“Gabby, you’re prettier every time I come for a visit.” Rider swooped down on the middle-aged woman who answered the door.
The woman reached up, hugging him, then pushed him away. “You’re lying, but go ahead. I don’t mind.”
“Jo, this my aunt, Gabby. Gabby, this is Jo Turner.”
His aunt gave her a sweet hug, then kissed Jo on the cheek. Jo turned crimson at the attention she was receiving.
“She can’t be your father’s sister.”
Rider laughed when her hand went to her mouth, giving him a mortified look.
“I am.” Gabby laughed with him at Jo’s consternation. “It’s okay, sweetie. He isn’t worth the bullet to put him out of his own misery. I take it Ben was his old, reliable self during your visit with him?”,
“You can say that again,” Rider commented, taking Jo’s hand to follow his aunt into the living room.
“It’s not worth repeating to talk about that son of a bitch.” Gabby motioned them to take a seat on her couch as she sat down on the arm of a pretty, green chair.
“How have you been doing?”
“I can’t complain, and Carsen is good, too. He’s with Delara. Are you going to introduce her to Jo?”
“Just for a moment. Then I thought you could keep Jo company while I spend some time with Delara.”
“Go ahead. I’ll make Jo and me some coffee. I made your favorite cake for you. I’ll try to save you a piece.” His aunt nudged him toward the hallway when he would have gone into the kitchen. “I made one for you to take home. Go ahead. Introduce her to Delara,” she said gently.
Rider went down the hallway, making a left turn that opened into a large bedroom filled with windows. When he and Jo entered, the man who was reading to the woman on the bed closed the book and stood, meeting them halfway.
“Good to see you, brother.”
“It’s good to see you, Carsen.” Rider shook his aunt’s husband’s hand as Jo moved around them to look at the woman on the bed. “Jo, this is Carsen, Gabby’s husband.”
Jo tore her eyes off the bed, taking the hand he held out to her.
After a brief shake, Carsen gave him the book he had been reading to Delara. “I’ll leave you to make the introductions.”
At the soft click of the door shutting, Rider put his hands in his pockets as he walked to the bottom of the bed.
“Delara, this is Jo.” Taking a deep breath, he finished the rest of the introduction. “Jo, this is Delara … my wife.”
The hurt on her face cut him off at his knees.
“Does she understand …?” Jo tried to get her question out. “Can she …?”
“The doctors say no.” Rider didn’t want to think the woman he had loved so deeply was in any pain or knew what was going on around her, trapped in the shell that remained.
“Her eyes are open.” Jo moved closer to the bed.
“They say it’s a reflex.” Rider clenched his hands in his pockets.
“What happened?”
Rider moved to the side of Delara’s bed, making sure he didn’t interfere with any of the machines that were on both sides. The largest on the other side of the bed breathed for her.
He lifted a trembling hand to the rail of her bed. It was still hard for him to be in the same room with her. The lovely, vivacious woman he had fallen in love with was gone, and all that was left was the shell of her body that had once held her soul for the brief time she had been on earth.
“Rider …?” Jo’s voice drew him out of the past.
“The brothers know what I’m about to tell you, but it can’t go any further.”
“I won’t tell anyone,” she assured.
“I know you won’t, Jo. That’s one of the things I’ve grown to love about you.” Rider lifted his eyes from Delara’s blank face to Jo’s pain-filled one. He wanted to snatch her into his arms. Resisting the impulse, he turned back to Delara.
“I met Delara when I was in the service. It was five years after my divorce, and she was everything Quinn wasn’t. I had been given the job of infiltrating a camp that was blocking a convoy of trucks that was trying to render medical aide to a town that was under constant attack. I had been ordered to find a way for our men to get inside and take it over so the trucks could get through.
“I had already been involved with Delara. We had already been married when the order came from my commander. We were just waiting for her passport to come through before she joined me. That’s why she was in the town where I had met her. Her father was the leader of the camp that needed to be neutralized. She didn’t want to live in her father’s world.
“I was to go in and find a way to get our squadron inside without getting them all killed. I had sneaked in once to memorize the buildings and where most of their guns and ammunitions were being placed.
“Gavin’s order was to get the job done, but he was uneasy about it. He had tried to get the commander to wait a few more days. They didn’t want to wait.”
“Why did he want to wait?”
“Gavin didn’t trust Delara. He said she was a spy; that I couldn’t trust her. He even tried to get Viper and Knox to convince me so that I would second his opinion to wait. I wouldn’t. I wanted her away from that world. I was terrified her father would have her killed.”
“You loved her.”
“I loved her,” he acknowledged. “She was carrying my child, Jo. How could I not trust her?”
How naïve he had been still haunted him. So many could have died—his child had—because he had given that trust to Delara.
“The day before executing the attack I had planned, I spent with our commanders, coordinating the attack. Delara was supposed to stay put until I came back the next day.”
“She didn’t.”
“Gavin and I were coming out of where the meeting had taken place. There were barriers, so no one could get through unless they were military personnel. We had left the restricted area and were making our way back down the street when Gavin spotted her. We took off after her. I couldn’t understand why she was there. That was when I noticed she was carrying a basket. I swear to God I didn’t know what it was.”
