Kentucky Home (20 page)

Keith was released from the hospital a few days later. He joined Cal, unhappily convalescing in the living room. Keith didn't have enough energy to really complain, though, and Cal seemed a little more subdued after he gave up the couch for his son.

Gradually, eventually, life at the Wild Rose moved on.

As winter deepened, Mal got to work. She negotiated some new billing software for Dr. Monroe's office, she squirreled away her money and bought an old compact car, and she tried to get Luke to teach her what was so great about studs.

“Money makers, Mal. People around here will kill for this guy's services,” he said, patting the rump of the not-quite-Triple-Crown winner he'd gotten for a bargain at auction.

“There's a lot we have to set up, man,” Chase said, rubbing his eyes. Katie was banned from the room because she couldn't stop arguing with everything Luke said. Not that she was wrong, but Chase had a much more productive way of handling it. So Chase and Mal and Luke sat around the dining room table, discussing investment partners and business names that did not involve the word “stallion.”

Mal had tried to get Cal interested, not so much in Luke's side project (“waste of time,” as Cal called it), but at least in bringing Wild Rose into the twenty-first century. She finally got him to agree that a simple logo would not be too “fancy-ass,” and somehow she managed to get him interested in a Web site. She was working with Libby on the history of some of the older buildings on the farm, and went to the library a few times to scan old photos to include on the site. It wasn't the most mind-blowing Web site she had ever seen, but it was functional and informative. Sort of a metaphor for the Wild Rose.

And Michael finally granted her the divorce. His arguments against it were less than persuasive, making them as he did from behind prison walls. He was charged with attempted murder and carrying a weapon without a permit, and the prosecutor got some stalking and harassment thrown in there for good measure. There was even talk that Mal would get some of his money when his assets were unfrozen. She wasn't sure she wanted it. She would give it all to the Carsons if they would take it, but as it was, she had to sneak out to the grocery store to be able to pitch in at all. The further she got from her marriage to Michael, though, the more she saw what it had cost her. She
had
earned that money. And there was definitely a battered women's shelter somewhere that could use it.

And then there was Keith. He was making a slow recovery, but she did her best to cook him healing foods and make him comfortable and keep him out of the stables. He, like Cal, was not great at sitting still. She finally got her wish and was able to tackle the Wild Rose office, filing with an unprecedented fury. She took over some of the bookkeeping responsibilities, but made sure Katie had the lion's share. Cal seemed dead set against Katie taking over, but since he didn't want to hire a business manager while Keith recovered, he reluctantly agreed. Of course, Keith had no intention of returning to Wild Rose—Dr. Monroe had been by several times to talk about Keith coming back to the practice.

Mal had spent so much of her life feeling unsure about everything that it was a little unsettling to feel that something was so right. But it was. She knew in her heart Keith was the man for her, and that his family was her family.

 

 

Keith was going nuts. On the one hand, he loved seeing Mal become part of his family. She had kept those smarts of hers hidden, but she really had a head for business. And she was a cool negotiator, getting Cal to agree to things he would never have imagined—a Web site, for Pete's sake. She mediated arguments between Katie and Luke, Katie and Chase, Katie and Cal. In fact, Katie seemed to really respect Mal, a right not easily won.

But he was going crazy. Because while Mal was out making her mark on Wild Rose, he was laid up in bed. Oh, sure, she came to see him several times a day, checked his bandage, mopped his forehead. But as the haze of pain wore off and he moved back into his own house, his frustration level rose. She wouldn't kiss him, not properly. She wouldn't stay the night—even just to sleep, he promised. He thought he saw the same love in her eyes that he had seen before, but, dammit, she was spending more time with his family than she was with him.

That was going to change.

He bribed Luke into saddling Blue for him. The night was freezing, and a few flakes of snow were starting to fall. Mal had told him she loved how the hills looked with a dusting of snow. This was probably the last snow of the winter, her last chance to enjoy it.
All for love,
he thought, as he hoisted himself up on Blue. He winced at the pain, but once he was up there, he was fine. Blue could pretty much walk herself, so he gently guided her out of the stable and toward the house.

 

 

It was snowing again. Mal was still not quite used to these teaser snows, where flakes would fall for hours, but none of them would stick. Still, she loved watching the snow fall against the backdrop of the dark night sky. She rested her elbows on the windowsill and her head on the glass. She wrapped Keith's shirt tighter around her. How pathetic, sleeping in her man's shirt. But that was the closest she could get to him, at least while he was still recovering.

She jumped back at a sudden
tap
on the window. She flinched at another, then another. When she looked down, there was Keith, bundled in his hat and blankets, riding Blue.

“Are you crazy?” she whispered, throwing the window open. “You're going to kill yourself!”

“I'm fine! Come down!”

“It's freezing!”

“Then get your coat! Come down here, Mal.”

“No!”

“I'm staying out here until you do.”

“Keith!”

“How much of this do you think I can stand, in my fragile state?” She hoped he could see her disapproving glare from where he was. But, in the end, she grabbed her coat and her boots and met him outside.

“You're going to have to hoist yourself up here,” Keith said, reaching out his hand.

“I'm not getting up there! I'll kill you!”

“What are you going to do, walk next to me?”

She glared again, but put her foot on top of his and pulled herself up.

“You're getting good at that,” he grunted as her back collided with his chest.

“Sorry!”

“Hush,” he said, wrapping the blanket around her. He kicked Blue and they rode off.

“Where are we going?”

“Just for a ride,” he said, leaning in to kiss her neck.

“In the snow?”

“It'll stop in a minute.”

She sighed and leaned against him. “Oh! Does that hurt?”

“No. Come closer,” he said, holding her against him.

