For His Honor (7 page)

“Listen to me, Nicole,” he said, his voice calm but forceful. “Look at me, babe.”

She did, even though her eyes were filled with tears.

“I love you with all my heart,” he said. “And I’m so happy that you’re carrying our child. We’re going to be a family,” he said. And then he was kissing her again, and she was kissing him back.

His hand moved down to her belly and rubbed it softly.

“Promise me you’ll never leave us again?” she said.

“Never. In my heart, I never left you,” he told her. “I thought you should leave me, but I never wanted to be apart. I was just a damn fool and I hope you’ll forgive me for being a fool.”

“Of course I forgive you. But how can I be sure you won’t freak out again?”

“Because I’m giving you my word.” He looked at her and smiled and kissed her forehead. “We have a baby. It’s so perfect, isn’t it? A beautiful being is going to come into this world and that little baby is going to be the manifestation of what you and I share. A piece of you and a piece of me—hopefully more of you and a bit less of me.”

She laughed. “I never thought you’d react like this. I was terrified you’d be angry with me.”

“Never.” He kissed her lips. “Never.”

Nicole was finally starting to relax. The cabin was so cozy and her worst fears had been averted. In fact, Red’s reaction to the news had been far better than she ever could’ve imagined. He actually was excited and happy, almost joyous about it all.

“I’m so glad I came here,” she murmured, suddenly feeling tired. It was as if she hadn’t slept in weeks and weeks.

She was finally home. Home was wherever Red was.

Red went to his little twin bed and took the blanket from it, brought it over to the couch and covered her with it. She smiled up at him, her eyes heavy. She felt sleepy and drunk with relief.

“Rest now, Nicole. I’m here and I’ll take care of everything.”

“You will?” she murmured, already falling into the depths, as if dipping into a warm, soothing bath.

“I will,” he replied.

And then she was sleeping peacefully, the most relaxed she’d been in a very long time.

When Nicole first awoke from her nap, her eyes blinking, trying to remember where she was—she heard noises—pots and pans clanking together or something.

Her eyes began to focus and she saw Red at the stove, bustling around. All he needed was a little apron and he’d have made a perfect chef, she thought.

Red heard her stirring and turned around. “What’s that smile about?” he asked, holding a spoon dripping with red sauce.

Nicole scooted up on the couch and felt a short burst of pain in her ankle.

“Ouch.”

“Are you okay?” He dropped the spoon and bolted over to the couch. “Let me look at your ankle,” he said.

“I’m fine,” she laughed. “I just tweaked it a little—I kind of forgot it was hurt.”

“I should rewrap it anyway, and you’re almost due for another round of ice.”

“You mean peas.”

“Frozen peas,” he clarified, unwrapping the Ace bandage and examining her swollen, bruised ankle. “Damn, I’m so pissed at myself for making you run away like that this afternoon.” Red shook his head.

“It’s okay now,” she said, patting his hand.

“It’s not okay for me. You got hurt because I acted like a jerk.”

“My ankle already feels better,” she said. “So you shouldn’t beat yourself up about it.”

Red looked up at her. “I can tell when you lie.”

“Well, I’m sure it will feel better soon. Especially with my own personal physician helping me rehab it with frozen veggies.”

He laughed and nodded, reapplying the bandage. “I think the swelling’s already gone down a bit.”

Nicole watched him as he tended to her injury, and she couldn’t help but well up with love and affection. He was so intent on making her comfortable, on taking care of her, just the way she’d hoped he would in her wildest fantasies.

It was worth it to twist my ankle to see him behaving this way, she thought.

“What are you cooking over there, Chef Jameson?” she asked, pointing to the stove with the big pot bubbling on it. She could see steam pouring out of the top of it.

“Oh, shit. I forgot, I have to stir that and turn down the heat or dinner’s going to be ruined,” he said, scrambling to his feet and darting back to the stove.

He picked up his spoon and stirred vigorously for a minute. “I’m making Red’s famous spaghetti with marinara sauce.”

“Mmmm…sounds delicious,” she replied, sniffing the air. “I smell onions and garlic and meatballs.”

