by Unknown
“I’ve told you that I can’t bear to see her become a ward of the state,” she said. “Remember, I’d known John Frates forever. He was like one of my brothers,” she said carefully, and Mike caught an undercurrent of tension.
Mike set down his beer and moved closer, tilting up her chin and looking intently at her. “I think it’s more than that,” he said.
She inhaled swiftly and jerked her chin away. Then she peeled a tomato swiftly and chopped it.
“Most of the time I can hide my feelings pretty well. No one gets what I truly think or feel. I’m surprised you’re the person who has managed to do that. Maybe when I know you better, I’ll tell you, because it’s a long story,” she said without looking up at him.
So the lady lawyer was hiding something from her past that made her want to take care of this little baby. “Why on earth didn’t John pick your brother to take Jessie?”
“My brothers all have kids now and he may have thought they wouldn’t want another one. I don’t know. I can’t figure it.” She paused and cast him a look. “I don’t know what he saw in you—or the other guys, for that matter. He had close friends here. He didn’t have relatives, but none of you were that close to him.”
“I told you before,” Mike said, leaning back against the counter and crossing his feet at the ankle, “people develop strong feelings for those who save them from an intolerable, life-threatening situation. They tortured him and he was in bad shape. He was grateful, but his will was a real surprise to all of us.”
“I’m thirty now,” Savannah said, moving around the kitchen. “I don’t know that I’ll ever marry. I’d like a baby, and Jessie needs someone, so it seems like a logical answer for both our problems.”
“Thirty isn’t exactly over the hill.”
“No, but I’ve got my career, and as you said, I probably scare some men. I know I’m a little aggressive, but I have to be in my line of work.”
“So you admit it,” he said, watching while she finished the salad, put two potatoes in the microwave, then got out bread and butter.
“Yes. Will you admit it about yourself?” she asked, pausing to look him in the eye.
He shrugged. “I sure as hell have had to be aggressive in my job.”
“I guess that’s why we clash so much. We’re both accustomed to getting our way.”
“Or at least trying to,” he said. “I don’t always.”
“When haven’t you?”
“When I haven’t saved someone,” he said, setting his beer on the counter. “I’ll check on the steaks.”
“We’ll eat outside. Here, you can set the table,” she said, handing him plates, silverware and napkins. He was aware that their hands brushed again. He felt too conscious of her now that she was in cutoffs and the tight T-shirt.
Later, when they sat down to dinner on the patio and had cut into thick, juicy steaks, she asked him, “So who have you lost or failed to save?”
“One hostage, several buddies.”
“You don’t want to talk about it.”
“Not really,” he answered, remembering Colin Garrick. Colin should be here in Texas with the rest of them. The memory still hurt. Colin had been with them when they rescued John Frates. But then the next year in Makeyevka, Colin had been killed when they had been on a covert assignment to rescue a CIA agent being held hostage. Mike hadn’t been able to save Colin. Mike’s jaw clamped. It hurt to remember, and it was one of the reasons he was getting out of the service. He had lost Colin, his best buddy. He’d known the man since he was just a kid. Then there were Dusty and Jack. All good guys. All needless, senseless deaths in the line of duty. Mike tried to shut his mind to the bad memories as he cut into the steak.
“So what do you think now about this marriage you proposed?” she asked.
“I’m thinking about it,” he replied, watching her cut her steak. She had long, slender fingers, tapered nails and delicate wrists. “I’ll admit I don’t want to do it, but at the same time, it might work. I want a prenuptial agreement.”
“And you think I don’t?”
“As far as I’m concerned, Savannah, I don’t want John Frates’s money. If you get Jessie, you can keep it for her or for yourself, or give it to charity.”
“I don’t run across many people who would turn down over a million-dollar inheritance or offer to give the money away,” she said, sounding puzzled while curiosity filled her eyes. “Why would you do that?”
He shrugged. “I lead a simple life. I have simple needs. Sure, I like money. I have saved money and invested money. I want to retire when I’m young enough to enjoy life, but I don’t want a mansion or a lot of things. My folks didn’t have it real easy some years when I was growing up, and I know how to do without. I don’t have a lot of possessions. Money’s not a big deal in my life. Is it in yours?”
“I’ll admit I want security and comfort.”
“You’ve got that already, I’d say,” he said, looking through the open back door at a kitchen elegant enough to be in a decorator magazine.
“Your family is scattered,” she said. “Do you ever see them?”
“Usually we get together at Christmas or other holidays. What about your family?”
“My entire family lives in this area, so we see each other a lot. My folks live out of town a short way and have horses, and we all get together to ride once or twice a month.”
“You said you have brothers and sisters, right?” he asked as he cut into his steak again.
I have three brothers. Two of them, Andy and Jacob, work with my dad in his insurance business.”
“What does your other brother do?”
“Lucius, my oldest brother, is a ranch foreman south of here. All the rest of my siblings live in Stallion Pass. I have twelve nieces and nephews, so there’s always a lot of children around.”
