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He felt her fingertips brush against the scar. “Yes.” He caught her hand and raised it to his lips.
“What happened?” She levered herself up, more of her body gliding onto him. The dim light from the hall filtered through the open door and mingled with the moonlight that came through the windows, touching her face and showing him the deep concern etched in her expressive green eyes.
“I was on a joint raid after a paramilitary group who were trading in guns and drugs. Somebody tipped them off. They were waiting for us. My partner was killed in the first exchange.” It had never been an easy thing to talk about. Logan discovered it was harder now because he knew how close he had come to dying without ever seeing his son—without ever seeing Cat again.
“Weren’t you wearing a vest?”
His mouth crooked with cynical humor. “Vests are only bulletproof if the other guy is using legal ammunition. That’s why four men went down that day before we got them.”
Mixed in with the look of horror, Logan saw the flaring of outrage in her eyes. He wasn’t all that surprised when he thought about it. Cat was essentially a fighter. In that way, they were very much alike. It pleased him to know that. But there was much about Cat that pleased him. He wanted her to know that, but action came easier to him than words.
With a fluid, sideways turn of his body, he rolled her onto her back and dipped his head to take a tasting sip of her lips. She made a contented sound and snuggled against him, a hand coming up to caress the side of his face.
“The shooting, is that why you decided to quit?” Her thumb moved across his lips in a slow stroke.
“Not really.” His hand skimmed over her waist to the rounded swell of a breast. “But I spent a lot of time just lying around thinking while I was recovering—enough time to take a good long look at myself. I didn’t like what I saw.”
“Why?”
“Because I was fast becoming too hardened, too cold, too cynical, trusting no one and believing in nothing. If you had seen me—even as little as a year ago—you would never have walked up to me in a bar. You would have taken one look at me and turned away.”
Cat smiled. “I find that hard to believe.”
“Believe it.” The sudden edge to his voice warned her that Logan was far from a tamed man.
“Why did you come to Blue Moon?”
“I knew I had to get as far away from the cities as I could. I had some money saved, enough to buy a small ranch if the price was right. I also knew I’d have to be very lucky to make it without an outside income. Which is when I decided to get a job as a deputy sheriff. After living in the South for so long, I wanted to get back to the Plains. I looked around the Dakotas first, but there were too many…unpleasant memories. I heard about the opening here, and I’d been here before—”
“When?”
“A few years ago.” He was deliberately vague. “Before you and I met.”
“Really. What brought you here?”
“I was trying to get a lead on a man suspected of selling illegal firearms.” Logan wasn’t about to mention Lath by name and have his memory intrude on this. “I asked my questions and left the next day. But I remembered the bigness of the sky and the scarcity of people. Unlike the rest of Montana, the land prices around here were reasonable. The celebrity and big-money types prefer more spectacular scenery, I guess. After I got the job, I started dickering to buy the Circle Six. The rest you know.”
“Yes.” She smoothed a hand over his chest in an exploring fashion. “What about your family?”
“Other than the odd cousin or two, I don’t have any.” Seeking to distract her, he nuzzled at the corner of her mouth. “I don’t remember you talking this much before. I guess Quint gets it from you.”
She laughed against his lips, then gave them a quick kiss. “That’s because I spent most of my time avoiding you. Now I want to know everything about you.”
“But you don’t have to learn it all now.” He nibbled his way from her mouth to her throat. “We have plenty of time.”
“We don’t know that. Nobody knows that,” she said with a telling throb in her voice. Convinced she was thinking of Repp and angered that she had, Logan lifted his head and saw the fiercely needy light that burned in her eyes—for him. Everything smoothed out as she cupped a hand to his face. “I can’t bear the thought of anything happening to you, Logan. I love you too much now.”
There was that word again. Again, he dodged it. “Nothing’s going to happen to me—unless you talk me to death.”
“You know what I meant.” She feigned exasperation, then turned serious again. “I don’t want to lose you.”
“You aren’t going to lose me. You and I are going to grow old together and spend our evenings out there rocking on our front porch.” Logan paused, turning thoughtful and tender. “I guess that’s what love is—wanting to grow old with someone and watch her hair turn silver and the wrinkles line her face, loving every one of them because each is a memory of the days, months, and years you’ve shared with her.” A long slow smile curved his lips. “I have a feeling when I’m ninety, I’ll still be chasing you around those rocking chairs.”
“And I promise I’ll slow down so you can catch me.”
“Ah, but will you stop talking?” he mocked and covered her mouth with his to make sure she did just that.
This time when he made love to her, it was with none of the urgency of before. It was long and slow and tender.
