Chapter 2

Gracie was tired of sitting around. She was healed up, she thought, so she should have been able to leave to find herself somewhere cheap to live. However, it wasn't hard for Jenson nor his wife to convince her to stay for a few more days. Being wealthy, well, in this case, living with a wealthy couple, had its perks, too. She'd never been so pampered in her life.

There was a family dinner tonight again. The first time, she'd been unable to attend as she was still recuperating in bed. But the dinner tonight, held at Jenson's home she was told that she'd be there. She'd not met all the family before coming here. Mostly, it had been Jenson and his parents. But tonight, the entire family was going to be together here. There was no way that she was going to be able to miss out on this one. They had sort of blackmailed her, sort of into attending.

"There you are." She loved Jade. She was harsh at times, brutal to a fault, but she was honest and friendly so long as she wasn't pissed off at you. "I have some good news and some, well, I guess that it would be good news too. I have a check for you in the house for all the money you were owed from your last job. It's made out to me so that your uncle doesn't get a hit on it from you cashing it. The other good news is he's been arrested. Well, both men, your uncle and your previous boss, have been arrested."

"I can understand why my boss was arrested, but why did you have my Uncle Bradon arrested? Not that I'm unhappy about that, but give me something to be cheerful about." When she told her, she had to sit down. It just so happened that since she was in the yard, the ground came up and hit her hard. "When? When did he burn it down?"

"Last night. I had no idea that you were living there until it was brought up that you had a lease there. The entire complex is gone now. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so flippant about it. I honestly didn't think that you'd care now that you're here with us." She told her that she couldn't live with them forever. "Why not? I mean, I know that Jenson is having a good time having you around. And I love talking to you."

"I'm not a pet that you can just adopt, you know. I'm a full-grown woman." Jade laughed when she did. "I'm not really upset so much as I'm shocked. I didn't have anything worth all that much. Clothing, that's about all that I had that I owned. Also, some linens. How did they know that he did it?"

"He burnt himself when he was setting the place on fire at the other end. He was hoping, he told the police that he'd be able to have you come running out of the place and he'd be able to get to you. While he didn't say why he wanted to get you, he didn't seem to mind telling the police that you owed him. Do you?" She said that he'd been her guardian when she'd been a teenager and had gone through all her money before she was old enough to get to it. "How much was it? And why him?"

"He was my mom's brother. When she died, Jenson will remember more details about the funeral and insurance more than I will, but he was supposed to watch over me until I turned twenty-one then he was to hand over my inheritance. But he'd spent it all and now thinks that I should go on giving him money so he can continue to live in the lifestyle that he was before all the money was gone, just under two million. There might have been more. I know he sold the family home as well as the antiques that were inside of it. That was the first thing he did, leaving me homeless at sixteen. He wouldn't allow me to cramp his style while he lived on my money. I don't know how much he got for the house. I figured that it was a good deal of money."

"I'll look into it for you. Do you remember the address?" She gave it to her and told her that it was all water under the bridge now. "Not necessarily. Just with the little that you told me, I can get him on a bunch of charges. The most being child neglect. Then the money."

"It's fine." Jade sat down in the grass next to her. "I've been working my ass off for so long that I'm not sure what to do with myself now. I don't have a rent payment. No other bills either, for that matter. I don't own a car but a bike older than I am. Do you know where it is, by the way?"

"In the barn. Jenson had it brought here when you were hospitalized. He told me that he thought that it was your dad's." Gracie told her that he had one like it but her uncle again had sold it off. "I'm going to get this guy for you, Gracie. The man did you wrong on so many levels that I want to burn his ass."

"Go for it. I've not had anything good to do with him for a very long time. Mostly he catches me off guard and beats the shit out of me, then he leaves me for dead after taking whatever cash I have on me. I finally got to the point that I'd just have direct deposit. Even that didn't work out as well as I had hoped. He's got someone in the bank that allows him to take out whatever I have there. I had a feeling that it was against the law, but I couldn't ever get anyone to listen to me. Not even the bank manager."

