“Now?” Beau asked, his voice ragged.
“Yes,” Dani whispered.
His arms around her, his body trembling with the effort it took to contain his own pressing need, Beau rolled so she was beneath him. Shifting their clothes beneath her hips, he raised her knees and then entered her, watching her face as he did so. She gasped and moaned as he kissed her. He obliged her with slow deliberate thrusts, and she met each one with an abandonment of her own. He slipped a hand between their bodies. And her hips rose instinctively to meet him as he touched and rubbed and stroked. Desperate for more, unable to get enough of her, he kissed her with an intensity that took her breath away. And then there was no more thinking, only feeling, nothing but the slow inexorable climb to the edge, a blazing explosion of heat, and the slow contented slide back to reality.
AFTERWARD, TREMBLING, cuddled in his arms, Dani rested her head on his chest. Beau could tell by her silence that she was as shaken by everything they’d remembered and done as he was. “It’s going to be all right,” he said.
“I know that.” Dani released a ragged breath.
“But…?” Beau asked, seeing there was more she needed to confess.
Dani swallowed. She clung to him tightly and her voice dropped as she confessed emotionally, “I just never thought I’d be married and having a baby without my parents here to share it. Because they’d be so happy about the baby, Beau. They’d be so happy about us.” Bitterness clouded her eyes. Her future and her past joined as Dani shook her head miserably. “Oh, God, Beau, I don’t want to know firsthand how unfair and terrifying life can get. But I do know and I…I can’t shake the fear I’ve felt deep inside ever since my parents died.”
Much as Beau wanted to, he couldn’t restore Dani’s innocence any more than he could restore his own. They were adults. They had learned the hard way that life wasn’t always fair and that some unhappiness and pain came into everyone’s lives. But he could give her hope and faith in their future. Wanting to comfort and protect her in every way and any way he could, he anchored her against him tightly. “We’re going to be okay, Dani,” he said fiercely. “You, your sisters, our baby, everyone. I’ll make sure of it.”
Eventually Dani’s heart slowed. Her body relaxed. “Feeling better?” Beau asked as he stroked her hair.
“Yes.” Dani sighed her relief. “Although—” her breath warm and soft against his chest, her body cuddled snugly against his, Dani’s voice and mood lightened considerably “—I don’t think this is what Kelsey had in mind when she asked me to visit the ranch again.”
Beau rolled so she was beneath him again. Enjoying the new hint of mischief in her eyes, he gently kissed her lips, then framed her face with his hands. He knew she was still afraid of her happiness, afraid it would be snatched away. But that wasn’t going to happen to her, not again, and with his help, one day soon she would know that. “And I think—” Beau kissed her gently “—that when it comes to you being loved the way you should be loved, the way you need to be loved, all your sisters, heck, even your parents would approve.”
And just to make sure she knew that, he made love to her again, then and there.
“GOSH, YOU GUYS LOOK happy this morning,” Billy told Dani and Beau the next morning when he reported for work. “Did something happen?”
You might say that, Dani thought. But since she and Beau had yet to discuss when and how they were going to tell people about their relationship, she merely smiled. “It just feels good to be settled in. And speaking of settling in, I’ve got a column due later today. And I’ve yet to watch the movie.”
“Then you better get started,” Beau said.
“What are you going to do this morning?” Dani asked. They’d spent so much time making love they hadn’t discussed that, either.
“I think I’ll give Billy a hand sorting and cataloging some of those videos. It’s time we got to know each other better.”
Billy beamed. “Way cool,” he said.
“Any change in your parents’ attitude about USC?” Beau asked as Dani headed off to the library to watch the movie she was supposed to review.
“No,” Billy said. “But I haven’t given up yet. I called the financial-aid office. They’re going to see what they can do for me. They said worst case, I could ask for delayed admission and wait to start there next fall. Which would give me a year to work and save up enough to go.”
Dani grinned as she shut the door behind her. Billy and Beau were actually bonding. Whoever thought that would happen? Then again, she wondered blissfully, whoever thought that she and Beau would fall head over heels in love? But they had. And now they were married, they had a baby on the way, and life was settling into a nice little routine. It was almost too good to be true, which was, of course, what bothered Dani the most. Their happiness seemed movie perfect. And movie perfect was the kind of happiness that never lasted.
