand anymore.”
“This man does.”
“But what if Chad says no?”
“Then we’re sunk.”
“What?”
He chuckled and kissed her temple. “He won’t say no. And it’s important for him to feel he’s got a vote. Just trust me, all right?”
She trusted him. She’d never thought to trust anyone so completely again. She sought his mouth with hers. They shared another soft, incredibly gentle kiss that worked on her nerves like a balm. She hitched herself higher. As exhausted as she was, she knew he hadn’t scaled the roof of a two-story house to take a snooze in her bed.
When she kissed him again, more deeply this time, he made a hard fist in her hair and said, “Not tonight, sweetheart. I have a headache.”
Natalie almost strangled on hysterical laughter and weakly punched his shoulder. His chest jerked on a silent chuckle.
“Sleep,” he rumbled near her ear. “You need to rest. I just want to be with you.”
Natalie couldn’t just blink out with six feet plus of sexy cowboy stretched out atop her coverlet. After three years without lovemaking, it would be a shameful waste. “I want you,” she whispered.
“No,” he replied. “That isn’t why I came.”
She tightened her arms around his neck and kissed him again. When she drew up for air, she said, “Changed your mind yet?”
“No. You’ve been through one hell of a day. No expectations. I just want to be with you.” In the moonlight, she saw his eyes warm with a smile that didn’t touch his mouth. He lightly ran his fingers over her cheek. “Here’s some news to distract you. I looked your song over, and I absolutely love it.” He softly hummed part of the tune and whispered a few of the words. “The lyrics are fabulous.”
Natalie leaned her head back to stare at hi
m in surprised wonder. “You can read musical notes?”
“What? Do you think you’re the only musician on earth? I can’t write lyrics or create my own tunes, but I do play a fiddle. I’m damned good, too, if I do say so myself. I played all the music at my sister, Bethany’s, wedding.”
“How fun. Someday we’ll have to jam together.”
“It’s a date,” he promised. “Although you may be too busy and have to stand me up. It truly is a fabulous song, Nattie. Snappy and catchy. I know it’ll sell if I can find an agent to shop it around.”
“How will you find an agent?”
“The same way writers and actors do. Agents are listed in publications. If our local library is a dead end, I’ll get on the Internet and find you one.”
“The trick will be in finding one who’ll bother with my work.”
He grinned and kissed the tip of her nose. “Piece of cake. Any agent who won’t jump at the chance doesn’t know pure gold when he sees it.”
“Oh, Zeke.”
Knowing that he believed in her enough to try to find her an agent touched Natalie deeply, and in her opinion, it was too romantic for words, making her want to make love with him even more. When she tried to convey that to him with a searching kiss, he broke the contact.
“Behave yourself. I’m just here to hold you, remember?”
As much as Natalie appreciated the thought, she wanted more, needed more. She’d been having difficulty falling asleep. He could cure that problem. She trailed the tip of her tongue over his bottom lip and pressed her pelvis against the bulge of hardness behind his fly. “Please. I’m so uptight. You could help me relax.”
His breath hitched in his chest when she nipped his chin and then licked the sting away. “You sure? I honestly didn’t come over expecting—”
“Shush.” Natalie tasted his mouth again, wanting him as she’d never wanted anyone. “Please?”
Zeke could only withstand so much persuasion. He consoled himself with the thought that he’d do more than help her to relax. He’d love her until she went limp and couldn’t connect one thought to another. He’d just settled in to savor the taste of her mouth when she pressed a hand to his shoulder. He drew back to give her a questioning look.
“Are you carrying protection?”
“What do I look like, an idiot?”
She smiled, her face as sweet as an angel’s in the moonlight. “I thought you only came to hold me.”
Zeke just grinned and kissed her again.
After making love to Natalie until she lay in a sprawl, Zeke tugged his britches back on and slipped into bed with her. Daylight wouldn’t come for a few hours. He meant to spend every minute until dawn holding her in his arms. He’d sneak back home before the kids awakened, he promised himself.
That was his last conscious thought. The next thing he knew, a light tap on the door brought him awake to discover that it had turned broad daylight. “Mommy?”
Zeke vaulted off the bed, grabbing his shirt as he went. Before he could dash to the window, the bedroom door pushed open. He dove for the floor, catching his upper body with the flat of his hands. Scooting in close to the bed, he turned onto his back.
“Mommy?” Rosie whimpered. “I had a bad dream.”
Zeke could almost feel Natalie’s confusion. She’d surely felt the bed shake when he jumped out. He heard her sit up and straighten the covers. He was damned glad now that he hadn’t pulled her nightshirt off. At least she was dressed.
“Oh, sweetie.” A patting sound on the mattress drifted down to Zeke, and he imagined Natalie indicating the place beside her. “Come here. We’ll cuddle.”
Zeke winced. Natalie clearly thought he’d left. Shit. How did he get into messes like this? He should have just let Rosie see him and come up with a plausible reason for being there. Too late now. If the kid discovered him, what the hell was he going to say, that he’d come over to collect dust bunnies from under Natalie’s bed?
While Natalie and Rosie snuggled down together under the blankets, Zeke struggled to slip his shirt on, no easy feat while lying full length on the floor. But he was motivated. Under no circumstances did he want that precious little girl to find him half-dressed in her mother’s bedroom.