They rode in silence, his arms around her waist, her head resting on his shoulder. He took her on the path they rode that first time together, then through a clearing where the moon shone so bright it was almost daylight. Blue kept a gentle pace, and soon Keith felt Mal get heavy.

“Hey,” he said, nudging her gently. “Are you falling asleep?”

“No,” she said drowsily. “Where are we going?”

“Just for a ride, I told you.”

“You couldn't wait for spring?”

“I might not be here in the spring.”

“What?” She turned as much as she could, trying to see his face. “Where are you going?”

“Not far.” He laughed, tucking her hat back into place. “I put in an offer on some land up the road.”

“The one we looked at the other day?”

“Yup.”

“The one with the little cottage that's falling down?”

“Yes. That will need some work.”

“I love that cottage.”

“I know. I love that land.”

“So you're moving?”

“That's the idea. It's a lot for one person, though.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

He just smiled that crooked smile and kissed her neck and her cheek until she twisted farther and then he kissed her mouth. It had been so long since he'd tasted her. He grunted in pleasure, and cupped her cheek, opening her mouth with his tongue, deepening the kiss.

“Wait, hold on,” she said, breathless.

“I can't wait,” he said, leaning back down to her.

“Be careful,” she said, placing her hand gently on his chest.

He ignored her and pulled her close for another kiss. Soon they were both panting and she was twisting in the saddle, trying to get closer.

“Are we going to have sex on the horse?” she asked, her eyes sparkling.

Keith laughed, breathless, and rested his forehead on hers. “I don't think Blue would like that very much.”

Mal turned ahead and rested her head against his shoulder again. She leaned back to brush a kiss on his neck. “Take me home,” she whispered.

So he did.

 

 

Mal didn't want to go to sleep. She wanted to stay awake and remember this night forever. But Keith was so warm, and his arms felt so strong around her. The fire was crackling, and, frankly, she was exhausted. Even though she'd been gentle with Keith, he'd still managed to wear her out. She sighed and burrowed deeper under the blankets.

“You don't want to move to the bed?” he asked, stroking her back. They were piled on cushions on the floor in front of the couch, which, for all their gentleness, was as far as they could make it. Afterward, Mal had grabbed as many blankets as she could find and wrapped them up, and let Peanut in the house, too, since he was making an unholy ruckus being excluded from the warmth. And attention.

“No. It's too cozy here. And I can't move.”

He laughed softly, kissed the top of her head.

“You know, I thought you were going to ask me to marry you tonight,” Mal said, looking at the fire. When he didn't say anything, she continued, “The way you seemed to make a big deal out of getting me up on the horse and going out in the snow, and then talking about the land and the house.”

He squeezed her shoulder, but kept silent.

“And then I thought, as we were riding, that you were going to pull a ring out from under a rock or something.”

She felt him swallow. Hard.

“And I almost didn't come down,” Mal continued. “I almost risked you breaking the window again so I could stay up there. Because the idea of you asking me to marry you and me having to say no, it just, I just couldn't take it.”

She turned to look at him, bending her right knee so it was leaning on his hip. He automatically wrapped his arm around her leg, but continued to stare into the fire.

“And then I thought, why the hell would I say no? Here is a man who respects me, who understands me, who
loves
me for me, which is what I've always wanted and what I never thought I could have, not after—well, I just didn't think that kind of man existed, the kind of man who would match me like that. But it's you. You match me, because I love you as much as you love me, and I love everything about you. I love how you're willing to admit your mistakes, how you fight for hopeless cases, how you've opened your heart to me. Your whole family took me in, and for that I'll be forever grateful. But it's you I'm most grateful for, it's you I love the best.”

Without looking at her, Keith got up and paced in front of the fire, wrapping one of the smaller blankets around his waist.

Mal took a deep breath. “So, OK. So why would I say no? There's no reason. I had a bad marriage before, but that's the past, that's not you. So I was ready to say yes.”

Keith stiffened, but he kept pacing.

Mal cleared her throat. “But then, well, you didn't ask. But you know what? I've spent my entire adult life doing what other people tell me to do, acting like they think I'm supposed to act. And I'm sick of it. Dammit, Keith, I love you, and I want to marry you!”

Keith finally stopped. “What?”

“I want to marry you.” She sat up on her knees, the blankets pooled around her waist, her skin glowing in the firelight. “What I mean is, will you marry me?”

“What?” he said, blinking stupidly.

“Well, if you're not going to ask me, why shouldn't I ask you?” She was seriously losing confidence here. “I just thought—”

He left the room.

Mal stared after him for a second, blinking the hurt from her eyes. She turned back toward the fire, and pulled the blankets tight around her shoulders.
That went well,
she thought.

She was just starting to get up the energy to pull on her clothes when Keith came back.

“Wha—” she said, as he dropped down in front of her with a small box in his hand.

“I didn't want to interrupt your pretty speech,” Keith said, taking the ring out and holding it up to her. “And I'm glad I didn't. It kind of had the ending I was looking for.”

Mal looked at the ring he was holding, blinking back tears. It was beautiful, white gold with a small amber stone surrounded by tiny diamonds.

“I know it's not the usual, but, I don't know, I thought it matched your eyes.”

“Yes,” she said.

“I haven't even asked yet,” Keith said, laughing.

“I already asked. So it's your turn to answer.”

“Yes,” Keith said, slipping the ring on her finger. “Yes, I will marry you.” And this time when he pulled her onto his lap she didn't complain. She just kissed him.

 

 

Peanut lifted his head. His human pillow was jostling him too much for him to get any rest. There they were again, all over each other. Like animals. He stood up, stretched his one front leg and two hind, curled up in front of the fire, and went to sleep.