One Special Moment - Brenda Jackson [81]
“Colby, baby, listen to me for just—”
“No, James. I don’t need you to try and protect me anymore. I have to handle this on my own. I want my time with Sterling. I have to believe that in the end, I can and that I will make a difference.”
“And what if you don’t? What if he still wants to send you away after your child is born? Just how will you handle that?”
“I refuse to even consider that possibility.”
“You love him that much, Colby?”
She met her brother’s probing gaze. “Yes. I love him that much. It’s hard to explain, but I believe Sterling and I met the way we did for a reason. And I’m asking that you stay out of it and let me handle things. Promise me you’ll let me work out things between me and Sterling on my own.”
“Sweetheart, you’re taking a big gamble on him.”
She smiled faintly up at her brother. “The biggest gamble I took was going to California in the first place.”
It seemed James held her gaze for the longest time before finally nodding. Then he reached out and captured her hand in his. “I’ll always be here for you, baby. I love you. You know that don’t you?”
Colby wiped away the tears that misted her eyes. “Yes, and I appreciate that.”
Then she reached out and hugged him. “And more than anything, James Cameron Wingate, I appreciate you. And I love you, too.”
Colby stared out of the window and watched the car pull up in the yard and knew it was Sterling. Getting up from the table she hugged herself and rubbed her arms, feeling nervous and apprehensive. Her conversation with James had brought up uncertainties she didn’t want to deal with. They were things she hadn’t wanted to think about. But she knew sooner or later she would have to.
Taking a deep breath she walked out the door and stood on the porch. When Sterling got out of the car, he stood leaning against it and stared at her. She gazed into his dark eyes and saw him appraising her outfit, an old faded shirt and a pair of denim shorts. It wasn’t an outfit a wife would greet her husband in, especially if that husband was Sterling Chandler Hamilton.
“Welcome home, Sterling.”
A huge smile tilted the corners of his lips and he slowly walked over to her. “I’m glad to be home.”
Sterling started to tell her that the main reason he was glad to be home was because he loved her, but something held him back from saying those words. Instead he reached out and pulled her to him and placed a kiss on her lips.
“I’m glad to be home because I knew you were here, Colby.”
Those simple words he’d spoken in a deep, husky voice totally dissolved any apprehensions Colby had. Loving him the way she did wasn’t wrong. And she had to continue to believe that given time, he would come to love her, too.
She placed her arms around him. “I missed you.”
Sterling smiled and tightened his arms around her. “I missed you, too.”
He picked her up and carried her into the house. Once inside he placed her on her feet and closed the door behind him with a soft click. “I should have been here to do that when you first got here.”
“Do what?”
“Carry you over the threshold.”
Colby smiled. She wondered if he realized he was behaving like a happily married man, and not a man with every intention of ending his marriage some time in the future.
“Better late than never,” she said, smiling up at him. “How’s your mother?”
“She’s progressing rather nicely.”
“And your brother?”
“Nicholas is fine, too. But I don’t want to talk about them.”
“Oh? Who do you want to talk about?”
He pulled her into his arms, and moments before capturing her lips with his, he whispered, “Nobody.”
Colby couldn’t sleep anymore. She slowly eased out of Sterling’s embrace, taking care not to wake him. He needed his rest.
He had tried to be tender when he’d made love to her, but she had shown him she hadn’t wanted his tenderness. What she had wanted, and what she had needed, was exactly what he’d eventually given her, his complete possession, and the sharing of his heated passion.
She wondered if