But maybe this time it would, she told herself resolutely as she got out the preview film the studio had sent her and settled down to view it. Certainly she and Beau both wanted it to work. And where there was a will, there was a way. There had to be, Dani thought as she turned off the lights and switched on her projector.
DANI SPENT THE REST of the morning screening the new romantic comedy and then writing her review. When she emerged from the study, Billy and Beau were deep in conversation. Unaware that Dani was standing in the portal, listening, Billy continued eagerly discussing several recent movies. By the time he’d finished, Dani and, apparently, Beau were both extremely impressed. It was rare for anyone outside the industry to be aware of the difference lighting and camera angles made in a film. Rarer still for someone of Billy’s age, who had just graduated from high school, to be so knowledgeable.
“Nice to see you two bonding,” Dani teased.
Beau grinned and pushed to his feet. Closing the distance between them, he wrapped an arm about her waist. “Get your review written?”
“Yep,” Dani reported happily. “All faxed in.”
“How many stars did you give it?” Billy wanted to know.
“Two and a half.”
Billy did a double take. “Only two and a half?”
Dani understood his surprise. The prerelease buzz on the movie had been fantastic. But that was, Dani felt, due to the charisma of the stars, not the story line, which had been heavy on fantasy and short on reality. Feeling Beau tense, Dani eased herself from his loose embrace. She moved toward the windows that overlooked the front lawn, then smiled and explained regretfully, “Not that it’ll matter. It will do super box office in any case.”
But once again Beau seemed to be thinking, to Dani’s increasing regret, You’ve missed the point. Knowing her work—and Beau’s reaction to it—might continue to come between them, Dani tensed, too. Billy picked up the tension between them. He glanced from Beau to Dani and back again. Beau, however, wasn’t about to get into whatever he was thinking or feeling about Dani’s views in front of Billy.
“Before I forget,” he said, changing the subject pleasantly and crossing to Dani’s side. His eyes held hers. “Meg called. She wondered if you could baby-sit Jeremy for a little while this afternoon. She’s got to go to the hospital to meet with the entire nursing staff.”
Dani knew Meg was swamped. She was taking over for Lilah McCabe and was the new nurse supervisor at Laramie Community Hospital. The least Dani could do for her older sister, who’d put her life on hold for all three of her younger sisters when their parents had died, was help out with Meg’s son. “Here or there?” Dani asked cheerfully, happy to change the subject and even happier to be able to spend some time with her nephew, whom she hadn’t seen nearly often enough when she lived in California.
“Her place.” Beau wrapped an arm around Dani’s shoulders and coaxed her into the warm curve of his body. “She said it would probably be easier, since Jeremy has all his toys there.” He lifted one of her hands to his lips and caressed it softly. “Plus, she sort of promised him he could h
ang out in his wading pool.”
“Want to go with me?” Dani asked Beau as she reluctantly extricated herself from his arms and reached for the phone. She couldn’t think of a better way to spend the afternoon than hanging out with Beau and her beloved nephew. But to her disappointment, it didn’t seem to be in the cards.
“I’ll try and join you later,” Beau promised, an enigmatic expression on his face. “Right now I’ve got some matters of my own to take care of.”
DANI THOUGHT BABY-SITTING her nephew would be easier than talking about her work with Beau. She was wrong. Jeremy’s questions started practically the moment Meg left for the hospital, and they weren’t ones Dani could answer easily.
“Do you know who my daddy is?” Jeremy asked as Dani turned on the hose and began to fill the extra-large wading pool Meg had set up in the backyard.
Dani shot Jeremy an apologetic look. “I can’t answer that for you, honey.” No one, save Meg, can.
“Does Mommy know?” Jeremy stood on first one foot, then the other while Dani spread sunscreen on his shoulders.
It would be hard not to, Dani thought as she put the cap back on the bottle. “Jeremy, I think this is something you should talk about with your mom.”
