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  “Dad’s a workaholic,” Suzanne began. “After Mom died, he threw himself into his job. He has a medical degree, and is the CEO of a new medical women’s center in Atlanta.”

  “Sounds like a smart man.”

  “He is.” Suzanne leaned against the dingy wall, staring into her coffee, deep in thought. “But he’s been lonely for a long time. Probably the reason he’s been married so many times.”

  “He’s married now?”

  She nodded. “The fourth time. I hope this one will stick. Eleanor’s on her way. She had to drive from Atlanta.”

  “What happened the other times?”

  “He married for the wrong reason,” Suzanne said. “I think he wanted companionship, someone to help entertain his business associates.” A sarcastic laugh escaped her. “But he couldn’t bring himself to love anyone else after Mom died.”

  “That kind of commitment is unusual.”

  “Your parents had it,” Suzanne said. “I’ve heard the way your mother talks about your father.”

  He sighed. If only his father had been equally committed. “She’s the old-fashioned kind.”

  “What happened to your dad?” Suzanne asked.

  Rafe frowned. “Maybe we’d better walk on back.”

  Suzanne lay a hand on his arm. “Tell me, Rafe.”

  The soft plea in her voice stole his breath. He had been trying to consider her feelings. Finally he cleared his throat. “He had a heart attack.”

  The color drained from her face.

  “He died right here in Sugar Hill General.”

  THE MINUTE RAFE CONFIDED in her, Suzanne understood his hesitancy; he had been trying to protect her from the reality of what might happen. Yet, she also heard the pain in his voice and realized that being here had resurrected that anguished-filled memory. He had come anyway, though. Why?

  Because he cared?

  She wanted to believe so. But did she deserve his concern when she had been dishonest with him from the beginning?

  Guilt mingled with worry and regret and fear that she had made a major mistake by not confiding about her job. Fear that when he found out, he would hate her, and that she would be all alone again.

  Fear that she would lose Rafe, the man that she suddenly realized she had begun to love.

  His gaze met hers. She saw compassion and other emotions that tore at her heart. She wanted to believe the love was there, that they could share the same kind of relationship Rebecca and Thomas had.

  Was it possible?

  “OH, MY WORD, where is my boy?” Grammy Rose burst into the waiting room in a flurry just as Suzanne and Rafe made their way back in.

  The girls instantly surrounded her. “Dad’s in with the doctors now,” Rebecca explained.

  “Are you all right, Grammy?” Mimi asked. “We didn’t want you to come.”

  Grammy Rose waved off everyone’s concern. “I couldn’t stay away when my family needs me.” She hugged Rebecca and Suzanne, then turned to Wiley. “John Pruitt drove me. I’m staying a few days.”

  Wiley leaned into his mother, his eyes glimmering with emotions. “We were arguing, Mom, I—”

  “Hush now,” Grammy Rose said. “I don’t want to hear nonsense about anyone in this family blaming themselves for Bert’s heart attack. These things just happen.”

  Wiley sniffled, and Mimi slid her arm around him. “He’ll make it, Dad. We have to believe that.”

  “Right. And pray.” Grammy gathered everyone together, holding hands as they formed a circle. Then they bowed their heads, allowing the matriarch of the family to lead them in prayer.

  HANNAH SCOOTED BACK into the E.R. to check on their father, emerging several minutes later. Suzanne’s breath felt trapped in the tension-filled air.

  She had never felt closer to her family than at that second. The husbands formed a second circle, offering their support, while Rafe hovered behind her, silently giving her encouragement.

  “Bert had a mild heart attack,” Hannah explained in a calm voice. “But he’s going to be all right.”

  A collective sigh of relief fluttered through the Hartwell gang.

  “Can we see him now?” Rebecca asked.

  “In a few minutes. The cardiologist is with him now.” Hannah folded her arms across her bulging middle, and Jake reached up to massage her back. She directed her comments to Suzanne, Rebecca and Eleanor. “Bert will need to adjust his diet, get more exercise and cut down on his work hours.”

  “I told him his work schedule was going to get to him,” Eleanor said, her voice quavering.