“Sausage, actually. Everything’s in the sauce, babe.” He turned and gave her an exaggerated wink. “But don’t try and ask me for my recipe—I’ll never reveal my secret sauce.”

“I think I could make you tell if I wanted to.”

“No way,” he said, shaking his head. “My lips are sealed.”

A few minutes later, Red had come back to the couch bearing his frozen peas again, as promised. Nicole sat up and he placed a few pillows behind her back, but still made sure her foot was sufficiently elevated.

“Thanks,” she said, relaxing again into the wonders of being waited on hand and foot by the love of her life. She actually wanted to pinch herself and make sure it wasn’t a dream.

As Red continued to prepare their dinner, she had time to think about all of the things they still needed to talk about. After all, now that she was pregnant, they had to truly set a wedding date and work through everything this was going to entail. She didn’t know what kind of parenting style Red believed in. She didn’t know if he wanted to find out the baby’s sex in advance—did he want to take Lamaze classes with her?

There were so many questions, so many details to figure out.

And on top of that, there were all the other questions still lingering about what Red’s fate was going to be now that he’d been fired from Jameson International. Nicole didn’t care about the money specifically, but she did want to know what his next step would be. Did he want to just hang around at home and live off his money for the rest of his life—did he want them to live in the wilderness like the Swiss Family Robinson?

Nicole hated to think that Kane Wright had forced Red into early retirement.

Even thinking the man’s name made her stomach turn. Worse still, she knew eventually she was going to have to explain to Red what had gone on while they’d been out of touch.

Kane was still under the assumption that Nicole was going to the Cayman Islands with him. How would he react when he realized she was backing out of the deal? He’d already paid off Danielle’s student loans and credit cards to the tune of a hundred thousand dollars. He still had information about Red that he was threatening to release to the media.

As wonderful as it had been to enjoy this little pocket of tranquility and contentment, she knew she was going to have to burst the bubble sooner rather than later with news from the outside world.

And Nicole knew Red well enough to be fairly certain he was going to blow his stack when he found out about Kane Wright’s recent overtures.

“Dinner is served, madam,” Red said, carrying a heaping plate of spaghetti over to her on the couch.

“It looks and smells delicious,” she said, and it was true. Her stomach gurgled and growled, reminding her of just how ravenous she really was.

Nicole dug in immediately and was astounded by how good it tasted. “Wow,” she said. “You weren’t kidding when you said this was your famous marinara sauce. It’s totally awesome.”

Red went to the stove to make himself a plate. “I shouldn’t really take all the credit, though. Chef Roland might have shown me a thing or two.”

“It’s his recipe, isn’t it?”

Red finished spooning sauce onto his spaghetti before answering. “Truth is, a couple years ago I realized that I couldn’t cook anything but bacon and eggs. And my eggs weren’t anything to write home about either.” He grabbed a chair and pulled it right next to the couch, then sat down and rested the plate on his lap. “I figured it might be nice to learn how to make at least one decent meal, in case I ever wanted to cook and impress someone.”

Nicole cocked an eyebrow at him. “Just how many women have you made this famous pasta for?”

“Only a few,” he said, his face reddening slightly. “But I’ve never made it with so much love. I swear.”

She put another forkful in her mouth and chewed before speaking again. “It’s okay, I love you even though you used to be a slut.”

“Slut? Me?” He shook his head, pretending to be annoyed. “How dare you?”

“Did Kate Hudson ever eat this?”

“No.”

She threw a few other famous actresses and models at him.

He kept shaking his head no, clearly embarrassed. Nicole just laughed, she honestly didn’t care whether or not he’d used his cooking skills to impress other women.

She liked seeing him squirm, though.

When the meal was over, Red took the dishes and washed them, put the pot in the fridge for leftovers. It was interesting watching him work, Nicole thought.

In their brief time together, they’d always been served by others; housekeepers, waiters and world-class chefs. But she could tell that Red was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, and he even seemed to enjoy doing it. He was diligent with everything he did. Red Jameson liked to do things the right way, she decided. It didn’t matter if he was cleaning up pasta sauce or putting together a multi-million dollar ad campaign—he paid attention to details.

