Marco leaned down to brush a kiss on her mouth, and despite the raw emotion, she felt another flicker of heat. Heat that he would have no doubt stoked into something hotter had there not been a knock at his door.
He scowled, checked the time. “I wasn’t expecting anyone, but I’ll get rid of whoever it is.”
Lana certainly wasn’t going to argue with him about that, especially after he kissed her again. Cursing, he finally pulled away from her and went to the front door to throw it open. The gruff “greeting” that he’d likely intended though faded because it was Benji on the porch. And he wasn’t alone.
Nolan was right behind him.
She snapped back her shoulders in surprise and hurried to join Marco at the door. Lana saw Nolan’s car and her grandfather’s truck in the driveway. The doctor had said it was okay for Benji to drive, but Lana wished he’d called her so she could have gone back to the ranch to see what this was all about.
“This fella came by looking for you,” Benji told her. “Said it was real important so I brought him over.”
Nolan stepped up, extending his hand to Marco. “I’m Nolan Devane. Lana’s probably told you about me.”
“Yeah, she mentioned you,” Marco fired back, and there wasn’t even a trace of friendliness in his tone.
Something, maybe annoyance, flickered through Nolan’s eyes, and Lana thought this could quickly turn into some kind of pissing contest.
“Why did you want to talk to me?” Lana asked Nolan, and she took her grandfather’s arm to move him out of the heat and into the house. Of course, that also meant Nolan coming in as well.
Nolan attempted a smile before he aimed a dismissive glance at Marco. “We should speak alone. It’s personal.”
“Uh, I’m thinking it’s personal between Marco and Lana,” Benji pointed out, and he gave them a once-over.
Lana was almost positive her clothes were askew. Marco’s certainly were. Heck, his jeans weren’t even fully zipped. And her grandfather didn’t seem to have any trouble figuring out what was going on.
Not Nolan though. He appeared to be oblivious to the vibes in the room.
“Why did you want to talk to me?” Lana repeated, hoping it would spur Nolan to say his peace and then leave.
Nolan hesitated, but he finally nodded. “I guess it’s okay if Marco and your granddad know. I mean, they’d find out soon enough. You mentioned the deal with the ranch, that only a male heir can inherit it.” He smiled again. “Well, I’m your heir. Or at least I will be if you marry me.”
“Marry you?” she repeated though she wasn’t sure how she managed it with her throat clamped shut. “I’ve already told you no, and I haven’t changed my mind.”
Nolan’s smile widened. “Well, you should definitely rethink it. A yes to my proposal would fix your problem, and it’ll give you a ready-made family. I know how much you care for Matthew, and he could officially be your stepson.”
She did indeed care for Matthew and had once thought she could be his stepmom. But any notion of that had ended when Nolan and she had broken up.
“You’d be doing me a favor with this marriage,” Nolan pressed. “Matthew’s already attached to you, and you could step in and help me raise him.”
That last part was code for her doing all the stuff for Matthew that Nolan didn’t want to do. But her stepping in wasn’t the right thing. Matthew had a mother who loved him, and he had a father who shouldn’t pawn off fatherhood on anyone else.
“You can’t marry him,” her grandfather and Marco said at the same time.
She would have assured them that she had no intentions of that, but Benji continued before she could speak.
“I’d rather break my promise,” Benji insisted, “than have you marry a man you didn’t love.”
Lana stared at him a moment. “Only a couple of days ago you wanted me to marry Marco,” she pointed out.
Her grandfather shrugged. “You love Marco. Always have.”
She opened her mouth to deny it. But couldn’t. Because it was true. And it didn’t have anything to do with the great sex they’d just had. Well, not much to do with it anyway. Great sex never hurt, but that was only a nice bonus. The real prize here was Marco.
Figuring that Marco would be stunned by what Benji had just said, Lana turned to him to give him an out. She didn’t want him to feel trapped into doing something simply because her grandfather had made her see the truth. However, there was no time for an out, either, because Marco hooked his arm around her, dragged her to him and kissed her. This wasn’t a reassuring peck, either. This was meant to send the heat inside her soaring.
