Free August Heat by Lora Leigh Page B

No
regret. No sense of nightmare. No overwhelming need to be certain he was still
a part of the family, the bond that had saved his life for so many years. He
had Sarah. With her, he could survive damned near anything.
    “You okay?” She
looked up at him, those whisky-colored eyes of hers soothing him as few other
things could.
    As always, Sarah
sensed his feelings, his desires and needs, even before he knew himself.
    “Do you know I
love you?” he asked her softly.
    A smile spread
across her lips, through her gaze. “As I love you.”
    His arms tightened
around her. Change could come, as he knew it would anyway. But as long as Sarah
held him, he knew he would survive.
     
    * * * * *
    Why didn’t he feel
isolated? Sam sat beside Heather, his arm around her shoulders as her head
rested against his chest, and frowned at that thought. Why wasn’t he going
crazy, the need to be in there with Marly and Cade overwhelming him? He was
concerned. Anxious. Sam thought of all the things that could go wrong, but he
wasn’t frothing at the mouth to be certain. To share in it, to be assured Cade
wasn’t alone. That he himself wasn’t alone.
    He smoothed his
hands down Heather’s arms, distantly aware of the softness of her skin, the
warmth of her body. She was talking about her sister, Tara. He knew what she
was doing. Trying to ease his mind. To give him something else to focus on. He
frowned. She did that often. When the memories haunted him, it was as though
she knew. She knew and she went out of her way to still his demons, to fill his
heart.
    Strange. He hadn’t
seen that before. He had been married to her for well over a year, and was only
now just realizing that.
    “I told Tara this
new assignment was a bad idea.” Heather sighed against his chest. “But she
thinks she knows it all. Ryder’s not as easy to handle as she thinks he is. And
Rick is just acting damned funny.”
    There was a thread
of suspicion in her voice. Sam could feel it, but couldn’t put his finger on
what it was.
    “Rick will keep
her safe.” He wondered if that was really what she was worried about.
    “Yeah. He will.”
He heard the amusement in her voice. “Just like Cade will keep Marly safe.”
    Sam frowned. “Of
course he will. Cade wouldn’t let anything hurt her.”
    “Then stop
worrying so much,” she chided him gently. “I know you want to be in the
delivery room yourself to be certain, but everything will be okay.”
    Sam frowned. “No.
No, I don’t.” He hated the streak of selfishness that often filled him. “If it
were you, I’d want it to be just us, Heather. Together.”
    He hadn’t been
jealous when Brock or Cade touched her, loved her. It filled him with a sense
of security to know she would always be loved, always cared for if something
happened to him. But sometimes…sometimes he wished he didn’t have that need.
    “It will be just
us, Sam.” She rose from his chest, turning to him, her green eyes dark with
love, with dreams and life. “I promise you that. Just us.”
    His heart
clenched. Something in his soul seemed to shift, though he wasn’t certain what
it was.
    “I love you,” he
whispered.
    She smiled that
smile. The one that never failed to heat his blood, to mend his heart.
    “As I love you,
cowboy,” she said gently, leaning forward, her lips touching his. “Always, Sam.
As I love you.”

Chapter One
    October
     
    “Look. If you put
the damned thing there it’s going to throw the whole room off.” Marly’s voice
was irritated, aggravated.
    “It will make the
room appear unique,” Heather argued. “It looks perfect there.”
    “It’s not even
centered,” Sarah piped in. “Really, Marly, that picture isn’t going to work.”
    The picture in
question was an aerial view of the house grounds. Unfortunately, Marly didn’t
want to move the large, older map-styled picture of the ranch from over the
fireplace. It had been hanging there for as long as the ranch house had stood
on that spot.