"So am I."
She eyed him thoughtfully. She didn't trust him, at least not completely, but there was definitely something about him that she liked. "Maybe you are serious about this," Mary agreed. "But I'm not some little schoolgirl you can charm out of her clothes. I'm not stupid enough or arrogant enough to believe you're offering marriage because you suddenly realized you're head over heels in love with me." Even as she said the words she knew were true, Mary prayed she was wrong—prayed he had realized he was head over heels in love with her.
Lee nodded. Once again, he was tempted to sweeten his answer with romance-laced lies, but he knew his instincts about Mary were right on the money. No matter how unpalatable, she wanted the undiluted truth. "You're right," he told her, "you're not a naive schoolgirl. You're the teacher, and I'd be stupid if I tried to pull the wool over your eyes because as a teacher, you know all the answers, don't you? You know I didn't come running back because I suddenly discovered I'm in love with you." Lee took a deep breath. "But do you know that I've been thinking recently of leaving the Agency and settling down? And do you know that when I thought of settling down, I naturally thought of you?"
"Naturally," Mary replied dryly. "It stands to reason that a Pinkerton detective would choose to marry a woman who, in the course of their acquaintance"—Mary stressed the word—"has twice pulled a gun on him with every intention of plugging him full of holes. And will again," she warned him, "at the first opportunity."
"Not so," Lee said. "I've no doubt in my mind that if you really wanted to shoot me full of holes you would have done so before now."
Mary smiled. "I think I've shown remarkable restraint up 'til now."
"So have I, up 'til now." Lee pocketed the ruby ring, then leaned closer and touched his lips to hers. It began as a light, teasing kiss, something Lee couldn't keep himself from experiencing, but it suddenly grew into something more. A heated rush surged through Lee's body as he kissed her again and felt Mary sway against him. He pulled her closer as he deepened the kiss, then reached up under her wedding veil, tangling his fingers in her thick, silky hair before running them down past her shoulders to feel the weight of her breasts in his hands.
Mary was overwhelmed by her response to Lee's kiss. She leaned toward him, then wrapped her arms around his neck and parted her lips to allow his tongue to slip through and taste the warm recesses of her mouth. Suddenly Lee was on the sofa beside her and Mary was surrounded by his arms. She molded herself against him, enjoying the taste of his mouth under the soft brush of his mustache, and his warm, spicy smell. She breathed in the scent of him and pressed closer to the source. Lee groaned aloud. Mary pushed away from him, gasping for breath. She felt light-headed, giddy, and incapable of rational thought. She opened her eyes and found herself staring up into Lee's gray ones. Mary smiled at him and Lee leaned down to plant a line of kisses from her forehead to her lips. She closed her eyes once again and whispered his name and the sound of it coming from her lips seemed to echo through the room. Mary suddenly realized she was lying on the sofa instead of sitting on it, and that Liam Kincaid had one of his hands on the bare skin of her thigh, under her wedding dress and above the frilly garter holding her silk stocking in place.
"What are you doing?" she gasped, shoving at his chest with all her might as she jack-knifed into a sitting position.
"Kissing you," Lee murmured as he let go of her leg and helped her smooth her satin skirts back into place. "And enjoying the feel of having you kiss me." He sat up and moved a few inches away from her. His breathing was heavy and irregular and his heart seemed to thud against his chest at twice its normal speed. Lee stared at Mary. Her lips were swollen from his kisses, her brown eyes sparkled with emotion, and her chee
ks were flushed. She looked the way he imagined every bride should look on her wedding night, but Mary wasn't a bride—at least not yet. He shrugged his shoulders. "Come on, Mary, admit it," he coaxed, "you enjoyed kissing me. Better than old Pelham I bet."
"Much bet—" Mary clapped her hand over her mouth, refusing to say more.
There was a teasing light in Lee's gray eyes when he looked at her and his thick mustache tilted upward in a smile. "Well, Mary Two-shot, what's it to be? Will you marry me? Yes or no?"
Mary wanted to throw her arms around him once again, kiss him senseless, and shout yes loud enough for the whole world to hear, but her instincts warned her not to be foolhardy and reckless. "I don't know."
Lee raked his fingers through his blond hair. "Hell, Mary, what don't you know?"
"I don't know why you're here," she told him, "or what you expect from me. Or why you're in such a hurry to get married."
"I've told you why I'm here and what I want from you." Lee's face was the picture of innocence wronged. "I want us to be a family. I want to marry you. And why not marry you today? You're dressed for it."
Mary didn't hear all of what Lee was saying. She only heard him say, "I want us to be a family." She suddenly had a mental picture of Lee holding the little girl with the dark hair and the bright blue eyes in his arms. Maddy. He'd called her Maddy. Mary shook her head. There were many sides to Lee Kincaid, many faces he kept hidden, so much so that things were never what they appeared to be—not where he was concerned. Suddenly everything seemed so clear. "I should have known," she muttered.
"What?"
"That you have some kind of scheme going and that you want to involve me somehow," Mary replied sarcastically.
"There's no scheme, Mary." Lee reached out to put his hand on Mary's knee.
She batted his hand away. "Then what about the little girl? What part does she play in your marriage plans?"
Lee gritted his teeth, nodded his head a time or two, then stroked one side of his mustache. "Her name is Madeline. Maddy for short. She's the daughter of a Pinkerton detective who passed away nine days ago."
"I'm sorry," Mary murmured softly.
"Yeah," Lee said sadly, "so am I."
"You must have been very close."
"We were partners." He glanced over at Mary.
"And he left his daughter to you?"
Lee winced at her question. "Maddy doesn't have anyone else. My partner left her in my care and I thought…" Lee let his words trail off, not quite sure what to say anymore.
"You thought you could simply waltz onto the ranch and drop her off for someone else to take care of," Mary finished for him.