“I like it here,” she finally said.
“I like ye being here.”
Humour tinged Autumn’s expression, but it quickly faded. “Benjamin’s happy and settling in well. There’s nothing for me to go back to in Scotland. Dad’s home belongs to the military and will be given to someone else. I could take Benjamin twice a year for visits with my sister in jail but I’m not even sure she’ll care.”
I sat forward. “Are you telling me you’re planning to stay?”
She dropped my gaze. “Bull—”
“I want ye to. Stay, I mean.” My big heart panged, the sensation alien after being closed down for so long.
“You don’t know me. Not really. I’m not that great a person.”
“Tell me, then.”
Autumn sighed, but she stretched her feet out so they touched my bent legs. “Tabby, Tabitha, my older sister, was always Dad’s favourite. He is, was, a Wing Commander in the Royal Air Force. She worked in engineering. They both are hard people.”
Nothing like her. I didn’t interrupt, and she continued.
“I told you they’d both been jailed for fraud. Well, before I knew anything about that, I lived with Dad, under his thumb. He’s a control freak, and I’d decided I had enough. I wanted to move out, but every time I brought it up, he would turn evil. His temper…”
Autumn gazed into the distance, her cheeks reddening.
“Was he violent to ye?” I asked softly, though inside, ire rose.
“Yes. He’d grab me and yell a lot. Slap me sometimes. But I was more afraid of him turning Tabby against me and them not letting me see Benjamin. My nephew is my world. So instead, I made up a plan to get Dad to not want me around.”
“What did ye do?” I took her foot in my hands and ran my thumbs in firm strokes. Nothing she could tell me would be that bad. But if she needed to get it off her chest, I’d listen.
“I staged a scene where Dad walked in on me draped over one of his pilots. Like we were about to have sex, though it wasn’t true. I used this poor drunk guy, and it was all for nothing. Plus, Dad fired him.” She blew out a breath and put down the mug, wringing her hands like guilt was eating her up.
“I tried to make it right. I gave evidence at a preliminary trial. The man I screwed over couldn’t make it, so I went on his behalf. The RAF offered him his job back, but I can’t change the fact that I ruined his career.”
“Did ye speak to him about it?”
She nodded, her gaze still somewhere else.
“Does he blame you?”
“No. Actually, he said I did him a favour. He’s married now. He and his wife got to spend time together because of the damage I caused.”
Enough. I reached out and grabbed her arm then pulled her up my body to lie with me.
“Do ye feel better for telling me?”
Autumn huddled in. “I felt like such a crappy person after that. You make me feel…”
“How do I make you feel?”
“Not so crappy.”
This confession had a purpose, even a man as dense as I could see it. She trusted me, at least she wanted to. There was far more that I needed to know, and now was the time to ask.
“I told ye I like ye,” I said, laying a kiss on her hair. “If ye stay, I plan to keep ye.”
Autumn raised her head, shock in her eyes. But I wasn’t finished.
“Tell me what you’re afraid of. Tell me why ye ran. Let me protect ye.”
“This is the problem. I don’t know who’s after us.” She gripped my arm. “I brought Benjamin home to Dad’s house one evening a few weeks ago. When we walked in, the place was trashed. Two men ran past us and out of the door. I was terrified so I packed our bags and rang the jail. Dad couldn’t talk, but Tabby could. She said the people they’d defrauded would be out for revenge and to take Benjamin and run and not tell anyone where we were going.”
Something didn’t add up. “But the men who raided your da’s home didn’t touch ye?”
She shook her head. “No. Which makes me think they were after something else. I have no idea what, but in a couple of days, when the solicitors’ offices open again, I’ll try to find out.”
I pondered it for a moment. “If you’re not in danger, will ye still want to stay in my wee town?”
Autumn blinked, seeming to be working through something. “From the moment I got here, I’ve been ready to leave again. All my pay from the bar has been saved. Benjamin and I are living out of bags at Lena’s. It’s exhausting looking over my shoulder all the time.”
“Then let me have your back. Trust me.”
In my arms, in my bed, the lass of my dreams curled up and soon breathed evenly, asleep and exhausted from finally learning to trust.
As she slept, I made promises to her sleeping, slight form. “I’ll protect ye,” I whispered. “Your boy, too. If you’re mine, if ye stay with me, I’ll keep ye safe. No one will hurt ye. If they come near ye, they’ll answer to me.”
I wouldn’t let her down. Tomorrow, I’d show her how it would be if we dated. There was no way Autumn—damn, I needed to get her real surname—would ever want to run again.
13
Options
Autumn
Bull roused me early, before dawn. I’d told him I wanted to be there when Benjamin woke up and, as always, he’d listened. He turned on the lamp, and I opened my eyes to find myself in his bedroom. I checked the clock.
Enough time to thank him for making me feel so secure.
He left the room, returning a short while later with two steaming mugs of coffee. I took the cups and placed them on the bedside table, rid him of his boxer shorts, and put my mouth on him. Bull gripped my hair, letting me tease him, but after his breathing grew ragged, withdrew, grabbed a condom, then rolled me over and thrust inside me.
We made love in his bed, then we kissed until the last minute when I couldn’t delay any longer.
He followed my car but, at Lena’s mother’s farmhouse, Lena came to the door, a very much awake Benjamin in her arms. They both smirked and waved.
The sky tinged pink with the morning’s light, and Bull climbed out of his truck. He took a hesitant step towards me. I beckoned.
“Come, meet Benjamin.”
He did, putting out a huge hand for Benjamin’s tiny handshake. Lena gave us a moment, and my nephew beamed as I made the introduction.
“You’re a braw wee lad, aren’t you?” Bull gazed at Benjamin then switched his attention back to me. “He looks just like you.”
Benjamin reached for Bull’s beard, and we both grinned at his curiosity.
Stephi’s excited chatter came from inside the house, and Benjamin flapped to go find her. I let him toddle into the hall, and Bull dragged me into his arms. Standing on the porch step, I was almost his height.
“I want to see you later,” he murmured. “I want to take you out. The bar’s closed today.”
I wanted to see him, too. “Benjamin will nap at lunchtime.”
Lena stuck her head out the door. “We’ll take Benjamin with us this afternoon. You kids have fun.”