"I haven't got anything with me. No birth control. No condoms. Nothing."

"It doesn't matter."

"I could get pregnant."

"G.o.d, I hope so."

Sera blinked with surprise. "I don't understand."

"I want to have a baby."

She looked at him incredulously. "But I know how you feel about that. I can't ask you to-"

"You don't have to ask. It's what I want. What we both want. And just as soon as nature cooperates, it's going to happen."

"Are you sure, Adam? Are you sure you can deal with that?"

"Yes. But probably not very well. I'll worry the whole time. I'll probably lose a lot of sleep and G.o.d knows what else. I'm not out of the woods yet where all that's concerned. All I know is that I've found the path to take me there." He slid his hand along her cheek. "It's you, Sera. And the very thought of letting you go . . ." His took a deep breath, trying to keep his voice from choking up. "I finally realized that for all the fear I've felt for the past three years, nothing compared to that."

Tears brimmed in her eyes. "I thought I'd lost you. I thought-"

"No. You never have to worry about that again."

She nestled closer, so soft and warm and inviting, and he held her tightly, secure in the fact that everything was finally going to be all right. He thought about the hundreds of times in the past two years when he'd dreamed about making love to her, and he couldn't believe that tonight that dream was going to come true.

"What about Gabrio?" Sera said suddenly. "Is he all right by himself? What did you tell him?"

"That I might be gone all night."

"You told him that?"

"Yes."

"But if you stay here, he's going to know-"

"He's going to know exactly what's happening. He's made it through some terrible things in his life. I think he can handle a little evidence that two people love each other."

Adam reached up to slide her other strap off her shoulder. "This is a beautiful nightgown," he said, then kissed the place where the strap had been. He moved his lips up close to her ear. "Will you show me what's underneath it?"

A few moments later, the shimmery blue fabric lay puddled on the floor. Staring at Sera in awe, he slowly reached out, dragged his fingertips from her collarbone to her chest, around the outer swell of her breast, then eased his hand down to take hers. He pulled her toward him, and she responded by circling her arms around his neck and giving him a long, thorough, sensuous kiss that answered every bit of the desperate need that had been buried inside him for so long. But with one hand incapacitated he couldn't touch her the way he wanted to and love her the way he'd dreamed about since the day he'd met her.

"d.a.m.ned sling," he murmured against her lips. "I may have made a promise I can't keep."

"Where there's a will, there's a way," she said. "Is there a will?"

"G.o.d, yes."

"Then I'll show you a way."

They eased over to the bed, where Sera kept her promise. She found a way. She was everything he'd always dreamed she would be-soft and gentle and beautiful beyond his wildest dreams. And he discovered with astonishment that there was little room in his mind now for the fear and anxiety that had consumed his life for three long years. Instead, it was filled with thoughts of the woman who was bringing him out of the darkness and making his life whole again. The woman who was going to give him the family he'd wanted so much.

The woman he was going to love forever.

chapter twenty-seven.

Lisa pulled her car up to the curb in front of the tidy brick house, and it was just as she'd imagined it would be-shutters on the windows, shrubs out front, and a pot of flowers by the door. A child's bicycle stood on the front sidewalk. Crayon drawings of a pumpkin and a ghost decorated one of the bedroom windows, apparently left over from Halloween. Occasional gusts of November breeze relieved two maple trees of the last of their fall leaves.

Just the sight of all that made Lisa's nerves skitter. It looked sweet and snug and homey-exactly the kind of place she never imagined she would belong. The deep, calming breath she took didn't calm her in the least.

It was now or never. And never wasn't an option.

She got out of the car. As she was closing the door, for the first time she glanced to the park across the street, where she saw an overgrown softball field with a mangled backstop. A game was in progress, but the World Series it wasn't.

She recognized Alex and John, along with a couple of women who might have been their wives. Populating the rest of the field was an eclectic a.s.sortment of people who were probably aunts and uncles and cousins, along with several kids. Even a few senior citizens stood in the outfield wearing baseball gloves.

Then she saw Dave. Even with his healing injury, he was in the thick of it, standing behind the catcher and acting as umpire. He looked as if he belonged there, dead center in the heart of a great big extended family.

Somebody hit the ball. A little girl on third ran toward home as fast as her little legs could carry her. She hit home plate, stomping on it with both feet at once, then ran to Dave. He leaned over and gave her a hug, planting a big kiss right on her cheek.

Ashley.

The attack of nerves Lisa had when she approached the house had suddenly magnified tenfold. Then Dave happened to look in her direction. He froze, staring, then started to walk toward her.

