The engagement party was in full swing when Chris wandered over to one of the large coolers packed with ice and cold bottles of beer and cans of soft drinks. He helped himself, removed the bottle cap and let the ice-cold brew slide down his throat. It was only the end of May, but the day was hot and humid—typical north Texas weather—and even though the room was air-conditioned, the beer hit the spot.
Chris turned and watched Holly for a moment, the center of a small gaggle of women across the room, Annabel and Peg among them. Holly’s dress was golden yellow—God, he loved her in yellow. Loved her in anything, really. But he loved her best when she was wearing nothing at all except the tender look of love she reserved for him alone. Their eyes met across the room, and there it was again—the expression that melted his heart every time he saw it.
“How did I ever get so lucky?” he asked himself quietly.
The rowdy song the band was playing came to an end, and the strains of a popular ballad soon filled the air. As Chris watched, Jesse Willard, Annabel’s fiancé, walked up to her and touched her on the shoulder. The loving face Annabel turned to him was matched by the expression on Jesse’s face, and a wave of happiness for his twin washed through him as the couple began to slow dance. All he and his brothers had ever wanted for Annabel was for her to find a good man to love her. She had that in Jesse. But Annabel was her own woman, the consummate professional police officer, finally doing the work she loved. Chris could understand that—he loved his work, too.
Peg was soon claimed by Joe for a dance, and Chris smiled. Peg and Joe were the best friends a man could ever have. Peg could have resented Holly on her sister’s behalf—and he wouldn’t have blamed her. But there was too much love in Peg for her to wish unhappiness on someone else. She deserved a steady-as-a-rock man like Joe to make her happy. And Joe, Chris knew, was counting his blessings, too.
Chris glanced away, and his gaze fell on his younger brothers. Ridge dancing with his high school sweetheart, Darcy, whom he’d finally reconnected with after all these years. Sam with Zoe, who was the best thing that had ever happened to him. And Ethan, with his arms wrapped tight around Lizzie, not really dancing, but swaying back and forth to the music.
“How did we all get so lucky?” Chris asked himself now.
Only Trevor was alone, and Chris’s heart went out to his older brother. At the same time he promised himself, Soon. Holly’s right. I have to ask Trevor why.
Suddenly Holly was standing right in front of him. “Howdy, cowboy,” she murmured. “You look familiar. Do I know you?”
Conscious that eyes were on them, Chris tamped down the urgent desire to kiss her until she was too dazed to tease him. Instead, he raised her left hand to his lips—the hand wearing the engagement ring that was his pledge to her—and kissed it. A romantic gesture he would have felt foolish making a few weeks ago. Before he’d known Holly.
“Okay, cowboy,” she drawled, “you’ve made your point. I don’t know who you are after all.”
Chris laughed and feigned hurt. “And here I thought you’d be impressed with how romantic I could be.”
Holly’s soft brown eyes turned misty, and she whispered, “You’re romantic enough for me, Chris, just the way you are. Every single day.”
That deserved a kiss, and he didn’t care how many people saw him do it. When he finally raised his head and took in the dazed expression in Holly’s eyes, he couldn’t help it—primitive masculine pride surged through him...particularly a certain body part.
“Don’t you dare move,” he warned Holly.
She laughed deep in her throat, but she knew what he was talking about so she stayed right where she was for a minute. Eventually he was able to release her without being too embarrassed, but he tugged her hand. “Come on,” he told her roughly. “Let’s go outside where no one can—”
That was when he spotted the dark-haired woman standing in the shadows across the room from them, near the door to the bar. A stranger, yet not a stranger. Incredulous, he whispered, “Josie?”
He dropped Holly’s hand as if in a dream and took two steps toward the woman he instinctively knew was his baby sister. But when the woman saw him move toward her, she darted from the room like a frightened colt.
Chris gave chase. “Josie!” he called to the fleeing woman, who had already escaped through the front door. “Josie, wait! Don’t run, Josie. You’re safe, damn it! You’re safe! It’s all over!”
She must have heard him, because she stopped suddenly on the sidewalk, turned around and stared at him. But she was still poised to run. “It’s over?”
Chris didn’t stop running until he reached his sister, until he was sure he could prevent her from fleeing if she tried to take off again. “Josie,” he whispered, still not quite believing she was really here. Then she was in his arms. “My God, it’s really you.”
Brother and sister finally stepped back, and all at once Holly was at Chris’s side, her breath coming quickly. Then the rest of the family appeared—all crowding around Josie, hugging her repeatedly, exclaiming over her—their joy at finally being reunited with their baby sister mirroring Chris’s.
Questions peppered the air. “Oh, Josie, we’ve been searching for you ever since you vanished.”
“Where have you been? We’ve been worried sick.”
“Why didn’t you let us know you were alive?”
Chris held up his hands. “Hold it, everybody! One at a time.”
Before anyone could ask a question, Josie looked at Chris, regret in her eyes. “I heard about Laura,” she blurted out. “I wanted to call you when it happened and tell you how sorry I was. I really did, Chris. But I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. ‘No phone calls,’ they said. ‘Let them think you’re dead,’ they said.”
“Who said?” Trevor asked, getting his question in first. “Where have you been?”
“Witness Security. Six years. Ever since—”
“Desmond Carlton was killed,” Chris said, cutting Josie off. When her eyes widened that he knew, he nodded, saying, “Yeah, I think I have most everything figured out.” For the benefit of the rest of the family, he said, “Here’s what I think happened. Correct me if I’m wrong, Josie.” He laid out his theory of what had occurred eleven years ago, and then six years ago.
Josie interrupted him a couple of times to clarify a point, but when he was done, she said, “I can’t believe you pieced that all together from what little you knew.” Her eyes held admiration.
