Yesterday's Lies (23 page)

His arms wrapped around her slender waist and he held her as if he was afraid she would leave him again. “What about Keith?” he asked softly.

“That’s difficult,” she admitted. “But he made his own mistakes and he’s willing to pay for them. I only hope that he doesn’t get a long sentence. I can’t say that I feel the same about Linn Benton.”

“I’ve already taken care of that. There are enough charges filed against him including blackmail and kidnapping to keep him in the penitentiary for the rest of his life.

“As for Keith, I talked to the judge. He’s a fair man and I think he realizes that Keith was manipulated. After all, he was only sixteen when the Quarter Horse swindle was in full swing. That he finally turned himself in and confessed speaks well for him and he was absolved in the murder. My guess is that he’ll get an extremely light sentence, or, if he’s lucky, probation.”

“That would be wonderful,” Tory said with a sigh.

Trask slid off the bed and looked longingly into her eyes.

“Are you supposed to do that? Don’t you have to be examined or something?”

“Already done. Now, what do you say if I find a way to get released from the hospital and you and I drive to Reno tonight and get married?”

“Tonight?” She eyed him teasingly. “Are you sure you’re up to it?”

“A few cracked ribs won’t slow me down.” He nuzzled her neck. “Besides I’m not taking a chance that you might change your mind.”

“Never,” she vowed, placing her lips on his. “You’re stuck with me for the rest of your life, senator.”

“What about the Lazy W?”

“I guess I can bear to be away from it for a little while,” she said. “Just as long as I know that we’ll come back home after you’ve finished terrorizing Capitol Hill.”

“That might be sooner than you know. I’m up for reelection pretty soon.”

“And if I get lucky, you’ll lose, right?”

Trask laughed and held her close. “If you get lucky, we’ll be in Reno by morning,” he whispered against her ear.

“Trask!” Neva, holding a tired Nicholas in her arms, ran up to her brother-in-law. “Thank you,” she said, her joy and thanks in her eyes. Her smile trembled slightly. “Thank you for finding Nicholas.”

Trask grinned at Nicholas and rumpled his hair. “Anytime,” he said. “We good guys have to stick together, don’t we?”

“Right, Uncle Trask. Come on, Mom, you promised me an ice-cream cone.”

“That I did,” Neva said, shaking her head. “Now all I have to do is find an all-night drive-in. Want to come along?”

“Please, Uncle Trask?” Nicholas’s eyes were bright with anticipation.

Trask shook his head. “Another time, Nick.” Trask looked meaningfully at Tory. “Tonight I’ve got other plans. Something that can’t be put off any longer.”

Neva’s smile widened and she winked at Tory. “I’ll see you later,” she said. “Good luck.” With her final remark, she packed her son out of the hospital.

“So now it’s just you and me,” Trask said. “The way it should have been five years ago.”

“Senator McFadden?” A nurse called to him. “If you just sign here, you’re free to go.”

Trask signed the necessary forms with a flourish. “Let’s get out of here,” he whispered to Tory, gently pulling on her hand and leading her out of the building.

“You’re sure about this, aren’t you?” he asked, once they had crossed the parking lot and were seated in his Blazer.

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life,” she vowed. “I’ve had a lot of time alone to think. And even though I tried to tell myself otherwise, even as late as this afternoon, I discovered that I loved you. There was a minute when I thought you were dead...and...I can’t tell you how devastated I was. Thank God you’re alive and we can be together.”

He lifted his hands and held her face in both palms. “This is for life, you know. I won’t ever let you go.”

“And I won’t be running, senator.”

When his lips closed over hers. Tory gave herself up to the warmth of his caress, secure in the knowledge that she would never again be without the one man she loved with all her heart.

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