Chapter Twenty-One

 

“Are you alright, Rose?” Ryan dropped to his heels, his palm pulled from one glove and moving to the back of her neck, massaging gently. “I don’t have any water with me this time…” he felt the huge wave of relief flood through him with she lifted her head and smiled at him.

So much was packed in that sweet, mischievous pixie of a smile.

“Why are you here?” She felt her stomach return slowly and straightened to peer at eye level at him.

“I’d say something sexist like protecting my woman, but you’re looking a little on the violent side,” Ryan answered honestly, standing up and offering her his palm.

“Yeah, well…when the queasy thing passes, I’m hitting you…so be prepared,” she warned him, sliding her hand into his and discovering it very warm. “Ohh…you’re toasty…”

“You’ve been in the winds too long,” he tucked her close and turned to head them to where he knew she left her car.

“How did you get here?” She pulled her collar higher.

“Matt dropped me off where you left your car. Why are you queasy? Skip lunch again?”

“Maybe…” She responded a little sullenly. “Mostly I really wasn’t up to watching a fight…or trying to break one up…or both…”

“You believe I’d get in a fight?”

“If you thought you were protecting me, yes,” she answered with a soft laugh. “Without a doubt in my mind.”

“Smart woman,” he kept his gaze on her upturned face, stopping at the side of the car and putting both hands on her shoulders and raising her to her toes. “Do I have your attention, Rose?”

“My…umm…toes aren’t on the ground…much…”

“Are you leaving me?”

“I…am I…Ryan, I love you…why in the world would I leave you?” Rose guessed it was the right answer. She watched relief send his brilliant blue eyes a couple shades brighter and concrete was once more beneath her feet before she was enveloped in his arms, his face buried in her throat. She wrapped her arms around him, mostly for warmth but at the moment, she thought it smarter to keep that to herself.

God, she loved snuggling against him, smelling him and just laying in his arms and being.

“I saw you taking the suitcase, Rose,” he tipped her face up, realizing in the middle of the long kiss that he didn’t give her a chance to answer. “Let’s go home, Rose.”

“I’d like that,” she brought the keys out once she was positive she could breathe and opened his door, running to the drivers side and starting the car, turning the heat to full. “Idiot weather…geeze…how can you be so warm and toasty…”

“I believe I was running a little hot back there, Rose,” he said quietly.

“The suitcase,” she began with a little swallow. “I loaned to a friend leaving a guy who thinks hitting her is okay. She packed her stuff and moved them this morning. I told her there was no hurry in returning the case since I wasn’t going anywhere.” She glanced over at him, his head back and eyes closed. “Ryan…are you okay? You’ve got a headache, don’t you?”

“A bit of it…” He exhaled slowly, his hand tightening around the slender fingers she twined with his.

“Why didn’t you talk to me, Ryan? Since when do you just…just go off and…you got in a bar fight, for pity sakes!” Rose tossed his palm at his middle, glaring at him angrily. “You could have been hurt worse than just a sore jaw, you big idiot.”

“My darling Rose…please…a day’s reprieve…” he groaned heavily.

“I’m on a roll,” she growled, lips pursed into a pout that turned into a soft sigh. “I’ll get you some soup and herbs and you are not working tonight, is that clear? No computer. Rest your eyes and your head.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he answered immediately, grateful her heart was bigger than her need for retaliation.

“Don’t think that appeases me. Why didn’t you talk to me?” She whispered painfully.

“For some idiot reason…I don’t even have the words…as soon as I heard you planning to load up your little car and vanish…everything inside me crashed, Rose,” he told her, a rush of emotions once more coursing through him with a savage shudder. “Christ, not only crashed, but crashed and burned. I’m not sure where the hell I went, I just walked…hatching plans to convince you we were good together…”

“Oh, Ryan…” Rose felt the emotions welling inside her, dragging in a shaky breath. She was driving. Almost at the gates…she needed to see and things were already a little on the blurry side. She made it through the gates and parked beneath the overhanging port, snatched her pack and turned the car off.

Rose let him go inside before she set the alarms and left her pack sitting by the hall to the office. She dropped her coat over his on the chair and went into the kitchen after sending him upstairs to change into more comfortable clothes. She found the herbs she wanted, added a few pain pills and set a deep bowl of soup in the microwave to heat. She had water for them both on the breakfast counter and made herself a bowl of the vegetable mix Susan had left for them on the stove.

It was impossible not to feel warm and tingly when he rounded the stairs in a light t-shirt and sleep pants. Strong muscled arms and shoulders that were solid. He’d freed his hair, probably because of the headache, she thought, wincing for him and sliding the bowl of soup toward him.

“Eat first…”

But he ignored the food and turned her to face him on the chair. He took her hands from her lap and put them on his shoulders, pulling her hard against him.

