The Bourbon Thief(77)

“You do mean it.”

Levi gave her that wicked half grin that never ceased making her heart jump hopscotch.

“Hell, you said Judge Headley has money. We’ll tell him you’re his daughter, and he’ll pay us off to keep our mouths shut.”

Tamara laughed. “Don’t you dare. I like him too much.”

“Just saying, it’s good to have a backup plan. I have a certain lifestyle I’ve grown accustomed to. And I want to provide for my wife. Name-brand Frosted Flakes. None of that generic shit.”

“Stay there,” Tamara said.

“Where?”

“Right where you are. Stay there.”

Levi held up two hands in surrender. “I’m staying. I don’t know what you’re doing, but I’m staying right here.”

Keeping one hand on Rex’s back to steady herself, Tamara hobbled forward step by painful step. She came to Levi and wrapped her arms around him and let him wrap his arms around her.

“Thank you, Levi,” she whispered.

“You’re my wife. We’re stuck with each other. Might as well make the best of it.”

“I want to make the best of it,” she said.

“I’ll tell you what Bowen told Nash when Nash was hell-bent on burning this island to the ground to spite his...our father.”

“What’s that?”

“Bowen told him that being happy is the best revenge. That there was no way that a man like George Maddox was a happy man, not with a wife in the nursing home, a son in the cemetery and another son in love with a black barrel maker. So if Nash really wanted revenge, he’d be happy instead of trying to make a miserable man more miserable. And that’s what Nash decided to do. That’s why he wanted to bring you down here to live with him. Because he loved you and you made him so happy.”

“I wish Daddy were still alive.”

If Daddy were still alive, she would be living with him down here. If Daddy were still alive, she wouldn’t have been anywhere near Kentucky when the flood happened. If Daddy were still alive, she wouldn’t have had to kill anyone, to hate her mother, to destroy Red Thread. She’d still be sweet if Daddy were alive. Right now she missed that more than anything.

“I know, baby. I do, too. I never got to know my own brother. I always wanted a brother or a sister and here I had one all along and never knew it. Too late now.”

“You really think we can be happy? After all this?”

“We can. If that’s what you want to do, we’ll do it. We’ll be happy.”

“You said you were lovesick.” She grinned up at him. “Does that mean you love me?”

“I did not say that.”

“You absolutely said that. I heard you say that.”

“You’re getting messages from beyond the grave in your dreams. I’m entirely certain this calls the testimony of your senses into question.”

“It’s cute when you talk all funny like that.”

“I’m very cute.”

“Can you take me back home? I need a bath.”

“Can you ride? I can lead Rex if you can ride. But if not, I’ll have to go get the truck. We’re five miles from home.”

“I can ride.”

“Okay, but first I gotta do something.”

“And what’s that?”

“I gotta kiss you like they kiss on The Young and the Restless.”

“Can I be the restless this time?” she asked.

“You can be anything you wanna be, Rotten.”

She rested her entire body against his and lifted her face to his for a good hard kissing. That was not what she got, however. She got a good gentle kissing with soft hands on her arms and her back and soft lips against her lips and soft sighs mingling with her sighs.

Levi rested his forehead against hers.

“You scared the shit out of me, Rotten,” he whispered. “Two days. I looked for you for two days and I was ready to cut the whole island down to stumps with my bare hands to find you.”

“I’m sorry. I am. It’s hard to trust...anybody.”

“You can trust me. You have to trust me. We’re never going to make this work—not for a day, not for a year, not for a lifetime—if you can’t trust me.”

“I’ll try.”

“Good.”

“Trust me, too,” she said.

“I can do that. I’ll trust you more when you don’t smell like a swamp.”

“Take me home and put me in the bathtub.”

“Right this second,” he said. “Come here, and I’ll give you a leg up.”

He stood on the stone block she’d been sleeping on when he found her. Carefully she stepped up onto it, wincing as her sprained ankle screamed at the merest suggestion of weight. She was going to be spending the next week in bed. If everything went the way she wanted it to, Levi would be spending it in bed with her.

“Alley-oop,” he said, what he always said when he helped her mount a horse. It hurt and it was hard, but he got her securely into her saddle. She settled in, adjusted her seat and reached for the reins.

“No, ma’am. You sit. I’m leading,” Levi said. Tamara grabbed hold of the saddle pommel. “Better. Ready to go home?”