Page 120 of Rocky Mountain Home

A tiny sliver of amusement managed to push past Jesse’s frustration. “Of course you do. You should like all my cousins and brothers then. I’m pretty sure every one of them has given me a black eye at some point in my life.”

Dare sighed in exasperation. “Here’s a clue, Jesse. That’s not something to boast about.”

“Sorry.”

Her lips twitched. “Regarding Rafe, he’s the only one you need to go talk to. Tell him how much it means to keep this quiet and let it go. Don’t let him dictate what comes next.” She lifted her fingers to stroke over his cheek and around his ear, caressing softly. “It’s up to you, but if I were Vicki, and what you’ve said she cared about? What I’d want most was for you and Joel to be tight again. I’d feel terrible if it seemed as if I was the one keeping you apart. You’ve got to put this behind you. Not only for your sake, but for theirs.”

It was an awful lot to take in. Jesse sat quietly, running through every single one of her comments, and the hard truths that she’d smacked him with. When she leaned forward and curled her arms around his waist, nestling their bodies together, a shot of pure adrenaline raced through him.

She wasn’t rejecting him. She totally should have, but she wasn’t, and he wasn’t going to be a fool and give that up.

“Still going to feel guilty,” he confessed.

“If you can feel guilty without acting like an ass then you go right ahead. Consider it your penance.” She spoke against his shoulder, her head twisted to the side. “I hope someday you’ll forgive yourself. Until then, keep your damn mouth shut.”

She fell quiet again, and the silence in the room deepened. Jesse concentrated on taking slow, controlled breaths. Her body moved gently against his, and it was like a warm blanket had been wrapped around them to form a cocoon.

He didn’t want to leave. Didn’t want to break the spell that she’d seemed to cast over him. He held her in his arms, fingers drifting up to stroke through her long hair. There was still so much to deal with, but right then, for the first time in a long time, that knot of pain he’d been carrying eased the slightest bit.

My God, her brain was near to exploding. Jesse had been dealing with the pain of this whole mess for years?

In her mind he’d already been suitably punished.

While it would take some time for the dust to settle, her opinion of Jesse hadn’t gone down. The fact he’d struggled with this, and known he made a mistake made it possible for her to want the best for him.

But Vicki? Had gone way up in Dare’s esteem. It was impossible not to admire that even in her unconscious state the woman had been willing to sacrifice her own happiness.

Dare didn’t think she could be that giving.

Jesse’s confession explained so many things on another entire level. She wasn’t going to hold this over Jesse’s head, but it was clear he had a lot of bridges to rebuild with his family. Admiration grew higher for the Colemans as a whole. She bet Jesse had been an absolute bear to deal with over the past years, but here they were. Still willing to accept him back, and accept her into their midst.

Jaxi’s comment about being family through thick and thin made much more sense now.

Dare stroked her fingers along the waistband of Jesse’s jeans, curling against him tighter. She wanted to bring the conversation back to what they were going to do, but figured maybe it was time she let him take a breather.

Besides, until the doctor gave her official word, it wasn’t as if they could make any decisions.

Jesse adjusted position and suddenly she found herself being lifted into his lap, one arm supporting her back as his other hand tucked under her chin and lifted her lips to his. He kissed her slowly. A tender connection as if he was afraid she was breakable.

No—as if he was afraid that they were breakable, and he had to be cautious.

Dare welcomed his caress. Turned it around and sent back as much sweet longing as she could into her touch. She lifted a hand to his face, stroking her palm past the rough growth on his chin as he deepened the connection. Taking control and reigniting the wick of desire inside her.

Of course, that’s when someone knocked on the door.

They broke apart, but Jesse gave her cheek one final brush with his knuckles. “We’re not done,” he warned her in a soft whisper.

“Mr. Coleman, if you would be so kind as to find a different place to sit,” Dr. Kincaid offered sternly as he marched forward, but there was amusement in his voice.

Dare wiggled back on the mattress as Jesse hopped off the bed and straightened himself. The doctor stepped closer, chart in hands as he came to stand near the foot of the bed. He looked extremely happy, and everything else they’d been talking about that had been distracting her from her main fears vanished.

Yes, her hands were on top of her belly again. “I didn’t expect you until later today,” Dare said.

He waggled the clipboard in the air. “I happened to be in early, and Calgary got back to us with results, so I figured I would let you know the good news as soon as possible. Test results—I’ll give you the specifics later, but to put it plainly, everything we wanted to come back negative, did. There are no ongoing concerns for the baby, or for you.”

“Thank God.”

Jesse caught her hand in his and squeezed. “Okay. That’s…good. Very good.”