AllFreeNovel
Share Us
There were gasps through the crowd.
“It’s not something I wanted known. Rowan and my staff have gone to great lengths to cover for me, to protect me, to keep me breathing.”
Wrapping his arm around her, he held her to his side. “The sacrifices this woman has made out of love for me would astound you.” He pressed a kiss to her temple and she couldn’t stop her tears. “If anyone doubts her motives, I dare you to say that to my bodyguard’s face. James and Mary-Margaret know the truth.”
“Bennett…” she whispered. He removed a handkerchief from his jacket and carefully wiped her tears.
“When Mary-Margaret told me about this party, Rowan’s love had already kept my heart beating more than double the time I was given. Not only did she keep me alive, she made these past years the best of my entire life. I mean that.”
He smiled at her and she tried to return it. Her body shook violently.
“From riding in a sleigh, to saying a prayer at a temple in Tibet, to seeing what all the fuss was about a glass-bottomed boat...I had a list and she gave meeverythingI’d never taken time to experience. All while running my company and endearing herself to the people in my orbit.”
Turning to look at his guests, he nodded. “I’ve always been a private man. I share Rowan’s love and devotion to me because I’ll expect each and every one of you to protect my wife when I’m gone.”
There was the soft sound of crying from several people.
“As a young, beautiful woman married to a man almost forty years older, people will try to hurt her when I die. They won’t care how much she loved me or the pain she’ll be in. James will protect her physically. Her friends will help her heal. I expect the rest of you to protect her reputation.”
Bennett looked around at the guests with a smile as he held Rowan’s face to his chest.
“Drink up, eat your fill, and enjoy the estate’s amenities. Make yourselves at home. For those who can, stay a few days. For those who can’t, know how grateful I am that you came. A lifetime of raising hell, making money, and helping as many as I could - it went by goddamn fast.”
Then he guided a sobbing Rowan from the stage and into the house. Taking the elevator to their suite, James closed the door softly behind them.
She instantly threw herself into Bennett’s arms.
“You’repreparingme. I canfeelit. What’s happened? Did the doctors say something?” He held her gaze and fear bubbled up. “Don’t leave me, Bennett. I can’t live without you.”
He held her face in his hands. “That’s not true, Rowan. You can live - youmustlive - without me.”
“Please! I’ll doanythingto keep you with me.”
“Will you truly do anything, darling?” he asked softly.
Sobbing, she managed, “Of course. Tell me.”
“You can keep a piece of me with you always and give me something I never truly had.”
Scrubbing at her face, she didn’t understand.
“Have my baby, Rowan.”
She frowned. “Your...baby?” Tilting her head, realization hit her. Her entire world swayed and she gasped, “No, Bennett. No. It willkillyou.”
“To have you once is worth the cost.”
Chapter Ten
“It’s not, Bennett!”
“Before I die, I want to make love to my wife. The only woman I’ve ever loved. The only woman to ever love me. It’s thelast itemon my bucket list, Rowan. It’s been there since the day I met you but I didn’t write it down.”
Everything inside her raged against losing him. “Bennett…”
“Since the day I met you, you’ve given me everything I wanted, needed, and didn’t know I was missing. There’s only one thing more that I need, Rowan. One thing.”
“Y-you’re asking me tokillyou, Bennett.”
