Fortune's Legacy

He’d loved and been loved by two women in his life. He’d raised children and known the love of family, which when you came right down to it, was all that meant anything.

He frowned and gave a short sigh—all he could spare. He’d made mistakes; all men did. He regretted some, but others had caused good things to happen in the end, so it was hard to be sorry about them. Still, he’d tried to do his best. Tried to make a difference—not only for his family, but for the world. He’d tried. Damn, he’d tried.

He only wished he knew if he’d succeeded.

“Ryan, honey?”

He opened his eyes and turned his head on the pillow, following the voice that he knew would be with him through eternity.

“Still beautiful,” he whispered, and watched his wife’s luscious mouth curve into a smile.

“Silly man,” she said, and unnecessarily straightened the sheet and light blanket covering him. Smoothing, running her fingertips across the fine linen, she avoided looking at him.

She did that so often these last few days.

Ryan knew why. There would be tears in her amazing dark eyes. There were always tears now, and oh, how he wanted to be able to stop those tears for her. He wanted to grab her up, tumble her onto this wide, now lonely bed and bury his body deep within hers.

Strange how the hunger for life didn’t ebb as death drew near.

In his mind, he was still the strong young man who’d seen a teenage Lily Redgrove and lost his heart. It didn’t matter who or what had come between that time and this. There’d always been that slender thread connecting their two hearts. It had taken a lifetime for them to finally come together—and when they had it had been well worth the wait. But oh God, they were being cheated out of all the years to come.

“Stop,” he whispered. “Sit.”

She did, perching on the edge of the mattress as if she were a bird gingerly landing on a live electrical wire. “Do you want anything, honey? Can I get you something?”

“Time,” he said, finding a smile for her. “Give me more time, Lily.”

“We’ll have time, honey. We will.” She picked up his hand and held it gently between her own, as if she could somehow transfer her health, her vitality, to him.

Sunlight splashed across the big room and backlit Lily until her dark hair looked gilded. A strong woman, Lily. She’d been through a lot in her life and she’d never been broken. She’d faced up to tough situations and stood her ground. Yet now she was deliberately trying to pretend that the end wasn’t staring them in the face.

And he’d gone along for the most part. He was tempted to continue to play the game they’d somehow slipped into. To keep pretending that this was nothing more than a bad case of flu. That he’d be back walking the land in a week or two.

God knew, pretense was more comforting than truth. But there were a few things he needed to say to her, while he still could.

“Lily, honey…”

As if she could read his mind, she shook her head. “No, don’t you start telling me goodbye, Ryan Fortune. Because I don’t want to hear it. You’re not going anywhere. You’re not going to leave me. I won’t allow it. You’ll stay right here until I say different. You understand me?”

He chuckled, and the sensation rippled through his aching body like a fever. “You always were a bossy woman.”

She sniffed, surreptitiously wiped her eyes with her fingertips, then smiled. “And you always were a smooth talker.”

God, he’d loved her most of his life. Those dark, exotic eyes of hers. That smooth, caramel-colored skin, the thick, heavy black hair. The smile that lit up something inside him as if it were New Year’s Eve in Times Square.

How hard it was to let her go.

“I want you to remember, always,” he said, keeping his gaze locked with hers, “how much I love you.”

She sucked in a gulp of air. “I know.”

He nodded briefly. “Emmett’s going to keep an eye on Linda, so don’t you worry there.”

“Yes, Ryan.”

He smiled again. “I must really be sick for you to agree with me so easily.”

“Damn you, Ryan, you’re making me cry again.”

He paid no attention. “And you make sure you get the children to help you out around here when I’m gone.”

“You’re not going any—”

“Lily, it’s time to stop lying.”

“I like the lies better,” she admitted.

He gave her a half smile. “Hell, girl, so do I. But even I can’t hold off death.”

“You could if you tried. Damn it, Ryan, you’re the most stubborn, hardheaded, just plain cussedly determined man I’ve ever known,” she said, leaning down until her mouth was just a breath away from his. “Fight this. For me. For us.”

He gave her hand a squeeze, no more than a touch of his flesh to hers. “I’m tired, Lily. I don’t want to leave you, but I’m tired.”