"I give up," she said with an exaggerated sigh of relief.

"Mom hates to lose," Jimmy confided in his grandfather with a gleeful grin, which Mason acknowledged with a thoughtful nod.

"Your grandmother's the same way. Owes me pert' near a hundred thousanddollars in this gin tournament we've had going on since we got married. I keep trying to collect, and she keeps talking me into double-or-nothing."

Jimmy made his shot, then glanced up. "What's double-or-nothing?"

Mason bent to rake a twig from in front of his ball. "You don't know double-or-nothing, boy?"

"Uh-uh."

"Well now, son, that's a real interesting strategy you and me might want to explore, seeing as how I owe you six bits already."

Riaand Kale exchanged grins. "Dad's in his element," he said, shipping hishands into his pockets.

"My money's on my son."Ria leaned her mallet against the tree and walkedtoward the house. Kale fell in step beside her.

"Heard something today I thought might interest you," he said when theyreached the patio.

"What's that?" she asked, reaching for the pitcher of lemonade Sarah had set out on the picnic table before driving into town to have her hair done.

"Grady's put in his resignation," Kale said, hiding a smile when she sloshedlemonade onto the table. "Word'll hear is he's going to accept that jobinOregon."

Chapter 15 ^ "Leave me alone, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d," Grady grumbled as he felt the cold splash of a washcloth against his face.

"I can't imagine what possessed that doctor to release you so soon. No doubtyou badgered him into it the way you badgered me into loving you again."

It took him a minute, but he managed to pry open his eyes. It wasRia allright. She'd pulled up a chair and was busy wringing out a washcloth into abasin of water.

He thought she hooked like an angel, with the sunlight coming in through thewindow trapped in the dark hair fluffed around her face. Because it hurt too much to look at her and know she would never be his, he closed his eyes again.

"What the h.e.l.l are you doing here?" he muttered.

"Cleaning you up."

"The h.e.l.l you are."

"I promised Jimmy he could see you today, and I'm not going to break that promise, just because you look like a b.u.m." "Forget it, honey, 'cause as soon as my head stops spinning, I'm booting your b.u.t.t out of here and jamming a d.a.m.n chair under the k.n.o.b."

"Try it, and I'll break your other hand instead."

It was a dream, he decided-until the cold cloth slapped him in the faceagain. For good measure she'd added soap. He sat up spitting and cursing. Onlywhen the pain crashed again did he remember why sudden moves of any kind werea bad idea.

"Go away, Ree. When I'm on my feet, we'll work out custody."

Riaheard the defeat in his voice and wanted to lay her head against that big,horribly bruised chest and weep. "You need a shower and a nourishing meal first, and then I'll help you shave."

His sigh was weary. "If that's what it takes to get you out of here."

"Hold on to me, Grady. We'll do this together."

"I'll do it alone. I'm used to it."

She considered it a measure of his stubbornness that he got himself strippedand into the bathroom without pa.s.sing out. Even so, he was as pale as death,and his hand shook a little as she wrapped it in a plastic bag, secured with a rubber band she'd found wrapped around one of the newspapers piled up outsidehis door.

"Hold on, I'll turn on the water," she said, opening the frosted door to thetiled stall.

"I'll do it," he muttered, lurching past her.

"Grady-"

"Go torment someone else," he muttered, closing the door in her face. Thewater came on hard, and she heard him gasp.

"Serves you right, you stubborn jacka.s.s," she muttered, glaring at himthrough the clouded gla.s.s. He was so terribly proud-and so badly bruised,inside was well as out.

The man needed tending almost as much as he needed to be loved.

Like it or no, he was going to have to let her do both those things.

The shower door opened, and she stepped into the spray, crowding him against the corner. "Hey," he managed to get out before his heart wedged in histhroat. She was naked, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s already pearling with drops of steam.

"Hand me the soap," she ordered, her cheeks pink.

"Ree-"

"The soap, Grady." He used his good hand to fumble it into hers. "I'm takingyou back to the lake with me, and then-"

"No. I appreciate the effort, but no."

She worked up a good lather, then reached past him to return the soap to thedish. "You lied to me."

"The h.e.l.l I did." He grabbed the hand she'd been aiming at his chest. Sudsran down his arm to drip onto the tile.

"You said you wanted to be chief."

He made a decent enough stab at meeting her snapping gaze. "I do."

"Here, not in Oregon."

He bit off a half-formed curse. Even so, it had her mouth firming. "I amprepared to forgive you, however," she said with a stern look.

"You are?"

"Of course. I admit I've never given any thought to leaving Indiana, but ifthat's what you want to do, Jimmy and I will adapt."

"I don't remember asking you to come."

"Of course you didn't. We're a family. Where else would we be but with you?"

The steam curled around them, warming his skin andturning her hair to liquidsilk. She'd never seemed more beautiful. He'd never wanted her more-or felt more inadequate. All she had to do was look at his wrecked body to know whatkind of man he really was. Sooner or later she'd figure out she'd made amistake, tying herself to a guy who would never be more than average.

"Ree, for G.o.d's sake, don't do this."

