Expecting the Rancher's Heir

Shane seemed to mull that over a moment before he nodded. “You might be right about that. But it doesn’t excuse her from leaving her husband and son and never looking back.”

“You never saw her again?”

“No. I was notified a few years ago that she had been killed in a car accident.”

Melissa could understand a child not seeing their mother due to death. Her own mother had died of cancer when she was two and she’d known Margaret Jarrod only through the pictures her father had kept. But how could a mother willingly walk away from her child and never contact him again?

“How old were you the last time you saw her?” she asked.

“Nine.” He met her gaze head-on, and she could tell that he was still haunted by the abandonment. “But I actually lost two parents that day.”

“But I thought your dad didn’t pass away until your last year of college,” she said, confused.

“His spirit was gone long before that,” Shane said, sighing heavily. “After he finally crawled out of the whiskey bottle and burned everything that hinted at a woman ever living in the house, he did two things for the rest of his life. He worked and slept. Beyond that, he didn’t have a lot of interest in life.”

With sudden clarity Melissa knew exactly why her father had turned into a workaholic. He’d been trying to fill the void left by his wife.

“Did your father leave a picture of her for you?” Her father hadn’t been able to get rid of anything that had belonged to her mother.

“No, I barely remember what she even looked like.” Shane shrugged. “But I made a vow that I’d never put myself in the position for the same thing to happen to me. I wasn’t going to give that kind of power over me to any woman.”

Afraid that his next revelation would be that he could never give her what she needed most—his love—she bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling a moment before she asked, “W-what does that have to do with you helping the senator?”

Shane walked over to kneel in front of her. “I was trying to run from the fact that I’d done the very thing I’d swore never to do, angel.”

Melissa closed her eyes and tried not to read anything into what he had just said. She couldn’t bear it if it turned out she was wrong.

“What were you trying to run from, Shane?” she finally found the courage to ask.

“I was trying to run from loving you, Lissa,” he said, taking her hands in his. “There isn’t much of anything in this life that I can honestly say I’m afraid of. But the thought of loving you the way I do and having you leave me one day, scares the living hell out of me.”

Tears filled her eyes. “You love me?”

Nodding, he took her into his arms and crushed her to his broad chest. “I love and need you more than I need my next breath.”

Before she could tell him that she loved him, too, he covered her mouth with his. Heat streaked throughout her entire body when he traced her lips with his tongue and she readily opened to grant him the access he sought. As he tasted and teased, her heart filled with the knowledge that Shane loved her. She’d never felt more complete than she did at that moment.

When he finally broke the kiss, Melissa leaned back to cup his face with both hands. “Shane McDermott, I love you with all my heart and soul.”

“And I love you, angel.” He gave her a quick kiss, then lifted her left hand to slip her engagement ring back onto her finger. “Promise me you won’t give this back to me ever again.”

Throwing her arms around his neck, she shook her head. “Never.” It suddenly occurred to her that he had been wearing nothing but a towel from the moment she walked into the room. “Where did you keep the ring while you were telling me about your parents?”

He laughed. “You didn’t notice that I kept my left hand closed?”

“I…well…not really.” She smiled. “I was too busy looking at your…um, heart.”

“Like that, do you?” he asked, grinning. He took her hand to place it on his chest. “It belongs to you now, Lissa. My heart, my soul, all of me belongs to you for the rest of our lives.”

“And I’m yours, Shane,” she promised. “I have been from the moment we met.”

Lifting her, he sat down and settled her on his lap. “We have a few more things we need to discuss.”

“What would that be?” she asked, laying her head on his shoulder.

“I believe you when you say that you love the ranch,” he said slowly. “But I think we’ll build a house here in Aspen to live in during the snow season.”