“This first…I need this, first,” he whispered hungrily, his mouth down in a kiss that swept through them both in a wild ride of hunger, passion and love. “Tell me, Rose…tell me you love me…”

“More than I imagined possible, Ryan,” Rose felt moisture gathering in her eyes. “I love you…I’m crazy about you…even the money thing…”

“Christ, Rose…” his insides erupted and he felt alive for the first time in twenty four hours. His palms moved to her face, holding her there for another dozen soft kisses before he laid his forehead against hers. “Did I behave badly when Matt brought me home last night?”

“Eat, Ryan, please…” She laughed softly, her head shaking. “No…you were your ever present gentleman self. But you are a tad more Irish when you’re drunk…I’m not sure I understood everything you said…”

“I saw your night shirt…I didn’t…” He pushed into the stool and lifted the spoon, taking a grateful scoop of the soup and sighing.

“You stepped on the tails…and it ripped…a lot…” She shrugged. “It’s not like I don’t have other things to wear,” she said, eyes rolling at the many rich jewel-toned colors in the sets he’d bought her.

“I promise you…that is not behavior you’ll have to deal with,” Ryan discovered his stomach and head appreciated the rich soup. “Martin is gone?”

“His flight leaves tomorrow morning,” she answered, watching him. “You might not like this, but he’s not a bad person,” she watched the arched brow and held up one finger. “When the thing happened…last year…people wouldn’t listen to me. But the attorney was mine and I made her do what I wanted, that’s why he didn’t go to jail. That man…it wasn’t the Tony I knew in college.”

“We all change, Rose. Meeting him alone…” He still felt the knot in his middle, the flare of anger from photos of her bruised and sporting a split lip.

“No…listen to me,” she said firmly. “I was twenty one when we met in college. I was naïve and stupid…I’d spent too much time in girl’s schools and too little time learning the…the rituals between boys and girls. I never slept with Tony. We never talked about it until today, but it was fun. It was like a brother sister thing and neither of us knew what to label it. He was popular and cute and…and he treated me nice. He was also arrogant, enterprising and ambitious.”

Rose stood up and paced in thought. “I knew he wasn’t exclusive to me. We were friends…until he found out who my father was…found out about the family business thing. I guess I was a little starry eyed…dumb…” she shook her head. “But the point is…he was never mean. He was never the slightest bit…he never hurt me…or anyone else…I know we were friends, but I thought…maybe he could like me just a little…then I heard him talking to friends of his about how easy it’ll be to make it to the top in a company like Maddock’s if he was hooked up with the bosses daughter. I ended the friendship and threw myself into a lot of other things.”

“You didn’t run, Rose.”

“No…well…maybe…I switched colleges…got my degree and went to work.” She met the eyes that studied her now. “I didn’t know Tony worked for my father. I didn’t and don’t involve myself in his business. I liked auditing and worked for a firm he used for business, though. I never kept up with Tony. When I ended it, it was gone from my mind,” she absently began cleaning up the kitchen, carrying things to the sink and putting leftovers in the fridge.

“You don’t know if he kept track of you,” Ryan said softly, tapping the light out and leading her into the living area. He pulled the drapes closed and tapped the gas fireplace into action before reclining on the sofa and pulling her down beside him. Nothing could stop the smile from glowing in his eyes at the moment, he realized, watching her pull a quilt from one of the chairs and covering them both.

“I doubt he did. His wife is very nice and he has the cutest little boy,” she recalled with a smile. “My father was doing an audit because of some problems in one of the sites and requested me, so I began the audit. That was the first time I’d seen him in years. But he was different. Hard…cruel…it wasn’t until after the…the incident, that I began asking questions. A lot of questions from a lot of people. He caught me off guard because I only knew the old Tony, Ryan. The guy on the beach today, that was the Tony I knew. I don’t know if he’ll make it or not…I hope so…”

“Rose…do you have any idea how much I wanted to smash his face in for what he did to you in the past?” Ryan liked having her settled between his legs, relished having his chin nestled against the hollow of her throat when she leaned into him. “Seeing you that close to him…”

“I know…that’s why I didn’t want you around him,” she answered honestly. “It’s why I wanted him back in Boston. Everyone deserves a second chance, Ryan.”

“I’ve been advised that you aren’t in need of either a manager or an owner, Rose,” Ryan tipped her face to the side, fingers tracing along her jaw lightly. “Would you be interested in a husband who loves you to distraction?”

“Are we negotiating?” Rose asked when she was sure her voice wouldn’t betray her. His laughter was deep and warm, his kiss long and filled with promise as they sunk lower beneath the cover.

Ryan couldn’t remember the last time negotiations went so smoothly.

 

 

******

 

 

Thank you for reading Rose Maddock. Please remember that this is one in a long series on the rebuilding of a society that needs less greed and ego and more concern and thought. I hope the laughter, romance and fun filled an evening for you and you’ll enjoy a few more stories on the journey. The next one in the sequence is Anna Carson. Enjoy!