“I did.” Jeremy scooped up his boats and carried them over to the wading pool. “She says it’s too complicated, that we can’t talk about it until I’m older, that I’m too young to understand. But she’s wrong.” Jeremy dropped his boats, one at a time, into the water. “I’m a big kid now—I’m almost six.”
Dani smiled as she looked at her nephew’s fair freckled face. Maybe she was prejudiced, but as far as she was concerned there wasn’t a cuter little boy in all of Laramie. His dark auburn hair was cut in a Prince Valiant style that framed his adorable handsome face. An intriguing mixture of intelligence and curiosity sparkled in his chocolate-brown eyes. “You are growing up fast.”
Jeremy sighed. His lower lip shot out petulantly. “So how come my momma won’t tell me about my daddy?” he demanded unhappily. “How come it has to be a secret?”
Because she’s protecting someone and she has been for the past six and a half years.
“Everybody else at school has a daddy,” Jeremy continued unhappily. “Even if their momma and daddy are divorced, they got one,” Jeremy said. “Please, Aunt Dani, can’t you make her tell me?” Tears of frustration glimmered in his eyes as he stepped into the wading pool with Dani’s help.
Dani made sure he had a sure footing before she let go of his hand. “I’ll talk to your momma. See what I can do. But it’s going to take time,” she warned gently. “Meanwhile you are going to have to be very patient and not pester your momma about this until I can make some headway with her, okay?”
“I guess.” Only partly mollified, Jeremy made a face.
Beau suddenly appeared. He was carrying a paper bag from the Snack Shop on Main Street and a cardboard tray of drinks. He winked at Dani sexily before turning to smile at Jeremy. “I come bearing gifts.”
“Presents?” Jeremy asked.
Beau dropped into the lawn chair next to Dani and settled his tall frame comfortably. “Freshly baked pretzels and ice-cold lemonade.”
“Mmm,” Dani said, not just meaning the delicious yeasty aroma wafting up from the bag.
“The soft pretzels, with salt on ’em?” Jeremy asked, scrambling out of the wading pool.
The kind Dani had always liked. And Beau knew it.
Beau ruffled Jeremy’s hair. “I take it you like them?”
“Oh, yeah!” Jeremy said enthusiastically, his earlier questions about his father forgotten, to Dani’s relief.
“Well, sit down on your towel and I’ll fix you right up,” Beau said, then stopped. “That is, if Dani says it’s okay.”
Dani grinned and leaned over to plant a kiss on Beau’s cheek. “It’s more than okay. It’s great, thanks.”
Beau got Jeremy settled with pretzels and drink and then did the same for the two of them. As they munched on their warm delicious pretzels, Beau inclined his head at the large turn-of-the-century Cape Cod house next door. “Given the size of the place for sale, roughly as big as yours, I’m surprised you didn’t buy it, so you and Meg could live side by side.”
“I might have, had it not needed so much work.” Dani sighed. “But as you can see—” she pointed to the lavender paint, green shutters and deep-purple trim “—it needs a lot of work.”
“Have you seen the inside?” he asked.
Dani nodded. “Talk about garish! The wallpaper is hideous, the kitchen completely antiquated to the point of ridiculousness. Although it’s structurally very sound, and spacious, to boot. Bottom line, I just didn’t have the time or patience for all the interior and exterior painting that place is going to need. But even in the condition it’s in, it will sell eventually to some brave soul willing to weather the extensive updating, especially since the owners just dropped the price again.”
Beau nodded thoughtfully. “In comparison, Meg’s little two-bedroom, one-bath Cape Cod—once the guest cottage to the larger home—is a dream.”
Dani nodded. “Hers has been completely redone inside and out. Of course, it had different owners.”
Beau studied the lemon-yellow cottage with the striking green trim. “Ones with taste?”
