Page 33 of Mac
“And I do.”
“Then trust me. He knew I was coming after you today. Maybe he’s finally realized that I’m never going to feel that way about him.”
“As you feel for me? Or as he feels for you?”
“Yes.”
It would be childish to fist pump the air, but that’s exactly what Mac wanted to do. He’d won the girl. She was the first one he’d ever had to fight for, the first and only one he’d ever wanted to fight for.
“You asked me before what my grandfather would have thought about you. Do you still want to know?”
“I do.”
“He’d have loved you.”
“How do you know?”
“My grandmother was a dancer.” He watched her eyes. They were so expressive. They told him things long before her lips uttered the words. This time was no different.
“What kind of dancer?”
He didn’t answer her right away. He only lifted a brow and waited. Waited for her mouth to form that pretty little ‘O’. “They met after the war. He and some buddies went to a little place one of them had heard about and that’s where they met. They fell in love, but my grandfather couldn’t convince her to leave. She didn’t feel she was good enough for him. Sound familiar?”
“Why did she dance?”
“Family debts.” Jackie nodded and Mac continued. “My grandfather told her that if she ever left, she could come to him and he’d be waiting.”
“He was, wasn’t he?”
“He was. Three years. It took her three years to leave and come South. She brought her little brother and little sister with her and was afraid he’d turn her away. She said she’d planned to ask for money and then she’d go away, but he took them all in. He was already Sheriff by that time. He married her soon after and the rest is history.”
“That’s sweet.”
“It was, yes.”
“That’s why you didn’t give up, either, isn’t it?”
“That and because I was in love with you. Dammit, Jackie. You know I’m in love with you. And it’s not something I intend to get over. Ever.”
“You said one night.”
“I lied.”
“I didn’t have to strip or dance, like your grandmother. I didn’t have to hook.”
“I know.”
“I did it for the money. College wasn’t right for me. Until later when I took night courses at a business school.”
“I know you did it for the money. I don’t care.”
“I like what I do.”
“I like what you do, too.”
“You do?”
“God, woman … How could you ask me that? I haven’t taken any man out back and beat the shit out of him, have I? I don’t care if they look. I don’t care if they admire. I don’t care if they want you. I do care that you’re mine and make no mistake about that. Especially after this. You are mine. And to prove it …”
