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Alex’s lips twitched and he shook his head slowly. “Not in a million years, Natches. Not a million years or a thousand stalkers. She’s mine. ”
Natches’s eyes narrowed on him. “You love her?”
“She owns me. ”
Natches smiled. “I’d suggest telling her the love part. Those are the only words women understand, you know. ”
Alex shook his head. “She knows. It goes deeper. ”
Natches snorted. “Dumb-ass. Tell her. ” Then he sighed and reached out to touch Janey’s limp hand.
“Tell her, man. Because I think its something we both forgot to do. ”
Teach me how to love, Janey. He’d asked her that once, and he hadn’t realized just exactly how both of them had misinterpreted what he did feel for her.
It went deeper than anything Alex had ever imagined love could be. Calling it love seemed almost trite, like saying he merely enjoyed being a Ranger when it had been his life for so long.
Until Janey. Janey was his life now, and his dedication to her went far beyond the dedication he had given his unit, his career, or even his life. It went beyond love. But if she needed the words, then he’d make sure she got them.
TWENTY-FOUR
Janey hated the hospital, and no one would let her leave. She was stuck there until they determined the effects of the drug in the tranquilizer and how her system was dealing with it. She had nearly died with the drugs Dayle had given her six months before; no one was taking chances now. And no one was leaving her in peace.
The whole Mackay clan was there; if they weren’t in her room, they were outside her room. Taking turns coming in, watching her carefully and making her crazy. It went on all night, until by the next morning she wanted to scream in frustration.
Thankfully, Timothy Cranston arrived, ran everyone else out, and gave Alex a hard look when he nearly refused. Janey was surprised to see him go.
“He’s a damned good man. ” Timothy ran his hands over his thinning hair as he sat in the chair beside her bed and watched her with heavy eyes.
“He is at that. ”
Janey watched Timothy. There was so much grief inside the other man that her heart ached for him.
“I had a daughter once,” he finally said. “A family. ”
She felt tears flood her eyes and barely kept them in check.
“A little granddaughter. ” He smiled sadly, then ducked his head as he rubbed at his chest and inhaled hard. “I lost them in a terrorist bombing. My son-in-law, my daughter and grandchild, and my wife. I was supposed to be there, but a case was coming together and I wouldn’t leave. ”
“And they died,” she whispered.
He nodded. “Yeah. They died. ” He lifted his head again. “You look so much like my baby girl,” he said then. “My little Maria. The first time I saw you, I knew your heart, everything you were, would be sweet and kind. And I was right. ”
Janey watched him silently.
“I don’t have family,” Timothy said then.
Janey reached out and touched the hand that lay on the bed beside her. “You’re wrong. ”
His head lifted.
“Natches doesn’t fight with people he doesn’t care for,” she told him softly. “Dawg calls everyone he loves names. And well, Rowdy, he just wouldn’t speak to you at all if he didn’t like you. And you remind me, Timothy, of everything I ever wished for in a father. ”
“I’m not the nice man you want to see. ” Timothy grimaced. “Every one of those boys out there will tell you that. ”
“Alex says you’re a genius,” she told him. “And I overheard Natches and Dawg talking after you left at Christmas. Natches was disappointed you hadn’t stayed for dinner. ”
There was a flicker of something in his eyes, an emotion, almost a hunger that filled him. A need for family. The family he had lost was gone, and he knew it, but Janey saw that need inside him for something to replace it.
