'Maybe you should have used the telephone instead of trying to break through that shield he keeps in place in his mind.' Margaret put her arm around Elizabeth's shoulders. 'It wasn't easy for me to break through, not at first, but in the last week or so.. .well, I'd say that, in time, you'll be able to read Reece Landry like a book.'
'I wish I had the courage to let you tell me what sort of future you see for Reece and me.' Elizabeth turned into her aunt's arms, hugging her.
Margaret patted her niece on the back, then stepped away from her, looking her squarely in the eye. 'I wouldn't tell you, even if you asked. You've got the power. If you want to know, look for yourself.'
When the front door of the cabin opened, MacDatho bounded outside, O'Grady following at a slower pace. 'You 'bout ready to head for home, Margaret?' O'Grady asked.
'Not yet. I want to stay and meet this Landry fellow.'
'Are you sure he's coming today?' O'Grady sat down in one of the large wooden rockers that Elizabeth had stationed across her front and back porches. 'Seems he'd have called and let Elizabeth know he was coming.'
'I'd say he assumes she already knows, which she does because I told her so.' Holding on to the side railing, Margaret walked up the steps and sat in a rocker beside O'Grady. 'She could've picked up on it herself if she wasn't so all-fired afraid that if she reads his mind, she'll discover he doesn't love her.'
'Why don't you two go on home to Dover's Mill?' Elizabeth gazed up at them, the overhead noonday sun almost blinding her. 'It may be April and a fairly warm day today, but that wind's chilly and I wouldn't want either of you catching cold.'
'We're both healthy as horses,' Margaret said. 'Besides, we're not going anywhere till we meet your young man.'
Elizabeth groaned, knowing when to admit defeat. She wasn't sure she would have gotten through the past six weeks without Aunt Margaret. Leaving Reece had been the most difficult thing she'd ever done, but it had been the right thing to do. If she had made things too easy for Reece, he might never have realized what was important in this life. He might have gone on wrapped up in the past and unable to give or accept love.
'He's coming up the road.' Margaret stood, motioning for O'Grady to do the same. 'You introduce us, Elizabeth, and then we'll be on our way. Now, you remember what I told you. You take him down to Mama's honeymoon cottage. I've got a surprise waiting there for y'all.'
'All right,' Elizabeth said. 'If he stays, I'll take him to the cottage.'
Elizabeth heard the approaching car, then turned to see a new, sleek, dark green Jeep Cherokee pull up and stop in front of the cabin. Reece Landry emerged, big and tall and incredibly handsome in his navy blue cotton slacks and his cream-colored pullover sweater.
'Lizzie.' Reece stood at the side of the Jeep, taking in every inch of the woman who'd never been far from his mind these past six weeks. Everything he'd done to put his life together had been for her. And now, free at last from the emotions that had bound him to his past, he had come to her, hat in hand, so to speak, hoping she wouldn't send him away.
'Reece.' Elizabeth had to restrain herself from running to him, but she would wait for him to come to her. Only a few feet separated them, but they were his distance to cross, not hers.
'So this is the infamous Reece Landry.' Margaret McPhearson, her dimpled chin held high, the sun gleaming through the strands of her white hair, took hold of the railing and began walking down the steps.
'You must be Aunt Margaret.' Reece looked at the old woman making her way slowly down the steps. An elderly man followed closely behind her.
MacDatho raced around the corner of the house, pouncing on Reece. Reece scratched his ears. 'Hey, Mac, how are you, boy? Have you decided to be friends?'
Elizabeth didn't take her eyes off Reece. She felt her aunt's presence when Margaret walked over and stood beside her, O'Grady taking his place on her other side. 'Aunt Margaret, O'Grady, this is Reece Landry.'
'We already know that.' Margaret waved her hand in dismissal. 'What I want to know is why it took you six weeks to get here?'
'I had a lot to settle back in Newell,' Reece said.
'Have you got it all settled now?' Margaret asked.
'Yes, ma'am, I do.'
'Thought so, but I wanted to make sure.' Margaret held out her hand in front of Elizabeth, motioning for O'Grady. The old man stepped forward, took Margaret's hand and led her to the delivery van.
Elizabeth waved goodbye to her aunt and O'Grady as they drove off down the road, then she turned back to Reece. They stood staring at each other, neither moving an inch.
'I've missed you, Lizzie.'
'I've missed you, too.'
MacDatho sat down beside Elizabeth, always her faithful companion. Why doesn't Reece say something else? she wondered when the silence between them dragged on for endless moments.
'It's a bit chilly out here. Would you like to come in?' She wanted to scream at him, to demand that he tell her why he'd come. Was he here to stay or just for a visit? Had he come to her or had he come for her? Or was he here to say goodbye?
'Elizabeth?' Reece took a tentative step in her direction.
'Yes?'
'Am I too late?'
'Are you... What are you saying, Reece?'
'I'm saying that I know what I want. I know what will make me happy, and it isn't running Stanton Industries or living in Newell in a mansion or lording it over Kenny that our father left me an equal share of everything he owned.'
'What will make you happy?' Elizabeth's heartbeat roared in her ears. This was the moment she'd been waiting for, the moment Reece would come to her, his past behind him.
'Spending the rest of my life with you, Lizzie, that's what would make me happy.' He took several giant steps, lifted her off her feet and whirled her around in the air.
She squealed with delight, drowning in the joy of being in Reece's arms. He slid her down his body, depositing her feet on the ground. She lifted her arms around his neck, gazing up at him with all the love in her heart glowing in her blue eyes.
Lowering his head, Reece took her lips in a kiss that took her breath away. She clung to him, responding with equal fervor as he deepened the kiss. He ran his hands over her back, her arms, her waist, her hips. She grasped his shoulder with one hand while she threaded her fingers through his hair at his neckline.
When they had kissed until they were spent, Reece lifted her in his arms and started up the steps, taking two at a time. MacDatho followed them inside the cabin, but stopped outside Elizabeth's bedroom and lay down in the hall.
With Elizabeth still in his arms, Reece eased his knees down onto her bed, the two of them clinging to each other. When she lay beneath him, he started kissing her again as he unbuttoned her blouse. With eager hands they undressed each other. Clothes flew into the air, landing here and there in the room. A shirt on the dresser, a blouse on a rocking chair, slacks on the floor, socks at the foot of the bed, briefs on the nightstand.
'I want you to marry me, Lizzie. I want to spend the rest of my life here in Sequana Falls with you.' He kissed the hollow in her throat, his hands inching their way down from her waist to lift her hips. 'I'll draw an income from my stocks in Stanton Industries, but I have no desire to be involved in running the company. You can teach me about the nursery business. We'll see if I have a green thumb.'
Elizabeth reached up, grasping his shoulders. 'You won't be bored living so far away from civilization?'
'I'll never be bored as long as I'm with you, don't you know that?'
'I love you, Reece. I love you so much.' She gave herself to him, completely, wholly-her body, her heart and her soul. She was his now and forever.
Reece accepted her offer, thrusting into her with fierce possession, taking her completely, wholly, and giving himself in the same way. At long last he had found a home, a place to truly belong-in the arms of the woman who had been destined to save him from his past and give him a future he'd never dreamed possible.
Their mating was fast and intense, their passion having built to an almost unbearable point by six weeks of abstinence. Their bodies moved in unison, hot and raw and wild, their hands and mouths seeking and finding, giving and taking until fulfillment flung them over the precipice and into total satiation. They clung to each other, their