And it worked.
Despite their audience, it worked just fine.
When Marco finally let go of her, she had lost her breath but not her mind. In fact, everything suddenly seemed crystal clear.
“I love you,” she said, but her words were sort of drowned out because at the same time Marco said, “I love you.”
Despite her shock over hearing him say that, Lana smiled. It was probably a goofy, giddy grin, but she didn’t care. Marco loved her, and she loved him. It didn’t matter that it’d taken them so long to get to this point. It didn’t matter that being in love didn’t fix all their problems. But it was a start.
And that’s why Lana kissed him.
The kiss continued until she heard someone clear their throat. A reminder that she needed to deal with Nolan and her grandfather before she could coax Marco back to bed to celebrate. Lana didn’t believe much coaxing would be needed though because he had a goofy grin, too.
She looked at Nolan, expecting to see some anger on his face. There was a little, but it was minimal. More annoyance at her not fixing things so he wouldn’t have to be inconvenienced by his son.
“I won’t marry you,” Lana said. “But I’ll talk to Matthew and tell him that he can still call or visit me whenever he wants. And I’m sure you’ll reassure him that you’ll be there for him as well.”
A muscle flickered in Nolan’s jaw. “I just wanted to do you a favor, and I can see that favor’s not needed. Have a good life, Lana.” With that crisp farewell, Nolan turned and walked out.
Her grandfather dipped his head but not before she saw his sly smile. Lana wanted to snarl at him for putting this into motion. She didn’t like being manipulated. But more than snarling, she wanted to thank him. Without his nudge, she might not have come back to Lone Star Ridge this week.
She brushed a kiss on Benji’s cheek and then pulled back to face him. “This doesn’t mean you’ll get your male heir. I love Marco, but I won’t marry him to save the ranch.”
Lana expected an argument from him on that. Maybe one from Marco, too, but he simply stepped to her side. “Ditto,” he told Benji.
That got the smile off her grandfather’s face. “But if you love each other—” He stopped and waved that off. His smile returned when Marco put his arm around her. “All right, being in love is plenty enough. All I want is for the two of you to be happy, and it’s obvious you are.”
“I am,” Lana verified.
“So am I.” Marco kissed her again, and when he pulled back, he looked down at her. “I’m hoping you can be around a lot?”
“Plenty. I’m adjusting my schedule so I’ll only have to commute once or twice a week to my office. I’ll be around so much you’ll get sick and tired of me.”
“Never,” Marco assured her. He snared her gaze and held it. “Never,” he repeated.
Benji cleared his throat again. “I’ll get out of here so you can...celebrate.”
He turned to leave, but Lana pulled herself out of her love trace and stepped in front of him. “I’ll drive you back,” she insisted. “Then, I can come back here for the celebration.”
“I’ll follow you two in my truck so I can bring Lana back with me,” Marco quickly offered.
Benji nodded, and started for the door again. Once again, Lana stopped him. “You’re not upset that you might lose the ranch?”
He immediately shook his head. “Nope. Because I came up with plan B.” Benji gave Marco’s arm a pat. “I’ll adopt Marco.”
“Adopt him?” Lana questioned.
Benji nodded. “It’s legal. I read about it. An adult can adopt another adult as long as both parties are willing. Then in my will, I’ll leave the ranch to both of you. I won’t be breaking my promise because Marco will become my male heir, and I won’t be asking either of you to keep up that old-fashioned notion of only men inheriting the place. Any objections to any of that?”
“None,” Marco and she answered in unison.
All in all, it was an amazing plan. They could merge the two ranches along with merging their families.
“But I gotta warn you,” Benji added, “you might have to wait for the deed to the ranch because I plan on living for a long, long time.”
She stared at him, the tears filling her eyes. Happy tears. She wanted that long, long time with him, too. And with Marco. Finally, she had it all. The right time, the right place and the right men.
Lana turned to Marco and sealed the deal with a long, long kiss.
* * *
ISBN-13: 9781488078255
Hot Summer in Texas
Copyright © 2020 by Delores Fossen
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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