Above Rubies (Rockland Ranch) (41 page)

"I don't have to go
anywhere
I don't want to; with
anyone
I don't want to be with!  I am not going to keep dodging being kissed by guys I don't want anywhere near me!  I am not going to have any more awkward conversations with handsy men about why I'm an unwed mother, but still a nice girl!   I am not going to drive away from here in tears ever again!  And I am certainly
not
following any more of your stupid rules! 

“In fact, d
o you know what you can do with your stupid rules! You follow them if you want to!  And you and I can grow old,
single
, in two houses across the bench from each other, watching Mimi play by herself as an only child! 
You
can insist that she always have her mother's last name, and
you
can explain to her on Father's Day why she doesn't have one. 

“
You do that if you want to, but count me out!  I'm going to love whom I love, and tell whomever I want that!  I am not going to try to carefully control how I feel anymore!  I am sick and tired of your stupid rules, and being bullied by you because you think you know what's best for me better than I do.  You can sit at your computer and pretend that we don't mean anything to each other if you want, but I am
not
gonna play the game anymore!  And I am NOT going back to school next month!"

             
As she finally wound down Rossen was speechless.  He couldn't even begin to process a comeback.  She walked around him and began to throw her bags into the back of her car.  She picked up his leather rope case that was laying there on the front porch with her stuff and put it in, too.  He took it back out with just the barest hint of a smile on his face. 

The second he smiled, he knew it was a mistake
.  It only made her madder than ever!  She threw some more stuff into the car and he finally took her hand and pulled her to look at him and said, "Easy Kit, settle down.  What did I do to deserve this?  What is it that you want from me?"

             
She jerked away. "You really don't want me to answer that.  It would be against the stupid rules!"

             
He reached for her arm again, exasperated. "Then give me a hint, Kit!"

             
She spun on him. "You want to know what I want from you?  Try emotional honesty!  Try commitment!  Try respectability!  Try
physical intimacy
!  Try any of the things that most couples who love each other like we do, have!  Ope, sorry, broke the stupid rule!  Can't talk about anything that matters between us!"  She climbed into her car, slammed the door and peeled out on the snowy gravel road, sliding sideways and sending snow flying all over his pant legs as she went.

             
He just stood there watching her car disappear over the hill.  Mimi looked at him with big eyes, her fingers still in her mouth and started to laugh.  "Oh, you think it's funny do you?  I thought so too, and that was a big mistake.  I never shoulda cracked that smile.  And she still got away with my rope.  Daddy has now graduated from just plain bonehead to big, fat boneheaded jerk."  He shook his head, amazed at all the things she had said.  Said?  Yelled at the top of her lungs!

             
Slade came out onto the porch to stand beside him.  "Who was it that said hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?"

             
Rossen shook his head again.  "You’ve got me.  But he had that right.  And I haven’t even scorned her.  Holy Canoli!"

             
"Did she just say what I thought she did?"

             
Rossen shook his head one more time and laughed.  "Yeah, I think she did."

             
"Maybe you'd better go to California."

             
                                          ****

             
Kit was mad until almost the very end of the concert that night.  She'd started to mellow out slightly beforehand while a stylist had been doing her hair, until she’d looked up to realize she now had a brilliant pink section woven through it!  Then she was angry all over again.  She sent the girl packing, almost in tears, with Kit hoping that whatever she'd put in wasn't necessarily permanent. 

             
She only lightened up when she sang the old Bonnie Tyler song, “Holding Out For A Hero
”
.  Nick had asked her to sing it as a tribute to all the families that had been willing to let their loved ones donate organs.  She started the song still ticked off, but somewhere in the middle, she thought about Rossen and all the things he was forever doing for her, and by the end of the song her anger was gone. 

They sang two last songs and did a couple of encores, and then she went back down into her dressing
room, suddenly weary to the bone.  There on the dressing table in front of the mirror was a beautiful bouquet of all kinds of wildflowers.  She bent down to drink in the fragrance.  It reminded her of high summer back home on the ranch.  She wondered why Nick had switched from the roses he always sent.

             
She was just looking at her hair, wondering how she was going to get the pink out before church the next day, when Nick spoke to her from the doorway.  "Hey, you rocker chick, what did you think of your first real concert?"

             
She looked up at him in the mirror and smiled.  "Hey, Nick.  Thank you for the flowers.  They're beautiful.  The concert was great!  You were right!  It is the ultimate rush and I loved it.  I'm sorry I was so irritable before hand."

             
He laughed. "No problem.  You're a kickin' guitarist when you're hot!  I'm thinking I'll tick you off before every concert!"  His tone softened. "You quit being mad in your hero song.  Were you thinking about me?"

             
She turned to look back at him and then looked down.  "Honestly, no.  I'm sorry."

             
He shrugged. "I figured it was him again.  It's okay.  He's too nice a guy to even be mad at."

             
Kit felt guilty when she answered, "I used to think that, but this morning I'm afraid I was as mad as I've ever been in my life.  I probably said a few things I shouldn't have."  She could feel herself blush and he laughed at her.

             
"That bad, huh?  Maybe it's a good thing.  At least he knows you care enough to be passionately angry."

             
She gave him a tired smile.  "Oh, I imagine he knows that."

             
He turned to go out the door. "I'll have the car wait in case you want a ride back to your hotel."

