by B. J Daniels
He turned the brim of his Stetson in his hand. “The letter explains the rest.”
She quirked an amused smile. “The letter?”
“From my father.”
“Oh,” she said.
He looked past her to where her parents stood together. He said hello before turning back to Alexis. “You up to a drive?”
She seemed to hesitate, looked over her shoulder and then said, “I’ll get my coat.”
On the way, he handed her the letter. He figured it could say it better than he could. He felt her glance at him occasionally as she read. When she finished, she wiped her eyes turning her head away so he didn’t see and said, “Whew. Are you okay?”
He nodded. “But because of what happened after my mother died and then Jana, I really thought I wanted nothing to do with marriage and kids. I was afraid I’d mess them up the way my father had me.” He saw her expression and quickly rushed on. “Until I met you. You, Alexis Brand, changed everything.”
* * *
ALEXIS FELT AS if a helium balloon had just been attached to her heart. Seeing Culhane like this... It filled her with so much joy. He’d looked so nervous when she’d opened the door of her parents’ house to find him standing there, hat in hand.
She’d been half-afraid of what he had to say. But then he’d said something about a drive and a letter. She’d been worried that the letter was from him. But from his father? That, too, had been a surprise. So Culhane’s father had known about her. Known about them.
They’d driven some distance out of town before Culhane slowed. There was something he wanted to show her. As he turned under an arched sign that read The Crooked Tree, she shot a glance at him. “What is The Crooked Tree?”
He looked nervous again. “You’ll see.”
She felt herself smile. As nervous as he was, she could feel his excitement. He looked happy, his blue eyes shining. She felt such a deep well of love for this man and what he’d been through. The letter from his father had gone a long way to heal some old hurts. In a perfect world, his father would have made those amends before he died, but they didn’t live in a perfect world. Still, she could feel Culhane letting go of the past and embracing the future, so she had to thank his father for that.
Ahead, a wonderful red barn came into view and what appeared to be a stable. She looked over at Culhane again and saw that he was apparently waiting for her reaction.
That’s when they dropped over a rise and the house came into view. She let out a cry of surprise and pleasure at the sight of the main house. It was three stories, white with tons of windows and a covered porch that ran the whole width of the front. It was framed with deep green pine trees and a mountainside with red rock cliffs above a creek.
“What do you think?” he asked as he stopped the pickup to take in the view.
“It’s beautiful,” she said on a breath. She couldn’t help her excitement. The house was like something out of a magazine. All those windows... It was exactly what she would have dreamed of, if she’d ever dreamed anything like this was possible. She’d been too busy with her career to dream too far into the future—until Culhane.
“The owners set it up as a horse ranch,” he was saying. “Over there is pasture enough for a couple dozen horses, and there is more land across the creek and back in the mountains for horseback rides.” He turned to look at her. “Want to see the inside of the house?”
More than she wanted her next breath. “Can we?”
Grinning, he held up the key and drove on down to the house.
“The owners aren’t home?” she asked.
“Not yet.” He parked, and they got out and climbed the steps to the porch. He used the key to open the door, then turned to her.
Before she knew what was happening, he picked her up and carried her across the threshold.
“Culhane?” she cried, confused about what was going on.
“Welcome home—that is, if you like the place,” he said as he kissed her and set her on her feet. “This ranch is what my father had his lawyer pick out for us. According to Earl Ray, who spent quite a lot of time with the lawyer, my father did research to try to decide what you would like. He added that to what he knew about me... Welcome to The Crooked Tree.”
Alexis felt as if she’d walked into a fairy tale. The living room was spacious and yet warm and inviting with its beautiful stone fireplace and soft, comfortable-looking furniture. Over the hearth was an inlaid design of a beautiful tree with wide branches. Beyond the living room was a large, open kitchen, and beyond that was a deck that overlooked the creek and a fenced yard with a swing set and a small children’s fort. As they moved through the house, Culhane was saying that he had had a fort just like it when he was a boy.
The floors were all hardwood, stained with a soft gray that went with the white woodwork. The whole place was filled with light from all the windows. Alexis took a deep breath as Culhane grabbed her hand and said, “Wait until you see the bedrooms.”
“Wait, whose house is this?” she asked.
“Ours, if you like it.”
Like it? She loved it. Everything about it fit her aesthetic as if Culhane’s father had seen into her soul. She started to argue that maybe they shouldn’t just tromp through someone’s house, but she got caught up in his enthusiasm, and she desperately wanted to see the entire place.
The bedrooms were also bright and painted light colors. The owners must have had at least one boy and one girl. There was a blue room and a pink one, wonderfully whimsically decorated. The bathrooms were all tiled and elegantly appointed.
But it was the master bedroom that delighted her the most. There was a large king-size bed and two walk-in closets, his and hers, along with two bathrooms, also his and hers. As extravagant as that was, the room that stole her heart was off the bedroom. All windows, the sunroom had a large overstuffed chair and ottoman next to bookshelves that made her want to curl up and read right there.
