From Left Field: A Hot Baseball Romance (Diamond Brides Book 7) (16 page)

As Missy gloated, Kate took a step back on the stage, looking at Haley for guidance. Before Haley could make up her mind what to do, Missy said, “That is, unless my money isn’t good enough for you. If you think my dogs are less worth training than the mutts you have in your shelter.”

All pets’ lives have a value
. That was Haley’s mantra. That was the bedrock on which she’d built Paws for Love. And maybe, just maybe her training could counteract some of the terrible genetics she was certain Missy had introduced into her miserable excuse for a pet store.

“Take the bid,” she told Kate.

“Seven thousand dollars,” Kate said.

“Seven five!” rang out from the middle of the crowd. Haley almost laughed; she recognized Billy’s voice before he stepped forward. Her brother stepped up to edge of the stage, nodding his head like some sort of cowboy in one of the cheesy westerns they’d watched as kids.

“Seven six,” countered Missy, her voice ratcheting up half an octave.

“Seven seven.” This time it was Michael who stepped forward, doing his own perfect imitation of a knight in shining armor. Haley’s heart swelled inside her chest. Her brothers knew about her long-standing feud with Missy Newton. Hell, they’d
fed
it, back in the day.

“Seven eight,” Missy squeaked, tottering forward on her ridiculous spike heels. She’d poured herself into an incredible outfit for the auction—a scarlet strapless top that revealed a lot more of her cleavage than it covered and black pants that looked like they’d been painted on, from the low dip at her waist that pretty much confirmed a recent Brazilian wax to the stranglehold on her ankles. She waggled her fingers at Michael and Billy, flashing a blood-red warning as she did her best to imitate Marilyn Monroe. “Don’t fight with me, boys.”

“Seven nine,” Billy said.

Haley wanted to jump off the stage and kiss him. Her brother didn’t have money like that. Billy and Michael
together
couldn’t afford to donate that sort of cash to Paws.

Nevertheless, the bidding proceeded. Kate wisely let the three competitors fight it out among themselves. The tension in the room thickened like the air beneath a summer thunderstorm as they edged past eight thousand, nine, ten.

It was too good to be true.

“Ten thousand, three hundred,” Missy declared with yet another helium giggle.

Billy looked at Michael and shrugged. Michael looked at Billy and shook his head. Haley’s lips tightened at the frustrated expressions on both their faces. She knew they wanted to help her. They wanted to save her from Missy’s puppy mill stock. But there was only so much two guys could do. There was only so much cash they could scrape together.

And the worst thing was, even Missy’s money wouldn’t be enough. The shrew would write her check, and Haley would be committed to four months of indentured servitude. But even after the astronomical sum hit the Paws bank account, Haley wouldn’t be able to buy the farm.

She’d fought a good fight. But she’d lost. Two months, four events, and tens of thousands of dollars later, she was coming up short in the home stretch.

Kate recovered before anyone else did. “Ten thousand, three hundred,” she called out. “Going once.” She looked around the room. Haley followed her gaze, feeling like she owed a personal apology to every person standing there. “Going twice.” Tears welled up in Haley’s eyes, and she swallowed hard. She hadn’t cried in public since she’d dropped her ice cream cone at her first grade birthday party. She wasn’t about to break that streak now.

“One hundred thousand dollars.”

The crowd’s collective gasp seemed to drain every atom of oxygen from the room. People whirled toward the double doors, automatically seeking out the speaker.

“E-excuse me?” Kate asked, peering from the stage.

But Haley didn’t need to peer. She didn’t need to crane her neck for a better view. She didn’t need to do anything but lock her knees against the sudden trembling that threatened to knock her flat on her ass.

Adam stepped forward, accepting the aisle that appeared in the crowd as if it was his right. “One hundred thousand dollars. For the services of Ms. Haley Thurman, and her Pet Ownership University.” He stepped onto the stage like he owned the place.

The crowd roared with speculation. Adam’s name was passed around from person to person; his face was recognizable enough, even for people who weren’t true baseball fans. He was a local hero.

Haley caught the looks of astonishment on her brothers’ faces; they obviously hadn’t put their friend up to this. Missy Newton’s cheeks were starting to match her bandeau. She was clearly as shocked as anyone.

