Tami Hoag - Lucky’s Lady

«You've been all right?» he demanded abruptly, his amber gaze boring down on her like a searchlight from above.

«Sure,» she answered slowly and without conviction. «I've been fine.» If fine meant heartsick and lonely. She could have told him the truth, but she had promised herself she would hang on to her pride, at least.

The quiet of the garden closed in around them. The fountain babbled to itself. From beyond the building came the faint sounds of the city-a car honking, someone calling across a courtyard, jazz drifting out a window somewhere above them.

Lucky heard none of it. He stood there, uncomfortable in his new shoes, wondering if he'd missed his chance at a future with the only woman he'd ever really loved.

«I've missed you,» he said suddenly.

Serena stared at him in amazement. She thought her heart might have stopped. She knew she quit breathing.

«I've missed you like hell, Serena.»

«Then why didn't you come to me?» she asked, some of the pain she'd known these last months rising up to tighten her throat on her words.

«I couldn't. I had nothing to offer you. I couldn't come to you in pieces.»

«I loved you anyway.»

«Do you love me still?» Lucky asked. His gaze captured hers and held it prisoner as he waited for her answer.

«I've spent the last four months trying to get over it.»

«And have you?»

Serena said nothing. She stared up at him, hating him for doing this to her, for knocking down all the walls she had spent these last weeks building, for taking away her pretense of calm control. He leaned down over her, bracing one knee against the seat of the bench, his arms effectively corraling her in place.

«Have you gotten over me, Serena?» he asked, his voice soft and smoky.

Serena tried to turn her head away, but he caught her chin with one hand and tilted it up so she had no choice but to look at him.

«No,» she whispered, trembling inside. A lone tear teetered on the barrier of her lashes, then spilled over, washing away her last hope of keeping her pride intact. «No.»

«Then what the hell are you doin' here with another man?»

The jealousy in his tone was unmistakable. Serena's eyes widened. «David? He's just a friend. We work together.»

«You're not lovers?»

«No!» she snapped in annoyance. «Not that it's any of your business.»

Lucky took a step back from her, jamming his hands at the waist of his trousers. His scowl darkened from black to bottomless. «It damn well is my business, chere.»

«Oh, is that right?» Serena said sarcastically, one brow rising in mocking inquiry. «And why is that?»

«Because I love you!» Lucky roared.

The night seemed to go perfectly still. Serena stared up at him, unable to speak, unable to move a muscle. Lucky stared back, his chest heaving.

«I love you,» he said again softly, without the anger.

Slowly Serena rose from the bench, never taking her eyes off Lucky. «I'd given up hope on you,» she murmured. «I waited and waited for you to come back.» She shook her head as tears flooded her eyes and blurred her vision. «Say it again,» she whispered as she went into his arms. «Please say it again.»

«I love you.» Each word was a kiss against her temple as Lucky held her close and gloried in the feel of her against him. «Je t'aime, ma cherie. Je t'aime.»

He crushed her to him, finding her mouth with his and kissing her deeply, roughly, with all the hunger pent up over the long months without her. His tongue rubbed against hers, drinking in the sweet taste of her, then he pulled back a fraction of an inch and kissed the tears from her cheeks and lashes.

«Don' cry, chere. Don' cry,» he said. «It's all right now.»

Serena couldn't help herself. The rush of emotion was too strong, her control too fragile. She pressed her face into Lucky's broad shoulder and cried as the flood of feelings swept through her. She clung to Lucky, welcoming his strength, thanking God for the pleasure of having his arms around her again.

«Marry me, Serena,» he said, his voice tight and smoky with emotion. «I need you so. I can turn my life around a hundred eighty degrees and it still won't be worth a damn without you in it. Marry me.»

Serena lifted her head from his shoulder and managed a tremulous smile as she looked up at him. He was a hard man, stubborn, proud; life with him would never be easy or dull, but life without him hardly seemed worth the effort. She loved him beyond all reason, but then, reason had nothing to do with love. Her heart had looked beneath the surface and seen a man worth reaching out to. Now he was reaching out to her.

«Marry me, Serena,» he said again.

«Yes,» she whispered.

«Have my children.»

«Yes.» Her smile widened as she took his hand and drew it around to the slight swell of her stomach.

She didn't have to say a word. Lucky read the message in her eyes. Warmth flowed through him as he pictured her holding their child, nursing a dark-haired baby at her pretty breast. Suddenly the life he had nearly thrown away seemed worth living. He pulled Serena close and held her for a long moment as the power of the love he felt swept through him like a cleansing wind, blowing away the last traces of darkness from his heart.

When he leaned back from her, Lucky brushed the last of Serena's tears away with his thumbs. His expression was a mask of concern. «I don' know what kind of husband I'll make for you, chere,» he admitted. «I've been alone a long, long time. Longer than you know.»

«It's all right,» Serena said, lifting a hand to touch the smooth, hard plane of his cheek. «You won't be alone anymore.»

«I'll have my lady with me.»

«Always.»