"I'll take care of his ass too." Jade looked at her phone when it dinged. "I'm supposed to meet Maverick and the family at the house that he's bought. He volunteered us all to come over and put all the boxes back in the house before the family of the woman who died comes sniffing around. I've never seen the house, so I don't know what to expect. You'll come with me, right? We'll have food there, too."

"You know, I think all you guys do is eat. It's like if there is food or a crowd, you all eat, or you gather up to eat." Jade said they were a large family. "That you are. And the way you have food around all the time, I'd be large too."

They were still laughing when they got into Jade's car to drive to the house. She didn't know why she was going to help them. They'd more than likely tell her that she was to not lift anything. But she'd show them. She wanted to help out, and she would. She was sick of lazing around.

The house was beautiful. She fell in love with it as soon as they pulled into the long drive. Getting out, Gracie could only stare at the old architecture that made up the house. Even the extra floors, added on later, were kept in the same style as the rest of the house and blended in nicely. Walking up the stone path to the front door, she was nearly mowed down by someone coming out of the doorway.

They both fell backward. At the last second, the man, another Strong, no doubt, rolled over so that he took the impact of her falling atop him. She couldn't move for several seconds, and when she realized how intimate they were laying, she started to scramble off him when he stopped her.

"Please. Please don't move." She stopped moving when he put his hands on her waist. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, thanks to you. What happened? Is there anything that I can do?" The man shook his head and told her that he just needed to catch his breath. One of the others came to where they were lying and asked if Maverick was all right. "I'm Grace McKenna. Not some stranger that just happened to be nosing around. Jade, your sister-in-law, invited me to help out. It looks like I'm no better at that than I am at a lot of things. I'm sorry."

"You just knocked the wind out of me. If you'd like to get up now, I don't think that it'll hurt as much." She was helped off him by Jenson. She didn't know the other man either, the one that was standing next to Lisa but she felt the tears falling down as she turned away from them all. "Don't leave. Please. I'm all right. See?"

When he stood up and did a dance, she burst into laughter. It was unexpected from her, but she needed to. When he promised her that he was just fine, she nodded, moving more away from them all to start picking up the boxes, and there were a great many of them to return to the house. Picking up one closest to her, she turned and saw Maverick standing a couple of feet from her.

"I'm Maverick Strong, as you have guessed." She told him her name again and tried to get around him. "I'd like to tell you officially that I'm sorry for knocking you down. I was excited and came out of the house without a single thought in my head other than I own a house now. It's a great house, too. I have to have some of it worked on, but I'm excited to have it."

Almost as if he had summoned them to come at that moment, two construction vans pulled up as well as a cleaning service. They asked him where he wanted them to start, and he told the cleaning team, there were six of them, to go to the master bedroom and bath so that he could stay there tonight. The construction crew he told to hit the kitchen.

While he told her he'd be back, she started filling her hands with boxes. The ones that she had picked up seemed to go to the kitchen area. Taking them in there, she marveled once again at the house and the kitchen. While it was beautiful, even under all the dust and cobwebs, she knew that it needed a complete overhaul, too. It must have dated back to the early nineteen hundreds if she had to guess.

"Are we to save anything?" When one of the guys on the team asked her she said she didn't own the house. But that she'd find Mr. Strong for him. "I spoke to Maverick just a bit ago, and he said to ask you what you'd do. So, are we to keep anything before we start pulling out walls?"

"I don't know why he'd—" She could tell that the man didn't give a shit for her excuses. "Give me a moment to look around. I just came in here."

Gracie loved the old charm of the kitchen and thought that it would blend in well if it were modernized enough to bring it to this century. While she told the man what he was to keep, most of the room, he put stickers on it so that he'd know to tell his crew. She was so happy for the large butcher block that sat nearest to the sink and had him pulling the heavy thing out with the help of some of his men.

