Authors: Marie Force

Line of Scrimmage (23 page)

Chapter 24

“WHY?” SUSANNAH CRIED AS SHE STOOD TO FACE HIM. “I asked you not to do that!”

“No, you said I couldn’t kill him. I was very proud of myself for letting him live.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about it?”

“Because there was no way I was bringing him into that room with us last night, not after you had gone to all that trouble
to surprise me.” He finished the sandwich with one big bite. “And I didn’t want to upset you.”

“You didn’t tell me because I would’ve told you not to do it.”

“Maybe.”

“
Why couldn’t you have just left it alone?
”

His eyes hardened. “He hurt you, Susannah. Did you honestly expect me to let that go? If you did, I guess you don’t know me
very well.”

“I don’t expect you to fight my battles for me. You can’t be going around intimidating people. It’s uncivilized.”

“Uncivilized.” He took a moment to absorb that.

“Right. And what would you call what he did to you? Civilized?”

“Don’t be twisting my words all around. You shouldn’t have done it.”

“Well, I did, and I refuse to apologize for it. I’d do the same thing if I had it to do over again.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask, but what exactly
did
you do?”

“I just let him know what would happen if he ever came near you again.”

“Care to elaborate?”

He shrugged. “Not really.”

“Was the word ‘kill’ used?”

“Perhaps.”

“
Ryan!
You can’t be threatening to
kill
people!”

“It’s not a threat.”

She threw up her hands with frustration and stormed from the room.

Ryan followed her into the kitchen. “Don’t be pissed, Susie. It’s not worth it.
He’s
not worth it.”

“You’re right, he’s not. He’s not worth lowering yourself to the level of a common thug. That’s exactly what he expects from
you.”

“Then I’m glad I didn’t disappoint him. He
hurt
my wife, and he did it on purpose. He’s lucky I didn’t have his ass thrown in jail.” With his hands on her shoulders, he urged
her to look at him. “I needed to take care of this, Susie. Can you please try to understand that?”

She studied his earnest face. “I don’t want you doing this kind of stuff. It’s beneath you.”

“No, it really isn’t.”

She gasped. “Oh my God.” Her hand flew up to cover her mouth. “What you said last night about me marrying down . . . Henry
put that idea in your head, didn’t he?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“
He did!
That rotten son of a bitch!”

Ryan laughed. “Baby, you know it turns me on when you talk like that.”

“I can’t believe he would say such a thing—especially to a man who can buy and sell him millions of times over.”

“Well, I said a few things that might’ve driven him to it,” Ryan conceded.

“What else did he say?”

“Nothing worth repeating.”

“Tell me.”

“Susie . . . ”

“I want to know, Ryan.”

He sighed. “Something about all the money in the world not being able to buy class and that he gives us a month, maybe two
before I screw it up again. Apparently, he plans to stay in Denver so he can pick up the pieces like he always does.”

Enraged, she looked up at him. “I’m sorry you had to hear such ugly things.”

“Well, I did start it, so I guess I had it coming.” He tugged her tight against him. “Can we please forget about all of this
and rewind the clock to when we were having a good day?”

She rested her head on his chest. “I didn’t like hearing about it from someone else.”

“I’ll apologize for that but not the rest.”

“I don’t want us to have secrets from each other.

We’ve come too far for that.”

“I’d never intentionally keep something from you unless I thought it might upset you.”

“You don’t need to protect me from life, Ryan. I’m not made of glass.”

“No, but you’re carrying my child and keeping you both safe and happy is the only thing in this world I

really care about. So please don’t ask me to be anyone other than who I am.”

She beat lightly on his chest with her fists. “I want a partner, not a protector.”

“Can’t I be both?”

“You’re enormously exasperating sometimes, do you know that?”

He grinned. “And you love me anyway.”

“Don’t push your luck, and quit acting like a bully.

Since Henry plans to stick around, you’ll be running into him from time to time. So you need to try a new tactic.

