A Game Of Chance

on pillows, and soon all of the women and most of the younger kids were in there, sitting on the bed and on the floor, some even in chairs. The twins were working their way from one side of the bed to the other and back again, clutching the covers for support and babbling away to each other in what Barrie called their 'twin talk.' Shea had Benjy down on the floor, tickling him, and every time she stopped he would shriek, 'More! More!' Nick sat cross- legged on the bed, her 'wed cwayon' in hand as she studiously worked on another sign. Since the first one had been such a resounding success, this one was for Barrie, and she was embellishing it with lopsided stars. Loren, being a doctor, wanted the details of Sunny's wound and present condition. Caroline was doing an impromptu fashion consultation, brushing Sunny's hair and swirling it on top of her head, with some very sexy tendrils curling loose on her slender neck. Maris, her dark eyes glowing, was telling Sunny all about her own pregnancy, and Mary was overseeing it all.

Leaving his family to do what they did best, weave a magic spell of warmth and belonging, Chance walked down to the barn. He felt edgy and worried and a little panicked, and he needed some peace and quiet. When everything quieted down tonight, he had to talk to Sunny. He couldn't put it off any longer. He prayed desperately that she could forgive him, that what he had to tell her didn't completely turn her against him, because he loved her so much he wasn't certain he could live without her. When she had buried her face against him and cried, his heart had almost stopped because she had turned to him instead of away from him.

She had laughed again. That sound was the sweetest sound he'd ever heard, and it had almost unmanned him. He couldn't imagine living without being able to hear her laugh.

He folded his arms across the top of a stall door and rested his head on them. She had to forgive him. She had to.

'It's tough, isn't it?' Wolf said in his deep voice, coming up to stand beside Chance and rest his arms on top of the stall door, too. 'Loving a woman. And it's the best thing in the world.'

'I never thought it would happen,' Chance said, the words strained. 'I was so careful. No marriage, no kids. It was going to end with me. But she blindsided me. I fell for her so fast I didn't have time to run.'

Wolf straightened, his black eyes narrowed. 'What do you mean, 'end with you'? Why don't you want kids? You love them.'

'Yeah,' Chance said softly. 'But they're Mackenzies.'

'You're a Mackenzie.' There was steel in the deep voice.

Tiredly, Chance rubbed the back of his neck. 'That's the problem. I'm not a real Mackenzie.'

'Do you want to walk in the house and tell that little woman in there that you're not her son?' Wolf demanded sharply.

'

Hell

, no!' No way would he hurt her like that.

'You're my son. In all the ways that matter, you're mine.'

The truth of that humbled Chance. He rested his head on his arms again. 'I never could understand how you could take me in as easily as you did. You know what kind of life I led. You may not know the details, but you have a good general idea. I wasn't much more than a wild animal. Mom had no idea, but you did. And you still brought me into your home, trusted me to be around both Mom and Maris—'

'And that trust was justified, wasn't it?' Wolf asked.

'But it might not have been. You had no way of knowing.' Chance paused, looking inward at the darkness inside him. 'I killed a man when I was about ten, maybe eleven,' he said flatly. 'That's the wild kid you brought home with you. I stole, I lied, I attacked other kids and beat them up, then took whatever it was they had that I wanted. That's the kind of person I am. That kid will always live inside me.'

Wolf gave him a sharp look. 'If you had to kill a man when you were ten, I suspect the bastard deserved killing.'

'Yeah, he deserved it. Kids who live in the street are fair game to perverts like that.' He clenched his hands. 'I have to tell Sunny. I can't ask her to marry me without her knowing what she'll be getting, what kind of genes I'll be passing on to her children.' He gave a harsh laugh. 'Except I don't know what kind of genes they are. I don't know what's in my background. For all I know my mother was a drugged-out whore and—'

'Stop right there,' Wolf said, steel in his voice.

Chance looked up at him, the only father he had ever known, and the man he respected most in the world.

'I don't know who gave birth to you,' Wolf said. 'But I do know bloodlines, son, and you're a thoroughbred. Do you know what I regret most in my life? Not finding you until you were fourteen. Not feeling your hand holding my finger when you took your first step. Not getting up with you in the night when you were teething, or when you were sick. Not being able to hold you the way you needed holding, the way all kids need holding. By the time we got you I couldn't do any of that, because you were as skittish as a wild colt. You didn't like for us to touch you, and I tried to respect that.

'But one thing you need to know. I'm more proud of you than I've ever been of anything in my life, because you're one of the finest men I've ever known, and you had to work a lot harder than most to get to where you are. If I could have had my pick of all the kids in the world to adopt, I still would have chosen you.'

Chance stared at his father, his eyes wet. Wolf Mackenzie put his arms around his grown son and hugged him close, the way he had wanted to do all these years. 'I would have chosen you,' he said again.

Chance entered the bedroom and quietly closed the door behind him. The crowd had long since dispersed, most to their respective homes, some spending the night here or at Zane's or Michael's. Sunny looked tired, but there was a little color in her cheeks.

'How do you feel?' he asked softly.

'Exhausted,' she said. She looked away from him. 'Better.'

He sat down beside her on the bed, taking care not to jostle her. 'I have some things I need to tell you,' he said.

'If it's an explanation, don't bother,' she shot back. 'You used me. Fine. But damn you, you didn't have to take it as far as you did! Do you know how it makes me feel that I was such a fool to fall in love with you, when all you were doing was playing a game? Did it stroke your ego—'

He put his hand across her mouth. Above his tanned fingers, her gray eyes sparked pure rage at him. He took a deep breath. 'First and most important thing is: I love you. That wasn't a game. I started falling the minute I saw you. I tried to stop it but—' He shrugged that away and got back to the important part. 'I love you so much I ache inside. I'm not good enough for you, and I know it—'

She swatted his hand aside, scowling at him. 'What? I mean, I agree, after what you did, but—what do you mean?'

He took her hand and was relieved when she didn't pull away from him. 'I'm adopted,' he said. 'That part's fine. It's the best. But I don't know who my biological parents are or anything about them. They—she—tossed me into the street and forgot about me. I grew up wild in the streets, and I mean literally in the streets. I don't remember ever having a home until I was about fourteen, when I was adopted. I could come from the trashiest