Beverly Barton: Grace Under Fire

"I'm all right," she assured them. "Really, I'm fine."

"Where are your clothes?" Laverna asked. "And your poor face."

"My clothes don't matter and the bruises on my face will fade in a few weeks."

"Should I go upstairs and run you a hot bath?" Laverna headed toward the staircase.

"Don't bother," Jed said. "I'll take care of Miss Grace."

"Yes, sir." Laverna backed away and gave her husband a knowing look.

Jed ignored everything and everyone, concentrating only on Grace. She clung to him, her head on his chest, her arm around his neck. He'd come damn close to losing her tonight. Although he would have killed Booth to save Grace-had actually pulled the trigger-he was grateful that Dante Moran had acted first, that he could tell himself it was the FBI agent's bullet that had ended Booth's life. As much as he hated Booth, the man had still been his uncle. And there had been a time he'd cared about him. Despite growing up as the heir to a Mafia kingdom and later having spent years as a member of the Delta Force, Jed found that he still possessed a conscience.

The minute Jed entered Grace's bedroom, he slammed the door closed with his foot, marched into the bathroom, set her on the vanity stool, then turned on the shower. He tended to her with the utmost gentleness, removing her tattered slip, her bra and panties, grimacing at the bruises on her body where she'd been manhandled by Booth's goons and struck repeatedly by Booth himself.

"Don't think about it," Grace said. "It's over. He's dead. He can never hurt me or you or anyone else ever again." Grace caressed Jed's cheek. "Not unless you allow him to continue to influence your life."

Not saying a word, Jed stripped, took Grace's hand and led her into the huge shower stall. She went with him. No second thoughts. No hesitation. She knew that she would follow this man anywhere. She would trust him now and forever-with her body, her heart, her very soul. Like a dutiful caretaker, Jed washed Grace, shampooing and rinsing her hair, lathering her body and taking special care to be gentle with her. As he sprayed away the soap bubbles, he kissed each bruise and each tiny knife prick; then when he had cleaned her, he helped her out of the shower and dried her body and her hair. As she sat on the vanity stool and watched him, Jed dried himself. She couldn't take her eyes off him.

He lifted her into his arms. "Let me make love to you."

She smiled softly. "I want that. I want us to make love." She kissed him. "I need you, Jed. I need you so very much."

He placed her in the middle of her bed and lay down beside her. She reached for him, but he grasped her hands and placed them on the pillow above her head, then leaned over and captured her mouth in a ravaging kiss. Her hungry response ignited his passion even more. Whispering hot, erotic words of urgency and expectation, Jed caressed and kissed her from forehead to the instep of each foot. It seemed he was trying to memorize every inch of her body. And when she knew she couldn't bear another moment of his arousing attention, she touched him intimately, which gained her his immediate attention.

"Make love to me now, Jed," she told him breathlessly. "I'm aching so. I need you inside me."

He pulled himself over her, bracing himself with his elbows, keeping part of his weight off her slender body. "Don't let me hurt you."

"The only way you'll hurt me is if you make me wait."

He took her in one fast, deep thrust, embedding himself fully inside her. She gasped as he filled her completely, his shaft large and hard. Lifting her hips, meeting him lunge for lunge, she gripped his large shoulders and gave herself over to the pleasure. They mated in a frenzy, both wild with need. And when she felt herself on the verge of release, she slid her hands down his back and dug her fingers into his taut buttocks, urging him to hurry. "Faster," she panted. "Harder and faster."

He jackhammered into her. "Like this." Sweat glistened on his forehead.

"Yes," she cried out as fulfillment claimed her. "Yes, yes."

Minutes later, he jetted into her, groaning in the throes of his own climax.

Jed slid off her and onto his back. He lay there beside her, staring up at the ceiling. Grace cuddled against him, then threw her arm across his waist and nuzzled his neck.

"We're good together," she told him. "You know that, don't you?"

"In bed, we're good together." He stroked her naked hip. "Great sex isn't a problem for us, but-"

She popped her index finger over his lips to silence him. "Do you love me?"

"Do I-how can you ask me such a question?"

"You've never told me you love me."

"And you want to hear the words, want to hear me say it." He rose up, leaned over her, looked her directly in the eyes and said, "I love you, Grace. More than anything."

She grinned. "That's what I thought, but I needed to know for sure. After all, when a woman is planning on spending the rest of her life with a man, she needs to know from the very beginning that he loves her."

"What do you mean-spending the rest of her life… the rest of your life with… Grace, you can't mean that you actually want me to be a part of your life."

Sighing contentedly, she lifted her arms around his neck. "Only for the next fifty or sixty years. Just until we have great-grandchildren running all over Belle Foret and they bury us side by side in the family cemetery."

"Are you by any chance asking me to marry you?" Jed's gaze locked with hers.

"Would that be so bad? You and me and two or three babies and-"

He kissed her.

When he lifted his head from hers, he said, "You know who I am, what I am, what I come from, and you still want to marry me and have my babies?"

"Uh-huh."

"Blondie, you must be crazy," he told her, humor in his deep voice.

"I am," she said. "Crazy in love with you."

"Then before you come to your senses, I'm going to accept your proposal." He flipped over, pulled her on top of him and held her firmly against him. "No big wedding. Something small and private. Something just for us. Okay?"

"Sounds perfect to me. How about a week from Saturday?"

"In a hurry?"

"Could be. After all, we didn't use any protection when we made love, so I could already be pregnant."

"In that case, let's get married right away and I'll forget all about buying that super-size box of condoms. If you're not already pregnant, you will be by the time our honeymoon is over."

Grace lay there in Jed's arms, happy beyond belief. Four years ago her life had changed drastically in the span of a few hours. Now once again her life had altered completely, but this time for the better. Nothing could have prepared her for falling in love with Jed Tyree. The passion she felt overwhelmed her.

"I love you, Jed. You're everything to me. For now and forever."

"I feel exactly the same way about you, Blondie. Now and forever."

Grace sat in the ornate white wicker rocker on the back veranda, the twilight sky a canvas of glorious color. She loved this time of day. Early evening. And she loved this season-springtime-when the world was fresh and alive, bursting with new life. She covered her protruding belly with her hand and caressed the mound that contained her precious daughter. Elizabeth Ann was due to arrive in less than three weeks. The pink nursery, filled with lace and frills and dozens of dolls, awaited the birth of Grace and Jed's third child.

Life was good. So very good. There wasn't a day that passed that Grace didn't thank the good Lord for her many blessings. She would never forget Emma Lynn and Dean. They would be a part of her heart forever. And to this day, she still missed her father. But in the six years she'd been married to Jed, she had known true joy. Happiness beyond measure.