If you ignore him, it’ll be much more effective than if you act like you want to beat the crap out of him every time you see
him. Our happiness will be the best revenge. He can’t touch us unless we let him.”

He thought that over for a moment. “I hate to admit you have a point, but you have a point.”

She flashed a victorious smile. “Excellent. Now, I have a hair appointment—and
no,
you can
not
come with me.”

“But—”

“Ryan, I swear to God, you’re going to drive me nuts if you keep this up. Get a hobby, call Bernie, take up golf, find
something
to do.”

“What time will you be back?” he asked sullenly.

“Later.” He looked so pathetic she reached up to leave him with a kiss that gave him plenty to think about in her absence.

“That wasn’t nice,” he growled as she walked away from him. “In fact, it was downright
uncivilized!
”

She giggled. “You’ll survive.”

He was still pouting in the kitchen when she called “love you” on her way out the door. “You, too,” he replied, as he contemplated
following her. Then he remembered he didn’t have a car. “Crap!” His motorcycle was still in the garage, but he never used
it in the winter, and he certainly wouldn’t risk it with broken ribs that were finally beginning to heal. “
Goddamn it.

”

“Okay,” he said to the empty room. “You’re officially losing it. She’s only going to be gone for a few hours, and nothing’s
going to happen to her at the hair salon.” His gut tightened with anxiety when he thought about the baby and the crazy look
he’d seen in Henry’s eyes the day before. The combination was enough to fill Ryan with the kind of fear he seldom experienced.
The helpless feeling reminded him of his mother being diagnosed with lung cancer at age forty-five after having never smoked
a cigarette in her life.

In an effort to pull himself together, he placed calls to Bernie and Darling, but neither of them answered their phones. With
nothing else to do, he went into the den to watch Sports Center where he learned the Mavs had officially promoted Todd “Toad”
McNeil to starting quarterback.

“That didn’t take long,” Ryan grumbled. For the first time, he had a tiny twinge of regret over his decision to retire. Feeling
like yesterday’s news, he watched the coverage of Duke’s press conference at which he announced Toad’s promotion. Poor Toad
still resembled a deer in the headlights as he faced off with the media for the first time as the team’s leader.

Ryan watched as much as he could stomach before he flipped through the channels, landing on a special that one of the local
channels was running about his own career. “That’s better,” he said with a grin. But as he relived the glory days at Florida
and his tenure with the Mavs, he realized Susie was right. He needed to get a life. Turning off the T.V., he picked up the
phone to call his agent. It was time to make a plan. He was still talking to Aaron an hour later when the doorbell rang. Expecting
it to be Tom returning his car, Ryan continued his conversation as he swung open the front door.

When he saw who was on his front porch, he said to Aaron, “I’ll have to call you back.” He clicked off the phone. “What are
you doing here?”

Susannah fought the urge to doze as the stylist dried her hair. The action of the brush and the hairdryer was mesmerizing,
and after an all-but-sleepless night, she was ready for a nap. But while her body was relaxed, her mind raced. The more she
thought about the things Henry had said to Ryan, the angrier she became. To suggest Ryan had married up! What a thing to say!
That must’ve really
hurt him.
He was sensitive about his humble beginnings and fiercely proud of the many sacrifices his mother had made to ensure he had
every advantage.

Susannah thought about the mother-in-law she had adored from the first time she met her. Theresa hadn’t lived long enough
to finish decorating the sprawling house Ryan bought for her in a Dallas suburb. He used his signing bonus—the first real
money he’d ever made—to make sure she wouldn’t have to work another day in her life. She was diagnosed with cancer just four
months later and died soon after. Losing her had been among the most shocking and devastating events in Susannah’s life, and
for a long time afterward, she had wondered if Ryan would ever recover from the blow. All these years later it was still a
raw wound, and just thinking about it made her angrier with Henry for what he had implied to Ryan.