Haley took advantage of the chaos to clutch Adam’s arm. “You don’t have any pets,” she said.

“I’ve been thinking about getting some.”

“What are you doing here?” Her voice went up on the last word.

“Making a bid.” He stopped and looked out at the crowd, as if he’d only just realized they were there. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Is this an invitation-only event?” He shoved his hand into the pocket of his pants. “I’m sure I’ve got one somewhere.”

“No. I mean, you— You’re welcome to join us. But… I…”
Use your words
. Before she could force her brain to stop spinning around on its hamster wheel, he took his hand out of his pocket. He extended it toward her with the easy grace he used to catch a high fly ball on the warning track.

A black velvet box nestled in the center of his palm.

“What are you doing?” she asked, backing away.

He frowned. “I thought that was pretty clear.” His fingers worked the lip of the box, snapping it open to reveal a shimmering diamond ring.

She heard the crowd around her. She knew they were jostling closer, competing for a view, leaning in to hear whatever Adam said, to pick up however she responded. She was on a stage, for God’s sake, at the front of an assembly room in a church basement. Everyone was watching.

And she had to say, “You can’t mean that. Not after what you said.”

“I was an idiot,” he said. “I was pissed at that reporter, angry about the game. I was disappointed in myself, and I said things I never should have said. You were the last person in the world I should have hurt.”

She’d imagined him saying those words. She’d dreamed of his confessing, telling her it was all a misunderstanding. But it was more than that. Worse than that. She shook her head. “This can’t work.” He started to protest, but she barreled on. “You love the Foundation. It means more to you than anything else in the world. And after you buy the farm, you’ll get it back on its feet. All those townhouses… All that money…”

He shook his head, and he reached out to catch her left hand in his. “You’re wrong. No, not about the Foundation—I
do
love it. I love what we’ve done with it. I’m proud of every single child we’ve helped. But it doesn’t mean more to me than anything else in the world. It doesn’t mean more to me than you.”

His charcoal eyes were earnest as he spoke. His face was calm. His voice was rich and low, pitched so only she could hear him above the rising hubbub in the room. But his hand told her the truth, his fingers curled around hers. He was trembling as he spoke, nervous to the core in a way that he was trained never to betray.

Holding his hand, she thought of how he’d guided her down from the oak tree at the back of his property when she was seven years old. Holding his hand, she thought of how he’d taught her how to shift gears on his father’s crappy truck when she was fifteen. Holding his hand, she thought of how he’d helped her over the fence to the Reeves farm too many times for her to count.

The farm.

“A hundred thousand dollars is enough for Paws to buy the farm,” she said.

His lips curled up at their very edges. “I figured it would be.”

“What happened to ‘people are more important than animals’?”

“You’re more important than anything.” He tightened his wrist, curling her in a full step closer to him. “You’re the one who thought of buying the farm in the first place. You’re the one who convinced Reeves to sell. You deserve it.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that. I was an idiot. It’s not either/or. It’s not kids or animals. If you stop doing your work, living things die. If I stop doing mine, kids’ lives are worse. They’re all important. Everything matters.”

“But where are you getting the money? A hundred thousand dollars after Reiter cleaned you out?”

“I took out a mortgage on the house.”

“It’s been paid off for years!”

He nodded. “Lots of equity. The bank loved the deal.”

“Adam—” she started to protest.

“Haley. I want to do this. I want to make you happy. The Foundation has a tough path ahead of it, getting Reiter back here, suing his ass, making everything right. Paws is ready to move forward now. I want you to do that. I want to help you do that. Please.”

His fingers tightened on hers, and she felt it again—that tiny shudder deep inside his muscles. He wanted her to say yes. He
needed
her to say yes. If she had any doubt, he raised his right hand, turning the ring so it caught a blinding beam of light. “Haley Thurman,” he said, and this time he raised his voice, pitching it to reach the last row in the hall. “Will you marry me?”

She looked into the face she knew so well. This was the Adam she’d grown up with, fought with, come to know like a member of her own family. This was the Adam who had listened to her all these years, who had comforted her when she needed comfort, who had teased her when she needed teasing. This was the Adam who had brought her deeper pleasure in bed than she’d ever felt with any man.

