Heat of the Moment (16 page)

Chatham Welcomes Lt. Holly Durant—Hometown Hero!

“Why is that mortifying to you?” Shane asked mildly, glancing over at her. With the morning sun glinting off of his sunglasses and cropped hair, he looked so masculine and handsome that Holly’s breath caught in her throat.

“You’re not…upset?”

He gave a philosophical shrug. “Not especially. Should I be?”

“Well, it’s just that you should be on that banner, too. After all, I wasn’t the only one who fought that day. You’re as much a hero as I am, probably more.”

He scrutinized her from behind the glasses and then reached over and covered her hand with his. “I’m not upset. I had my own reasons for doing what I did, and I can promise you that none of them had anything to with getting my name splashed across a banner, or getting to ride through town as part of a ticker tape parade. You deserve the recognition and I understand completely why I’ve been left off.”

Holly sharpened her gaze on him. “Is your memory coming back? Do you recall why you jumped down from your truck?”

To her surprise, he avoided looking at her. “I’m remembering some things, but not the entire sequence of events. But yes, some things are starting to come back.”

“But you don’t recall why you left the truck.” She could see from his expression that he didn’t want to discuss it, and sat back in her seat with a sigh. “It just doesn’t seem fair. Maybe the town doesn’t understand that you were injured trying to save
me.
”

He glanced sharply at her, and Holly sensed a sudden tension in him. Then he visibly relaxed and turned his attention to the road.

“According to the reports, I abandoned my post for no valid reason and I nearly got both of us killed.” He gave a rueful smile. “Not exactly the actions of a hero.”

“Even so, you’re a Chatham resident,” Holly protested. “Even if you take me out of the equation, you still put your life on the line that day, and it only seems right that the town would recognize one of its own.”

Shane laughed softly. “Trust me, sweetheart, I’m not one of Chatham’s own. I was a barely tolerated blight on the pristine surface of this town, and I have no doubt that the founding fathers breathed a sigh of relief when I left to join the military.” Holly suspected
all
the fathers in the town of Chatham had breathed a sigh of relief at Shane’s departure. Most of the town had ignored the Raffertys, except for the girls, who had been fascinated by Shane’s brooding good looks and refusal to acknowledge any of them. Most of them—Holly included—had taken his aloof disdain as a challenge and had done everything in their power to try and attract his attention, for all the good it had done them.

“Moving here must have been difficult for you,” she murmured.

Shane shrugged. “Not really. I kept to myself.”

“I remember.”

They were driving through the center of town, and several people turned to stare at the vintage Jeep as they drove past. Holly recognized several of them, but didn’t wave in the hopes that nobody recognized her.

“Oh my God,” she groaned, as they passed the town common, where generations of Chatham men had prepared for war. The grassy area had been altered by the addition of a stage and a podium, and a dozen or more white festival tents had been set up along the length of the grassy area. The white gazebo in the center of the park also sported a banner that read
Welcome Home, Lt. Durant.

She wanted to die.

Her actions that day in Iraq weren’t worthy of so much attention. In fact, what she’d done had been based on purely selfish motives. She hadn’t had a choice about saving Shane; she simply couldn’t go on if anything happened to him. What other option had she had? Shane Rafferty was everything to her, and she had been incapable of standing by and letting him die.

She sighed deeply. “This is crazy. The homecoming parade isn’t for another five days, and they’re already setting up.”

Shane arched an eyebrow at her. “That surprises you?”

“If my mother had anything to do with the planning, then I suppose not.”

They drove past Benjamin’s Drugstore, and Holly glanced over at Shane to see if he might want to stop, but he didn’t so much as glance at the building he’d once called home.

“Are you going to see your dad while we’re here?” she ventured.

“I wasn’t planning on it,” he replied curtly, but Holly didn’t miss how his hands tightened on the steering wheel. “He’s probably over at the stables and quite frankly, we don’t have a lot to talk about.”

“I see. Well in that case, you’re welcome to stay at my parents’ house while we’re in town. You can take Mitch’s room. I know my parents won’t mind.”

Shane was quiet for a long moment, as if considering her invitation. “Thanks,” he finally said, “but I won’t be staying that long.”

Holly frowned. “Where are you going? Back to the lake house?”

He glanced over at her. “No. I have an appointment at the Navy hospital in Maryland. They’re, uh, going to take a look at my leg.”

Now that was a surprise. He hadn’t mentioned anything about going to Maryland, or about having his leg examined. The last she knew, he wasn’t scheduled to have his cast removed for another couple of weeks.

“Is everything okay?”

“Oh, yeah,” he assured her. “Everything’s fine. It’s just, um, a routine follow-up appointment. I’m also going to check in with my unit and find out how soon I can return to duty, provided my cast comes off on schedule.”

Holly drew in a deep breath. She didn’t want to think about Shane returning to active duty, especially when she knew she wouldn’t be going back with him. She wouldn’t wait for the medical board to make a ruling; she’d already made her decision. She would request a medical discharge and return to civilian life. Doing what, she didn’t yet know.

“I see.” Holly studied her hands. “How long will you be gone?”

“A couple of days, no more than that,” he assured her. “I will definitely be back in time to see you ride in the parade.”

Holly grimaced. “You don’t have to make that kind of promise. Nobody would expect you to come, not when they can’t even bring themselves to acknowledge you in the first place.”

“Holly.” His voice was low and insistent, forcing Holly to look at him. “I will be back.”

She nodded, hating how vulnerable she felt at the thought of his leaving. She forced herself to smile. “I know you’ll be back. You still owe me three weeks.”