She moved closer, trapping his arm against her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "No one's going toneed you the way I need you, Grady. No one's ever going to want you the way Iwant you. I love you, you idiot. If I have to say it every day for the rest ofour lives before you believe me, then that's what I'll do."

He threw his head back and let the spray pound his face. It sounded as thoughshe was offering him salvation and absolution. Paradise. There had to be akicker, a sneaky left jab ready to take him to his knees. Happiness couldn'tbe that easy.

"I don't know how to be any better than I am, Ree, and that's not goodenough."

"Because you think you failed us?"

He brought his gaze back to her face and kept it there. He would watch hereyes. And he would know when she finally saw him for what he was. It wouldhurt, but it was necessary. "There's no 'think' to it. It's a fact. I swore anoath to protect, and I made promises in church. I broke both."

He braced for scorn. Instead she used a word that had his jaw dropping beforehe slammed it shut.

"What if Monk had killed Brenda? Would that have been my fault?"

"Of course not."

Her eyes were a clear green and full of challenge. "Why not? I asked Flynn tolook into it. Monk found out, and he took it out on Brenda. He could havekilled her. If he had, it would have been my fault."

"Ree-"

"Even though I was doing what I thought was right, I would have set events inmotion, just the way you did by going after a man who destroyed lives formoney."

She had him cornered. Neatly, ruthlessly backed into a dead end.

On the street, he would already be bracing to dodge the first swing, hisfists bunched and ready, his body folding into a street fighter's crouch. Hehadn't a clue how to fight a woman who refused to listen to reason. Who usedwords instead of her fists. Who could melt him with a smile and have him on his knees with a kiss. He took a breath. In spite of the steam that wa.s.sapping his strength, his muscles were hot-wired and edgy, his nerves humming.He nearly leaned forward and wrapped himself up in her strength. But thatwould shame him. A cop didn't lose his cool. It was one of the unwrittenrules. Rules pounded into Grady by three generations of cops.

"You're not going to give up, are you?"

"Not on your life, my dearest. I gave up once, and spent three miserable years wishing I hadn't been such a coward. As someone I love very dearly saidto me not so long ago, I learn slowly, but I do learn."

He drew a breath. He'd felt this way twice before. The first time had been onthe rainy Sat.u.r.day morning when he'd walked into an airless, dismal cla.s.sroomto face a sixteen-page police academy entrance exam. He'd been so uptight he'dbarely gotten out his name for the examiner. Five years later he'd nearlythrown up before fumbling out a marriage proposal.

"I'll let you down again. I'll try not to, but I will."

"I'll let you down, too. But we'll forgive each other and keep on loving eachother, like your folks."

"G.o.d help me, I ... need you, Ree. Every morning without you I had to find areason to make it through one more day."

"Oh, Grady, so did I." Somehow she'd worked it so his arms were around herand she was pressing him up against the back of the shower stall, out of mostof the spray. The tile felt slick and cool against his back. She feltwonderful, her soft body molding to his. If it was a dream, he never wanted towake up and find her gone.

"You fight dirty," he murmured, kissing her temple. The smell of steam andsoap had never seemed so erotic. "I can see I'm in for a rough ride these nextfifty years or so."

She drew back and looked up at him, her eyes full of hope, her mouthvulnerable and pale. "So that's a yes?"

Whatever she wanted, it was already hers. Still, he made himself take histime. Even a man in love should know what the heck he was agreeing to. "Idon't know. What's the question?"

She frowned, looking adorable and exasperated and precious. "I believe wewere talking about marriage."

Happiness was a hot coil in his belly, waiting to unwind. "We were?"

"Of course. Well, more specifically, I asked you to marry me again."

It took him a minute to fight his way past his need to crush her hard againsthim. The last thing he needed was another splintered rib. "Guess I could dothat," he said past the thick emotion in his throat.

"I still have the ring. Your ring." She drew back to look up at him. Her facewas shiny and wet. With tears.

His hand shook as he brought it up to wipe her cheeks. "You're the d.a.m.nedestwoman," he managed, his voice husky with the things he should say. Words thathe would offer over the years when the emotion didn't threaten to break him."You only cry when you're-" He stopped suddenly, still unsure.

"When I'm what?" she prodded, her eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g.

He shrugged. "Nothing. It was just something Jim and I talked about."

"Happy?" she said with a smile that slipped right down inside and grabbed hisheart.

"Yeah." He swallowed. "Are you?"

"Oh, yes." She wiggled against him, and the body he thought half-deadsuddenly came alive. "Are you?"

"I will be," he muttered, helpless to keep from grinning. "As soon as I getyou out of this shower and into bed."

Her smile was loving and sweet-and s.e.xy as all get-out. Just for good measureshe arched to her toes and kissed him. Oh, yeah, definitely alive, he thought.Every darn inch of him. "Why wait?" she whispered. "We're almost married. Noreason not to start the honeymoon early."

Grady figured he should protest a little. After all, cops weren't supposed tobe pushovers. "Nope," he said, pulling her closer. "No reason at all."

end.