Going outside, she was told to put the other kitchen items in the mud room. That, too, would have to come down, she said, and he was happy to oblige her in putting up some of the shelving that was in the dining room. Even there, she could tell that work needed to be done. However, that room would only need a good floor sanding as well as larger windows, things that could be done when the kitchen was finished.

When Maverick came out to find her again, she asked him why he'd want her to pick out the things in the kitchen. Apologizing again, he said that he'd told the men to get in touch with his mom. That explained a great deal. It also occurred to her that those men had thought her old enough to be his mother, and that had her embarrassed again.

"However, after looking around with my mom, she said that you did a perfect job of keeping what she would have. So thank you for that." She told him that she loved the house and thought that whatever he'd paid for it, he would have his forever home. "I hope so. Would you have dinner with me tonight?"

She stared at him. Then he went on to explain that he was supposed to have dinner with his family tonight, he asked her if she'd go with him. Gracie didn't know what to think and asked him if he was asking her out on a date.

"You see, I'm not sure what...what I mean to say is that I'm going to be there too. Not as your date, though I don't know why you'd want to date me, but I'll be there too." She felt stupid and shoved the boxes she had in her hands toward him. "These are for the kitchen, and I'm…we're putting them in the dining room. It only needs larger windows and the floor taken…I'm going to shut up now."

He laughed. It was a hardy laugh, too. Also from the look on his face, he had been as surprised as she was by it. When he turned on his heel, after she picked up boxes for an office, she went into the house with him, asking him where, if he even had one in mind that he was going to use as an office.

After putting the boxes in the kitchen, he had her follow him to another part of the house. She loved the old flooring that was in the long hallway and the beautiful woodwork along the walls too. When she was in what she could see as an office, there was already a desk and a couple of chairs. He took the boxes from her and pulled her into his arms, and kissed her.

~*~

Maverick had no idea what possessed him to kiss Grace. But almost as soon as his lips touched her, he knew that it was the right decision. Wrapping his arms around her, pulling her body to his, he ran his hand up and down her back and felt her arms go up and around his neck. When she yanked his head from hers, he stared at her.

Her lips were slightly bruised. And when she licked them, he groaned at the sight. Her tongue, a pretty pink, was there for him to taste, too, and he did. Well, he wanted to. She held his hair while he licked his own lips.

"What are you doing?" He thought that it was obvious but told her anyway that he was kissing her. "Why? I mean, do you have any idea…well, of course you don't. You just take what you want, don't you?"

"No. I would have waited for an invitation to kiss you, but I don't think that you would have given me one. I was hoping…no, that's not right. I was going to beg you for more, but right now, you have a tight grip on my hair that tells me you're not happy with being kissed. Is it me? Or do you have someone else in your life?" She told him that it was all him. "I see. Was I too pushy, you think?"

"Do I think you were too pushy? Yes. You were. Why would you kiss a total stranger without knowing a bit about her?" He said he had only ever done that the one time with her. "In the event you might not understand this, I'm…it's not something that you should be going around and doing all the time."

"It was just that you have such a kissable mouth that I couldn't resist." She growled at him, and he nearly laughed again. "Sorry, but I think that's about the sexiest thing I've ever heard from a woman."

"You're a sadist then." He said not that he was aware of but did like her. "You've only just met me. For all you know, I could be a serial killer or something along that…you really liked kissing me?"

"I very much so liked it. Can I do it again? I promise that I'll try very hard not to take any more than you offer me." She asked him what that meant. "I don't know, actually. You did kiss me back right up until you didn't. I'd really like to taste the inside of your mouth. Taste your skin, too. However, there are a great many people around here and I don't think we'd get as far with them wanting to come and bother me. Will you be offended very much if I were to ask you if you'd go out with me again?"

He heard someone calling his name. While he knew that his family was only trying to help him out, he wanted them all to go home so that he could get to know Grace better in the between-the-sheets sort of way. He had no idea why, but it just seemed right for him. And her.