Shane chuckled and turned the Jeep onto a long driveway. “Here we are,” he murmured. “Home, sweet home.”

Holly’s parents lived in one of the town’s many Victorian-era mansions, set back from the road and partially hidden behind a line of ancient trees. Holly’s mother had spent years refining the property and building a network of gardens around the graceful structure. As president of the Chatham garden club, she’d hosted innumerable brunches and teas in her gardens, and held an open house each year to showcase her antique roses and enviable assortment of plantings and flowers.

Holly’s father had been assigned to numerous locations during his years in service, but Holly’s mother had rarely accompanied him, preferring to stay in Chatham. Their home had been a perfect backdrop for an Admiral’s wife, although as Holly recalled, her mother had spent much of her time there without the Admiral. As much as Holly respected her mother for establishing a stable life for herself and Mitch, and admired her for maintaining such a lovely home, she didn’t think she could ever do the same.

Glancing at Shane, she knew that if she were married to him, she would willingly follow him to wherever his assignments took him. A home was more than just bricks and mortar, and she felt strongly that a happy marriage was predicated on being together. And if he went on deployment and she couldn’t be with him, she would do whatever it took to ensure that when he did return, he’d come back to a warm and welcoming environment.

With a start, she jerked her gaze away from Shane, her heart pounding. In that instant, she realized that she wanted to marry him. What she felt had nothing to do with the girlish fantasies she’d once harbored of becoming Shane’s wife and living happily ever after with him. This was deeper. This was…
more.
She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. She wanted to be there for him, to share both the good times and bad times. She wanted to bear his children, and be the safe harbor for him to come home to each night.

She loved him.

The thought of not having him in her life caused a fist of panic to form in her chest. She didn’t want to live without him.

“Hey,” Shane said, pulling to a stop in the circular drive and turning off the engine. “Are you feeling okay? You have a funny look on your face.”

Holly blinked and stared at him, certain he must see the truth on her face. How could he not? But when he continued to look at her with tender concern, she laughed a little unsteadily. “Yes, I think so. Something hit me.”

“Want to share?” He’d turned in his seat and removed his sunglasses, and the expression in his hazel eyes was so warm and caressing that she almost blurted her secret out. Even as her lips were shaping the words, the front door of the house opened and her parents came onto the wide, covered verandah.

“Holly, how could you leave like that without saying anything?” her mother called, coming down the steps to greet them. “I was worried sick about you, and with your arm still healing…”

“She’s perfectly fine, Emily,” her father said, following his wife down the stairs. “You see she’s with Shane.”

He helped Holly climb out of the Jeep and enveloped her in a warm embrace. Holly breathed in his familiar scent, a mixture of tobacco and Old Spice aftershave.

“You okay?” he asked gruffly.

Holly nodded. “Yes. It turns out that Mitch had invited Shane to stay at the lake house. So you see, I was perfectly safe. Well, mostly anyway.”

“Well, I’m glad you saw the wisdom in returning to Chatham,” her mother said warmly, drawing her away from her father and bestowing a kiss on her cheek. “It’s unseemly for you both to stay there without—”

“Emily,” her father interjected. “They’re not children anymore.”

“My point exactly,” she said drily.

Shane came around the hood of the Jeep, and Holly could tell that he was genuinely pleased to see her parents again.

“Shane, honey, you look so much better than you did when we saw you in the hospital last month,” her mother declared, coming forward to kiss him. “Thank goodness you’re okay. We were so worried.”

“Yes, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am.”

“It’s good to see you, son,” said the Admiral, leaning over to shake Shane’s hand. “You had us worried there. Everything okay?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And I see you brought the Willys back with you,” the Admiral said, standing back to admire the Jeep. “Looks like you gave her a good spit and polish.”

“Yes, sir. She runs great. I’ll drive her back to the lake house whenever you’d like.”

“Actually, I’m glad you brought her out. Emily and I will ride with Holly in the parade this weekend, and we’ll use the Willys. We drove this Jeep in the Memorial Day parade every year when Mitch and Holly were kids, but it’s been a few years since she’s seen any service. It’ll be like old times.”

Holly tried to gauge Shane’s reaction, but his expression remained friendly and interested. “That sounds great, sir.”

“Well don’t just stand here,” Emily said, looping an arm around Holly’s waist. “Come inside and I’ll have Ann make us some coffee and breakfast. You both look on the thin side, if you want my opinion. We can eat in the gladiola garden. The colors are spectacular and the southern magnolia trees smell divine. Holly, I just got the pictures back that you took of my flowers last week. Honestly, darling, your talents are wasted on soldiering. Why, I’m thinking of having those photos made into a calendar. We could sell them through the garden club and make a fortune. What do you think?”

Holly allowed her mother to lead her up the steps and into the house, but was helpless to prevent looking over her shoulder at Shane. She fully expected him to be right behind her, listening to her father’s stories about the Jeep. Instead, she saw him draw her father off to one side of the curved porch and access a graveled path that would take them into the gardens. With their heads bent together, they could have been sharing state secrets.

As if sensing her scrutiny, Shane glanced up and for an instant, their gazes met and held. Holly felt her chest tighten, because the expression in Shane’s eyes told her that he and her father weren’t exchanging pleasantries. Whatever they were discussing was serious business, and she knew he was filling the Admiral in on the events of the past day.

She dragged her gaze away and forced herself to listen to her mother’s chatter about the upcoming festivities that the town was planning in her honor. But her thoughts were on Shane and his impending departure. Her instincts told her he wasn’t going to Maryland just to have his leg examined. There was something he wasn’t telling her, and she intended to find out what that was.