Untouched: 2 (Rough Boys) (19 page)

Mason burst through the door of the diner and zeroed in on the two people who might be able to tell him where Eva was—his friend Whit and the waitress, Karen.

“Well, look who blew in.” Whit’s smile faded as he got a good look at Mason’s face. He clambered off the stool. “What happened?”

“I can’t find Eva. I need your help.” He looked at Whit then Karen. “She and I had an argument and she’s taken off. She hasn’t been home in over twenty-four hours. I’ve been driving for a lot of that time, scouring the county for her.”

Desperation rose in him as he forced the words out. The long hours of the night had worn on him. At one point, he’d had to pull the truck over because he was shaking so hard. Then he’d completely broken down. He felt those sobs push at the back of his throat even now.

Whit clamped a hand on his shoulder, hard enough to bring him to his senses and give him enough control to continue.

“You think there’s foul play?” Karen spoke up.

He shook his head. “No. I think she’s just left. I drove her…to it.” He passed a hand over his face.

“Karen, get him some coffee.” Whit steered Mason toward a stool but he refused to sit.

Eva was on her way to her mother—he knew it in his bones. If he let time stretch between them, he’d lose her forever. Each hour he didn’t try to set things right she’d grow a little more hurt. Eventually the chasm would be too large to breach. He couldn’t let that happen.

He shook his head. “No, Whit. I can’t sit. I need your help. Have you ever heard anything about Eva’s mother? Know where she lives? It’s somewhere in the South.” He grabbed the coffee mug Karen set before him and drew the scalding brew into his mouth. He hadn’t had anything to eat or drink in hours and the liquid fortified him.

“South Carolina, I think.” Karen pushed a plate of muffins toward him. “No, maybe Virginia.”

“Eva grew up here. Her mother lived here. Surely she keeps in touch with someone in Salzburg Springs. An old friend.” Mason bit into the blueberry muffin and his stomach cramped. Until now, he hadn’t realized how hungry he was. But there wasn’t time. The minute he had a destination, he was driving south to find her.

“Yeah, maybe Mary Drummond still talks to her. They were pretty close.”

“Where does Mary Drummond live?” It was a small town, but Mason had been away for years after high school and didn’t remember. “She’s related to the Richie boys, isn’t she?”

Whit nodded. “Yeah, and she has that farmhouse adjoining the Richies’ farm.”

Mason swallowed hastily and drank off the rest of his coffee. The hot fluid scorched a path to his stomach but his heart raced with excitement. He set down the mug and twisted toward the door again. “I remember where the Richies live. Thank you, guys!”

With that, he launched himself back out into the cold. Snow was falling rapidly now and his truck had been coated in the short amount of time he’d been inside the diner.

“Mary Drummond, I hope you know the whereabouts of Eva’s mother,” he said to himself.

The distance to the farmhouse wasn’t far, but it gave Mason time to compose himself. He’d find the address and drive all day and night to reach Eva. And along the way, he hoped to stop off and pick up a diamond ring and the biggest toy dinosaur he could locate.

He’d get on his knees and beg her to accept him. Again and again, he played out the scene in his head. It could end with her whooping for joy and rushing into his arms, or she could turn him away forever. If that was the case, he wasn’t certain he could remain in Salzburg Springs.

His father’s passion had been the logging industry, but Mason’s love was for Eva. To him, she was as much a part of Dorsey Forestry as his father had been. For months, Mason had looked forward to his workdays only because he’d get to see Eva’s lovely, smiling face. With her by his side, Mason could stand tall and overcome the trials the business had thrown at him recently.

Without her, he was nothing.

When Mary Drummond found him on her doorstep, the older woman yanked him inside. For excruciating minutes, he endured stories about her nephews, the Richie boys, while being plied with tea and cookies.

An hour later, he left the Drummond residence, having made a new friend, with a full stomach and clutching a slip of paper with the address of Eva’s mother.

* * * * *

The suburban Virginia landscape did nothing to alleviate Eva’s ache for her home in Pennsylvania. The warmth of the sun seeped through her car window and heated her arm. She wore a lightweight jacket rather than bundling up in parka, scarf, hat and gloves. At this time of year, it felt sacrilegious to leave those well-known items behind.

For most of the day, she’d been pounding the pavement in search of a job. Because of her work history, she hoped to get hired on at a construction company or even in the hospital’s accounting department. As long as Mason didn’t press charges against her or give her a bad reference for her wrongdoings, she’d be okay.

The mere thought of Mason slammed her with need. She’d spent the first few hours at her mother’s kitchen table sobbing over her loss with her father hovering worriedly nearby. She’d fought to keep her eyes dry throughout the day, but it was nearly impossible.

She sniffed and backhanded the tears off her cheek. Right now, she had to focus on getting a job so she could support Brady. With her parents’ support, Eva would make ends meet. Maybe she could even get her phone turned back on. And the money she saved in babysitter costs would make a nice payment to Dorsey Forestry.

As she headed back to her mother’s quiet street, she chided herself for letting herself fall so deeply in love with Mason. It had begun as a physical attraction, but his confidence and good-natured personality had lured her in. Sucked her under. Now she floundered in the waves without the raft of his presence.

Shaking herself, she slowed down for the curve before her family’s home.

Suddenly, she spotted it. Mason’s big silver truck parked in the drive. And the man himself leaning against the side, head sunk low between his shoulders, hands in the front pockets of his jeans.

Her heart slammed the wall of her chest and raced out of control. Should she just stomp on the gas and speed by?

Trembling, she found herself pulling in behind the truck and shutting off the car. He raised his head. Through the windshield, their gazes met. And held.

Then he was striding toward her car and yanking open her door, pulling her out and into his embrace.