When his dad found him, he cleared his throat several times when he saw him and Gracie together. When she jerked on his hair again and pulled away, he wanted to snarl at his father and go after her. It was insane to him how much he wanted Gracie all to himself.

"Son there are a couple of people out front that are asking questions about what kind of things you want done to the roof. And I'm not sure if it's them or not, but I think that the family is here too. The ones that the banker was telling you about." He told his dad that he was coming. "All right."

When his dad left him there, he turned around to find that Gracie had escaped again. Smiling to himself, he knew that she'd come here with Jade but she wasn't going to be leaving with her, not if he could do something about it.

After having the roofing company going to check out the roof on the house, just to make sure that there were no leaks to speak of, he spoke to the other crew that was coming in to clean up the flooring in the dining room. Gracie had been right in that it only needed a good sanding. He'd not thought of the windows being too small but was happy that she'd pointed them out for him.

Most of the boxes and some of the furniture had been brought in by the time the crew was finished with the master bedroom area. Having them clean another bedroom on the upper floors was no problem for them. He was glad for the extra hands and he'd never been so happy to spend money as he was for this home. A home that he was enjoying more and more as he thought of Gracie living here with him. Then he went to find the family.

"Hello? Can I help you?" The hand that he put out was slapped away by one of the women in the group. There were three women and four men who were yelling at him at the same time. Putting up his hand to have them stop, it wasn't until Jade came by and whistled that he was able to get their attention. "Good. Now, one at a time, tell me what it is you're here about. I'm sure that the banker told you that the house was sold. He said that he'd send out the information tonight. Is that what this is about?"

"You had no right to purchase this house. And what do you mean by putting all the auction stuff back inside? That's our stuff, too." He told the woman, the one that had slapped at his hand, that the house and its contents were his to do with what he wanted. "I'll say what you can and can't do with my aunt's home and her things. We're going to sue you for buying it when we wanted it."

"It was my understanding that you all don't have a pot to piss in. Or did I get the wrong information?" Maverick decided that he didn't have to be polite if they didn't. Giving as good as he got, mentality saved him a great deal of frustration. The woman who seemed to be in charge of the little group told him that they were pooling their money. "The banker told me that I could have it for the back taxes. I think that he just wanted it off their books. And suing me won't get you anywhere. I've bought it fair and square, and I'm going to live here too."

Maverick watched Gracie move around the people and pick up more boxes. Jade had given her a wagon at some point, and it seemed to be helping her get more at a time than just carrying them in. Wanting to get back to flirting with Gracie, he asked the people if there was anything else that he could help them with, as he was sort of busy right now.

"You can help us by getting out of our house. I don't care if you get your money back or not. In fact now that the taxes are paid off, we can afford to live here." He simply stared at her, wondering at her logic. Or the lack of it. "What right did you have in even thinking that we'd allow someone like you—what the hell is going on now? You'd better not be tearing the house up, or I'm going to sue you for that, too."

The police pulled in just as he was trying his best to keep from lashing out at the people any more than he had to. His nerves were shot by the time someone walked up behind him and took his hand. He didn't even have to turn. He knew that it was Gracie as soon as their fingers linked.

A calmness went over him like summer rain did when he'd been a child. There were smells, too, that were associated with that memory that he'd not thought of in years. Giving her hand a tight, brief squeeze, he let out a long breath and felt calm enough to deal with the people. The police arriving when they did set up for him to press changes about them trespassing.

"Maverick? I heard that you're having a bit of a problem out here. I just found out that you bought the Loren estate, too. Congratulations on that." He asked him who had called him. "Gracie McKenna. She said that they were trespassing and causing some trouble. Thought that I'd come by and see if I could give you a hand."

"Yes, please." Squeezing her hand again, he pulled her around so that she was beside him. "In the event that you haven't met Gracie, this is her. Gracie, I'd like for you to meet Joey Duggar. We played football together in high school."