She really admired that about him.

And he also really seemed to enjoy taking care of her. Immediately after dinner, he checked her foot again, made sure it was comfortable and elevated. He sat on the edge of the couch and held her hand, looked into her eyes and told her how glad he was that she’d came to the cabin. “You coming here was like God smacking me upside the head and telling me what an idiot I’ve been,” he said.

“I wanted to smack you upside the head a few times lately,” she replied.

“I’m sorry. I’ve realized that I can’t let my past haunt me anymore.” His eyes grew distant as he said it.

“That’s my only concern,” she said, squeezing his hand. “I just don’t want it to happen ever again.”

He seemed to come back to himself. His gaze grew sharp and he nodded. “I understand why you’d be worried, you need to be able to trust that I won’t go crazy again.”

“Can I?”

“Yes. But the only thing that’s going to convince you is time passing, and me being a steady presence in your life. My words aren’t going to cut it.”

“I do believe you,” she said. “I believe that something shifted for you.”

“We’re a family now,” he said, touching her stomach and smiling.

***

Not long after, both of them agreed it was time to go to sleep for the night.

“I’m worried about hurting your ankle if we try and sleep together in this tiny bed,” he told her.

“I need to be close to you tonight.” She sat up on the couch and swung her leg to the floor. The ankle didn’t even hurt that much anymore, although it was incredibly stiff and awkward to move on. “I’m going to run to the bathroom—or hobble, I guess—and get changed.”

“Let me help you,” he said, coming to her side and supporting her as she stood up.

“How does it feel? Can you put your weight on it?”

She tried. It hurt. But it didn’t hurt badly enough to make her want to stop walking—she just needed to be careful. “I’m okay. I’m just going to lean on you.”

“I love it when you lean on me, baby.” Red’s arm was slung around her waist, her arm over his shoulder, but he had to stoop down because he was taller.

Finally they made it across the cabin to the door to the bathroom.

“Grab my bag for me?” she said.

Red had brought it in from the car earlier, and now he grabbed it and carried it to where she stood. “You came prepared.”

“I wasn’t going home without seeing you.”

“How did you find me here, anyway? Almost nobody knows this place exists.”

She leaned on the wall. “Well I tried the house, but the security guard wouldn’t tell me a damn thing.”

“Good,” he said.

She gave him a look.

“It means they’re doing their job,” he explained.

“Yeah, if that job is to keep you apart from your fiancé.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way.”

“I was at my wits end. So finally I called your brother at his practice.”

“Jeb?” he said, his eyebrows rising in surprise.

“How else do you think I would have figured this out?”

“I don’t know,” he said, contemplating it. “I was so happy to see you and overwhelmed with the whole thing—I didn’t really care how you figured out where I was.”

“Do you care now? Are you upset with me for calling him?” Nicole watched him closely.

She could tell that there was a kind of battle going on inside of him. The old Red would have been annoyed—frustrated at least—that she’d gotten in touch with Jeb after the falling out the two brothers had had. Nicole hoped he wouldn’t let his temper ruin what had been a nearly perfect day until this point.

“I totally get why you called him,” he said, after a long moment. “You needed to try every avenue to find me and I’d made myself completely unavailable to you. I’m ashamed that I did that to you, Nicole. Forgive me?”

“Of course I forgive you.” She kissed him. “Now I need to change.”

He smiled. “I’d rather you came back out with nothing on.”

“That can be arranged.”

“Oh?”

“We’ll see.” She gave him a wicked grin and then hobbled into the bathroom.

The ankle was ruining any chance she had at a sexy exit, but oh well. She did the best she could.

Nicole decided to meet Red halfway. After a few minutes of primping and readying herself, she appeared again wearing nothing but a t-shirt that came to her upper thighs.

“Oh boy,” he muttered, when she opened the door and he got a look at her.

She batted her eyelashes at him. “Can a girl get a helping hand around here?”

“Anytime,” he said. And then he picked her up in his arms as if she weighed no more than a feather. Red carried her to the little twin bed against the wall and laid her down on it.