I’m so glad I saw Henry for what he really is before I
married him.
Susannah was still amazed at the twists and turns her life had taken since Ryan’s boots had landed in her foyer nine days
earlier. Was it
only
nine days? She chuckled softly and then was swamped with relief that they had gotten back what they had almost lost forever.
Thank you, God, for sending him back to me. Even with
all his faults, he’s the only man for me.

While half of her wanted to strangle him for confronting Henry, the other half—the half she would never admit to—was secretly
thrilled by what he had done. To have such a strong, protective, and unpredictable man crazy in love with her was exhilarating,
to say the least.

She left the salon and did a few last-minute errands in preparation for the ball. On the way home, she checked in with Carol
and several of the other vendors, all of whom reported they were ready for tomorrow night’s festivities. At this point, Susannah
could only hope for the best. Months of planning were coming to fruition, and she had learned from experience that all the
worrying in the world wouldn’t change the outcome. A few things might go wrong, but she only cared about raising as much money
as possible for the hospital. The Mavericks would match whatever they took in, for a grand total that usually hovered around
two million dollars.

A car she didn’t recognize was parked in the driveway when she got home. Opening the garage door, she discovered Ryan’s car
had not yet been returned and wondered if they would ever see it again. It was just like him to trust a man he barely knew
with something as valuable as his car. She did have to admit, though, his instincts about people were rarely wrong. After
all, he had never liked Henry, and in the end he’d been right about him.

She closed the garage door and went into the house through the kitchen, hoping to entice Ryan into joining her for a nap.
“Ry?”

“In here,” he called from the den.

“Hey, baby, whose car . . . ” The words died on her lips when she walked into the den to find her parents and sister waiting
for her. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Hello, darling.” Her mother stood up to greet Susannah with a warm hug. Grace Freeman was an older version of Susannah, but
her hair was short and looked, as it always did, as if she too had just stepped out of the salon.

“Mama,” Susannah stammered. “I’m so surprised to see you. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” She hugged her father.
“Hi, Daddy.”

“You look beautiful, honey,” Dalton Freeman said. He was tall with white hair and bright blue eyes. “But you’ve had us mighty
worried.”

“Worried?” Susannah asked, turning to her sister, who made no attempt to hide her dismay.

“Yes, Susannah.” Melissa hugged her sister. “Worried.”

“I take it you’ve been talking to Henry.”

Melissa glanced at Ryan. “Would you mind giving us a moment alone, Ryan?”

When he would’ve left the room, Susannah reached for his hand. “He stays. Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front
of him.”

“This is personal, Susannah,” her mother said.

“He’s my
husband.
What’s personal to me is personal to him.”

Ryan squeezed her hand.

“We thought you two were divorcing,” Dalton said.

“We’re not,” Susannah said.

“What about Henry?” Missy cried. “
How can you do
this to him?
”

“You know nothing about it, Missy! If you love Henry so much, why don’t you marry him?”

“There’s no need for that kind of nastiness,” Missy said.

“You know full well I only want what’s best for you.”

“If that’s the case, then you’ll support my marriage to the man
I love.
And for once, you’ll butt out of my life and leave us alone.”

“Susannah!” Grace said.

“I’m sorry, Mama. I mean no disrespect, but I’m all done trying to justify my marriage to you. If you can’t treat my husband
with the respect he deserves, then I’ve got nothing left to say to any of you.”

“Be careful, Susannah,” Missy warned. “Don’t say something you can’t take back.”

Despite her brave words, Susannah’s hands shook with nerves. “What I’m saying is something that should’ve been said years
ago.”

Ryan put his arm around her. “Take it easy, baby.”

“What happened to your arm?” Grace asked.

Susannah suddenly wished she hadn’t taken off the brace. “I sprained my wrist.”

“How?” Dalton asked.

“Moving some furniture.”

Her mother reached for her hand. “Let me see.”

Susannah didn’t move fast enough.

Grace gasped. “Are those fingerprints?” She looked up at Ryan with eyes full of contempt.

“Oh, sure.” He shook his head with thinly veiled fury.

“Naturally, I did it.”