“Wow, big family. What about your partner?” he asked, still feeling she was holding back her true reason for battling him to take Jessie. “He’s single. I’m surprised the two of you aren’t dating.”
“How do you know he’s single?”
“He wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.”
“You’re observant,” she said.
Mike shrugged. “It goes with my job.”
“We did date briefly, but I broke it off. He’s not the man for me. We’re just good friends now.”
Mike finished his dinner and sipped his water, watching her take dainty bites. He’d like to reach over and undo that braid, let her hair loose the way it had been last night.
They finished dinner with scoops of strawberry ice cream. When they carried their dishes back to the kitchen to clean, Mike was aware of moving around her, occasionally brushing against her or touching hands as they passed each other dishes. As soon as they finished clearing the table, they returned to sit on the patio. The sun had slipped below the horizon and dusk had set in. There was a cool breeze, and when she sat down, Mike pulled his chair closer to hers, sitting so he could face her. He wanted to look at her.
Savannah was very aware of him. It had been a long time since a man had been in her condo. None had ever slept here, and Mike’s presence was disturbing. She was more on edge than in the fiercest trial she’d ever had to deal with. It was an enormous decision to take him up on his offer of marriage, albeit a paper one only.
His reluctance didn’t help her feelings about the decision. How was she ever going to break the news to her family? She didn’t want a sham marriage to a man she clashed with constantly, yet it would mean getting Jessie. In some ways Savannah barely knew Mike, and in others she felt as if she had known him a long time because she had listened to John talk about each one of the men, Mike in particular.
How could John have been so convinced of Mike’s friendship and goodness and been so abysmally wrong?
“I’ll have to admit,” Mike said, “I have butterflies about this, but it seems like the only answer.”
They looked at each other in silence, and he saw a
s much uncertainty and distaste in her eyes as he was experiencing, but another undercurrent sizzled in him, an intense awareness of her as a beautiful, desirable woman. He wanted her, and if their lives were going to be united, he might just get her.
Something flickered in the depths of her eyes and she looked down, breaking eye contact. When she glanced up again, she said, “We need to work out a few details. Under the circumstances, any kind of formal wedding would be absurd.”
He arched a brow. “You don’t think you’ll ever marry. If you want this to be your fancy wedding, I can handle that. I don’t think the groom is usually all that involved, anyway.”
“With my family you’d be involved,” she said, kicking off her sneakers and folding her legs under her. “They’re going to see through this marriage instantly, so we might as well be up-front with them. The trouble is, I come from a big family and we’ve lived in Stallion Pass forever and been involved with people in San Antonio. There will be worlds of friends to notify. I can’t get married and just tell people when I see them.”
“Looks to me like you’ve come right back to a big wedding.”
She bit her lip and stared beyond him.
He moved his chair near hers. “Stay where you are,” he said quietly when she started to turn. “I want to fix something.”
Savannah felt his hands moving and realized he was unbraiding her hair. She glanced over her shoulder at him. “Why are you doing that?” she asked in amusement.
“I like you best with your hair down and loose. It’s too pretty for this braid.”
“I wasn’t sure you approved of much of anything about me.”
“You know better than that,” he said softly. “I approved of your kiss enough to offer to cancel my flight and take you to dinner tonight—which we kind of ended up doing, anyway. I approve of your looks, your long legs, the way your skin feels,” he said quietly, and brushed a kiss across her nape.
She wondered if her pounding pulse was going to drown out his words. His breath was warm, his lips made her tingle and want to turn into his arms, which she did. When she looked into his eyes, she lost her breath. Then his mouth covered hers and his arm slipped around her waist. He turned her while he leaned over her and kissed her thoroughly.
Her insides were jelly, her desire a hot flame that licked through her veins. She slid her hands along his upper arms, feeling his solid muscles. As she wrapped her arms around his neck, she knew dimly that she was on dangerous ground. This was not a man to take lightly and not a man with whom to involve her heart. He had made it clear that eventually he was going to vanish from her life.
But at the moment she was lost in his kisses. Thought spun away and her need escalated. Passion blazed between them, and he shifted his chair and pulled her across his lap, cradling her head against his shoulder while he kissed her.
His hard shaft pressed against her hip, and she knew she had to stop him. Yet she badly wanted more of his kisses, more of him….
She put her hands against his muscled chest. “Mike,” she whispered, tearing her lips from his, wanting to hold him, not push him away. “Mike, you’re going far too fast.”
He looked down at her, and the desire that blazed in his dark gaze made her heart thud. He relaxed his hold and she slipped off his lap, moving back to her chair. She felt completely off balance, something she rarely was.
“We’re going to marry—” he began.
“In name only,” she interrupted him. “Absolutely in name only. Don’t ever expect anything else!”
“Scared, Counselor? Scared to let go and live a little?” he asked, amusement in his voice. “Don’t worry, I know it won’t be a real marriage. It’s a temporary fix and then I’ll go on with my life, but in the meantime, kisses are something both of us like and want.”
“Kisses are dangerous. I know you’ll never have your heart in this marriage and you’ll walk out of it all too soon.”