Jo went to his side, easily wrapping her arms around him to steady him. “I don’t need to hear any more, Rider.”
Rider broke. The ice encasing his heart that Jo had steadily chipped away since the day of the auction didn’t have enough strength to withstand the power of Jo’s love. And so, he stood there, crying over the woman who had betrayed him.
“There’s not much left to tell. We ran after her to stop her before she could reach the barricade. I yelled at Gavin that I would take the basket and he was to get Delara the hell out of there.
“Delara saw us running toward her and reached inside the basket. I would have gotten it away from her before it exploded if Gavin hadn’t held me back. Whoever had wired the bomb had done it wrong. It misfired.”
“It could have been you.”
“I wanted it to be me. My child would have lived.” The torturous thought had kept him up sleepless nights since … until those sleepless nights had been filled with Jo.
“You had her brought to the States.”
“Gavin had warned me that her father had too much control over her. I didn’t listen.”
“Rider, you loved her. That’s what you do when you love someone. She was carrying your child; her obligation should have been to you and that baby. She failed you both.”
“I can’t bring myself to divorce her. I gave her my oath to protect and care for her when I married her. I can’t break that oath when she can’t understand me.”
“I understand, Rider. I loved my father despite him preferring a bottle of liquor to the promises he made to me.” Jo took a deep breath, shaking off the despair the room held. “I’ll leave you to have some time alone. I’m anxious to taste Gabby’s cake.”
“Jo, I brought you here to prove to you that I can be the man you want me to be. He was there all along. I was j
ust too stupid to show him to you.”
“I don’t think you were stupid, Rider. Two women betrayed you. A heart is a precious thing to trust to someone. It hurts when that trust is broken.”
“I’m sorry. I never cheated on you with my body, but I did with my actions. If you take me back, I swear I’ll never let another woman buy me presents, or buy my favorite cereal, or give me extra french fries.” Rider tried to rack his mind on how to convince her to give him another chance.
Jo gave him a tight hug before letting him go. “Can I say something to her?”
“Go ahead. Like I said, I don’t know if she’ll hear you.” Rider moved aside, letting Jo take his place at Delara’s side.
“Girl, you screwed up so bad. You could have had it all with Rider. I don’t care why you did what you did, but I’m telling you here and now, I will make damn sure he won’t be thinking of you when he’s in my bed, or when I have his child, or when I make him show me that beautiful smile of his.” Jo leaned farther over the bed, filling the blank eyes with the vision of what she looked like. “After I leave this room, I’m never going to give you another thought, but I hope there’s enough of a spark of life in you to see the woman who’s going to fulfill the promises you gave him.”
Seconds later, Rider watched as Jo casually walked out of the room as if she were strolling through a park, taking the last piece of his heart with her.
46
Gabby poured her a cup of coffee as soon as she came in. “I put a little brandy in there for you.”
Jo took a seat at the small table as Gabby cut her a slice of the dark cake. “I use a devil’s food cake mix to make it. That’s why Rider likes it so much. That boy has a little bit of the devil in him,” she said with a wink.
“A little? Gabby, I feel as Rider’s aunt, you deserve to be told the truth.” Jo took a bite of the chocolate cake, her eyes nearly rolling back in her head. It was pure sin on a spoon.
“I’m waiting.” Gabby grinned proudly at her expression.
“Sorry. This is delicious.” She took another bite. When her eyes came back from heaven, it took a second to remember what she had been about to say. “Oh, I remember.” She leaned forward conspiratorially, lowering her voice. “He may have been a little devil when he was younger, but now he’s an angel in disguise.”
“Rider’s no angel.” Gabby slapped the table, laughing.
Jo took another bite. “I can prove it. I’m not saying that his halo isn’t tarnished, but it’s still there.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“You’ll see.”
They were still sitting there when Rider came out of the bedroom. Jo was on her third cup of coffee and her second slice of cake.
Taking a seat at the table, Jo gave him a bite of her cake as Gabby fixed him a plate and a glass of milk.
Jo screwed her face up at the milk. “You’re giving him milk instead of coffee? Here, you can have a sip of mine. It’s the best I’ve ever had. What brand is it?” Jo asked, giving Rider the evil eye when he took another sip.
“I don’t know what brand of coffee it is, but I’d say the brandy is about 90 percent. How many cups have you had?”
“A couple.”
“It’s her third cup.”
“Tattletale.” Jo glared at Gabby from over her coffee cup.
“I like her, Rider.” Gabby cut him another slice of cake after he wolfed down the first one.
“I’m in love with her.”
“No, he’s not.” Jo leaned back in her chair, pouting.
Rider frowned. “Yes, I am. I wouldn’t lie to you about something as serious as that.”
“Prove it.”
“How do you want me to do that? Tell me, and I’ll do it. Do you want me to get Diamond to help me get a divorce? I will.”
“No, you made an oath. I never expected you to marry me anyway.”
Rider’s frown drew so deep Jo ran a finger over the lines that marred his forehead.
“How do you want me to prove it, then?”
“I want the cake.” Jo lightly touched the extra cake that Gabby had made for Rider to take home.