“Eva!”

He wrapped her tightly against his chest, almost crushing her. Her breath whooshed out but it didn’t matter because she’d stopped breathing anyway. Her head spun, her senses addled by his scent and strong arms.

His arms shook around her and she realized he was quivering as much as she was. Tears choked her. He’d come all this way for her? To hold her?

Pain rose up. Their argument was suddenly very close. His harsh words echoed in her mind.

But so did the part when he’d said he’d fallen deeply in love with her.

“Mason—”

“No, hear me out. Please.” He drew back enough to look at her but held her captive, not allowing more space between them than necessary.

She met his gaze fully. Electricity snapped between them. His eyes flooded with tears.

“God, Eva. For sixteen hours, I thought of nothing but what I was going to say to you when I had you before me. Now it’s all fled. Baby…” His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Forgive me for the way I accused you the other day. I had no right attacking you. I know I hurt you badly, but I hope you can accept my apology and the fact that I’m sometimes a total ass.”

She drew an unsteady breath and battled for her sense. With him so near, she was reeling. Mason was bigger than life. He was her universe. But he was right—he’d cut her with his words. When she’d asked him to hear her out, he’d refused.

As she stared at his handsome features, which were twisted in anguish, she knew she couldn’t do the same to him by refusing to talk to him.

She did need space though. She shimmied out of his hold and took two steps away. He clenched his fist on the air where she’d been then dropped his hand to his side. His eyes took on a frightened light, darkening with pain.

“Eva…”

“No, listen to me, Mason. I lied to you for the past year. At any moment, I might have told you the truth about what I was doing with the account and about Bill’s embezzlement, but I didn’t. For that, I feel horrible.”

His lips tightened. “It’s not your crime.”

“No, but I benefitted from it before I discovered what was happening. When I confronted him with it, there were major fights between us. Then one day, he went out hunting and never came back.”

His features spasmed then settled. “He took his life.”

“Yes.” It should shock her that he knew this information, but it was most likely common knowledge in their little town. Hell, the residents of Salzburg Springs probably knew everything about her from her birth weight to the color of her panties. They obviously had known where to send Mason to find her.

Her heart soared that he had traveled all this distance for her. But could he truly trust her now?

“I’m so sorry I lied about the deer. That was stupid. But after I did it, I panicked. I shouldn’t have taken it off your land or lied, but I—”

“Needed the food. Baby, whatever is mine is yours. If you need a hundred deer, you’re welcome to them.” He took a step toward her, searching her face.

“I can pay back what Bill stole. It amounts to—”

“I don’t need to know what it amounts to, sweetheart. From this day forward, the figure no longer exists.”

She locked her knees to keep from falling over. “I can’t let you do that.”

“You can and will.” His tone sent tendrils of heat all the way through her body. A knot settled in her groin, warm and liquid with need. It was the voice he used to issue his commands in the bedroom.

She sucked in a breath and with it, a head full of his musk. “I can pay it, Mason. With a job here and my parents’ help, I can pay you back within a couple of years.”

He shook his head. “Dammit, you stubborn woman. Don’t you hear what I’m saying? The money is nothing, the deer nothing. You were in a bad place and I forgive you for that. But only if you’ll accept my apology for being an ass.”

She blinked back the tears that threatened to tumble down her cheeks.

“Eva.” He dug into his front pocket and pulled out a small, shiny object.

A gasp burst from her. She plastered her hands to her mouth, fighting to contain a cry.

He closed the distance between them, holding the glittering diamond and platinum ring before her eyes. “Marry me. I need you in my life. You
are
my life. Without you, there’s only blackness—a bleak forest of days, strung together with nothing worth smiling about.”

He wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pulled her hand free of her mouth. He held out the ring, letting it hover over the tip of her third finger. His eyes glowed, love sparking in the depths. His hair dipped into one eye.

Her stomach was jelly and her knees water. If she started breathing, she’d hyperventilate.

“Give yourself to me, Eva. Let me take care of you and your son. Move into the farmhouse with me and we’ll be like a couple of geese, mated for life, tucked up together and raising a family. Maybe you’ll let me give you another little gosling.”

She swallowed the sob that rushed up her throat. “What can I give you? Will you ever trust me again?”

His eyelids fluttered. “Baby, you’ve given me nothing but trust from the start. When I took you into my bed, you let me into your heart and soul. Then you allowed me into your home and entrusted me with knowing your son. I realized you had given much more than I had. That’s why I’m trusting you with this—my heart.”

He slipped the ring onto her finger. The warm metal seemed to sear her. White heat traveled up her arm to her shoulder and pumped through the rest of her body.

Mason caressed the fat diamond with his thumb. “Please be my wife, Eva. Our past is one small chapter in the book of our lives together. What happened is finished. We start fresh. Together.”

She released a ragged sigh, tears bulging over her eyelids and trickling over her cheeks. “Yes, Mason. Yes!”

She opened her arms and he scooped her up around the waist, hauling her off her feet and against his thick chest. He crushed his lips to hers, his kiss rough and impassioned.

When he swept her mouth with his tongue, she tasted his salty tears too. She gave herself up to the feeling of absolute joy pounding through her veins. Threading her hands into the longer hair on his nape, she angled her head and brought him down for a deeper kiss.

The velvety flip of his tongue over hers scorched her heart as well as enflamed her body. The ring on her finger was no small link to this man, but in comparison to the thread between their hearts, it was miniscule.

He broke away and stared down at her, eyes dancing and a smile carved across his handsome features. “Let me just do this one thing, Eva.”

Setting her on her feet, he captured her hand in his big one and towed her to the front door of her family’s house. A shock tore through Eva as he opened the front door and stuck his head inside.