Page 72 of Killer on the Homestead
It felt…small and childish to keep thinking that all the ways Duncan wasperfectfor her, even if he wasn’t perfect, wasn’t good enough because of some internal, messed up thing on her end.
It would be betraying everything Audra had done for her.
“I guess I’ll forgive you,” she murmured to Audra.
“I should hope so. You owe me a hot, rich guy in return.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” And she would. One way or another, she was going to find her sister exactly this. And better, she was going to be everything Audra had been to her growing up. She was going to step up in all the ways she hadn’t for the people she loved.
She looked at Duncan as Audra got up, said a few words to him, then left them alone in the room.
He approached her bed. “Heya, Red.”
“Heya, Ace.” She wasn’t going to blubber all over him. Shewasn’t. But it took some effort to blink back the tears. Especially when he bent over, tenderly brushed some hair out of her face, then gently pressed his mouth to hers. Just as easy as that.
And it was easy with him. It always had been. All the things that made him who he was just seemed tofit. Even though he’dsaved her, he hadn’t made her feel like…she’d somehow lost. He’d made it feel like a team effort.
Because it was and they were.
“Did you know your mother and my sister plotted to throw us together?” she asked, her voice tight.
His mouth curved. “I didn’t know about Audra, but I had some suspicions about my mother. That a problem?”
She managed to shake her head, even though it hurt. “No. No problems here.”
“Good,” he replied, then kissed her again. Like this was just who they were now. Together. A team. A unit.
Because they were, and maybe that was a little scary, but it was mostly pretty amazing.
Epilogue
One month later
Duncan had never been so happy to be back home in his life. The trip to LA to deal with a charity obligation, check in with the shoulder specialist there, and tie up a few other loose ends had been an interminable four days.
He’d tried to convince Rosalie to come with him, but she’d been in the middle of a case. Someday—someday he’d get her out there. He’d take her anywhere she wanted to go.
It didn’t bother him that he was head over heels in love with her. He sometimes worried that it would botherher, so he hadn’t said that yet.
But she’d spent most nights at his cabin. She invited him to her family dinners with Audra, Franny, Hart, and his wife, and stepdaughter. She’d folded him into her life as much as he’d folded her into his.
And it felt right. Every day, it felt right to wake up with her in his bed. Giving him a hard time about something or another, worrying over his arm, which really was starting to heal. Specialist-approved and everything.
He still worried about his parents, but Mom had thrown herself into helping Owen. Dad had worked hard to find a replacement for Terry, and Duncan had helped. He took onmore and more of the day-to-day ranching than he’d dreamed he would. But it was…enjoyable. Working side by side with Dad.
Especially knowing he didn’thaveto if they started to get on each other’s nerves too much. There was an open job offer at the high school for coaching, and Duncan figured one of these days, he’d probably miss the game enough to take it.
But, with his baseball playing career done, the Kirk Ranch really washomenow. And he was eager to be back. He pulled up to his cabin, and pushed the truck into Park, staring at Rosalie’s own truck in the drive.
He didn’t allow himself to picture it as it had been crashed into the ditch, though that still took some effort. Instead, he focused on the pleasant surprise. Though she often spent the night at his cabin, he hadn’t expected to find her here before the end of her usual workday.
Pleased beyond telling, he hopped out of his truck and ignored his luggage in favor of going to find her.
She was in his kitchen.
“Are you…cooking?”
She looked up, a scowl on her face that smoothed out when she saw him. Which never failed to amaze him. He hadn’t been looking for her, for this, but he had another stroke of amazing luck in his life to have found it.
