“What d’ya know?” Nick mumbled.
“Adam,” Gina said on a sigh, straightening up and wishing she were dressed a little better. Silly, she knew. But the purely female part of her couldn’t help being irritated that she was wearing worn jeans and dirty boots for Adam’s surprise arrival.
He started toward her and Gina took a step before turning back to her brother. “Nick, would you keep an eye on Mikey?”
“Sure thing,” her brother said with a brief nod. “But if you need me to get rid of Adam, just call out.”
Get rid of him? No. She didn’t want to get rid of him. She wanted to luxuriate in just looking at him. How pitiful was that? God, he was gorgeous. Even better than the dream images she saw of him whenever she closed her eyes. Her blood was humming, her heartbeat pounding and her mouth was so dry, she could hardly swallow.
Gina forced herself to take slow, even steps toward him when her instincts were telling her to run, throw herself into his arms and never let go. How long did it take, she wondered, before love faded? Months? Years?
“Gina,” he said and his voice was a deep rumble that seemed to reverberate inside her chest.
“Adam. What are you doing here?”
He scrubbed one hand across the back of his neck. “I had to see you. Took one of the family jets. Rented a car at the airport—” He paused to give the van a dirty look.
“Yeah, nice color.”
“All they had,” he said.
She smiled. “I didn’t ask how you got here. Just why youare here.”
“To see you. To tell you—”
His eyes were flashing with emotion—more than she’d ever seen in those dark depths before and Gina wondered frantically what was going on. Hope reared up inside her and she quickly squashed it. No point in pumping up a balloon that Adam would undoubtedly pop.
Then he frowned, looked her up and down and said, “Are you all right? Should you be up and around?”
“What?” She laughed at him. “I’m fine, Adam. What’s going on?”
“I brought you something.” He dug a folded paper out of his back pocket and held it out to her. “This is yours.”
It only took a glance to tell her it was the deed to the land he’d wanted so badly. “What?” She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“Simple to understand. I’m breaking our bargain. The land’s yours again.”
She looked from him to the paper and back again. “You’re not making any sense.”
“Your father told me.”
A niggling doubt began tugging at the edges of her mind. What had her interfering father been up to now? “Told you what exactly?”
Adam stepped close, dropped both hands onto her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “He told me about you losing the baby.”
She swayed, but he kept talking.
“I’m so sorry, Gina. I know that’s not enough. I know ‘sorry’ doesn’t mean a damn at a time like this, but it’s all I’ve got to give you.” His hands moved to her face, his thumbs stroking her skin. “I’m so sorry I didn’t appreciate the miracle we made together.”
Her father had lied to him. And thinking she was in pain, Adam had raced to her side. That bubble of hope lifted inside her again. She sucked in a breath and despite the cold Colorado wind buffeting her, Gina felt warm for the first time since leaving California. “Adam…”
“Wait. Let me finish.” He pulled her in close, held her tightly to him and stroked his hands up and down her back as if trying to convince himself that she was really there. With him. And Gina did nothing to stop him. She gave herself up to the wonder of being held by him again. To the scent of him filling her. To the feel of his strength wrapped around her.
When he spoke, his voice was quiet, torn. “You asked why I don’t have pictures of Monica and Jeremy in the house.”
She stiffened a little, but he felt it and held her tighter.
“I haven’t forgotten them. But there’s something you don’t know, Gina.” He pulled back to look at her. “Monica was leaving me. I was a terrible husband and not much better at fatherhood.”
That explained so much. “Oh, Adam. You blame yourself for—”
“No.” He shook his head now, sadly. “I don’t feel guilt for the accident—though if I’d been a better husband, maybe it wouldn’t have happened. No, Gina. What I feel is regret. That I couldn’t or wouldn’t be what they needed.”
Her heart hurt for him, but there was more than grief in his eyes, there was determination, as well. And hope. Something that lifted her heart even as she wanted to soothe him.
Adam tipped her chin up with his fingertips and said, “I want to be a husband to you, Gina. I want a real marriage. That’s why I’m giving you back the stupid land. I don’t want it. You hold it. Give it to the next child we make together. Just give me a chance to make it up to you.”
“Oh, Adam…” It was everything. Everything she’d hoped and dreamed and prayed for. All of it was here, within arm’s reach. She saw what she’d always wanted to see in his eyes and knew that they would now have the life together that she so craved.
“I miss you,” he said, gaze moving over her face like a dying man taking his last look at the world. “Like an arm or a leg. I miss you. A part of me is gone without you. Nothing means anything anymore because you’re not with me. Gina, I want you to come home. Be my wife again. Let me be the husband I should have been to you. I do love you, Gina. I’m not too stubborn to say it anymore. Will you take me back? Will you help me try again for another baby?”
Gina was staggered by his presence, his words, by the love shining in his eyes. She could even forgive her father for interfering this time.
“I love you, too, Adam,” she said, reaching up to cup his cheek in the palm of her hand.
“Thank God,” he whispered and pulled her in close again. When he kissed her there was desperation and adoration and the hunger Gina knew so well. Finally, though, when they broke apart to smile at each other, Gina had to tell him.
“I’ll come home with you, Adam, and we’ll make that wonderful life together. But—”
He scowled at her. “But?”
“There’s no need to work on another baby just yet,” she said, taking his hand and laying it flat against her belly. Meeting his gaze, she smiled wider, brighter and saw realization dawn in his eyes. “Our first child is just fine.”