“What’s that?” Rosie whispered.
Zeke froze with one arm stuck partway down a sleeve.
“What’s what?” Natalie asked.
“I heard a noise.”
The mattress creaked, and the next instant, Rosie’s darling little face appeared just inches above Zeke’s nose. Her eyes went wide with surprise. “Hello. How come you’re on Mommy’s floor?”
Zeke told the first lie that popped into his head. “I’ve been trying to catch a mouse.”
Rosie sprang to her knees and leaned farther over the edge of the mattress. “A mouse?”
“A mouse,” Zeke confirmed. “Your mom called me for help. It ran under her bed, and she didn’t know what to do.”
Rosie got a speculative gleam in her big brown eyes. Not for the first time, Zeke decided the child was too smart for her own good—or his, for that matter.
“There’s no phone in here,” Rosie pointed out.
Natalie’s face appeared beside her daughter’s. Her brown eyes round with dismay, she said, “Cell phone. I called him on my cell phone.”
Rosie looked at her mother. “Where is it?”
“Where’s what?” Natalie asked.
“Your cell phone.”
“Here somewhere.” Natalie lifted the covers. “I’ve misplaced the darned thing again.”
Zeke sat up.
“How come your shirt is off?” Rosie asked.
Because he was a blithering idiot. “I was going to catch the mouse in it.”
“How?”
“Throw it over the top of him—kind of like a net.”
“Did you?” Rosie asked.
“Nope. He got away.”
“Where’d he go?”
Zeke thought quickly. “In the closet.”
Rosie scampered off the bed. Zeke pushed to his feet, finished buttoning his shirt, and glanced hopelessly around for his boots. Then, with a sinking heart, he remembered stripping down to his bare feet for better traction on the roof.
To Natalie, he said, “If you see that mouse again, don’t hesitate to call me.”
Natalie’s eyes danced with laughter. “Absolutely. Thank you so much for coming, Zeke. I know it’s silly, but mice terrify me.”
Zeke turned toward the window and stopped dead. He couldn’t possibly leave that way, not without arousing Rosie’s suspicions. So instead he exited through the bedroom door, tiptoed down the old staircase, through the living room, and into the kitchen.
Naomi and Valerie sat at the table, sipping morning coffee. The instant they saw Zeke, their startled gazes dropped to his bare feet.
“ ’Morning,” he said, doing his damnedest to act as if his presence in their kitchen was a perfectly normal occurrence.
Valerie tugged her nightshirt down. Naomi was already dressed in the clothes she’d worn yesterday. She arched one eyebrow. “Good morning,” she said. “What brings you over so”—she glanced at her watch—“bright and early?”
“A mouse.”
“A mouse?” Valerie repeated.
“Under Natalie’s bed.” Zeke felt like a total imbecile. Heat crawled up his neck. “Rosie’s searching the closet for it as we speak. It’s a quick little bugger.”
Naomi smiled. “Coffee?” she offered, lifting her cup.
Zeke reached up to smooth his hair and almost groaned. It was standing straight up in spikes. “No, thanks. I’d better get on home.”
With as much dignity as possible, he padded across the kitchen floor. When he reached the door, Valerie said, “That’s dangerous, you know.”
“What is?” Zeke asked.
“Hunting mice in your bare feet. They bite.”
Once outside, Zeke could find only one of his boots. He’d left both of them next to
the back stairs. Bewildered, he did a slow turn, searching the yard. Beyond the fence, he spotted Chester. When Zeke walked closer, his suspicions were confirmed. The damned gander had confiscated one of his Tony Lamas.
“Good-bye!” a feminine voice called.
Zeke turned to see Natalie leaning out her bedroom window. She looked so beautiful with her hair all mussed and her nightshirt slipping off one shoulder that his embarrassing trek through the kitchen seemed almost worth it.
Zeke grinned and shook his head. “Coffee’s on. Your mother and sister are already up.”
She cringed and touched her fingertips to her mouth to stifle a laugh. “Sorry.”
Zeke tapped his watch. “Next time, I’m using the alarm function.”
“Good plan.” She took a deep breath of the sun-warmed morning air. Then she grinned and said, “Just so long as there is a next time.”
Zeke nodded. “I have it on good authority that mice are creatures of habit. He’s sure to come back. When he does, I’ll be there.”
Rosie appeared in the window, her small face barely visible above the sill. “Good-bye, Mr. Coulter!”
Zeke waved and went to retrieve his boot, knowing with every step that he was leaving a big chunk of his heart behind.
Natalie had just gotten the kids’ breakfast on the table when the phone rang and a knock came on the back door at precisely the same moment. Naomi had gone into town to pack some essentials for her stay at the farm, Pete was in the barn milking the cows, Gramps was snoozing, and Valerie was grabbing a shower. Natalie raced to open the door, glimpsed Zeke’s dark face, and dashed away without saying hello, hoping he’d let himself in.
Grabbing the phone, she breathlessly said, “Hello?”
“Mrs. Patterson, please.”
Natalie recognized Detective Monroe’s voice and sent Zeke a panicked look as he stepped into the kitchen. “This is she.”
“Good morning, Mrs. Patterson. Detective Monroe, here. Some new information about your husband’s business affairs has come to light. I’d like you to come in and field a few more questions this morning.”