“Exactly.” Dani tilted her head to the side and peered at him, as Jeremy, finished with his snack, climbed back into the wading pool. “Get whatever it was you had to do done?” Dani asked Beau. In deference to the heat of the summer day, he had dispensed with the usual oxford-cloth shirt and put on a snug-fitting white cotton T-shirt that defined his wide shoulders, brawny upper arms and flat sexy abs to perfection. Faded jeans covered his taut lower torso and long muscular legs in a way Dani—as well as every other woman in America if they could see him—couldn’t help but find enticing. His tanned skin glowed against the white of his smile, and even though it was only midafternoon, the faint hint of beard already edged the handsome contours of his jaw. His sexy blue eyes glimmered with affectionate lights, and he looked relaxed and at ease, despite the lack of sleep they’d had the past couple of days. Just being near him like this made Dani tingle deliciously from head to toe.
Beau smiled mysteriously. “Yep. I’m all done with what I had to do,” he drawled. He tossed off his hat and raked his fingers through his black hair, but to Dani’s frustration didn’t explain further what he had been doing or why.
Beau glanced at his two companions. Jeremy was once again seated in the middle of his wading pool, in the shade, his sailboats all around him. Dani, who was sitting in the shade, too, had on shorts and a tank top. Beau’s eyes darkened ardently as he noted the relaxed way she was sitting in her lawn chair, her feet stuck in the pool, water halfway up her calves. “You two seem to be having fun.” Beau took Dani’s hand in his and twined their fingers intimately. “Mind if I join in?”
“Okay with me,” Dani said, loving Beau’s gentle touch. Reluctantly she tore her gaze from Beau’s and turned to her nephew. “Jeremy, what do you think?”
Jeremy grinned at Beau, with a nearly-six-year-old’s exuberance. “Want to play with my boats?” he asked.
“I sure do. I haven’t seen any this neat in I don’t know how long,” Beau said, levering himself out of his chair and dropping to the grass. He tugged off his boots and socks and set about getting as comfortable as they were. “First thing I think we should do is make a marina,” Beau decided. As usual, he wasted no time in taking charge.
“What do cowboys know about marinas?” Dani teased.
Beau winked at Dani sexily, then turned back to Jeremy. “Let me tell you, pardner. Cowboys know about a lot of things,”
They sure do, Dani thought. Especially when it comes to lovemaking and bedrooms…and how to make a woman feel more wanted and more alive than she ever has before.
In the next hour Dani was sent into the house half-a-dozen times for aids to their experiments. They used an eggbeater and a spatula
to create choppy water and waves, an aluminum cookie sheet for a boat ramp, shoestrings for ropes, rocks from Jeremy’s collection for anchors and upside-down plastic storage containers for docks. Beau was patient, kind and caring. He could have been every little boy’s dream-come-true daddy. Jeremy, who had never known a father of his own, was particularly enamored.
Meg noticed, too, when she got home and breezed out to the backyard to join them. She was still in her nurse’s uniform. Her rich auburn hair tucked into a tidy French twist on the back of her head, she looked tired and stressed. “Well, this is the first time I’ve had a movie star up to his elbows in our wading pool,” Meg said cheerfully.
Jeremy frowned. “He’s not a movie star, Mom, he’s a cowboy. Aren’t you, Beau?”
“Either that or I play one on-screen.” Beau smiled up at Meg. “Hi.” He stood, wiped his hands on a towel and extended a hand.
“Nice of you to let me borrow Dani for a while,” Meg said, taking in the great way Beau was getting along with her son.
“Family’s important,” Beau replied somberly.
“And speaking of family,” Dani interjected, looking at Meg. Her sister wasn’t going to want to hear this, but Dani had no choice but to tell her. “May I have a word with you alone?” Dani asked casually.
“Sure.” Meg’s aqua-blue eyes telegraphed curiosity as they retired to the kitchen. Briefly Dani filled Meg in on her earlier conversation with Jeremy, finishing plaintively, “You’ve got to tell him something.”
“I know,” Meg said, wringing her hands. She paced back and forth, her slender frame drawn tight as a bow. “The question is what.”
“The truth,” Dani urged quietly. To all of us.
Meg frowned. “It’s not as simple as that,” she argued, as emotional on the subject as ever.
Dani quietly studied her super-responsible older sister. If she didn’t know better, she’d think Meg had gotten herself involved with a married man or something equally scandalous. What other explanation could there be for Meg’s continued secrecy? Especially after all these years.
The Bride Said, I Did? Page 16