  Suzanne reached out and squeezed her arm, and Rebecca gave her a sympathetic look.

  “I’m sure the cardiologist will talk to you in more detail.”

  “It…was the stress of our fight that did it to him, wasn’t it?” Wiley said, rubbing at his chin.

  Mimi hugged her father. “No, Dad, you heard Hannah, it was his diet. He was overworked.”

  “Don’t blame yourself, Dad,” Hannah said. “You and Bert have been fighting for years and it hasn’t given him a heart attack.”

  Wiley frowned. “Well, that’s all going to stop. From now on things will be different.”

  Suzanne exchanged skeptical looks with her sister and cousins. Somehow she doubted Wiley’s good intentions would stick. Her father and uncle were way too different.

  “Grammy always said boys will be boys,” Mimi said. “Maybe that fighting between the two of you was your way of showing affection.”

  A nurse strode toward them, shaking her head. “Mr. Hartwell’s awake, demanding to see his family. I can guarantee you that man won’t be down for long.”

  Nervous laughter sputtered through the crowd.

  “Sounds like Dad,” Suzanne said.

  “He’ll be ordering everyone around soon,” Rebecca added with a tight smile.

  “I told him five minutes only and nobody can upset him. You can go in two at a time.”

  Grammy Rose gestured toward Rebecca and Suzanne and Eleanor. “Bec, you and Eleanor go first. Then Wiley and Suzanne can go in together. I’ll go last.”

  Suzanne nodded. She and her uncle could both apologize for bringing on his attack.

  Rebecca and Eleanor agreed and clasped hands, then slipped down the hall toward the ICU.

  Rafe stroked Suzanne’s back. “You okay, sugar?”

  She nodded. “Thanks for coming, Rafe. I…I’m sorry I got so emotional.” She pressed a hand to his damp shirt, embarrassed over her earlier outburst.

  He tipped her chin up with his thumb and looked into her eyes. “You’re allowed.” A crooked smile pulled at the corner of his mouth, then he glanced toward her family. “You want me to leave so you can be with your family, or wait around and drive you home?”

  She hesitated, then squeezed his hand, knowing her heart was in her eyes. “Wait. I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

  He nodded, a flicker of understanding in his tender smile.

  A FEW MINUTES LATER, Suzanne and her uncle slipped into her father’s room. Suzanne prayed seeing Wiley wouldn’t upset him, but she also understood the guilt weighing on Wiley’s shoulders and couldn’t deny him a short visit. He hung back in the corner, looking hesitant, even though his bright-orange tie glowed in the stark white of the room.

  Suzanne inched closer, and her father opened his eyes. The steady drip of an IV cut through the silence, the sterile odor nauseating her. Her father looked pale and smaller somehow, his body attached to several tubes and wires.

  “Don’t you freak out over these damn machines now,” he growled, although Suzanne heard affection in his voice. And worry.

  How like her father to be concerned about her and Rebecca when he needed the attention.

  Suzanne pasted on a brave smile and gathered his hand in hers. He touched her cheek.

  “Suz, girl, I don’t remember the last time you cried.” His voice grew lower. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “Well, you did,” Suzanne
admitted, realizing it was freeing to voice her emotions out loud. “So, don’t do it again, okay?”

  He cracked a weak smile. “Promise.”

  “You have to change a few things, too. Cut down on your hours, watch your cholesterol—”

  “Eleanor already read me the riot act,” he said, his mouth twitching again. “I have a feeling she’ll be watching me like a hawk.”

  “Good, it’s time you relaxed and let someone take care of you for a while.”

  “We may even take a second honeymoon. She’s pretty special.”

  Suzanne squeezed his hand. “I’m glad you found her.” And she had found Rafe. Could it work out for them? “Dad, I’m so sorry I upset you earlier. I—”

  “Hush, now, Suzanne. Don’t go treatin’ me like an invalid. You’ve always stood up for what you believed in, so don’t quit now. That’s one thing I love about you.”

  “I love you, too, Dad.”

  She leaned over and hugged him, fighting tears again. Her father cleared his throat. “Now, get over here, Wiley. And don’t go sayin’ some fool thing like we’re not going to fight anymore.”

