Fortune's Legacy by Maureen Child Read Free Book Online Page B

pretend that the end wasn’t staring them in the face.
    And he’d gone along for the most part. He was tempted to continue to play the game they’d somehow slipped into. To keep pretending that this was nothing more than a bad case of flu. That he’d be back walking the land in a week or two.
    God knew, pretense was more comforting than truth. But there were a few things he needed to say to her, while he still could.
    â€œLily, honey…”
    As if she could read his mind, she shook her head. “No, don’t you start telling me goodbye, Ryan Fortune. Because I don’t want to hear it. You’re not going anywhere. You’re not going to leave me. I won’t allow it. You’ll stay right here until I say different. You understand me?”
    He chuckled, and the sensation rippled through his aching body like a fever. “You always were a bossy woman.”
    She sniffed, surreptitiously wiped her eyes with her fingertips, then smiled. “And you always were a smooth talker.”
    God, he’d loved her most of his life. Those dark, exotic eyes of hers. That smooth, caramel-colored skin, the thick, heavy black hair. The smile that lit up something inside him as if it were New Year’s Eve in Times Square.
    How hard it was to let her go.
    â€œI want you to remember, always,” he said, keeping his gaze locked with hers, “how much I love you.”
    She sucked in a gulp of air. “I know.”
    He nodded briefly. “Emmett’s going to keep an eye on Linda, so don’t you worry there.”
    â€œYes, Ryan.”
    He smiled again. “I must really be sick for you to agree with me so easily.”
    â€œDamn you, Ryan, you’re making me cry again.”
    He paid no attention. “And you make sure you get the children to help you out around here when I’m gone.”
    â€œYou’re not going any—”
    â€œLily, it’s time to stop lying.”
    â€œI like the lies better,” she admitted.
    He gave her a half smile. “Hell, girl, so do I. But even I can’t hold off death.”
    â€œYou could if you tried. Damn it, Ryan, you’re the most stubborn, hardheaded, just plain cussedly determined man I’ve ever known,” she said, leaning down until her mouth was just a breath away from his. “Fight this. For me. For us.”
    He gave her hand a squeeze, no more than a touch of his flesh to hers. “I’m tired, Lily. I don’t want to leave you, but I’m tired.”
    Her dark eyes filled with the tears she’d been holding back for so many days. And this time she let them fall. Leaning her forehead against his, she said softly, “You are the love of my life, Ryan Fortune. Always and forever you will be with me.”
    â€œAlways and forever,” he repeated, then pressed this moment, this sun-washed moment of time with Lily, into his mind so that when he got wherever he was going she would be there with him.
    Then his wife lay down beside him, curling into him, and Ryan Fortune counted his blessings again.
    Â 
    â€œHe’s waiting for you.”
    â€œThanks.” Kyra walked into Garrett’s office without even looking at Carol. It took a heck of a lot of nerve, since the woman had a stare that always made her feel like a bug being pinned to a board.
    Kyra opened the door and paused, since the great man himself was on the phone. He glanced up, waved her in, but continued his conversation.
    Kyra closed the door behind her and stood uncertainly where she was. Moving closer would look as though she were trying to listen in on his phone call.
    Weird, she thought. Yes, they’d agreed to forget all about the whole dancing thing. But being here in the office with him, while the memory of his arms around her was still so clear, was harder than she’d thought it would be.
    Of course, she admitted silently, she’d proposed the whole “ignore the situation”