"Yeah, I know little Gracie here. She's been around for a few months this time. I have her uncle in one of my cells right now." While he didn't know why, he was glad for that information. "Burnt her out. A lot of other people, too, but he told us when we got there that he'd been looking for his niece. Something about her owing him. Also arrested her boss from her last job. Didn't want to pay her for working herself to death, that one. What is this world coming to when a person works and then doesn't get paid for it. You got that check, didn't you, honey?"

"Yes. Jade told me that someone had it made out to her so that no one would find me. I guess that's a forgone conclusion now that he has." Joey said that he was sorry for that. "I am as well. By the way, you played football with this idiot. Did he, by chance, hit his head a lot? I'm thinking that he did. He wants to date me when you and I both know that's not a good idea."

"No, I don't see that. I think that he'd be a good man for you to hang yourself to. I know that I'd sleep a good deal better knowing that you'd be protected from that man who is looking for you." Joey looked at her and smiled. "Looks to me like there is something going on now, what with the two of you having each other's backs and all."

"See, I told you that I was a good catch. Thanks, Joey." Before she could argue with him, which he was sure she was, Joey's men were rousting the other family away. When one of the men had to toss the speaker for the family up against his car, everyone there seemed to tense up. He did as well, pushing Gracie behind him as he took in the scene that was going on in front of him. Maverick didn't like that she kept coming around him to step in front of him, but finally, he had to let her go. The stomp to his foot had him occupied with the pain now and not keeping his Gracie safe. "Dad?"

When he yelled for his dad, the others came, too. He wasn't really hurt, but he wanted to make sure that Gracie was safe. As soon as a gun went off, he fell backwards onto Gracie again, hoping to Christ that he'd not hurt her, nor was he injured.

"Why are you forever falling on top of me?" He thought it was a good question and told her that. "That, in case you didn't understand, didn't answer my question. I'm fine. Get off me, you giant slug."

"I didn't want you to be hurt." Then he leaned down, whispering in her ear so that no one else could hear him, "I thought that we fit well together, don't you? I mean, I'd like to do all sorts of things to you, being on top of you."

When he rolled off her, he could tell that he'd hurt her. Maverick remembered that she'd been injured recently and felt terrible for hurting her again. When Jade said that she'd check her out, he was also checked out to make sure that he'd not been hurt either. Since he was fine, he sat there next to Gracie while she answered questions put to her by Jade.

"I think you might have reinjured your ribs. Without an x-ray, it's hard to tell." Gracie glared at him, and all he wanted to do was laugh. He didn't. He wasn't that stupid. "I'd like for you to go in for one, but I know you well enough to know that you're going to fight me tooth and nail over it. So why don't we assume the worst and you go in the house and lie down. We can do the rest of the boxes inside."

"It's not that bad." Jade simply pushed on her side and had Gracie screaming. He was about a second from smacking the other woman when she just stared at him with a cocked brow. "It hurts. Worse than before."

It was determined that he'd take her to the emergency room to do what Jade wanted. Gracie didn't complain anymore verbally, for which he was grateful but she did sob when he had to pick her up. Every part of his heart hurt for causing her so much pain, and he wanted to beg her forgiveness. Taking her to the truck that he'd come here in had him thinking that he needed a better vehicle, something else that he'd not spent a great deal of money on before too much longer. He wanted everything new, just for her, he realized.

When he pulled up in front of the doors to the hospital, they were apparently ready for them. A gurney was brought out as well as a nurse had a shot for her. As soon as she begged for something for pain, it was injected into her arm. She closed her eyes so quickly that he was sure that she'd been killed. If not for the fact that he was still holding her hand, he might have done some serious damage to the woman. When he was asked to wait, he decided right then and there that he wasn't going to allow her out of his sight again. Not if he could help it.

"She's my fiancée. If you don't mind, I'd like to be with her. She's…she's all I have right now." No one tried to block him again and he was taken to her room. Maverick had no idea what possessed him once again with this woman but he knew that he was right in staying with her. There was something about her that made his heart feel like it was full again. Like she was the reason that he'd gotten up today as well. He was going to figure that out, too, as soon as he could.