Page 43 of Calder Strong (The Calder Brand #5)

Joseph had made a reservation at the hotel. Their suite was sumptuous, with velvet furnishings, an oversized bed, and a luxurious bath. But Annabeth was grateful that it wasn’t the bridal suite she’d seen advertised in the lobby, with its sentimental décor and special services.

By now it was dark outside. The bedside lamps lent a soft glow to the room.

Joseph secured the lock on the door and turned toward Annabeth, who’d sunk onto the edge of the bed, totally exhausted.

It was as if the determination that had fed her energy during the day had finally run out, leaving her drained.

Sitting beside her, he laid an arm around her shoulders and drew her against his side. “It’s all right, girl,” he murmured, cradling her head against his shoulder. “You’ve been through a hellish time. All I’m asking tonight is that you get some rest.”

Tears welled in her eyes, spilling over to trickle down her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “If you were expecting the good-time girl you used to meet on moonlit nights, you’ll be in for a letdown. There’s been a lot of water under the bridge since then.”

Tilting her face toward him, he kissed the salty traces of her tears. “We’ll have more moonlit nights,” he said. “Once this mess is cleared up, we’ll have all the time in the world. Now, Mrs. Dollarhide, let’s get ready for bed and get some sleep.”

All the time in the world .

Joseph’s words came back to Annabeth as she lay awake in the warm darkness of the night. Would they really have all the time in the world—time to love, time to raise their family, time to grow old together?

Or had their time already run out?

She drifted in and out of twilight sleep.

Finally, lulled by the sound of Joseph’s breathing, she sank deep enough to dream.

She was back in the kitchen, watching Silas reel sideways with the knife planted below his ribs.

His bewildered eyes stared at her as if to ask, What have you done to me?

Then he toppled to the floor. As his breathing ended in a gasp, she scooped Lucas up in her arms and fled from the room.

She made it to the porch and left him on the steps with the dog while she ran back inside to get Ellie. But when she opened the door to the children’s room, she found the room empty.

In a panic, she raced through the house. Silas was lying where she’d left him, in a pool of blood. But there was no sign of her little girl. Maybe she was with Lucas.

She ran for the front porch. When she flung the door open, there was no one outside but the dog. Her children were gone.

No! She jerked awake, her skin cold, her body shaking beneath the thin shift she’d worn to bed. The dream had been so horrifyingly real—as if the loss of her little ones was the price she would have to pay for taking her husband’s life.

Joseph’s warmth in the bed reassured her that she’d only been dreaming. Earlier, his lingering goodnight kiss had let her know that he would have welcomed more. But Annabeth had nothing of herself left to give. Understanding that, he had stretched out beside her and fallen asleep.

Now he was stirring. He turned on his side to face her. “Are you all right?” he asked.

“Yes. Just a bad dream.”

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

“No.” Annabeth could feel herself crumbling, as if the day’s horrific events were caving in on her like rotted timbers in a mine shaft, crushing her under their awful weight.

Killing Silas had given her everything she’d ever dreamed of: for her children, safety and a loving home; for herself, a life with the only man she’d ever truly wanted. It was more than she deserved. Somehow, there had to be a price to pay.

Reaching out, he laid a hand on her shoulder. “You’re shaking, Annabeth. It’s all right. I can imagine what you’re facing. But you’re not alone. I’m your husband. I’ll be here for you and our children. We’re family now.”

Something broke inside her. In all her life, she’d never felt loved and protected. She’d survived by fighting her battles alone. But she couldn’t do it any longer.

She moved closer to him. “I’m scared, Joseph,” she whispered. “Hold me, please. Just hold me.”

He wrapped her in his arms and gathered her close. Annabeth nestled against him, pressing her face into the crisp mat of his chest hair, filling her senses with the manly aroma of his skin. She loved the scent of him, the feel of him, the rich interplay of textures—rough and smooth, warm and cool.

He had worn his cotton briefs to bed, probably to reassure her and make her feel safe—as if she needed to feel safe from him. The tingle between her thighs was already deepening into an ache of need.

His breath stirred her hair. She closed her eyes, remembering soft summer nights, riding his horse up the canyon, lying on the silken grass, gasping with pleasure as he slid inside her for the first time.

His strokes had brought her to a sensation that felt like a thousand stars exploding inside her.

Still, she’d been mildly disappointed when he’d pulled out and she’d felt the hot spurt of his seed on her belly.

After a few times, she’d come to expect it—until the night when she’d decided no more and stopped him with her legs.

That had been the end of their secret meetings—and the beginning of Lucas.

They’d been little more than children then, innocent of all but the needs of nature and their vital young bodies. Now, tempered by time and sorrow, they were different people. As a young girl, she had fancied herself in love. But she had learned what love was—and what it wasn’t.

She was Joseph’s wife.

Tonight, nothing else could be allowed to matter.

She could hear the drumming of his heart against her ear, its beat urgent and powerful. The tingle between her thighs had become a pulsing current of heat that surged upward until her womb contracted like a clenched fist.

She stifled a moan, her hips curling forward to move against his hard, swollen erection. She gasped as the light pressure sent a burst of shimmering waves through her body. Her seeking hand fumbled with the waistband of his drawers.

“Joseph,” she whispered, “I …”

“Hush.” His mouth covered hers in bittersweet possession as he stripped off his drawers and moved over her. They were old friends, old lovers, and even with the hard years that had passed between them, he knew the way.

With her body and her soul, she welcomed him home, opening to him, meeting his thrust as he glided into her.

This was Joseph—Joseph inside her, filling her, loving her.

She closed her eyes and lost herself in the bliss of it as they moved in a well-remembered dance, letting the old hurts and bad memories fall away.

Together, they reached their shuddering climax. As she lay in his arms, he kissed her tears. Tomorrow loomed bleak and frightening, but tonight he was hers and she was his. It was all she could ask.

They left early the next morning after a light breakfast in their room.

Joseph drove in silence, his thoughts on the day ahead and what needed to be done.

The first thing, after reuniting Annabeth with her children, would be to phone Ezra Dillenbeck, the family lawyer, and get him started on Annabeth’s defense as well as the formal adoption of the children.

He would have to check on the sawmill, of course, and the cattle at the ranch, but his first concern would be keeping his new family safe. At least he’d had the foresight to put two good men in charge under him.

With luck, Silas’s death would be dismissed as justifiable—a mother protecting her child.

But he had to be prepared for anything. The sheriff, Matthew McTeer, was new in town.

A short, pug nacious man with few friends, he was hard to read.

If he was trying to make a name for himself, there could be trouble.

That was why Joseph needed to get Ezra in place right away.

He glanced over at Annabeth. She was visibly nervous, her hands clenched in her lap. He felt that they had bonded as man and wife last night, their trust and love already strong. She had to know that he would do anything for her and their children.

She looked back at him with a faint smile. “I love you, Joseph,” she whispered.

“And I love you, Mrs. Dollarhide,” Joseph said. “Don’t worry, you’ll soon be with the children again. Everything’s going to be fine.”

They were approaching the outskirts of Blue Moon, the forests and meadows giving way to scattered farms. There was no traffic on the road, which seemed a bit strange. But soon they’d be back in town. And soon they would know whether Silas’s body had been discovered.

Suddenly, Annabeth gasped. “Up ahead—what’s that?”

Joseph followed the direction of her startled gaze.

A quarter mile ahead, three cars were parked sideways across the road, blocking the way.

Standing in front of them, flanked by two deputies and armed with a double-barreled shotgun, was Sheriff Matthew McTeer.