As he strode across the field, still limping a little, her heart leapt into her throat. He stepped off the curb and crossed the street. When he circled around her car, she couldn't read his expression, and suddenly all kinds of terrible thoughts crossed her mind.

Maybe he's changed his mind.

Maybe he's had second thoughts.

Maybe he's going to tell you he doesn't want you here after all. after all.

Without missing a beat, he swept her into his arms, dropped his lips to hers, and kissed her, and all the maybes maybes flew right out of her mind. flew right out of her mind.

She had the sense that his entire family was watching, but she couldn't have stopped him if she'd wanted to. Not when he was kissing her as if he were standing in the middle of a bunch of tequila-loving partyholics in a Monterrey hotel and the Cowboys had just declared victory.

When he finally pulled away, a quick glance toward the ball diamond told her that she'd been right. Every member of the DeMarco family had stopped playing and had turned to watch them, their jaws dropping right down to the dirt.

"Dave," she said a little breathlessly, "your whole family saw that."

He glanced over his shoulder. "Oh, yeah. They're nosy." He sighed. "I'm afraid you'll have to get used to that."

"And your brothers. They're coming this way."

"One more thing you're going to have to get used to."

"Hey, Lisa," Alex said as they approached. "It's about time you showed up. Dave's been waiting. And not too patiently."

"Alex? You want to shut up?"

"Not particularly." He turned back to Lisa. "Do you play softball?"

Lisa glanced toward the ball diamond. "No. I watch the Rangers a lot, but . . . no. I've never played."

Alex grinned. "No problem. You can be on my team. Learn from the master. Dave here would be lucky to make it in Little League."

Dave turned to Lisa. "Alex is a legend in his own mind."

"Hey!" Alex said. "Who still holds the home run record at Tolosa South, huh?"

"Reliving his high school glory days," John said, shaking his head sadly. "Is that pitiful or what?"

"Jealousy is an ugly thing, John." Alex turned to Lisa. "So you two move it, will you? We've got a game to play."

Alex and John turned and trotted back toward the ball diamond.

"Hey, you guys!" Dave called out. "Send Ashley over here, will you?"

As they nodded and continued on, Lisa felt a rush of apprehension. Dave took one look at her face, and his brows pulled together with concern.

"Hey," he said gently. "What's the matter?"

"I don't know if I can do this."

"Lisa? You want to be here, don't you?"

"Yes," she said, closing her eyes. "You know I do. More than anything. But I'm so afraid of s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g it up."

"You won't screw anything up. Trust me."

A few moments later, she looked over to see Ashley on the other side of the street. Dave checked the traffic in both directions, then motioned her across. Lisa remembered seeing her photo when they were at the hotel in Monterrey, but it didn't do her justice. Lisa didn't think she'd ever seen a more beautiful child in her life. Or maybe she was already becoming biased and didn't even realize it.

"Ashley," Dave said. "This is Lisa."

The girl looked up at her shyly, and suddenly Lisa felt her mouth go dry. She had not one clue what to say to her.

"Lisa flies planes," Dave said. "I bet she could take you up in one sometime."

Ashley glanced up at Lisa. "A real plane?"

"Uh-huh," Lisa said. "Would you like to go flying with me? It's fun."

Ashley shrugged.

Silence.

"That's a pretty braid you have in your hair," Lisa said.

Ashley pulled it over her shoulder and tugged on it self-consciously.

"Do you know how to braid?" Lisa asked.

"I braid my Barbie's hair."

"Do you think sometime you could show me how?"

Ashley peered up at her. "You don't know how?"

Lisa's heart jolted. "Uh . . . no. But you can show me, right?"

Ashley shrugged. "I guess."

Silence.

"My hair's really short," Lisa said, sweeping her hand through it. "Guess we won't be braiding it, huh?"

Ashley just stared at her.

"Maybe I'll grow it longer. How do you think that would look?"

Silence. And Lisa couldn't think of one more thing on earth to say.

"Hey, sweetie," Dave said, "why don't you go back to the game? Tell everybody we'll be there in a minute."

She gave Lisa one last wary glance, then turned and trotted off, her long braid bouncing against her back.

"Well," Lisa said, her throat tight. "That went well."

"Don't worry. You know Ashley's just shy, particularly around people she doesn't know." He smiled. "But at least we know now that we have the braiding thing under control."

"Please, Dave. Don't tease me about this."

He pulled her into his arms. "I can't promise you it'll be easy," he said softly. "I can only promise you it'll be worth it."

"It scares me to death."

"It shouldn't. You're exactly what she needs. You're going to be so good for her."

She looked away. "I hope so."

He tucked his finger beneath her chin and coaxed it back. "There's only one thing you have to do, and everything with Ashley will fall into place."

"What's that?"