“Thank Lizzie and Trevor,” he told Josie. “They’re the ones who gave me the clues I needed.” His gaze met Lizzie’s, then Trevor’s. Lizzie’s eyes held nothing but joy, because she finally knew what had caused Josie to turn away from her friendship; Trevor’s eyes held joy that Josie was found, tinged with...redemption? Thanks, Trev, Chris mouthed and knew Trevor had seen it by the slight nod he gave. Chris still didn’t know why Trevor had abandoned him. But he no longer believed Trevor hadn’t tried his damnedest to get custody of Josie when he turned eighteen. And that was a tremendous load off Chris’s mind.
He turned back to Josie. “The most important thing in all of this is, everyone who was associated with Carlton six years ago is either dead or in prison—and will stay in prison for a long time. Which means it’s all over as far as you’re concerned. You don’t have to hide anymore.”
“You really mean it?” Josie couldn’t seem to take it in at first.
Chris nodded. “And you’re just in time. Holly and I are celebrating our engagement.” He caught Holly’s hand and raised it so Josie could see the ring.
“I know. That’s why I came, because I...I wanted to be here with the family, even if I couldn’t join in the celebration. Even if it meant risking being seen.”
“You were spotted before,” Chris told her. He glanced around the circle of his family. “Ridge saw you. So did Lizzie. And Annabel—”
“You left a gold heart charm in my house, didn’t you?” Annabel interjected. “The one Mama gave you that’s just like mine.” When Josie nodded, Annabel asked, “Did you leave it on purpose?”
Josie nodded again. “I couldn’t bear having you all think I was dead. No matter what my handlers in Witness Security told me.”
Another flurry of questions ensued, and this time Holly intervened. “Let’s take this back inside.” She smiled at Josie and held out her hand, saying softly, “I’m Holly McCay, Chris’s fiancée. I’m so glad you came to our engagement party. I can’t think of anything that would make Chris happier than having you here. It’s been tearing him up not knowing where you were. Not knowing if you were safe. Now he can really celebrate.”
* * *
Chris disconnected and slid his smartphone into his pocket. He jumped guiltily, then whirled around when Holly said behind him, “How are the boys doing with the babysitter?”
“How’d you know I was checking on them?”
She smiled the tender smile he loved. “Because I know you. Because that’s the kind of man you are.” She came to stand right in front of him and deliberately placed her hand on his heart, which immediately kicked up a notch at her touch. “You made yourself responsible for us that very first day,” she said. “And thank God you did, because if you hadn’t I never would have known you. Never would have loved you.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “And I never would have known what it was like to be loved the way you love me.”
A lump came into his throat, and he wished he had Holly’s way with words. Wished he could express what her love meant to him. But all he could do was touch her cheek with a hand that wasn’t quite steady and say, “I don’t want to lose you, Holly. Tell me that will never happen.”
What you don’t love you can’t lose. He’d told himself that in the hospital right after Ethan and Lizzie’s baby had been born. He’d lost so much in his life—Mama, Trevor, Josie, Laura, their baby—he hadn’t wanted to risk loving again. Mama was dead, and so were Laura and their baby—he wouldn’t see them again in this lifetime. But Josie had been miraculously restored to them. And if Chris ever got up the courage to ask Trevor one all-important question, maybe he’d finally find the older brother he’d once loved unreservedly—the brother who could do no wrong—in the man Trevor was now. Which meant it was still possible to find his mother and lay her to rest, the one remaining thing he desperately wanted to accomplish.
Holly seemed to understand what he meant when he said he didn’t want to lose her, seemed to understand the lurking fear he refused to name but couldn’t completely banish. “I can’t promise not to die,” she told him solemnly. “No one can promise that. But I can promise I’ll love you, now and forever. Because love...enduring love...is a choice. And I choose you, Chris. I will always choose you.”
The lump in his throat was back, but all he could think of to say was “Does this mean I get to be the boss of you sometimes?”
Her gurgle of laughter warmed the lonely place in his heart the way it had from the first time he’d heard it. The way it always would. “If I get to be the boss of you sometimes, too,” she told him, her soft brown eyes alight with the laughter they would always bring to each other.
“Then I have nothing to worry about,” he assured her, “because you already are that. Sometimes,” he hastened to add, needing to be completely honest with her.
She laughed again, her twinkling eyes telling him she knew exactly the kind of man he was, flaws and all...and she loved him anyway. Then she kissed him, and in that instant he knew he was going to be all right. They were going to be all right.
Ethan had said it best. I thought I could cut myself off from life. Chris had thought that, too, but Holly had proved him wrong. You couldn’t play it safe where life was concerned. Where love was concerned. You had to risk it all. You had to put your heart out there where it could get trampled, hoping and praying it wouldn’t.
His heart had been trampled. There was no denying that. But Holly had healed him. She’d seen something in him worth loving, so she’d somehow mended the cracks. His heart wasn’t good as new, it was better—because loving and losing and loving again had taught him never to take anything for granted, and he never would again. The really important things in life didn’t entail proving a darn thing to anyone—except proving his love to those he cared about. It was a long list—something he finally acknowledged—and getting longer every day. Heading that list was Holly.
“Life is good,” he murmured, drawing Holly back against him so they could look out at all his brothers and sisters together again...finally. And all his and Holly’s friends also in attendance at their engagement party. Family. Good friends. Almost everything a man needed to make life worth living. Almost. Only one thing was missing from the picture—the one thing that was no longer missing from his life.
He curved his arms around Holly’s waist, holding his future securely. “Life is good.”
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from DEADLY OBSESSION by Elle James.
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