“Sit down, and let me get you something warm to drink.Are you hungry?”She took his coat and hung it where it would dry.
“The only thing I need to warm me is you.”His arm crept around her waist and pulled her onto his lap.“It’s good to see you, woman.”Smiling, he wiped the moist tears of happiness from her cheek.For a breathless moment they looked at each other.It had been almost a month since he’d held her, touched her.Lesley had often wondered what she’d feel when she saw Cole again.Everything had happened so fast after he’d heard from Lansky.His declaration of love, his proposal seemed so distant.
“You really are beautiful, Lesley Brown,” he whispered as his mouth settled hungrily over hers.Boundless joy raced through her as she gave herself freely to the mastery of his kiss.
Long moments later, her head resting against his broad shoulder, Lesley breathed in the fresh scent of woodsy aftershave and the tangy hint of spice.“How’d you get here?”Nothing mattered now that he was here and in her arms.
“The airport cleared enough for my flight to take off, but we were forced to land in Salt Lake City because of a new storm front.I would have phoned, but I didn’t want you worrying and wondering.”
“Cole, I wish you had.”
“Sometime early this morning, we landed in Seattle and I drove from there.”
“Seattle!”she gasped.“That’s a good nine hours’ drive.”
“Twelve.Snoqualmie Pass was closed for two hours because of a snowslide.”
Keeping her arm around his shoulder, she raised her face enough so that they could look at each other.“You went through all that trouble to get to me?”
“Nothing was more important than making it here for Christmas.”
The warmth of his hold burned through Lesley’s thin sweater.A rawness caught in her throat at the thought of what he had endured for her.“You do love me, don’t you?”
“Had you begun to doubt it?”
“In some ways I think I had,” she admitted in low tones.
“But not anymore?”
“Never again.”Tenderly her fingertips traced the proud, determined line of his jaw.Cole was like that.When he wanted something, he was relentless until satisfied.Every day she prayed that the ordeal with the patent would be settled, because she didn’t know if Cole would rest until it was.
“Are you ready to open your present?”he asked in a husky murmur as his teeth made biting kisses along the lobe of her ear.
“You brought me a gift?”He hadn’t been carrying anything.
“Here.”He reached inside his jacket pocket and handed her a small jeweler’s box.“I didn’t have time to wrap it.”
“Cole, you didn’t?”From the box size it wasn’t difficult to guess what was inside.
“I would have preferred to have us shop for your ring together, but I thought, circumstances being what they are, you’d understand.”
Slowly she opened the lid of the plush black velvet box.A huge solitaire diamond sparkled back at her.Lesley drew in a gasp of delight.“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, her breath stuck in her throat.“It’s perfect.I couldn’t have chosen anything more beautiful.”
“Let’s try it on for size.”He took the ring out of the holder and slipped it onto her finger, the fit as perfect as the diamond.
Holding her left hand out for them both to examine, Lesley felt a sense of awe come over her.Cole’s declaration of love, the proposal and all it entailed seemed real to her now.
“Since you’re an engaged woman, it’s about time you had a ring to prove it, wouldn’t you say?”
“Yes.”Lesley beamed happily.“Yes, I would.”
Cole’s restless hand moved caressingly up and down herspine.“I’d like to set a wedding date, but I want this thing settled with Jennings first.”
Lesley swallowed at the building tightness in her throat.“How much longer?”
A look of pain flashed across his face.Now, after the first moments of shock at his arrival, Lesley could study him more closely.He looked tired, but the weariness was more than physical.Losing the patent had taken its toll, had planted bitter seeds in his heart and mind.He’d lost weight; his face was thin, almost gaunt.His cheekbones were pronounced, and tiny lines fanned out from his eyes.His thick dark hair, needing to be trimmed, covered the back of his collar.His all-consuming drive was leading to physical neglect.
“I don’t know how much longer.”He raked a hand along the side of his head.
