Mercy slipped between the cool sheets for the last night of their stay. She laced her hands behind her neck and considered the events of the past few days. The bewildered expression on Jenny’s face when she admitted that she hated the marriage bed kept haunting her.
Whoa, the voice in her head pulled tight on the reins. Hunter is not going out again on a limb that broke both times he trusted it to hold his weight before. So, if you play this game on the impulse you’re having right now, you can expect to come out with a heart so broken it will never be the same.
“Well, I’m a good sturdy limb,” Mercy said as she crawled out of bed and looked out the window at the stars. Jenny, bless her heart, might be looking at those same stars with a different attitude if she had taken a shower with Kyle that evening. If Hunter was still awake, he could be looking at them too. Did he really want her to come to the ranch, live with him, and manage his ranch office? She was beginning to like that idea more and more.
She wrapped her arms tightly around her body, and paced the floor, back and forth, from the bed to the door, and back again, several times.
Finally, she eased the door open, half expecting to find Hunter still reading on the sofa. She could see the light under the door of the guest room, which meant he was still awake. She should not go into his room. She should go back to bed and count sheep or recite Psalm 23 frontward and then backward until she fell asleep. If that didn’t work, she could do multiplication tables all the way through the thirties. She would feel like a complete idiot to open his door and make the first move, then have him tell her that he was serious about taking things slow.
Follow your heart, the voice in her head said.
She went out into the living room. He wasn’t there, and she turned around to go back to her own room, but the voice she had heard earlier repeated the message. She whipped around before she lost her courage and went into his room. He was standing at the doors leading out to the deck, staring out at the stars like she had been doing just minutes before.
“Mercy?” He looked around. “Is something wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong. I was staring at the same stars a little while ago,” she said as she crossed the room, slipped her arms around him, and laid her cheek against his broad back.
“They’re almost as beautiful tonight as you are,” he said.
“I wanted to look at them with you,” she said.
“I like sharing simple things with you, Mercy.” He turned around and took her in his arms. “Working in the cantina. Having breakfast together. Even looking at the stars. Money can’t buy times like this.”
“Money is just dirty paper with pictures of dead presidents on it,” she whispered as she listened to the steady beat of Hunter’s heart. “I’ve never been real interested in that stuff.”
“I can tell.” Hunter kissed her on the forehead. “You are here. Does that mean you think our relationship might work out?”
“I do, and I figure this could be our third date,” she whispered.
“What has the third date got to…” He grinned. “Oh, now I know what you’re asking, but darlin’, this is our fourth or fifth date, so we’re kind of behind on what the books say we should have already done.”
They were curled up together, arms and legs entwined, when Mercy awoke the next morning. She didn’t move a muscle but just stared her fill of Hunter. This was right. It didn’t matter that he had been married twice or played the field. It didn’t matter that she’d been a good Christian woman. What did matter was that they were compatible—in and out of the bedroom.
He opened his eyes slowly and then kissed her on the cheek. “Good morning, Sister Mercy.”
“Good morning to you, and honey, after last night, maybe you shouldn’t ever call me that again,” she whispered. “I believe that I will take that job you offered me, Hunter, and I’d like to live in the house with you.”
“House or bedroom?” he asked.
“House to begin with,” she said.
“When can you be ready to move in?” he asked.
“Give me a couple of weeks to get my things in order,” she told him.
“I might be able to wait that long.” His grin widened.
“Good, but I can’t wait that long to…”
“Oh, honey, I’d love to spend the whole day in bed with you, but if you’ll look at the clock, you’ll see we’ve slept away the morning. Mickey and Maria are probably not even a half an hour from here right now. But I wouldn’t turn down an offer for a quick shower together.”
She jumped out of bed and headed toward the shower. By the time he arrived, she was already naked and wet. He grabbed a bar of soap and lathered up his hands. She did the same and hoped that Jenny and Kyle had as much fun the night before as she and Hunter were having.
Mercy’s hair was still slightly damp, but her suitcase was sitting by the door when Mickey and Maria arrived. She was glad they couldn’t see inside it because it was a tumbled mess, but she had no regrets about spending the time with Hunter rather than folding and organizing her things.
“We are home!” Maria said. “But only for a little while. Hello, Mercy, I’m Maria, and this handsome fellow is Mickey, my husband.”
“I’m pleased to meet you,” Mercy said with a nod.
Mickey barely came up to Hunter’s shoulder, and Maria was even shorter, but they made such a cute couple. Her black hair, dark brown eyes, and curvy figure would make any man take a second look. Mickey was a handsome blond with clear blue eyes and a smile that would draw women like a moth to a flame.
Mickey crossed the room, shook hands with Hunter and then pulled him in for a hug. “I’ve got big news that I wanted to share with you in person and not on the phone. I’m giving the cantina to Maria’s brother, and Maria says that we will give the house to the church for a parsonage.”
Mercy could hardly believe her ears. Jenny was going to have a nice house, but why?
“I can see the questions in your eyes.” Maria smiled at Mercy. “I came here to visit my brother a few months ago. He lives on a little melon farm just outside of town. On Sunday night, he went to the cantina, and I went to the mission to church. Afterward, I went to the cantina for tacos and a beer and met Mickey. I fell in love with him, and the rest is history.”
“Sound familiar?” Mickey patted Hunter on the back.
“Little bit, but if you’d gone to the cantina instead of the church that night, you might have still met Mickey,” Hunter said.
“I prayed that night that God would send me a good man,” Maria said. “If I hadn’t been in church, I might not have asked for that, so we owe the church.”
“Jenny is going to be over the moon with happiness to get a nice house like this, but where will your brother live?” Mercy wanted to call Jenny right then, but it was Maria’s surprise, and she wouldn’t spoil it. Still, she couldn’t wait to get Jenny’s call when her friend found out the good news.
“He’ll live where he always has. It’s only two miles away,” Maria answered. “I see Jenny sitting on the front pew at church on Sunday morning. She seems sad. I hope the house makes her smile.”
“I’m sure it will,” she said.
“Why are you giving away your cantina and house?” Hunter asked.
Mickey slipped his arm around Maria. “I’ve fought the tie and suit for a long time now,” Mickey said, “but the folks are getting older now, and it’s time for me to grow up and step into my place in the business. I’ve got a good woman—and a baby on the way who should be raised somewhere other than in a cantina. Instead of coming over here to run the cantina for me, you can fly to Boston and spend some time with me and Maria and get to know your godson.”
“We’d love that, wouldn’t we, Mercy?” Hunter asked.
She nodded. “Maybe it will be a goddaughter?”
“No, it’s a boy,” Mickey declared with a twinkle in his eyes. “I will have a boy, and in a couple of years Hunter will have a daughter. That way we can bind our families together by marriage when our children are older.”
“In your dreams,” Maria said. “Our child will make his or her own decisions.”
“And I’ve got a feeling that mine will too,” Hunter said.
Maria kissed Mickey on the cheek. “But it is a good dream. If we could marry our child off to Hunter and Mercy’s, we might get grandchildren who are tall.”
Mercy blushed, and Hunter chuckled.