             
Confused, she asked, "Why would I not want a ride back?"

             
This time it was his smile that was a little tired.  "Because the flowers weren't from me."

             
She watched him turn around and walk away and was wondering what he meant, when Rossen came in to stand nonchalantly against the door jamb just like Nick had.  He almost looked like a California pretty boy in his cowboy boots with his matching leather jacket.  Their eyes met and held while they both tried to figure out what to say.  He finally broke the silence, "You were great tonight."  His voice was gentle, but there was something in his eyes that was far from tame.

             
She suddenly found it hard to breathe and wished she hadn't been quite so forthright with him that morning.  Almost shyly, she said, "Thank you.  I've been worrying about when I'd have to face you after my tirade.  What are you doing here?"

             
The light deep in his eyes intensified and she glanced away.  In a voice that was almost velvet, he said, "Being emotionally honest."

             
Her eyes flew to his again and she felt almost a little panicky at what she saw there.  Hesitantly, she asked, "What about the rules?"

             
He smiled. "All rules are off when you're dealing with somebody with pink hair."

             
She put up a hand to touch it.  She'd forgotten about the wild streak.  "It was not my idea, I promise.  It would never have made it there if I'd been paying attention to the stylist and not thinking back on our conversation this morning."

             
“Conversation.  That’s an interesting word.”  He walked into the room and came to stand behind her and put his hands into her hair.  "Actually, I think it's hot.  I think you should leave it there."

             
She looked up at him in the mirror wondering who this man was who had taken over Rossen's body.  "Leave it there?  Can you just imagine Gladys Maggleby tomorrow?"

             
He laughed. "She's been saintly since that incident last winter.  She's probably dying for a good head of rocker chick hair."  He put his hands through it and then put his fingers on her neck to stroke her skin and softly said, "It's actually going to be very nice to have all the rules off.  I hate them, too.  I think we should keep the pink hair forever." 

             
She was still staring at him in the mirror, her heart beating thunderously in her chest.  He slowly bent his head, watching her eyes in the reflection, then ever so gently placed a lingering kiss on the side of her neck below her ear.  His breath on her skin gave her chills to her toes. "What are you doing?"  Her voice was low and almost husky when she finally got the words out.

             
He looked back up at her reflection. "I'm kissing your neck."  He went back to nuzzling her and she turned around to look directly up at him.

             
“What’s going on?”

             
He put his head down and spoke as he nuzzled her skin again, "You were good enough to struggle through my list for me, I figured the least I could do was work on yours for you.  This is the physically intimate part, at least as physically intimate as we can be before we get married."  He paused to kiss the other side of her neck and then looked back up.  "I'd like to ask you about that, but I'm a bit intimidated.  You've already turned down five other guys this week, and I really don't want to be the sixth."

             
She was looking at him like he'd lost his mind and she honestly wondered if he had.  She'd never seen this side of him before.  Nervously, she accused, "Now you're lying.  You know I'd marry you tomorrow if you wanted."

             
He stood up to look down into her eyes again.  "Tomorrow's incredibly tempting, but I want you forever, so we have to wait until you can go through the temple.  Does that mean you'll marry me?"

             
"Does that mean you're asking?"

             
He put both hands on her shoulders and then moved one to brush her lower lip with his thumb.  "Kit Star, I love you.  Would you marry me and be with me forever and ever?"

             
She was still looking at him, her brighter blue eyes searching his deep blue ones in wonder.  "Yes, of course I’ll marry you.  I'd be honored."  She looked down.  "I love you too.  I always have.  You know that."

             
He tipped up her chin to face him as he slowly lowered his mouth to hers.  She'd waited so long for this kiss.  He had too.  He hugged her tighter and she moved closer to him as it lasted, the warmth of his firm mouth making up for all the wasted months. 

His low groan as he finally pull
ed away to hold her close filled her with sweet heat.  He touched his chin to her forehead. "I've wanted to do that for forever."

             
She leaned back and looked up at him.  "Then why did you make us wait so long?"

             
He pulled her back into his arms again.  "I had to Kit, and I'm sorry you felt bullied, but I'd do it again if we had to start over.  I had to."  He stepped back to look down at her.  "You were too infinite of worth to short change.  Look me in the eye and tell me the last year hasn't been important to the woman you've become?" 

             
She tried to meet his eyes and finally looked down.  "You're right.  You always are, darn it!  But what's so different about tonight than all these past months?  Why can we finally show our feelings now?"

             
He gave her a sad smile.  "Lots of things.  Watching you kiss Nick goodbye was the hardest thing I've ever done.  It was awful!  The other day he accused me of taking away your agency.  And every single person I know, you included, has called me a bonehead.” 

He paused to k
iss her again and then admitted, “But mostly I just knew the raging female I saw this morning was all woman.  There was nothing childlike about her."  He smiled at her as she looked guilty and then he sobered.   "I love you, Kit.  And I can't live without you, temper and all."  He pulled her close to kiss her again.  This time she kissed him back with all the pent up need of the last year.

             
Finally, he raised his head and his voice was husky as he said, "Come on, honey, we should go.  Let's get you back to your hotel. I have a room there, too.  Our flight is early in the morning.”  He paused to kiss her again, and at length added, “And we need to leave plenty of time to do your pink hair."