This was the Adam she loved.

She nodded, astonished to find those damn tears were back again. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, Adam Sartain, I’ll marry you.”

The room erupted into applause. Adam tore the ring out of the velvet box, letting the case tumble to the floor as he slipped the diamond onto her finger. He folded her into his arms, ignoring the shouts from the crowd, ignoring the lights and the noise and the chaos.

His lips were hard, driving for a deeper connection than she expected. His hand tangled in her hair, pulling her closer, locking her in. His hips found hers, and he crushed her to his chest, holding her so tightly she could measure every beat of his heart.

She could have stood there forever, could have drunk him in, could have given him every ounce of her soul. But eventually she became aware of a voice, a commanding boom that drew her back from the realm of pure pleasure.

“One hundred thousand once!” Kate cried. There was a pause, and Haley turned in Adam’s arms. She looked out at the crowd, at Missy Newton’s scrunched and furious face.

“One hundred thousand twice!” Haley twisted farther, until she could see two faces as familiar as Adam’s. Michael and Billy wore identical expressions—know-it-all grins, as if they’d always been certain this would be her happy ending.

“Sold!” Kate cried. “To Adam Sartain!”

As the crowd cheered, Haley turned back to the man who held her. “You know,” she said. “It’s not going to be the Reeves farm any more. Kids’ll start calling it the old Sartain place.”

His fingers tightened on her hips. “It’ll be a while before our kids are calling it anything.”

She laughed, wriggling a little at the shots of electricity that darted up her spine. “Not our kids,” she said. “Not at first. I’m thinking the BUNT kids will have a field day helping out with the animals.”

She watched him process her words, watched the light grow in the depths of his eyes as he nodded slowly. “It’ll take a lot of supervision. A lot of planning. A lot of those kids have never had a pet, not even a goldfish.”

“That’s okay,” she said. “A lot of those animals have never had a kid. We’ll take it slow. But I have a sneaking suspicion it’s all going to work out all right.” She settled her hand on top of his heart, feeling his pulse beat strong beneath his shirt. The ring on her finger moved in time with the sharp breath he took. “Correction,” she said. “I
know
this is going to work out all right.”

She kissed him one last time before she took his hand and led him off the stage, into the congratulatory crowd.

Read on, for a sneak peek at the next Diamond Brides romance,
Center Stage!

~~~

Marry in haste, repent in leisure…

Ryan Green looked at his watch again. At least the bride and groom weren’t in danger of repenting any time soon. It seemed like this wedding was never going to happen—and the sweltering church had just reached a temperature that felt a lot closer to Hell than to Heaven. The ceremony should have started an hour earlier, and there was still no sign of the groom. For that matter, the best man, the matron of honor, and Brother Mike had made themselves pretty scarce for the past thirty minutes.

Figuring he’d make the most of the delay, Ryan stood up from the rock-hard pew on the left side of the church. After spending the last twelve days on the Raleigh Rockets’ disabled list, Ryan barely felt the lingering tightness in his strained right hamstring, but there was no reason to let the muscle seize up by spending extra time on the unyielding wooden bench.

That was his story anyway, and he was sticking with it.

As he reached the back of the church, Ryan realized he wasn’t the only ballplayer with the same idea. Braden Hart, one of the Rockets’ pitchers, nodded a greeting, automatically shifting over like he was making room for the center fielder in the dugout. But this little gathering was woefully short on sunflower seeds and Gatorade, and they didn’t have a fistful of bubble gum between them.

Hart nodded toward the pews. “Hell of a way to spend a night off, isn’t it? If we have to spend hours on a wooden bench, we might as well get a game out of it.”

Ryan shrugged. “There aren’t any women in a dugout.”

As if in response, a tide of feminine voices rose. Ryan had caught sight of the women when he’d first arrived at the church, right before an usher asked him, “Friend of the bride or friend of the groom?” He’d almost said “groom” just so he’d have a chance with one of them. During the long delay, he’d learned that they’d all gone to college with the groom. Each was prettier than the last, with her hair done up and her fingernails painted and a tight little dress that showed off a hell of a lot more than it covered up. Ryan couldn’t have told one from another, not if he’d been offered a five-year contract and a roster with every one of their names.