  Wiley shuffled closer, fiddling with his tie. “Well, it’s probably a good idea—”

  “Hell’s bells, why?” Bert bellowed. “What fun would that be? And what in the world would our families do for entertainment?”

  Wiley quirked his head, then burst into laughter. Suzanne knew everything was going to be all right.

  Everything except her own personal life. But she couldn’t think about that now. She just wanted to go home with Rafe. To be with him for the night….

  Chapter Thirteen

  A few minutes later, Grammy Rose hobbled out from the ICU. “Praise be! That son of mine’s going to be just fine.”

  “He will, won’t he?” Rebecca said, still looking worried, although Thomas’s comforting hand on the small of her back seemed to have calmed her.

  “I didn’t raise him or Wiley to be quitters,” Grammy said. “’Sides, I told him he needed to hang around, that his grandkids were going to need him.”

  Everyone laughed, and Rebecca blushed, but Grammy Rose gave Suzanne a teasing look out of the corner of her eye. She wasn’t suggesting she would wind up mommy material, was she? Rebecca would be a natural, but Suzanne had no maternal instincts. She barely even remembered her own mother, much less what a mother should do, how she should care for her children.

  Suzanne glanced at Rafe, then remembered the tender way he’d helped care for that baby calf. Would he be even more gentle with a real child? His own baby?

  She shuddered. What in the world was she thinking? She was not imagining having Rafe’s baby, was she?

  She could see a dark-haired little girl or boy toddling after him, begging to learn how to ride. A miniature Stetson on top of his or her head, wearing little cowboy boots.

  Good heavens, she had to get a grip.

  Her cousins began to chatter at once about when they’d return to visit Bert, and Grammy Rose pulled her aside.

  Rafe had sidled near the corner, looking out of place and uncomfortable, yet she noticed Rebecca approach him and introduce him to Thomas.

  “Now, tell me, is this your young cowboy?” Grammy Rose asked.

  Suzanne winced. “He’s not my cowboy, Grammy. He’s…just a man.”

  “Uh-huh.” Grammy offered an admiring perusal of his body. “And a fine specimen, if you ask me.”

  Suzanne couldn’t help but laugh. “He’s all right.”

  “All right. Honey, that man is a stallion if I’ve ever seen one.” Grammy winked. “Bet he could keep a girl happy all night and then some.”

  “I wouldn’t know.” Suzanne tugged at the collar of her blouse. “He’s simply been giving me riding lesson, Grams. And showing me his property.”

  “Is that what men call it these days? Showing you their property?”

  “Grammy!” Suzanne cupped her mouth over her hand to stifle a laugh.

  “Well, darlin’, I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.”

  Rafe glanced up and tipped his head toward her. Grammy Rose charged forward. “It’s about time you introduced me, honey.”

  Suzanne tried to catch her grandmother before she cornered Rafe, but she was too late. The minute Grammy Rose fluttered a hand up to fan her face, Suzanne knew she was in trouble.

  RAFE TWISTED SIDEWAYS, feeling vaguely out of place with this close-knit menagerie of a family and trying to behave as politely as possible to Rebecca and her husband. But the words inquisition and interrogation kept drifting through his mind.

  He squirmed even more as the feisty-looking white-haired lady toddled toward him, waving her cane and grinning. “Hey, there, Rebecca, Thomas. I thought I’d introduce myself to Suzanne’s young man.”

  She thought he was Suzanne’s young man? What had given her that idea? Had Suzanne suggested something?

  The waiting room grew quiet as Suzanne’s cousins, their husbands and her uncle Wiley turned to watch. Rebecca giggled, Thomas raised a brow and Suzanne’s cheeks flamed. A small smile twisted at the corners of Rafe’s lips.

  “Howdy, ma’am.” He tipped his hat in a gentlemanly gesture and noticed Suzanne’s surprise. Was she accustomed to rude city men? Wealthy or not, his mama had taught him manners, especially when it came to elderly women. He cradled her grandmother’s hand and kissed it, liking her immediately. “My name is Rafe McAllister,” he said. “You have to be one of the beautiful Hartwell women. They all take after you.”