“I thought you might like that part,” Culhane said, standing back to watch her. “Look at this.” On the other side of the master bedroom was another room, this one clearly a nursery.
“That’s nice,” she said, avoiding his gaze.
“Do you like it?” he asked.
“The house? It’s beautiful. I love it, but—”
“Alexis.” His gaze met hers and held it. “I made an offer on The Crooked Tree. It’s ours if you want it.”
“Want it?” she repeated.
“Want it and me,” he said. She felt her breath catch in her throat as he took off his hat and dropped to one knee. She noticed that he was also wearing both his lucky hat and his lucky boots. Tears burned her eyes. “Will you marry me?”
She looked at this handsome cowboy she’d fallen so desperately in love with and felt her heart break a little. “There is something I need to tell you... I’m pregnant.”
He let out a whoop. “I was hoping that was the case. We can start filling these bedrooms.” He grabbed her by the waist and drew her forward to place a kiss on her belly.
“You’re not just asking me to marry you because—”
“Because I love you? Absolutely! Because I want to spend the rest of my life with you? Most definitely. Because I can’t wait to get you into that big bed over there? Oh, you have no idea how much I’ve missed you.”
“Culhane, we can’t. The place isn’t ours yet.”
He laughed. She did so love that sound. “My father’s attorney had the place completely remodeled as per my father’s specifications for us. Then he furnished it—complete with Egyptian cotton sheets and down comforters—not that we can’t change it all, if you want.”
She shook her head in disbelief. That he’d gone to that much trouble for them touched her heart. “I love it,” she said, her voice breaking. “It’s as if he knows us.”
“It does feel that
way, doesn’t it?”
“I wish I had gotten to meet him,” she said as she looked around. “Because everything about this place is exactly what I would have chosen.”
He chuckled. “Believe me, I didn’t want to like it. Just out of stubbornness, I tried to find fault with it when Earl Ray showed it to me. But, Alexis, I agree. It’s perfect. Now, back to what I asked you,” he said, reminding her he was still down on one knee. “Do you, Alexis Brand, take me with all my flaws, including my inability to plan anything? Will you marry me and have our babies?”
She met his gaze. The love in those eyes was what sealed the deal. She no longer questioned why he was asking her to marry him. He loved her. She loved him. And they were going to have a baby. Their baby. “You planned this,” she said. “I think there might be hope for you yet. So yes, Culhane Travis, I will marry you and have our babies.”
He reached into his pocket and brought out a small velvet box. Popping it open, she saw the engagement ring nestled there. The house and horse ranch were over the top, but the small pear-shaped diamond was perfect.
She looked up at him and smiled. “How long have you been planning this?”
He laughed. “I kept waiting for the perfect time. I almost blew it. As you can tell by the size of the diamond, I saved for the ring on my deputy salary.”
“I love it all the more because of that,” she said as he slipped it on her finger and rose to his feet. “But this ranch... It’s so much.”
He nodded. “I still haven’t talked to my father’s lawyer, so I have no idea how much my father left me, but apparently this ranch didn’t make a dent in it. I love the property and want to raise horses and make a living doing that. If you’re agreeable, I’d like not to touch the money I was left. Let our kids and grandkids deal with it. If we raise them right, they won’t need it. What do you say?”
She reached for him. “I say I love you.”
He laughed as he took her in his arms and kissed her. The kiss was sweet and tender and held a promise of what was to come—not just today but years from now.
“I wasn’t kidding about that bed,” he said, eyeing it and then raising a brow at her. “Or about this place being ours. What do you say, soon-to-be Mrs. Culhane Travis?”
“Alexis Travis. I like the sound of that. You think that bed is as inviting as it looks?”
“Only one way to find out.” He swept her up in his arms again, and in two long strides, he tossed her onto the bed and jumped in after her.
* * *
CULHANE BURIED HIS fingers in her short dark curly hair and pulled her down for a kiss. Her eyes flashed with desire filling all that warm brown in her gaze with firelight. Her lips, bee-stung full, brushed his before his mouth took possession of hers.
Slowly, he pulled back to look at her, still amazed that he’d found this woman, even more amazed that she loved him. He gently touched the soon to be scar at her hairline, then leaned forward and kissed it lovingly. She sighed and snuggled closer. In that moment, everything they’d been through seemed to meld them together in a way that not even lovemaking could.
As he drew back again, their gazes locked, then she cupped his face in her palms and drew him down in a kiss. Her tongue teased at the tip of his, making him ache as his body responded. He couldn’t wait to feel her naked skin against his.
But still he took his time, slowly unbuttoning her blouse one button at a time. Her nipples pebbled as he drew the fabric back to look at breasts covered by only a thin layer of white lace. He thumbed one nipple, making her gape with pleasure before he freed her breasts and feasted on them.
“Culhane.” His name sounded like a plea on her lips as she jerked his shirt open, making the snaps sing. Her warm palms went to his chest.
