She didn’t have to wait long for his response and, frankly, it was pretty much just what she had expected.
“You think I’m blind, Daisy?” He countered, looming over her. His voice was low, rough and sounded as if the words were being ripped from his soul. “You think I don’t see what’s really going on? It’s not me you love. It’s being here, with me, with Sam and the others. You’ve been lonely since your brother died and now you’ve made us the family you want back so badly.”
She felt as if he’d slapped her. Perhaps there was some truth in his words, but it wasn’t the whole picture, not by a long shot. Yes, she’d come here looking to find a family again. She hadn’t expected to find love, but she had. And she wouldn’t let him make that less than it was.
Honestly. She told him she loved him and he threw her feelings back in her face? What kind of man did something that stupid?
“You idiot. Do you really believe I’m that big a simpleton? Do you think I don’t know the difference between love and longing?” She fisted her hands at her h*ps and leaned in, narrowing her gaze on him until her eyes were mere slits of fury. “Of course I was lonely. But I didn’t just pick the first man I ran into to become the family I miss so much. I came here because you knew my brother. I didn’t come looking for a husband or someone to cling to. I don’t cling. I didn’t mean to fall for you. It just…happened.”
He frowned, but she wasn’t finished.
“Of all the arrogant, foolish, stubborn men in the world, why is it you I had to fall in love with?” Shaking her head, she reached up and yanked at her own hair in frustration. “You’re so determined to lock yourself away up on this mountain, shut away from anything or anyone who might matter to you that you absolutely refuse to see that not only do I love you, but you love me back!”
He took a step away, ground his teeth together so hard she could see a muscle in his jaw twitch. She watched as he fought for control and finally managed it. Only then did he speak.
“You know, I didn’t ask for this. Didn’t want it.” He blew out a breath. “You’re the one who showed up and wouldn’t go away. You’re the one who kept pushing and prodding me until I was in a corner.”
“Poor you,” she said with a slow shake of her head.
A smirk curved his mouth briefly. “Justice and Jesse don’t know squat about tough women,” he said. “You could give their wives lessons.”
“Thank you.”
“Not sure it was a compliment.”
“I am. I’m not afraid to say what I want. To fight for what I want. Are you?”
He inhaled sharply, deeply. “If a man said that to me, I’d punch him,” he admitted. “Really?”
He didn’t respond to that. “I made up my mind before I left with my brothers that when I came back, I was going to take you to bed and keep you there for twenty-four straight hours and then I was going to send you away. For your own good.”
She rocked in place, shaken by his words. “But you haven’t so much as touched me in days.”
“Because when I got back and saw you again…I knew that if I touched you I’d never let you go. And I have to let you go.”
Something small and sharp seemed to tear at her heart. “Why?”
He shook his head.
“There are things you don’t know…”
“So tell me,” she countered.
He scrubbed one hand across his face.
“Honestly, Jericho, does the thought of being loved really engender so much panic?”
“Not panic, no,” he told her honestly, the shutters in his eyes lifting slightly, the ice there melting just enough for her to see a glimmer of warmth shining out at her. “But second thoughts, even third…yes. You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“You’re wrong.” She walked toward him, one deliberate step after another.
He stood his ground. Not backing away. Not turning from her. Just watching her with a fire in his eyes that melted the last of her anger and fueled another emotion entirely.
“No, I’m not,” he said softly, gaze locked with hers as she approached. “If you knew what was good for you, you’d pack up your stuff and be off the mountain inside an hour.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“To tell the truth, never thought you would,” he admitted and swallowed hard as he reached for her. “I may be damned for this one day, but God help me, I can’t let you go. Won’t let you go.”
“What’re you saying?” she whispered.
“I’m saying that right here, right now, I need you.” He took a breath. “Not talking about a future or happily ever after. Don’t ever count on a future. Right now is all I can offer.”
“Then for now,” she said, “that’s all I’ll ask for.”
Jericho’s arms came around her like a vise, holding her to him, pressing her body’s length along his. She buried her face in the curve of his neck as he clung to her and he felt her warmth slide into him, filling all the cold, empty places he’d been living with for days.
She loved him and he was going to let her. For however long it lasted, he would take what she so wanted to give and give her what he could in return. He’d never thought of himself as the “forever” kind of man, but he knew that for right now, he was where he belonged. With the woman he wanted above all else.
When he cupped her face with his palm and turned her mouth up to his, he kissed her with a depth that left him hungry for what he found only with her. But an instant later, that moment was shattered by a single shout from outside. “Fire!”
The barn was burning and the next few hours passed in a blur.
Heat, shifting light thrown by wind fed writhing flames, the shouts of men and the screams of terrified horses filled the night air. Jericho directed his men, shouting orders over the noise. The volunteer fire department had been called out, but no one was standing around waiting. Hoses were dragged from every area of the yard, and water was aimed at the flames licking along the sides and climbing toward the roofline of the barn.
They fought to get the fire under control to prevent it from spreading not only to the other buildings but to the forest itself. It had been a long dry summer and the only thing they had going for them was the fact that it had recently rained.
The crackle and hiss of the fire sounded like demons chattering in the shadows. And that was what it felt like as well—as if hell had come to the mountain. The heat was amazing and Jericho felt sweat pouring down his back as he made run after run into the barn, leading the horses out. The terrified animals refused to cooperate, so the process took far longer than it should have. But he was intent on getting every animal out of the barn alive.