  Grammy Rose hooted, then turned to Suzanne and winked again. “Why, thank you, Mr. McAllister. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She hooked her arm in his, and he sensed he had an ally. “Now, tell me, don’t you think our little Suzanne is just the sweetest thing since sugar on a biscuit?”

  SUGAR ON A BISCUIT?

  How could her grandmother have embarrassed her like that? And Rafe had played right along.

  Darn the sexy man.

  Besides, Suzanne was not sweet. She was sassy and independent and a high-maintenance career woman, not at all like her sweet, wonderful sister.

  Her cousins hugged and said goodbye, Wiley and his new wife left with them, Grammy Rose in tow, then Rebecca and Thomas followed, but not before Rebecca offered Suzanne a little advice.

  “Go for it,” she whispered right before she’d cuddled up to Thomas. “And forget the land deal, sis. He’s too hunky to pass up.”

  Hunky? Had Rebecca actually said hunky, as if they were teenagers?

  Suzanne smiled to herself in the dark as Rafe drove her back to Rebecca’s apartment. For a minute she’d thought Rafe was going to recant his offer and encourage her to ride with her family, so she’d had to speak up. Talk about being obvious. Maybe she was too obvious.

  The minute she stepped inside, she caught her reflection in the oval mirror over the antique table in the foyer. Although darkness cloaked the room, moonlight flickered off the mirror, showcasing her puffy red eyes and disheveled appearance. Her shoulders were knotted, and it felt like days since she’d showered. But for the first time since she could remember, she didn’t care that she looked rough around the edges or that she’d cried in front of this man or that she wasn’t impeccably dressed. Or that she was being almost forward in stating her desire for him.

  Suzanne had always gone after what she’d wanted, and she wasn’t about to change for anyone.

  Right now, she wanted this man.

  “You look exhausted,” Rafe said quietly. He flicked the light switch on the wall, bathing the room in bright light.

  Suzanne flipped off the light, then stopped so his body brushed hers. The whisper of his hungry breath turned her inside out. Then he reached out and massaged her shoulders. The minute his firm hands gripped her, heat shot through her. But it was the tenderness in his touch that sent a surge of longing to her soul.

  Suzanne slowly turned to him. She was offering him her heart on a platter, but she didn’t care. “Rafe, thank you for tonight. For…”
She caught his Stetson by the brim, then slid it off. Good heavens, he had sexy brooding eyes. And slashes of granite for cheekbones. “For staying with me.”

  He tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear. “No problem. I’m glad your dad’s going to be okay.”

  Suzanne nestled up against his broad chest, the terror she’d felt earlier resurfacing. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in all my life.” It felt so good to admit her feelings for a change. Maybe Grammy had been right. It was high time she tore those walls down. Rafe was worth tearing them down for.

  Rafe threaded his fingers into her hair and stroked her neck, massaging away the tension. “I know, but it’s going to be all right now.”

  Suzanne rubbed a hand over his back, her heart thumping wildly at the way his muscles bunched. He was referring to her father’s health, but she wanted to believe that everything else would be all right. That somehow they’d work out the land deal and Rafe would be able to keep the ranch he loved, the home his mother treasured. Just like her grandmother treasured her home on Pine Mountain.

  Why hadn’t she seen it that way before?

  But she didn’t want to think about land deals or her grandmother or his mother tonight. Or her lies. She simply wanted to feel Rafe against her. Holding her. Loving her all through the night.

  So she reached up and kissed him, then led him to the bedroom.

  RAFE TRIED TO REMIND HIMSELF that this was Suzanne Hartwell, a fancy girl from the city, that she was temporarily visiting her family and staying at her sister’s apartment, that she would be leaving and soon be out of his life. And that she might just take his heart with her. But as her grandmother said, she was the sweetest thing since sugar on a biscuit.

  And it had been a damn long time since he’d par-taken of either.

  He was determined to savor every delicious bite.

  Still, he hesitated and tipped Suzanne’s chin up to search her eyes. Did she really want him, the run-down cowboy, in her bed? In her life?