Hunter lifted one eyebrow. “Getting me another wife?” he asked wryly.
“Wouldn’t waste my time,” Simon snapped. “You don’t have the sense to appreciate the one I already got you.”
The hell of it was, Hunter did appreciate Margie. Too damn much.
“Simon…”
“I’m not here to talk about Margie, boy. This is something else.”
“What?” Wariness crept into his tone. Lamplight speared up from the desk, illuminating Simon’s face from beneath, giving the older man an almost eerie look. Shadows crept over his eyes, and every line and crevice on his face was deeply defined.
Simon straightened up, looked his grandson square in the eye and said, “I’m turning over the family business to you.”
“Damn it, Simon,” Hunter said, lifting both hands as if to ward the other man off. “Even if I wanted to take over, I’ve got seven more months on my enlistment. I won’t be here.”
“You can do most of the work through power of attorney, and I can keep an eye on things until you come back.”
Hunter stood up, moved away from the desk and walked to the wide window that overlooked the acre of tidy green lawn and perfect flower beds. A colorful sunset was spreading across the sky and lengthening shadows from the row of trees at the edge of the yard. The road was lying beyond those trees, the road Hunter had taken so long ago when he’d made his bid for freedom. Strange now that the same road had brought him back. And wasn’t he turning into a damn philosopher all of a sudden?
“That is,” Simon added, “if you plan on coming back.”
Hunter threw the older man a look over his shoulder and saw the expectation, the damn hope shining in his eyes even in the dim light of the study. And Hunter knew he couldn’t fight it anymore. Knew that the only way he’d ever be able to live with himself was to accept the duty that had been waiting for him since childhood.
He knew too, at some deep-seated level, that this is how it was meant to be all along, what he’d been headed toward all his life, despite his attempt to avoid it. Maybe, he told himself, he’d had to go away to see where he really belonged.
“I’ll come back, Simon.”
A delighted smile creased his grandfather’s face, and for one brief moment Hunter actually did feel like the hero he’d always wanted to be. Then reality crashed down. If he was going to be leaving the SEAL and coming home to stay, there were plans to set in motion, decisions to make. And he had to talk to Margie, he told himself.
The old man clapped his hands together and scrubbed his palms against each other. “I knew you’d do the right thing, boy. Eventually.”
A wry smile curved Hunter’s mouth. “Thanks. I think.” Then he shoved one hand across the top of his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “I still have to go back to the base at the end of the month.”
“Understood.”
Hunter nodded, turned to face Simon and pulled in a deep breath. Finally, the tension in his chest had loosened. For days now he’d been torn about what to do. Questioning his own loyalties, feeling the tug of home and duty fighting with the call to return to the life he’d built. He’d been engaged in a silent battle within himself, and now that a decision had been made, he could breathe easy.
Yes, it would be hard leaving the Navy, but he was needed here. And, as he felt a slight twinge in his side, he reminded himself that he’d been thinking about the possibility of retirement ever since he’d been shot. So, maybe this was how it was supposed to be.
“What about Margie?”
Hunter focused on his grandfather. “What about her?”
“Well,” Simon said, “if you’re going to stay, there’s no reason for her to go either, is there? You’re already married. And I’ve seen the way you look at her, boy. I’m old, not blind.”
He hadn’t had time to consider all the options here. He’d just this minute decided to retire, for God’s sake. It’s not as if he’d thought everything through. But now that he did think about it, he wondered if Simon wasn’t right. But, “We agreed to divorce.”
“Damn hardheaded-”
Hunter wasn’t willing to budge. He’d make up his own mind about Margie-without well-meant interference. “Simon, don’t push it. Whatever happens between me and Margie is up to us, not you.”
“She makes you happy, Hunter. Or hadn’t you noticed that?”
Happy. With a wife he hadn’t chosen. With a wife he’d suspected for too long was nothing more than a scam artist out for whatever she could finagle out of a lonely old man.
With a woman who set him on fire with a touch.
But damned if he’d let his grandfather run his personal life, too. “You can’t screw with people’s lives, Simon. You can’t arrange everything the way you want it.”
“Don’t see why not, when I can see perfectly clear what should happen,” Simon muttered.
“Because you don’t get to decide my life, Grandfather. And you sure as hell don’t get to decide Margie’s.” He loved the elderly man, but damned if he’d fall into line just because Simon demanded it. And if this was a sign of how things were going to be once he came home and took over the family business at last, then they were in for quite a few battles.
So, Hunter decided, it was best to stand his ground right from the get-go. “Back off of this, Grandfather.”
“You look me in the eye and tell me you don’t care for that girl,” Simon challenged.
Well, that was the trouble, Hunter thought, as he deliberately looked away. He didn’t know what the hell he was feeling at the moment.
Nine
After leaving his grandfather, Hunter immediately made the phone call he never would have believed he’d be making. Punching in the numbers from memory, he dialed JT’s cell phone and waited in the garden while it rang.
“Thorne,” the voice on the other end of the line suddenly snapped.
“Boss, it’s Hunt.” Hunter stared up at the cloudswept sky, tipped his face into an ocean breeze and closed his eyes.
“Yeah, I know. What’s up?”
What isn’t? Hunter took a breath, opened his eyes and stared out at the broad expanse of lawn and garden. This was his home. And though he’d avoided the knowledge for years, this was his place.
“I wanted you to know,” Hunter said, his voice ringing with the steel and strength of his conviction in the decision he’d made, “I’ll be coming back to base, but when my enlistment’s up, I’m going to be leaving the team.”