“You want my cake?”
“Yep.” Jo took the last bite of her cake before airily waving her spoon around. “I want the cake.”
“And that’ll prove my love to you?”
“Yes, that’ll prove it.”
When he didn’t answer immediately, it was her turn to grow worried.
“Well?” she prompted him.
“I’m thinking. It’s a damn fine cake.”
When he started laughing at her expression, she playfully whacked him with her spoon.
“Yours, Bluebonnet.”
“Then I love you back.”
Jo was enjoying herself so much she didn’t want to leave, but when he kept rushing her, promising to bring her back for a visit, she unsteadily placed her hand on the table to brace herself.
Getting her legs back under control, she reached for the cake.
“I can carry it for you,” Rider offered as they walked to the door.
Jo refused, and then waited patiently as Rider hugged his aunt goodbye. Carsen came out of Delara’s room to give his own goodbye.
“Go ahead and start the car. I’m coming,” Jo told Rider, waiting for him to go to the car. Once he was gone, she gave Gabby a wink. “I told you I could prove he was an angel. Anyone who’s willing to give this cake away deserves his wings.”
Laughing, Jo walked to the car, making sure the cake was settled securely in the back seat before getting in the front and buckling herself in. Her head hit the headrest as he spun out of the driveway.
“Jesus, what’s the hurry?”
“I have a surprise for you.” He gave her a grin that never failed to melt her panties.
“What is it?” She shifted in her seat to face him, eager to hear about her surprise. “Is it a good surprise or a bad one?”
“A good one.” He laughed, getting into the game she loved to play.
“Is it bigger than a bread box?”
“A lot bigger.”
“Wow. Okay …” Jo tapped a finger on her chin as she thought. “Is it twice the size of a bread box or smaller than a car.”
“Bigger.” Rider sped up, getting on the interstate.
The rest of the way home, he fielded her guesses, not giving anything away. When they finally reached Treepoint, Jo was practically bouncing in her seat, anxious to get home to find out what her surprise was. The slowing of the car as they neared The Last Riders’ clubhouse had her looking at him.
“You need to go inside to get my present?”
“You have to come inside. It’s too big to carry.”
She hesitated. “This isn’t going to be like the last present you gave me, is it?” Jo asked as she got out.
“No, Bluebonnet. Nothing is going to spoil our night.”
She warily went up the steps. She really didn’t want the night to be spoiled.
She was slightly less nervous when Moon gave a sharp knock on the door as they approached, thinking he was being considerate to her by giving everyone time to stop what they were doing and get their clothes back on. Watching a Friday night party on one of the monitors in the security room was one thing. Full throttle was for the …
As Rider let her go first, Jo stepped inside, practically shielding her eyes. It was the cheers of “Happy birthday!” that had her emotions in a tailspin.
Balloons had been tied to the staircase, and when she walked through the crowd and saw Mag, she broke down in tears, running to the old woman. She dropped to her knees in front of her.
“You’re going to make me cry with the way you’re carrying on!” Mag’s rough pats on her head had Jo raising her shining eyes to hers.
“I missed you,” she said, wiping at her tears, self-conscious of everyone staring at her.
“I missed you, youngin. Go enjoy your party, and if you get a chance, sneak me one of those beers.”
“I’ll try,” she promised.
Jo took the hand Mick held out to her, lifting her off the floor.
“I’m glad you’re back.” The bear hug he gave her almost had her crying again. “There’re a bunch of Big Reds behind the bar. Don’t let Moon drink them all. He’s been drinking them since I brought them in.”
“I won’t.” She loved the big man. He had let her cry all the way to the hospital to see Mag after she had left The Last Riders’.
He looked over her shoulder at Rider. “I hope you treat her better this time,” he warned.
Jo leaned back against Rider. “Don’t worry; he learned his lesson.”
“I hope so. If not, I’ll remind him,” Mick was saying as Mercury walked by to watch a game at the pool table. Jo gave him a reprimanding glare. “You go open your presents, Jo. I’m in the mood for a good game of pool.”
“Trip is a pool shark,” Jo whispered as he started around her.
“Well, that’ll be an interesting game. I am, too.”
Jo spent the next hour talking to the others in the room until Rider dragged her to the couch where Lily and Shade were sitting, tired of following her around the room. Scooting over, he made room for her to sit next to him.
“Enjoy your trip?” Lily asked after she settled comfortably next to Rider.
Rider’s arm around her shoulders tightened. Jo turned her head to give him a curious look, seeing the warning in his eyes. Not understanding what he was warning her about, she became noncommittal as Lily questioned her.
“Shade said you went on a small trip, but he didn’t say where.”
Rider’s hand tightened across her shoulders again. She didn’t want to get Rider in trouble, but she didn’t want to lie to Lily either.
“We went to several states.” Technically, we had flown over several states, she soothed her conscience.
“Did you go anywhere out West? I’ve been begging Shade to take me, but he won’t.”
“Why not?” Jo looked at Rider out of the corner of her eye.
“I had a thing for cowboys when I was younger. I keep telling him he’s being ridiculous, but he keeps planning vacations anywhere but the western states.”