In a flurry of activity, they discarded the rest of their clothing and pressed their bodies together, both sighing with a kind of release and relief. But the moment didn’t last. Desire had them stroking and kissing and responding to a need that had always been there between them.
Alexis rolled him over onto his back. A moan escaped her lips as she settled down on him, her full breasts pressed to his chest. Desire spiraled down through him. He groaned in pleasure at the familiar feel of her as she adjusted herself to take the heat and hardness of him inside her.
He froze for a moment thinking of the baby. “He’s fine,” she whispered.
“He?”
She kissed him, teasing him with her tongue as she gently rode him. He cupped her breasts, tweaking the hard tips of her nipples as she rocked her head back.
He watched her come, satisfaction softening her pretty features as she opened her mouth and let out a joyful cry. He couldn’t help the smile that curled his lips. Pleasuring her elevated his own desire. She kept riding him, taking him with her, until he reached the crest and she collapsed on his heaving chest.
He buried his fingers again in her hair, drawing her into him with his other arm as they lay skin to skin. “That’s not bad for a first memory.”
She smiled as she tried to catch her breath.
“I want to make memories in this house with you and our children,” he said as he brushed her hair back and looked into those wonderful brown eyes.
“How many children are we talking?” she said, lifting a brow.
He grinned. “As many as we want. I want this baby to have brothers and sisters, something I never had,” he said, gently placing his hand over her protruding abdomen. “We can always adopt too.”
She smiled and nodded. “This is going to be such a wonderful place to raise them.” Then he kissed her, and they spooned together as a breeze stirred the pines and the sun traveled across Montana’s big sky.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
THE NEXT FEW days were a whirlwind of activity as they moved out of their apartments and into the house on The Crooked Tree ranch. Alexis hardly had time to worry about what was happening legally with the sheriff’s department or Garwood himself.
Her life had changed in an instant. With each load, she would put away her things in the huge closet and bathroom and marvel that this amazing home was theirs.
Culhane laughed and said that him having his own closet was a joke. “All I need is a place for my lucky boots.” They were like two kids in a candy store as they moved into the house. They’d never had this much room and really didn’t know what to do with it. Alexis knew it would fill up in time.
With each day she could feel her body changing. The day she felt the baby move, she called Culhane in from the stable.
“What’s wrong?” he asked in alarm.
She shook her head, crying with joy, as she took his hand and placed it on her stomach. She watched his face as he felt their son move. The joy and wonder she saw there thrilled her more than he could ever know. Soon they would be a family. She told herself that all the bad times were behind them.
While she had made a point of not paying attention to the news, she’d seen Culhane on the phone with Deputy Al Shaw numerous times. She’d overheard enough to know that the undersheriff, Larry Owens, had stepped in as acting sheriff for the time being. Owens, an older man who’d been with the department for years, had stayed in the shadows as if waiting to retire during Garwood’s reign.
It sounded like Al was going to apply for the undersheriff position since Owens would be retiring when a new sheriff was hired.
Alexis was happy for him. Al was a good guy and would help whoever they hired for interim sheriff until the election.
It was no surprise to anyone but Garwood that everyone turned against him—including his rich and powerful friends. He was denied bail for his own safety, the judge had said. His trial was scheduled for next year.
Often when Culhane’s phone rang, it would be Al with news. Alexis had been expecting Jana to call, and she was sure that Culhane had been as well. When his phone rang one evening, she’d tho
ught this was finally it. Jana would need money to start over. Of course, she would lean on Culhane.
Had he asked her what he should do, she realized she would tell him to help her. Maybe it was the season. Or maybe it was all the blessings she and Culhane had, but she wanted the two of them to be generous—even though Jana would have been anything but with Culhane.
They were settling in to their new home, their new life and putting the past behind them. Even the boxes from their apartments had been unpacked.
That’s why later that afternoon when she came downstairs, she was surprised to see Culhane standing before a huge pile of boxes.
“I thought you didn’t have anything more to move,” she said in surprise.
“My father’s attorney dropped them by. They’re Christmas decorations,” he said with a wave of his arms. “My mom’s. I guess my father saved them thinking...” He looked at her. “As I told you, my mother loved Christmas, and she had a lot of decorations. If you want, we can just haul the boxes away and not even open them.”
“Are you serious? Not open them?” She scoffed as she moved to one of the boxes. “These are from your childhood. Of course we’ll keep them.” She held out her hand. “I’m going to need a knife to cut this tape.”
He dug out his pocketknife and handed it to her. As she cut open the first box, she felt her eyes light up. “Oh my, these are beautiful,” she said as she brought out two large deer adorned with ornate wreaths around their necks. “Wouldn’t these look wonderful over there?” She opened another box with delight to find elegant wreaths for the doors and a whole family of geese for the mantel.
“And these lights! We can string them over there.” She pointed to a spot by the window overlooking the creek before she saw his face.
He was staring at the deer, and there were tears in his eyes.
She quickly went to him. “Is this too painful?”
Culhane shook his head. “It brings back such cherished memories. I love that you love it.”