He nodded. “You’re right. I don’t exactly think your heart will be in it, either. That tiger-and-lion thing.”
“But maybe we can get along.”
“I know one place we can get along,” he said. “We’ve never had a real date. All this baby business is hanging between us.”
“It isn’t going away, and tonight is as real a date as we’re ever going to have. Now let’s plan the marriage, and I’ll draw up a prenup agreement—but I’m not taking the money that John wanted to be yours.”
“Split it then. Take half.”
“What about the house?”
“It’s yours.”
“I don’t really understand how you can so easily let go of such a marvelous inheritance.”
“I guess I’ve lived on an edge where each day you’re thankful to be alive. Life itself is a fabulous gift. I’ve seen so much ugly, senseless death and war and hatred that material things have little importance.”
In that moment, she thought perhaps she glimpsed a little of the Mike that John Frates knew. “That’s a sobering way of looking at everything.”
“You get the house, half the money. The trusts are already set, aren’t they?”
“Yes, they are. Maybe if we elope, come back, let my family throw a big party to announce our marriage—that might be the simplest way.”
“Can you elope and not have your family there for your wedding? Even if it isn’t exactly real?” he asked, reaching out to rest his arm on her shoulder while his hand played with her hair.
She felt every tiny tug against her scalp, and it made her unable to concentrate fully on the conversation.
She bit her lip and stared beyond him. He waited in silence. Savannah could tell her family the truth of the situation, but they would still want to be there, and they were all going to love little Jessie. She shifted her gaze to Mike to find him watching her. “You’re right. My family will want to be there. And truthfully, I want them to be there. So now, do we have a small wedding and they throw a party for us afterward or a big wedding and get it over with?”
“It’s your call on this one. I’ll be present at whichever one you choose,” he said.
“You have your moments when you’re surprisingly cooperative,” she said while half of her attention was on his fingers still tangled in her hair.
“Don’t sound so shocked,” he said.
She thought about what she wanted and what her family would like. “I guess I’ll go for the big wedding.”
“I think you’re wrong about never marrying,” he said quietly, leaning closer to tuck her hair behind her ear. The light brushing of his fingers against her increased the tingles she felt. Why did he have this intense effect on her, one that guys she’d dated hadn’t had?
“Maybe, but I’m getting older and I don’t see any looming prospects,” she answered lightly, realizing there was more here than she had bargained for. Mike was sexy, far too appealing, and he liked to flirt. He probably flirted as automatically as breathing. “Let me call my folks and take you out there to meet them.”
“Sure,” he said, amused and knowing that she would take charge of everything from this point on. All he would have to do was put in appearances at the appointed times. “I’m beginning to understand how a kept man must feel.”
“Why? I’ll plan the wedding. Don’t tell me you want to do that?”
“Not by any stretch of the imagination,” he answered dryly.
She got up and went inside to grab a cordless phone, which she brought out to the porch. She sat and began to punch numbers. While she did, he reached over again to play with her hair.
She heard her mother’s voice and greeted her. “Mom, I have some news,” Savannah said, turning to look at him. Mike arched a brow and idly stroked her nape. His casual touches were disturbing. “I’m getting ready to enter into a new business arrangement,” she said quietly, and Mike’s brows arched. “I want to come tell you and Dad about it….”
She paused and then, “No, I’m still partners with Troy. This is different from my law
practice. I want you and dad—and the family—to meet my new partner, actually, fiancé. Mom, I’m getting married.”
Four
S itting a few feet from her, Mike could hear voices on the other end of the line while Savannah tried to answer questions. In minutes she covered the mouthpiece of the phone. “My family wants us to come talk to them about this tonight.”
“It’s fine with me,” Mike replied, wondering what he had gotten himself into.
An hour later, outside Stallion Pass, they drove up a long, winding drive to a sprawling two-story house nestled between large oaks with a fenced yard surrounding the house. There was a barn and several outbuildings nearby, and a corral and track visible.
Mike tried to sort out the relatives he was meeting. Everyone was talking at once and gave him strange looks. Little children were in the house, greeting him and then scattering to play in other rooms, returning to talk to a parent every few minutes. All of the adults were in the family room of her parents’ house, a room with knotty pine paneling, furniture covered in floral patterns and shelves filled with books, pictures and trophies. Toys littered tables and some of the chairs.
The first chance the adults had to shoo children out of the room, Savannah’s father closed the door and turned to her. “You can’t marry this stranger, even if it is absolutely a business deal,” Matt Clay said as if Mike wasn’t sitting next to his daughter on the couch. “You don’t know anything about him.”
“I have a world of information on his background, and all of you know that John entrusted him with Jessie,” Savannah replied.
As they talked, Mike remained silent. He could see little resemblance in Savannah’s blond beauty to her father’s dark-brown hair and hazel eyes.
“Savannah, you can’t save the world,” her father argued. “There are millions of babies who need someone. Don’t do this.”
“Dad, how can you of all people say that!” she snapped, and her father’s face flushed.
“I want to take care of Jessie,” she went on. “I want to give this little girl what you gave me.” Savannah looked at her father and then turned to her mother.